mvp 78

I agree with some of the ideas espoused by the article, but I think it just comes down to Henry not wanting to pay players. I'm not sure he really cares about the next title since he's already got a few of them on the mantle at home. I think the $$$ is the driving factor for him.

It was a "mistake" because he's no longer wearing the team's laundry. It's also a mistake if you aren't locking up good players early. I hope Bloom's action with Whitlock portends extensions for Bello, Casas and others going forward.

How lagging are the ticket sales these days? You got numbers? Their attendance last year was pretty strong for what it was. 4th in the AL is about where they've been lately ('22, '21, '18, '17, '16). If the overall attendance is down, it's down because it's also down across baseball. They averaged 800 less fans than the Astros, who were coming off a WS loss and heading to a WS win. Seems like a pretty strong attendance record then? They haven't averaged 37,000 fans per game since 2012. Is that Bloom's fault too? Oversaturation by the Red Sox from 04-11?

Agreed. I hope that Rafaela can be an everyday CFer. I want to watch GG defense out there. Even if his bat isn't amazing (the 20+ HR Law projects or whatever), I'll be happy to watch him. On the recent SoxProspects podcast, they mentioned a good outcome for him would be a 15/15 guy who has an OBP that is enough to stick in MLB. We'd all take that. He's probably the bottom third of the order. Fine. There is the rare chance that his bat turns into something better, but I don't think we can really expect it right now. I am glad that they didn't dump him on the Marlins in a Pablo Lopez deal.

It has to be Henry. He's the link between all these lowball offers we've seen over the years and the weird dealings. He undervalues the guys that are in house, ends up looking foolish and then has to overpay in some other manner.

Henry is the one who is mandating the budget and what to spend. Henry is the one who decided that Dombrowski needed to go because Dombrowski probably would have tried to retain Betts at the LA contract. When Henry went on WEEI, what did he complain about? Spending money! CC's contract that he didn't want to sign! What did Henry state was the reason for expensive ticket prices? Ballplayer salaries! Any and all contracts now have to run through that cheapskate unless there is overwhelming outside pressure.

Yeah, I think that impact on ranking is stupid. I agree that it happens to an extent, but it seems like Law has pushed it a little over the top in his rankings. BA and MLB Pipeline have Casas in the 20's and he's already in MLB, Law has him in the 40's. Casas already had a decent showing at the end of the MLB season last year. Rafaela's AA OBP was lower than Casas' MLB OBP. It'd be one thing if we thought Rafaela was going to make the BOS roster early on this season, but that doesn't appear to be the case. He's still got a lot of development left to do in that bat. My worry with Rafaela is that people are really just saying "his defense is going to be so good that it will outweigh how low his OBP will be," but we don't really know how low it will actually be. He doesn't have the BB rate to put up a 3 fWAR JBJ season. That's good enough to be a 1.5-2 fWAR guy? That's fine, I guess? But 1.5-2 fWAR for 1B is Ryan Mountcastle who had a 106 wRC+ or Josh Bell who had a 120 wRC+ last season. Casas had a 120 wRC+ in his first sniff of the majors. Probably going to improve on that. The normal yearly outcome is going to be Casas with a higher fWAR than Rafaela because of Rafaela's lack of patience at the plate.

If anything, Bloom was much calmer and kinder to Sox fans than the rest of the ownership group. Not sure where you are pulling this dig out of. Sure, he had the ill advised "bets" tangent and couldn't stop saying it, but at least he comes across as honest. The thread that links Varitek lowballing to Lester lowballing to Betts lowballing to Xander lowballing isn't Bloom, but John Henry. Tom Werner, who was not on the stage, is apparently on the side of using the checkbook and spending. It's John Henry who doesn't want to go over the luxury tax. Sam Kennedy is there solely to keep John Henry in line and speak for ownership, because when Henry goes off script he ends up taking his 12 speed bike to the local radio station and acting like a bufoon.

Fine, let's just go with 25x7 for arguments sake. I can safely say that he'll play better than Story will over the next few years. I don't think Bogey will be worth the Padres contract, but the reported lower contract he would have accepted seems attainable. He would need to amass about 22 fWAR over the next 7 years, which seems doable. And if they kept Xander for this one season, why would they necessarily have to get under the cap this season? They could still sign the same guys you mentioned, but wouldn't need Duvall and could get Turner on a 1x15M. They could just use next year to reset. Or just don't bring in Turner either and get someone cheaper in as a DH option like Jesus Aguilar or whoever. Duvall is only here because Kiké was moved to the IF because Story was moved to SS but got hurt. If Xander stays, Story stays at 2b and you Story's injury still leaves Arroyo as the starting 2B, which is where we are at anyway.

Well, they were wrong about that part. They ended up needing him since Story was damaged goods. With the added upper AAV swing in SS contracts, Xander could have either been dealt elsewhere or kept as a below market deal.

37. Ceddanne Rafaela "...His defense is elite and he’s a 70 runner as well, so he doesn’t have to hit that much to be a solid big leaguer, and he could be an above-average regular as a low-OBP, 20+ homer guy. The hope is that he improves the choices he’s making as a hitter and that he recognizes pitch types sooner with experience and reduces some of that chase to give himself a chance to be a high-average hitter and potential star on both sides of the ball." 40. Triston Casas "He’s a first baseman who rakes, and should be the traditional slugger for that position, hitting for some average with a ton of walks and either 40-odd doubles or 25-plus homers."

Rafaela should NOT be higher than Casas. Rafaela is 86 on MLB Pipeline and 71 on Baseball America. Law is way too high on him.

They tanked 2020 and got a great draft pick out of it. Mayer is already a top 10 prospect by some accounts. Too bad we couldn't get a second one for last season's LAST PLACE FINISH.

I was saying the 2019 was the same as the 2018 team. Calling the 2019 just a .500 team is underselling the talent that squad had.

@bnicholsonsmith Here are the new Rogers Centre dimensions LCF now 368 (was 375) with a wall that's higher. RCF now 359 (was 375) with a wall that's much higher. Rogers Centre’s New Outfield Dimensions and Wall Heights LF Line: 328' (same) Wall: 14'4" (prev 10') RF Line: 328' (same) Wall: 12' 7" (prev 10') LC: 368' (prev 375') Wall: 11' 2" (prev 10') RC: 359' (prev 375') Wall: 14' 4" (prev 10') LC Power Alley: 381 feet (previously 383 feet) Wall: 12 feet 9 inches (previously 10 feet) RC Power Alley: 372 feet (previously 383 feet) Wall: 10 feet 9 inches (previously 10 feet) Straight Away CF: 400 feet (no change) Wall: 8 feet (previously 10 feet)

I'm sure I will have completely forgotten about Arias in a few weeks.

Which was basically the same roster from the year prior where they won like 120 games including the playoffs...

It's the candy aisle at the Dollar Tree.

They are looking at Perez for C and Moore for LHP. Maybe finding another scrap heap MIFer?

I think 2022 was worse than 2020. The results in 2020 were horrific, BUT I don't think he anticipated Sale AND ERod missing the whole year. Once the pandemic hit, there was no real point in trying to compete anyway.

I mean, we're at that point in the offseason.

Stock was good. Sorry that you have an unending love for two losers like Weber and Valdez.

No. Robert Stock 0.2 fWAR Valdez 0.1 fWAR Weber 0.0 fWAR

Total projected payroll is 62M.

We watch on MLB.tv using an Amazon Fire Stick. Very dangerous for him.