moonslav59

Well said. I certainly think losing teams are less entertaining, but I do still enjoy watching the Sox and look forward to seeing if our top "suspects" come through in the coming years.

You said this- not me. I'm not even close to feeling that way.

Like, if JH spends more, it's less money in his pocket, right?

I mean, if JH is reluctant to spend on say, Yamamoto, Werner could say, "I'll pay for him out of my own pocket."

So, every owner of every business should pay their emplOyees based on how much more or less their company makes than others? In some ways, that makes some sense, in a general way, but only a true Socialist would demand it and say the workers are entitled to it. I have no issues with any MLB team expecting more financial efforts from their owners, and agree that higher revenue teams should have higher expectations. I'm not on board with those who want to dump JH, after being a top 3-5 spender over 21 years, because he is spending the same or more than all but 2 of the last 21 years, now. I do not think we should feel entitled to this. Entitled is not the same as expecting it. Complain all we want. Maybe it will work.

How do you think these 3 ares of the Sox system compare to 2021? (I won't use 2020. That would be too easy.) The 26 man roster. The 27-40 slots of the roster. The farm, beyond the 40 man. Be honest and serious. Answer the questions with answers, not questions or twists to the questions. Try that, just once.

Reduce the profit, you mean.

I get that. Nobody is entitled to any rich guy's money. You can expect a better product than what you are paying for. No doubt. No disagreement from me. We aren't entitled to it, and more than 25 other teams, and if 25 teams' owners all did what their fans expected and spent $100M more, we'd gain on nobody,

Future team revenue, or possibly the next owner.

Again, my point is not about expecting or not expecting JH to spend more, because we make more and the team is valued more than many teams. My point is, every MLB team has fans that expect, could expect or should expect more spending fromt ehir owners. And, I see a distinction between expecting it and feeling entitled to it, or start demanding a new owner, despite being one of MLB's biggest spenders in the last 21 years. Despite just extending Devers.

True. If Brez follows Bloom's MO, we might see 5-6 mediocre to decent roster additions, instead of filling the 3 big needs with top quality players.

Name one poster is "counting on" even one to be a star? I don't think anyone has said it. I do think it's reasonable to think 1 or 2 will do very well, but I'm not counting on it happening. I want us to add a longer term 2Bman, even though we have Story. Am I "counting on" Mayer? I want us to add a longer term OF'er, depsite having Rafaela, Abreu, now, and Anthony knocking on the 2025 door. I like our catching tandem of Wong and McGuire, and don't think we really need an upgrade, there, but Tell's existence is not making me feel that way. I have no prospect penciled into a starting role. I'm wary on even counting on Rafaela and Abreu to combine on handling one OF slot in '24. I argues with notin about trading Rafaela for ECAB, because I am not fully counting on Abreo. I don't want to speak for others, but I'm not seeing anyone thinking any of these 3 are sure All Stars.

Werner has money, too. Can't he kick in his own chump change?

Of course the value is speculative, in nature, as it was back then, too. If these guys are all busts, we're in big trouble, for sure. If two are busts, it will be very hard for us to compete, going forward, unless other unsung prospects fill their voids. Remember, guys like Betts were not really even on the radar, early in their farm days. He joined our farm in 2011 and did not crack the top 20, until the winter of 2013 (at #10.) We all saw how the vaunted Ben farm did not do all that well, so your concerns are well founded, but for the most part, the national rankings of players and team farms are right more than they are wrong. Yes, it's a gamble to count on the farm, but it's also a gamble on signing major free agents, especially someone like Yamo, who has no ML experience. I'm excited by our farm. Maybe, because there has not been much else to get excited about, but there was a concerted effort to build up the farm for a long time. We have not traded a major prospect since Moncada (#1), Espinoza (#3) and maybe Kopech (#5) That was like 6 years ago. The big club suffered, some, as a result of this hoarding and making more trades for prospects than ones trading them away. It is what it is. Every choice GMs make are gambles. Some seem riskier than others, but building up a farm has a pretty good track record, when you look at how the best teams in MLB have gotten that way, over the years. Did we build up the right way, or not? We should know in the next few years. Anthony, Mayer and Teel look like the best 3 we've had in the system (not in hindsight,) since maybe... (from soxprospects rankings) 2015 Summer: 1. ERod (not our farm developed) 2. Moncada 3. Devers 7. Beni 2015 Fall: 1. Moncada 2. Devers 3. Espinoza 4. Margot 5. Beni 7. Kopech 2005: 1 HRam 2. Papelbon 3. Pedey 4. A Sanchez 5. Lester 2006 1. jake 2. Buch 4. Pedey 2014: 1. Bogey 2. JBJ 10. Betts (not sure we can count him without using hindsight) 2012 1. Bogey 2. Barnes 3. JBJ Calling them suspects is fine. They are, but no matter how pessimistic you can get, our farm looks pretty good, right now. I'm feeling pretty good about our 4-10 prospects and see a lot of promise in those beyond #10, although many will fail. I'm very high on... 4. Rafaela & 8. Abreu (only one needs to shine) 5. Bleis 10. Cespedes 7. Perales & 9. Wikelman (hopefully, one shines) Maybe Yorke surprises me. We can choose to be optimistic about these kids, or not. In this case, many "experts" agree that this is a very promising group of prospects, and many are ML ready or a year away.

These owners are all mega rich, and they have seen the value of their initial investment in the team they won grow by leaps and bounds. I could be wrong about 1 or 2 owners or ownership groups, but I feel confident my statement is accurate. I googled this from 2021, and two owners (COL/MIL) is at $700M net worth, and a few others are near $1.1B, so I can see why maybe they would not want to spend a big chunk of their own money, but they could, at least for a couple years. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/12/mlb-owners-net-worth.html Would you be okay with saying 25+ teams can? Also, with all the side money teams make on concessions, memorabilia and TV contracts and revenue sharing for some), do you really think any owner is losing money? They may not be making $100-200M a year, but they make some and could add their own money, if they wanted to. Sox fans seem to expect JH to do it, despite his being involved with other ventures that may need capital, at the moment.

Good news! It's been a long time since the last championship.

He only said it once, right?

Man, all those guys are keys to our success!

I've agreed to this. My point is every owner could spend to and over the tax line, every year, if they wanted to. It sounds like you think my "varying degrees" is an undersell. Of course, some teams make way more money than others and could spend way more, but even the poorest ownership group can afford to spend $100-200M more, every year. That's all I'm saying. If they all did, maybe JH would spend $200-300M more, (or $100-200M more than he does now, as he surely can, if he wants to.)

We add 3 plus this guy and I guess Dalbec is #4.

That Devers extension was just chump change, right?

It’s not this stopping them.

I did not say go over and make a profit, but with all the side money made and an increase in team interest, they probably could all make something plus. They can afford it because they are all rich enough to spare a few hundred million.

Even the poorest ownership group in MLB can afford to blast past the tax line, here and there, if not every year.

There is growing pressure on getting a first tier SP, since the fall back options are drying up. I agree.