CentralChamps21

Cleveland built their team with average and speed to be able to score runs without homers. The Sox roster is not capable of doing that. They have to hit homers to score.

No reason for Robert, Anderson or Kopech to see the field again this season. Also, have Zavala catch 3 out of every four games, have Moncada playing only about half the games, and have Eloy continue to DH only.

TLR out for season

TLR out for season.

I don't know anybody specific I'd want, but I want every executive involved in player decisions and every coach save Katz out of the organization.

Keep: Robert, Colas, Moncada, Anderson, Mendick, Vaughn, Jimenez, Grandal, Zavala, Pollock, Sheets (minors), Gonzalez (minors) Cease, Kopech, Lynn, Giolito, Hendriks, Graveman, Bummer, Lopez, Crochet, Lambert, Banks, Martin (minors) Let go via FA: Abreu, Cueto, Velasquez, Andrus, Harrison (buyout) Non-tender: Engel, Ruiz Trade (if at all possible) otherwise DFA: Garcia, Kelly, Diekman Acquire: SP, reliever, 2B (lefty), 1-2 OF (lefty) Trade bait: Burger, Sosa, Foster, Kath, Cespedes, Rodriguez

What I've started watching with all the free time I have from not watching Sox games: Started watching House of the Dragon. Never saw Game of Thrones, but this is a prequel so I'm just going to start with it Ken Burns' documentary The U.S. and the Holocause. Airing this week on PBS. Learned a lot of stuff about WWII/the Holocaust that they don't teach in school The Hunters on Amazon Prime. Fictional story about Nazi hunters in the US in the 1970s. One season in the books and supposedly a second one coming.

Dodgers had a lot more, but they had such insane depth I'm not sure they're a vaild comparison. Yankees and Mets have similar numbers to the Sox, but both have struggled after hot starts.

I just want to be clear I didn't post this to try to absolve Hahn or LaRussa. They are the two primarily responsible for hiring the training/medical staff. I'm just noting that a change in manager and/or GM won't help if the players can't stay healthy.

/season

Yes, older guys tend to get hurt more, and getting younger will help, but this team can't win if Moncada, Eloy and Robert aren't all playing 130+ games next year.

Youth? Sure Grandal is getting up there, but Moncada, Eloy, TA, Robert are all young guys who spent a lot of time on the IL.

No, it's not Cleveland's GM or manager, though those were factors for sure. In the end the biggest difference was IL days: Cleveland 685 Sox 1,300 Minnesota 2,107 And of course we all know the Sox lost a lot more games due to guys not on the IL but being "unavailable" The players need to make a serious commitment to starting the 2023 season in better condition, and the team needs to make a serious commitment to having a training/medical staff that keeps these guys in better condition.

It seems so. You don't get to see them all on passing plays, but it certainly seems like none of them are getting open. Kmet needs to be a lot better as well. He and Fields were really clicking in the preseason.

Mendick is going to be a 29 year old making pre-arb salary, plays multiple positions well, and hits a little bit. No reason not to have him on the team. After more thought I agree about Colas. Can't afford to get 2 OF anyway so make Colas the starting RF. I know they won't sign Carlos, but they should. Put him at the top of the rotation with Cease and Kopech and that's an A+ 1-2-3

Everybody saying that the Sox should keep Leury and just use him properly, there's no proper use for a guy with a .500 OPS and a 42 OPS+. There are plenty of guys (Gonzalez, Mendick, Sosa, Harrison) who can perform Leury's role better. Time to start shedding useless guys. Diekman can go to. Eat however much of his salary you need to in order to get him off the 2023 roster.

Eloy Jimenez - at DH for the Sox - I've been banging the drum for Eloy to be traded, but he's been on an absolute tear while being almost entirely a DH. He needs to accept the fact that this is what he is and be the best one the AL has seen since a guy wore #35 for the same team. Jose Abreu/Andrew Vaughn - One of them needs to be the starting 1B for the Sox, the other needs to be playing for some other team. IF the Sox can get a good return for Vaughn AND get someone to take a bad contract with him (I'm looking at Yaz, Kelly and Leury the hardest, but also at Pollock and maybe even Lynn), then make that deal and re-sign Abreu. If not, then keep Vaughn and let Abreu finish his career somewhere else, ideally in the NL. Yoan Moncada - I really think the combination of COVID, injuries, and a very demotivating manager have held Yoan back. I think in 2023 he's back to at least the Yoan of 2021 if not better. Even if you don't think this his contract makes it impossible to get any value back in a trade, so he needs to be the starting 3B in 2023 Yasmani Grandal - Barring some real weird twist of fate, he's untradeable and is still a serviceable catcher who takes walks and gets some singles, so consider him a sunk cost and make him a platoon with Zavala in 2023. Tim Anderson - Unless he volunteers to move to 2B, he's the starting SS in 2023 and either way, his option is getting picked up and unless some team is willing to vastly overpay, he shouldn't be traded. Elvis Andrus - A lot of IFs here. IF the Sox can't acquire a good LH 2B and IF he's willing to learn 2B and IF he's willing to sign a team-friendly contract, then he can be the starting 2B next year. Otherwise, find a new team and thanks for six weeks of fun. Gavin Sheets/Romy Gonzalez/Jake Burger/Davis Martin - They should be starting at 1B/2B/3B/SP, respectively, for Charlotte. Guys who have had some amount of ML success and have options are at a premium. Don't rush to trade them or put them on the ML roster. You know there will be injures. Better to have these guys to bring up than to have to rely on. If you get an amazing trade offer then of course pull the trigger, but that's not likely. Oscar Colas - Staring the year in CF for Charlotte, but the first guy up when there's an OF injury. Ideally he gets a year at AAA, a September call-up, and is the OD starter in 2024. That means the Sox made some A+ OF moves in this off-season. Danny Mendick - Taking over the Leury Garcia role in 2023. Have him playing OF every day in ST to get the reps in. Was hitting really well until Haseley almost killed him. Leury Garcia - As fucking far away from the Sox as possible. Ideally some team trades for him and pays some of his salary, but if not then DFA his ass. With Danny Mendick, Romy Gonzalez, and Lenyn Sosa in the organization, there is zero excuse for Leury to appear in even one game for the Sox in 2023. AJ Pollock - if you can't unload his salary, then he's the 4th OF. Very weird that he's better in CF than RF, but whatever. Should not be a starter or really even a platoon starter. Adam Engel - Non-tender. Thought he had really turned a corner last year but he hit rock bottom this year. Can't justify keeping him on an Arb3 salary Lucas Giolito - 100% have to tender him. You listen on trade offers but probably aren't going to get any serious ones Carlos Rodon - do whatever it takes to sign this guy short of giving him an opt out before 3 years. He's been an absolute stud this year. I know this has like a 0.1% chance of happening, but it should. This is the kind of move that can put you over the top. Michael Kopech - #2 starter. Not trading him for anything less than an absolute haul. He's gonna be an absolute beast the next few years Joc Pederson/Brandon Nimmo/Andrew Benintendi/Ian Happ - have to sign/trade for at least one of these guys and ideally two. No more playing DH in the OF

No, no more putting guys in the outfield who can't play the outfield. This team needs to acquire two guys who can hit right handed pitching well and play corner outfield spots well. No more of Vaughn, Eloy or Sheets in the OF.

Shotgun on 4th and goal from 1 foot?????? WTF?????

Leury 100% can't be on this team next year. He's a waste of a roster spot at this point. If someone's willing to take on even 20% of his salary, you trade him, otherwise you DFA him.

Sox win first two against Cleveland, get our hopes up, then lose the third one and follow that up by losing 2 of 3 to the Tigers to pile on the pain.

I'm not optimistic that missing the playoffs will cause needed changes, so make the playoffs and take your chances. If Kopech comes back, Cease-Lynn-Kopech-Giolito/Cueto is a rotation that gives you a chance to beat anybody, except maybe the Dodgers.

click on the link in the post above yours.

A whole bunch of well-paid veterans had shitty years and/or injuries. What we don't know right now is whether TLR sucked the life out of them, the lockout fucked them up, some combination of both, or whether they've just gotten worse. If out of Moncada, Jimenez, Robert, Anderson, and Grandal, at least 3-4 of them stay healthy and perform like they have in the past, then this team is absolutely fixable in one offseason. You need two lefty bats, at least one of which is an average or better RF. You need one starting pitcher and one solid reliever. I think all of them except Grandal have bounce back years next year. I think Grandal is cooked as a hitter but he's still a serviceable catcher so you just platoon him with Zavala. If you don't get rebounds out of the key guys, then no, you can't fix this team anytime soon. You can't win continuing to play them, and you don't have the money to replace them all.