Bellhorn04

Personally I think those particular contortions are a bit silly. Money saved goes into the pool. Money spent comes out of the pool.

Yamamoto Nola E Rod Gray Lugo Wacha Best buy: Gray

Yes, Devers's AAV rises from 17.5 in 2023 to 31.35 in 2024, an increase of 13.85.

Well, needless to say, even before he talked a lot of people were unhappy about losing him. It's only people like me who are interested in details like this. In any case, when you lose a player of Betts's stature, it would be nice to get the full story straight from ownership.

The truth is hidden from us, so all we can do is make our best guesses based on the evidence. To me it's a big thing that Mookie made a public statement that no $300 million offer was made, and it's been crickets in response. You don't think it means much. So we'll keep jabbering about it until we croak.

That's kind of dumb though, because we've dropped more payroll than we've added so far.

??? We'll all be watching the payroll numbers, that's for sure.

Big Tony Vincenzo says no one would do that.

No one is suggesting they've been cheapskates from the get-go. To me they've really only come under serious scrutiny since the Betts trade.

I've read that report before, and what's curious is that we have a quote from Betts but we don't have the specific question he was asked, and we don't have him saying "I turned down $300 million." Then he comes out and says there was no $300 million offer, and it's been crickets ever since.

Just like the initial offer to Lester was a slap in the face. It's a pattern of behaviour. That's why it's so plausible that they never made a market value offer to Betts.

Betts actually said "if you want all the details of the negotiations, talk to Chaim." Obviously implying that there was a final offer after Bloom took over. Plus Bloom would have been aware of previous offers, I assume. The other thing is this ownership has a history of lowballing guys. Before Betts they did it with Lester. After Betts they did it with Bogaerts.

Because the only leaks we get are the ones they want us to to get. With Betts, he came right out and said no $300 million offer was ever made, and no one has refuted that, so I have to assume it's true. With Moto, there were stories that suggested the Red Sox were "on the periphery", or words to that effect, which generally mean "not a chance in hell". I'm going to go ahead and assume they didn't make a competitive offer unless there's evidence they did.

Slow indeed. To complete the financial picture, of course, we have to account for the trades that have increased the Yankees payroll, and decreased the Red Sox payroll. Next thing you know another bad "c" word* might be brought up by somebody. *Collusion

Not if they're smoking Indica weed.

Yep, the Red Sox are now a division of a conglomerate.

Agreed. Dope fiends do a much better job.

Like I said earlier, we'll get the actual details on our offer to Yamamoto... right after we get the details on our last offer to Mookie.

If the reports are true, they have a firm budget and they're going to stick to it. So the $10 mill will get spent.

I don't think he was referring to the draft, but to this offseason.

Yeah, if they won't shell out for Gray or E-Rod, it's pretty unlikely they're going to pay Montgomery. All we can do now is hope for a blockbuster trade, I guess.

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want Montgomery. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball last year. He seems like a Jon Lester type to me. Oh well, he's a non-issue as far as we're concerned. What trade targets do you have in mind?

Sonny Gray gets no respect. I think his $75 million deal looks pretty good, and E-Rod's $80 million deal isn't bad either. These are guys who have put up multiple 3-4 WAR seasons at prices that should be well within the Sox financial means. I suspect that when Snell and Montgomery sign we'll probably say they got overpaid, and not by us. It's not just this one offseason that's concerning. The Giolito contract is the biggest one they've given to a starting pitcher since Eovaldi in 2019.

Might as well put this here. Tom Werner vows Red Sox will go “full throttle” in effort to improve team Published: Nov. 02, 2023, 3:31 p.m. By Sean McAdam | sean.mcadam@masslive.com BOSTON — For much of the 20-plus year duration of the current ownership, the Red Sox spent as freely as any Major League Baseball franchise, almost always ranking in the top five in payroll, often in the top three, and occasionally, leading all teams. That, however, was not the case in 2023. As the Red Sox finished last in the AL East for the second year in a row and third time in the last four years, the Red Sox scaled back considerably with their payroll — depending on who was doing the measuring and how — slotted somewhere between ninth and 13th. Most calculations had them outside of the Top 10, and thus, out of the top third in the industry. Now, however with new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow officially introduced at a Fenway Park press conference Thursday, Red Sox ownership is giving the new executive its backing and a promise to spend as it did in the past. “We know that we have to be competitive next year,” said Werner. “So we’re going to be competitive next year. We’re going to have be full-throttle in every possible way.” Asked specifically if the Red Sox will pursue high-end starting pitchers on the free agent market, Werner responded: “Let me just say that we don’t have any built-in restrictions.” But Werner also signaled that the Red Sox have to take the long view on spending, and not throw money at free agents without regard to long-term consequences. “What I will say is that some years we’ve been below the CBT (competitive balance tax), some years we’ve been above the CBT,” said Werner. “It is important for us to make decisions that will not be just effective in 2024, but past 2024. So those are the decisions that will drive us. I think the inconsistency that we’ve had can be helped a lot by, as Craig said, making decisions that include going after expensive free agents but it’s just as important to develop a minor league system that produces the kind of talent that makes you consistently win.” In recent years, with the retirement of David Ortiz, the trade of Mookie Betts and the loss of free agent Xander Bogaerts, the Red Sox have lost a significant amount of star power on their roster. With a more anonymous and interchangeable roster, some fans have decried the lack of Red Sox stars. As someone who has been successful in the entertainment field, Werner understands that appeal. “You need great players,” said Werner. “It’s not about selling (the appeal of the team); it’s about having great players. And generally, you need players who have high WAR to be a winner. Raffy Devers is a star who will be with us a long time. But we need to complement him with other talent. One of the great players of this past postseason was (Texas outfielder Adolis) Garcia, right? What was he, designated for assignment by two different clubs? “So I sometimes say that baseball is somewhat confounding. But obviously, when you look back, you need to have stars.

Right now I'm seeing everything through the filter of the Sox owners imposing an unjustifiably tight budget.