Hitch

Genuine question - don't you think something like this would have already happened if it was possible? Given how little Breslow and Cora seem to rate him? It's not even about just the money. He'd be the same for others as he is to us - a light hitting DH only that's taking up a roster spot. Not much of a market for that. Especially for teams looking to cut payroll.

Yes indeed... not sure of Moon's point here.

Because they wouldn't save the money they would want, unless you think they're desperately trying to trade Arenado to only get (a smallish) part of him off their books. How does DFAing Yoshida then save them money?

While I hope (and expect) we get our pick for Pivetta, I wouldn't be against him coming back on a reasonable contract as long as it is solely in the bullpen.

I like to think the fanbase can be counted on to come in earlier than that. I see the fanbase in general as the embodiment of the Bastards of Boston podcast.

There's zero chance the Cardinals are taking on Yoshida's contract, or even most of it. If that isn't obvious to you by now, I've got some cracking magic beans you may be interested in. If we could get Arenado with the Cards eating a chunk of his salary, and then somehow catch one of the GM's high on crack and willing to take on most of Yoshida's, which meant standing pat with Arenado on the team rather than Yoshida, I'd be happy. I'm fed up of the quite laughable defence we've put up the past couple of years, and it's just a better fit for our roster. But the issue is Yoshi is a tough trade on a sunny day, never mind when he's still out after shoulder surgery.

Yeah, I agree. He's the biggest (and loudest) advocate against a signing window in the winter too. Which I can't help but feel the sport would benefit hugely from, by having everyone's eyes on it during that period. Not to mention it would be fun! The downside of course is that we as a fan base would have a lot more time to then be furious with our ownership.

There will be quite a few players kicking themselves this winter for not taking previous offers on the table.

Given that Nolan Arenado vetoed the potential deal to the Astros, what some of his friends say is important: They think he would really like the idea of going to the Red Sox, if Boston and the Cardinals work out terms. Arenado's current mindset: "Highly, highly motivated." Buster Olney

Fair enough. He's obviously aging and his bat speed will tail if it hasn't already, but it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a player come alive after a change of scenery, and he's a proper pull heavy hitter so that 310 should suit if he has any life left (I'm choosing to be optimistic). It's certainly not my first choice of moves, but if it's between him and 4/5 years of Bregman at 2nd base, I prefer this move all day long.

I may be wrong, but I find it difficult to believe a guy who hit 104 of his 106 HR's with the Cardinals to left/left centre wouldn't find Fenway Park's 310-foot Green Monster a better fit than Busch Stadium's 336-foot and 375-foot walls in left field? Maybe his doubles jump through the roof, but I can't see how he projects to be worse.

They project that had he played his games at Fenway rather than Busch Stadium he'd have hit 58 less HR's?

I've mentioned it a few times - the fans base would have a lot more respect of ownership/upper management (but still be angry) if they were just honest in their comments and analysis.

I'd be pretty happy with it just for the monumental leap in defence we'd get at 3rd base. I also think his bat would be reinvigorated at Fenway. I'd prefer this all day over getting Bregman and then inexplicably playing him at 2nd base. Arenado to 3rd base. Devers and Casas share 1st/DH to keep them a bit more healthy, and try not to catch Yoshida's eyeline all year. Works for me. Edit to add: totally agree that little should be given up. This is a salary dump by Cardinals.

The Red Sox and Seattle Mariners were tied to each other at one point and it seems like there reportedly were at least two different trade packages that were rejected, according to the Seattle Times' Adam Jude. "Around the MLB Winter Meetings in December, a major league source with direct knowledge of the talks said the Mariners and Red Sox had discussed a trade that would have sent (Luis Castillo) to Boston, with young first baseman Triston Casas and outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida coming to Seattle," Jude said. "The Mariners, however, were unwilling to take on the $56 million remaining on Yoshida’s contract through 2027, and the talks stalled out from there. "In November, the Mariners had also rejected an offer from the Red Sox for either one of their youngest starting pitchers — Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo — for Casas." Not a shock to see this confirmed(ish). I think that would have ultimately led to a trade for Arenado (or maybe even sign Bregman) and moving Devers to 1st which would have probably made us better. I wonder how Casas will feel knowing we've been actively (rightly in my mind) trying to move him this winter.

Ouch! In general how close are projections from the different sites? Is there analysis out there on who gets it right the most?

I've been trying to think why I've been so down on the Sox recently, seeing as in general I'm pretty excited about the youth coming up, and while we have issues (RH batters, power, a killer in the pen) we blew 18 saves after the All star game last year. Eighteen. Even half that and we'd have been in the play offs. So there's reasons to be hopeful. But then it became clear to me reading this thread - it's that I don't believe they'll let the youth come up. I don't believe we will see them until June 1st, at which point, we'll already be behind the curve and playing catch up with an arm tied behind our back. So if we don't get any power or RH bats in, we're stuck with what we have line up wise for now, which is not good enough by a long shot and lacking in 31 homers. I very much hope I'm wrong and they're given the chance, but looking at how this FO operates - I can't see it.

The disappointing thing, the really disappointing thing, is that even after everything, I believed him.

Yeah, I'm certainly not sitting here expecting anything to happen. And in a way, I get it, they've painted themselves into a corner. I don't want Bregman for the cost and years it'll take, and 100% not for 2nd. There's not many other great fits out there. Even in a trade for Arenado, there's issues that come with it, issues we've clearly not been able to solve by manufacturing a worthwhile trade for Casas. There's few great fits right now. The fits have been and gone and they watched them sail by because market value is terrifying to them.

It's all good. I wasn't trying to 'gotcha' you, I just couldn't make sense out of what were parallel opinions to me. Miscommunication - it happens. No biggie. Pitching was the biggest need for me this off season and I'm very happy with the moves made so far. But our lineup looks average at best when it comes to power, and that's probably overshooting it. It's shabby when it comes to defense bar the outfield, and very lop sided in handedness with no sign of that changing with the prospects. They're clearly not going to go past the first tax line if at all possible, and I get Rome wasn't built in a day, but seesh, there's a lot of holes/issues on this team, still.

"It makes sense they didn't offer him one, they'd rather of spent that money on pitching and effectively did with a Buehler signing." "The front office obviously has a budget, I'm not spending $21 million a year on O'Neill if that meant not signing the pitchers we did this offseason." "but if my options are Buehler and bank on Campbell/Anthony vs. O’Neill and bank on Richard Fitts I’ll take the former." These are your quotes. You clearly believe we are near our budget as you state resolutely we would not have signed Buehler if we had O'Neil. I have absolutely no idea why you're bringing up the other points. I don't know if you're arguing against other people and using the reply to me to get your thoughts down, or you're arguing against a voice in your head. Either way, at this point I feel like I'm having a discussion with someone shouting at me on the freeway. While driving the other way. Neither of us would actually want O'Neil to be signed for $20m at the outset. But I sure wouldn't mind him instead of the absolute nothing we have here now. Especially on a one year deal. Hopefully the FO still has surprises to hand out and deliver us the RH power bat we badly need.

I think Rafaela will be an everydayer. Whether he is good enough to improve his batting we'll have to see, but I think he's out there every day.

I don't know what you've been reading, but it certainly is not me acting like it's a forgone conclusion we get Bregman. I don't think we get him, even a little bit. I do think we have made an offer, which rubbishes your continued point that if we did keep O'Neil we wouldn't have got Buehler. We're definitely on a budget, no doubt. But it's also pretty clear it's not the exact price point we're at now.

It was me that mentioned it was hard to argue with the logic (of Sean McAdams). As I mentioned a few posts up, I didn't want O'Neil, still don't really. But I would much prefer we had him over the absolute nothing we have in RH'ed batting at the moment.

Again with the either/or. Why are you so convinced we are it now? When more or less every report has us in on Bregman but only at 4 years? Stop inventing parameters in your head that don't exist to make your point seem more secure.