mvp 78

Rich Hill was just paid 1/5. Wacha was just paid 1/7. Why would you think they'd get much larger AAV contracts than what they got last year? Hill 2021 1.7 fWAR 2022 1.8 fWAR Wacha 2021 1.1 fWAR 2022 1.5 fWAR Kluber got 8M last year after 1.4 fWAR in half a season. Most guys that got 10-12+ were coming off years above 2 fWAR (Wood, Matz, Cobb). The only outlier is Kikuchi which might have been the worst contract signed last offseason. My estimation seems fairly reasonable.

The big changes from 2021 to 2022 were the bullpen got way worse, the starters got injured, Raffy was injured and struggled after coming back, Kiké was injured, 1b was a black hole for the whole year, JBJ never hit and JD had his worst full season OPS since 2013. I think if we were told that scenario going into 2022, we would have expected .500 at best. It was bleak.

I was answering your first question that stated: "I'm not sure what Wach's previous highest contract has to do with a QO offer."

It means his market value is so much lower than 18M that it's silly to give him the QO. You could get Hill + Wacha for 18M combined instead of giving Wacha the 18M QO.

It's too early for me to put on my Sisyphus Halloween costume.

If Billy Beane accepts the job, how is the trajectory of the Red Sox changed? Does he listen to Pedro and sign David Ortiz? Does he sign Bill Mueller? Keith Foulke? Kevin Pillar? It has been tumultuous, but I can't say I'd do a do-over with that one.

Wacha's largest contract ever was $7M AAV. I don't think this year deserved an $11M raise. Eovaldi is probably a 12.5AAV guy IMO.

Good.

You would have believed it if Vaz was catching. The blame would have just been pointed elsewhere.

They aren't going to spend any money on DH. We don't really know for certain what the winter budget is, so it's hard to say that's 2/3's of it. If it's only for one year and they'll go over anyway, may as well take the one year contracts. I don't see them giving either a QO. They aren't worth it IMO.

Not when the Phillies and Mets also made the playoffs this year.

Well, if you look at his Statcast page and all the cool blue dots, you'd just say it was just normal regression. You could also notice that the 127 innings he pitched is the highest he's thrown since 2017. OR you could say it's due to the infamous CERA monster as Wong caught his last 3 games after Plawecki was let go.

I mean, I'd probably sign him for that. Even as a back end starter, it's decent enough value. I think Wacha is probably better than Winckowski/Seabold/Crawford. I'm a sucker for Rich Hill and would bring him back too.

If they right pitcher was available, I'd consider shelling out big bucks this offseason, but I don't think he exists. This year's class is Rodon (if he opts out), deGrom, Wainright, Eovaldi, Bassitt, Kershaw and Verlander (if he doesn't take the $25M player option). I like Bassitt, but he's not going to command a huge salary. If he does, it's just not worth it. I don't see Wainright, Kershaw or Verlander leaving their current teams. DeGrom is a great pitcher, but has a large injury risk attached to him (his results look pretty good since coming back, but his launch angle, barrel % and exit velocity are all up, which may not be an indicator of future success in the AL East - he may be good, but underperform the enormous contract he wants). Most likely the Mets don't let him leave either. I like Eovaldi, but year to year, some of those AAV's aren't worth it at what he was previously paid. A lot of people like Whitlock in the pen because he was a lockdown guy in 2021. I think he has the right pitch mix to be a successful starter. I think Houck is more suited for the pen as a two pitch guy. Sure, Whitlock's ERA will go up by a run, but that's to be expected. It doesn't mean he's "worse" as a starter. I'd rather get 170 innings out of him in the rotation. However, if the Sox do start the season with Whitlock in the pen, they just need to leave him there. The constant shuffling is just dumb.

2/20? Is that too low? His largest annual contract was this year's 7M.

I mean, I think we can use modern technology to get him up to speed.

We did do a poll and 85% voted either "just ok" or "terrible" for Bloom. It's only a very select few who are ride or die. I'm not sure even the 15% would say that Bloom should get unlimited time.

Would probably have to find the executor of the executor of the executor of the executor's estate at this point. Legally binding? Probably not. Lefty would look about as a live as John Henry though.

Because this season was horrible and there wasn't much else to talk about.

I only post on here, because it's the only place where I'm still one of the "young" guys.

Sox would have been better off signing Lefty for 2022 than Paxton.

The one bright spot to me is that early on people were saying he was going to be moved off of 2b. Now, the same people believe he can stick at 2b long term.

I think he's a guy who may struggle with injuries on and off throughout his career. He did miss significant time during high school during injury. I don't think this season sinks his professional career or anything, but I believe it could indicate some troubled waters in the future. I hope his bat turns around and he can give the Sox good, cheap production for a few years.

He's well rested!

So not a waste then? And signing Price brought us back to back to back AL East crowns?