moonslav59

Yes, and some felt his drop off was due to an underlying health issue. (Some blamed family issues.) Injury, family issues, recent struggles, whatever, we went a long time only signing pitchers with serious concerns. Ranger seems to break that model.

You make good point, but big LF in Yankee Stadium fits much better for him than Fenway. In some ways, we could say Fenway is the worst fit for Duran as a LF'er.

I'd say it's unacceptable, but in reality, it's the way of the world. I'm wondering how much this % of revenue number will change, this year. We do know JH & Co are raking in the moolah.

Again, I'm not for Vientos. I think he'll go for cheaper than Donovan/Hoerner/paredes. On E Saurez, it's about the big need for power, and I think we got better at 2B and 1B defense.

If we got Marte and Paredes and lost Duran, Tolle, 2 from Crawford, Sandoval & Harrison, plus maybe some midtier prospects, I'd be projecting us as a top 3 team witha good chance at a ring.

I do wonder if the media frenzy and fan disgust drove JH to give Brez the thumbs up on Ranger. I seriously doubt we go over the 3rd line, so a trade will likely be needed to add that big bat we both want. A trade of salary might open up enough budget space for E Suarez. Doing both might make us both giddy, but I'm not optimistic we add 2 more significant pieces, unles syou call Paredes and a RP'er significant.

Okay. It sounded like you were questioning my reasons for saying Bichette is not "THE MAN."

I'm all in on Paredes, and he'll cost us way less than KMarte and maybe less than Donovan. I'm afraid we settle on Vientos. E Suarez puts us over the 3rd line, so signing him, means trading salary: $9.2 Bello & Sandoval $7.8 Duran $7.5 Campbell $6.3 Rafaela $2.7 Crawford and of course... $18M Yoshida (Maybe we can trade and save $3-5M/yr) $10.3 Hicks (Maybe we can trade and save $3-4M/yr) If E Suarez gets us $7-9M over the 3rd line, who would go?

Bloom was very methodical in building up the farm and bottom of the 40. He lacked the ability and resources to build up the top of the 26 and 40, but over time, he built up a nice foundation for Brez. Brez has pretty much swapped out about half the system in 2.3 years. No joke. Especially the pitching. He's also done a much better job than Bloom at adding quality to the top of the 26 and 40, but he has had more money to spend and used a bunch of Bloom's additions to trade for others. His final grade is still TBD, but on paper, I think Brez has done a lot in such a short time- not all good/great. There were some pretty big mistakes or unfortunate outcomes- however you choose to view them. Some of his "bad moves" still have a bit of TBD in them- like maybe Holobetz for Priester and the Sandoval signing.

IMO, Paredes will be a beast in 2026. He's a pull hitter, so maybe he hits 50 with BOS, but maybe they pitch him away, and he hits 25 and .790. Maybe we can involve a 3rd team with AZ to get out of that full demand, if that is indeed the only players they want. Could PHI send AZ Painter, if we gave them Duran + Crawford/Harrison/Sandoval? Would Painter + Mayer be enough for Marte? Painter + Tolle or Early? If we traded Mayer in the marte deal, we'd still need a 3Bman. Could we afford KMarte + Suarez? (I guess nope.)

He's not as bad as you think. He'd be used as an OF'er by more teams than as a DH.

Bloom had the same fixation. I don't get it either. BTW, Gio was not hurt when we signed him. Neither was Buehler, but I view Buehler as more of a stab in the dark than Gio. He also has a higher AAV.

I totally get the reasons why you trade Bello over Crawford and hold onto KC in hopes he rebounds from a pretty small sample size of struggles. I value Bello way more than Sandoval/Crawford/Harrison. I'm not looking to get worse at one position or slot, but as with any trade, if we gain by much more at another slot, I'm all ears. The drop off from Bello to those three is much more than the drop off from Sandoval to Crawford, IMO. The drop off from Masa/Romy/Campbell at DH is much less that the gain we get by trading Duran the DH for a thumper 3Bman/2Bman. That's how I view trades and who to choose. It might be oversimplification, but I think my philosophy has merit. The drop off from trading Rafaela and playing Anthony or Duran in CF is not much either. I'm open to trading him or Abreu to, despite both being among my favorite players. I know some feel Bello is not as good as his ERA shows he is, and this is a trade high moment. That view makes some sense. His $9.2M AAV is also a reason to look at him (or Sandoval) as a trade chip. I will say that those salaries also exclude many teams from even calling and will lessen the return that maybe a Crawford or Harrison might bring back. (Not equally, but in terms of value per salary)

I'm not talking about weather he's on our radar or not. I don't think he should be THE GUY we sign for 6+ years. I'm not sure what you are asking. If he signs with someone, I won't know if it's a bad strategy. Each team has different needs and spending patterns. I don't want us signing him to 6 years plus. I think it would be a bad move if we did it. I'd love to have him on the team, but I feel like our budget would suffer for 6 years. I'm never banking on JH to keep spending more and more. I don't think Bichette fills the power need we have. I don't think he'll be a plus defender at 2B. I think he may struggle to have a 6 year OPS of over .800 or .820. I don't think that's worth $30M x 6. If you, fine. If others do, fine. If he ends up a Red Sox player, I'll be happy, for now, but think it will hurt us longterm.

I've been saying 2 big bats since day one. Bichette is not a big bat. He's good, but his little power is not what we need. I don't think Contreras is a "big bat" either. He has a little more power than Bichette and did fill the need at 1B enough for me to say we need ONE BIG BAT, still. Has anyone here ranted more on the need to trade for KMarte than I have? I also wanted Schwarber or Alonso, as in KMarte plus one of them. The Contreras trade makes me okay with one big add. I'm not happy with settling on E Suarez at 3B. His defense sucks, and he's old, but he is the best power bat on the FA market. It also happens he's cheaper and will get way less years than Bichette. I'm not for doing nothing for the offense. I'd be fine with signing E Suarez and trading Rafaela + Crawford for a 2Bman or 3Bman (Suarez to DH.) I think Duran brings back more, and I love CF defense, so adding Suarez and maybe Hoerner/Vientos/Donovan and losing Duran is still enough offense to get us to or close to glory.

If you say so. I'm not sure why that is the final say fact, but it does hold weight. The guy is a greedy owner. Most are. It's the way of the world. He's better than any other owner we've ever had. That's not meant as praise. It's meant as a warning. Be careful what you wish for: they next guy might be worse/cheaper or hire the wrong guys to build winning teams.

So, just sign the current top man, because he happens to be the top man. Great stragedy!

When I'm wrong, you and others call me out. It's not getting "mad." I guess I'm not allowed to point out others' miscalls- reasonable or not.

I gotta think Duran is worth more to several other teams as an OF'er than to us as a DH/4th OF. I also think there is a chance Masa equals Duran's 2026 OPS, although Duran brings much more to the offense than just OPS. I think he gets traded. Even if we find a way to dump Yoshida, I still think the value to the Sox is less than the value to another team. That being said, our offense is our weakest area, and he is a top 2-3 player on offense on the team, so unless we upgrade elsewhere (3B/2B?) then keeping Duran makes a lot of sense. However, now the talk switches to trading a better defensive OF'er, like Abreu or Rafaela. We also have Campbell/Masa/Romy/Eaton as OF depth. We also have Campbell/Romy as DH depth.

Trading Duran + Crawford frees up over $10M AAV. Duran + Sandoval is near $17M. Campbell + Sandoval is almost $17M, too. Bello is $9.2M, but why undo some of what we did by adding Ranger? Make Bello the #4 and trade one from Crawford, Sandoval or Harrison, along with others for a true 3Bman or maybe a 2Bman. It seems simple. I'm not sure we are looking to free up more money, but with JH, one never knows. There are still the ideas of trying to save a few $M by trading Yoshida and or Hicks. I've given up hope on that front.

Hard to know, but it probably did not help.

Agreed. It should be about $16-18M. According to some sources, KMarte's AAV is under $16M, but he is likely a mega-longshot get. I think we look to the Cubs for Hoerner (1 yr) or Shaw (4 yrs,) but maybe we trade for Donovan (2 yrs) or Vientos (4 yrs.) I'm sure there are others.

Yes. How am I contradicting that? I don't really consider the Masa, Story and Suarez deal as all that "large and long," but they are significant. I was speaking to those who felt JH would not even pay enough to sign E Suarez, but even then, I never claimed he would. My position has been I don't know and I'm not optimistic. Others claimed "He will not," like it was a sure fact. This is a significant signing. $130M is kinda large. 5 years is long enough to be called "long," but in my view, just barely. We spent less on Ranger, figuring inflation, than Story, but who cares? We added a major piece to help us win more games. It never hurts to add at or near the top of the rotation. This was unexpected, by me, but I love the signing. I think we ha ve some players and prospects, some who look logjammed by position. I hope we trade the right people for the right player(s.)

I totally agree. Why choose this guy as THE MAN?

I can and I will. I have agreed there is no reason, except maybe greed, for JH to not spend more. I'm not gloating because I was right. I WAS NOT RIGHT! MY position has been, we don't know if he will spend at any given moment. His MO is to cut back spending after spending big, but even that leaves open when and by how much. We don't know.