Bellhorn04

VerduGottaGo.

lol

That is rather absurd.

You must have mis-read my post, which was about signing Yamamoto and Snell.

Sale and Pivetta, based on who was pitching best at the end of the season. Followed by Bello or Crawford.

I'd take it. I'm just saying we can't count on 84 wins getting us in the playoffs next year. Hey, isn't 84 the same number that much-despised 2019 Red Sox team won?

You also can't leave out the fact that the DBacks were extremely lucky to get in the playoffs with 84 wins.

Renfroe must be a bad drunk or always hitting on other players' wives and girlfriends, because he gets sent packing by every team he plays for.

I think it's extremely unlikely we sign the top two targets. If we get one of Yamamoto, Snell or Nola we'll be doing well.

I can answer for notin. He wants a starting pitcher in the Sonny Gray price range and he wants Chapman. He's open to trading Duran + for a pitcher. He thinks mega-expensive free agent pitchers are a horrible investment.

STORK is the board's untouchable troll.

The 2023 regular season DBacks were not much better than the 2023 regular season Red Sox except in the W-L record. The 2023 DBacks highlight the magnification of the crapshoot factor that has resulted from the expansion of the field to 12. Any discussion of the DBacks has to be put in that context. As it pertains to the Red Sox going forward, the question is do you try to put together a team that has a shot at 85 wins and the big crapshoot, or do you aim a little higher to give yourself more of a margin for error? Because there's no guarantee 85 wins will get you in, even if an 84 win, -15 run differential team is your 2023 champs.

Gallen 2023 fWAR 5.2 Kelly 2023 fWAR 3.2 Conclusion: Gallen pitched at ace or near-ace level this year. Kelly pitched like a solid #2. My personal, informal definition of "ace", which is sort of meant to be funny but might also be perfectly accurate, is that the fan consensus definition of "ace" is a guy who is either a lock for the Hall of Fame or looks like they're on a Hall of Fame track. Most pitchers that everyone calls an ace are in the Hall of Fame or on their way there.

You're presenting no data as to why. This is based solely on the general premise that we need starting pitching more than anything, which I do agree with. But you'd have to do a dive into projected WAR to compare these players. I suspect Chapman's projected 2024 WAR will be a bit higher than Montgomery's, although Monty did have a higher fWAR in 2023.

Man, we will argue about anything here LOL

Based on their run differential of -15, the DBacks have no more right to be in the World Series than the Red Sox. They were extremely fortunate to make the playoffs.

Yes, it has multiple benefits. You get higher draft picks, you keep big contracts off the books, you bank more money. Then when the time is right you go for it. The Cubs and Astros did it to perfection.

Hugh seems to be.

Google "Did the Astros tank" - there are a zillion stories about it.

Nobody's perfect.

The Astros are a clear-cut example of a team tanking. It's not even in dispute, really.

Amazingly enough, Shaugnessy seems to like this move. Perhaps the best news about Breslow is that Theo Epstein’s fingerprints are all over this important Red Sox hire. Theo is the one who first brought Breslow to the Red Sox in 2006. Breslow pitched in 88 games at Pawtucket over two seasons and got into 13 with the Sox before Epstein let him go on waivers during spring training 2008. Breslow returned in 2012 and was part of the 2013 World Series winners. While Breslow continued his 12-year big league career, Theo moved on to Chicago, enhancing his Hall of Fame résumé by winning another curse-busting World Series with the Cubs in 2016. All the while, Theo never forgot about his fellow Yale prodigy. After Breslow’s final season, a year in the minors in 2018, Epstein’s Cubs were among the many teams to pursue him for a front office position. The Cubs were having problems developing pitching. Impressed with Breslow’s brilliance, integrity, and relentlessness, Epstein identified him as a person who could fix things. Breslow was living in Newton, looking for a challenge in baseball, and had spoken with then-Sox baseball boss Dave Dombrowski. It turned out that Breslow wanted too much and was perhaps too analytical for the old-school Dombrowski, who won a World Series with the Sox in ‘18 but was fired by John Henry the following year. Epstein feared the Cubs were falling behind other organizations in the ever-evolving area of pitching development. Theo went after Breslow, but it was not an easy hire. Breslow had more questions for the Cubs than the Cubs had for him. They turned out to be a better fit than the Red Sox. Within a year, the Cubs turned over their entire minor league pitching operation to Breslow. When Epstein left the Cubs after the 2020 season, Jed Hoyer took over and made Breslow assistant general manager. Today Epstein is an MLB consultant, largely responsible for the pitch clock that rescued baseball in 2023, but he still has the ear of Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy, who was in charge of the “robust search” for a new baseball boss. Epstein and Kennedy were baseball teammates at Brookline High School and started their front office careers together in the 1990s, working for Larry Lucchino’s San Diego Padres. When Lucchino came to Boston as part of Henry’s new ownership group in 2002, he negotiated with Padres owner John Moores to bring the duo to Boston. “Free the Brookline 2″ was a jovial chant around the Sox offices when Lucchino was attempting to liberate Epstein and Kennedy from San Diego. Fast-forward 21 years, and you can be darned sure Kennedy talked to Theo to get the thumbs-up on Breslow. With Breslow on board, Sox fans can expect a chief baseball officer who is curious, fearless, and wildly intellectual. A World Series champion, known to be a great teammate, Breslow will have the attention of the players, unlike most analytic gurus. He also will be an intellectual match for Henry, who loves numbers, problem solving, and late-night email exchanges. “He does relate well to players,” said one of Breslow’s advocates, a longtime MLB employee. “He’s a 5-10 Jewish kid who played 12 years in the big leagues because he knows how to get the best out of himself and rise to the occasion. He was a very well-liked teammate everywhere.” In a perfect world, Breslow would come to Boston under a veteran baseball boss. But this is not a perfect world. Breslow will have to learn on the job and hopefully will be empowered to spend some of Henry’s money. Epstein is careful not to insert himself into Sox business. His official, canned statement on Breslow: “Craig is one of the most impressive and impactful baseball people I’ve ever met. He combines a powerful intellect and deep pitching expertise with a real understanding of players and fearless approach to problem solving. With his mind, work ethic, and character, there is no limit to what he can accomplish in this game.” Swell. But it’s far more than that. Epstein, who won two World Series here, then another title with the Cubs, believes that the inexperienced Breslow is the solution for all that plagues the Red Sox in 2023. It’s not going to be easy, and it could blow up if ownership’s post-2018 model of making money while driving down payroll trumps all. But if the Sox allow Breslow to spend while he rebuilds, this could be Theo 2.0. And that would be a good thing for a franchise that has lost its way in recent seasons.

Like I say there's kind of a code about that. Everybody knows what the deal is. You have to balance looking after your own interests with respecting the other teams that are in playoff contention. Cora talked about it this year.

There's a sort of unwritten code about all that stuff. Cora talked about it a bit in September, trying to balance doing what's best for the team with what's best for the game.

No, I didn't say that at all. Show me where I did. It's absolutely incredible how garbled you get things. You really need to start reading posts more carefully. Including your own.