Trade deadline

mfried

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Nov 23, 2005
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Go get Schoop and a reliever.

I don’t think there’s an available starter who is enough of an upgrade to justify the price. Schoop is a versatile bat that can play 1st and 2nd.
How good a defensive first baseman is Schoop?
 

mikeford

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Aug 6, 2006
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I am deeply worried about the balance of the season if we don't add a single starter given what ERod, Pivetta, Perez, and Richards have looked like the last few weeks.
Co-signing this. We really need someone who can give us 6 innings of 2-3 run ball. Perez and Edro seem incapable of this right now.
 

IpswichSox

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This is NOT Chaim paralyzed because he's over-valuing our prospects. We're simply being out-bid.

I would prefer more bullpen depth now to help shorten games, especially with some of the rotation showing regression and the uncertainties with Sale's return.
 

bluefenderstrat

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Co-signing this. We really need someone who can give us 6 innings of 2-3 run ball. Perez and Edro seem incapable of this right now.
Maybe it's Houck and Sale (fingers crossed) taking those starts, and you look to upgrade a bullpen slot & hopefully 1B. It does seem like the cost is too high for decent starters.
 

canyoubelieveit

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Apr 8, 2006
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I am deeply worried about the balance of the season if we don't add a single starter given what ERod, Pivetta, Perez, and Richards have looked like the last few weeks.
On one hand, of course I'd also rather have top-notch starters every game (or more games than currently), but that's a preference to be dominant rather than just competitive. Given the imperfections of all teams (even after trade deadline improvements), the current Sox rotation + lineup + bullpen has proven itself to be more than competitive. We should continue to win games where Pivetta or Perez or Richards gives up 3 runs in 5 innings. Barring a total collapse (which is always possible, and worth trying to avoid at the right cost), this team is headed to the playoffs with the current roster. In a playoff series, there's an excellent and not unreaslistic chance that Sale + Eo + Houck + any of the others for a 4th starter can be the winning team.

Get me a 1B, and a starter only if the cost is right. Hopefully this is what Chaim is doing.

edit: and who's even out there who's likely to be significantly better than Pivetta, Perez, or Richards for a handful of starts? Scherzer would have been, sure. Berrios might have been, but he's not Sandy Koufax...in any stretch of 4 games it would not be stunning for any of our current guys to have a similar set of box scores. Kyle Gibson, etc.? Not worth prospects for the marginal upgrade or even possible downgrade.

edit #2: I'm guilty of this too, but I think yesterday's ass-whooping by the Jays is affecting our overall assessment of the rotation. It's imperfect, but not as bad as this one-game-recency-bias would make us feel. We've gotten hammered by the Jays a couple times this year. Almost every other game has been competitive...the Sox have had remarkably few games this year where we've been truly blown out. Yesterday just happened to be one of them.
 
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soxin6

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Apr 23, 2010
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I am deeply worried about the balance of the season if we don't add a single starter given what ERod, Pivetta, Perez, and Richards have looked like the last few weeks.
This is where I am. I just don't think they will be able to hold on, even if Sale returns and is better than ever.
 

chawson

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Aug 1, 2006
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Gibson has been super lucky this year with home run rate and Babip. I think he will be disappointing the rest of the way.
Gibson’s last three starts (two against Detroit):

0-3, 7.79 ERA, 12 walks and 13 strikeouts in 17.1 IP

Soft contact skills seem pretty stable but the home run and walk rates have started the climb the last month. If everyone else is healthy, do we start him in Game 4 over Pivetta?
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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I am deeply worried about the balance of the season if we don't add a single starter given what ERod, Pivetta, Perez, and Richards have looked like the last few weeks.
Sox have played .565 ball in July even with those performances. Playing at that rate in August and September gets them to 95 wins.
 

Just a bit outside

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Gibson’s last three starts (two against Detroit):

0-3, 7.79 ERA, 12 walks and 13 strikeouts in 17.1 IP

Soft contact skills seem pretty stable but the home run and walk rates have started the climb the last month. If everyone else is healthy, do we start him in Game 4 over Pivetta?
I would start Pivetta but it is probably a toss up.
 

ehaz

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Sep 30, 2007
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NYY trying to trade Luke Voit.

Maybe Cashman will give us the pigfucker for free?
 

BringBackMo

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So it seems that we are now deeply worried about the lineup, the bullpen, and the rotation. Does that cover it for this team with the second-best record in the league, or am I missing anything?
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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We should all keep in mind what Bloom said. The unexpected results so far have put us in a different position than expected, but he said he is still not going to sell out the future. If they right trade is there to help the team now he'll make it. Did we really want him in a bidding war for Berrios seeing what it cost Toronto?
 

BigSoxFan

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We should all keep in mind what Bloom said. The unexpected results so far have put us in a different position than expected, but he said he is still not going to sell out the future. If they right trade is there to help the team now he'll make it. Did we really want him in a bidding war for Berrios seeing what it cost Toronto?
Can I answer this question in 3 months? This team is good enough to make and do well in the playoffs, as is, but I think it's fine to question Bloom's decision making once we have a final accounting of what everyone goes for. Berrios is a guy I would have considered dealing our Casas/Downs types for given his age, effectiveness, and contract status. But I get why Chaim held off. I would not be interested in dealing any of our top prospects for a rental. I still have hope there is another Schwarber-style move in the works.
 

Jerry’s Curl

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Feb 6, 2018
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Co-signing this. We really need someone who can give us 6 innings of 2-3 run ball. Perez and Edro seem incapable of this right now.
A starter capable of that is going to cost two top prospects in a seller’s market. I doubt it will happen. We need Sale to give us 5 solid by September, Eovaldi to pitch well, and Houck to continue what he’s doing. The other starts we need the offense to bail us out. Hopefully our bullpen will continue to be very good.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Mar 11, 2007
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Just realized that as seemingly shitty as the Sox have been playing... they're actually 8-5 since the AS Break. For some reason it seems like they've been a game or two under .500
 

greek_gawd_of_walks

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I think my biggest concern is that schwarber is on the IL with a hamstring and at least two weeks out (and that's if his rehab goes perfectly, could be longer, hamstrings are fickle). Nothing has happened to make the first base situation any more tenable. Meanwhile, 3/5 of the rotation has gone the way of expired milk. And everyone wants another late inning bullpen arm this time of year.

I get the anger to this point. But we also don't have the depth in prospects to really be in any bidding war for Berrios or even Rizzo without damaging the future to some degree.

I kind of hope they take a look at Joe Ross. I think he's a free agent in 2023, so there may be some value there, but by no means is he some kind of massive upgrade, although when compared to Richards and Rodriguez, he would be I guess.

Another thing plaguing the Sox now is the lineup is pretty banged up. If they aren't healthy, a short lineup plays even shorter. Frustrating. But I don't think there's much they can do. Keep overachieving, I guess. Pretty tall order with the competition getting better.
 

chawson

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Thoughts on Pineda? Contract year. Probably one of the only starters left I'd consider.
Pineda is a good bet at this point. Last couple starts have been solid. Underrated, great K/BB ratio, should cost next to nothing. It’s late enough that think he or Heaney could fall to the Sox for virtually nothing. On the latter front sounds like Raisel Iglesias is still a target.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Another thing plaguing the Sox now is the lineup is pretty banged up. If they aren't healthy, a short lineup plays even shorter. Frustrating. But I don't think there's much they can do. Keep overachieving, I guess. Pretty tall order with the competition getting better.
You make a great point about the lineup being banged up. Obviously the guys on the IL right now weren't the big boppers, but their absence is perhaps forcing guys to play through stuff that they might be better off resting more often. Verdugo, I think, was battling some nagging stuff for a while and is only just recently starting to play and hit like himself. Hopefully some of the others will be able to recover similarly.

One thing to note with the competition...the Jays and Yankees are 8+ games back right now. Even a moderate stumble by the Sox isn't really going to bring them screaming back into the division race. The chief concern is winning the division and staying ahead of the Rays, which they've managed to do all year with the roster they have. Not sure the deck chair shuffling the Rays are doing necessarily makes them any more formidable than they were. They've arguably moved out as much talent as they've brought in over the last few days.
 

Oil Can Dan

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I feel like the fact that we are just below the Luxury Tax threshold is more important than most of us are considering. Adding almost anyone would seemingly require the trading partner to pick up the salary, which in turn means an increase in prospect quality/quantity, which is a tough situation. Sure, the Sox could blow past the LTT, but there is a price to pay for doing so down the line, isn't there?

So if I'm CB or the Sox, I'm thinking that any addition is either going to cost us a year of being over the LT or a more lopsided deal out of our favor, and so this acquisition better really move the needle. Maybe the situations just don't warrant that.