Bellhorn04

I don't know why anyone experiences anguish about Brasier. He's just a cheap and disposable bullpen arm. We have much larger things to be concerned about.

Doesn't get the blood moving much, does it.

Yes.

So as of mid-January, we have one position player who is both a) a proven MLB commodity and whose Opening Day starting position we know. And somehow, strangely, you get the feeling Bloom likes it this way...

Especially if they move Kike to the infield. Yikes!

What exactly do we know about Sale & Paxton's health right now?

He's down to the last drumstick.

If Bloom has hope in Brasier, I'm willing to hope along.

@RRyanmedeiros Batted-ball data shows that Brasier was incredibly unlucky in ‘22. He had the 8th-highest differential in MLB (1.80) between ERA and xERA (3.97). But the Sox aren’t keeping just him around to show sympathy for his poor luck Brasier's slider was the 10th most effective pitch on Boston’s staff (-5 run value) and the best offering in his arsenal by far (.262 xWOBA). But he couldn't establish a strong secondary pitch - fastball was 8th worst pitch by a Sox P (+8 RV) and sinker wasn’t far behind (+7). Brasier's 4-seam actually amassed a much better run value than his slider from 2018 until 2022 (4SM (-12) / SLD (-4)). He entered the '22 season throwing 50% 4-seamers, but the early results were so poor (.385 BA / .692 SLG) that he began to mix in the aforementioned sinker. In September, Brasier started throwing his fastball more often again (46%) and the results were excellent (.162 xWOBA on 73 deliveries). Brasier had a 1.80 ERA and 0.50 WHIP in 11 September appearances. The Red Sox front office recognizes the value he can bring if he continues to combine good fastball location with his plus slider. Now you might too.

That's like saying you're a great poster when you don't use ellipses... (notin-like injury joke)

Bloom can definitely be tortoise-like.

My point is he knows they have to be done, in spite of how much pain he might experience from what looks like a lousy rate of success, which just got even worse with the news on Story...

mvp knows how to do it "economically"...

Those contracts scare anyone. But the Story and Devers signings prove he hasn't sworn them off. They're a cost of doing business. He's got 4 rings and a franchise worth about $4 billion and those big contracts played a big role.

How 'bout that Jim Irsay, Tyler?

Seems to illustrate the confusing disparities in stats for pitchers more than anything. Bloom decided he was worth keeping, to me that kinda tips the balance in Brasier's favor...

I disagree about avoiding repeating mistakes. Henry knows how risky these contracts are. Raffy's is the riskiest one yet. As I said, a lot of our "bad contracts" helped win championships, so were they really bad?

So good that Cash and Booney are sticking around for the long haul.

Lackey is another ? - he was instrumental to 2013 title, so that counts for a lot. The funny thing is we've had a lot of "bad contracts" that were instrumental to titles. Foulke and Victorino would be two more worth mentioning.

Schilling had a couple of stretches of being hurt, and couldn't pitch at all in 2008, but still produced overall good value. His total pay from the Sox for the years 2004-2008 was approx. $60 K Dollar value per Fangraphs: 2004 27.5 2005 8.1 2006 21.9 2007 12.8 Total 70.3 And then of course there are his postseason numbers for 2004 and 2007: 6-2 3.28 And the 2 championships.

I'll say.

All fans are crybabies.

I'll post this again: Per Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic: Following the season, Story had no elbow problems, but when he ramped up his offseason workouts and began throwing just before Christmas, he started to feel pain in his elbow. Story visited a local orthopedic doctor near his home in Texas before flying to Boston to get the elbow evaluated by team doctors. Both groups decided the internal bracing surgery was the best option. If Jen is accurate, the issue was NOT KNOWN BACK IN OCTOBER, IT WAS NOT KNOWN UNTIL MID-DECEMBER.

The doctors obviously cleared him, just like they did Sale.

Badly.