almagest

I look forward to Civale not being on this team

Yeah... they still don't have anyone to play CF as good as Robert can, but the injury makes picking up the option seem like a bad idea.

That must be why his last homer was like 97 mph instead of 113.

That had most of the plate Witt

Alright, this is going off. Royals hitting everything now.

Woof, this bullpen

That was easy

I think having them alternate between catching and DH will help them stay consistent.

I will definitely lean more into the "fire Getz" camp if they don't pick it up. It's a no-brainer, plus they already hinted they would.

Guys drafted right after Ring: Denard Span (28 bWAR) Jeremy Guthrie (18.5 bWAR) Matt Cain (29.2 bWAR) After Poreda: Rick Porcello (18.8 bWAR) Todd Frazier (25.8 bWAR) was early in the supplemental round, but I'll count him since the Sox picked Poreda 24th.

Why? Quero's career minor league OBP is .399. .350 (his current OBP) doesn't seem out of reach for him longer term. Teel's is .401 - .375 might be a bit high but I wouldn't blink at .350+ for him either.

Second half of 2026. I'd prefer sooner, but I don't know if its realistic. If Robert stays and continues looking energized, we see continued growth from the young position players, and Braden Montgomery comes up in the second half and looks like he belongs, then I think the offense is at least a positive. Pitching is what I think holds them back. It looks like we have a group of 4th/5th starters and a shaky, inconsistent bullpen. Hagen Smith is likely more than a year away, if he's even a starter. Hopefully Schultz can shove the rest of the year and look good in the fall. That puts him back on track to make his MLB debut next year I'd think. The Sox do have some interesting arms in AA that could get a look next year, too. There are also some interesting high level 2026 SP free agent options (Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen) to bring some help to the rotation, assuming the Sox spend anything. Bullpen has some too, but I'm not as interested in spending there. One area I'm WAY more encouraged than I was in the previous rebuild is overall talent pipeline. Before it was a bunch of top 50/100 prospects and then nothing. Now, there's top 100 talent, but also some interesting guys in the team top 30 plus what looks like an ability to infuse talent via the draft. 🤞 this continues to look good.

Right now, the guy who I would say fits "the Sox royally screwed up by not hiring him" is Bendix.

I wouldn't hate it. Then we can trade him again next year!

Colson the difference in this one. Very much enjoying scoring runs!

This ump sucks

OUCH Lenyn. Hope he’s ok.

I like having players good enough to take advantage of a struggling pitcher

Never mind - I can’t tell time

Well, I at least take solace in the fact that my post about the offense is once again correct.

Yeah… that is just too shallow to take a chance with someone who isn’t a burner.

Why does that matter? Players move around a lot in the minors. The Barons were 38-31 in the first half. They're 32-15 in the second half. A big reason for that large improvement is adding good players in the Sox top 30 to the roster.

That's not true. re: Birmingham. Braden Montgomery, Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal and Sam Antonacci are all in the top 10 of Sox Machine's top 30 prospects and have a solid chance to make an MLB impact. William Bergolla (15th) and Shane Murphy (25th) are also in AA.

Relievers run hot and cold all the time. It's perfectly possible Kopech just rode a hot streak last year. Also, Kopech has made 8 appearances this season and hasn't pitched since June. People acting like he was saved by the Dodgers and he's some stud reliever now are just being ridiculous. The Sox have had plenty of known issues without inventing random nonsense to get mad about.

Vaughn might be coming back down to earth - last 7 games: .192/.300/.231/.531