I know its more complicated than simply outscoring your opponents every night. But those early 2000s Sox clubs sure lost a lot of high scoring games and sat home every October.
Sox were 9th worst in Runs Scored in 2019. 7th worst in Runs Allowed, and 7th worst in Run Differential. Every playoff team except Milwaukee had a run differential over +100. Does that line up make up for the Sox -124 run differential to even get above water? Tough hill to climb with half of a major league starting rotation.
They played nearly .500 ball before the ASB when injury and lack of depth caught up to them. Played pretty decent down the stretch too. Looked poised to make some timely additions in the offseason.
Not sure if anyone really thought playoff contention was realistic coming into this offseason. But .500+ and fighting for a Wild Card should be within the realm of possibilities if the FO could or would add meaningful pieces.
A+ for turning team friendly contracts into high end prospects. C for the draft. D for scouting. D in trades. D-/F in player development. F in free agency (execution and approach). F for adding meaningful long term pieces to the rebuild outside of the draft.
Rick Hahn works within some ownership level constraints that do tie his hands so he can't be blamed entirely. I don't know if a different GM would be different or better, But other franchises operate under similar financial constraint/limitations but seem to have more success in these areas.
My thoughts exactly. I too would prefer a more front line acquisition, but with the market the way is, locking in Keuchel isn't the worst fall back option.
Something similar has crossed my mind too. Grandal was totally unreported before it happened. Wheeler was leaky as hell and didn't happen. *Maybe* the FO is on total lockdown until the Ozuna contract is signed??
I tried to watch him as much as I could this past postseason. Really liked his bat, but his D left a lot to be desired. And he was in LF. Really don't think he's a real solution for RF defensively.
I would gladly take Ryu on a 3 year deal. Kuechel too on a 1 + option. Next year's FA class looks pretty bleak for pitching as well. Sox can't roll into 2020 with Gio and a bunch of question marks.