moonslav59

True. I chalk that up to a handful of owners going bonkers more than JH cutting spending. Our 2022 spending was the 3rd most, ever. (CB Tax budget) 2023 was 4th most. 1. 2019 2. 2018 3. 2022 4. 2023 5. 2021 (pro-rated) Of course, to be fair, if you factor in inflation, maybe these rankings get jumbled.

I had a strong feeling Monty would end up getting a deal we'd pine for, but this blew my mind. I've been cutting JH a lot of slack, over the past few years, but this is pushing me to the brink of total disgust. He'd have probably taken $65M/3, or at worst $70M/3. Even if he got buy-outs after each year, this was a no-brainer, assuming he'd want to pitch for us.

JH has a long history of splurging, then cutting back: rinse and repeat. He extended Devers to the biggest contract in Sox history by a long shot, not long ago. Certainly, Randy may end up being right, but no way can any of us know, and I think the evidence points to more rinsing and repeating.

I think you missed my point. We could have signed Monty instead of Gio. That's not spending much more money. I also disagree with your never "again" on JH's spending. I'm not sure, but I think he will spend big again, when he thinks the time is better than now. Monty: $25M/1 or $45M/2 Gio, now that we know he's back next year: $38.5M/2 We are talking $5.5M over 2 years, or $2.75M each year. That's basically Liam Henriks numbers.

Baffling the Yanks didn't swoop in. We know why the Sox did not. No mystery.

Yup. Reyes can play SS, so he's the keeper.

He has some power and speed, too, so I agree, .310 or even a little lower is acceptable. He's going to be fun watching in CF, this season. Let the games begin!

I thought Monty would get less years and money than most did, but this is shocking. The difference in pay between Monty and Gio really highlights, yet again, one more missed opportunity by Sox management.

The pen looks good, but we pulled Pivetta, Whitlock and Crawford to the rotation. Together, they had about 100 IP in the pen, last year. Losing over 90 IP from Schreiber and Murphy might be hard to replace, too, but more IP will or should be replaced from these guys: Over 200 IP 5.28 Bleier 31 IP 5.46 Llovera 30 4.26 Jacques 25 (still in system) 7.29 Brasier 21 6.27 Ort 20 6.23 Garza 17 9.45 Kluber 13 6.55 Robertson 11 2.08 Weiss 9 12.91 Bearclaw 8 2.70 Sheriff 7 9.00 Littell 3 6.75 Scott 3 13.50 Lamet 2 22.50 Faria 2 As for the SP'er depth, it looks like... 6. Chase Anderson (in pen, now) 7. Winckowski (in pen, now) 8. Criswell (AAA) 9. Fitts (AAA, not on 40) 10. Gambrell (AAA, not on 40) 11. Wikelman (AA) There is some promise there, but it's hard to get optimistic about it.

Once again, the final ST numbers for 2024 (41+ PAs:) 1.156 Devers 1.088 Story 1.020 Wong .933 O'Neill .827 Rafaela .824 Yoshida .795 E Valdez .718 Duran .718 Dalbec .712 Casas .583 Reyes (.900 McGuire in 35 PAs) The Rotation ERA SP'er (IP, K:BB) 2.40 Houck (15.0, 16:3) 2.49 Whitlock (21.2, 22:3) 3.72 Crawford (19.1, 18:2) 3.93 Bello (18.1, 18:8) 5.00 Pivetta (18.0, 22:4) (2.95 Criswell 18.1, 17:3) Pen 0.00 Campbell (9.0, 11:2) 0.00 Slaten (6.1, 6:1) 0.96 Weissert (9.1, 12:3) 3.32 Joely (8.0, 9:4) 3.86 Martin (2.1, 2:0) 4.96 Winckowski (16.1, 10:4) 7.36 Jansen (3.2, 5:0) ( w PIT: 2.45 Chase Anderson 11.0, 9:3) Others: 0.00 Bernardino (6.2, 5:2) 0.00 Guerrero (6.1, 6:3) 0.00 Fitts (3.1, 3:1) 1.80 Booser (10.0, 10:0) 1.93 Walter (4.2, 4:1) 2.35 Benitez (7.2, 14:5) 2.61 Luetge (10.1, 14:4)

That's how I see it. I assume they hire guys who know what they are doing, until they show me they don't. I'm sure they have reason to choose Weissert over Bernardino. It's not like it's an obvious choice.

I think it has happened. I can't name specifics.

So, Grissom will be rehabbing in AAA? To start their season?

LOL. It's not like Dalbec vs Voit is going to make much of a difference. It's kinda like Dalbec vs Cron.

Indeed, and in a punt season like 2024, bettering our budget situation in future years might have more value- assuming JH spends more, later.

Why do you keep acting like I'm saying we will or probably will sign Monty. I've said countless times we will not. I'm just saying we have the cap space to do it, if we wanted to do it. Those are two different positions that have nothing to do with each other. Monty is not coming to BOS. We have the great Chase Anderson. Can we move on?

Luke Voit released. Is he a better option than Dalbec, despite no utility value and no 3B experience?

Again, I do not think we sign Monty or even offer a deal more than $22M x4 or so. I was just saying what I think he'll get, somewhere (else.) I do think we could work out a way to make the deal have a lower AAV, so as to give us wiggle room, but even so, I doubt our plan includes adding AAV during the summer. If anything, we will shed salary- like Jansen, martin, O'Neill, Pivetta and maybe McGuire, Ref and others not part of the long term outlook.

Many extensions don't kick in for a year or so.

I appreciate when posters make comments about players they went and saw play for a game or more, but we are not trained scouts, that I know of. That being said, I'm kinda high on Campbell, Slaten & Sandlin. Weissert, Judice and some others may surprise. While Criswell is not a prospects, he has less than 38 IP in MLB, so maybe counting this 27 year old in the acquisition mix is possible.

I see this as a major area of possible improvement, despite us raiding the pen of multiple arms to become starters. Not counting Reyes, we used 27 pitchers in relief in 2023. We used 23 for over 6.2 IP. If can bring both of these numbers down, significantly, it might allow for some slight improvement. The area for big improvement will be improving on the numbers from these guys: IP/ERA 48 Murphy 4.91 (on IL) 45 Schreiber 3.83 31 Bleier 5.28 30 Lloveria 5.46 25 Jacques 4.26 (still in the system but hopefully will not pitch in '24) 23 Walter 6.26 (still in the system) 21 Brasier 7.29 19 Ort 6.27 17 Garza 6.23 13 Kluber 9.45 11 Robertson 6.55 9 Weiss 2.08 8 Barraclough 12.91 7 Sherriff 2.70 Moved to rotation:(These are the hard 100 IP to replace.) 56 Pivetta 3.07 22 Crawford 1.66 20 Whitlock 4.95 Who takes their places or pitches more than 2023? Campbell Slaten Anderson Weissert Criswell Mata Fitts, Luetge, Guerrero, Gambrell (not on 40) More IP: Joely Bernardino Z Kelly

Even if we saw him pitch 10 times, would that matter much?

I don't think the Sox sign Monty. BTW, cots has us $29.5M under, so we could squeak him in- maybe with a minor tweak. If we sign him, it might be more like $25M x 4 with a 5th year option and $4M buy-out making it $26M x 4 or something like $25M x 5, with no opt-out.

Agreed. Bernardino will have plenty of chances to earn a slot.

I think there should be a marked improvement. I'm guessing from #30 to maybe #14-19th. Most importantly, our up-the-middle defense should be way better: By projected innings: SS: 2024: 1300 Story, 140 Reyes 2023: 480 Kike, 310 Story, 260 Chang, 210 Reyes, 90 DHam, 90 Rafaela/Arroyo/Dalbec 2B: 2024: 1200 Grissom, 140 EValdez, 100 Reyes 2023: 440 Arroyo, 360 EValdez, 210 Urias, 200 Reyes, 130 Kike, 50 Turner, 50 DHam/Rafaela/Wong CF: (Hard to project with rafaela's offense in question) 2024: 1000 Rafaela, 240 Duran, 200 Abreu 2023: 560 Duran, 480 Duvall, 120 Rafaela, 90 Kike, 90 Abreu 70 Refsnyder, 40 Tapia C: (not sure we can expect improvement, here, but normally catchers reach their defensive prime after age 26-27) 2024: 900 Wong, 500 McGuire, 30 Heineman 2023: 950 Wong, 430 McGuire, 50 Alfaro/C Hamilton Corner positions? 3B: same (We can hope this is an up year for devers) 1B: same (I think casas will improve, but with no Turner as back-up, call it a push.) LF: Better (No Yoshi has to make this a plus over 2023. Duran looked okay in LF.) RF: same? (Will it be Abreu, O'Neill or both? I hope it's not Duran.) Let's say a slight improvement on corner D.