A Realistic View at 2024: Part I

[Randy Red Sox]

It’s the season to root for the farm and s*** on miserly John Henry.

 

The Sox better not trade any of their top 3 prospects for any of the P that are apparently available like Cease, Beiiber, etc. it is obvious they are not in it to contend in 2024. These 3 prospects at least offer the potential of some excitement to come. Breslow needs to find a way to add some young SP without dealing any of those 3. Just sign Paxton for 1 year and "FULL THROTTLE ahead !!

[mvp 78]

The Sox better not trade any of their top 3 prospects for any of the P that are apparently available like Cease, Beiiber, etc. it is obvious they are not in it to contend in 2024. These 3 prospects at least offer the potential of some excitement to come. Breslow needs to find a way to add some young SP without dealing any of those 3. Just sign Paxton for 1 year and "FULL THROTTLE ahead !!

 

If they were getting a real ace and extending them, trade whatever. With the guidelines ownership has issued, may as well just put up a s*** MLB team for a year and take your lumps. If the prospects don’t work out, this org is in big trouble.

[moonslav59]

how do you propose the Sox get good again without spending?

 

The answer is not what anyone wants to hear: following up a 5 year plan with another 2-3 year plan.

 

Time is their plan.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

how do you propose the Sox get good again without spending?

 

I've always been about spending for top end talent -- instead of trading prospect capital.

 

But historically, the Red Sox have done better more often dealing for star pitchers that were about to become too expensive for other clubs: Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, Sale were all top-of-the-rotation starters on teams that won rings. They were all better acquisitions than contemporary big-money free agents like Price and Lackey.

 

For some reason, this Boston tradition goes back to the advent of free agency: Eckersly was a good trade, Mike Torrez a not-so-good signing (except for Bucky Dent).

 

For decades, trading for a Corbin Burnes seemed like the logical move for the Red Sox... before the monster of Scott Boras was created.

[moonslav59]

I've always been about spending for top end talent -- instead of trading prospect capital.

 

But historically, the Red Sox have done better more often dealing for star pitchers that were about to become too expensive for other clubs: Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, Sale were all top-of-the-rotation starters on teams that won rings. They were all better acquisitions than contemporary big-money free agents like Price and Lackey.

 

For some reason, this Boston tradition goes back to the advent of free agency: Eckersly was a good trade, Mike Torrez a not-so-good signing (except for Bucky Dent).

 

For decades, trading for a Corbin Burnes seemed like the logical move for the Red Sox... before the monster of Scott Boras was created.

 

Hell, trades for Nate, Peavy, Pivetta and PomPom worked out as well as Price and Lackey!

[cp176]

Will probably spend more time watching the POR games than the BOS games in the first half of the season. That’s the only benefit of getting mlb.tv.

 

Portland might be a good place for me. When Werner tries to justify high ticket prices regardless of the team's quality, my flesh feels flayed. I consider Fenway a beautiful piece of art but I don't really need to make that trip again. It is the quality of the team that justifies the price we pay. Also that entire area is in line for some big time redevelopment which is coming. I just don't know exactly what that means for the Ball club financially. The hospital district is going to be seeing some change but pretty sure that that does not reflect on Red Sox ownership although it will likely help make the area in general more attractive.

[moonslav59]

Portland might be a good place for me. When Werner tries to justify high ticket prices regardless of the team's quality, my flesh feels flayed. I consider Fenway a beautiful piece of art but I don't really need to make that trip again. It is the quality of the team that justifies the price we pay. Also that entire area is in line for some big time redevelopment which is coming. I just don't know exactly what that means for the Ball club financially. The hospital district is going to be seeing some change but pretty sure that that does not reflect on Red Sox ownership although it will likely help make the area in general more attractive.

 

I’m with you.

 

The area did need an upgrade, but the Fenway experience is not worth the effort for me, anymore.

 

I read somewhere the Sox made almost $100M off NESN in ‘22. I’d love to boycott them, but I can’t see that happening.

[jad]

Portland might be a good place for me. When Werner tries to justify high ticket prices regardless of the team's quality, my flesh feels flayed. I consider Fenway a beautiful piece of art but I don't really need to make that trip again. It is the quality of the team that justifies the price we pay. Also that entire area is in line for some big time redevelopment which is coming. I just don't know exactly what that means for the Ball club financially. The hospital district is going to be seeing some change but pretty sure that that does not reflect on Red Sox ownership although it will likely help make the area in general more attractive.

 

See you there. One thing for sure: no one will be listening in on the RS, since no SeaDogs fan is really going to give a cr*p about them.

[dgalehouse]

All the talk of boycotting the team will soon fade away. Pitchers and catchers will report. We will become hopeful once again. It's in our blood. There's new grass on the field. We are hooked. Put me in coach. We are Sox addicts.

[harmony]

Columnist Enos Sarris at The Athletic concluded his answer to a mailbag question about the Red Sox with:

 

The major-league moves haven’t pointed to an obvious stockpiling of arms. They’ve added Lucas Giolito and subtracted Chris Sale. They’ve added some minor-league pitching and also subtracted some. But it’s also obvious that the team is aware of this correlation and is working to improve it. (And, for what it’s worth, I think Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Cutter Crawford and Tanner Houck are all major-league starters, and Bello and Pivetta have the upside to be good No. 2 starters, even in a postseason environment.)

https://theathletic.com/5209431/2024/01/19/eno-sarris-mailbag-red-sox-juan-soto/?source=freeweeklyemail&campaign=602288

Subscription required.

[Old Red]

All the talk of boycotting the team will soon fade away. Pitchers and catchers will report. We will become hopeful once again. It's in our blood. There's new grass on the field. We are hooked. Put me in coach. We are Sox addicts.

 

Maybe, but I think there is a lot more discontent all the way around this year than in past years.

[Randy Red Sox]

I don’t feel that any of the P mentioned to date warrant giving up one of our 3 top prospects. Management has not shown anything to indicate they would extend one long term

[Randy Red Sox]

That is what miser Henry is counting on for sure

[moonslav59]

Why was their no boycott talk after the purge of late 70’s stars?

[jad]

Why was their no boycott talk after the purge of late 70’s stars?

 

Because there was no need. Check the attendance figures from the late 70s, early 80s. Dropped more than a half-million, even below league average, until 1986.

[Old Red]

Why was their no boycott talk after the purge of late 70’s stars?

 

A different day in a different time. A lot different.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Why was their no boycott talk after the purge of late 70’s stars?

 

All of baseball suffered The Strike of 1981, but when they played, the Sox were still fun to watch, with plenty of star power: Yaz still kicking, Rice and Evans in their primes, Tony Perez had joined, Remy hit .307, and Carney Lansford won the batting crown at .336. Gedman hit .288 and finished second in Rookie of the Year as Fisk's replacement.

 

The next year they won 89 games. Boggs came up and hit .349. Three guys in the bullpen won 33 games, and a lot of young starters began taking turns in the rotation. Clemens arrived in '84.

 

Because of this next wave of hardball heroes, going to Fenway -- that old classic piece of artwork -- was more than just squeezing into uncomfortable seats, peering around a pole to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa for three hours.

 

Plus, I'm guessing a lot of the old-timers ready to tune-out in 2024 were a lot more supple, 40 years ago...

[Bellhorn04]

All the talk of boycotting the team will soon fade away. Pitchers and catchers will report. We will become hopeful once again. It's in our blood. There's new grass on the field. We are hooked. Put me in coach. We are Sox addicts.

 

There will never be a full-fledged boycott. But if the team flounders again attendance and viewership will go down.

[dgalehouse]

Maybe, but I think there is a lot more discontent all the way around this year than in past years.

 

Absolutely.

[dgalehouse]

Why was their no boycott talk after the purge of late 70’s stars?

 

There was no internet.

[Old Red]

There was no internet.

 

Like I said a lot different time today, and the internet is one that makes it that way.

[notin]

I’m with you.

 

The area did need an upgrade, but the Fenway experience is not worth the effort for me, anymore.

 

I read somewhere the Sox made almost $100M off NESN in ‘22. I’d love to boycott them, but I can’t see that happening.

 

I’m not boycotting and I don’t think the off-season over yet. But I certainly see how Henry has fueled the frustration among fans…

[moonslav59]

Because there was no need. Check the attendance figures from the late 70s, early 80s. Dropped more than a half-million, even below league average, until 1986.

 

Seems like it was unspoken boycott

[notin]

All of baseball suffered The Strike of 1981, but when they played, the Sox were still fun to watch, with plenty of star power: Yaz still kicking, Rice and Evans in their primes, Tony Perez had joined, Remy hit .307, and Carney Lansford won the batting crown at .336. Gedman hit .288 and finished second in Rookie of the Year as Fisk's replacement.

 

The next year they won 89 games. Boggs came up and hit .349. Three guys in the bullpen won 33 games, and a lot of young starters began taking turns in the rotation. Clemens arrived in '84.

 

Because of this next wave of hardball heroes, going to Fenway -- that old classic piece of artwork -- was more than just squeezing into uncomfortable seats, peering around a pole to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa for three hours.

 

Plus, I'm guessing a lot of the old-timers ready to tune-out in 2024 were a lot more supple, 40 years ago...

 

 

Sox fans had lower expectations then.

 

In 1983-1985, the Sox went 245-241, never playing in the postseason (granted, per-wild card so only 2 AL teams got in). In 2021-2023, the Sox went 248-238 with an ALCS appearance, and the talk is All boycott.

 

And yet there were some highlights in the 1983-85 years, per the post above. None of them involved winning anything, but highlights nonetheless. No one evrn wants to hear highlights about the recent years, despite them actually being better than many previous stretches…

[notin]

Seems like it was unspoken boycott

 

I was posting about it on the internet. But as none of you had computers or cell phones, you couldn’t access my gripes. It’s too bad. That was my best, brightest and wittiest work. There was some Pulitzer talk…

[Bellhorn04]

Seems like it was unspoken boycott

 

Thinks were so crappy during the years 1980-1985 I was in jeopardy of converting to a Jays fan. That's how bad and how boring it was.

[Bellhorn04]

I was posting about it on the internet. But as none of you had computers or cell phones, you couldn’t access my gripes. It’s too bad. That was my best, brightest and wittiest work. There was some Pulitzer talk…

 

You really need to get those voices in your head checked out.

[cp176]

I was posting about it on the internet. But as none of you had computers or cell phones, you couldn’t access my gripes. It’s too bad. That was my best, brightest and wittiest work. There was some Pulitzer talk…

 

God bless your family. Hope you thanked them for their support.

[notin]

Thinks were so crappy during the years 1980-1985 I was in jeopardy of converting to a Jays fan. That's how bad and how boring it was.

 

Bell-Moseby-Barfield was one exciting outfield!!

[notin]

You really need to get those voices in your head checked out.

 

Hey don’t knock them. They’re some of the friendliest disembodied voices you’d even get haunted by…