WestEddy

We're in a perpetual cycle of rebuild right now because international has been punted, Hostetler was regularly brow-beaten to draft "almost-ready" players in the 1st round. A trade shouldn't remake an organization. A trade should bring 3-4 more prospects to a group of prospects. Prospects fail at a high percentage. That is true for traded prospects, drafted prospects, and internationally scouted prospects.

Actually, Young guys who can play and are ready >> vets on rebuilding team. We had/have none of the former. Fletcher got a very long run last year outside of his AAA reboot and the injury. I think he was the starter for the last 6-8 weeks of the season. Colas doesn't have a position and doesn't hit. DeLoach could top out as a 4th OF. He didn't hit in a bandbox for a full season. The Tanner Banks trade looks like it brought back the equal of their 2023 1st rounder. Not saying a lot, but he's in the future SS convo for now. DeJong brought back an arm with big upside. The Vargas trade looks like ass if he doesn't hit and play borderline great defense at 3B. He's doing neither. The Thorpe TJS hurts.

They're in a rebuild, and I believe their TV deal (or lack thereof) has them in a money crunch. Whatever you've been harping on is meaningless if there was no chance of it happening. And being in a rebuild, it would be colossally dumb to punt two draft picks. I think your counter-argument has been "well, we've not done well in the draft, so who cares about that?" To which I would reply, "And all of the free agents we sign collapse and become albatross signings for their duration. So, if we signed Alonso, Kim and Santander, they would all hit like Jacob Amaya. Book it." And I would be right.

I don't want to keep complaining about bad luck, but they should have brought a dozen Brandon Drury's to ST. I would say they could expect reasonable production from 4 position players right now ( Benny / catching platoon / RF platoon / Baldwin ). I would immediately cut Amaya and Maton and promote Meidroth and Teel. That at least plugs semi-productive bats in at SS and DH, and you wait for the weather to warm up for Robert and Vaughn to start hitting. Vargas...maybe he needs the weather to change, too. It's still only 9 games.

That would be great if they got a Moncada clone out of the 2021 #22 pick. There's not been a lot of 30 bWAR players taken at that low a pick in the last 30 years, and only 6 players have eclipsed Moncada's 14.2 bWAR. I suppose Jackson Merrill will be the Mike Trout to Colson's Jared Mitchell. Trading positive assets for "nothing" would be trading Chase Meidroth for cash considerations. Trading an A-ball bullpen arm for a pro bullpen arm isn't "nothing". The young guys who were given up on for vets are even more worthless. ' Trading Crochet to the Red Sox was a great move. You'll probably see two starting offensive players from that trade on this year's team.

Amazingly, I don't disagree with any of this.

They're in a rebuild, and obviously, in a money crunch. If billionaires saw this financial shake-up coming after November, the paucity of spending from owners who cry poor makes more sense. I don't wonder why you were pessimistic. I wonder why you expected anything more. I predicted 54 wins. This is what a 108-loss team looks like. I could post all this every day, but I don't think that's what you're looking for. Oh, and even if they signed Ha-Seong Kim, they'd still be running this infield crew out there every day. You've been silent about that.

Yeah, that's a backup outfielder. If he OPSed 1.000, he'd be starting somewhere.

Brebbia owes us one of his 2024 BS blown saves.

Leasure, Eisert, Wilson, Vasil. Who closes? Vasil seems to have the lucky, hot hand.

Good pitching makes the manager look brilliant.

Maybe if Benintendi is hurt, we'll all realize our dream of seeing Oscar Colas get a good month of starts.

The weird part is that Slater has neutral, or even reverse platoon splits over the last year. Maybe Venable just wanted to give Jankowski a full run. It's not quite like Roman Anthony was sitting so Jankowski could play.

Right-handed pitchers. I believe that Venable had moved on to Baldwin as the strong end of that platoon by yesterday.

No surprises here...Tauchman up, Jankowski out.

He was thinking about the team fielding stats of previous seasons, and the promise Chris Getz apparently made.

You're not really making an argument, here. Last year's stats don't apply to the 2025 team. It's fun to pretend, tho.

A lot more of a trend than a season where only 5 guys remain from last year's opening day roster.

They also didn't get a full spring training's look at Jankowski. Perhaps they're evaluating him as AAA depth, too.

The Sox are tied for 10th best this year in team defensive runs saved.

They're LHHs, and we've been getting a steady diet of RHPs. Thaiss has been hitting, and Maton has early power. What's not to love?

Team transactions say that Colas was dropped down to Birmingham. Dude is ultimately "depth".

The seems to be a window between 4 and 7.