35thstreetswarm

Cesar is going to be really good for someone else in 2022, and then adopted as some Soxtalk anti-fan's favorite player.

So the list of FAs is bad...if you ignore the best FAs (Scherzer), assume a lot of the good FAs aren't really available, that those that play positions the Sox need (Semien) won't actually play those positions...but that other FAs (e.g. shortstops) can't possibly move positions? OK. I truly can't remember a better FA list for the Sox. Whether we actually sign any of the targets is a different story.

Best possible outcome. Although the more likely response from Manfred might be a statement condemning the unauthorized uniform standards violation, but qualifying that "I can't make any judgment as to whether the buzzer helped or hurt Mr. Altuve, who by all accounts is a talented, hardworking and upstanding little guy"

The Confederacy had a lot more than "support within [the] population" of Missouri, though it definitely had that, along with maintaining its status as a slave state. Missouri was officially accepted into the confederacy in 1861, though the pro-confederate governor and his gov't were eventually forced to function in exile. It sent legislators to the Confederate Congress. It sent tens of thousands of soldiers to fight in the Confederate army, and Missouri had its own rebel battle flag. In fact, Missouri represents one of the 13 stars on the "stars and bars" of the Confederate battle flag. There are Confederate war monuments all over the State. That's more than enough for me to consider it a "Confederate" state, and I think it's a little ridiculous for Missourians to claim separation from the Confederacy or claim the State was somehow fully part of the Union. Anyway, I nodded to the complexity and disputes surrounding Missouri's Confederate status in my original post and recognize we're way off topic.

I can't recall being less enthused about a World Series than this one. I imagine the ratings will be low. But I'll watch it because I love baseball and desperately want to see the cheaters lose.

No better way to rehabilitate yourself from an accusation of posting like a "small person" than to lead with an all-caps typo correction.

I am not a big fan of Stone, especially Twitter Stone. I think his constant whining about Moncada is ridiculous. But I haven't detected racism in his criticism of players.

I think he means Burger. Replace with “first round draft pick.”

yes, I feel like we can address pretty much all of our needs in FA. I’d like to stay away from trading assets as much as possible, especially after the Madrigal debacle.

I bet you’re laughed at a lot behind your back.

Not true—2011 Cardinals/Rangers (though I guess some might dispute the extent of Missouri’s membership in the Confederacy) .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/26/houston-astros-cheating-scandal/

...and we saw a significantly better version of the Astros than even the BoSox did, as they were able to throw Lance McKryptonite at us twice in a five-game series. I know regular season results only matter around here when we're talking about the Sox/Astros July series in Houston, but we did play Boston really well this year.

I just wish we could be cool like the Padres

Make no mistake: the finely-tuned Soxtalk negativity machine, if turned loose on any of the other playoff losers, could eviscerate them just as easily as it does our own team on a daily basis. The Braves do give me hope. They put together a good squad through a rebuild, kept plugging away, had success but were up and down and frankly kind of forgotten this year until now. We just have to keep pushing, make the playoffs regularly, and our time will come. Who knows—our big chance may well come when we least expect it.

Agreed. I think starting pitching is the area on this team that's most due for regression. For 90% of the season things went about as well as we could have possibly hoped with the rotation, which carried an injured team, but I think what we saw at the end of the season is closer to what we can expect from our starters next season. I think Lynn regresses, and Rodon (if we sign him) regresses substantially and/or gets injured. Kopech is going to be re-learning how to be a starting pitcher and will likely wear down or hit an innings limit. I think we'll continue to see improvement out of Cease and Giolito will remain solid, but I don't think we're "set" on starting pitching by any means. Luckily I think the offense is going to blaze back to what it was supposed to be last season.

OK, I think I understand a little better, and I'd be a lot more comfortable with him DHing than playing RF, though I'd still rather see Eloy there with Vaughn in LF and a more athletic player in RF (whether it's a FA or Engel). I'd love to just see us sign Semien, which would really lower the stakes of all these outfield decisions.

I honestly don't understand. What is it about Sheets that gives you such certainty that you wouldn't even consider a more established player to man RF -- not even Sheets's position -- as an insurance policy? All while still holding on to Sheets, thus keeping him around to achieve the greatness you foresee? I might understand if his small-sample-size performance came as the culmination of a huge minor league career. But it doesn't. He's an obvious candidate for major regression. Were you this convinced about Mercedes (who *did* tear up the minors) in June?

Bosox losing, and the Astros being caught (again), would be as close as you’d ever get to that “wish they could both lose” scenario when two hated teams plays each other. ?

Yes - perhaps my least favorite part of the report, and definitely the most passive aggressive. "I'm not saying...I'm just saying." If you really don't want to take any position on a topic you just don't say anything about it.

I thought it went without saying that the last question was a joke But in all seriousness, it is striking that the board has gone from pining for Springer plus Bauer to hoping we can just sign Michael Conforto. The chasm between hope and reality has narrowed considerably.

I've said the same, and it seems like a lot of folks on the board share this view. All in all it seems like the collective expectations of the board for the offseason are quite a bit lower than last year (in large part because the needs are fewer and less glaring). Hell, just go out and sign Conforto -- not exactly a superstar -- and a lot of us are placated. Could this be the rare offseason where we end up happy?!

A largely dismissed allegation from a single player who was not even on the team at the time is a far cry from a well-researched and officially documented investigation by MLB finding systemic cheating by an entire organization. I totally agree that it was outrageous and the punishment not nearly severe enough. I would have hated a Hinch hire.

Or perhaps beekeeping. You could start a pretty good hive with just the ones in your bonnet

So we would’ve beaten the Red Sox, I guess, based on the regular season? Let me guess, regular season only counts where we lost.