mvp 78

It seems clear that they started the offseason with one plan and shifted to another at some point. Now, Crag is doing interviews attempting to explain the shift. My guess is Henry needs Crag out there justifying to the masses why the Sox aren't spending money, but not for the reasons that Henry doesn't want to.

Seems like this is a directive from somewhere above Crag. We will just not get a straight answer as to why.

You can extend the guys you trade for though unless they just are unwilling to spend at all.

Would look too much like FUCLA colors to me.

Grim.

Henry's fear of garlic, wooden stakes, etc...

Dave's not here man.

If they add only $4M going forward, it will equal what the 2023 Colorado Rockies did. Good enough for 15th place in MLB. They'd need to add 10M to leapfrog the White Sox for 14th place. It doesn't seem like they'll be competing with teams in the 220+ range this year.

Cots has them at $46M including the arb raises!!!!!!!!!!!

"So, we're going to trade Mookie this offseason and hope to be good in 6 more years. Everyone ok with that?"

It shouldn't?

IDK. I don't know if it's in reference to the CBT or just long term contracts.

Anyone still waiting for the end of ST before the make their minds about the lineup?

Cora has named Kyle Hudson (OF Coordinator, '23 1B Coach) as this year's 3B Coach and Andy Fox as 1B Coach (new IF Coordinator).

Seems like Crag found some free time and is doing the rounds now. @ChrisCotillo Asked Craig Breslow if he expects more rotation additions by Opening Day. "I don't believe it makes a ton of sense to sacrifice future wins in favor of exclusively 2024 wins."

@gingersnaphyde Just got done listening to Craig Breslow on the @BBisntBoring Podcast. Here are the takeaways and my thoughts: When asked if theres a chance to add a top of the rotation pitcher, he said theres a world where that works (scroll down further where I talk about how he views adding star players). He mentions it needs to make sense, and theres a difference between being uncomfortable and being foolish/irresponsible. - Sounds like they want guys like Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell, but only on terms (years/dollars) that make sense for the organizational competitive timeline. They are actively engaged in conversations around adding pitching and balancing the lineup with a right handed bat that has positional versatility. Conversations are ongoing, and they feel good about where they’re at with competition going for them. He also stressed they do need to add. - Sounds like they’re hanging around in the conversations for guys, and will wait to see what makes sense for them to add at this point in their competitive window. They will sign players. He anticipates the Red Sox to be competitive in 2024. He also mentioned the impact a full season from Trevor Story and innings from Giolito will be good for the team. - The Red Sox have made moves, and along with projected progression/bounce back seasons, the Red Sox are projected to have a better team in 2024, but will probably just be in the Wild Card hunt. He expects to pursue star players, but timing is important depending on where they are as an organization with their core players. - This basically means they want to sign stars that fit within a majorly competitive window. How they’re operating now isn’t indicative of how they will operate moving forward. - This basically means they’re not making huge deals right now, but definitely could at some point. He doesn’t want to be short sighted when it comes to trades, and make sure they don’t impact the organization long term. There will be a time when it makes sense to sacrifice long term wins for short term wins. - They don’t want to trade players like Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, or Kyle Teel, Brayan Bello, or Triston Casas, but that possibility could happen in the future to trade players of that caliber if it makes sense to try and win a championship. He felt they made positive impression to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and have a strong Japanese infrastructure. Ultimately, only so much was within their control but some of it wasn’t, and can only influence the preferences of others so much. He also said he didn’t really know what the levels of discomfort were when it came to the bidding for him. - Sounds like Yamamoto just wanted to go to the Dodgers, and the Red Sox felt he was never serious about going there, so they didn’t really offer anything competitive if they even offered anything. He said it’s important to create an environment where guys can develop at the Major Leagues. They won’t stop pursuing veterans that could be conducive to younger players. - Again, wants to add players that make sense for the current timeline, but also want to add guys that can also help the young guys.

Yes, sir!

Those jerseys have a good win %.

Hard to have two guys without MLB experience that you are forced to keep on the roster for 162 games.

Teams carry 13 pitchers now.

Stealing signs to try win vs taking money to intentionally lose. Not the same thing.

Walter, Hamilton, Rosier, Sogard, Lugo and Liu don't have a shot of making it this year. Lugo could have been Rule 5 picked the past two seasons and nobody is concerned with taking him even in the minor league phase. Mata will probably be DFA'd or traded before the season starts. He just doesn't have the control to perform in MLB if they are going to keep Slaten. Guerrero began to really struggle with his bb rate towards the end of last season. I don't think he gets called up at all this season without fixing that. Fitts may be in line for an emergency call up, but none of us have seen him and he really is only a two pitch pitcher. Yorke has been uninspiring the past 2 seasons. Without a 850-900 OPS and an injury on the MLB roster, there isn't a place for him unless he finds a new position. The guys I think have a good chance of impacting the roster: 2024- Rafaela, Abreu, Slaten 2025 - Anthony, Mayer, Teel, Wikelman 2026 - Perales, Dobbins, Early 2027 - Bleis, Cespedes, Zanetello

It'll be worse at Fenway this year. Just don't tell ownership about "the wall" that the Clippers are trying to add to their new building.

It's always easier to blame the CBO since he's around fielding questions and ostensibly the guy making the moves. John Henry has been Guy Incognito since Februrary 2020. Easy to forget he exists sometimes.

Full throttle, err pushing all the levers, but not allowing the team to even have the payroll of the 2023 team is quite the position of ownership. We want you to be the Colorado Rockies, but good.