But again, they still ended up with a $234.5 million payroll for tax purposes. Acquiring more actual big leaguers in June-July would only have increased that, and would also have meant trading some prospects, presumably. And probably all for naught.
Now Berrios was a trade-and-extend, which is what Talksox intelligentsia are saying is the key to our turnaround.
I guess even with a trade-and-extend you really have to get it right!
I'm pretty sure Bloom isn't even thinking about Judge as an option for the Red Sox. It'd be fun to see the Yanks and maybe the SF Giants get in a little bidding war for him, though.
It's always about money, no doubt about that.
We know the owners wanted 14 this year but had to settle for 12.
I'm skeptical that 16 playoff teams is anything in the near future.
But the teams with the 2 best records in each league deserve an advantage. This new system rewards regular season performance.
The Phillies are coping quite well with the disadvantage so far.
"The timing was off" is pretty useless as an explanation for such things. The real questions are how did Perez and Springs get better after leaving the Sox, and why did Bloom think Springs was so expendable on a team desperately in need of pitching?
The Wild Card games in previous years were obviously a crapshoot, and so are the new best-of-threes.
Now we have 4 clear-cut favorites in the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers and Braves. Let's see how they do.