vjcsmoke

So I just read an article that the Red Sox might trade Jansen away to the Dodgers: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/dodgers-seen-as-possible-trade-partner-for-red-sox-star-in-surprise-move/ar-AA1mV0xp This smells like an obvious salary dump move to get rid of our best closer and one of the top closers in baseball right now. As you mentioned, management might 'justify' the dump as a move to open salary space to sign Snell at first but I bet you they'll just turn around and say later that Snell wanted too much money and they got 'outbid'. Red Sox still haven't spent the money they saved from trading away Sale so I doubt they plan to do any actual significant spending to improve the roster. They're going to wait until they see a serious amount of empty seats before making any moves and by then all the good free agent talent will already be gone and have found teams. It's a vicious cycle - dump talent, dump salary, promise to spend, do nothing, enjoy larger profit margins all while lying to the fans. Meanwhile they enjoy spending 16m less salary from dumping Jansen and just line their pockets with more money.

He got mad that he got booed by the fans and deservedly so. The guy has simply decided to TUNE OUT the fans who care about the team and just focus on counting the money coming in. He also doesn't want to answer 'uncomfortable questions' from the media and wants to dodge responsibility for his cheapness. It's really sad what JWH has become.

Bingo! It's time to boycotty Fenway! The only thing FSG understands is empty seats. They even decided to intentionally AVOID attending Winter Weekend because they knew they were going to get BOOED again. That shows they've already decided to IGNORE the fans! Affecting their cashflow negatively is the only thing these corporate moneybag types will understand. I sincerely wonder what percentage of empty seats they consider acceptable as long as the tv/advertising money keeps flowing in? How little do they really care?

The story on the Red Sox offer to Imanaga has leaked: https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastball/news/boston-red-sox-insider-alex-speier-details-the-offer-shota-imanaga-rejected-before-joining-the-chicago-cubs Predictably they fell well short of the mark again by offering a 2 year deal that 'could' vest into 4 years. Seriously is anybody surprised they keep getting rejected with these types of lowball offers to free agents? Pretty shameful stuff and it seems to reinforce the 'free agents' are shocked by how bad the Red Sox offers have been. Business as usual at Yawkey Way - cheap your way to a lower salary spend. Who needs talent unless it's dirt cheap?!

If the Red Sox sign Snell, I would be cheering for this move. It would go a long way to proving that ownership is serious about putting out a winning product. Count me as skeptical until a signing is officially announced.

I'm not sure what he would tell him. I hope the Red Sox are not going to ship out Yoshida just for salary reasons. Because we know they aren't going to replace with equivalent talent! As it stands if the Red Sox salary dump Yoshida, that gets them to 150m payroll. But to what end? Do they just want to bottom out to a top 3 pick in MLB and spend as little as possible? Even a top 3 MLB draft pick usually takes years to develop and is no sure bet. Feels like they don't care if they get a little EGG on their face as long as they can turn a profit off the innocent fans who paid their hard earned money for a subpar, underfunded product!

Agreed. John Henry's "full throttle" statement looks like an absolute JOKE right now. They have clearly mandated a "no-spend" zone above that 225m. In fact we might drop to 200m in salary for the start of the season at this rate. Actually, how accurate is spotrac? It has the Red Sox at a hair under 170m in projected total payroll right now. Red Sox Salary cap: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/payroll/

Wow if those numbers are true that paints the Red Sox in an even WORSE light for missing out!

Yup John Henry knows that he's gonna get BOOED off the stage after the GOOSE EGG they laid during winter free agency period. The current Red Sox ownership group is just full of misers and cowards!

He's reportedly going to earn 15m per season on a total deal over 100m. Too rich for the Red Sox blood! It's pretty sad to see how much the Red Sox pinches pennies and gets outbid on 15m per year pitchers now. report: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/cubs-to-sign-shota-imanaga.html

True. The previous regime's inaction has resulted in the Red Sox selling low on assets now. But it looks like Breslow is trying to clean up Bloom's mess now. He seems to be getting what value he can with current assets and still working under that mandatory budget. Honestly not sure what Breslow can do with the financial handcuffs but maybe he will act smarter and/or bolder than the man he replaced.

I just read an article today that the Red Sox could be in on a trade for Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Dylan Cease. Thoughts? Could this guy turn into a top of the rotation pitcher for us? article: https://www.si.com/mlb/red-sox/news/red-sox-reportedly-considering-blockbuster-trade-for-superstar-pitcher-pat3

Well the good news about Grissom, the "centerpiece" of the Sale trade is that he was the 21st ranked prospect in the Braves' farm system. The bad thing about Grissom is that his ratings are decidedly mediocre. Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 50 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 45 | Overall: 45 Article: Braves Top Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball But he is only 22 so who knows he does have room for improvement on those ratings. Here's a scouting report that came out on Vaughn last February: https://www.batterypower.com/2023/2/22/23608895/vaughn-grissom-metrics-say-atlanta-braves It sounds like his numbers started slumping after a hot start. A negative -.3 dwar doesn't seem promising, neither does his -.7 WAR for the season of 2023. Sounds like his inability to hit the breaking pitch was one of the reasons he started slumping hard.

Well I just read an article that confirms - the Red Sox have set a small market budget to avoid the luxury tax - 225m per season. In fact the Red Sox have outright told some free agents that they can't pursue them unless they first shed payroll. “According to baseball sources, the front office went into last winter with a mandated budget of $225 million, which was significantly under the first CBT threshold of $233 million,” Cotillo wrote. “Boston did not come close to paying the luxury tax in 2023, when the club finished last; estimations had Boston’s payroll just a hair over that $225 million mark by the end of the year.” Despite Red Sox chairman Tom Werner’s claim of the team going “full throttle” this offseason, Boston’s spending habits have reportedly befuddled the rest of MLB, as well as several free agents. “I’ve talked to a lot of agents this week and I made it a point to … talk to rival executives, talk to agents to see what the Red Sox were doing,” Chris Cotillo said on his “Fenway Rundown” podcast on Friday. “A few of them were just very clear – [the Red Sox] are acting like a small market team. ‘They like my player, but they are not going to be the aggressive bidders.’” Article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/report-red-sox-told-free-agent-they-must-shed-payroll-before-aggressively-pursuing-him/ar-AA1mhsUg This is pretty damning stuff. And it helps explain a lot about what has happened this offseason. Red Sox budget is set at 225m and they won't spend more until they shed more payroll. Breslow might not be able to make significant moves until next season when more contracts expire. But dumping Verdugo for chump change and trading away Chris Sale now make sense big picture-wise. The Red Sox going "Full Throttle" is more like the Red Sox going 55 mph in a 70 mph zone. What a joke!

19m per year for a guy who pitched with a 7 era/fip feels like a lot of money for a reclamation project. Can we opt out of year 2 if he’s a bust or is the option only for the player?

Bloom was 3 steps ahead by signing Story to that big contract and deciding to let Bogaerts go before seeing how that move panned out! Oops! That move looks even more stupid in hindsight!

I can FIX HIM said every abused girlfriend ever. LOL. It's the reclamation project dream. I get it. Maybe he can get better. But it feels like a desperation move to make when the budget has been tightened up. Regular menu items are not available, it's time to dumpster dive!

But wait there's more! Rumors now have the Red Sox interested in acquiring Lucas Giolito. With LA Angels he had a 6.89 ERA, 6.81 FIP, and 1.46 WHIP before moving to Cleveland where he put up an equally uninspiring 7.04 ERA, 6.94 FIP, and 1.50 WHIP. Looks like a Red Sox "buy low" because he's cheap and maybe he'll bounce back to his career averages of 4.43 ERA, 4.44 FIP, and 1.25 WHIP. So if he "bounces back" we'll only need to score 5 runs per game to win when he makes an appearance. If he doesn't bounce back, we'll need to score 7+ runs per game. Woohoo, genius move by Breslow! But hey I'm sure he'll be CHEAP so that will please Henry and FSG.

If the Red Sox are seriously sitting out free agency then the trade market is the only place to get a quality starting pitcher. The Red Sox desperately need good starting pitching. Surely Craig Breslow isn't blind and knows this fact. But what moves is he making behind the scenes to fix this glaring issue?

Well I've been reading the rumor mill and apparently Montgomery would be too expensive a target for the Red Sox. He's projected to earn a new contract around a 5 year 106m deal. So 21m dollars per year for a top of the rotation pitcher is too rich for the Red Sox now? WTF happened to this franchise? It feels like the owners are literally rubbing 2 pennies together first whenever it comes time to open the checkbook!

Then what's the point of getting rid of Bloom? If you're going to tie the new guy's hands behind his back he can't do his job. Hopefully Breslow puts his stamp on the team soon. Henry and the Sox front office got booed rabidly by the fans whenever there was interaction with the public. Do you guys remember this because I still do. You would think they might sense that the natives are restless and will make some significant efforts to improve.

Well Breslow is supposed to be the 'smartest guy' in the room. That's why we hired him right? There must be some kind of metrics that he is using to weigh up his options. Free agency has been eerily quiet so far. What targets does he have in mind? The Yamamoto shoe has dropped so surely he had 2 or 3 top choices ready to go as soon as this happened, right? Tell me the guy has a plan to attack free agency.

Spot on. Papelbon has this right. Retrospectively I'm glad we got this punk Verdugo out of the lockerroom even if we got pennies on the dollar. It's a crying shame that Verdugo was the "key piece" we got in return for Mookie Betts.

Well now we're looking at the leftovers of the free agent market. Red Sox haven't really made any significant moves to improve at all. And no I don't count Cooper Criswell, a guy who pitched with a 5.73 era and 1.55 whip last year as a significant acquisition.

No doubt the courtship of Moto was hotly contested with all the big teams going in for him. But it feels like we really didn't make any extra effort to try to get the deal done. And yes ownership might ultimately be the reason why we failed to land him from the beginning. Our owners didn't want to pay to get the star player that we needed.