mvp 78

@JonHeyman Tomoyuki Sugano, Yomiuri Giants star, is expected to decide by Tuesday where he will sign. Sugano can return to Yomiuri (14-2 with a 1.97 ERA last year); they’ve reportedly offered 4 yrs w/3 opt-outs. The SF Giants, Jays and Mets among the interested @Ken_Rosenthal @Joelsherman1 Maybe the Sox aren't in the running anymore?

I have faith that the new Mets ownership will f*** up AFTER completely overextending themselves. They need more contracts to pile on before they get there.

Professionally, he's played CF the least, but he's only played LF a few more times than CF. About 63% of all of his starts are in RF.

I know the scale was different, but at no point was Matt Young considered a splashy signing.

So it's more of a faulting on ownership than it being a big FA pickup.

He's going to NYM, but I'll be happy if he signs in BOS.

I would also expect to see an uptick of your usage of talking in the third person like I've seen.

No, we'll hear about it all day and every day on here.

Matt Young was the 9th highest paid member of the Red Sox in 1991. I don't see that as a big splash signing in the least.

Yup. If they hired some shmoe off the streets with zero background at all, this would have gone well under the radar. How often have we spent more than one or two posts on a low level coach?

Most fans don't care about the offseason the way we do. Baseball's problem isn't losing their diehards, because the only diehards they lose are the ones who pass away. The issue is that they aren't generating new diehards in the younger generations. If the Sox don't make any additional moves in the OF (I highly doubt that to be the case), Verdugo would be in CF and not Beni.

I'm more leery on BABIP than WAR. BABIP can fluctuate like crazy from year to year. To me, it's the biggest indicator of luck and must directly compare it to a player's career norms.

@pgammo Red Sox to hire Bianca Smith as minor-league coach, making her first Black woman to coach in pro baseball history

From reports, yes.

ATTN: Moon

Depends on your definition of early on. Do you think they are a below .500 team?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/rays-trade-rumors-kevin-kiermaier.html It’s not an overly burdensome contract, but at a time when teams throughout the league are scaling back on payroll, it’s a notable chunk of cash. That’s all the more true when Kiermaier’s skill set is similar to that of free agent Jackie Bradley Jr. — a player who may not command as much as the two years and $26MM still owed to Kiermaier. Bradley would cost only money for a team seeking a center field boost, and while he’s not a great offensive player, he does have a steadier and more productive track record. Also problematic is that while Tampa Bay’s trade of Snell to the Padres brought a huge prospect haul, a trade of Kiermaier might resemble more of a salary dump in terms of its return. Some interested teams may even ask the Rays to kick in a bit of cash to cover a portion of the remaining money owed to the 2015 Platinum Glover. For a player of his status in the organization, a straight salary dump would be a tougher sell both to the fans and to the clubhouse. Given all that context, it’s perhaps not surprising to see MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweet that despite Kiermaier’s availability on the trade market, the chances of a deal coming together “aren’t great.” The Rays have already weakened their 2021 roster by trading away Snell and declining Charlie Morton’s option, and jettisoning Kiermaier for nothing of immediate value (on the heels of a World Series run) would only further diminish their hope of a return postseason bid. Granted, some of the dollars that had been earmarked for Kiermaier could be invested back into the free-agent pool, but it’s extremely difficult to find a player with Kiermaier’s upside on the open market with the limited resources they’d save in dealing him away. Kiermaier has still topped seven WAR over the past three seasons combined, even with his bat on the decline, and in that aforementioned 2014-17 peak, he checked in at 21 wins above replacement. Not only is Kiermaier’s ceiling higher than any replacement the Rays would bring into the fold, but the possibility of trading him for pennies on the dollar, only to watch him rebound and send his value soaring, looms larger in this instance. It’s a very different situation than moving Snell when his value was much closer to (or arguably even at) its apex.

That's why they dumped DD. He wanted Betts. They didn't.

They can get over .500 just by fixing their bullpen and having a full season from ERod.

And you aren't going to take this team from doormat to WS title in one year with this FA class and farm. It's going to be a slow and steady process. Find the right core guys now and keep them around for a while. (I don't think that's Bauer)

No s***. I wanted them to sign Mookie for more than what the Dodgers paid. They didn't want to.

The MLB was about to start. The virus looked like it was under control at that point. It's not unreasonable to think that Betts took an offer he would have accepted 6 months prior.

We'll never know, but I don't think he would have.

Didn't the Sox also do that through 2013? The farm didn't tank until the bad drafts and trades took its toll.

Sox could have gotten that if they offered it IMO. Staying put and not countering above 300M was dumb.