moonslav59

Theo was a great one, for sure, but he started getting away from focusing on the farm as a top priority towards the end of his time with Boston (same with the Cubs). While he did draft Mookie his last year here (along with a few others- see below) , these were the top prospects he left for Ben, according to soxprospects.com: 1. Middy 2. Kalish 3. Ranaudo 4. Bogey 5. Iggy 6. Lava 7. Barnes 8. Brentz 9. Jacobs 10. Swihart 11. Coyle 12. Cecchini 13. Weiland 14. Doubront 15. A Wilson 16. D Britton 17. Vitek 18. Head 19. Pimental 20. Tejada His drafts after 2005, despite having several comp picks didn't really measure up to the ones in 2003 and 2005. Top 50 picks: 2006: Jason Place, Daniel Bard, Kris Johnson, Caleb Clay 2007: Nick Hagadone 2008: Casey Kelly, Bryan Price 2009: Reymond Price 2010: Kolbrin Vitek, Bryce Brentz, A Ranaudo 2011: Barnes, Swihart, Owens, JBJ (Betts with the 172nd pick) The area he never seemed to let up in was international FA signings: 2004: Doubront 2006: Dice-K, Okajima 2008: Tazawa 2009: Bogaerts, Iglesias, Montas 2011: Margot Ben got us Devers, DHern & Moncada that way.

That's how I see it. I was ho-hum on the Price signing but felt it was necessary. While the necessity for a top pitcher is as real as when we signed Price, we are not an ace away from being a top contender, and Bauer does not have the bonafides Price had when he was signed.

I'd rather us sign DJ or Realmuto over Springer, too, but even those two are not the types of players to spend large and somewhat long on. I'd rather sign Hernandez and Marisnik and use more of the budget on signing RP'ers and maybe someone like Odorizzi or a 1 year deal for Lester. I'm thinking the best way to get a decent SP'er is to trade for one while taking on some salary in the deal.

It was both.

I don't think all the 29 were prospects, but it still shows how it can be done. The BTV site has these values for young players/prospects for these 3 clubs: SDP 172 Tatis Jr 71 Gore 62 Abrams 53 Paddock 41 Grisham 32 Campusano 14 Hassell 12 Morejon 9 Weathers ATL 316 Acuna Jr 140 Albies 69 Pache 65 Anderson 54 Soroka 41 Waters 21 Contreras 20 Riley 17 Langeliers 13 Muller 12 Shemake 8 Davidson 8 Harris 7 Wright, Wilson & Jackson BOS 51 Verdugo 45 Devers 26 Downs 22 Casas 12 Mata 12 Duran 9 DHern & Jiminez

I've never said it will be easy to get a nice return for Vazquez, but of all the FT players we have at a reasonable cost, he seems like the one I feel is most likely to get us what we need without needing to trade pitching.

They could. We could before them.

I'm not sure Vaz is any better than Stallings. My trade suggestion was more about Taillon and/or Stallings.

I think the point was, in terms of free agents, there's only 2- Bauer & Springer.

Have you asked them why Chavis & Chatham are so over-valued?

I knew there was someone I was forgetting: Tanaka. I'm not thrilled with Bauer or Tanaka. I felt much better about Price back then, and look where that got us.

True, but he's more ML ready than Wong.

If we could trade Vaz for prospects that could net us Stallings & Frazier from Pitt, would you do it? (I'd like to expand the deal to include Taillon, but I seem to be in a minority. I'm not for getting Musgrove or Sonny Gray.)

I'dc prefer keeping Verdugo in RF, too, but he'd be fine in CF. Here's the plus about Kingery: although he's owed $20M/3, his luxury tax number is just $4M. We could probably get Philly to pay us $4M a year and get him for nothing. I'm not sure about Inciarte & Fowler, either. Kiermaier has negative trade value, and is still a plus defender in CF. We could probably get him and Fairbanks for a B level prospect. We could maybe get something better with him by giving TB Duran.

Money freed to spend elsewhere.

... and please don't say Springer.

If healthy, I believe Paxton is better than Porcello, but likeI said, it's a toss-up. Neither would be a significant difference maker. (BTW, Paxton did start 57 games from 2018-2019.)

+ the chances Sale contributes significantly is higher in 2022 than 2021. (We also lose Pedey's contract.)

Signing all 4 would not make us a top contender in 2021.It would also put us significantly over the tax line in 2021, and all will probably get 2+ year deals. I'm not against this plan. I'd probably sub a cheaper CF option for JBJ, but this is something I think we may end up doing.

Of course I prefer a durable pitcher, but if he's not very good, he won't take us any farther in 2021 than maybe the wild card slot we already have a shot at. Signing a guy like Paxton, gives us a better chance at going farther in in 2021 than Porcello would, depending on his health. To be honest, I don't want Paxton or Porcello, unless they are on 1 year deals. It's a coin toss. (Lester on a 1 year deal might be better than both.) I'd be okay with signing Odorizzi, but I'm afraid he may cost too much and get too many years. He's not really a #5 starter, so signing him doesn't go against my build a rotation from the top or middle philosophy.

True. For one year deals, signing injury prone SP'ers is not a big gamble. especially when our chances of winning a ring in 2021 are pretty slim.

I think we are expecting help from 2-3 players like Downs, Mata, Dalbec, Houck, Ward, Groome by 2022. I do think our chances look better in 2022 than 2021. One would think the chances are Sale is better in 2022 than 2021. I think we should look for a significant longer term addition or two this winter but also fill in some slots with shorter term deals that can be replaced and upgraded when we make the stronger push in 2022. We can try to make the playoffs, this year, but going for it all would mean signing Bauer and/or trading away a few top prospects. I don't think you are for either, are you?

Porcello is durable but just not all that good.

What evidence is needed to prove we are and will be among the biggest spenders in MLB? We were last year, even with the re-set, and project to be, this year too. I bet we are going to spend more than 20 teams, this winter- maybe more. That'son top of already being a top 6 or 8 spending team, as we speak.

So, we trade Vaz to Philly for Abel and something else (maybe more, if we take on Kingery's deal). Then, we trade Wong plus Abel or Ward & Groome to Pitt for Frazier &N Stallings.