Sambuca

I meant next season, not for his entire career. Hoping he can be a 1/2 or even 3 next year is absurdly hopeful and unrealistic. He might figure it out, I’m just not expecting him to figure it out this quickly. It’s not impossible though. I never mentioned Kopech, because I don’t expect Kopech to struggle like Cease has. Having two years off, makes it hard for me to say this, but Kopech not only has better stuff, he is more developed and has displayed much better command. Kopech is also not afraid to throw a pitch in the zone while ahead in the count. I’m not expecting Kopech to come up and throw four breaking balls two feet outside the zone every time he gets an 0-2 count.

Imagine 4mil being the difference if we have a blackhole or not in the rotation in a year we are expecting to be WS contenders after a 4 year (tanking) rebuild.

Dunning’s “natural” stuff is nowhere near as good as Cease, whose stuff can compete with anyone in baseball. Right now though, Cease’s stuff is useless. He needs a lot of work. Dunning, on the other hand, does not need a lot of work. He already has great command, and knows how to use/locate his pitches. Back to Dunning’s stuff, it is extremely underrated. While he showed flashes last season (not sure some of you even noticed), his stuff was not peak. He was recovering from TJ in a weird season hiding in an independent league stadium. His arm was not at full strength and it showed. His fastball and breaking pitches looked awesome in his debut, and that wasn’t even his full arsenal. After that first start when Renteria pitched him too long, he never regained that fastball or snap on his breaking pitches. His command also seemed to suffer from limited arm strength/durability. Check out his BB rate in the minors. Cease does have ace potential. But he also has an very low floor. Dunning has a pretty decent floor, but don’t get it twisted, he can be more than “only a 4/5.” It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Dunning be a top of the rotation pitcher for a period of time.

I’m sure I would have. 5mil or not, I’m not a huge fan of him remaining an above average closer moving forward. Hendriks is more expensive, but I don’t trust the Sox would have spent that money elsewhere. Some of the money probably would have been used to dumpster dive. I’ll take the elite player when they decide to spend. And Hendriks is elite. Colome is a good pitcher. His stuff is decent, and he knows how to pitch. But I’d rather not rely on my closers relying on guile and defense for the last 3-6 outs of the game. I want a guy who is going to come in the game and miss a ton of bats and leave as little to chance as possible. A closer doesn’t have 6 innings to play with, it’s do or die immediately. There were also games last year when Colome’s stuff looked horrible, and I have no idea how he ended up getting three hitters out, but I’m not celebrating that appearance, only the victory. Some days, it just seemed harder for him to get his arm loose or something. Which isn’t good when you’re normal stuff is already naturally regressing. Hendiks is the opposite of all that, and he is a force to be reckoned with. The amount of bats he’s going to miss compared to Colome next few seasons is well worth the extra money. The Twins signing Colome is “cool, they added a dude to the back of their pen.” Or, “the Twins have a bullpen.”

Meh.

Hector Gomez is a moron. Hopefully age 40 is his regression year, finally. Colome going to MN doesn’t really bother me at all though. Good for them, I guess?

Obvs.

Cease (Not Giolito) has a lot to figure out, fix, and then retain throughout the season. Let’s hope he can be a solid 3/4/5 with flashes of dominance.

I got Moncada with at least a .900 OPS this season.

I’m not suggesting anything, just joshing.

Is 15 months ago PECOTA?

Too late.

Yes. And no, not really.

What would be any reasoning that we are not better in 2021?

Rodon is really no different than any other dumpster dive FA SP pitcher the Sox were rumored to sign (injury risk with potential with a history of some success), and 3mil is ridiculously cheap. We just don’t like it because we actually watched his failures, and aren’t just reading them on Baseball Reference. I am not crazy about it, but if Rodon actually conditions, displays the upper 90s fastball he flashed last season, let’s not forgot his slider can be a devastating out pitch. He’s not a horrible option for SP depth. He’s never actually been that bad when he’s on the mound. Hopefully he can cover how many innings they will need out of him. They do need to add one more pitcher of this ilk, as I don’t trust Cease at all and I want Kopech protected.

Development is probably behind like everything else in this organization, but drafting/scouting is the main cause here. Catching is intricate, and it’s not really a position that’s easy to make average and protected like the OF.

I got them mixed up, but I’m glad he’s not the guy. Thanks, all.

Is everyone big mad?

Wait, it was Fiers who was having sex with teenagers, right?

But Stan, why are you so mad?

Cool response!

Anyone who cares about losing Bailey or Jose Rodriguez to add the major league team during our limited competitive window is being absolutely ridiculous.

And stop proposing Rutherford and Sheets as anything, but maybe the 4th piece of a trade package. They do not have any value, unless you're trading for Ray Durham.

Clearly, the theme/trend is trading for pitchers with cheap contracts and getting bargains compared to the already cheap FA market. Is this one worth it? Probably not. It may work out, but nah, Pirates were looking for serious talent. The Sox will continue to dangle the players they declared available, but if them fish don't bite, they will move on like nothing happened. Guessing at that point, we get a Wainwright (not sure if there's another comparable pitcher in that price range). Then I'm holding out hope, the cheap pitcher is to leave room for a better bat. But we all know if it's not exactly their terms, it almost definitely for sure ain't happening. I have full confidence in Kopech for however innings they can get out of him. He will be above average or better. Cease, I am not confident, but I'll drink some Katz Kool-Aid "(put your fingers here"), and try to remember his stuff is actually very good, and pray the dude will actually challenge hitters. And if he is challenging them, he can keep his stuff in or near the zone. Right before I submit my reply, I always think, why the hell did you write nothing? I did it because I'm bored, and because this board is not doing so well right now.