"Fans have become more entitled than anything. So they're starting to question our motives for the game, or how we approach the game. The ones that do question -- like who are you? Just shut up and watch the game tonight." --Kevin Durant on players' lack of effort in regular season games.
In truth, I did not check that stat but not sure how relevant especially since the 1st title since 1918 was now 20 years ago, and the last 6 years ago, while inflation since 2020 on a national basis has increased 20% . So I will say that salaries for ballplayers since 2018 have increased significantly without regard to ability, talent, work ethic or baseball production levels.
What I do know is that this team is a middle -middle doomed to mediocrity bunch of nice guys. I think several of us saw that coming out of ST. Some didn't come out of ST, particularly Vaughn Grissom.
Minor League Stats
..............BA ..OPS ..G
Grissom .320 .883 338
Mookie.. .316 .880 299
Duran.........299 .834 338
Devers...... .297 .838 406
Rafaela...... .280 .806 424
O’Neill....... .272 .871 579
Casas........ .269 .858 284
Abreu........ .259 .811 431
Dalbec.........261 .879 521
Teel.. ......... .307 .868 51
Yorke.......... .276 .795 315
Anthony...... .268 .824 156
Mayer......... .265 .818 224
Kavadas...... .258 .930 284
Last edited by 5GoldGloves:OF,75; 05-14-2024 at 07:11 AM.
Agree on the mediocrity, but hasten to add the payroll is $182M, 11th highest out of 30 payrolls. Highest is the Mets, $308M, whose record, 19-21, is even worse than the Sox. 2d highest is Yankees, $306M, and they are tied with the Orioles, whose payrolls is $101M. 3d highest is Houston, $250M, who are 16-25. 4th highest are the Phillies, $245M, who are 29-13 (excellent). 5th, Texas, $233M, 22-21, same as the Sox. 6th, Atlanta, $231M, 25-13, also excellent. Same for the Dodgers, 7th, $229M, 28-15. But not Toronto, 8th, $226M, 19-22.
Cleveland payroll, $100M, is 27th and their record is 26-16. Tampa's is $100M, and their record is 21-21. Milwaukee's is 22d, $107M, and they are 24-17.
So, inflation or not, it's how you spend your bucks, not how many you spend.