ApprenticeOfLayton

Great opportunity to gain ground with the softer schedule, and if there's anything you feel good about with this team it's that they have thoroughly beaten the teams you're supposed to beat. If we can keep up this pace in June while KC and Cleveland smack each other around for a bit, this division is far from lost. If you had told me we'd start 7-13, have an 0-5 mark against the Guardians, lose Royce for two months, and have to send Wallner and Julien to AAA, I never would have expected to still be within striking distance of a division lead, especially not this soon. We've weathered our worst storms and played our worst ball, and despite it all we're still a playoff team. Find another starter however we can and make it to October however we can and there's no reason it can't be us. (sees our record against the top 3 AL teams) .........well, then again everyone's a work in progress! I'm trying to talk myself into having hope, though. Baseball, as with life, is a lot more fun that way.

Gonna take a king's ransom to outbid serious contenders with deeper farm systems like Baltimore or LA, and that's before considering the exorbitant divisional rival tax we'd likely have to pay in addition. At that point I'd rather just pay a comparable price to go after Luzardo, a more proven number 2 starter than Crochet (albeit with fewer seasons of club control) and with a less dicey injury history than Robert. I'd even prefer higher-impact lower-cost rentals for the staff like Kikuchi or the plethora of Angels relievers to any of the Sox's club-controlled role players or bullpen arms that I don't see moving our needle much, especially if they come with the risk of potentially seeing one or more of our prospects haunt us for years on our most traditionally despised division rival. Too costly for the risk and available alternatives, at least from the armchair im playing GM in.