moonslav59

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.

I would not send Schreiber, Campbell or even Bernardino to AAA for Mata or Slaten, but all 3 have options. If Mata and or Slaten look real good in ST'ing, we might swing a trade, but we might also choose to send a better pitcher to AAA until the first injury, which might be in the first week of the season. It happens all the time. Chances are, 2-3 pitchers will be on the IL, by day one, so there will be room for all. I do like this list of 16 pitchers better than ones from recent years past, assuming the 2 SP'er we add are good. No more wishing for Brasier to be DFA'd. No more DHern's. I even like the "others" list better, but to b e honest, I'm done with the quantity over quality approach. We need some studs.

That really could happen. Not really like bringing George Scott back, but...

Indeed. These low level guys are high in number!

It depends on who we add to the MLB roster and how many. It also depends on Mata and Slaten making the 26 out of ST'ing, or not. If everyone is healthy, some good arms may be pushed to AAA, because they have options or are not under Rule 5 control. Possible 13: SP? SP? Bello Sale Pivetta Jansen Martin Winckowski Houck Crawford Whitlock Mata Slaten Pushed to AAA, assuming no injuries: Bernardino Schreiber Campbell Others: Fitts Kelly Murphy Weissert Walter Gambrell Guerrero Criswell Hagenman German AA-Later in season? Wikelman Dobbins Bastardo Coffey Penrod Song Benitez Olivarez Liu Hoppe Troye Denlinger soxprospects.com has Perales starting the year in A+

That's why I said "suspects." We just have those. We do have a few promising suspects, though.

Old news.

Only "suspects."

JH may now make money on Pirates games on TV: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/pirates-penguins-agree-to-joint-ownership-of-sportsnet-pittsburgh.html The deal creates some eyebrow-raising partnerships due to the fact that daily operations of the network are handled by the New England Sports Network (NESN), which is owned by Fenway Sports Group. FSG owns the Penguins and holds an 80% stake in SportsNet Pittsburgh, per Mackey. That means that Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner, the founders of FSG, will directly profit from the Pirates’ television broadcasts moving forward. Williams emphasized to Mackey that MLB has not deemed that to be a conflict of interest — FSG’s operations are a separate business venture from the Red Sox — and he added that the existing relationship between Henry, Werner and Pirates owner Bob Nutting actually helped to facilitate the arrangement.

I get that. BTW, I knew about Ja, before the tourney, and I took Murray St to go to the final 8. I do think his play helped his draft slot. I do think a nice bowl game can help, too, and since there are so few football games compared to b-ball. The injury factor is a huge issue, though, and I totally understand. It sucks for the fans and the university. I

Sox sign a catcher- most likely a minor league deal: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/red-sox-sign-roberto-perez.html Roberto Perez hit 24 Hrs in 2019 in just 389 ABs. .655 career OPS (.555 last 4 years)

Man, talk about playing second fiddle. First Correa. Now, Ohtani. Maybe they offer Yamo $350M just to win one.