moonslav59

No, there are never any guarantees, but having a top 3 favorite 2-3 years out of 10 increases the odds of a ring. I know Kimmi and others disagree, but I like our chances of winning a ring better being a top 3 contender 3 times every 10 years than a top 4-6 contender 4-5 times every 10 years.

AP has Utah 5th. I'd put OK there. Florida 7th is ahead of one-loss Baylor and Alabama (same losses as Fla.) Not sure why Oregon is ahead of ND, but no big deal. Coaches poll is the same.

Yes, I'm assuming we don't sign anyone to much more than min salary, and we lose JBJ's $10-11M estimate and about $9-10M of Betts's pro-rated contract (1/3 of $28-30M). That would be enough to put us comfortably under.

Trading JBJ this winter and Betts at the deadline gets us under.

The best remedy is to trade him.

This is going to burst Jacko's bubble. The results were positive with the starter getting the go-ahead to immediately start throwing with an eye on participating in spring training.

"Three layers?" 2000-2009- 2 rings in 6 playoff runs 2010-2019- 2 rings in 4 playoff runs

MLBTR reports... While Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia intends to resume his career in 2020 after multiple knee surgeries, “the most optimistic projection for Pedroia would be playing for the Sox in late May or June,” Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe hears from multiple sources. Pedroia has appeared in only nine games over the last two seasons, and with so much uncertainty around his availability, second base is a clear area of need for the team this winter. Both Abraham and WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford were surprised by Boston’s decision to waive left-hander Brian Johnson earlier this week, though Johnson remained with the Red Sox (and outrighted off the 40-man roster) after going unclaimed. Johnson is also out of minor league options, which dimmed his value to other teams, Abraham hears from an evaluator. The timing of the move may have been tactical on the club’s part, Bradford notes, as Johnson was waived not long after other teams had set their 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and thus didn’t have the space to spare on a southpaw who pitched well in 2017-18 before struggling last year. The transaction caught Johnson himself by surprise, as he told Bradford, though “in the grand scheme of things I’m just not on the 40-man. My goals don’t change. I have the same goal going into spring training, fighting for a job either in the bullpen or starting.”

We did trade Agon (with CC and Beckett) for basically De la Rosa & Webster. BTW, if fans were upset, they didn't stay mad for long. We won a ring the very next year.

David Wells for George Kottarus More recently..., Jake Peavy for Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree Felix Doubront for Marco Hernandez I'm sure there are others.

TB had no untouchables for a reason- money. Bloom may not treat Devers the same as Longoria.

It looks that way.I just really hate Ohio State. I think LSU had a tougher schedule, but OSU deserves to be the fave. LSU-Clemson could be a great one.

Some here seems to be okay with getting close every year without ever winning over winning it all but not getting close in between. I lived that for over 3 decades. I like the rings, even if it means sucking a few years here and there, and besides, we should never really suck bad as long as we keep spending neat the Lux line.

Seems like a lot of options. If we take some salary back, maybe we could get a better prospect. Here are the "trade values" of some players that might be part of a possible trade: Prospects: $Millions/Position/Player 50.6 C Ruiz 50.1 OF Verdugo 43.3 C Smith (MLB last year) 21.9 2B Downs 19.9 SP Gonsolin (MLB last year) 18.3 SP J Gray Salary returned? -41.3 OF Pollock (maybe, if we get them to take Price or Eovaldi) ($51M/3- Lux Tax 12.0) 12.7 OF Pederson (~$9M arb/1- Lux Tax- 9.0) 12.2 SP Maeda ($12.5M/4- Lux Tax 3.125) -4.9 RP Jansen ($38M/2- Lux Tax 16.0) -12.7 RP Joe Kelly ($17.7/2- Lux Tax 8.3)

Looks like Ohio State and LSU are in- win or lose, next week. Clemson might be in, if they lose, but with a weaker schedule than Baylor & Oklahoma, it's hard to argue they stay home. Clemson could lose and still get tghe 4th slot, if Georgia loses to LSU. Georgia losing really opens things up. The Baylor-Oklahoma winner would surely take their spot, but if Georgia and Clemson lose, does a winning Utah squeeze in over Clemson?

At times, even the Dodgers trade off vets for prospects- something some Sox fans seem firmly against, in theory.

The Sox are 29th and less than 1/3 the total value of the Rays or Padres. 11 teams have double our value. (The Cubs are 28th.) So much for the mantra, "We will rebuild the farm in no time."

I agree, but I hope, unlike the Dodgers, we win ring.

The extension was not part of the trade. I still love the trade, now, because we won a ring. Sure, I wish we still had Moncada & Kopech, but a ring is a ring.

I'm not sure it was even a choice, at the time. We needed Beni for the "window." It's interesting to see that Moncada + Kopech have a "trade value" of over $150M. One wonders what sort of numbers these two will put up, but I loved the trade, and still do. After all, we got... Chris Freakin' Sale!

Should be a fun playoff, this year.

Here's how I see the top 15 going into the final week: 1. Ohio St. 12-0 2. LSU 12-0 3. Clemson 12-0 4. Georgia 11-1 5. Oklahoma 11-1 6. Utah 11-1 7. Baylor 11-1 8. Alabama 10-2 9. Penn St. 10-2 10. Florida 10-2 11. Wisconsin 10-2 12. Auburn 9-3 13. Notre Dame 10-2 14. Oregon 10-2 15. Memphis 11-1 Next week: Georgia vs LSU (If LSU wins, Oklahoma can squeeze in. LSU should be in, even if they lose.) Ohio St. vs Wisconsin (OSU is in- win or lose.) Virginia vs Clemson (Clemson might be squeezed out with a loss.) Oklahoma vs Baylor (The winner of OKL v Baylor could make it if Clemson loses and will make it if DA loses.) Utah vs Oregon (I can't see Utah making it, even if GA and OK lose.) Memphis vs Cincy (No chance- just playing for a better bowl.)

Glad to see Alabama out of the playoffs, for once!

This Alabama-Auburn game is a classic! The rest of today was a bit of a drag.

At least there's college football to watch while we wait for some fresh, hot stove news.