It's the quarter mark. Where are we at?

Based on the health of the opening day roster have the Sox performed . . .

  • Much better than you expected?

    Votes: 51 16.6%
  • A little better than you expected?

    Votes: 177 57.7%
  • About the same as you expected?

    Votes: 71 23.1%
  • A little worse than you expected?

    Votes: 7 2.3%
  • Much worse than you expected?

    Votes: 1 0.3%

  • Total voters
    307
  • Poll closed .

grimshaw

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The Sox had arguably the widest range of outcomes for any MLB team based on the health of returning impact pitchers, having a rookie take the bulk of the 1b at bats, adding a middle of the order bat to someone who had never seen MLB pitching, signing old free agents who could fall off a cliff at any time, and an injury to their big money 2b.

I was bullish on Yoshida, but bearish on the other free agent signings. Most of all, I wanted Bloom to have some (any really) sort of payoff from some of the trades he had made and depth he had acquired. Verdugo, Wong, Valdez, Winckowski are large net positives, at least so far. Hamilton and Abreu have also performed well in AAA and may be more than flotsam.

On the farm, Bloom's first 3 drafts seem to be going well so far. Yorke has bounced back, Jordan and Mayer are performing well. Nathan Hickey and Chase Meidoroth have risen in the ranks and have been very tough outs, though the former may not stick at catcher. Shane Drohan has jumped way up and is a potential top 100, with a legitimately high floor. Baseball America had a recent shout out to Roman Anthony as a player on the rise.

Personally, I had them at 80 wins but am much more enthusiastic now than at the start of the season and bigger picture about the state of the organization despite the shit weekend.
 
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streeter88

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The wording of the question is a bit ambiguous. Or maybe it’s not, and I’m just wanting it to read differently.

I want to answer the question “how have the Red Sox performed this far versus your preseason expectations?“ When health is factored into it I should be answering far above my expectations.I didn’t expect much, and with all the health concerns my sights were set even lower.

it is a pleasant surprise to see the Red Sox over 500 at all. But to add the trend of improved starting pitching to a very strong lineup, and pretty good bullpen, makes this all in all a pretty strong team.

it is too early to tell whether this team is a contender, a pretender, or a squanderer. But it’s pretty fun to follow, which is surprising and pleasant all at once.
 

LogansDad

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Overall I have been enjoying the season a lot. I like the players on the team, it seems like a good combination of personality and skill. The starting pitching hasn't been even close to what I hoped for, but the bullpen and offense have made up for it. The offense is coming back to earth, but the rotation is starting to look a little better, so I hope they can keep it going.

This weekend's series was an absolute debacle, though.
 

donutogre

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I figured they'd be around .500, maybe a little under (for the season). So, definitely doing better than I expected. The offense is the real deal, and Verdugo and Yoshida both having great seasons has been delightful to watch.

I did not have great feelings about the pitching this year, though, and that has been an issue for sure. I'm really glad to see Sale getting on track in the last month or so, that could be huge if he can continue to pitch similar to how he did before the last few years. Kluber, obviously, has been awful, and so has Pivetta. With Sale, Bello, and Paxton, you can see the makings of a good rotation here, but still tons of question marks. When no one in the rotation has an ERA under 5 this far into the season, it's not a great sign.

I'm also pretty tired of the poor defense that comes with having a lot of guys only sort of playing a position of strength, though we seem to have settled on a mostly serviceable setup (Hernandez's costly error the other night aside).

If the starting pitching continues to improve, I could see mid to high 80s in wins, given the strength of the offense.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I figured they'd be around .500, maybe a little under (for the season). So, definitely doing better than I expected. The offense is the real deal, and Verdugo and Yoshida both having great seasons has been delightful to watch.

I did not have great feelings about the pitching this year, though, and that has been an issue for sure. I'm really glad to see Sale getting on track in the last month or so, that could be huge if he can continue to pitch similar to how he did before the last few years. Kluber, obviously, has been awful, and so has Pivetta. With Sale, Bello, and Paxton, you can see the makings of a good rotation here, but still tons of question marks. When no one in the rotation has an ERA under 5 this far into the season, it's not a great sign.

I'm also pretty tired of the poor defense that comes with having a lot of guys only sort of playing a position of strength, though we seem to have settled on a mostly serviceable setup (Hernandez's costly error the other night aside).

If the starting pitching continues to improve, I could see mid to high 80s in wins, given the strength of the offense.
Crazy that 90 wins may not be enough for a playoff spot
 

8slim

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A little better, largely because the offense has covered for the starting pitching. Most importantly, they've been worth watching, which is all I really want from now through Labor Day.
 

Whoop-La White

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Record-wise, they're about where I expected. But they are more entertaining to watch than I expected, for the most part. Seeing younger players like Crawford and Winckowski settle into roles is nice. And mainly, Duran, Valdez and the catchers have made the lineup look a lot longer than it did on Opening Day. When Duvall went down I figured so would go the offense.
 

Archer1979

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Pluses:
They're winning a lot of games that they would have lost last year.
They're competive against the AL East.
They're getting more production from the line-up.
The resurgence of Sale and Duran (and hopefully Paxton). Verdugo and Turner have been surprisingly better than I would have expected.
The emergence of Wong and Masataka (and hopefully Bello). Valdez and Casas are both too early to tell, but I like what I'm seeing.

Minuses:
The AL East is absolutely loaded. The entire AL is chasing the Rays. The silver lining is that they don't have to play them 19 times this year.
While they're competitive against the AL East, they were swept by the Rays (but that may deserve a mulligan as the starting pitching has since turned around).
They have yet to gone up against NY so there really is no way to tell yet how they stack up.
The sweep by the reeling Cardinals is symptomatic on how streaky this team can be. It's a sign of a young team so let's hope that the winning streaks last longer than the losing streaks.

They're trending in the right direction as they are better this year than last. They're more enjoyable to watch as an early deficit is no longer indicative of how the game will turn out. I don't think that they're playoff contenders yet but a couple of deadline trades might make them solid wild card entrants in the playoffs. World Series aspirations would require a Cinderella run in the post-season like they had in 2021.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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They won 8 in a row then lost 5 out of 6 and got swept at home by a horrible basement dwelling NL team.

Kind sums them up perfectly. They have some talent, but not enough. They can play well but not consistently.

They need to start chucking dead weight over the railing. Braiser is a good start. Kluber than go next. No more retreads or worn out vets.
 

jteders1

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I voted about where I expected, bordering on a little better than expected. Since January this team has looked like a .500ish ballclub to me and they're a couple of games over. Still, a very, very fun team to watch. A good mixture of enjoyable vets with really interesting young players. I think we'll continue to see stretches of brilliance, along with mediocrity and will finish the year around .500. Still, it will be a fun .500.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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They won 8 in a row then lost 5 out of 6 and got swept at home by a horrible basement dwelling NL team.

Kind sums them up perfectly. They have some talent, but not enough. They can play well but not consistently.

They need to start chucking dead weight over the railing. Braiser is a good start. Kluber than go next. No more retreads or worn out vets.
Winning eight in a row seems to be indicative of being able to play well consistently.
 

AB in DC

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They won 8 in a row then lost 5 out of 6 and got swept at home by a horrible basement dwelling NL team.

Kind sums them up perfectly. They have some talent, but not enough. They can play well but not consistently.

They need to start chucking dead weight over the railing. Braiser is a good start. Kluber than go next. No more retreads or worn out vets.
Are the Cardinals a horrible team? They're loaded with talent but just haven't been able to put it together until, like, this week.
 

Remagellan

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Are the Cardinals a horrible team? They're loaded with talent but just haven't been able to put it together until, like, this week.
I agree. And I don't think it's a coincidence that it came after they removed Contreras from the catcher position. They went from one of the greatest defensive catchers in the history of baseball to a subpar one, and it clearly had a huge effect on their pitchers. They play the Brewers and Dodgers in St. Louis this week, so I guess we'll have a better indication if they've really turned it around or we just caught them at an unfortunate time for us.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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When the Cards came to town, they were 7.5 games out of first place, as were the Red Sox. It was the same after game 2 but after game 3, the Sox were 8.5 out while the Cards were still 7.5 out. And even though the Sox have a better won-lodt record, both teams are in last place in their divisions.
They were 13-25 FFS. They're terrible. Getting swept by them is such a wasted opportunity. Incredibly frustrating.
 

astrozombie

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I'm still not a Bloom fan and I don't think this model (horrific starting pitching based on injury-prone short term vets and some rookies combined with insane offense) is sustainable, but credit where its due: this team is a lot better than I expected. I thought they would be a bottom 5 team easily, so that they are over .500 at all is really something.
 

biollante

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I figured that they would be around .500 and they are.

That St. Louis series really blew any momentum. I was ready to vote "...a little better" but they then get swept at home by a struggling N.L. team.

I expect the fear and loathing to settle in right about now.
 

jon abbey

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I agree. And I don't think it's a coincidence that it came after they removed Contreras from the catcher position. They went from one of the greatest defensive catchers in the history of baseball to a subpar one, and it clearly had a huge effect on their pitchers. They play the Brewers and Dodgers in St. Louis this week, so I guess we'll have a better indication if they've really turned it around or we just caught them at an unfortunate time for us.
They said they're moving Contreras back to catcher starting today.
 

Archer1979

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When the Cards came to town, they were 7.5 games out of first place, as were the Red Sox. It was the same after game 2 but after game 3, the Sox were 8.5 out while the Cards were still 7.5 out. And even though the Sox have a better won-lost record, both teams are in last place in their divisions.
I'm still not convinced that the Sox are legitimate contenders, but this is somewhat nonsensical. It's right up there with if the season ended today and the Sox were in National League they would be in the playoffs. St. Louis is bad in a weaker division. Getting swept by them doesn't bode well if they want to make a run for the playoffs.
 

E5 Yaz

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Much better than what I thought they’d be, so I’m pleased thus far. I am less optimistic going forward, though, since they seem thin to me, so they need a lot to go right for them to stay competitive
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'm still not convinced that the Sox are legitimate contenders, but this is somewhat nonsensical. It's right up there with if the season ended today and the Sox were in National League they would be in the playoffs. St. Louis is bad in a weaker division. Getting swept by them doesn't bode well if they want to make a run for the playoffs.
I agree that the games out of first logic is nonsensical, but the sweep this weekend isn't exactly some kind of harbinger. The Cardinals were predicted by most to win the NL Central, so it's not like they are truly the dregs of the league. They had a bad month. Just the opposite of the Pirates, who were predicted to finish at/near the bottom of the NL Central but spent most of the first 6 weeks in first place. Things could just be turning around for both teams and now they're headed toward their predicted outcomes. Sox happened to catch both at the wrong time. Flip them in the Sox schedule and maybe the outcomes are different.
 

ShaneTrot

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They have offensive and defensive reinforcements on the way in the second half but the starting pitching has been atrocious. Like not Oakland bad but KC or White Sox bad. I liked what Sale, Paxton, and Bello did last week but man Pivetta and Kluber are uncompetitive.
 

Kliq

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I thought they might lose 90 games heading into the season, and I wanted to check the "much better than expected" box, but the state of the starting pitching can't be overlooked, and if guys like Duran/Wong/Valdez fall back to earth, they might really struggle to make the playoffs. Only the Royals, White Sox and A's have a worse team ERA, and that is with a pretty strong bullpen performance so far this season. And barring a trade, I'm not really sure where the answers are outside of hoping some of the mid pitchers they have rebound.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I'm still not a Bloom fan and I don't think this model (horrific starting pitching based on injury-prone short term vets and some rookies combined with insane offense) is sustainable, but credit where its due: this team is a lot better than I expected. I thought they would be a bottom 5 team easily, so that they are over .500 at all is really something.
I'm not sure a better option was really available than what Bloom did to address the rotation. There are far too many young guys that will hopefully become a rotation core.... so you don't want to bring in long term contracts (and what SP was available that wasn't "injury prone long term"?).
He's (we're) sort of stuck with Sale and it at least appears to be working out. Take out that abomination start where he couldn't K anyone (tipping pitches) and the entire rotation starts to look good. I'm confident in Bello and one of Houck/Whitlock/Paxton will be a very competent no. 2 and 3. Pivetta and Kluber at the bottom? Not ideal but it's not bad considering the strength of the bullpen to come in after the start if they can be managed properly--- which I'm not confident Cora will do though
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Much better than I expected, but I'm an Eeyore who did not have sparkling expectations.

I still think they're a pretty fair piece (>a year) from having a team capable of contending for a pennant.
 

snowmanny

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I think I predicted 84 wins and third place. I now would guess 86 wins and fourth place. Bref has them at 15% chance to make the postseason; sounds about right. But relatively fun team and who knows?
 

Archer1979

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I agree that the games out of first logic is nonsensical, but the sweep this weekend isn't exactly some kind of harbinger. The Cardinals were predicted by most to win the NL Central, so it's not like they are truly the dregs of the league. They had a bad month. Just the opposite of the Pirates, who were predicted to finish at/near the bottom of the NL Central but spent most of the first 6 weeks in first place. Things could just be turning around for both teams and now they're headed toward their predicted outcomes. Sox happened to catch both at the wrong time. Flip them in the Sox schedule and maybe the outcomes are different.
It might be a chicken and egg thing. Are teams turning it around just when they meet the Sox or because they're playing the Sox? Conversely, are the Pirates coming back to earth since they're not playing the Sox? We'll need to see. If St. Louis goes 2 - 8 over the next ten games, it will be telling.
 

8slim

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I'm kinda surprised so many people's opinion is shaped by the Cardinals series. Of course a sweep sucks. But it was basically due to our previously lights-out closer unexpectedly melting down in back to back games. That seems like an outlier.

Pretty sure I had the team going a bit under .500 in the pre-season poll here. I still think that's possible if the SP doesn't improve. But so far we've overcome that.

*edit* Apparently I had them in the 85-89 win range. I must've been in a good mood the day of that poll. So yeah, I should change my answer here to 'about the same as I expected'.
 
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Red(s)HawksFan

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It might be a chicken and egg thing. Are teams turning it around just when they meet the Sox or because they're playing the Sox? Conversely, are the Pirates coming back to earth since they're not playing the Sox? We'll need to see. If St. Louis goes 2 - 8 over the next ten games, it will be telling.
That's a fair question. Although the Pirates were 4-2 following their series in Boston and got themselves to 20-9 by the end of April. Can't put that all on them sweeping the Sox.

I'll stand by the notion that no single series is indicative of anything but how the teams are playing at that very moment. Hard to draw conclusions about how the entire season has gone or will go on just a random three game set.
 
Apr 6, 2023
29
The Sox had arguably the widest range of outcomes for any MLB team based on the health of returning impact pitchers, having a rookie take the bulk of the 1b at bats, adding a middle of the order bat to someone who had never seen MLB pitching, signing old free agents who could fall off a cliff at any time, and an injury to their big money 2b.

I was bullish on Yoshida, but bearish on the other free agent signings. Most of all, I wanted Bloom to have some (any really) sort of payoff from some of the trades he had made and depth he had acquired. Verdugo, Wong, Valdez, Winckowski are large net positives, at least so far. Hamilton and Abreu have also performed well in AAA and may be more than flotsam.

On the farm, Bloom's first 3 drafts seem to be going well so far. Yorke has bounced back, Jordan and Mayer are performing well. Nathan Hickey and Chase Meidoroth have risen in the ranks and have been very tough outs, though the former may not stick at catcher. Shane Drohan has jumped way up and is a potential top 100, with a legitimately high floor. Baseball America had a recent shout out to Roman Anthony as a player on the rise.

Personally, I had them at 80 wins but am much more enthusiastic now than at the start of the season and bigger picture about the state of the organization despite the shit weekend.
Well said, but this team is going nowhere without a decent shortstop. Hernandez seems like a great guy, but he has demonstrated over the last year and a quarter now he is a flat out bad baseball player who does nothing well. .291 OBP during this stretch with 9 lousy home runs. Brutal.
 
Apr 6, 2023
29
The Sox had arguably the widest range of outcomes for any MLB team based on the health of returning impact pitchers, having a rookie take the bulk of the 1b at bats, adding a middle of the order bat to someone who had never seen MLB pitching, signing old free agents who could fall off a cliff at any time, and an injury to their big money 2b.

I was bullish on Yoshida, but bearish on the other free agent signings. Most of all, I wanted Bloom to have some (any really) sort of payoff from some of the trades he had made and depth he had acquired. Verdugo, Wong, Valdez, Winckowski are large net positives, at least so far. Hamilton and Abreu have also performed well in AAA and may be more than flotsam.

On the farm, Bloom's first 3 drafts seem to be going well so far. Yorke has bounced back, Jordan and Mayer are performing well. Nathan Hickey and Chase Meidoroth have risen in the ranks and have been very tough outs, though the former may not stick at catcher. Shane Drohan has jumped way up and is a potential top 100, with a legitimately high floor. Baseball America had a recent shout out to Roman Anthony as a player on the rise.

Personally, I had them at 80 wins but am much more enthusiastic now than at the start of the season and bigger picture about the state of the organization despite the shit weekend.
It's easy to be down on them after a bad series. But man, Sale and Paxton both look dominant. I said (to myself) before the season that if they could get 150 innings from Sale and 120 from Paxton, this is a Wildcard team. And that was before the unexpected emergence of Duran. If they can just find someone to play shortstop until Mondesi gets healthy... Kike is killing us.
 

patinorange

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Sale pitching well means something. Jury still out on Paxton and Kluber. The defense is awful and is going to hurt them in the long run. (Hurry back Story)
A little better than .500. Probably right around expectations.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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By Player:
C (Wong and McGuire)- better. Defensively combined they're likely below average, plus offense but taken in aggregate, they've been an asset.
1B- expected- I'm not shocked at all at how slow Casas has started. His defense looked so much better last season and think his offensive struggles are likely getting to him playing too tightly. Offensively he's been looking better. Still getting bullshit strikes called on him more than anyone else from what I've seen. I'm every bit as confident that he's going to be a middle of the order monster for years, as I was that Pedroia would come around back in '07. His peripherals are all there and while he looks frustrated, he's not looking lost.
2B- better- I didn't expect much from Arroyo after Story went down and while Valdez is terrible at defense, his overall game is better than what I thought 2B would be.
SS- worse- Sorta.... Kike has been pretty awful. I didn't expect much but not "awful". Hopefully help is on the way.
3B- push- Devers is Devers.
DH- barely better. Figured Turner would be about this good. That he's stepped in and played good 1B and 3B just makes him that much better than JDM last season
RF- better- All Star quality so far. Even his defense looks good to me.
CF- better- First Duvall and now Duran combined for way better than expected.
LF- push- I thought Yoshida would be pretty damned good. Again.... better defensively than I thought but still needs a lot of improvement there which I think he will

Bench- Refsnyder and Tapia have both played, IMO, better than what people should reasonably expect a ML quality bench player to play.
Pen- Getting rid of Brasier and Ort is big. I think if this was asked last Thursday I would have said it's a Godsend. After Jensen imploded two nights in a row and Winchowski threw out a stinker it feels weird to say... but the pen has been great and is just going to be getting better. How's Crawford???

Rotation- worse. I don't blame Bloom for this, nor do I get any of the posters that complain about the rotation. What were the options? I'm bullish though.

All in all I think better than expected. Had them at 84 wins and a final wild card spot. If I could revise it, I'd say 89 wins and final wild card spot.
 

jteders1

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Just a point of order. Last year at the point of the season, they were 21-22, so only a couple of games better this year. There's a lot of basebeall left to play, and last year's team was about to go on a 12-2 spurt. This year's team is a lot more fun, but we still have major questions.
 

greenmountains

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I voted About as Expected

Positionally,
Starting Pitching - started much worse, current trending to much better. Sale appears to be returning to form. Overall - About as expected;​
Relief Pitching - large improvement over last year, even in light of two horrific blow saves. About as expected;​
Catching - Much better than expected;​
1st Base - Patience with Casa, threading in positive direction. Overall - slightly below expectation​
2nd Base & SS - "Patch it together until healthy" has sucked. Treading to continue suck. Overall - vastly below expectation (can the Sox make due without it killing them) ;​
3rd Base - About as expect.​
Outfield - Duvall's start, Duran seems real, Dugie has taken up the challenge, Masa seems to be worth the contract. Overall - Much better than expected.​
DH - about as expected​
Going forward -
Sale's & Paxton's health - can we rely on them yet? Sale appears real, Paxton needs a couple more starts​
Can the Sox get anything out of the 4th and 5th spots - I don't "hate" Pivetta, if he can deliver 5.00 ERA and 6 plus innings per start; Can Whitlock be healthy enough? Houck to the pen seems highly likely and an upgrade.​
Is the outfield "over" performance going to continue?​
Can the Sox make due at 2nd and SS without it killing them?​
If - Sale and Paxton are healthy and 4th and 5th starters give anything, the outfield performance isn't a mirage, and middle of the diamond reinforcements arrive before the All Star Break - this is a 90 win team. Yes, those are all some big if's.
 

Yankeessuck4ever

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If I recall correctly, I had us somewhere between 75-85 wins. If they keep going like they were before the Cardinals series I will happily be proven wrong. The SP in overall is better than I expected, Kluber and Pivetta need to pitch better. The BP should get better now that Cora can't lean on Brasier and Ort for every inning. Jansen will get back on track. The middle infield defense is atrocious at best....Story and or Mondesi can't get here fast enough! Pleasantly surprised by Duran's recent success and hope he can keep it up.
 

Benj4ever

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Nov 21, 2022
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I had them at about 85-88 wins. So, throw out Kenley Jansen's performance in the Cardinals series, and it's better than expected
 

chrisfont9

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They won 8 in a row then lost 5 out of 6 and got swept at home by a horrible basement dwelling NL team.

Kind sums them up perfectly. They have some talent, but not enough. They can play well but not consistently.

They need to start chucking dead weight over the railing. Braiser is a good start. Kluber than go next. No more retreads or worn out vets.
I would say they have the talent, it's just been held back in a couple spots -- late-inning relief which was all on Jansen for six weeks and he finally hit a wall (but now Joely and Martin are back). Up the middle depth -- hollowed out at first, but guys have stepped up to minimize the harm. And rotation depth -- again, multiple guys missing at the start or slowly ramping up, but they're all there now.

Lack of real top-end overwhelming talent? Sure. But it's baseball, you can get by with enough B-listers if things come together.
 

Benj4ever

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I would say they have the talent, it's just been held back in a couple spots -- late-inning relief which was all on Jansen for six weeks and he finally hit a wall (but now Joely and Martin are back). Up the middle depth -- hollowed out at first, but guys have stepped up to minimize the harm. And rotation depth -- again, multiple guys missing at the start or slowly ramping up, but they're all there now.

Lack of real top-end overwhelming talent? Sure. But it's baseball, you can get by with enough B-listers if things come together.
I don't know...I mean, look at how great the Padres and Phillies are doing with all of their top-end talent. LOL!
 

Rasputin

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Seems like a pretty good team that's not quite ready for prime time, which is pretty much what I thought they'd be. Improve the middle infield and back of the rotation and we're talking about a really competitive team.
 

SouthernBoSox

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I’m a broken record on this but I’ll reiterate it here. I care much less about wins and losses than I do about performances from controlled assets.

The break out of Duran, which sub surface seems very real.

Verdugo taking a step forward.

Yoshida, at a minimum being good. Maybe great.

Wong being an elite defensive catcher with power bat profile.

The position player Core going into 2024 is light years improved. You add a healthy Trevor Story to that group with a prime Devers and the heavy lifting is done going into ‘24.
 

eno2259

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Not much has changed for me. It's a deeply flawed team that will have some hot streaks but will regress to the expected 75 win projection.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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3,405
Seems like a pretty good team that's not quite ready for prime time, which is pretty much what I thought they'd be. Improve the middle infield and back of the rotation and we're talking about a really competitive team.
I started typing a whole reply, but then I saw this post and realized I could just say “basically this.” I thought they’d be around .500 with some possible upside, and they’ve been… around .500 with yet some unrealized upside. I agree that they’re probably another MI (maybe that’s Story?) and another decent SP away from “real” contention right now - whatever that means - but I’m less eager to see them trade from the farm depth than I was about a week ago. I still think that’s one of the big questions for them at the moment.