moonslav59

Not bad at $13M x 2. This is another deal, I's have matched. The 2 years is fine.

Agreed, but if I had to, I'd go 3 x 30 over 9 x 10.

Although some stats show some decline, he's still damn good at age 35. OPS Against .652 in '19 .615 in '20 .501 in '21 .612 in '22 His 3.86 K/BB rate was his best in 3 years. He's 10th in fWAR by RP'ers the last 3 years at 3.5

WOW! Ole Red will be thrilled! He'll start loving Bloom, real soon!

I think, when all is said and done, Story will will the final judgement based on WAR per dollars spent.

That's what I was thinking, although the pen signings, other than Diaz seem like the better FA value deals. I was thinking we could even skimp on DH and catcher, so we could devote more money too just SS, RF and SP. I can see the reasoning in spreading the risk out, but I'd rather have seen us sign 3 players at about $30M than 9 at about $10M.

Over my post or the growing realization that so few major moves looks more and more possible with each major signing and rumors of interest in marginal players? I guess I had more faith in our current 40 man roster depth (or at least the top 35-37 on it) than Bloom & Co.

Word is SDP offered Judge $400M/10. Seems some players don't go for just the most money, if true.

I would then become a crybaby fan, unless we make a blockbuster trade, too.

Remaining Free Agents (as ranked by MLBTR): I predict we get in RED 2. Correa (My top pick, but I seriously doubt we will be a final 3 bidder) 4. Bogey (Probably our best hope for a top 20 signing, now.) 5. Swanson (Outside chance, if we miss out on Bogey) 6. Rodon (nope) 9. Nimmo (nope) 10. Contreras (I hope not, but if we aren't going to spend anywhere else, I'd rather get him than just Adrus, Conforto, Nate and Hill) 11. Senga (possibility, but word is he has 5 & 6 year offers on the table) 13. Bassitt (not likely, especially with loss of comp pick) 15. Benintendi (I doubt it.) 17. Manaea (probably not) 21. Syndergaard (please no) 23. Eovaldi (after Bogey, maybe our second most likely, although giving up the comp pick we'll get of he signs elsewhere is like a ding against signing him.) 24. T Rogers (Could be our last gasp effort at a significant signing- along with Jansen) 25. JD Martinez (nope) 26. Vazquez (long shot) 27. Jansen (see #24) 30. Quintana (maybe a good choice due to short term) 33. Profar (nope) 37. Drury (nope) 38. Stripling 39. Chafin 40. Segura 41. Wacha (maybe?) 42. Robertson 43. Brantley 44. Conforto 47. J Turner 48. Kluber 50. Rucinski Others: Andrus, Belt, Carpenter, Cueto, A Diaz, Fujinami, Fulmer (I'd sign him), Gallo, Greinke, Kiermaier, Kimbrel, Longoria, Lugo, Mancini, Moore, Peterson, G Sanchez, Smyly

Updated 12/7 am

Of all the three contracts over $300M, Judge was the most important one. (I think MIA's payments to the Yanks for Stanton put his contract just under $300M on the Yanks ledger.) The tax budget outlook (remaining): $40M x 9 Judge $36M x 6 Cole $22M x 5 Stanton (counting the $3M MIA pays) $25M x 1 Donaldson $20M x 2 Rizzo $15M x 4 LeMahieu $15M x 1 Severino $10M x 3 Hicks (Torres may get $10M in arb)

Take, last year: I think our choice at 2B was between Semien, Baez and Story. Semien signed on Dec 1st (4.2 fWAR in 161 gms & 108 OPS+ in 2022) $175M/7 Baez signed on Dec 1st. (2.0 fWAR in 144 gms- mostly at SS & 93 OPS+ in 2022) $140M/6 Story signed March 23, 2022. (2.2 fWAR in 94 gms & 102 OPS+) $140M/6 Of course, the jury is still out on which signing was will be the best of these 3, but I think Bloom did well by "going slow" with his 2B choice, last winter.

Being the fastest should insure winning a race, unless you are foolhardy. Being slower usually leads to losing in a race about time, but if you don't give up and keep doing your best, maybe you can win.

I don't pretend to know more than Bloom, Sam and the top brass, but I've thought all along that Bloom's hands have been tied by the fact that he had $40M to fill 12-14 slots year one, $40M to fill 9-11 slots, year two, and $60M to fill 7-9 slots year three (2022.) I felt this year it would be $90M to fill 4-6, maybe 7 slots. This would force quality over quantity. There is still time to add 2-3 high quality players, but I'm not really hearing our name liked to the top free agents or trade targets. I'm starting to lower my expectation to just one major addition- maybe 2.

LOL. My kinda deal!

One big playoff series and he's near his regular season numbers. I hate the fact that we have to face him so often, but I'm loving looking at your budget and ages of your top players.

There are bigger "overpays" than others. The BTV sight shows some recent signings as being of plus value. Others are way under water- day one. I'm not one to believe one crazy GM sets the market price for other GMs. Seager and deGrom were grossly overpaid. That doesn't mean others have to b e. I get the point about needing to pay more than other GMs to get what you need. I was sure Bloom would do that. I'm feeling not so sure, now, but there are a lot of FAs left to sign.

I think notin is.

I'd have paid Taillon $68M/4 in this market. To me, that signing is the only one I feel that way about, so far. I'd give Nate $16M x 3.[/b]

I just said our biggest move- not biggest 5 moves. If we can get a SP'er via trade, and at a low cost on the budget, we'll have plenty to pay for the other 4-5 slots. (That doesn't mean we'll sign Correa, just because we can.)

Good points. No GM is sitting around, right now. Some have bigger spending budgets. Some have very targeted needs: others have many needs. I still think our biggest move will be a trade not a FA signing.

A quarter season is a small sample size in the grand scheme of things. Look at almost any great player and you'll find a few 200 PA sample sizes that are 200 points lower than their career OPS. (Many will have even worse stretches.) You are trying to pre-soften the blow of losing him. I get it. The "change-up" should have been your manager and GM.

I'm not going to say I'm have no doubts, but there are a lot of the best players still out there. Interest in guys like Seth Lugo scares the you know what out of me. I guess we need pen help, so I'm not against adding Lugo, but like most Sox fans, I'd like to see something substantial, soon. The best guys are going fast. Unless he has a trade in the works, we need to get a top end SP'er, I think before we look for depth in the rotation and pen.

Updated.