A Realistic View at 2024: Part I

[moonslav59]

It is nice to start with a win, and doing well for the first month or so seems to set the tone, sometimes, but certainly there are planty of examples of slow starting teams that reach glory.

It was a nice win. There are 161 games left, so that kinda puts it in perspective.

Better to win than lose. Now, let's make it two wins!

[harmony]

Ignoring health, O'Neilll isn't much of a step down from Verdugo, who was vastly overrated IMO.

I like Campbell too. I don't know any Mariner's fan who thought the Urias trade was a good deal.

This Mariner fan liked the Luis Urias trade for both teams.

An analytics guy in the Mariner front office compares the 26-year-old Urias with J.P. Crawford, another former top prospect who got off to a slow start in his MLB career.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

It's great. Last night was the most I've enjoyed a game in a while. We're way short of where we would like to be, but they seem to really like each other as a group, so I'll take the hope (again) for now.

I hope Martin and Jansen stay healthy so we can get good pieces for them at the deadline and further add to the young core.

So you have us out of the PO hunt by the trade deadline? How optimistic of you.

[moonslav59]

This Mariner fan liked the Luis Urias trade for both teams.

An analytics guy in the Mariner front office compares the 26-year-old Urias with J.P. Crawford, another former top prospect who got off to a slow start in his MLB career.

I liked the Urias potential, but Grissom looks to have much better upside.

Campbell should help us- hopefully by more than Urias helps your club.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Regarding the SOX farm system, I don't see their farm being as highly ranked w/o any top pitching prospects. Is that a valid argument?

[moonslav59]

Regarding the SOX farm system, I don't see their farm being as highly ranked w/o any top pitching prospects. Is that a valid argument?

Some ranking sites specifically said- they did not rank us as highly due to lack of top pitching prospects, so I do think it's fair.

There really doesn't seem to be that many upside pitchers that might jump in the rankings in 2024, either.

The everyday prospects might be top 3 to 5.
Anthony
Teel
Mayer
Rafaela
Bleis
Cespedes
Abreu

The pitching side is likely bottom 5-7:
Wikelman
Perales
Fitts
Sandlin
Slaten
Monegro
Dobbins, Guerrero, E R-C, Bastardo, Mata, Hoppe, I Coffey, Paez & others
Walter, Gambrell, Penrod, Liu

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Some ranking sites specifically said- they did not rank us as highly due to lack of top pitching prospects, so I do think it's fair.

There really doesn't seem to be that many upside pitchers that might jump in the rankings in 2024, either.

The everyday prospects might be top 3 to 5.
Anthony
Teel
Mayer
Rafaela
Bleis
Cespedes
Abreu

The pitching side is likely bottom 5-7:
Wikelman
Perales
Fitts
Sandlin
Slaten
Monegro
Dobbins, Guerrero, E R-C, Bastardo, Mata, Hoppe, I Coffey, Paez & others
Walter, Gambrell, Penrod, Liu

Thanks, Moon. I heve to say that I was impressed with Fitts in one of the late ST games.

[harmony]

I liked the Urias potential, but Grissom looks to have much better upside.

Campbell should help us- hopefully by more than Urias helps your club.

Last season 26-year-old Isaiah Campbell was good enough to be on the bullpen shuttle between Seattle and Double A Arkansas. That's not without value.

Promising 23-year-old Vaughn Grissom could well match the 2.1 and 2.3 fWAR that Luis Urias posted in his age 24 and 25 seasons.

[Larry Cook]

I am hopeful that slaten is the real deal! He has decent enough stuff. Let’s hope he can throw strikes and not meatballs

[moonslav59]

Promising 23-year-old Vaughn Grissom could well match the 2.1 and 2.3 fWAR that Luis Urias posted in his age 24 and 25 seasons.

I'll bet he tops 2,1, at least twice in his career.

[Larry Cook]

I'll bet he tops 2,1, at least twice in his career.

Are you adding years together ?

[Bellhorn04]

I will assume sarcasm, but I haven't been by much in the last few weeks, so if this isn't glib, I am beyond impressed by your redemption arc.

And by impressed, I mean a little worried.

Yeah, you show up every few weeks but you talk like you're one of the regulars. I've noticed.

I've said repeatedly they should trade Jansen only IF they're out of it at the deadline.

Just because I've been excoriating ownership doesn't mean I've said anything about throwing in the towel.

[harmony]

I have no issues with Crawford as a SP. I do think they need two other SPs as well.

But a RHH bat to protect Devers in fromt of a league worst defense makes zero sense. Sox were, despite the slow finish, a top ten offense. They were not a top 29 defense…

Righthander Kutter Crawford, the Red Sox starter on Saturday, has pitched 10 shutout innings over his two career starts at T-Mobile Park (five hits, five walks, 12 strikeouts):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/b...02206120.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/b...02308020.shtml

Just by chance, this poster attended both afternoon games.

[dgalehouse]

Obviously, things do not look too good, on paper or on the field. The best hope is simply that it is baseball. There is plenty of luck and randomness in the sport. There are always players and teams that exceed expectations. The Sox do have some talent. It's not a terrible team. Maintaining health will be important, as it will be for the competition as well. One good thing is that the relatively easy early schedule could result in getting off to a good start. That could help build a winning attitude , confidence and momentum. That being said, I would not advise betting the farm on the Sox winning the division.

Another bump. Looks pretty accurate.

[jad]

How much is parking these days?

It's free. You take the train (35c for me) to Union Station and you either walk or take a shuttle to Chavez Ravine. Unless you could use the center field parking lot, the aggravation of getting in and out of the stadium lot outweighed any enjoyment you could get from the game itself. (Which may have been why in the bad ole days of the 80s and 90s, you would see the bizarre phenomenon of fans entering and leaving the stadium AT THE SAME TIME. I doubt this happens anymore.)