moonslav59

How is it fair for the Sox to play on away TV and not get a penny?

The hold up on a trade w HOU is likely that we (as well as BTV) values our OF'er more than the value of Paredes, and we are either asking for another piece (RP'er?) or offering a non OF'er of lesser value. I think BTV undervalues Paredes, but I'm not sure by how much. BTV says it is a major overpay to offer Duran for Paredes, B King (RP) and Janek (decent C prospect.) It accepts Abreu or Rafaela for the same. It also accepts K Campbell for Paredes and one of the other two players mentioned.

My guess is Brez likes Gray and Oviedo more than most of us do, but Sandoval & Harrison are "Brez guys," too. I think someone will be traded. I'm thinking Crawford, but after hearing Merloni rave about him, I'm having second thoughts. Since the options for big bat infielders is dwindling, I'm moving away from the idea of trading Duran to someone who values him more as an OF'er than we do as a DH. We need his bat, and probably Abreu's, too. I'm not for trading Anthony, and Rafaela is one of my favorite players. Maybe E Suarez is still an option. We are about $18M under the third line, so maybe we need to free up $5-10M AAV, depending on how much we can defer with ES. Some have suggested Bello or Sandoval's $9M. Those would be easier to move than Yoshida ($18M x 2) or Hicks ($10M x 2), especially Bello, but it would be great if we could dump $18M AAV from Yoshida + Hicks by getting someone(s) to pay $10M/yr total for both. That would save us the $10M needed and keep the best of our depth. It would also open a slot on the 40 for Ranger.

Forget the "only." We pay him $20M more to pitch than to walk. I'm not saying he'll be back. My initial guess was 50-50, if it costs us $20M more, since we paid that for Buehler and essentially for Sandoval's one year, two (pretty close.) I am NOT saying I think we offer it to him.

Realmuto back to Phillies for $45M/3. DD was "in" on some big names, but settled for the "real thing."

I have to think DET was ready to get a comp pick and do without him, also. No, I have not heard his name mentioned. I also think if they were talking about trading Skubal, are they really looking at 2026 as their one year window? Maybe. Maybe not.

These big stars are taking super high AAV deals and not 6+ years.

Any sophomore slums should be, in theory, offset by age progression upticks from Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Romy, DHam, Wong. It's not unrealistic to expect the same or more from Masa and Story. The only returning rookies are Anthony, Mayer, narvaez and Campbell. They should be outnumbered. That being said, I agree: we need a major boost to the offense to be a well-balanced team.

I see it as wasteful, in terms of his value being higher in the OF for another team than to us as a DH, where I can see Masa batting .775 in 2026. Masa+ Romy might out-OPS Duran as the FT DH.

Imagine Taylor Swift doing a concert on TV but doesn't get paid for it, because it's not on her hometown TV. Sharing TV revenue would go a long way towards partially evening up the playing field while still rewarding team that draw more viewers. The Dodgers still get 50% of their TV revenue, while PIT gets 50% of Pitt's TV revenue- a big difference, but not as big as now. The other 50% gets put in a pot and split 30 ways, so LA still gets 50% of the other 29 team's TV revenue. _______________________________ One area I think the union should go hard after is to bring up the min wage. Shortening the arb years would help the lower/mid-tier players make more. Expanding the MLB roster to 27 would expand their numbers, too. _______________________________ I'm not sure we ever see a hard cap or even a soft one, but demanding a minimum team budget on player salaries would be a big plus. It could be phased in slowly. You could even change how you split the TV revenue money based on giving more money to the lower tier teams that increase their player budgets by the most. _______________________________ Maybe there should be a 1,000% tax on the Dodgers.

If we believed in Campbell and felt Masa was okay as the 4th OF'er...

Agreed, and while mush is TBD, it looks real good on paper. It's rather stunning the turnover at nearly every level with Brez pitchers taking the place of Bloom & DD guys. Going by Soxprospsects.com's projected rosters MLB: 12 out of 17 (only Houck, Whitlock, Bello, Kelly, Crawford are not Brez) AAA: 13 out of 15 (I think just Early & Mullins are non Brez guys, as Drohan was brought back.) AA: Maybe 10 out of 16? A+: about the same.

Why should we mostly expect bad things to happen? Many players improve as they near prime and even in year 2. I'd expect most do. I expect most will, some will stay about the same, and a few might decline. Even our prime and post prime players are not too old to think they might stay near the same or even improve.

Our offense is not top 10. It may not be top 15 or 20. It needs help.

I could see Anthony second, as he may be our best batter.

I think those bottom 3 in that order are as good as most teams' bottom 3, but they are not great. They do have upside.

I've been set against "wasting" Duran at DH, and I do not see an OF rotation at DH, as the others are too good on D, but unless we sign Suarez, I don't see us getting the big bat we need via a trade for 3B or 2B. KMarte is likely not being traded. Duran may barely beat out Masa for 2026 OPS, he has more power and speed. I think he has more upside, too. Romy could DH v L.

Still no news on who goes to make room for Suarez. Since there has been no immediate DFA, maybe a trade will be announced, soon. I am liking the Suarez signing more and more. He's not the big, power pitcher Brez has been stock-piling, and I think it's a good thing to have variety in your rotation. It helps keep teams off balance, somewhat. This guy has been real good for 2 years. I'm not so worried about who he was before that. There is no reason to think he'll regress. We arguably have 3 of MLBs best 15-30 pitchers. It seems obvious we have 2 of the top 15 (Crochet & Suarez)and maybe 2 more of the 60 (Gray & Bello.)

Is that record of missed time really much more than the norm? Maybe a little bit. We have many players on the 26 with more missed time than that. I'm a little concerned but not a lot.

I like other options over Shaw, too. I'm not that high on 2 years of Donovan, but he's more of a sure bet and can play 2B or 3B, so if Mayer struggles, he can play 3B and Romy 2B. I'm still highest on Paredes. The Astros are looking for OF help, and we have a logjam there. It makes too much sense. Get it done!

PHI also has Painter & Luzardo.

I think someone suggested Duran for Chisholm and a prospect- probably a real good one. I'd prefer a longer-controlled player over a prospect, as we need to focus on this window.

Since two teams are on each broadcast, teams should split half their TV revenue with the other teams.

Gotta think the trade for a 3B/2Bman, and hopefully a big bat with the same get, will involve an OF'er and/or SP'er. We might regret trading someone, especially if we suffer major injuries in those areas, but the hole is too wide to have the luxury of depth and extended depth. OF: Anthony, Duran. Rafaela, Abreu, Campbell and maybe Masa or Romy in a pinch (Eaton) SP: Crochet, Suarez & Gray are here for the year plus, then: Bello, Oviedo, Crawford, Sandoval, Harrison, Tolle/Early We actually have enough depth to trade for two quality players, but I seriously doubt we do that, unless we upgrade on Mayer, Wong or Masa (assuming an OF'er is traded, too.) The other option is to keep the depth and fill the pen from the starter depth (Crawford/Harrison/Oviedo or Sandoval) and use Duran at DH. Trade salary like Hicks, Masa or Sandoval and sign E Suarez. Let's say, we somehow trade Masa, Hicks and Sandoval to save just enough to sign E Suarez to stay under the 3rd line (deferrals, if needed.) This could be the layout: 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Contreras 1B 3. L Duran DH/ R Romy 2B 4. R Suarez 3B 5. L Abreu RF 6. R Story SS 7. L Mayer 2B/L Duran DH 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela CF Bench: Wong, Romy, DHam, Campbell SP: Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Bello, Sandoval/Oviedo RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Crawford, Harrison, Oviedo/Sandoval, Watson/Moran/Kelly

Using the money for Bichette or Bellinger?