jacksonianmarch

They don't have that history, but Betts is a pretty unique talent. The Dodgers were in on Cole pretty heavy too

You don't have to worry about Betts going to the Yanks. The Dodgers are a real threat on the open market.

So after Betts said he wants to go to Free Agency, even when the sox have publicly stated that they have attempted to extend him, you still believe he is going to sign somewhere that offers him less money? What is he gonna be butthurt about being dealt off a sinking ship? He would probably love it. The sox will not win 90 games in 2020 with Betts or without him. That is my opinion, but I think the Marlins have a better chance of winning 65 games than the sox do of winning 90. And even if the sox win 90, they still might miss the POs

I never understood the idea that Betts would be gone for good. Mookie is going to sign with the highest bidder. PERIOD. If the sox want him back, they can offer the most money. If the sox don't offer the most money, they won't. This year won't change that.

Exactly, they have the depth both veteran and young, they have the guys at the top. They don't need a pitcher

It is absolutely mind boggling that some people don't see this FACT above

I grew up on Michael, I watched Kobe through my 20s into mid 30s. Kobe was the great transition from Michael to Lebron. Kobe was just a winner. Man, this sucks

You guys all know that the union wants everyone to go to FA and make top dollar, right? Some guys take less for the security. Other guys toe the company line and bet on themselves. Betts is betting on himself, and he is one great year away from hitting it bit

f***ing A man. f***. Like what the f***. Kobe is gone. And his daughter dies with him as do others. Just f***ing awful. f***

Larry, your tailspin was predetermined when DD sold off the crops, scorched the ground and salted the earth. When the farm dries up and you cannot even get replacement level out of your prospects, you cannot survive. My hope is you try to prop this up, because the Sox aren’t good enough to beat the Yanks this year and it would heavily impact the Sox long term

They have 2 aces atop their rotation. They believe May can take the next step and be a #3. Stipling and Maeda are a reliable 4-5. I think they were interested in only 2 pitchers on the market, MadBum and Cole. Cole got way more money and MadBum said he wanted to go to Arizona from the outset

The Dodgers are good enough to win a WS. They don't "need" Betts to win a title. Betts upgrades a position, but it isn't like he is upgrading a black hole. He is upgrading a good position to an elite one.

I’ll be pumped if he’s not traded. I’m not worried about the 2020 Red Sox at all. If he’s not dealt, then I won’t have to worry about the trade haul becoming great 3-4 years from now

My bet is Bregman, if only from the practicality aspect. Altuve is a big base stealer when healthy. Hitting him could be a double.

In a weird way, I actually think Bloom wants Myers. The guy has tools and has a TB connection. But I do agree, eating that whole contract is not in the cards

Houck and Mata are at least close enough to make sense. Groome is likely headed back to A ball. Bloom is a guy who builds depth. That depth isn’t helped when you’ve got a 40 man spots held for a kid who’s a couple years away. Typically high upside pitchers who lose valuable early development time get shifted to the pen to rapidly assess progress. Let’s just say, it wouldn’t surprise me at all

Bloom is paying a premium for proximity. Only Campusano hasn't seen AA. Getting a now pitcher and a now 2b softens the blow. I get that this doesn't work on it's face, but on talent it is a fair deal for one season of Betts. The Sox and Pads just need to make the money work. Maybe the Pads pay down some of Myers deal to make the money dollar neutral against the cap. I know Myers is owed a god awful amount the final 3 years, but via cap, he is going to count at $42 mil over 3 seasons. Maybe the Padres throw $15 mil into the till and make it $27 mil to the Padres in 2020 and $27 mil to the Sox from 2020-2022

Ward sounds like a swing man. Groome is probably gonna be pushed to relief so he isn't taken in the Rule V after this year. They need to move him up the ranks quickly and see what he has, or he will be gone

So as of right now, what we are having reported is Betts for Myers, Campusano, Cronenworth, and either Luchessi or Quantrill. The money difference for AAV is $13 mil, but it leaves the sox with a cap hit of $14 mil per season for 2021 and 2022. That is a negative. Campusano gives the sox a true blue chip catching prospect who likely heads to AA. Catcher's progress slower than most, so it is possible that he spends 2020 and 2021 in the minors before coming up in 2022, which is Vazquez's final season. Or, if the sox deal off Vazquez, Campusano could be an option mid season 2021 if he keeps mashing. Myers has always been a guy with big potential. He's got 20+ SB potential and 20+ HR potential. Removing him from SD could help as could some reps at DH when JD is pressed into OF duty. Moving him to Fenway could bring his bat back to life, maybe. If not, then he is a solid price to pay to get the rest of the crew. Maybe you eat some cash and ship him somewhere else, who knows Cronenworth would add a legit 2b prospect to AAA, and likely make his debut with either first injury or after the clock allows him to be held for an extra year. He likely becomes your starting 2b by Memorial Day. Quantrill or Luchessi would add depth to your rotation right now. Whomever the sox select would go right into the rotation for opening day and if there are no injuries, likely sends Perez to the pen. That gives you at least a big league replacement level arm when one of your pitchers goes down rather than a Juggs machine in Neck Tat and BJ. It is the kind of deal I would expect Bloom to make. It likely fails the simulator due to Betts worth and Myers lack of worth, but it adds 3 long term assets to the team who are on pre arb or minor league contracts. It also allows for a true succession at the most important position on the diamond, catcher. It may also allow the sox to deal off Vazquez, who if he can replicate his 2019 season, would be worth a metric ton on the trade market.

The sox purses are sealed closed and now the looming punishment looks to cripple a rebuild effort before it is started? Yep, that's far better than I had expected. What would have clinched things would have been a hire of a retread failed GM buddy of JH. Alas, it didn't happen. You've got a smart guy there. If he gets the green light for a rebuild, I have a feeling the next fall of the Yanks will coincide with the sox rising. Now I know a lot of sox fans on here hate that I am posting that the sox need to rebuild, but heck, the majority of the forum here believes me (at least by the poll). It is just the few rosy glassed folks (the unabatedly optimistic), those who just want to hang on for one more crack (the hoping 2019 was an aberration crowd) or just the outright idiots (tedballgame) who cannot see the merit in this venture. It all starts with looking at your team. Right now, there are holes. Your rotation has 3 guys who missed half the season last year. Your ace is coming off a down year with lower velocity and couldn't finish the regular season for the second season in a row due to an arm issue. Your #2 (ERod) had a career season, but prior to 2019, took annual trips to the DL. Your #3 (Price) is on the market for anyone who will take him and is coming off surgery on his throwing arm after not being able to finish the season in the rotation for the 2nd time in 3 years.. Your #4 is literally the poster child for upside without production or durability. You lost a durable (albeit poorly performing for 2019) pitcher in Porcello and replaced him with (Joe Glass) Martin Perez. The sox depth consists of Neck Tat and a recently DFAd Brian Johnson. Nobody else even remotely good is ready to jump in. The pitching market, which was impressive, was largely untouched by the sox. The rotation, which was an Achilles heel in 2019, is a year older, a year more injured and a year worse. The pen was a mess. Workman turned out to be a find, although last year was far and away his best season. Maybe he repeats it, maybe he doesn't. Either way, he is a useful building block. Matt Barnes imploded in higher leverage and became allergic to pitching back to back. Hembree sucked and couldn't stay on the field. Taylor was a find and should be useful in middle relief. The rest of the pen was pretty bad and is being replaced by DFA'd players from the Marlins et al. Looking at the 2020 pitching staff, how can anyone be excited that they can stop runs? The sox offense is gonna be top 5 again. They're deep, and outside of Brock Holt and Mitchy Average Bags, didn't lose much that they cannot replace internally. So for 2020, the sox are the Rockies of old. They're gonna score some runs, they're gonna allow a lot of runs. They were an 84 win team in 2019. With the changes, they're trending towards that again. Then you have to look at your financial situation. You have a CONSIDERABLE amount of money tied up in underperforming assets for the next 3 seasons. Eovaldi and Price account for $48 mil per year on the payroll and they're not worth half that. You have a brand new 5 year deal with Sale that looks bad from the start. The only long term contracts that look awesome right now are X-Bo and Vasquez. Heck, even JD couldn't drum up enough interest to walk away, and he is still a force with the stick. The financial picture clears considerably after 2022. Price, Eo, JDM are off the books. You will have needed to either extend or deal ERod by then. Devers enters his final arb season and Beni has his first FA season. But the slate will be wiped clean beyond X-Bo and Sale. Then you have to look at your farm. The sox farm has some useful pieces. Dalbec could be an option out of the gate in 2020. Chavis graduated last year. Casas is a humongous mammoth with a bat. He could end up as the starting 1b in 3 years or so if he handles the higher levels and the more advanced pitching. Outside of Mata (who's upside is a 3 or so), the sox pitching is dead. Beyond Casas and Dalbec, only maybe Chatham and Duran (less so, IMO) look to have any now value. As far as a farm system is concerned, it's pretty bleak Then you look outside the team. Your division has 2 buzz saws in it. The Rays are going to be good for awhile with their recent deals. As long as they keep dealing off expensive talents for cheap and hitting, they will be good. IMO, their model allows them to be relevant, but never a fool proof WS candidate. Then you've got the Yanks, who are the odds on favorite to win the WS. The Yanks are likely staring at a 3 yr window of their own before their cheaper talents get really expensive and get signed for a long time. The rest of the ALE has the Jays, who will be interesting with a revamped rotation and a core that is the envy of baseball with the stick, and the O's, who are still blowing everything up. In the AL, you have the Astros, A's, Guardians, Twins and maybe even the White Sox as major competitors Then you have the added wrinkle of the investigation. If the sox get what is expected and lose the picks Houston lost AND take an IFA hit, they won't be able to rebuild without a tear down. So, what makes anyone think a tear down isn't in the cards? Bloom has done nothing to extend the window or prop it open. He has also done nothing to tear things down. But it seems to be coming

The AL is REALLY top heavy. Although here: https://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/mlb-odds-world-series-futures The Sox are 7th in the AL

Not really sure about the odds, although sports books has the sox at 14th best odds in baseball.

That is a rough off season. But you had to know coming into 2020 that it would be getting rough. The cliff is upon the sox. They've tumbled down it. The best move the sox made was bringing in Bloom. The guy who makes unpopular deals and somehow ends up being right far more than he is wrong. I've said before, that I really, really hoped the sox held onto Betts for 2020, if only to minimize the sox future beyond 2020. You can get him back for literally nothing but money. As a matter of fact, to keep him beyond 2020, you need only money. So if 2020 is the year the sox get whalloped with penalties, but the year Bloom stays inactive, then it will be a devastating year for the sox. If the sox build their farm and take down their payroll allowing for future signings, then it will be a success. I doubt anyone with a right mind thinks the sox are good enough to win without just a ridiculous amount of luck.

You love me, don’t you?

That’s the thing. One confidential witness and you think it’s someone with sour grapes. Three is a lot. And if their testimony is corroborating, then that’s damning. Listen, maybe Beltran will and maybe he ends up taking down other teams like the Yanks, but the Yanks aren’t under investigation here. The Sox are. So any speculation otherwise is just sour grapes from Sox fans. Also, Beltran wasn’t a coach and didn’t have a clubhouse presence, so the likelihood that he set something up in his management role is grasping at straws. Now, if he was a bench coach, then different story, but he wasnt