hogan873

More than anything, I feel bad for Liam. He has been pitching with a partial tear for quite a while, so TJS is not that surprising. Maybe the cancer, recovery, and quick return to the mound pushed the injury to where he needed surgery. No one, except Liam, knew if he was ready to return when he did. We don't know if he pushed to pitch when he did or of the Sox pushed him. I expect is was more the former. Regardless, Liam is a one of a kind person, and I am very happy he played for my favorite team. Chances are he threw his last pitch as a Sox. However, maybe the Sox bring him back in '25. Who knows. As far '24, the smart business decision is to decline the option and pay out the $15M over 10 years. But, Liam is a special person, and I could see the Sox just paying him the $15M next year.

More than likely, Burger will be a perennial 25+ HR guy with a low average, a high K rate, and not much ability in the field. He's more suited to be a DH, and unlike other players (Eloy), accepts that role and does it pretty well. Do Sox fans remember how much they hated Dunn (the player)? Burger is Dunn, except he won't hit as many home runs, but he's a very likeable guy. I mean, easily one of the most likeable guys in baseball. Unfortunately for him and for us as fans, he had the highest trade value of the surplus of power-hitting 1B/DH types. And no team was going to take Moncada off our hands with the money he's owed, and the fact that he sucks as a hitter anymore. I wish Jake well, and I'll always be a fan. But the Sox now have a potentially really good pitcher that can help this team for quite a while.

I give the trades a solid B. First of all, however, it sucks that these trades had to made at all. But, since the team woefully underperformed, it is what it is. The farm system became dramatically better over the past week. And some of the guys added can be up with the big league club as soon as 2024. Lee will most likely be up this year and will supplant Grandal or Zavala, and will probably be the #1 catcher in 2024. Unlike the last rebuild, we shouldn't have to wait long to see what we actually got with these trades. So, the farm system will be pretty highly rated (top 10-15?) for a season, maybe two. There really wasn't a dud of a trade in all the action. The Middleton trade was pretty meh in comparison to the others, but they still got a guy who could be helpful down the road. I hate to say this, but I think the Burger trade was possibly the best. I love Jake Burger, and he's such a cool story. But Jake did one thing well - hit home runs. Okay, he did two things well - hit home runs and be a super nice guy. Unfortunately, he was one part of a surplus this team has: power-hitting 1B/DH. And he had the most value in a trade, as evidenced by the nabbing of the Marlins' #4 prospect. Eloy, Vaughn, Sheets, or Moncada weren't going to get that type of return. I'm both disappointed and not disappointed that Cease wasn't traded. I do think the Sox did the right thing sticking to their guns and demanding a big return. Baltimore did not send much to the Cardinals, which leads me to believe their offer for Cease was lacking. If the Sox have any real opportunity to sign Cease to an extension, I would feel even better about keeping him. But we know this team's track record, especially with Boras clients. It will be paramount for the Sox to do something significant in the off season to build off what they did over the past week if they are truly serious about contending in 2024. I'm skeptical, but for now I'll keep that slimmest of slim hopes that this FO will do the right thing eventually.

Marlins #4 prospect. Nice.

Probably.

Looks like Lee could be back in early August. Rehab stint, then up with the Sox?

JR must be beside himself with pride. Hahn has shed a s%*#-ton of payroll.

This trade happened so fast we didn't have time to start a rumor thread.

Probably still better than Seby.

Yeah, they could probably go ahead do that now. Just fly him straight to Chicago.

He's the Astros' #5 prospect, but their system sucks. Is this a prelude to a Yaz trade?

Nastrini is probably in the top 5 in the Sox system?

Not a bad return especially if no money was sent. When is Trayce due to return from the IL?

There's probably a delay because Hahn hung up before they discussed a return. KW: Who's coming back? Hahn: What? KW: From LA. Who are they sending? Hahn: You mean a driver for Lance and Joe? KW: Hahn: Should I drive them to the airport?

If this trade goes down, the rotation will be sparse. I think Madison Bumgarner is still out of work. ?

I know it's tough (okay, maybe impossible) to ignore why the Sox are in this position, but if there were a team we didn't know much about that traded a guy like Giolito and a guy like Lopez for what they got in return, we'd be impressed. It just really sucks that this is how our "window of competitiveness" ends. Plenty of blame to go around. Players, manager, coaches, front office, owner. It's a perfect storm of shittiness, and we had a front row seat to it.

Surprised to wake up and see the news. Sad to see Gio go, but we knew it was coming. Putting aside how little faith we have in this organization, this seems like a good trade. Quero gets the Sox something they desperately need in a good catching prospect. Bush could contribute as soon as next year. Netting a top 100 prospect (a catching one at that) for Giolito, while shedding ReyLo's salary, is a nice deal. Time will tell how nice, though. I find it interesting how quickly the Angels pivoted from possibly selling to definitely buying. I hope it works out for Gio and he makes it to the playoffs.

Benintendi LF Remillard 2B Arenado 3B Robert CF Burger DH Vaughn 1B Colas RF Andrus SS Zavala C TA and Grandal traded. Sheets is also traded along with a pitcher. Arenado, upon being traded to the Sox and playing the August 1 game, announces his retirement and quits baseball altogether.

I only watched the first round, but Luis was like a movie villain that dispatches a main character in the first 10 minutes of the film. The crowd and announcers (and most people watching at home) were just loving Rutschman's performance, praising him, getting teary eyed with his dad pitching to him. Then Luis comes in and destroys him and 28 baseballs. The perfunctory hug afterwards was classic.

Man, I remember when this thread started and I still believed. How naive I was. Now 90 losses seems optimistic. If they sell, which they should, 95-100 losses is likely. Oddly, the team will probably be more fun to watch afterwards. Right now it's torture.

Players I've seen enough of: - Tim Anderson - Elvis Andrus - Seby Zavala - Clint Frazier - Gavin Sheets (over used, not necessarily his fault) Just bring up Colas and let him play RF. Give Remillard every chance at 2B. I heard Carlos Perez was up with the team; let him take Zavala's role. I think we're stuck with either TA or Andrus at SS, unfortunately.

I don't think we're misunderstanding anything about TA. He's woefully underperforming this season, and certainly seems to be distracted. His personal life is a mess, and his mistakes are public. He is a shadow of the guy who hit the walk-off HR in Iowa. We want that guy back. Maybe he misunderstands that.

Good point. It's tough when we're this close to the mediocrity of this team. We have a tendency to be much more critical and negative because we watch these guys daily. It may not necessarily take lightning in a bottle to win the first series, but they would be going against the odds.

True, but getting in the playoffs this year in this division is a hell of a lot easier than getting in the playoffs from the AL East. A shitty team from the AL Central will make the playoffs while a few decent to good teams will miss the playoffs because of their division.

I think it's more likely this was a comment of frustration, probably because he gets asked frequently why one of the better hitters isn't batting higher. However, one could presume he's getting pressure from above to make the lineups the way he is. I really wanted to like Grifol and give him the benefit of the doubt. I still do, but comments like this aren't doing him any good. He can't say he's putting Burger in the lineup where he can help the team win while putting him 8th in a lineup of dead weight. There's really no evidence that Burger hitting 8th helps the team win. He's a power hitter with the second most home runs on the team. He needs to be hitting somewhere between 3rd and 6th.