Hitch

I'm not repulsed by the dollars. The market set the price and it is what it is, as ridiculous as it's gotten, but I am worried about what the dollars will do to the ability to invest in other areas. Your last point is just baseless. There's little point discussing such things.

You can't forget what he's asking because it directly affects the amount of investment in the rest of the playing staff. That said, I do think he's worth as much as those players, I don't think any of those players should have got the contract they did. More madness. I agree he deserves a good pay day and if he is to get what he wants, I hope it is with somebody else who is happy to use so much of their payroll on one player because as much as I like the guy, it shouldn't be here.

The issue isn't about affording him. We know the Red Sox can afford him, it's about being able to put a balanced team on the field without getting hammered on draft picks/int money every few years because we're consistently over the cap. If he got anywhere near this, the next 3/4 years we're going to have an insane amount of money of our cap tied up with just a few players. And after they clear and we need to bring in new players and build a new squad (less some picks and Int money) and Mookie will still have 8/9 years on a contract and edging ever closer to a decline that is inevitable with a player so blessed with speed as a tool. I like the guy and would love to keep him, but for the numbers being bandied around - its crazy.

Unless his settle number comes way down - trade him. A 12 year contract for a player who depends fairly heavily on his speed is insanity. Even more so when it's at anything near $35 a year. Trade him and move on.

A very nice outcome would be if you can trade Mookie and Price to the Dodgers for a good package of MLB ready players and a top prospect or two. See if you can trade Eovaldi to Padres for Will Myers. Swap bad contracts but save another $6m a year in luxury tax. Lot of money saved, a lottery ticket (if a very expensive one) with Myers, some good prospects and some players ready to go in the team now, and we've got rid of two painful pitching contracts, both of which could hurt as badly with injuries going forward and given ourselves a lot of flexibility with the payroll. Long shot, but it would be pretty good outcome for the Sox.

Some of us are, for sure.

My Red Sox players must be perfect. At all times. No mistakes and no injuries. Then maybe, they'll get my respect, but I doubt it. *waves fist in the air like a simpleton

Great post. There's little loyalty in sports, with the least of it, often coming from 'fans'. I see the solider card has been played now as well. Amazing.

They may be waiting for the commissioners report to see if it's feasible to bring back Cora in 12 months. Could be the difference between interim and making the plunge on somebody like Tek.

I mean sure, one is cheating at a game that allows a certain amount of it (not to dissolve him of blame, he's getting everything he deserves) and the other is a racist, sexist, deceitful President that let his people suffer and die while making light of the amount of deaths - calling it a conspiracy. I mean, it's almost the same thing, I guess. Not surprised at this at all. I kept reading that they wouldn't fire him because they'd have to pay him money which they would have been absolved of if they waited, but every employee contract has a right to termination if the employee brings the company/organisation into disrepute or worse. They may well have given him a thank you payment, but they had very right to sack him and Cora didn't have a leg to stand on. Personally, I'm a bit sad about it all. I liked the guy, he had a great relationship with the players, but you can't go dong s*** like this. Be interesting too see who the next manager is. It's been a shocker of an off season for us and I don't see there being too good a feeling at the club this season.

Cora is done, he'll be sacked and have a massive ban. The only question is what will happen to the Sox.

Unless Mookie has a very big year this year, I think he might find his demands are going to be nowhere near what he gets offered. Well, I say nowhere near, relatively speaking. Unless he has an incredible season, he is not getting Trout money or close to it.

I don't recognise that description of LIC at all to be honest. Maybe before, and God knows I met enough people who told me how s***** it used to be, but not now. We lived there for just shy of 18 months and never once felt unsafe. Yup, there's a CVS down on 50th by the water. Down by the water is definitely an area that's better if you've got more cash to spend - there's a new tower block shooting up every time I go back there. I don't see it as unsafe or desolate, however. It's really changing and becoming gentrified. But no argument that Astoria has much more going on.

There are several supermarkets in LIC (Urban Market, Key Foods, Food Cellar Market), plenty of pharmacies, delis and some great bars. It WAS a bit bleak but it is the area changing most in the NYC. It's light on restaurants but more and more were opening up each week. If you're near the river, there's also loads going on through spring to fall. Astoria is cool, but it's around the corner from LIC and LIC is much cleaner and quieter so you can enjoy best of both worlds. Depends what she wants but LIC is a much improved place and if she doesn't want to spend an hour or two in cramped subway cars getting in and from Brooklyn each day, then LIC offers a lot of plus points. The transport links there are superb. The major downside to LIC is the there is a lack of community/culture there. It's a little clinical as it's so new, but again, something that seems to be improving with time. Every time I go back to visit I see a real difference there. Really all comes down to what sort of thing she wants. If you want a quiet easy life LIC is perfect, but if I moved back to NYC I'd probably live in Harlem as I love the community and culture.

Congrats Moon. Long Island City is as safe as it gets and great transport links for midtown. We lived there last year.

Pahaha

You can truly never underestimate the stupidity and entitlement of the sports fan.

Totally agree. Amazed how quick so many are to quit on him. Not so amazed Jackson is posting giddily along the same lines.

Yeah, you cant criticise for the decisions they made at the time. Selling while being in and around the WC spot would have caused riots.

As I said, I don't think that's true. We could have got good returns for Price and JD imo. Not sure we should have gone that full on if the opportunity arose, but the option would have been nice. I'm talking about lightening in a bottle attempts with youngsters. They are most certainly more valuable to us than having Porcello and Moreland here now. We might have got something decent for Bradley, too. I take your point about it not exactly being a talent of DD's, but I'm sure somebody in the analytics department could have steered him in the right direction. It would have been better to have the option, for sure. Ha! I don't feel too bad. I'm not too down on this year. I feel we will rebound and be contenders next year. The year after that, and the one after that however.... I'm not so sure on.

We might have got flyers for Moreland or Porcello which is more than we will get now. I disagree with Price. We would likely have to pay some of his salary but I think we could have gotten a decent piece back for him and I firmly believe we've seen the best of his contract now. I don't see him aging too well. But he still has value after a decent season and his awesome work in the play offs last year. I just wish the window was today, I think we'd see a quite different line up from tomorrow if so.

I've mentioned several times through the season that not being in the play off picture this year would quite possibly be healthier for us long term. I would have looked to have got rid of Price, Porcello, Moreland and kicked the tyres on Betts and JD. The winning streak before the deadline really hurt us with hindsight. We won't be offering a QQ to any of our free agents and lost the chance to get something/ for them. The rest of the season is done. We aren't turning this around. Not the end of the world, we will compete next year, but we missed a possibly good opportunity to re-tool/re-set things with this deadline.

And herein lies the true idiocy in the heart of every sports fan.

That makes grim reading. I don't see us righting it this season.

Exactly where I am on all points.