ChiSox59

Aaron throwing strikes is a beautiful thing!

He was a kid. Men fill out. He’s far from chubby.

Jimmy Nails

Wow, love that name. That definitely raises them into my top 5 minor league team names along with the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Montgomery Biscuits, and Lansing Lugnuts.

I didn't really say that. I just presented the facts. But no, I don't think the Rays are going to continue their 137 win pace once their schedule gets harder. They probably don't even win 100 games, tbh. So if that makes them "overrated", sure. The Sox wouldn't sweep the Sugarland Skeeters playing like they're playing since TA went down. They need to be much better to win any series against a major league team. I certainly don't expect the Sox to sweep the Rays. But winning the series isn't beyond the realm of possibility if they play good baseball.

Its also worth noting that the Rays have had a very, very, very soft schedule to date. v. Tigers (3), @ Nats (3), vs. A's (3), v. Red Sox (4), @Jays (3), @ Reds (3) The only series versus a good team they went 1-2. Now, the Sox basically fit right into with those bad teams at this point, but the only two clubs you can really say are better than the Sox are the Jay and Red Sox, and Red Sox are very, very meh.

Today is a big day. Bullpen day for the Rays. Getting deep into it would be great. Tomorrow has two Cy frontrunners going, so probably won't get too deep into their pen tomorrow. The Rays are so interesting. You look at their roster, and even their stats to date, and outside of Wander and to a lesser extent Arozarena, their lineup is so.....ordinary. The Lowes have both been good, but we're talking about guys like Yandy DIaz, Manny Margot, and Issac Paredes playing huge roles on the club. Obviously its an amazingly coached organization, but this isn't some 110+ win squad. Even their pitching outside of McClannahan doesn't pop off the page. They're definitely a very well run organization. Its impressive how much production they get from their roster.

People were saying that this offseason as well. Not going to lie, I've never looked at Moncada and thought "he looks chubby".

Kopech vs. Faucher. 540CT first pitch. Let's win a series.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The same people that wanted Eloy and AV out of the OF immediately are suddenly big Burger at 3B stans. Sox need to play good defense to win baseball games. Burger, while he's raking right now, isn't an MLB caliber 3B. And his hitting also is not sustainable. Certainly ride him while he's hot and Moncada is hurt, but 3B is Yoan's once he's back - I have no doubt about that.

Sure. But the Sox are not a good team with Jake Burger playing 3B. He's really bad at it. Its fine I guess in short spurts as an injury fill-in when he's hitting like he is right now, but he effectively cost the Sox a game there the other day, and was absolutely brutal there in a decent-sized 40 game sample in 2022. Burger has been playing 3B his whole life. Its not a new position for him. He's just not that athletic or mobile; he's not going to vastly improve. Expecting him to play there routinely isn't really a long term option.

I agree there are a lot of troubling signs. Sox have looked nothing short of awful. I watch a lot of Twins baseball though, and I'd be pretty surprised if that team plays 5 games over .500 in their next 35. Their offense is bad and their pitching has grossly overachieved so far, and they're still just 11-8 after today.

It remains worth noting, that despite how tremendously awful the Sox have been, they'll head to Tampa just 4 games back. A 4 game deficit is frankly not that much - especially in April - and the Twins and Guardians are not good. That shouldn't make you feel any better about just how awful the Sox have been in this 19 game sample, buttttttt the Sox are far from dead in this division.

Rather than downgrading two positions defensively, may as well just put Burger at 2B and only downgrade 1. I think, most likely, 1 of 2 scenarios will occur before too long: 1) Burger cools off big time, sort of eliminating the need to to play him everyday; and/or 2) once Yoan does return in a week or two, between Eloy, AV and Yoan, it won't be long until Burger has everyday reps again anyway due to the next ouchie. I am not as staunchly against moving Moncada around as I've been in the past. If Burger is still raking, you do need to find him PAs. At this point, we may as well try to find whatever value we can from Moncada while we have him through 2024. But....Yoan is a really, really good 3B. Its hard for me to fathom too many scenarios that if he's healthy enough to play, that putting him anywhere but 3B gives this team the best opportunity to win the game that day. Jake at 3B and Yoan at 2B doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

AV has a 135 wRC+ so far in 2023. While we'd all like to see more power, he's been pretty good at the plate.

There is obviously nothing you can do right now. Need to see how things playout at least over the next 70-80 days. If Sox are buried come late June, you certainly try to move all of Lynn, Giolito, Clevinger, Kelly, Graveman, Lopez and Diekman (if he's still here). You can theoretically trade this group and keep your offensive core intact for 2024, albeit, 19 games into 2023 doesn't seem like a core you want to keep intact. Definitely listen on Moncada to the extent there is interest. If Eloy has a big couple months between now and then, you listen on him as well. His 2025 option if feeling like a long shot to pick up at this point, but is still a nice option to have. If you end up ripping it all down, you pretty much have to listen on Cease as he's the guy that can bring you legitimate talent back. I'd hang onto Robert myself, but you gotta listen. That all being said, this conversation is pretty premature. Trades of substance don't really occur until late June (very occasionally), and really more like mid-July. A lot can change between now and then.

They're actually paying Beni $11M this year, and Clevinger's $4M will be paid in October 2023.

Huh? If you assume the Sox payroll is in the $190M-$200M range its been in the last two season, and they have $145M committed to 2024 not including Lynn, how do you figure $30M? That would assume $15-20M cuts. Its more like $50M to spend without Lynn, or $30M with Lynn. This scenerio obviously assumes the Sox are attempting to compete in 2024. Alternatively... If the Sox suck this year, a good chunk of these players won't be here in 2024 making this entire exercise moot.

REally just Moncada. Unless you want to call Robert's $12.5M and Eloy's $13M backloaded. Considering those are pretty modest increases over their 2023 salaries, I wouldn't call them that.

Alternatively, they may only have to replace 1 SP. Lynn is a team option. Clevinger is mutual option. He'd have to be pretty good to reject his side of it, but Sox probably just cut bait regardless. If you assume Lynn and Clevinger are both gone, they have about $145M committed to 2024 payroll. So more like $50M to spend. That also assumes Sox don't move anyone controlled past 2023, which seems unlikely if the current trend continues.

Whooooo cares. Take it to CubsTalk.

Pretty pitiful start to the season. Very very frustrating.

With respect to Eloy in the OF, I guess it depends on what your definition of more time is. More than 1 start in the OF in 18 games like we've seen so far? Yeah, probably. But the Sox aren't going to sit Colas often versus RHP, IMO. They also know Eloy is risk to himself and everyone around him in the OF.

All these calls from Sox fans to DFA or trade Eloy are so funny to me. Yes, he gets hurt alot. But that's the same reason he has minimal trade value. You could maybeeeeee get a back-end top 100 prospect type for him in July if he hasn't missed a bunch more time and is within spitting distance of his career line of .273/.325/.496. I do think his contract still has value ($27M guaranteed in 23, 24 and 25 buyout), and those 25 and 26 options are pretty fair at $16.5M and $18.5M, but the same reason some cohort of Sox fans want to dump Eloy is the same reason he won't bring you a big return. He's the one guy on this team that can realistically hit .300 and pop 40+ homers. There is no good reason to trade him, especially when you have decent in-house DH options in Burger and Sheets to fill in when he does get hurt. Now if Eloy stays healthy and rakes the next 2.5 months and the Sox still find themselves 10 GB, sure, by all means field offers and try to sell high. But selling low certainly isn't the answer to what ails the Sox.

This roster cannot stay healthy. Why are we trying to trade the spare parts? While you theoretically can make trades in April/May, you'll be getting pennies on the dollar value wise. What good does that do for the Sox? Also, Moncada is due $29M next season including his $5M buyout on 2025 team option. He is on the Sox for 2 more seasons; just have to hope he stays healthy and plays well. Me thinks Moncada is going to want another payday, which is going to require him to stay on the field and be productive the next 18 months. Pedro has already said a few times Moncada isn't coming back until 100%. When he does comes back, 3B is going to be his against RHP. Which means one of AV or Eloy has to sit to get Burger in the lineup. That shouldn't happened regularly, but also requires Eloy to stay healthy which is always a question mark. Jake can get some 3B starts against LHP, pinch hit later in games, etc. Its a nice problem to have.