moonslav59

How the league allows this is beyond me!

Exactly how I felt. The Cubs paid more than I said was the max, but had we paid that extra amount, I'd have been happy Breggie was back. I'm usually not big on the whole clubhouse leadership thing, but Breggie was an extreme plus on that, and I firmly believe he helped several Sox players in just one year with the Sox. His defense was a welcome sight to see, too. His offense was a plus, despite not having the power we need. We'd have been a much better team with him, right now. The plus side is that we are also a much better team with Ranger, just in a different way. He also rates to age better than Breggie. We also have two logjams (OF and SP depth) that we should be able to use to acquire a decent 3B/2Bman, without subtracting enough to make the trade a push. We should win any trade we make for a 3B/2Bman, in terms of how much we improve that position vs lessening our bench strength. I'm not sure about all the ins and outs of the Breggie talks , but I seriously doubt it was Brez who set the no trade clause in stone and the must have major deferments clause, too. If it was, then it's fair to place blame on Brez. The whole "by all accounts" Brez bungled it ignore the accounts that talked about the no trade clause and steep deferments. Would Breggie have said yes to $5M more from the Sox but without the no trade clause and deferments? Do "all accounts" address that aspect?

Let's say we get the worst choice for our 2026 3B/2Bman addition- maybe Vientos (bad D/decent power.) Is Suarez + Vientos > Bregman and no more pitchers? I'd say yes, especially as the years move on past 2026. (on paper, anyway.) How about E Suarez + R Suarez > Bregman + nada? (We'd likely have to dump salary to make this happen, and it almost certainly won't be Masa or Hicks, but rather Duran ($7.8M) Bello ($9.2M) Campbell ($7.5M) Rafaela ($6,2M) or maybe 2 of these guys. If we trade 1 or 2 of these guys for prospects, it's not good for the 2026 season. It might not be good, even if we get ML'ers back. The issue with the E Suarez and trade salary idea is this: Who do we trade Bello for, if we have ESuarez at 3B and Mayer at 2B? A catcher? A top RP'er? A 2Bman and demote Mayer to AAA? A 3Bman and DH E Suarez? It's kinda complex.

The funniest part of all this is that Ole Red didn't want Breggie at that cost or years, but is pissed at Brez for bungling the negotiations.

I think the advantage on offense is significantly more than "slight," but I'd keep Rafaela over both of those other 2. Stellar D in a tough CF position and 6 years of control vs 3 and 4 years. OPS+ 2025/career 116/118 Abreu 114/114 Duran 95/89 Rafaela

Would anyone trade 7-9 years of K Campbell ($7.5M AAV) for 2 years of Paredes ($9.2M in '26 and 1 more arb?) Would HOU say yes

This trade was rejected by BTV, despite all being pretty balanced- numbers wise: To BOS: Bogaerts (-79) F Fermin (12) J Dryer (7) & $50M from SDP To LAD: Duran (42) & Wong (0) To SDP: Rushing (35) Yoshida (-30) Hicks (-18) & $50M to BOS 3 catchers swapped. LAD gets their OF'er. SDP gets the good catcher. The Sox get Bogey for 2B, upgrade back-up C and add a RP'er. Bogey is owed something like $200M/8, but SDP pays $50M and takes $60M in salary from Yoshia + Hicks. No way this goes down.

Can Max Muncy still play good enough 3B defense for his one year of control left? Would you trade 3 yrs of Duran ($7.8M), Crawford ($2.7M)and Wong plus a Hicks dump ($10.3M.) for 1 ys of Muncy ($10M x 1) and 6 yrs of D Rushing (pre arb) We'd knock about $10M off the tax budget, but get just a temporary fix at 3B. The deal would really be about Rushing, but is Catcher really our biggest need?

Breggie was overpaid. I'm glad we didn't go further. I'm glad we got Suarez, and don't care if he was plan B or plan Z. They didn't just bumble into signing the largest and longest deal since Story. It wasn't done behind Brez's back, for sure- not that anyone claimed that

It seems that way, but I guess some like to assume the worst, and that Brez has no clue. Afterall, he was our 12th round pick.

I don't see much need to replace our everyday players, except 2B. Brez improved the C, & 1B. We got worse at 3B.

Everyday players: DD: Duran, Rafaela, Casas Bloom: Anthony, Abreu, Story, Mayer, Campbell, Wong, Yoshida, DHam, Sogard, Romero, Bleis, Cespedes, Castro, Jo Garcia and others Brez: Contreras, Narvaez, Romy, Arias, Gonzales, Godbout, Eaton, Azocar, Ramos, Rivas and others

Not as much turnover.... by a lot.

Pitchers in the Sox system acquired by Brez in less than 3 years: Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Sandoval, Oviedo, Harrison, Early Chapman, Slaten, Weissert, Sandlin, Hicks, Watson, Moran (Drohan & Song were reacquired) Bennett, Witherspoon, Phillips, Eyanson, Holobetz, Soto, Delzine, Samaniego, Cason & more

Good stuff. Thanks.

See: that is diversion. I happen to think Brez made mistakes on the Breggie negotiations, but I'm not going to pretend to know what happened. If JH was firm on the no trade clause, then I could give a rat's ass if every account said Brez bitched it. If JH insisted on deferring so much money, then who do you blame? BTW, you never acknowledged the last time you claimed "by all accounts" the trade was graded an F, and we provided links that gave the trade a C or D. At least I admit when I get things wrong, and admit I'm often wrong, too. When you are wrong, you claim you were right. Talk about smell.

I have shown high concern about Ceddanne's offense and still worry. He's shown decent growth form his first 2 partial seasons, but on some of the stats I used, he was at historical lows, so improvement should be viewed within that context. As MVP pointed out, he moved from bottom of the barrell to bottom 2%, so it's not really celebration time. He swings at bad pitches, and sometimes he hits them pretty well. He needs to improve more on offense to not be viewed and a minus in the line-up. Note: his OPS was very near the league norm in 2025. That's not bad, at his age.

You've been called out on the "all accounts" term before, yet you persist... 🤣

Peak prime: 27 Crochet & Bello 28 Slaten, Kelly & Oviedo 29 Watson, Moran & Hicks 30 Whitlock & Weissert Pre-prime: 24 Early & Harrison 23 Tolle Post prime: 36 Gray (aging pretty well, so far) 38 Chapman (aging very well, so far)

I do expect Gray to decline due to age, but I'm not so sure, because he should have decline 3-5 years ago, and he's had some of his best seasons at 31 and after: BWAR bests: 6.2 29 yrs old 5.6 33 yrs old 2023 5.4 at 25 2015 3.3 at 24 2014 3.1 at 31 2021 2.4 at 32 2022 1.8 at 34 2024 1.5 at 27 2017 1.4 at 35 2025 His worst 3 seasons were at 26, 28 & 30, which is normally considered prime. Note: His 1.4 season in 2025 ties his rookie season in 2013 for 4th/5th worst in 13 seasons. (Kinda middle third)

Not all. Not even close to all.

Some folks trust to reason Others trust to might I don't trust to nothing But I know it come out right Say it once again now Oh, I hope you understand When it's done and over Lord, a man is just a man

Gets us closer, but I think not. I'd like us more than NYY but not TOR, yet.

To NYM: Duran To HOU: Pederson To BOS: Paredes & Baty

BTV accepts: Duran, Yoshida, Sandlin & $10M (saves the Sox over $15M AAV) for Brett Baty (pre arb) We could then afford E Suarez. 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Contreras 1B 3. L Abreu RF 4. R Suarez DH 5. L Baty 3B 6. R Story SS 7. L Mayer/ R Romy 2B 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela CF