Red Sox: Off Season 2024-2025

[jad]

15 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yes, 1967 was fun.  But Hugh is telling us all those years of sucking the Yankees fumes were a party too.  Because we "had a villain".

(Hugh: I'm laying it on a little thick here to make things interesting.)  

Yeah, nothing got the faithful into a frenzy like the late-inning walk-up music for Ike Delock.

[Bellhorn04]

Here's a little nugget from the MLBTR report on the Sasaki investigation.

As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/mlb-conducted-investigation-prior-to-roki-sasakis-posting.html

[Bellhorn04]

It was so gracious of the Sox to gift Mookie to the Dodgers to kickstart their period of extreme dominance.  

Now we can see they did it for the good of the game.  They didn't really feel like spending and competing for a while so they sent him to a team that wanted to.

 

[notin]

33 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Here's a little nugget from the MLBTR report on the Sasaki investigation.

As described in The Athletic’s report, clubs around the game felt uncertain about Sasaki’s goals throughout his posting process as teams like the Mariners and Red Sox failed to land a meeting with the 23-year-old while large market teams like the Cubs, Yankees, and Mets did in spite of suggestions that he may prefer to avoid the spotlight.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/01/mlb-conducted-investigation-prior-to-roki-sasakis-posting.html

So the Sox and Mariners got shut out…

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

So the Sox and Mariners got shut out…

Have to say it applies much more to the Mariners.  Here's your west coast team out of the spotlight.  What, you're not interested?

They can investigate all they want, it's not going to convince too many people that the fix wasn't in.

 

[Hugh2]

Tanner Scott signs, with…..get this, the Dodgers.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, Hugh2 said:

Tanner Scott signs, with…..get this, the Dodgers.

Man, this feels like a pre-emptive strike before anything can be done about it in the next CBA.  

[Jasonbay44]

So the Dodgers now have essentially 5 ACE type pitchers, 3 MVPs in the lineup (along with other good players), just signed the best reliever in free agency and it sounds like guys like Kershaw want to re-sign just to sit on IL and pitch if injuries occur.

This is really annoying to watch. 

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, Jasonbay44 said:

So the Dodgers now have essentially 5 ACE type pitchers, 3 MVPs in the lineup (along with other good players), just signed the best reliever in free agency and it sounds like guys like Kershaw want to re-sign just to sit on IL and pitch if injuries occur.

This is really annoying to watch. 

There's no way this is good for baseball.  Get ready for a lot of stories on changes that have to be made.  The luxury tax system has been exposed as toothless.

[Jasonbay44]

So the Dodgers win the World Series and then in the offseason accomplish the following :

- Blake Snell 
- Michael Conforto 
- Re-signed Teoscar Hernandez
- Re-signed Blake Treinen 
- Hyeseong Kim
- Roki Sasaki 
- Tanner Scott
- Re-signed Tommy Edman

 

and the only thing they really lost was Walker Buehler and maybe Kike Hernandez? 

[Bellhorn04]

Just now, Jasonbay44 said:

So the Dodgers win the World Series and then in the offseason accomplish the following :

- Blake Snell 
- Michael Conforto 
- Re-signed Teoscar Hernandez
- Re-signed Blake Treinen 
- Hyeseong Kim
- Roki Sasaki 
- Tanner Scott
- Re-signed Tommy Edman

 

and the only thing they really lost was Walker Buehler and maybe Kike Hernandez? 

And Kike will probably come back on a cheap deal.  

[Jasonbay44]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

There's no way this is good for baseball.  Get ready for a lot of stories on changes that have to be made.  The luxury tax system has been exposed as toothless.

Yeah I just saw Passan tweet that said this

 

they’re also abusing the system with all the deferred contracts and having Ohtani recruit other Japanese stars is like a cheat code. 

[Bellhorn04]

And frankly this gives a lot of teams an excuse to not spend much to get better, because what's the point?

[notin]

Just now, Bellhorn04 said:

There's no way this is good for baseball.  Get ready for a lot of stories on changes that have to be made.  The luxury tax system has been exposed as toothless.

Start by disallowing deferred money on the luxury tax.  I don’t get MLB logic.

Team:  We are signing this 31yo player to an 11 year deal at $30mill per.

MLB:  No you’re not.  That’s a clear attempt to get out of the luxury tax.  No team would pay a 42yo player $30mill.

Team: Ok then.  We are going to restructure it so that we only pay him $5mill per year and defer payments on the rest and avoid the tax altogether while the interest on the deferred payments grows slower than the rate of MLB inflation.

MLB: Oh.  Ok.  That’s different.  I don’t see a problem…

[notin]

5 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

So the Dodgers win the World Series and then in the offseason accomplish the following :

- Blake Snell 
- Michael Conforto 
- Re-signed Teoscar Hernandez
- Re-signed Blake Treinen 
- Hyeseong Kim
- Roki Sasaki 
- Tanner Scott
- Re-signed Tommy Edman

 

and the only thing they really lost was Walker Buehler and maybe Kike Hernandez? 

Gavin Lux!!

[notin]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And frankly this gives a lot of teams an excuse to not try very hard to be good because what's the point?

The Dodger argument of “any team can do what we’re doing” isn’t really true.  It’s a safe bet the Pirates TV deal is a tad short of $8.35 billion…

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

Start by disallowing deferred money on the luxury tax.  I don’t get MLB logic.

Team:  We are signing this 31yo player to an 11 year deal at $30mill per.

MLB:  No you’re not.  That’s a clear attempt to get out of the luxury tax.  No team would pay a 42yo player $30mill.

Team: Ok then.  We are going to restructure it so that we only pay him $5mill per year and defer payments on the rest and avoid the tax altogether while the interest on the deferred payments grows slower than the rate of MLB inflation.

MLB: Oh.  Ok.  That’s different.  I don’t see a problem…

I didn't think the deferred money was a big deal until Ohtani.  Ohtani's deal took it nuclear.  

[notin]

8 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

So the Dodgers win the World Series and then in the offseason accomplish the following :

- Blake Snell 
- Michael Conforto 
- Re-signed Teoscar Hernandez
- Re-signed Blake Treinen 
- Hyeseong Kim
- Roki Sasaki 
- Tanner Scott
- Re-signed Tommy Edman

 

and the only thing they really lost was Walker Buehler and maybe Kike Hernandez? 

Up next - Pete Alonso?  Someone has to DH when Ohtani pitches.

 

 

[notin]

5 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I didn't think the deferred money was a big deal until Ohtani.  Ohtani's deal took it nuclear.  

It’s a bit hypocritical that MLB nixed deals to Aaron Judge and a few others for trying to circumvent the luxury tax, but allowed that Ohtani contract.

Maybe Ohtani will bet on the Dodgers this year and get another translator in trouble…

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yes, 1967 was fun.  But Hugh is telling us all those years of sucking the Yankees fumes were a party too.  Because we "had a villain".

(Hugh: I'm laying it on a little thick here to make things interesting.)  

I can’t speak to that, but I knew at a early age that the Yankees were the enemy, and that is why I started cheering for the Dodgers in 1963, because they were playing the Yankees in the WS.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, jad said:

Yeah, nothing got the faithful into a frenzy like the late-inning walk-up music for Ike Delock.

No, but when the Monsta came in he caused quite a stir in the crowd.

[notin]

22 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And Kike will probably come back on a cheap deal.  

But how did they miss out on Soto?

[Bellhorn04]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

But how did they miss out on Soto?

Seems like geography plays into it on both coasts.  New York was apparently the ideal location for Juan and his family.

And I suppose Steve Cohen being worth $20 billion didn't hurt...

[Bellhorn04]

Re-open that Ohtani gambling investigation!

Wouldn't it be something if some "new facts emerge" on that one...

[Old Red]

47 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Man, this feels like a pre-emptive strike before anything can be done about it in the next CBA.  

I agree, but it wasn’t like Scott wasn’t out there for a while for other teams like the Red Sox to spend a little money. Same for Teoscar for that matter.

[Randy Red Sox]

20 minutes ago, notin said:

But how did they miss out on Soto?

cause they didn't need him??

[Randy Red Sox]

40 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And frankly this gives a lot of teams an excuse to not spend much to get better, because what's the point?

yeah why even have a 2025 season. just present thew WS trophy to the Dodgers right now

[Bellhorn04]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I agree, but it wasn’t like Scott wasn’t out there for a while for other teams like the Red Sox to spend a little money. Same for Teoscar for that matter.

No question.  The Red Sox are just being further exposed as cheapskates taking advantage of their loyal fans.

But hey, maybe this will inspire Henry to free up an additional $250 K... 😛

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

18 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Re-open that Ohtani gambling investigation!

Wouldn't it be something if some "new facts emerge" on that one...

Translator kicked out of the clink for insider secrets after laying off all the action on Roki LAsaki.

[Bellhorn04]

Ohtani's interpreter might be the key to saving baseball!  

Yes, I'm losing it a bit...