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SO you're going to count the 60 game season as a full season. Got it. Nevermind he is considered one of the best in the game who has 4 years left of eligibility and probably 8 teams would love to have who Pittsburgh probably doesn't even want to trade. Is a 795 OPS considered bad to you? The Sox have only 3 guys with an OPS of .795 or higher. Vaughn , Robert and Areu and are in desperate need of a bat that can do that from the left side and they also are in desperate need of a HR hitter and an OF who can run and field. Plus we have no idea how long Robert is going to be out.

Exactly .He hasn't changed his M.O in a few years and it became even worse with TLR and his wrinkly pair pulling the strings maybe more than we know.

Growing a pair is not paying a 90 yr old relief pitcher $16M, maybe it is to Hahn idk.. As always the Sox need young talent and LHH talent and better roster construction. Growing a pair would mean getting rid of our many DH's and trying to get a very good LHH hitter who can also miraculously field his position.

You apparently don't want to trade anyone unless you think the Sox clearly win the trade even though the idea is to help the Sox win the division and win in the playoffs. The Sox still have shot at being a very good second half team but changes must be made and minor leaguers and Burger aren't going to help with that. Changes are coming and if you expect the team to be better next year good luck with that too.

Sure he is. What are the odds that either Montgomery or Colas become as good as Bryan Reynolds. Not very high. Reynolds instantly becomes the Sox best HR hitter, he balances the lineup, being a switch hitter , never have to pinch hit for him, he's not a free agent until 2026. He also has decent speed. He's having a down year compared to how really good he was last year, 11th in MVP voting for a guy on a terrible team. Maybe that means his 2nd half will be very special. It could also mean he's been playing dinged up . He has missed time recently with a right oblique strain. He returned to the Pirates lineup yesterday and went 0-4 playing CF. Forgot : He's also signed through 2023 at 2 yrs/$13M so relatively cheap through 2023 then he hits arbitration.

Despite what we think of Leury his playing time is more a reflection of injuries, non performance and a huge lack of any LHH. You get LH players, prevent injuries and have guys perform better Leury becomes a PR and occasional OF for defense and 2nd base occasional starter for Harrison. If Vaughn, Eloy or Pollock need replacing defensively, if Robert is still out and Engel cannot fill that need, that's his only spot in the OF if you get Happ.

Kopech may not make it anyway but he could if he relieves the rest of the way or the last month .

Hahn may grow a pair this deadline and that might not be so good. They just got a bunch of young arms in the draft so that could mean that the ones we already have are headed out. Not that are any really good ones anywhere near the majors except Davis Martin. Lambert has been surprisingly effective in the pen. Colas and Montgomery are probably safe. But anyone else in the minors is fair game from the 40 who have spent any time on the 26, Burger, Sheets, Zavala, McGuire, Romy Gonzalez, Sosa, Haseley. Others include any position player in the minors if anyone wants them. Might be some interest in Cespedes, Popeye Rodriquez, Cristian Mena, Jared Kelley, Luis Mieses. I'd say the most amount of money they take on is between $10-15M for the rest of this year. Whatever players that can fit that price structure. If they can squeeze 3 moves in that they will but more likely 2.

of course not. Would you give him up for Moore and Martin Perez ?

More like Matt Moore.

Sure but then when anyone's value is high no one wants them traded.

Yea we have no idea what other teams would give up for Eloy and you can't find out unless you ask. Would the Cubs take him for1.4 years of Ian Happ ? Would Oakland take him for2.4 yrs of Ramon Laureano ? Would Tx. take him for .4 season of Martin Perez ? Would everyone hate those trades ? I think more people still are longing to have Eloy be something he might never be. The hitting potential is still intriguing but the injuries ruin his value. So what's the solution, hold onto him or trade him now before it gets even worse ? Even a short or continued burst of health is still just waiting until the next big injury and the Sox may never decide to just DH him.

yea there's your extra speedy dude who could slash it into the gaps and down the line. Plus those 4 years he led the league he played in almost every game except 1994. Those 4 years he accumulated 12.1 fWar and a lot of that was defensive War. bWar has him at 15.4 WAR for those 4 years. As a free agent he had his biggest fWar year 6.4 playing in a different park with the Mets ,that was more conducive to his talents. Lance was Billy Hamiton who could hit a little bit and never struck out. Don't make them like that any more.

Ha well I never was either . Everyone here should be able to admit they've been wrong in player evaluations. Happen all the time to me. I actually liked the Mazara trade. At the time he was still young enough to give me hope he would get better and become a big HR hitter which we have always lacked from a LHH who could also field decently. Basically that trade has just been a nothing trade. No one was right at least so far.

No one can be a doubles machine in our park. It isn't built for anything but singles and HR's. Only really fast guys with power or just really exceptional hitter who can get into both alleys and down the lines can get a decent amount of doubles in our park but you can be sure he'd also have a lot of doubles taken away too because of the small OF. Big OF parks with funky angles and high walls where crazy caroms can occur for doubles and triples are where you find doubles and triples hitting guys. Colorado is a good example where we play next but with our guys jogging I'm not sure we'll hit any triples while we are there. This is why Menechino as a hitting coach is just so absurd in our park. Extra base hits mean big innings but our park just isn't an extra base haven unless the ball goes over the wall.

If the Sox want a difference maker and to unclog the terrible roster construction there will be guy traded we all don't want traded. That includes Eloy , Vaughn, Crochet,Sosa, Vera Colas and Montgomery. Happ might be available without any of those guys included and maybe Martin Perez too. Those 2 guys can make an impact in starting pitching and the lineup if they don't regress from their current seasons. The question with Eloy is and has always been can he stay healthy long enough to make a major impact. If he can't, then selling him at any point isn't that stupid and if he can make a major impact as a DH then where does Vaughn play ? LF I guess but that's not where he belongs. How long do we wait on Eloy to show he isn't made of glass ? In his 1st 3 years (2019- 2021) with the Sox Eloy played in 232 of 384 games but in the last 2 years (2021 and this year) he's played in 78 of a possible 258. Total so far 255 of 480 games. 1st 2 years, pretty good, last 2 years terrible. If you think the Sox can win a World Series this year or next year without trading some guys that will hurt to trade more power to you. If you think the Sox can win the World Series as the core ages , gets more expensive and keeps getting injured while waiting for Colas Sosa, Popeye Rodriquez, Montgomery , Cespedes or waiting on Crochet to be an ace , again. more power to you. ( Not you Wegner but anyone who thinks keeping prospects for a vague future of mediocrity and certain guys who can't stay on the field and playing out of position is the way to go.) We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are no easy answers here. On top of that even if trades are made we don't even know who is charge of making them. Or who has the most input after JR. Is it Hahn, Williams, TLR , our esteemed analytics dept and scouting evaluators ? Total disaster any way you look at it.

When I was watching the Dodgers and Giants a few days ago all the ex Sox were playing, Yermin was in LF, Luis Gonzalez was playing. Trace Thompson was a hero with 2 big hits and a super catch over the railing in foul territory in LF and Lamb got a big knock.

The trade deadline is on Aug. 2 . which is the 2nd game of the KC series at home. I would suspect a revitalized team if the Sox pull off some trades that gives the impression to the players that the front office cares. These games should put the Sox over .500 permanently for the season. So much as I don't know what will happen I'll say 13-6. I should add the caveat that without Robert we are doomed.He needs to be back on the field as soon as the IL stint is over with whatever his problem is, solved.

Thank you for the in depth analysis and it's something I've been saying for quite a while. There is one more thing you kind of brought up but but not specifically about how power doesn't translate going the opposite way. This is especially true in at home. GRate is not a doubles or triple hitter's park. It has a small OF and small gaps and often with our RHH the OF defense is shifted toward the line so our slower guys can't even get a double out of a hit down the RF line. While the Oppo field approach has boosted batting averages of Vaughn, Robert, ABreu and Tim it does nothing to increase double triples and HR's in our park. Only pulling the ball does that . Extra base hits are what gets you big innings . As you said it's hard to string a bunch of singles together when guys like Abreu, Vaughn, Tim and Eloy are just as likely to hit into a DP and kill a rally.

Ok brother you're right. Even though I never said anything about Robert but go ahead put words in my mouth.Guess we will just have to see how successful Crochet is as a starting pitcher in 3 years. If you don't think a certified physical therapist who used to work in MLB can't teach u anything about what lies ahead for Crochet we'll just chalk that up to you thinking you have all the answers. As i said it has less to do with the Tommy John surgery and more to do with the lack of previous starting experience on his arm already but I guess you just ignored that part. Yes, I also agree the Sox need another starting pitcher . But if you don't think the total lack of good fielding + good LHH OF isn't a big problem too, nothing I can say will change your mind. Vaughn is a 1st Baseman, Sheets is a 1st baseman, Engel doesn't have the bat and he's RH, Pollock is RH and he hasn't hit RHP at all. Eloy can't even play the field. Even if you could combine the 1 LHH OF we have with Sheets bat and the best fielding OF we have in Engel it still wouldn't be a player as good as Happ and that's the problem . The Sox have a bunch of half outfielders who either can't hit or can't field or are injury prone. Happ plays every day he can play the OF well and he's a switch hitter who can hit LHP and RHP. It would be really nice to get one guy even if he isn't a superstar who can hit both righties and lefties who can also field and play every day. Instead of 5 OF's, none who can stay on the field, hit and play defense. It's really not asking for much to have just 1 guy (besides Robert) who can do anything, everywhere all at once. Oh and btw Robert is missing in action yet again and if it's serious it makes the situation even worse in the OF !

Ok first off Happ isn't a superstar but he is head and shoulders above what the Sox have in the OF. Secondly Crochet is an injured reliever period. He has no body of work as a starting pitcher even when he was in college. His arm will take 2 if not 3 years to become a full time starter in MLB and that's if he isn't injured again trying to handle the workoad of a starter. As of right now he says he wants to start but there are very very few who view him as as potential high quality starting pitcher. Ask @ptatc or any other experts on how to view Crochet's road to becoming a quality starting pitcher.

Well i wouldn't characterize it as out of control. I mean yea people are saying don't trade Montgomery , Colas and Vera for anyone but I don't believe that myself. I do love Colas and Montgomery though. Colas is hard to read because he hasn't been playing much baseball the last few years and how well he's doing now is pretty impressive considering he wasn't getting much hype like draft picks get because scouts see those guys all the time. The only thing we had to go on was his very limited time in Japanese baseball 3 yrs ago when he was 20 and made it to their major leagues. It was probably a little unsettling for Colas to start so low in the minors but maybe now in AA he's happier . The fact that he's not yet in the Top 100 prospects is only reflective of how little those doing the evaluating have seen him. I think anyone scouting him now has to be very impressed.

I think you can get him for Montgomery and Colas ++ whoever the pluses might be. Those 2 are a pretty damn strong package and a lot of Sox fans would go nuts against including Colas and Montgomery . I wouldn't love it but gotta give to get and the need for a LHH and decent enough fielder of Reynolds quality is nearly impossible to find.

That's a tough one. The Sox window is rapidly closing and you have to weigh how good the Sox might be next year without Cueto and Lynn another year older. Also have to figure the window will be closed by the time Montgomery gets here. Allin all Colas and Montgomery although both look great right not are still in their Sox infancy in the minors . Either could fizzle out although most don't think that will happen. I think if the Sox can pry away Martin Perez from the Rangers who will undoubtedly get a decent amount of good offers for his rental services and still have decent enough pieces to get Reynolds I'd consider one of Colas and Montgomery and try to include Lenyn Sosa but unfortunately he's struggling a bit in AAA after destroying AA. If it can be done giving up Montgomery and Colas I might say yes but the other pieces would have to be in the bottom half of the Sox Top 30 prospects not named Davis Martin. Sheets, Crochet and Burger should also be tradable if the Pirates have any interest in them.

Stats don't lie my friend there's nothing wrong with Happs career OPS and OBP no matter what your friends say. But yea u don't give the Cubs Montgomery or Colas. Crochet we can part with because he's just technically a reliever whose chances at becoming a starter are still 2 years down the road if ever. Cubs would want more for 2 years of Happ than just Crochet even if they did want him.