I think the final grade will come if the Sox contend for anything. If they don't win a few playoff series, then I don't care too much about WAR or OPS or launch angle or number of throws to first per nine innings.

You're absolutely right. If they don't contend for a World Series title, regardless of how well the individual players perform, you will have to consider the rebuild a failure. With my comment, I was just envisioning a time in the future where we can actually compare the WAR the Red Sox got from Chris Sale on his original contract vs. the WAR the White Sox got from Moncada, Kopech, and possibly Basabe and that other guy.

After putting up a combined ERA of like 15 across two levels in 2017 it appears Victor Diaz, the 4th piece in the Sale trade, has totally disappeared.

Okay. Maybe not the other guy then.

REBUILD CANCELLED!

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Wouldn't be shocked if this was Boston trying to keep him from pitching too many innings.

They are clearly resting him for the playoffs.

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

Sale just can't handle the workload of an ace. Too bad because he's something else to watch.

Major league ready talent instead of prospects.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I wanted Bogaerts and Benintendi. Everybody said it couldn't be done. Fine I said, no Chris Sale. What's the hurry, I said. Well, there's no fuckin' hurry now. Kopech in 2020 and Moncada maybe never.

Should've gone to Atlanta or Houston then. Sox fucked this trade up so bad it killed the rebuild.

And let's be honest we don't even know what they had with Kopech yet. Did he even pitch nine innings? He could be anywhere between Justin Verlander and Scott Radinsky.

Kopech had an it factor.

"Had"

Kopech is hurt, not dead.

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he's dead to me

more correctly, I might be dead to the world before he is back to full strenght

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

How long did it take Dylan Cease? Help me with the math. He hurt his elbow in 2014.

Dane Dunning next? Moderate sprain of the UCL. MIght as well blow it out in the Fall league and get it over with.

World Series, 2024.

When he was with the Sox in 2016 and DOMINATING Baseball through July, I said that he would fall off and not win the Cy Young, as that was his pattern. Same thing last year. He dominates early and then falls off and is absolutely mortal in August and September. he wears down. This is why I do not think he is a guy to build around. Because when you need him to be at his best, it's more likely he will not be, because the World Series is not played in May or June.

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Go Cubs!!!!

So, let's say the Sox offered to trade Chris Sale to the Cubs instead of Jose Quintana for Jimenez and Cease. You would have taken a pass on that trade? Is Chris Sale perfect? No. Is he still one of the past damn pitchers in baseball? Yes. There's not a single team in the major leagues that would not want him on their roster.

Isn't gonna win you the World Series but holy shit doesn't mean you give him away for nothing.

It's dumb anyway. A lot of great pitchers don't do as well in the postseason. You know why? Because they have to face the best lineups and other great pitchers.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Just look at the pitcher's W/L record. That will tell you all you need to know.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Some guys can't handle the pressure.

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Well, we won't know, I guess, since Chris wouldn't throw it over the plate to a best lineup. In particular, he was dicking around with Maldonado. Great pitchers don't dick around with the likes of .250 OBP hitters.

That's true, but it's not something you can tell in a tiny sample. Sale handled the pressure pretty well coming in in relief against the Yankees, didn't he?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I don't think Sale is one of those guys, Price is though.

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In 10 postseason starts, Price has been good in 2 of them. Cora believes in him. He has an imaginary computer.

Cora's gut may put the Red Sox in a big hole.

I think Sale responds to pressure just fine. HE is at least a top five pitcher in all of baseball.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Red Sox won the trade for now. WS bound and favorites.

There it is.

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