CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Yep I already agreed with the Cespedes for Engel move next year that bmags said but basically I was agreeing with myself since in another post I'm pretty sure I said the same thing a week or 2 ago. The stats I listed were for Colas comparing him defensively in RF to our current crop of OF who have played in RF this year.

Could be they saw how that kid from Oakland pitched against the Sox or how the Sox have fared facing guys up from the minors ? Maybe they discovered our prep work for those guys is bad.

I can see his walks are down and K's slightly higher from A+ to AA but his hitting has gone from 129 to 147 wRC+. He hasn't had a single error in 29 games, 253 Inning in RF for Birmingham and has 5 assists. Vaughn 0 assists in 284 innings in RF Sheets 1 assist in 517 innings in RF Engel 0 assists in 288 innings in RF Garcia 0 assists 62 inning played in RF Pollock 0 assists in 91 innings in RF That's 1 assist in 1200+ innings played in RF vs 5 assists in 253 innings played in RF. Our current guys get run on all the time by teams like the Guardians and Orioles because they aren't accurate nor do they have particularly strong arms. Colas has both a strong arm and is accurate.

Great great season no doubt but best all time WS RH starter ever comes after a period of time that Cease hasn't accumulated yet. If you meant best season ever in your lifetime and you're under 30 yrs old as opposed to best all time considering the Sox have over 100+ years of history then maybe sure.

They must throw some piss poor changeups, curves and sliders in AA and if thats the case why isn't he in AAA then facing the AAAA and older craftier pitchers now. He's got nothing left to prove in AA. I still find it hard to believe given his arm , defensive value, power and ability to hit both lefties and righties that he isn't ready to contribute now. You don't think he could hit .250 hit as many HR's and contribute more than Sheets/Leury/Engel/Pollock/Vaughn defensively ? I agree with you about Cespedes over Engel . He may K a bunch but he has talent and power, speed and a much better arm.

Have to agree with you on this one and the kicker is the Sox could keep him down til May to gain the extra year while teams you mention all don't care about that. Even bad teams who should care about the extra year don't care like Arizona and Pittsburgh.

That was only Colas 3rd HR off a LHP pitcher combining A+ and AA , however a lot less PA's and he actually has a higher BA, OBP near equal slugging and higher OPS off of LHP. Can't find the splits to separate A+ from AA.

.321. BA .962 OPS, 14 HR in 46 games with Birmingham.

Yea I have a hard time with a guy who's hand is supposedly hurting swinging so much. If his hand hurts why can't he figure out a slider is coming in a slider count when he has extra incentive not to swing ? Look at some damn pitches and when you're ahead 2-0 and 3-1 maybe then swing. Think !

Eloy with a 3 run HR early. Pito was a solo HR late Kopech and relief pitchers hold Rocks to 2 runs. Liam with the save. Sox 4 Rockies 2, keeping pace with the hot Guardians. Sox once again 4 over .500.

Then Vaughn has to go. One or the other. 36 and expensive or 25 and cheap ? Sentiment or do whats right for the team ?

Finally after what 150 PA's !!!!!!!????

He's been keeping both hands on the bat. He's had a week off and had all the necessary x rays . Play through it and play some defense . You can heal all off season.

Doesn't look like it I rather have a single mean 2 runs than one.

Did the Sox pinch run for Grandal ?

Do you think he will hurt the team the rest of the way or himself ? Both ? Play him live and die with your best. Do we really need to see the Pollock , Vaughn , Sheets OF more ? Engel is trashed.

Pitchers have to learn to pitch without their best stuff. Kopech is still in the learning process of his pitching just as Cease was for a while. He's also still in the building up his arm stage too. Once both things are at their peak you could see better MPH , another pitch and , better command. There's no doubt the season is taking a physical toll on him at this point.

Runs now ! Let's go !

I agree .Availability is often the best ability. Front offices know this and look to acquire injured players cheaply. Vaughn has yet to have a major injury. His ability to play a competent 1st base is pretty much an unknown with as few times as he has actually played it. His hitting has been much improved this year and he could improve more. Id hate trading him and getting rid of ABreu but one or the other should happen.

Road Sheets but he better pick it up at home. Pollock's been hot the last 2 weeks . Not sure how much of it has come against RHP though.

SHeet is depth whether in the minors or trade. Eloy or Vaughn shouldnt be anywhere near the OF. Eloy great for DH and hopefully it keeps him healthier too, Vaughn 1st base or traded. ABreu sorry has to go need the cap space. Highly doubt it'll shake out that way though. JR will have to show his loyalty once more to Abreu. If we want JR to keep his hands off making on field decisions he shouldn't meddle in Abreu's departure either.

Sox are going to have to roll with Giolito, Kopech, Lynn and Cease thats 4 of the 5 starters. Of course I d love a competent 5th start and Giolito to rebound , just as I want Moncada and Grandal to rebound. However the lineup can't hit and can't field. How do you not prioritize fixing the defense and balancing the lineup when all you have to do is play Colas and find another LH OF ? 2 fixes with obtaining one decent LH OF. I know it won't fix the entire defense but it's a dam good place to start. Trading Vaughn may be necessary I agree but between trading off some youth and the rest being injured or terribly inconsistent the core has disintegrated massively. The Sox are just going to have to roll with Eloy, Moncada , Grandal and Giolito. They don't have the resources to do much else. My suggestion or my priority is get one good LH OF and play Colas and it fixes 2 areas of concern hitting and defense simultaneously. I can call starting pitching 1A if you'd like but the history of the franchise has always been pitching rich and very very LH hitting poor. The LH hitting poor part has always historically hurt the Sox as a franchise. They just have better karma finding pitching. They haven't had any luck with LH hitting and that has to change. I'm looking at this from a historical and current need standpoint.

Then you fix the core .Vaughn and Sheets shouldn't be in the OF . Priority should be, as it has been, getting some LH, decent fielding OF's with a bit of speed. Colas is one of them do or die. Bench pieces should be low priority. Fix the lineup and defense.

Rodon was 29 Cueto will be 37 next year 34, Abreu 36, Pollock 35, Hendriks 34, Grandal 34. Age with their inflated salaries is where you cut the fat if it's even movable. Hahn's been doing it backwards , dumping cheap youth for inflated veteran salaries. That's fine if those veterans do what they were supposed to. Kimbrel didn't, Pollock hasn't . Instead of rewarding the youth like Rodon the Sox let him go,doubled down on Kimbrel, backed themselves into a corner and got a RH OF with age and money. Hahn was fleeced once again . He didn't get youth with an extra year he got age , plus salary plus another year. The whole Rodon + Kimbrel +Kelly + Leury debacle cost the Sox so much money youth and talent when you throw in how much they spent on Kelly knowing he was injured to boot. It's frightening that the same guy may get a chance to redeem himself.

They will have Colas next yr. in RF . It's win or lose with him. What they need to do is have the new OFer's preferably both LH . Colas takes care of RF. Who patrols LF is anyone's guess since a FA signing for someone like Nimmo or maybe even Conforto probably doesn't happen. It will improve team speed and defense. Speed and Left handedness in the lineup will be especially important with the new shift and pick off rules. Other teams will realize this. We can only hope the Sox will and, for once act, on it. The fly in the ointment is what to do with Abreu and Vaughn. Logically Vaughn has to stay because he's young and cheap. The hard part will be getting Reinsdorf to know that Abreu will have to be the one to go because there is very little else to save money on. These are the hard decisions that every team that wishes to contend ,on the type of budget the Sox may or may not have next year, must make. I do not enjoy in the slightest saying this about Jose. He is the best player they have had since he got here in both performance, availability and leadership. 2nd base should also be available for a youngster like Romy or Sosa. Andrus should be an afterthought . If he played any other position or had some versatility he would more valuable but have to save money where they can while prioritizing the right things this off season . No going crazy with money to relief pitches, they keep feeding that monster and it hasn't resulted in squat. Prioritize LH hitters and some speed and defense and of course pitching but at least starting pitching outside of Cueto will be back. We'll see if Hahn or another GM can right the ship . The ship has been Captain-less and without a rudder now for a few years. If Jerry thinks he's the Captain and he's the rudder it's about as hopeless as it usually is .