Dojji

Both closing and starting put extreme wear on an arm for different reasons, Generally speaking you can't "save" an arm by using it in high leverage relief. If anything throwing that hard that often (IE that many consecutive days) seems harder on an arm than taking a regular turn, if the mass of injuries to relievers every year is anything to go on. The closest example I can think of to what you're talking about is the Bravs used John Smoltz in the closer's role for a few years when their rotation was absolutely loaded, and that had more to do with finding the best away to use their available talent, rather than any concern about Smoltz's arm. That or the desperate effort to save Daniel Bard by trying him as a starter back in 2012 because he was already starting to falter so what the heck. That's not a great example either though.

Our bullpen really wasn't in that bad of shape at the deadline. Kimbrel was fluctuating all year, but the setup innings were actually very solid and our bullpen was overall above average. So DD looked to shore up positions weakened by injury, especially 2B. I think it's great that he made the move he needed to make regardless of what the media and fans were saying about the "weak" (read: merely above average while everything else was elite) bullpen.

One thing Henry has been very good at, is finding the right skipper to run the ship. His first pick, Epstein, did a great job. When Theo left he gave his protegee some space, but moved in quickly when Ben proved inadequate to handling the demands of a big market team, and moved to hire probably the single most experienced GM on the market to try to turn the ship in the right direction, and promising him all the financial support he needed. And he kept that promise. Henry deserves a lot of credit for DD's success. It seems clear in retrospect that not being able to close the deal in Detroit simply came down to DD not having the money to put the team over the top. Illich did his best, but the difference between the Tigers and the Red Sox as financial engines is obvious, and DD was able to exploit that extra financial power to put a juggernaut together that has been highly competitive since the year he joined us and finally finished the deal this year.

Considering the normal career arc of any MLB player and its many pitfalls due to injury and other factors, any list like that is ging to have a few players who didn't achieve. Seeing Victor Martinez and AJ Pierzynski on the list (as bad an experience as we had with AJ, he was an all star caliber catcher for a very long career), consider me still intrigued.

I agree, they can. But tell me, is it your honest opinion that Realmuto is likely to decline significantly in the next 3 years? We're talking about an acquisition that would line up almost perfectly with our current championship window and represent a tremendous upgrade at the single most important position (other than #1 starter) in baseball.

An elite catcher is as valuable as an elite ace. This might actually be one of those rare situations where the incredibly high price tag is worth it, similar to the Sale acquisition. Don't get me wrong, I love the defensive wizardry of our current two catchers, but being able to upgrade to a middle of the order bat without sacrificing very much on D is incredibly tempting.

fa 2021 Honestly more control than I thought, he's going into his first arb year.

For the right piece i would give the green light on devers. Much easier to find a Devers than a Realmuto

Honestly i agree with kimmi. Theo built and then rebuilt the team, and unlike Ben hasn't yet had to pay the piper and try to Rebuild. DD is good but Theo is one heck of an act to follow

Rumor says he wants out of Florida. Seems like a good fit depending on the price tag

My opinion of Mitch Moreland is that Steve Pearce was an amazing acquisition for the Red Sox.

Joe Castiglione wanted Pierce and Price to be co-MVPs, there's a precedent for that, it would probably have been the best way to handle this.

You're treating this like it matters a lot more than it does. If I was voting I might have given the MVP to Price, but because Pearce was also worthy I'm not going to sweat it, and I recommend you do the same.

I think we can count on both of our catchers to regress to the mean somewhat in 2019. Both of them underperformed offensively compared to their normal values.

Pearce deserved that MVP. Other players deserved a great deal of praise for their performance, especially Price and Kelly and Eovaldi. But you have to give the reward to some individual, and the dude that hit 2 HRs in the clinching game is a solid choice.

Oh I'm sure we'll look, but a raw cost benefit analysis favors keeping Leon unless the upgrade is massive. It is true, we got very little offense from the catcher's position and that hurt our value there, but not so greatly that I'd be willing to downgrade our pitching across the board simply to pick up a couple hundred OPS points at one position.

Swihart is waiver wire fodder as it stands right now. Sorry Swihart fans, but you don't break up a defensive tandem this good (Leon and Vaz) for a guy who might hit someday. Especially not while said tandem is still cheap. We basically have two starting catchers right now. We have seen both Leon and Vazquez step in more than adequately when the other goes down. Neither of them are exactly All Star material but I don't think fans necessarily appreciate what a rare asset that is. They are both trusted by our pitchers and demonstrably well above average at game calling and this, again, this is very rare. I am very happy with our catching situation right now with or without Swihart. So is DD, or he wouldn't be trying this multi position nonsense with Swihart. Unfortunately even the multiposition role is redundantly blocked. The man just does not have a place on this team. If Swihart went to a bottom feeding team with a gap at catcher and nothing to lose, they'd let him develop everyday as a starting catcher and he might reach some portion of his potential. He's not going to get that opportunity here, we don't have a gap at catcher and we have plenty to lose. He needs to go elsewhere, now, before it's too late.

This franchise is in the best position it's been in in its entire history. There's some faultlines in the pipeline and the financial situation but the team on the field is strong and isn't likely to need big changes in the next 2-3 years which buys the team time to take care of those issues. Theo is a great GM, don't get me wrong, But he is honestly a better fit for the Cubbies, who can take a bad year philosophically and let his more patient, fundamental development style flourish. DD is a get-the-job-done guy, use the resources you have to accomplish the mission at hand first and foremost, and then worry about patching the future together. Theo was an amazing GM for us, but DD is a better fit for Boston than Theo was. I don't think this is DD's last time bringing this team trophies either.

Congrats steve Pearce you earned if

Nothing cheap or sketchy, they just won

Cora for MVP

So proud of tjese guys. No words

Yes. Yes yes yez

One!

Come on finish strong