Why sign Houck and Casas?

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Hitch said:

Absolutely zero chance of that happening. 

There is this assumption that even if JH decides to splurge, he will keep spending more and more in years that follow.

Yes, he can.

Most think yes he should.

Almost everyone knows that no we won't.

What he spends now will mean less later. That has been his one constant for over 2 decades of ownership.

[mvp 78]

15 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Well they signed Ranger Suarez. Good move. I think he could be considered a decent #2. Now they need Bichette.

Bichette has a terrible glove and not much power. He just doesn't seem like a good fit TBH. 

If a player has a poor glove, at least give me some pop.

[mvp 78]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

There is this assumption that even if JH decides to splurge, he will keep spending more and more in years that follow.

Yes, he can.

Most think yes he should.

Almost everyone knows that no we won't.

What he spends now will mean less later. That has been his one constant for over 2 decades of ownership.

You can't post on here "almost everyone knows he won't spend every season" in one post and then try to talk down on other posters who thought they may not spend on the team in another post. C'mon man. 

There is no reason he ever needs to spend less later except for being cheap. This isn't a mid market team. 

[moonslav59]

40 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

You can't post on here "almost everyone knows he won't spend every season" in one post and then try to talk down on other posters who thought they may not spend on the team in another post. C'mon man. 

There is no reason he ever needs to spend less later except for being cheap. This isn't a mid market team. 

I can and I will.

I have agreed there is no reason, except maybe greed, for JH to not spend more.

I'm not gloating because I was right. I WAS NOT RIGHT!

MY position has been, we don't know if he will spend at any given moment. His MO is to cut back spending after spending big, but even that leaves open when and by how much.

We don't know.

[moonslav59]

46 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Bichette has a terrible glove and not much power. He just doesn't seem like a good fit TBH. 

If a player has a poor glove, at least give me some pop.

I totally agree. Why choose this guy as THE MAN?

[Old Red]

6 hours ago, Hitch said:

Absolutely zero chance of that happening. 

I don’t believe Suarez would have been signed if Bregman would have, and I don’t see anymore big expenditures unless the Red Sox shed some salary in the process.

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I totally agree. Why choose this guy as THE MAN?

Because they couldn’t get their top man in Bregman would be the only answer I could see.

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

There is this assumption that even if JH decides to splurge, he will keep spending more and more in years that follow.

Yes, he can.

Most think yes he should.

Almost everyone knows that no we won't.

What he spends now will mean less later. That has been his one constant for over 2 decades of ownership.

23rd in MLB in percentage of revenue reinvested in player salaries. That makes him a cheap SOB.

[FredLynn]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I totally agree. Why choose this guy as THE MAN?

It doesn’t have to be Bichette. But they need someone (or more than one) big bat to become a contender in 2026. 

[drewski6]

15 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Because they couldn’t get their top man in Bregman would be the only answer I could see.

Or because he almost single handedly won the world series with a bum leg and nobody could get him out last year.

If he goes back to Toronto, you are losing every game against Toronto.  Becuase hes gonna drive in runs and we are not.

As is , we'll clean up against teams like KC, Cle, Twins, Angels because we'll win a lot of 2-1 and 1-0 games. But against teams like Tor, NYY, Phi, LAD, SEa - we're going to get got more than we get with a team built around pitching and defense. Cuz guys like Vlad and Judge will eat, and your pitching depth wont stop it.  Neither will a 3b who gives you 5 extra outs above replacement.

ALso - who wants to watch a team of noodlebats

[drewski6]

I think we are a playoff team as is, but I think we need more thump to go further in the playoffs

We are a solid/good team, but not a great team.

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

If he goes back to Toronto, you are losing every game against Toronto.  Becuase hes gonna drive in runs and we are not.

ALso - who wants to watch a team of noodlebats

Bichette has less RBI than Duran over the past 3 years. 

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Or because he almost single handedly won the world series with a bum leg and nobody could get him out last year.

If he goes back to Toronto, you are losing every game against Toronto.  Becuase hes gonna drive in runs and we are not.

As is , we'll clean up against teams like KC, Cle, Twins, Angels because we'll win a lot of 2-1 and 1-0 games. But against teams like Tor, NYY, Phi, LAD, SEa - we're going to get got more than we get with a team built around pitching and defense. Cuz guys like Vlad and Judge will eat, and your pitching depth wont stop it.  Neither will a 3b who gives you 5 extra outs above replacement.

ALso - who wants to watch a team of noodlebats

BO’s bat May play better than Bregman, but I don’t think BO is really on the Red Sox radar.

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

BO’s bat May play better than Bregman, but I don’t think BO is really on the Red Sox radar.

PHI really wants Bo, I don't think the Sox are really all in on him. 

[drewski6]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

PHI really wants Bo, I don't think the Sox are really all in on him. 

I agree, but there are reasons to want Bo.

Im not a realistic candidate to land a job as a wwe announcer, but there are reasons why i want it.

[drewski6]

Bo is a long shot, but Id celebrate if we got him. A real long shot, sure.

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Because they couldn’t get their top man in Bregman would be the only answer I could see.

So, just sign the current top man, because he happens to be the top man.

Great stragedy!

[moonslav59]

45 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

23rd in MLB in percentage of revenue reinvested in player salaries. That makes him a cheap SOB.

If you say so.

I'm not sure why that is the final say fact, but it does hold weight.

The guy is a greedy owner. Most are. It's the way of the world.

He's better than any other owner we've ever had. That's not meant as praise. It's meant as a warning. Be careful what you wish for: they next guy might be worse/cheaper or hire the wrong guys to build winning teams.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

So, just sign the current top man, because he happens to be the top man.

Great stragedy!

As I said I don’t think Bo is on the Red Sox radar, but I think his bat would play better going forward than Bregman, so when Bo eventually signs with someone that will be bad strategy?

[moonslav59]

45 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

It doesn’t have to be Bichette. But they need someone (or more than one) big bat to become a contender in 2026. 

I've been saying 2 big bats since day one.

Bichette is not a big bat. He's good, but his little power is not what we need.

I don't think Contreras is a "big bat" either. He has a little more power than Bichette and did fill the need at 1B enough for me to say we need ONE BIG BAT, still.

Has anyone here ranted more on the need to trade for KMarte than I have?

I also wanted Schwarber or Alonso, as in KMarte plus one of them. The Contreras trade makes me okay with one big add. I'm not happy with settling on E Suarez at 3B. His defense sucks, and he's old, but he is the best power bat on the FA market. It also happens he's cheaper and will get way less years than Bichette.

I'm not for doing nothing for the offense. I'd be fine with signing E Suarez and trading Rafaela + Crawford for a 2Bman or 3Bman (Suarez to DH.) I think Duran brings back more, and I love CF defense, so adding Suarez and maybe Hoerner/Vientos/Donovan and losing Duran is still enough offense to get us to or close to glory.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Old Red said:

As I said I don’t think Bo is on the Red Sox radar, but I think his bat would play better going forward than Bregman, so when Bo eventually signs with someone that will be bad strategy?

I'm not talking about weather he's on our radar or not. I don't think he should be THE GUY we sign for 6+ years.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

If he signs with someone, I won't know if it's a bad strategy. Each team has different needs and spending patterns. I don't want us signing him to 6 years plus. I think it would be a bad move if we did it. I'd love to have him on the team, but I feel like our budget would suffer for 6 years. I'm never banking on JH to keep spending more and more.

I don't think Bichette fills the power need we have. I don't think he'll be a plus defender at 2B. I think he may struggle to have a 6 year OPS of over .800 or .820. I don't think that's worth $30M x 6. If you, fine. If others do, fine. If he ends up a Red Sox player, I'll be happy, for now, but think it will hurt us longterm.

[JoeBrady]

On 1/14/2026 at 9:30 AM, drewski6 said:

Works both ways though, if you want to get honesty and transparency , you have to give it.

We don't know anything about the level of honesty between Breslow and Bregman.  But just off the top of my head, if I were going to trust Boras or Breslow, it's going to be Breslow.

That said, neither side has an obligation to be honest with their numbers.  If Boras said the Cubs were offering $165M, without mentioning any deferrals, that's his job.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

I don’t believe Suarez would have been signed if Bregman would have, and I don’t see anymore big expenditures unless the Red Sox shed some salary in the process.

I agree on no more biggies.  But now is the time that a guy like DD would mention that, if you are in for $265M, you might as well be in for $283M.  And that you took some serious flak from fans for hiring Bloom.  Now that you are seeing some of the benefits from that hire, make use of some of the assets he left you with.

It does 'have to be' Paredes, but seldom do I see a situation that makes more sense for both teams.

[Old Red]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not talking about weather he's on our radar or not. I don't think he should be THE GUY we sign for 6+ years.

I'm not sure what you are asking.

If he signs with someone, I won't know if it's a bad strategy. Each team has different needs and spending patterns. I don't want us signing him to 6 years plus. I think it would be a bad move if we did it. I'd love to have him on the team, but I feel like our budget would suffer for 6 years. I'm never banking on JH to keep spending more and more.

I don't think Bichette fills the power need we have. I don't think he'll be a plus defender at 2B. I think he may struggle to have a 6 year OPS of over .800 or .820. I don't think that's worth $30M x 6. If you, fine. If others do, fine. If he ends up a Red Sox player, I'll be happy, for now, but think it will hurt us longterm.

I wouldn’t sign BO for 6+ years either. The two guys that could have filled the power need went early in Flintstone, and Alonso. 

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I agree on no more biggies.  But now is the time that a guy like DD would mention that, if you are in for $265M, you might as well be in for $283M.  And that you took some serious flak from fans for hiring Bloom.  Now that you are seeing some of the benefits from that hire, make use of some of the assets he left you with.

It does 'have to be' Paredes, but seldom do I see a situation that makes more sense for both teams.

I'm all in on Paredes, and he'll cost us way less than KMarte and maybe less than Donovan.

I'm afraid we settle on Vientos.

E Suarez puts us over the 3rd line, so signing him, means trading salary:

$9.2 Bello & Sandoval

$7.8 Duran

$7.5 Campbell

$6.3 Rafaela

$2.7 Crawford

and of course...

$18M Yoshida (Maybe we can trade and save $3-5M/yr)

$10.3 Hicks (Maybe we can trade and save $3-4M/yr)

If E Suarez gets us $7-9M over the 3rd line, who would go?

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I wouldn’t sign BO for 6+ years either. The two guys that could have filled the power need went early in Flintstone, and Alonso. 

Okay. It sounded like you were questioning my reasons for saying Bichette is not "THE MAN."

[mvp 78]

48 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I agree, but there are reasons to want Bo.

Im not a realistic candidate to land a job as a wwe announcer, but there are reasons why i want it.

1. Lose two more picks and more INTL $? 

2. Bad defender?

3. His -0.3 bWAR in 2024? 

4. 12th percentile bat speed?

 

 

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

23rd in MLB in percentage of revenue reinvested in player salaries. That makes him a cheap SOB.

This has been beyond well established even by the strongest FO apologists. 

[moonslav59]

45 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

This has been beyond well established even by the strongest FO apologists. 

I'd say it's unacceptable, but in reality, it's the way of the world.

I'm wondering how much this % of revenue number will change, this year.

We do know JH & Co are raking in the moolah.

[FredLynn]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd say it's unacceptable, but in reality, it's the way of the world.

I'm wondering how much this % of revenue number will change, this year.

We do know JH & Co are raking in the moolah.

Well....it IS his money and he has the right to spend it any way he wants. But the lack of willingness to spend the revenue on player salaries in order to make the team competitive is inconsistent with what in fact are his lies about wanting the team to win. He knows all too well what it would take to win-$$$ and good judgement. The good judgement part isn't directly his responsibility but the $$$ is something over which he has more direct control. He is feeding us fans a bunch of ********, claiming that he wants to win but isn't willing to spend the available money to do it.