WestEddy

I'm kind of confused, but who, exactly, is taking a "victory lap"? People are calling this team, "finally watchable". I don't see any "I told you so" or dunking. It just seems like relief that an abnormal team slump seems to have abated. Saying that "maybe this team can play sub-.500 ball going forward" would be an odd victory lap.

Moncada at 1B, 2B and RF, if need be, already seems to be in the air. Moncada at 1B might be the most realistic development. And I seem to remember somebody saying in ST, here, that Getz is very interested in collecting extra draft choices, particularly for the top 3 ROY voting.

The NFL doesn't really have a minor league system where you'd stow a Caleb Williams and a receiver and linebacker that you'd promote after 5 games. I guess "the bench" is their minors. I believe 3-22 is a horrible slump, not what that team "actually" was. Maybe it is. 20% of the OD roster has been replaced. 2 positional starters and a rotation starter weren't on this team on OD. If this team plays .420-.450 ball from here on out, that's exciting, to me. If any of a dozen vets play well enough to get traded for anything interesting, that's exciting. If space is created for Monty, Ramos, Fletcher and a couple of starting pitchers to spend 2 months+ in the majors, I find that exciting. If they played .420 ball here on out, and won 52 of the remaining games, that would be insanely positive. I doubt, even after the TDL sell-off, they'd go 3-22 for another stretch. I'm psyched!!

Didn't somebody just call everyone who disagreed with him Uber eats drivers, recently?

I wouldn't even say you were wrong, and I wouldn't claim to be right about anything. I thought some of the thought-processes, coming into the season, were interesting. I wanted to watch baseball things play out, instead of joining in the chorus of people screaming that everybody was garbage, and the only hope for happiness was for an old man to die. I thought he was as competent as anybody coming into that position. I mean, if ditch-diggers and Uber-eats drivers could log on and deign to have an opinion about baseball moves, a guy who's been in a front office for 10 years probably has some idea of what he's doing. No team plays with the same 26 players all 162 games. Rosters are fluid, and I think people screaming and calling every single move "panic" is dumb. I like that Getz seems to be taking chances Hahn would never take. Picking up Grossman, Pham and Clevinger (gag) are good moves. Pulling the plug on Fletcher, Sosa, Cannon and Nastrini are good calls. If they have obvious flaws or tells that could be fixed out of the limelight, so be it. And he's banking more service time without looking like that was the main plan. Somebody suggested that Stassi coming off the IL could be a point where a decision is made on Maldonado. Lee should be starting, at this point. Maldonado should get the 2 day games every week, if that. I thought Lopez could at least be a weak-hitting 2B. Any semblance of power has left him. Dude can't even slap a double down the line. I'd option Shewmake and have Lopez be UT as soon as Mendick is back. I guessed 68 wins in ST, so that's a .420 team. That was thinking they'd keep Cease until the TDL, and they might have a pro 3B and CF for more of their games. Would love it if they could play just under .500 until they start trading Pham, Fedde, Flexen, Brebbia, Kopech, Sheets, DeJong and hopefully Clevinger. They might even be better after the trades.

Well, I think this is closer to what I thought this team would be than the 3-22 guys. While Pham and DeJong are playing a bit over their heads, Benintendi, Vaughn and maybe Lopez are still slumping horribly. I don't think you're wrong.

Well, people get to announce that prospects suck after a slow first week, and we never pick on that. Ramos was definitely prepared to be a major leaguer.

.500 ball is probably the ceiling for this team on their hottest of hot streaks. That certainly looks better than the alternative.

Boy, I really dislike the Naylor bros.

Unless he's got tall ankles.

Well, at least they're getting rid of the HR threats in the 8th inning.

I would have started the inning with a fresh arm, but that's probably why I'm sitting in front of my computer, drinking beer.

Why? Moncada only played in 11 games and is still their most productive offensive player.

Yermin Mercedes?

The Sox have been shut out once in the last 16 games. Extending this current trend through the season, they'd get shut out 16 times, total.

I'm beginning to think that promoting Ramos was a good move.

Baltimore will be brutal. Maybe not as bad as what Norfolk did to Charlotte the opening week, but cringey.

It's an adage that no team is as bad as they look during a horrible cold streak, and they're not as good as they look during a hot streak. If Chris Flexen continues to pitch like this, he is a good SP option, and should get starts until he's traded. Gavin Sheets' bat should be in the lineup, and if they're not going to bench Vaughn or Eloy, then RF it is. He would be the answer in RF if he got a lot better. I'm just relieved this team doesn't look like they're going to break the loss record, and some of the rentals they may have intended to flip are looking like baseball players.

Sorry for the confusion. I don't think anybody thought this was a .500 team, myself included. (I predicted 68 wins.) The way they're playing right now (albeit, against the limping Rays and Cards) is what I thought the team would look like, picking off 2-3 wins a week, not historic losing and scoring deficits.

The Sox are a .500 team in the last 12 games. A lot of Rays and Cardinals in there, but I think this was sort of the team we envisioned in ST.

It's always Friday somewhere.

Everybody here loves to amass shame porn. Now Cease is Verlander, when in November, he was Erick Fedde.

Then who were the Cubs offering?

Both Remillard and Sosa were in the mix for the 2B job, I assume, and they didn't step up.