moonslav59’s 2027 Payroll Blueprint: Moonslav Blue Print

[moonslav59]

19 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i dont disagree but for JH it's all about the $$

Yes, and my plan is not that expensive. 

[notin]

1 hour ago, Randy Red Sox said:

we don't need Abrams and remember we have Story for 2027 and he aint going nowhere

Nats aren’t trading Abrams and he isn’t a shortstop anyway…

[notin]

46 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, and my plan is not that expensive. 

Story fits perfect.  Short term.  Not likely to last.  Hold the fort for Arias..

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

Story fits perfect.  Short term.  Not likely to last.  Hold the fort for Arias..

I'm done with him.

He's like a 10% gamble.

[notin]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm done with him.

He's like a 10% gamble.

He’s the least of the Sox issues and one that if you don’t like him, you at least see the path to remove him.

Healthy? He’s a good player. Injured? He just got our top prosoect playing time. Whats the downside? That he’s overpaid, and that money could be spent elsewhere? Getting rid of Story’s salary doesn’t guarantee anything gets re-invested.  Thats been the pattern for a while now…

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

He’s the least of the Sox issues and one that if you don’t like him, you at least see the path to remove him.

I don't like him and see the path to save $4-6M, this winter.

I think our winter spending budget will be tight, and every few millions saved, gives us some more play to add slightly better players.

$11M Duran

$4-6M Story

$2-4M Yoshida

If we had to, we could try and trade KC ($7.5M AAV), or (gasp) Bello ($9.2M.)

We may need to get creative if JH stays the tightwad he's been since when? The JD signing or Sale/Nate extensions, but then again, that was right before letting Betts walk.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Healthy? He’s a good player. Injured? He just got our top prosoect playing time. Whats the downside? That he’s overpaid, and that money could be spent elsewhere? Getting rid of Story’s salary doesn’t guarantee anything gets re-invested.  Thats been the pattern for a while now…

Yes, when healthy, he has shown he can be "good-" not real good. Not always, but yes he can be.

He's also older.

He's also bad on SS defense. He was barely passable on defense way back in '25.

Again, I'm not saying my plan will happen, and of course JH could just pocket all "savings."

I'm presenting my idea of a plan with an eye towards not forcing JH to spend a lot, but also not to pad his wallet. I would not trade Story, unless the money is used. He does have value as our best back-up SS to Arias. He still has some chances of having a decent year- maybe close to 2025 numbers.

If we trade Duran, Story & Yoshida, and we trade for Abram or DLC, I think we'd have enough money to sign Sato. (He may not get as much as some think he will get.)

[JoeBrady]

On 11/8/2026 at 10:06 AM, notin said:

Just DFA Yoshida.  f*** trying to save some nickels.

One of my life philosophies is that nickels add up to dollars.  $2-3M saved on Yoshida and Story maybe upgrades our BP.

[JoeBrady]

20 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's not about giving up on Justin: it's about adding a proven bat with power.

33 HRs

1-Where are you going to play him?  It won't be SS.  Abrams is by far the leader in negative FRV over the past three years with -36, which is -7 worse than #2 (Castellanos).  OAA is even less kind with a -46, with Crawford being 2nd at -24.

2-If he plays 2B, then all you are doing is upgrading the DH slot since either CJ or Mead plays 2B/DH.  I see no reason to expect him to have a better glove than Mead.

3-If you hate Mead's glove, and insist on CJ's bad glove at 2nd, then why not just sign Lowe and keep all our prospects?

[notin]

11 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

One of my life philosophies is that nickels add up to dollars.  $2-3M saved on Yoshida and Story maybe upgrades our BP.

My thoughts on Yoshida might be changing.

 

In a world where Evan Phillips gets 3 yrs $35mill, maybe 1 yr $18.6mill for Yoshida isn’t so bad…

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

One of my life philosophies is that nickels add up to dollars.  $2-3M saved on Yoshida and Story maybe upgrades our BP.

If they are only saving 4-5M with Masa/Story decisions, the money will be held until the trade deadline IMO. 

[JoeBrady]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

but the future is now

I want us to be good every year.  This is not like the team is one player away from the WS.  And I also don't think that CJ is the guy that is going to carry us, unlike someone like Yordi or Skubal.  CJ's supporting stats are  good, not great.  EV=89.6, FB%=28.6.  Barrel% = 10.7.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

My thoughts on Yoshida might be changing.

 

In a world where Evan Phillips gets 3 yrs $35mill, maybe 1 yr $18.6mill for Yoshida isn’t so bad…

Phillips is a very good arm. Aside from the TJS, he's been great for the past 5 years or so. 

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I want us to be good every year.  This is not like the team is one player away from the WS.  

Which player? 

[JoeBrady]

12 hours ago, notin said:

He’s the least of the Sox issues and one that if you don’t like him, you at least see the path to remove him.

IMO, Story is not an issue at all.  We have the best Plan B in BB.  If Story looks like his 2026 version, we can release him in ST and start A.  Real issues might be if Anthony is still not healthy and we need to start Duran, or if Contreras suddenly turns 35 years old.

[JoeBrady]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

We may need to get creative if JH stays the tightwad he's been since when?

Time to get all mentions of JH off the board.  I assume our spending will abought the same as last year as #6.

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Time to get all mentions of JH off the board.  I assume our spending will abought the same as last year as #6.

If you want to talk "spending," their cash outlay was 11th. For a team that is constantly moving their own assets, I think CBT, which only affects tax payments, is kind of a hidden ball trick. Guys with higher CBT AAV's could be traded tomorrow because the team doesn't really play out the string with all of these guys. 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, Story is not an issue at all.  We have the best Plan B in BB.  If Story looks like his 2026 version, we can release him in ST and start A.  Real issues might be if Anthony is still not healthy and we need to start Duran, or if Contreras suddenly turns 35 years old.

It doesn't matter if he's mashing the first week. He could be out on the 60 day IL at a moment's notice. 

[JoeBrady]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

In a world where Evan Phillips gets 3 yrs $35mill, maybe 1 yr $18.6mill for Yoshida isn’t so bad…

IMO, it is a target for improvement, not concern.  We managed to be 11th in OPS last year at DH.  The issue was/is that our DHs are all lefty.  If we cleared out most of our bench, in someone that mashes lefties, I'd be fine with a platoon, assuming that both DHs provided at least some flexibility.  

[JoeBrady]

27 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they are only saving 4-5M with Masa/Story decisions, the money will be held until the trade deadline IMO. 

I could live with that.  Not having free cash flow at the deadline was one of only complaints about Theo.

[JoeBrady]

25 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Which player? 

NOT one player away.  But like I've been saying for a while, if a difference-maker like Yordie was available, then I'd make painful concessions.  I don't think Abrams is that player.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, it is a target for improvement, not concern.  We managed to be 11th in OPS last year at DH.  The issue was/is that our DHs are all lefty.  If we cleared out most of our bench, in someone that mashes lefties, I'd be fine with a platoon, assuming that both DHs provided at least some flexibility.  

The OPS is because Gasper went crazy at the end of the season. Not sure he'd be able to repeat that again. 

[JoeBrady]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If you want to talk "spending," their cash outlay was 11th. For a team that is constantly moving their own assets, I think CBT, which only affects tax payments, is kind of a hidden ball trick. Guys with higher CBT AAV's could be traded tomorrow because the team doesn't really play out the string with all of these guys. 

The coin of the realm is CBT.  Teams make it a point to not exceed certain threshholds.

[JoeBrady]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It doesn't matter if he's mashing the first week. He could be out on the 60 day IL at a moment's notice. 

And we would still have the best Plan B in BB.  Whether he sucks in ST, or in May, or if he gets injured, the outcome remains the same.

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

NOT one player away.  But like I've been saying for a while, if a difference-maker like Yordie was available, then I'd make painful concessions.  I don't think Abrams is that player.

If they had Yordan and Roman plays a full 162, this offense should be much much better than last season. With health, they do much more damage than they showed this fall. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

The coin of the realm is CBT.  Teams make it a point to not exceed certain threshholds.

But that has nothing to do with "spending." JH didn't spend the 6th most. He just didn't. 

[JoeBrady]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The OPS is because Gasper went crazy at the end of the season. Not sure he'd be able to repeat that again. 

He won't repeat, but most teams have a player that went off for a month.  Grichuk had 8 HRs in 103 ABs for the WS.

[JoeBrady]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

But that has nothing to do with "spending." JH didn't spend the 6th most. He just didn't. 

But the tax penalties and draft penalties attach to the CBT spending.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

But the tax penalties and draft penalties attach to the CBT spending.

To the CBT calculation, yes. 

[moonslav59]

58 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

1-Where are you going to play him?  It won't be SS.  Abrams is by far the leader in negative FRV over the past three years with -36, which is -7 worse than #2 (Castellanos).  OAA is even less kind with a -46, with Crawford being 2nd at -24.

2-If he plays 2B, then all you are doing is upgrading the DH slot since either CJ or Mead plays 2B/DH.  I see no reason to expect him to have a better glove than Mead.

3-If you hate Mead's glove, and insist on CJ's bad glove at 2nd, then why not just sign Lowe and keep all our prospects?

I'm going to play him at SS, even if he's worse on D than Story.

When Arias is ready, Abrams moves to 2B and mead to DH.

I'd be okay with BLowe at 2B and mead at DH, but I'd prefer to spend the FA $ on Sato.

BLowe has bad splits.