moonslav59

Sounds right. That fits the Sox strategy more. 5 not 7.

Agreed. He could do better with similar budgets as Bloom, but it's "up to JH on the spending amounts." I see no evidence that Brez is repeating what Bloom did. His only moves have been somewhat minor: O'Neill (comp to Duvall?) 3 pitchers for Dugo (This is not the same as trading 3 years of Beni for Wink, Gambrell and Franchy) Urias for Campbell (no easy Bloom comp)

2024 ZiPS Projections for the Sox: FWAR 2.6 Bello 2.2 Sale 2.1 Pivetta 1.8 Crawford 1.5 Houck 1.0 Murphy+Walter+Drohan 4.1 Pen 3.6 3B- Devers 3.4 SS- Story 2.4 1B- Casas 2.4 DH- Yoshida 2.3 RF- Dugo 2.0 2B- EValdez & Co. 1.9 LF- Abreu/Yoshi 1.9 CF- Duran/Rafaela 1.5 C- Wong/McGuire https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-zips-projections-boston-red-sox/ The Red Sox look like an 80–86 win team or so. That kind of team can surprise, and with the coins flipping a bit different last year, they could have made a real wild card run. The Orioles, Blue Jays, and Rays are a clear tier above them, though, and when all is said and done by winter’s end, I think the Yankees may be as well. But that last question is a tale for another ZiPS entry.

He might, but it's way too early to know this. Besides, it's about JH not the GM, when it comes to spending amounts.

Imanaga's numbers... ERA (IP) K/BB 2.83 (149) 4.4 in '21 2.04 (159) 4.7 in '22 2.66 (159) 7.9 in '23 (age 29) Ysmo... 1.39 (194) 5.2 in '21 1.68 (193) 4.9 in '22 1.16 (171) 6.3 in '23 (age 24)

I think many see the Nola signing as a team-friendly deal.

6 Reasons Why Yamamoto's Stock Is Rising... Why Yoshinobu Yamamoto's stock is soaring WWW.MLB.COM Only one pitcher in MLB history has signed a contract larger than $245 million. Gerrit Cole eclipsed that number and set a record for pitchers when he inked a nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees in 2019, just days after Stephen Strasburg signed a seven-year, $245 million contract with

I'd say if yamo gets $300M/10, Snell will get $200M/7, Monty should get $180/7 and Imanaga $150M/7 or more.

Sometimes, a pitcher being connected to someone does not mean it's in a good way. Maybe, Bailey did not like what he saw in Manaea and will push for a pass on him.

I think all these pitchers were waiting for Ohtani and Yamo to "reset the market" for them.

I agree, that is the floor, for me. Even if we go big at 2B and maybe add a catcher or RF'er, I'd still be disappointed with anything less than Monty and Imanaga.

I think his metrics will not decline, but yes, that ERA should regress.

We keep hearing talk of trading for Edward Cabrera, but how about thinking bigger? 2022-2023: Luzardo (279 IP) 5.9 fWAR with 3 years of team control 81 ERA-, 3.40 FIP, 3.6 K/BB Garrett (248 IP) 4.4 fWAR with 5 years of team control 83 ERA-, 3.63 FIP, 18.7, 4.6 K/BB BTV Values: 63.3 Luzardo (91 AFV-28 est. salary) 57.7 Garrett (103 AFV-45.5 est. salary) I'm sure MIA will try to demand Bello, but maybe they'd take Mayer plus ____. Here are some BTV numbers they may want: 47.5 Bello (would defeat the purpose of we did this) 44.5 Mayer 41.8 Anthony 34.0 Duran 24.4 Crawford 22.1 Houck 21.5 Bleis (too far away?) 17.8 Teel 13.3 Yorke (They have a 2Bman.) 12.3 Rafaela 9.7 Schreiber 9.1 Wink 7.8 Abreu 5.7 Wikelman 3.5 Perales 2.3 Mata (I added him as a possible Roster clearing addition.) In theory, Mayer and Rafaela or Mayer, Rafaela and mato could get one of these two, but I'm not sure MIA covers Rafaela. BTV claims Mayer and Duran is a big overpay, but is it? Would you do it? How about Mayer and Crawford or Houck? Mayer, Crawford/Houck and Mata? I'd like to see garrett and Imanaga plus a good all around 2Bman (RH'd bat.)

Thus spoke Ebenezer.

I'd be more than fine with Monty and Imanaga

I would not bet on his FIP dropping.

Martin never regresses.

The Price signing was not business as usual, not was the Devers extension due to the amount of money given out. Previously, we had extended AGon to $154M/7, and that was the largest extension. The Price signing broke the apparent no 30+ pitcher rule, like letting Lester walk. The contract dwarfed any FA signing before or afterwards: $217M/7 Price (Manny $160M/8 was not under JH) $142M/7 Crawford $140M/6 Story (after Price) $110M/5 JD (after Price) $95M/5 Pablito $88M/4 HRam It was shocking to the nation, IMO.

From soxprospects.com... Newly signed Jorge Benitez just keeps cranking out scoreless appearances for Caguas. His scoreless streak has continued to 11 1/3 innings and added a strikeout and allowed two hits while closing out Sunday's 7-2 win for Caguas. His season statistics now have him with 13 strikeouts, three walks, and seven hits over his 11 1/3 innings.

I agree. I think Pivetta fits the 5 role better than the others. Houck might be better, since we should be able to pull him after 18 batters, with Pivetta, Crawford and Whitlock in the pen, but I still like Pivetta as the #5. One other "long guy" that may continue to surprise is Murphy. Let's see how he starts the year in AAA.

The big Devers extension surprised some. The "overpay" of Yoshida surprised some. The late (knee-jerk) signing of Story in '22 surprised many. The mega deal given to 30 year old Price shocked the nation. It does happen, from time to time. I'm not predicting it to happen in 2023. I'm not expecting it to happen. I doubt it happens, but it could. If JH gives the green light to outbid everyone, we could sign Yamo. It will, of course, take all the other teams having a reasonable top limit, and if Cohen goes into this thinking he'll offer "what it takes," what would that be, tops? $400M? $450M? If yes, then I would not want Brez outbidding Cohen. I'd rather spend the $450M on Monty and Snell, assuming they don't go up to $250M, each.

Indeed. If we can keep as many of these guys in long relief roles, we should be able to minimize the stress put on our short guys. (Also, if the 2 SP'ers we get give us more than 160 or 170 IP, that will help, too.) Pivetta or Crawford (maybe Houck) will likely be the #5, so the other can be in the pen. Crawford or Pivetta Houck Whitlock Mata might be able to go 2-3 IP. They say they want to "stretch" Wink out into a long man. I really like our pen much more with more these "long guys" in it.

The Big Corner might set fire to Fenway!

Very true. The reason Mata is out of options while never pitching in the bigs, is because we have stuck with him so long. He has some nasty stuff, including a mid 90's fastball, something we seem to lack. His control and injury issues are a clear concern, and even if he looks good in ST'ing, it's no sure bet he sticks on the 26. (He might be part of a trade to a team that does not have a big 26 man roster crunch.)

I agree, but my assumption was based on an unlikely scenario, where we add 2 solid SP'ers, there are no injuries, and everyone looks sharp in ST'ing, including out of options Mata and Rule 5 guy, Slaten. We have a lot of decent arms from about #11 to #17 on the MLB depth chart. The "auto 10: (assuming healthy and in form) Acquisition #1 Acquisition #2 Bello Martin Jansen Crawford Sale Houck Pivetta Whitlock The "very probable" 2: Winckowksi (has options) Schreiber (has options) The leaves 1 slot for opening day 13: Bernardino (has options) Campbell (has options) Mata (no options) Slaten (Rule 5 restrictions) Others: Fitts, Kelly, Murphy, Weissert, Guerrero, Walter, gambrel, Criswell, Hagenman, German, Booser. I'm not complaining about having decent mid to bottom of the depth chart in MLB & AAA. I'm just wishing we could start moving towards known or expected quality vs the quantity or mediocrity or slightly better than mediocre.