35thstreetswarm

Yep. Aces matter. With a healthy McCullers the Astros win it all -- of that I'm certain.

First, I'm not advocating doing nothing to help the offense at all. The question was whether, after adding an MVP candidate to our offense, the very next priority should be to add yet *more* offense/position players. I think not. Also, while the top of the order actually hit pretty well there's no doubt the Sox didn't perform well in any aspect of the game in the series. Of course, there's a small sample size issue with any examination of a single series, but I simply have more trust that the talent in our lineup will bounce back from that SSS than I do in our depleted rotation standing up to a playoff offense. Lynn's whole approach is a poor fit for the Astros, and I don't think we can count on him against a likely playoff opponent, especially a year older. Carlos is gone. There are noticeable gaps in our rotation that need to be addressed.

Just bumping this so we have no fewer than five "offseason threads" at the top of the front page

If the Sox were to pony up to sign Semien they would have an ungodly lineup 1-8 and all-star talent at 7 out of 8 defensive positions (pitching aside). I think bolstering a pitching staff that fell flat on its face in the playoffs would be a much higher priority than making it 8 out of 8.

Sign me up (provided they like what they see at the showcases, medicals, etc.)

"What should the Sox should do" is a different question from "what do I predict the Sox will do." That principle, applied to these threads, will probably remove about 85% of the comedy. That being said, I haven't seen many posts calling for Scherzer at $35M, and zero predicting that will happen. Maybe I'm missing something.

I do believe coaching played a major part in the Giolito game. But Lynn just got flat-out shellacked, and is a poor matchup with the Astros' lineup. That the pitcher who's arguably our "ace" can't be counted on against a team we're very likely to face in the playoffs is one of the major factors driving me to believe a TOR starter is our top priority. We have precisely one pitcher I trust against the Astros (Gio), and even then I just "trust" him in the sense I think he can make it to the 5th inning.

This would be great, and I suspect many of those like myself who are clamoring for a TOR starter would agree. I haven't heard many "Scherzer or bust" opinions at all.

I actually agree that the Sox rotation as assembled could very well win the world series -- provided they pitch much better and differently than they did in this year's playoffs, of course. But I still think that a TOR starter is the biggest potential difference-maker in the postseason, where we have the luxury of focusing our attention given the situation in the AL Central.

This is it. Too much attention being paid to putting an all-star talent at every position/lineup slot and not nearly enough on filling out a playoff-worthy rotation. A TOR starter is priority 1, and priority 2.

Problem is we're trying to contend yesterday and don't have time to let Gavin Lux take a couple seasons to round into form. If I'm trading Vaughn I want it to be for somebody *more* major-league ready, not less.

I do find it strange that a lot of folks seem not to bat an eye at 18.4 million for Rodon but regard 30 million for Scherzer as laughable. I mean, reasonably likely that they're all outside the FO's budgetary constraints but it's kind of crazy that Rodon plus Kimbrel = (or >) Scherzer, or Ray, or some other far safer top-of-market target.

Well, they’re sure setting him up with what sound like softballs planted by a cheap owner (“everybody knows you can’t just buy everybody to fill your holes, so are you just going with in-house options at 2b and RF?”) but his answers didn’t really follow that theme, or sound like somebody trying to lower expectations. Everything was highly general as expected but it sounded like they’re planning to be active. In particular, I don’t think we’re going to see an “in-house” 2b.

This outcome squares with the public statements at season-end, especially from TLR, who was all but rooting against Carlos coming out of his various bullpen sessions. They had moved on already.

I just don’t trust Carlos to be what we need him to be in October. Definitely agree on a multi-year deal, which would be reckless.

Is there one? Didn’t see one on the front page at least, which is why I started one. Feel free to merge this one with another thread if appropriate.

There’s already a thread dedicated to the “RF or 2b” question, so I figured I’d start one for starting pitching, as I think adding a front-line starting pitcher is the one thing that is most likely to put this team over the top in the postseason. This should be priority #1 imo. While there are multiple potential avenues here, I think the Sox should make a run at Scherzer on a relatively short deal, even if it eats up funds for RF/2b. (This would mean letting Carlos go, which I’m fine with). The existing team with Scherzer as a game 1 playoff starter would be scary, and even minor upgrades to RF and 2b would make it even more so. And just think—this could be the one situation where the org’s penchant for big name vets nearing the end of their careers could work out for them!

I thought the buddy *was* Sammy Hagar, actually

Are we really now ripping TLR for flying like a normal person and being a nice guy by talking to fans? ?

Can everyone please stop? Negative attention requested, negative attention received. Move on

This might be an unpopular opinion, but if Eloy and Robert had stayed hurt we would have won the World Series. We played better with them out, and it worked for Atlanta.

I'm sure you do.

I think it could easily be competitive, and that history tells us over and over that projecting last year's results forward is a dangerous proposition. Why would the Twins go from a division champ offensive juggernaut to one of the worst teams in baseball in one season? Why would the Giants bust out and win the NL West? Who the hell knows what happens next year. The Twins could well make a few tweaks and return to form. Detroit improved rapidly this season and will spend in the offseason. The Royals are on the way up and could accelerate. Cleveland's rotation could be scary, as somebody mentioned above. I'd still take our divisional situation over most others but baseball is gonna baseball on us in unforeseen ways--that much I know.

With all due respect, that's not very precise. A "good season test"? What does that mean? "Good" by what measure? Why is best of 8 a "good" test, and best of 5 is worthless? More importantly, your solution hasn't addressed the problem of playoff randomness you identified. If the grind of a long regular season is accurate in sorting out the "best teams" and a short playoff series is a meaningless "few games"/crapshoot, why end the season with playoffs at all? You're not getting rid of your problem, you're just reshuffling the deck chairs. All you've done is arbitrarily changed the number of teams in the playoffs.

Given your outlook—why have a World Series at all? Why allow the “second best team” to be crowned “World Champions” when you could just anoint the “best team” based on the regular season?