moonslav59

I liked Sato, because there is no QO, and I think he make sign for $14-19M a year.

It's a big worry, and we may need to hope some of the extensions are doing well on the back-end. It's not like these deals run to age 36. It also helps a little with the AAV, when these guys are making $24M but the AAV is $16M

I've agreed with many of your main points, too. I'm glad to see we are stull improving, but I hope this is not the main winter move.

Romy is a career .717 batter who has done very well with the Sox. (.762 w Sox) He's been a top 15 batter vs LHPs since 2024. Also: .846 RISP career .764 Men on Base career

I'm kinda surprised, although the money part fits perfectly. He's not the "elite" bat some of us wanted, and if this add keeps us from spending to get one, it's not what we wanted. He's seems best suited for 1B or DH. Do we move Willson to DH? I thought moving Mead or Anthony to DH might happen. So, one more pretty good hitter added to our list, yet we're still short the elite batter.

Yes, the others were unknown. I get why they did it. In hindsight, we didn't really need him. (We did replace Mayer with Mead, and then need back-up for him, but our subs did okay.)

I know Sogard and Romy don't serve the same purpose, and it does create roster crunch issue keeping both instead of one guy like Dubon, but it still does not convince me it's money well spent for a team with a tight winter budget. If we trade Duran, Romy has a role as the platoon DH and 3rd sting 2B/1Bman. Sogard hads a role as the first back--up at 1B, 2B and 3B. Wong is the back-up catcher, until we add someone. The 4th bench piece can be Jones or White. I don't see the Dubon upgrade, and it would be an upgrade, as worth taking away from money spent on a bigger and better bat or two.

Sogard, Seigler and Monasterio were, too. They also kept Cheng on the 40, and he was the SS when the great stretch began. IMO< that was more than we needed, but some of these were largely unknowns, so that's why they signed IKF. We also had Romy on the 40 along with Story & Mayer- the starting middle infielders. (Durbin could play 2B, but our 3B depth was not deep. Rafaela can plays 2B/SS too.)

I can't read articles that cause me to be reminded of the "same old routine?" I do get mildly encouraged when we kick the ties on players I like. There are times, like with Bregman last winter, I wished we weren't kicking his tires. I will continue to read articles with headlines about "interest." I won't every get too excited, unless I read we are a finalist or have made a "competitive offer" by someone not in the organization. I'm fully aware "interest" is not a commitment: with us it hardly ever is. I'd say our odds of any FA we show "interest" in is way below 20%. Then you get surprise signings, where no "interest" was reported.

With an owner like JH, this is very important, indeed. We can argue all day on why we shouldn't have to do this, but the reality is, it helps. Compared to many teams, especially the better ones, we have a large amount of pre-arb and erb players, plus some of our younger players locked up beyond ard years and a pretty low upfront cost. (It doesn't help the CB Tax budget, but yearly costs matter too.) Of course all prospects, including Arias are pre-arb, but so are... Tolle, Bennett, Mead, Durbin, Sogard, Seigler, Gasper, Moran (no options) Gamboa, Samaniego, Olds, Burgos & Paez Arb 1: Miller, Slaten, Weissert, Guerrero, Monasterio & Jones (no options) Arb 2: Abreu, Romy, Casas & Wong Arb 3 of 4: Duran, Crawford & White (no options) Last Arb: Rutschman, Oviedo & Houck That's about 15-16 players with meaningful roles on the team- maybe more. Extended players 2027 cost (AAV) $3.3M ($7.5M) KC $3.8M ($$6.3M) Rafaela $4.6M ($16.3M) Anthony $8.3M + $10.5M club option for Whitlock $8.7M ($9.2M) Bello Contracts that seem reasonable: $28.7M Crochet ($28.7M AAV to 2031) $17M/1 w option Contreras $15.6M Suarez ($26M AAV to 2030 w option) Underwater deals: $25M/1 + $5M buyout Story $18M/1 Yoshida

I'm going to play him at SS, even if he's worse on D than Story. When Arias is ready, Abrams moves to 2B and mead to DH. I'd be okay with BLowe at 2B and mead at DH, but I'd prefer to spend the FA $ on Sato. BLowe has bad splits.

I'm not one to think every player repeats last year's numbers over and over. Alcantara was returning from a serious injury. He's a high risk. I get it. It would be a gamble to trade for him, and I would not overpay for him.

Yes, when healthy, he has shown he can be "good-" not real good. Not always, but yes he can be. He's also older. He's also bad on SS defense. He was barely passable on defense way back in '25. Again, I'm not saying my plan will happen, and of course JH could just pocket all "savings." I'm presenting my idea of a plan with an eye towards not forcing JH to spend a lot, but also not to pad his wallet. I would not trade Story, unless the money is used. He does have value as our best back-up SS to Arias. He still has some chances of having a decent year- maybe close to 2025 numbers. If we trade Duran, Story & Yoshida, and we trade for Abram or DLC, I think we'd have enough money to sign Sato. (He may not get as much as some think he will get.)

I don't like him and see the path to save $4-6M, this winter. I think our winter spending budget will be tight, and every few millions saved, gives us some more play to add slightly better players. $11M Duran $4-6M Story $2-4M Yoshida If we had to, we could try and trade KC ($7.5M AAV), or (gasp) Bello ($9.2M.) We may need to get creative if JH stays the tightwad he's been since when? The JD signing or Sale/Nate extensions, but then again, that was right before letting Betts walk.

No, it's better to kick the tires than not at all, but I'm sick of the same routine.

I'm done with him. He's like a 10% gamble.

Yes, and my plan is not that expensive.

My suggestions are not predictions, but I don't think the money needed to make it happen is not all that unreasonable.

Counting on Story is counting backwards.

I'd love to say yes, but the future is now, and I have zero faith in Arias in 2027. Remember, my plan was to do the best we can to get Abrams AND also keep our "SS of the future," and since Abrams is not very good at SS defense, we can easily shift him to 2B, 3B or DH, if and when the "future" is now. I'm not undervaluing Gonzales and the others I suggested. In fact, I'm valuing them highly, and IMO, the Nats would likely say no and ask for even more.

A lot of focus has been on the batting, but with the loss of Gray, the banter seems to center around the grand return by Crochet and lesser returns by 2024 ace Houck, 2024 IP leader Crawford and long time Mr. Promise Johan Oviedo. I tend to be on the optimistic side of Sox fandom, and I like the chances that some of these returning pitchers can not only do well enough to replace Gray (and Sandoval, too we should remember) but to also add value to what Sonny gave us, this year. It's no sure bet, and chances are someone gets hurt, or a few do, so even if a few do very well, it may not be enough. For all we know, a couple of these guys not named Crochet may be used from the pen, leaving us with rotation depth of guys like Paez, Holobetz, Wehunt and Ziehl. I'm not gonna lie: this is not something anyone can be optimistic about. Unless we add someone, we will have to rely on stunningly good health or the confluence of a bunch of decent pitchers all having big years at the same time... maybe both. That being said, IMO, the need for an elite bat outweighs the need for a major pitching add. Unless JH does something we haven't see in many year, we can't do both. I'm not going to plan on it or expect it. Knowing Brez, he goes light on trying to add a bat and an arm. Maybe he adds just one (too) light a bat. Ultimately, it's on JH, and I hate counting on that factor. IMO, Brez can trade Duran (save $11M) and maybe save $5-7M by trading Story & Yoshida. Add that to the measly winter budget JH hands Brez and maybe there is enough for one big buy. Maybe.

The dreaded word... "interest."

Paredes has one year, and Abreu has 3. Pena has one as well, and I'm not sure we'd trade Abreu for Pena & Paredes combined. (Okay we probably would, but it's close.)

I know JH is a tight wad and therefore I'm looking for ways to add a few $million to our winter spending budget. Sign Sato. Trade for DLC or Abrams. I'd love to add more, but I fear this is probably a pipe dream, as is. Billy Bean would have loved a winter budget like this.

I like Sogard, Seigler and Romy. We don't need all 3 on the 26 nor should we ever have all 3 on the 26, unless 2 infielders are hurt, but to be the upgrade from these 3 to Dubon is not worth that money. I know- I know, you will claim I'm defending JH's wallet. Joke or not, the restricted budget for real.