Kristian Campbell Agrees To Eight-Year Extension With Red Sox

[Kimmi]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 

So, what were Sox fans complaining about our spending when we were top half every year?

As I posted earlier, the Sox owners are not cheapskates.  Fans like the shiny toys, and they want the owners to acquire these toys, no matter the cost.  Unfortunately for most, our owners don't seem to be willing to pay the price of a 8+ year contract (except for Devers), and rightly so.  Frankly, I don't think they really wanted to give Devers that contract either, but felt like they had to so to appease the fan base.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

I'd heard that MLB is seriously thinking of implementing a 'hard cap' next season. Similar to what the NHL has been doing for years.

If this goes thru, more than likely there will be a player's strike.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

4 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

 

So, what were Sox fans complaining about our spending when we were top half every year?

Probably because they've grown accustomed to being in the top 3 or so in payroll and no longer are.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

4 hours ago, Kimmi said:

I'm against the insane superstar contracts.

So you would rather the owner pocket the money?

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I'd heard that MLB is seriously thinking of implementing a 'hard cap' next season. Similar to what the NHL has been doing for years.

If this goes thru, more than likely there will be a player's strike.

Owners will lockout. I don’t see a hard cap coming as it punishes some rich owners and players won’t go for it.

[moonslav59]

It doesn't seem like a mega luxury tax works as intended, but only for a couple teams, as of now (LAD & NYM.) I do think it keeps 8-12 teams from spending wildly. Half the league doesn't even care about the lux tax line as they will not spend over the line, even if there was no tax.

One way the players may agree to a soft or semi-hard cap would be to have a hard floor cap that significantly rises over a few years and forces the low budget teams to spend way more. Some owners may sell their teams, but maybe that would be a good thing. (Some teams might move cities.)

Something different has to be implemented. I'm not sure how or what it can/will be. If the mega taxes were used to force lower budget teams to spend (using the tax money only to increase their spending) maybe it could work. The players would love it, since forcing lower teams to spend much more would only drive contracts up and force higher spending teams to bid more and more. I'm not sure what would happen.

I hope there is no lock out, but with radical changes almost a certainty, I think it will.

[notin]

15 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

So you would rather the owner pocket the money?

I’d prefer they lowered prices.

Do we think owners aren’t pocketing money?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

I’d prefer they lowered prices.

Do we think owners aren’t pocketing money?

Lol, like they'd ever lower prices, that's a good one.

Of course they pocket money, they're in business.

Do you go to work to not make money?

[Kimmi]

On 5/7/2025 at 8:52 PM, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

So you would rather the owner pocket the money?

I would rather them spend on shorter term contracts.  IMO, the Red Sox should be spending right around the luxury tax threshold every year, with a willingness to go over now and then.

I am not among those who would rather see the players get paid hundreds of millions of dollars than have the owners pocket this money.  Billionaires versus millionaires?  I have no dog in that fight.  In a perfect world, that money would be passed on to lower prices for fans and to clubhouse attendants, grounds crew, etc.

[moonslav59]

If the owners were smart, LOL- good one!- they'd offer to raise the min salary to $2M, year 1 and up to $3M by the last year of the deal. That would get a big chunk of players to lobby for passage of a deal that involved some sort of top end player salary limit of a semi-hard team spending cap.

Shorten the pre-arb & arb years. Between these two offers, you'd be giving more than half the players on the 40 a big raise or chance to make more.

I think the Sox have like 17-18 players who are not pre-arb or arb, and a few of them were extended before they reached arb or free agency.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Red Sox Kristian Campbell's comments on playing 1B make Rafael Devers look even worse

[Old Red]

14 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Red Sox Kristian Campbell's comments on playing 1B make Rafael Devers look even worse

KC is a Rookie who will do anything to stay in the Big Leagues, and Raffy is an established veteran. Two entirely different situations. KC also played many different positions in the minor leagues, which is an entirely different situation also. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, Old Red said:

KC is a Rookie who will do anything to stay in the Big Leagues, and Raffy is an established veteran. Two entirely different situations. KC also played many different positions in the minor leagues, which is an entirely different situation also. 

Exactly. It's apples to oranges, plus KC has not had an established position since joining professional baseball.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

KC is a Rookie who will do anything to stay in the Big Leagues, and Raffy is an established veteran. Two entirely different situations. KC also played many different positions in the minor leagues, which is an entirely different situation also. 

Nope, one is a team player.

The other, not so much.........

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Nope, one is a team player.

The other, not so much.........

Call it what you want, but two entirely different situations,  and Most Importantly Cora hasn’t told, or even asked Raffy to try 1B.

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Nope, one is a team player.

The other, not so much.........

Their situations matter. I doubt Devers would have acted like this, had they moved him to 1B in 2017.

How about Bogey at 3B, his first year? Team player or just trying to get a foot in the MLB door. Had he refused, he'd have likely  been traded.

[Old Red]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

There situations matter. I doubt Devers would have acted like this, had they moved him to 1B in 2017.

How about Bogey at 3B, his first year? Team player or just trying to get a foot in the MLB door. Had he refused, he'd have likely  been traded.

Bogey was in the same situation KC is now, and was in the same situation Raffy is now when the Red Sox signed Story. Two entirely different situations, and two entirely different outcomes.

[moonslav59]

44 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 

 

33 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Bogey was in the same situation KC is now, and was in the same situation Raffy is now when the Red Sox signed Story. Two entirely different situations, and two entirely different outcomes.

Agreed. Like the Bogey-Story situations, both Story and Bregman were quick to say they'd play where told to play, so that aspect made it easier. Then, Bregman was slotted at 3B, and the situation changed.

I also remember ARod differing to  the far inferior defensive SS (Jeter) by saying he'd play 3B. These decisions are not always based on what is best for the team, on paper. (In all fairness, ARod's D was starting to decline by then.)

 

[Old Red]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 

Agreed. Like the Bogey-Story situations, both Story and Bregman were quick to say they'd play where told to play, so that aspect made it easier. Then, Bregman was slotted at 3B, and the situation changed.

I also remember ARod differing to  the far inferior defensive SS (Jeter) by saying he'd play 3B. These decisions are not always based on what is best for the team, on paper. (In all fairness, ARod's D was starting to decline by then.)

 

Yes we agree that Both Story, and Bregman were coming to new teams who already had established players at the positions they normally play, and the same with ARod.

[Hitch]

I was vehemently against Campbell playing 1st. I thought that if you've got a young kid looking like a very good player, you let him play his position and stay there. If he's as good as you hope defensively you've got the position (a problem position for us) sorted. But I hadn't realised he'd been as poor at 2nd base as the stats had shown. I'm definitely more on board with it now. And it does open up 2nd for Mayer. 

I also thought Devers should play there and eventually would. but if he keeps hitting like he has been at DH that's fine by me. My main worry was that he wasn't adapting to the role. That seems to be in the past. 

[Hugh2]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Their situations matter. I doubt Devers would have acted like this, had they moved him to 1B in 2017.

How about Bogey at 3B, his first year? Team player or just trying to get a foot in the MLB door. Had he refused, he'd have likely  been traded.

They had Drew on a 1 year contract at SS and Middlebrooks was laying eggs.  They weren't trading Bogaerts if he didn't move to 3B. 

Young guys are always going to be willing to appear the big club to make it to the majors.  But guys want to maximize their value as well.  They only get one real shot at a payday, and moving a guy off of a position to a lesser position can cost them millions and millions of dollars. 

Unless of course......you were already paid. 

I don't care what anyone says, if you conducted a anonymous poll of Sox players, some of those guys think Devers should have moved to 1B and are likely turned off by his unwillingness to do so. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

3 hours ago, Old Red said:

Call it what you want, but two entirely different situations,  and Most Importantly Cora hasn’t told, or even asked Raffy to try 1B.

One would expect the veteran to handle it better. Instead it came out awful, twice.

And how do you know what cora has or has not asked him to do? Do you sit in on the closed door meetings?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Their situations matter. I doubt Devers would have acted like this, had they moved him to 1B in 2017.

How about Bogey at 3B, his first year? Team player or just trying to get a foot in the MLB door. Had he refused, he'd have likely  been traded.

One could also expect that a veteran who is a supposed team leader would have handled the situation much better instead of fumbling it, twice..........

[Old Red]

5 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

One would expect the veteran to handle it better. Instead it came out awful, twice.

And how do you know what cora has or has not asked him to do? Do you sit in on the closed door meetings?

That’s an easy one. I haven’t sat in on any closed door meetings lately, but I did hear an interview with with Cora when Cora was asked if he had talked with Raffy about moving to 1B, and Cora said NO. Cora was then asked if he intended to talk with Raffy about moving to 1B, and again Cora answered NO. This is pretty well known, and has  been talked about more than once on here. In other words it’s not only news, but old news. 🤭

[moonslav59]

8 hours ago, Hitch said:

I was vehemently against Campbell playing 1st. I thought that if you've got a young kid looking like a very good player, you let him play his position and stay there. If he's as good as you hope defensively you've got the position (a problem position for us) sorted. But I hadn't realised he'd been as poor at 2nd base as the stats had shown. I'm definitely more on board with it now. And it does open up 2nd for Mayer. 

Campbell has been playing some CF, too.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

7 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

One could also expect that a veteran who is a supposed team leader would have handled the situation much better instead of fumbling it, twice..........

I seriously doubt that Devers is a team leader. To be a team leader one has to be a team player.

[Hitch]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Campbell has been playing some CF, too.

They did, not much, but some. I was against that too. 

I understand the need for flexibility in today;s game, but sometimes just let a kid learn the position. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

11 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I seriously doubt that Devers is a team leader. To be a team leader one has to be a team player.

That's why I said "supposed"

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

13 hours ago, Old Red said:

That’s an easy one. I haven’t sat in on any closed door meetings lately, but I did hear an interview with with Cora when Cora was asked if he had talked with Raffy about moving to 1B, and Cora said NO. Cora was then asked if he intended to talk with Raffy about moving to 1B, and again Cora answered NO. This is pretty well known, and has  been talked about more than once on here. In other words it’s not only news, but old news. 🤭

Ah, yes, because what the manager/front office says to the public is always exactly what is said behind closed doors.

[Old Red]

29 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Ah, yes, because what the manager/front office says to the public is always exactly what is said behind closed doors.

You can look at it anyway you want, but IMO Cora sees things a lot differently than you, and most others do regarding the Raffy situation, and at the moment it looks like his say courtesy of JH.