jacksonianmarch

Price tweeted out that he holds all the cards now. EEI is assuming he opts out or gets dealt. I seriously doubt he opts out. No way he gets 4yrs $124 mil on the open market. If the Sox deal him, they’ll eat some money, but should get something for him. Interesting doings

On the pitching front, we clearly have needs. We’ve got a quality top 2 in Tanaka and Severino. We will likely use Sheffield or Loaisiga as the 5 to start the year with JMont returning after the ASB if his recovery goes well. Gray is penciled into the rotation, but he needs to be moved. I think the Yanks will get more than most expect in a deal. Gray has been nails away from the stadium. He belongs in the NL. With the cost of the higher tier pitchers, I think the market for Gray will be hot come January. In terms of the two starters we will need, I thought we’d go lefty-lefty before the playoffs. Instead, I think Eovaldi is the guy to get again. Without the cutter, Eo was a Juggs machine half the time and dominant the other. With the cutter, he’s untouchable and he dominated when the chips were down. Time to get him again. I think he will get a big AAV, but likely a shorter guarantee with his injury history. I can see a 4 year $75 mil deal for Eo For number two, I see the Yankees trying to get Bumgarner. That being said, a lot will depend on which hitter we get. If we get Machado, then I could see Andujar going for an elite pitcher. If we get An OFer, this is less likely. If we don’t go the trade market, I see Corbin in our future. Lefty pitcher who commands the ball, gets grounders and was utterly dominant in a hitters park this year. If we go Eo and Corbin, I think we can slot Sevy down in the rotation to take some pressure off. We also need to fix Sevy’s pitch tipping. It’s not a secret. The Sox knew when he was throwing a fastball. They knew it from August on. Most teams did. His stuff is too good to be on him as well as they are without knowing it’s coming. Tweak his tipping issue, slot him #4 out of the getgo and go for there Rotation Tanaka Corbin Eovaldi Severino Sheffield/Montgomery/Loaisiga This leaves us with pen. With KRob and Britton moving on, we still have a formidable pen. Closer is Chapman. His knee seemed better and he was hitting triple digits again Setup is Betances. He was utterly dominant and is heading into his contract year The top middle guy is Green who was also dominant. Behind him is Holder, who really burst onto the scene as a reliable middle relief arm with great stuff When your pen in preseason has four top notch arms, you’re doing something right. We might end up getting a lefty capable of facings lefties and righties to square off the righty dominant middle relief role. Most likely, we let our kids fill in. I see a role her for German or Cessa to carve out a spot in middle relief. Those guys throw gas when they start, and should elevate that when the relieve. Tarpley also came on as a lefty killer. He might end up being the lefty I talked about above. If I had a crystal ball, which clearly I don’t, I predict NY to get Harper and Corbin. We will be in the market for Bumgarner if he’s moved. We will be in the market for Eovaldi as well as a reunion with Happ

Well Yankee fans, this is what we’ve waited for. During the great rebuild of 2016, we targeted 2019 as the year of the Yankee. We’d shed some baggage, hope a few of the kids worked out and then go balls deep into this FA market. Interesting things happened along the way. The kids were good, really good. We made two consecutive playoffs and lost to the eventual WS winner in each. Now, with a core of incredible young talent and a pen stocked with arms ready to produce, it’s time to see what this epic FA market can do for us. Machado was the player from the outset of this season that was target number one. But with his antics, he’s probably not the right add to a young team. We have an OF slot open and two great choices to fill it. We might like Brantley better just because he can hit for a high average and won’t cost as much, but Harper in NY would be insane. We need a left handed bat in this lineup. If we add Harper and Didi ends up coming back by May, our lineup for the majority of the year will be 1. Hicks CF 2. Judge RF 3. Harper LF 4. Stanton DH 5. Gregorius SS 6. Andujar 3B 7. Voit/Bird 1B 8. Sanchez C 9. Torres 2B That lineup is incredible. I anticipate a big year from Stanton and maybe another .250/35 season from Harper as he adjusts, but that lineup would have no breaks in it. None. But that’s not the only question. Sanchez was abhorrent behind the plate and at the dish. He was hurt for much of the season and maybe that threw off his abilities, but when he’s on, he might be the best hitter in the lineup. He got far too pull happy. When he goes oppo, he hits much better. My guess is we will be working on his weight (he gained too much muscle) and his flexibility. I anticipate he will get better, but we will need a better contingency than Romine. Do the Yanks go out and get a guy like Ramos? Andujar has the offensive tools to be an MVP candidate one day. He’s quick and has a cannon, so he has the tools to be a quality defender, except he wasn’t in 2018. Not even close. Do we consider Machado instead to shore up 3b and use Andujar as trade bait? With Didi’s injury, do we non tender him and try a longer deal? Do we move on from him? If we do, that all buses assures we go after Machado Those are really the four questions on offense. If we don’t get a LFer, we can always move Stanton out there. He’s got a history of being an average to quality OFer, so he doesn’t have to stay at DH. That’ll open up DH to Ramos or Sanchez should we add a catcher. Either way, the offense is stacked. We just really need to add a LH hitter of quality to it

Machado is a hell of a player. He’s also a punk. I think his attitude and cheap shots will hurt him a lot. I doubt he ends up in NY where mid season, I thought it was a near certainty

It’s not clickbait. It’s somewhat reasonable, but that assumes a lot. No team has repeated since the 2000 Yanks won their third in a row. There’s 18 years of history there. The Sox ace looks hurt and it’s a shoulder issue, which puts his production for 2019 in question. Kimbrel, Eovaldi, Kelly and Pearce are all FA’s with the Sox already against the cap. While Price looked awesome in the POs, he’ll be another year older and had a big workload this year. The questions are there for sure No way I put Houston above them. Both with Keuchel and Morton hitting FA. Unless HOU gets a discount, they can’t afford those guys. Yes, they’ve got MiLB talent, but there’s no way they’re gonna replace that production. NYY is the biggest wildcard. Our pen takes a hit with Britton and Robertson entering free agency. Happ and CC are FA’s too. But we’ve got a literal s*** ton of money in our pockets and the prospects to make a move too. Stanton enters year two as well, which is historically the best year for our star acquisitions. But moving them above BOS is assuming we spend and don’t get outspent. We aren’t as carefree with the checkbook as we used to be. And while pitching is what we need, the biggest and shiniest toys on the market swing a bat. The Dodgers have a bright future with a solid farm and Buehler ready to take the reigns. But they’ve got to figure out the Kershaw situation and need a new manager.

Ian who?

Dave Dombrowski was your 2018 MVP. Every single move was perfect. JD allowed the Sox to alter their approach and force teams to pitch to Betts. Sale and Price were key this year as well. But his deadline dealings were absolutely perfect. He knew he’d need a righty starter vs NYY to get past them. He got Eovaldi, who was an oft injured power pitcher lacking in production who put together a good two months. He comes to Boston and turns into a folk hero and an ace while the actual ace dealt with arm issues. You likely see a game 5 in Boston vs NYY without Eovaldi. We couldn’t hit him. Turns out, nobody could He sees the Sox big weakness in hitting LHP, so he goes out and gets journeyman Pearce. He creams NYY in the regular season and is a tone setter during the 4 game sweep that effectively sealed the division. In Game 1 of the ALDS, he drives in 4 runs by the 4th inning of a game that ends up being a nail biter yet the Sox win. He gets 2 hits and scored a run in the Game 4 clinched against NYY. Pearce became a Yankee killer and then rattles off a World Series for the ages while the big sluggers go cold. 3 bombs in the WS. Just epic. The sox have a great club. They’ve got a lot of questions heading into 2019, but Sox fans should be comforted by the fact that their GM was perfect this year. Literally perfect

Congratulations everyone. Well deserved. The Sox were the best team in baseball this year throughout the season. They beat #s 2 and 3 in the AL and a good Dodger team as well. Nothing cheap about this one. This isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s clearly well deserved. Enjoy it

Yeah, whackos

If you don’t like the truth, then fine. Enjoy the win.

Go f*** yourself. I gave them credit earlier. Roberts made bad choices and the Sox took advantage. Eat s***

Congrats Sox fans. You won the series tonight

On 10/27/2018, Dave Roberts lost his job. Staring a tied series in the face, Dave Roberts overmanaged LA into a 3-1 hole that they will not recover from.

Steve Pearce is getting laid tonight and paid this winter

Momentum was taking him towards the plate. That's a no win for Turner

The sox took advantage of some poor managing. Kudos to them.

Yeah, no

How do you pitch to Devers?

Dave Roberts deserves to be drawn and quartered

This has been an awesome world series

Both guys made themselves some serious bank this offseason

Roberts should be fired. Wow

If the sox win this game and take the series, Roberts has to be fired. You cannot f*** up an inning anymore. Hill allows a walk, then dominated Nunez. With Holt coming up, Roberts pulls a clearly hot Hill who is a lefty and replaces him with another lefty. That lefty proceeds to walk the only batter faced. He then brings in Madson, who has allowed EVERY inherited runner to score in this World Series. He proceeds to continue his streak. Unreal

How do you go to Madson. Seriously, the guy is a gas can

WOW, what a game!