CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I think u mean the 2022 anomaly not 2023 if you're speaking about Andrus 3.5 fWar last year and his 2 fWar he accumulated with the Sox in less than 2 months. At least we know he was still capable of that kind of production. Between Abreu, Cueto, Andrus and Hendrik's that's10 War the team lost. If Sheets doesn't make opening day roster that a .900 home OPS gone too from a .500 team. Better OF defense will help. But any WAR picked up will have to come from Benintendi, Colas, and the oft injured position players. Vaughn primed for a breakout year as are Eloy and Robert. Can't count on Clevinger for any. Gio has to rebound, Kopech needs to stay healthy and go more innings. Lynn has to stay healthy. Davis Martin can be mediocre but he can't suck. THe BP also can't suck. Can't really count on Crochet for anything despite the recent revelation that he may be back by mid May. Who even knows what that means. Many questions, need positive answers. Despite the odds against Andrus repeating a 3.5 fWar year. I'd take him in a heartbeat.

Manfred said they knew this was coming. That should mean all the teams involved knew it too. I highly doubt it will affect their payroll commitments. Those are guaranteed contracts. If anyone suffers you can bet it'll be the little guys picking up the tab in one way or another. We'll have to wait and see who steps into the void this creates. Future big money contracts may be scarcer from the teams this effects.

Hahn basically said yesterday the the Clevinger signing was analogous to signing Jenks or others to make 2005 happen by signing a " calculated risk" guy with maturity issues. He didn't mention names but it's easy to figure out he meant Jenks and who knows who else. Maybe AJP to a lesser degree.

The Raves on Romy comment should tell you everything you need to know unless u mean they get Andrus on MLB minimum or minor league contract. I honestly think there won't be any more MLB contracts of more than $1M spent until there's Liam insurance money or a recoup of Clevinger's salary. I also think JR should hold himself accountable for screwing up the rebuild with the TLR hire and pony up the dough ! But JR is never wrong. The TLR hire was because he wanted to win so bad and because he's so baseball smart. ??. He can always tell himself that it was injuries and regression that had nothing to do with TLR and to a certain extent he might be right. If the Sox do better this year just by staying healthy he'll be vindicated. It wasn't Tony it was injuries. The Benintendi move was likely a replacement of Abreu and Colas will be considered a natural addition. If they do worse he'll be vindicated. See ! Almost the same team with worse results . It wasn't Tony ! There's almost no scenario where JR can be wrong. He's put himself in a win win situation. There's only one way JR can lose and that's if they have just as many injuries/problems and still win. Then Grifol looks like the genius and TLR the villain.

Hahn on Clevinger, Liam, No Visa issues, Crochet, WBC, Grifol. Once the questions started just about everything was Clevinger related except for the last 6 minutes when it was more about the team, Romy, Sosa,Lopez, Colas,Kelly, Schultz, Abreu, last year, TLR, power hitting.

I posted a day or 2 ago that Crochet's instagram had a video of him throwing pretty hard. That led me to think he might be ready sooner than everyone was thinking. But it didn't have a caption. Maybe Fegan saw the same thing and followed up on it.

I was hoping for more colorful analogies. I really want to take a dump but don't want to use my anus.

Starting to sound like Hahn. That's a long 7th inning stretch. They are a model franchise. A gorgeous warm weather city in a state that produces many big league players. Willing to spend top dollar on big name players . These 2 things alone make it an ideal place for free agents. They may not have won a World Series but they generate a lot of positive buzz and interest among their fans. Our off season has been about Cancer and domestic abuse and talking about the death of JR.

I agree. No reason to burn a bunch of arms in a long season because of extra innings games especially if you happen to be one of those teams that goes too extra innings often. This isn't the old days when pitchers could throw so many innings. Most relievers are good for only 1 inning these days. You can't be a traditionalist if the game has changed and it has.

They will be much more likable when they play better. I can't b**** all the time . I'm still a Sox fan so I'll do what fans do when they aren't bitching and that's root for them. I'll root for Colas to be ROY . I'll root for Benintendi to do well. I'll root for all of them to be uninjured and have career years and bring some excitement to the fans who will be more than happy to jump back on the bandwagon if they start winning in spite of management ,who are disguising their apathy for belief in the players rising to the occasion under Grifol's guidance.

Not ever thrilled by ownership but It's time to get behind the players and just root for good outcomes. I saw a video of Crochet on his insta after with him looking like he was throwing hard already . There was no caption but it was posted a few days ago. No idea if he's actually throwing like that right now. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoftMXWSHWr/

Keith Costas is good.

MLB Networks Annual Top 100 Players Right Now has started . SO far we have 100-61 . Eloy 87, Robert 86, Anderson 72. Outside of Cease that might be it .

By the looks of it if we are going to beat the projected 74 wins it'll either be 76 or 78 wins ! Also if the Sox finish under the 74 wins it's going to be between 62-68 wins ! Good news all the way around .

I suppose what Hahn is doing is cleaning out the useless back end of the 40 and trying to upgrade it with some pitchers and hitters with options left who will be available if needed. Not a bad idea if they are more MLB capable even if it is a very slight upgrade only in theory.. Lots of LH hitters among them . Shaw, Haseley ,Mondou, Reyes SH, and the relief pitchers Alexy, Mike Morin, German, Nate Fisher and Kenyan Middleton. C Sebastian Rivero. Then the guys who have a better chance of making the opening day roster Marisnick, Hamilton, Erick Gonzalez, Nick Avila and Alberto, veterans who may not stick around in the minors if they aren't used.

It could be and I've expressed the same thought on more than one occasion .But do you recall what he did after he came back from that right hip flexor tear surgery ? He hit the best of his career and his fielding and running while not on par with 2020 weren't as bad as last year. That leads me to believe it's not so much the hip flexor ,though that certainly plays a role since he has lost a step and is no longer among the fastest players in the league, but the dizzy spells he had which led to a few games where he looked lost in the OF that probably dragged his numbers down. Just a cursory look at OAA say 2021 his OAA was 6 in 171 attempts, 5 in 2021 in 180 attempts and 3 in 2022 in 234 attempts. This could be partially sample size related but it does show that even with more attempts in 2022 he was not as good as in 2021. Plus he did play 1 handed in the OF also when his hitting took a dive. He probably was more tentative on defense with the wrist injury also.

I scanned the list for Sox players and besides Moncada the only ones I saw on the list before 150 were ex Sox. Pollock in LF, Andrus at SS and Cueto was only the 2nd pitcher listed close to 140th. Robert being at the bottom is just indicative of just a terrible all around season for him. He needs to be healthier and become what we all thought he could be which was the best player on the Sox on both sides of the ball.

They couldn't even escape the off season without 2 major calamities . Part snake bitten part same old Sox.

I actually made one before it was announced by the Sox. His agent made a post about the signing a couple of days ago. And I got it from a CHGO podcast on youtube.

Moncada pretty high on the list behind only Arenado at 3rd.

Colas is who I am looking forward to watching most. Yes he has flaws but very quick bat who has an idea of how to hit against LH and RH pitching. Probably would have put up Robert type numbers in AAA without the stolen bases. Last year really couldn't have gone any better for him considering how rusty and he must've been. He got better as the season went on. MLB pitching will be a challenge but I have no doubts that he will be a quality player offensively and defensively soon.

Sox signed Chris Shaw to a minor league contract. Basically a 29 yr old who's played Indy ball the last couple years. LH 1st base, LF and RF guy. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=shaw--000chr