jung

Word salad? Is it a business or is it not? Are the Angels a business? Are the Sox a business? Its you that don't appear to have an argument.

If so this would look to be a good deal for the Sox. Beni is going to be enough of a basket case without Mookie in the batting order. Maybe having 2 years in hand will settle him out and make it easier for him to adapt.

Are the Angels making money or are they broke? IT IS A BUSINESS just as the Sox are a business. They are a business with a somewhat different market and a somewhat different means to an end but they are making money.

There are five key elements to the Sox marketing effort and none of them involve individual players: 1. Fenway Park 2. Promoting Speculation about the potential greatness of any particular edition of the team 3. The Sox various and sundry charitable efforts and endeavors 4. NESN 5. The other sports endeavors of Fenway Group I am surprised at their willingness to give up on item 2 for this season. Other than that, they give up nothing in the key elements of their marketing effort in giving up Mookie. I happen to think giving up on item 2 is a big one for them. Obviously they think they will survive it and THEY are probably right. When I was a season ticket holder decades ago, most of the fannies in those Loge and Grandstand seats were their for the baseball. Anybody that thinks most of the fannies in those seats now are there for the baseball is dreaming. Most are there for the "experience" or a night on the town with or without the kids in all their cute Red Sox regalia.

And the angels are exactly the kind of franchise that will bank on a Trout being their entire marketing effort. The Sox aren't.

A 13 year contract. Outstanding. How many dead years is that at the end.....3-4?

Owners act like owners. Expecting them to act otherwise especially the more MLB has become a business is just pissing into the breeze IMO.

12/420??? Np way. That is ridiculously restrictive money for the business of baseball. Mookie IS NOT TROUT. Whether we like it or not, whoever owns the Red Soc would be working around that contract for over a decade. Still and all, I don't like the idea that Mookie counter offered 10/300 with 12/420 and ...........we traded him. Just like that.

IMO this deal will get done because the two main protagonists or "negotiating partners" want it to get done. The Twins might add something, the Dodgers might add something. Who knows. But I very much doubt the deal gets railroaded over the one armed bandit pitcher with the weight problem.

I don't know how many people caught the MLB Tonight special program built around the the Verducci/Hinch interview. The point was made near the end that the entire hierarchy of baseball has broken down. Front office geeks just send the results from their spread sheets down to the field Managers. Nobody talks to each other with a firewall between the baseball ops personnel that are actually dictating what is happening as far as lineups and batting orders and God only knows what else and Managers are basically caught in the middle with little control over their players. I suspect there is a bit and maybe more than a bit of truth to that. If Baseball Operations is not going to respect the field Manager, why should the players. Clearly Hinch is indicating he felt intimidated by the players and other than that feeble effort twice breaking the dugout monitors he never confronted them or anybody else about the use of in game real time electronics and video to steal signs. At the very end of the Special there is Manfred blathering about "too much in game use of video". NO s*** SHERLOCK!

I would not be putting an * next to seasons nor would I put them next to Championships even with the horrid Astros story. Seeing that video clip of Farquhar recognizing that the Astros were signaling the hitter gets more difficult to look at every time I watch it. I expect the Astros to face a ration of crap from fans this year. Whether they care or not is another story.

Well I am going from memory now. But I think the claim was that he was the architect. Mastermind is a bit for diabolical than architect. If I had to guess, the Mastermind was one or more of the players.

I didn't read anything in the attached piece that lets Cora off the hook. There is a full hour of MLB Tonight running on a repeat loop this morning that is focused around an interview with Hinch that is worth watching in total. Hinch takes a good deal of responsibility for not stepping in and stopping it as soon as he knew what was happening. But I still have not heard a darned thing that lets Cora off the hook.

Agreed....the Twins situation is a complication this deal does not need. The two main participants want the basics of this deal (Mookie/Price for Verdugo/somebody) to happen, each franchise for its own reasons. Its on them to get it done. I am not saying I am happy about any of this and frankly, while I certainly acknowledge the benefits JH has brought us in Boston, his time may be past here.

Meaning 2021 or 2020? It does not matter what I want. I don't own the team. If you read my post again you should be able to figure out that IMO this deal is about both teams, Dodgers and Sox, getting what they want out of it. This deal does not fit the mold most fans want it to fit of "we really put one over on them" or conversely "they really put one over on us". I don't know what the Sox were doing diddling themselves over the Twins pitcher.

I am not convinced that Price was forced on the Dodgers either. The Dodgers are adamant about winning it all now and Mookie and Price make that more possible in the short run. I think the short run is really all the Dodgers are thinking about regarding this deal. It is not really IMO a matter of one team getting over on the other in this trade. Its a matter of both teams getting what they want out of it. I do think Boston fans and media reacted a bit badly to this trade and the Sox brass are reacting to that. Even the Twins considered Gatorade a relief pitcher. So its a bit rich that the Sox now claim they thought him a starter just because he has started for the Twins. Just as we claim that our Sox likely know more about our players than any other team, the Twins likely know more about their players than any other team. The real story here is that the Dodgers want this deal and Red Sox want this deal. Those two teams will have to work it out IMO.

So I am hearing Bloom is asking the Dodgers for a top 10 Prospect now. Not sure if they are trying to blow up Verdugo as part of the deal or not.

Agreed, nobody expects Verdugo to be Mookie. So what! We need an OFer because anybody that wants JD out there any longer is out of his frigging mind!

I simply do not know why this particular story is getting so much attention. I am not thrilled with Verdugo other than that without Mookie we need another OFer and my opinion regarding Verdugo has nothing to do with this bit of unproven nonsense. I guess we know he was in the room where it happened and thats it. Sorry, not interested in going off the deep end on that. Would I have been in the room as some inert object in a situation like that. Nope.... but I am old as dirt and was raised in a different time and place.

Well something has happened to this deal and it appears to be focused on Graterol.

Maybe its Graterol's weight on that frame as a FB pitcher that is a bit of a warning sign. He is only 6'1" and he was listed at 265. Bet he already weighs more than 265. Combine that weight with that f***ed up arm/shoulder and maybe its the combination of the three that creates issues for him. Colon finished up listed at 5'11" and 285 but he was not throwing heat for a big part of his career. He was throwing junk. Sabbathia was 6'6" and finished listed at 300. Even he was not pumping the ball up there at the end.

The Red Sox and the Dodgers have the most skin in this game. Pulling back Mookie/Price at this point ain't a good idea for the Red Sox. Not getting Mookie/Price ain't a good idea for the Dodgers.

I agree. I just don't think the Sox have as much leverage as they think they have. My guess is that we still end up with the overweight one arm bandit of a pitcher with some other pile of crap thrown in to make up for his faults when in fact, two bums does not equal one functional player.

So would I.

But that is not really the question is it. Is a year of Mookie at $27M plus Price at $16M worth it to the Dodgers adamant about winning it all and ASAP? You're damned right it is.