Maxbialystock

The OP is just another rant by yours truly. I honestly have to say I don't like 7 year contracts even though I understand why the players want them so much. "Billionaires vs. millionaires" is a tad misleading I think because the billionaires got that way outside of MLB (there are no doubt exceptions, however). In the Ken Burns series on Baseball, once chapter is about Curt Flood and the end of the Reserve Clause. A commentator says, "before Curt Flood the average player made 7 times as much as the average fan. Afterward, it was 7 x 7." If the average fan today makes $50K (they probably make more), the average player would only have to make $2.45M for the new formula to be 7 x 7 x 7. Ain't that a hoot?

He sure was. A friend at the office reminded me that he went to the Orioles because the Reds were sure he was finished and had no good years left. I think it was his mvp year when he regular "held court" after games and fined players for various misdemeanors, some of which weren't even misdemeanors. But it helped the clubhouse and maybe convinced Robinson he could one day manage.

I'm getting a little tired of reading column after column saying MLB teams don't want to improve their teams, which to me means they are reluctant to enrich Scott Boras. My version of reality is the the MLBPA has been by far the most powerful professional sports union and enormously effective. So effective that it's rare if not impossible to find a contending team (.500 or better) that isn't overpaying someone who is under-performing. The Sox, for example, might have led that parade in 2018 when they continued to pay Hanley and Pablo not to play for the Sox. Pomeranz was an obvious overpay and David Price probably was. On the other side of the ledger are the underpays. You know, like apprentice Mookie Betts, who won the AL MVP, but had to work a second job (as Carl Furillo and others in fact used to do) to make ends meet because, you know, $10.5M was barely enough to put food on the table. This year, thanks to arbitration (and the MLBPA), he will finally get a living wage, $20M. Then, finally, with his apprenticeship over, will come the real money. Still on the underpaid side of the ledger are Machado and Harper. At 26 and at the end of his apprenticeship, poor(literally) Manny has accumulated an embarrassingly paltry $34M in salary to date. Harper's doing a tad better at $47.4M, but the fact remains: MLB and those nasty, stingy owners owe these two legendary, franchise-saving, wonderful human beings a lot and by that I mean a ton of make-up salary. How in the world are these two going to be able to live the rest of their lives with any smidgen of comfort and security without another $350M guaranteed apiece? I do get that salaries are supposed to be commensurate with the overall profitability of MLB--and last year reportedly MLB's net profit was better than every. That said, I for one am delighted that those nasty owners are digging in their heels just a tab because to MLBPA got a little too powerful, especially when you consider the fans pay for everything (well, almost).

Kinsler just signed with the Padres. Is this a problem?

Interesting. I too agree with those five. I've kind of stayed away from talksox because the season ended, but came back to check this thread out because it's always about what's going on with the Sox. And quite independently I had concluded something similar--that those five will key to the Sox lineup. And key to that was, just as you say, it's time for the real Devers to emerge.

JBJ peaked in 2016. His hitting and defense have trended downward the past two season in terms of OPS, DWAR, and WAR. That said, I'm fine with whatever Dombrowski decides. I can see value in keeping him, depending on the prices.

Where do I get one of those WS grey hoodies/sweatshirts the Sox were wearing?

For this team especially you are dead on target. After I think game 4, Pearce was interviewed and insisted this was very much a team win, period. And that includes a nutty 6'7" beanpole starter having a tough WS who is shouting at his teammates--right before their big 7th inning rally to be followed by a dinger in the 8th and 5 more runs in the 9th--that this game isn't over!

Interesting. On another thread I said the same thing. Pearce was fantastic, of course. But Price's fantastic was based on 200 pitches--vs what? 4 good swings of the bat? Give me a break.

Agree completely. This dawned on me last night. I think Price earned the truck, but he gets so much money what difference would it make to him? Besides, Pearce had one heckuva postseason and is a very good choice.

Here we go again, the hot stove league. I would like to inform one and all that: 1) you guys do not do this just in the offseason--prospects, deals, trades, etc are a regular source of discussion throughout the season; 2) the season is over and there will be no games until April 1 or thereabouts, and to my way of thinking all these discussions are a distant second to the real thing.

And I’m the opposite, maybe because I’m older. I relish each season and especially this one. I won’t even think about next year much—until late winter. Instead, I’ll focus on my Div I basketball team that usually gets to March Madness. Also, I’m mostly lost when moonslav reels off those numbers and/or names for next year and the next decade or so. I’m like forest Gump opening up that box of chocolates. I like not knowing too much about what is coming.

4 of the top 5 and 8 of the top 12 in attendance this year were NL teams. If anything, the DL would appear to have less entertainment value.

We have a Dodgers fan, a good guy, in our office who flew from DC to LA to watch his guys play Saturday night at Chavez Ravine. Worst possible game for a Dodgers fan to see in person. At this late date in my life and having endured 55 years of Sox fandom during the 86 year drought, I actually feel spoiled by four WS and can easily sympathize with any Dodgers fan--or Astros or Yankees fan for that matter. But I have to say this postseason has been special because the Sox, despite winning 108, were never touted to beat the Yankees or Astros. Far from it. Heck, I wasn't so confident because of the bullpen and real concerns about both Sale and Price. I think the Sox were favored over the Dodgers, but the great majority of commentators, especially Fox, seemed to root for the Dodgers in part because of their great history (and it is), in part because of their 30 year drought, and in part because they made it back to the WS after losing last year's. They were, in short, due. And despite all that the Sox not only won, but won 11 of 14 games against two 100 wins teams and a 91 win team that was back in the WS. And they were all team wins with a bunch of different guys stepping up when needed even while (in the WS) a couple or so very good bats were kind of quiet. Price ended forever his choker title by going 13 innings vs. the Dodgers, giving up 3 runs, and getting 2 big wins. But the catching was good even though invisible to us. And the fielding was pretty good and in some cases (Devers) better than expected. The bullpen was great despite Kimbrel (and Workman). And the hitting with two outs was out of this world good. And in the middle of all that was a young first year manager who throughout the postseason was alert, decisive--boy, was he decisive--and calm.

The big hits provided most of the excitement of course, especially Pearce, but also the surprise 3 run dingers by Moreland and earlier by Nunez. But my three most enduring memories will probably be how much better the pitching was in the postseason, how masterful Cora was in numerous decisions, and how much these guys rooted for each other. I woke up this morning and could name all 25 from memory.

My MVP wpould have been Price. 2 wins, 13 innings, 3 runs.

Other Sox teams may have hit or pitched better, but none were as good winning games, season and postseason. This is the best ever Sox team without question.

What the hell are those 2 runs on the scoreboard, then? Kershaw is a great pitcher.

Yeah, sure. Because the guy at 1b right now is really hurting us.

Credit to you. He has really come thru. Very focused on the mound.

Not.

You think so? Have you already forgotten the damage Pearce has done?

Great swing by Reese on that dinger. Otherwise not a bad 1st for Price.

And I was one of the complainers because I was plenty worried we had used up 2 starters in one game and still lost it. But I still think Cora has had an incredible season for a manager because I've watched almost every game and think he makes good decisions. But more than that it appears he has the team thinking the right way and I love the way he looks in the dugout during games. Alert, decisive, and calm--the exact opposite of what a first time manager for a highly paid, highly visible ball club should look. They just fired a guy who took them to the WS in 2013 and won the AL East in 2016 and 2017. Gone. Francona, a perfectly good manager who broke the Curse and then won a 2d WS--gone. In the movie Bull Durham Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) holds forth on how tough MLB pitchers can be, but they ain't nuttin' compared to the Sox front office in the John Henry era. They are currently paying two guys, Pablo and Hanley, a combined $35M this season to stay away from this team. Yet there is Cora--to the manner born. Pretty remarkable. That said, just maybe it's time to recognize the players without whom all this--108 wins, 3 of 4 in the ALDS, 4 of 5 in the ALCS, and now 3-1 in the WS--is impossible. And it has to be said, especially by yours truly, the big fat whiner last night, that last night's game was representative of the best games they've played this season. In fact, it probably is the best game given their situation and what was at stake. So hat's off to all of them and especially Pearce who was interviewed after the game and said the same thing--it was a team effort all the way. I assume everyone has seen the replay of Sale charging guys up in the bullpen I think right before the Sox batted in the 7th.

The will to win is an interesting notion, even an attractive one if you are a Sox fan. If you're a Dodgers fan, however, managerial ineptitude transcends all else. And in the bottom of the 6th the Sox fans were just as sure they had the idiot at the helm--dummy Cora whose chief claim to fame, according to a few, was that he was a lucky manager. I find it fascinating that last night ERod threw 93 pitches and Hill threw 91 pitches and one fan base is furious ERod was left in and the other fan base even more furious Hill was removed. And perhaps both are right. Me, I think I can make a case that both managers were equally right/wrong. In Dave Roberts case his starter Hill had told him to keep a careful watch because he could run out of gas. At that point in the game the Dodgers had a 4-0 lead and the comfort of knowing that whoever they sent to the mound in the previous 24 innings was certain to be effective because in those 24 innings the Sox drove in exactly 1 run, a dinger by JBJ. As for Cora, he had a lineup that in the playoffs had been deemed relentless but in the previous 24 innings was moribund and now, thanks to a bad throw by Vazquez, were down 1-0 with the redoubtable Hill and his astounding curve on the mound. Why not let ERod get that last out and save the bullpen a tad because this game could well go extra innings. I personally thought the game was over in the 6th before the Puig dinger and because the lineup was dead, dead, dead. Wrong. This is baseball, and anything can happen. Lightning struck the Dodgers lineup when Puig got that dinger, and the same exact thing happened 1/2 inning later when Moreland, pinch-hitting, did the same thing for the Sox. Land o' goshen! Think about that. Two teams go almost 24 innings scoring a total of 6 runs, only 4 of them earned, and in the space of two half innings--the bottom of the 6th and the top of the 7th--they score 7 runs. And in the subsequent 2 innings they score 8 more runs. In that total of 3 1/3 innings they scored 15 runs including 4 dingers!!!! And let's not forget that Kimbrel, no longer having to worry about tipping his pitches, showed once again why the Sox will be nuts to renew his contract and why Cora had Price warming up in the bullpen with a 5 run lead that was suddenly a 3 run lead with no one out in the bottom of the 9th. So maybe it is was/is a will to win, but I would argue it is impossible for both teams in the World Series and after having to win both division series and league championship series not to have a very strong will to win. What we saw last night was baseball. Amazing baseball.