mvp 78

I have heard it elsewhere as well (i.e. trade for prospects), but I'm not sure if the FO is discussing it.

By laws of FSG? I'm not so sure since Liverpool is currently 3rd in EPL and has a payroll higher than it has ever been.

My worry from that same stretch: 4.08 bb/9 255th in MLB for starters above 100 IP (out of 279)

It was weird to bring Breggie on for only a year with the QO issue and cause the friction with Devers. Even if they end up re-signing him now, the move was a little questionable. An opt out after one year, how did that help the Sox? And now they are willing to move the goal posts and give him a longer term contract? Why? On your last point, going over the CBT in '22 was Bloom's biggest sin. He barely went over and had nothing to show for it. Absolutely brutal.

They couldn't get anyone to sign on last time. Breslow was the only guy who would take the job. If they fired him at any point in the next few years, Henry would find it even harder to fill the role. Whoever they got would have even less FO experience than Breslow had.

FSG, which is owned 40% (!!!) by John Henry. Werner is the second largest shareholder. Combined, they are well above 50% and can do whatever they want with FSG.

The problem with simply trading Duran is that it makes the offense worse. You don't do it just for CBT relief. If that's the reason, it's pretty embarrassing. It should be way easier to find 8-10M in savings.

A new way to spruce up Truck Day, I guess.

Or just look at the teams that only made it in twice: Red Sox - ? A's - ownership nightmare Reds - little league team White Sox - joke franchise Marlins - c'mon Cubs - ownership can't figure out if they are spending or not Mariners - missed playoffs 02-21 Mets - lolMets a team that will always find a banana peel to step on Orioles - old ownership was historically awful, new ownership didn't spend at first Tigers - bottom half of the payroll since 2019 That's not the tier the Sox should be in.

Sox made the playoffs as much as the Marlins did since 2019. 🫠

Why trade Duran when you could just trade half of Hicks's salary for a low level prospect?

You think he is already assuming that he's retiring at 36? He only has 1,250 hits. I don't think he's currently on a HOF track TBH. To get to 60 bWAR, he'd have to be a 3.4 guy for 5 straight years. He's going to tail off at some point. 300 HR's may be doable, but that's not going to get him into the HOF.

I'm not sure age matters to me if all your getting is one rehab year. Maybe it'd be different if there was a club option for 2027 or something that provided future value to the Sox. Pitchers coming off TJS don't always hit the ground running. Maybe Breslow will stop making these deals. They haven't helped the cash position by adding these guys that's for sure.

7 seasons. 84 teams made the playoffs, including the WC. 3 teams didn't make the playoffs at all: PITT, COL, LAA 1 team went all 7 years: LAD 6 teams went 5+ times 11 teams went 4+ times 10 teams went exactly 2 times (mode and median, but mean is 3) Playoff format was 10/16/10/12/12/12/12

Agreed. Sandoval has a history of at least staying on the field and providing value. The Sox falling in love with Big Maple was an odd fascination. At least the prospect they traded for him only OPS'd 524 in the complex league last year.

Smart enough to go to Yale, too dumb to just not talk to the media.

He was 54th in fWAR in '23 (2.3). Good, not great. Kutter Crawford/Taijuan Walker were at 2.4. 7.96 k/9 4.6 bb/9 (124th in the league) 4.11 ERA 4.61 xFIP It's hard to really put too much stock in his '22 season. Sox took a risk on Sandoval. Saying "well, they believe it will work out because of 18M" isn't saying much to me. They paid 21M to Bueller and DFA'd him during the season. Sandoval is basically at Bueller 2024 comeback power level. It's going to be rocky. For a guy who has a history of walking a lot of guys, I think it was a bad move. I'm not sure there is enough upside to keep him on the roster.

Dobbins was traded.

Take out Devers from the '25 CBT calc and they drop to 10th. From the time JH bought the team through 2019, they were a top 5 payroll every season. Now we have to give them credit for ending a year at 7th? Nah.

Cut Devers because of his high salary. We know what he's done recently. Instead of signing a FA, they are trading away a substantial part of their farm (not sustainable).

Those ticket prices must have inflated though!

I think this is the only question that remains. Maybe the surgery or rehab didn't go well? Maybe they now have options that are even better than pre-TJS Sandoval. If so, they may be able to deal Sandoval and save some money towards the cap.

Arias probably has at least two years to go. At that point, I'm not sure if the Sox pick up the option for 2028 Story. They may not overlap very long on the MLB roster TBH. Most likely it would be Mayer/Arias in the middle if Breslow had his way. Gonzales spending the next three years (Duran's control) in the minors seems fine to me, but is still a long ways away and has a good shot of not making it. He hasn't yet developed the in game power that scouts have projected. If we're still playing fantasy farm, Soto moves to 3b as his arm can play over there and his body fills out. He adds the projected power and takes over for Bregman. Godbout is going to hit the crap out of the ball. He'll be nice injury insurance for Mayer and is either a good bench guy to have or Craig deals him if he's really hitting well at AAA. Romero is traded this year. What about Allen Castro? j/k Hector Ramos is a better fit as the UTIL replacement for the guys mentioned above. A guy who could reach the bigs near Justin Gonzales, but has a wide variance is Harold Rivas. If his hit tool works out and he hits stateside, he should climb the ladder pretty quick. Big exit velos and great defense will get him to stick around for a while. The only other offensive guys I'd mention would be Luke Heyman and Adonys Guzman. We haven't seen these two catchers yet, but the Sox sorely needs these two and they could move up really quick.

What's the definition of spending level? I think it should be based on where you are in relation to the rest of the league. 2018 1st 2019 1st 2025 7th (CBT) 2025 12th (Year End 40 Man)

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