Well, it's pretty easy to connect the dots in this case. Henry dispatches the free-spending Dombrowski and hires a guy from Tampa Bay. The first thing the guy from Tampa Bay does is trade Mookie. Most people would deduce it was Henry's idea more than the new guy's idea.
Add to that the fact it was obvious they had great difficulty signing Mookie to an extension. And that was on DD's watch.
Yes, but Brady is money, there's no way around it. He gives his teams a huge chance to win. The personnel around him keeps changing, the wins keep coming.
FanGraphs says:
Actual value provided by Eovaldi: $56 million.
Total AAV of contract: $57.3 million (after pro-rating 2020).
The catch is that about 80% of the value came in 2021.
My verdict: average/mediocre.
On yes, I remember both things well. Another thing that was mentioned as a reason for the Yankees turnaround in 1978 was that there was a newspaper strike in New York that summer.
Then there was Bill Lee saying the reason those Yankees were so good was exactly because they were such a bunch of a-holes LOL
Because of the Tampa Bay North thing, mainly. Shaughnessy has been all over that from Day One.
BTW I didn't realize how right you were about Belichick being in the crosshairs until I read Shaughnessy's column before the Pats second game. The Boston media is seriously after Bill now, it seems.
Diekman might go down as one of my all-time least liked Red Sox players. Didn't like it from the start. Couldn't believe Chaim liked his numbers and thought he was a better pick than McHugh.
As for the departure of Vaz, how about McGuire so far? With the Red Sox he's hitting 394/429/521 for a 950 OPS in 79 PA's. Obviously unsustainable small sample magic, but his career OPS of 682 is respectable for a catcher. Not really sure why the White Sox would trade him for the likes of Diekman.
It can be used against players, too. Varitek was considered a clubhouse leader, and when the Sox collapsed in 2011 and had all the finger-pointing, he was getting blamed for not providing leadership.