SoxBlanco

Yes, but using that strategy means we probably don’t ever sign AJ, and might not have that World Series. And no, I’m not comparing AJ to Clevinger at all. I’m simply saying that if you avoid all players who look like they might be a problem, then you could miss out on some solid players. Look at the Patriots. They are one of the most successful franchises in any sport over the past couple of decades, and they love acquiring players like that.

Devin Hester is looking great at WR so far and will definitely contribute on offense this year.

Keep in mind that Vaughn skipped AA and AAA. So the last two seasons were like his AA and AAA seasons, except he had to face major league pitching. His ceiling is much higher.

I feel like there's some contradiction going on with how much a manager can affect a team. The consensus around here was that TLR was terrible and cost us many games. But a lot of people are now saying that even if Grifol is better, it won't matter that much in the win/loss column. And I'm not talking about any individual person here...more of just a general feeling I get from reading several posts.

I think you are missing our point. Wins don’t matter in assessing how good a pitcher performed. But people were claiming that the TEAM wouldn’t have won as many games without the great performance of Cueto, and that simply isn’t true. You said that we “can’t say Cueto didn’t pitch well”, and you’re absolutely right. He pitched great.

Cueto started 25 games last year, and we only won 11 of those games. Yes, he was a fantastic surprise last year, but we didn't win that many of the games he started. If I was the starting pitcher for all 25 of those game, the Sox would have ended with 70 wins. If somebody like Davis Martin started all 25 of those game, the team win/loss results probably aren't much different than what Cueto did.

Haha, you make a good point if it was indeed Leury who was filling in. I'd like to think it would be someone else, particularly when Cairo was managing.

You can't just look at offense. Abreu is undoubtedly a better offensive player than Benintendi, but you need to look at the whole picture. The domino effect improved our outfield defense by A LOT.

Granted we're only 33 days into 2023, but this is the post of the year so far. I'll add one thing: You mentioned that Robert basically missed the second half of the year, but it was actually WORSE than that. He was hurting the team, and the Sox would have likely been better off if he was actually just out the entire second half.

I don't think they need "perfect" health. Somewhere in between perfect health and last year's health (combined with no TLR) would give us more wins than last year.

We are due for a win on opening day. Sox haven't won on opening day since the game where Davidson hit three home runs. That seems like so long ago.

And yet, that player still made the playoffs as the starting catcher for seven straight years (for three different teams). The Grandal signing was a good signing, no matter how much you hate him.

Why do people want Cueto but want nothing to do with Elvis Andrus?

I was talking about Eloy’s comment on not knowing who would be the clubhouse leader.

Those were my EXACT same thoughts when I read this. This is a complete non-story in my eyes.

This was what I posted over a month ago, so I would definitely be fine with signing Elvis if we could get him for cheap at this point.

Eloy has no business playing RF at all next year, but the funny thing is that he would be better out there than Sheets and Vaughn. Can we please just stay healthy for once so that this never even becomes an option?

Wow. Wishing you and your family the best, Liam. I know you’ll close the door on this awful disease.

Pollock to Seattle for $7M.

Ha, thank man. I’ll make sure to enjoy these next 363 days.

Thanks for doing these, @Lip Man 1. I noticed you didn’t have anything for January 5. If you’re looking to add something, you can say that legendary SoxTalk member SoxBlanco was born on that date in 1984.

Are there three of them?

Why are you saying “should have been” brought in, instead of “should be” brought in? It’s January 4th.

When did Hahn say he had to make trades? I thought he just said trades were more likely than free agent signings.

And yet, almost every expert, fan, and projection system had the Sox as the better team going into last season. Why were they all so wrong?