moonslav59

Of course, if someone blows the others away, it will be an easy choice. The Ohtani blockbuster contract was reportedly about even between TOR, SFG and LAD.

We aren't going to sign him to be our ace. (I hope.) Can you explain why he's a punk? Why a "punk" can't be good at pitching? Not even that good? How good is "not that good" to you? 2021-2023: (200+ IP/190 pitchers) 454 IP (34th in MLB) 151 per season 3.45 ERA (43rd) 84 ERA- (45th) Better than Nate, Montgomery, Kirby & Pablo Lopez 86 xFIP- (37th) 8.3 fWAR (35th) 2.8 per season 2019-2023 (135 pitchers with 350+ IP) 81 ERA- (24th) better than Valdez, Snell and Guasman 86 xFIP- (31st) better than Nate, Eflin, Montgomery and Luzardo 12.1 fWAR (31st, despite missing 2020)

IMO, if one team offer $5M more, he'll go there. If the difference is less, he may choose where he prefers. I get the point about Cohen being more committed to spending to win, but do the Mets really look more likely to win over the next 5-10 years over BOS? Our farm looks better, and 5 of our top 6 prospects are due by the end of 2025 (9 of our top 11, too.) I'm not saying Yamo is looking at farm projections, but I like our future outlook better than the Mets. The Yanks don't look all that well set for the long term outlook, either. Does SF? If it's about choosing the team that looks better set for winning from 2024 to 2033, there is no clear leader.

Is it really any more absurd for JH to spend $400M over Cohen spending $500+M (counting lux tax?) I think both have a point where they think it would be wiser to spend that absurdly high price on two players, instead. How do we know where each owner has set their absurd point? Yes, it seems more likely Cohen's would be higher, since his net worth is 4 times JH's, but with both, it's really just a drop in the bucket, as notin stated. I'm not saying the Sox will outbid the Mets. I don't think we will, but to say "We have no chance" is not right, IMO.

What is the major difference in spending ... $380M out of an estimated $5 billion in net worth of JH vs $500M (counting lux tax) out of and estimated $20 billion net worth. Aren't they both drops in the bucket? Why is it so hard to even imagine JH might want Yamo even more than Cohen? The price is not going to Ohtani limits.

I'm not arguing that Cohen is not setting things up to get Yamo. I agree he is the front runner. I'm arguing you giving JH near zero percent chance of going above Cohen's comfort zone. Unless Cohen's top limit is absurd, a few teams still have a shot, IMO.

I was thinking the same thing, the other day. These massive costs for FAs has made the value of tradable pitchers higher. I hope the Sox kick the tires on trading for Castillo, but I know you devalue every Sox player we suggest. (BTW, I devalue Duran, too, but not by as much as you.)

Probably, yes. He also talked about scaling back for a while and dumped salary, last summer. The point I'm making is Henry is capable of topping the highest point Cohen will go, unless it's some ungodly amount. Cohen is not stupid. Why didn't Cohen get Ohtani- surely he wanted him. He doesn't overpay for everything he wants.

Those days of comp picks really helped the Sox, when it was designed to try to help the poor team's losing free agents for nothing. 2005 23. Ellsbury & 45. Lowrie (trade for Melancon who was traded for Holt) for OCab (Nomar trade) See what we got for Jake, later. 42. Buchholz & 57. Egan for Pedro 2006 28. Bard & 40. K Johnson for Damon 44. C Clay & 83. A Bates for Mueller 2007 55. Hagadone (included in trade for VMart) for Gonzo 62. R Dent for Foulke 2008 45. Bryan Price for Gagne 2010 20. Vitek & 39, Ranaudo (traded for R Ross) for Wagner 36. Brentz & 57. Workman (later traded for Pivetta) for J Bay 2011 19. Barnes & 36 Owens for VMart 26. Swihart & 40. JBJ (kinda soften the blow a bit) for Beltre 2012 31. B Johnson & 37. Light (traded for Abad) for Pablebon 2014 33. Kopech (part of Sale trade) for Ellsbury Some of those picks are still affecting the team, now. It's amazing how well we did with these picks, most between 20-50th.

$700M? How do you figure that?

Too busy to meet with him twice in two days?

When you see all the broke professional players out there, today, spreading it out makes a lot of sense.

Yes, and why we signed Sale and Bogey instead of Mookie.

You assume the richest people will always pay whatever it takes to get what they want, no matter how much the overpay is. That is not always true. They didn't get to be rich by overpaying for everything. I do think Cohen has an upper limit, where he realizes he could spend his money better on 2 players, instead. Cohen may have a big edge, but it's not a slam dunk.

Does this mean if SFG or NYY get Yamo, we have a better shot at Monty or Snell? It looks like LAD does not want Snell, so that might be one team out on him. NYY Yamo SFG Imanaga LAD Monty BOS Snell NYM Giolito

MLBTR reports on the Mets: Should they fail to land Yamamoto, Sammon suggests that the club doesn’t plan on pivoting to other top-of-the-market free agents such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Rather, Sammon suggests the Mets could pivot to a mid-market arm like Lucas Giolito...

IFA signing period begins January 15: International signing rules, spending The pool breakdown is as follows: The D-backs, Guardians, Orioles, Padres, Pirates, Rockies and Royals received a Competitive Balance Pick in Round B of the Draft and received $7,114,80. Teams with a Competitive Balance Pick in Round A (Athletics, Brewers, Mariners, Marlins, Rays, Reds, Tigers and Twins) each received $6,520,000. Eight teams (Astros, Braves, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Nationals, Red Sox and White Sox) have a $5,284,000 base signing pool. The Angels, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Cubs each forfeited $500,000 from their pools for signing players who had rejected qualifying offers -- Tyler Anderson, Chris Bassitt, Willson Contreras, and Dansby Swanson, respectively -- last offseason, so each has a pool of $5,152,000. The Rangers, Padres, Phillies and Yankees each lost $1,000,000 for signing the following players who rejected qualifying offers -- Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom (TEX), Xander Bogaerts (SD), Trea Turner (PHI) and Carlos Rodon (NYY). The base signing pool for each of those four teams is $4,652,200. The forfeited monies are redistributed to the other clubs. Teams will be allowed to trade international bonus slots during this signing period starting Jan. 15. MLB.com's top 50 List: Top Baseball International Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Brez misses out on another gem! Bring back Bloom! At least he could sign these type!

Is Cohen waiting in the wings to offer $5M more than the top offer between SFG & BOS? Does this mean NYY are out?

I wonder why there is nothing on MLBTR about this.

MLBTR reports the LAD are interested in just about every pitcher, "except Snell." This make me like Monty>Snell even more, now.

MLB Pipeline's Mock Draft 2024: 1. Nick Kurtz 1B CLE 2. JJ Wetherholt SS/2B CIN 3. Charlie Condon OF/1B COL 4. Jac Caglianone 1B/LHP OAK 5. Travis Bazzana 2B CWS 6. Vance Honeycutt OF KCR 7. Josh Hartle LHP STL 8. Seaver King OF/SS LAA 9. Konnor Griffin OF PIT (first HS player listed) 10. Tommy White 3B WSH 11. Mike Sirota OF DET 12. Hagen Smith LHP BOS (Arkansas) 13. Chase Burnes RHP SFG 14. Brody Brecht RHP CHC 15. Braden Montgomery OF/RHP SEA Mydraft.com has Chase Burns going #3 and the Sox getting Noah Franco 1B/LHP IMG Academy (CA) Another site has us taking Carter Johnson SS (Oxford HS, AL)

Certainly, Cohen seems more motivated to build a winner than JH, but if you look at the team foundations and near ML ready prospects, I think the Sox might look better than the Mets, right now. I'm no expert on the Mets farm, but I think ours looks better. 2024 ZiPs: 11.2 BOS (2.6 Bello, 2.2 Sale, 2.1 Pivetta, 1.8 Crawford, 1.5 Houck, 1.0 others) 10.9 NYM (3.9 Senga, 1.9 Quintana, 1.3 Megill, 1.2 Peterson, 1.0 Lucchesi, 1.6 others) 4.1 BOS Pen: Mets 2.8 1.5 BOS C: Mets 2.8 2.4 BOS 1B: Mets 3.2 2.0 BOS 2B: Mets 21.7 3.4 BOS SS: Mets 5.0 3.6 BOS 3B: Mets 1.9 1.9 BOS LF: Mets 0.5 1.9 BOS CF (no O'Neill): Mets 4.2 2.3 BOS RF (w Dugo): Mets 1.7 2.4 BOS DH: NYM 2.0 Totals before winter additions: Pitching: 15.3 BOS 13.7 NYM Positions: 23.4 NYM 21.4 BOS Total: 37.1 NYM 36.7 BOS I'm not sure how much having Yoshida matters, but it likely does not hurt our chances.

They must like him more than Imanaga, although they may sign him, too.

I was thinking the same thing. One more "We came so close!" I'm not falling for it, again. We better get some real quality talent, somehow, of I'll be riding the Sham Wagon for another year, at least.