moonslav59

They could play him at 1B, but you are right, his value is more at 3B.

Don't start another 100 pages on Price choosing to retire!

Very true. There's no reason to expect or hope he retires, but then again, I felt the same about Dempster.

LOL. Dalbec is not good enough for anyone to start a shitstorm over. Also, two guys critical of trading too many prospects are suggesting trading Dalbec might be best.

Let's see how close my projections were to these: MLBTR Player My Projection 27.7 Betts $28M 11.0 JBJ $10M 9.5 ERod $9M 4.9 Beni $4M 3.4 Workman $3M 3.0 Barnes $3M 1.6 Hembree $2M 1.5 Wright $1M 0.7 Marco $1M (Note: This was one arb projection I made on 9/2/19. I may have had different numbers on other posts.)

So, assuming these projections are close enough, here's the 2020 Sox budget by tax dollars: Arb Estimates: About $72M 27.7 Betts 11.0 JBJ (Likely trade or non tender) 9.5 ERod 4.9 Beni 3.4 Workman 3.0 Barnes 3.0 Owings (Likely gone) 2.8 Leon (Likely gone or brought back for $1M) 1.6 Hembree (trade/non tender?) 1.5 Wright (trade/non tender?) 1.0 G Hernandez (Likely gone) 0.7 M Hernandez Red "Keepers"= ~$49M (w/ Leon at $1M= $50M) Total: ~$50M 6 arb players + maybe Leon Under Contract: 31.0 Price 25.6 Sale 22.0 JD (if does not opt out) 20.0 Bogey 17.0 Eovaldi 13.8 Pedey 4.5 Vazquez Total: $134M for 6 players under contract ($112M for 5 w/o JD) Arb+ Contract= $184M +$15 Player benefits= ~$199M for 12 players. +$8M Other 14 MLB players at min salary $207M for 26 players on MLB roster +$2M for 14 minor league players on 40 man roster $209M Total (The Luxury Tax line is $208M.) Without signing anyone, we can possibly and barely squeeze under the tax line.

Mueller is certainly one of my faves at 3B, along with Petrocelli & Beltre (too short-lived).

Really does suck. One moment in history whacks off 4 years.

What is the $38M number? No reset? $1M under the max line?

I'm not sure moving Devers is even being discussed, but the idea does have some merit. It's probably more likely we trade Dalbec, keep Devers at 3B and just sign a super cheap 1Bman to bridge us to the next serious ring attempt. I know Ockimey is a long shot, but he hits righties really well, and I'm done with Travis hopes.

It would only matter, if we try hard to win it all while we reset. (I can't see that being very realistic.)

Plus, many of our top farm prospects were injured or too far away from the bigs.

I've never been high on Chavis. I don't think his bat is good enough for 1B or OF, and his defense has always been his weak spot (that and Ks). I think his best shot is 2B and back up corner IF. Don't mess him up by making him learn OF. I could see 1B: Devers, 2B: Chavis, 3B: Dalbec, SS: Bogey. Maybe Devers plays 1B vs LHPs and 3B vs RHPs.

Oh, I agree. I find myself defending Ben often, but I try to always point out that he made some major blunders. (I try to avoid blaming those on LL, except the Bobby V choice.) I also think the way Ben left the farm is a major reason for DD's better record, and had Ben stayed, he'd have traded several prospects and had better success than those 4 years. A ring? Who knows? 3 division titles? Who knows? I think they both did a good job. Ben did not inherit the greatest farm, but he had a solid core of young studs at relatively low costs. I think his budget was tighter, too. DD was given more of a free reign until summer 2019.

He kept Devers & Beni (and DHern). Those two were right behind Moncada in our prospect rankings. Both were called up rather quickly, so that also affected our farm rankings. That being said, I think trading a couple dozen of our top prospects and keeping 2-3 of the top 25 is closer to "decimation" than a normal "harvest."

For a long time, I expected Devers to end up at 1B. I'm not so sure anymore. If I was thinking of moving him, I'd feel him out, first. If it looks like it might bother him (and nothing seems to bother this kid) I might keep him at 3B. I wouldn't mess with the Devers Mojo. notin's point about trading Dalbec makes sense, even though I really like the kid and think his bat will turn out better than Chavis (not saying much). 1Bmen are a dime a dozen, and hopefully we'll stop overpaying for mediocre 1Bmen FAs. Dalbec at 2B doesn't excite me, either. I do wonder what his trade value is. If we can't get much for him, I'd hold on and see what shakes out. I remember Bogey looking better at SS his 3rd year, then taking a step back, so maybe the Devers to 1B idea is not decided, yet.

So, basically, Theo & Ben planted a 3 year crop. What was planted for the next GM? Is there a future's market for this crop?

Wow, I'm really liking these farmer analogies!

So, to you, his biggest sin was extending Sale and re-signing Eovaldi?

To me, what we got in return is important but is a separate issue. Just because we get great returns for prospects traded does not change the fact that the farm was totally emptied (in my scenario). One can argue it was worth it, but the farm would still be empty.

Attendance went down about 100,000 this year, and the ring year, 2018, was down from 2017. (We also missed 2 home games for going to London.) Our attendance in 2012, 2014 and 2015 was nearly identical to 2013. Sox fans will support the team. Most tickets are bought way before the season starts or is half over. I'm not sure fans need to think we have a chance at a ring every year, but they want to see some sort of excitement (offense?) or a decent product, as long as there is a hope we are getting better. Seeing some fresh, young faces may not be all that bad. I'm also not so sure a JBJ-less Sox team will finish 20 out next year. Now, if we trade JD, and some pitchers have surgery, then yes-maybe. I may be different from most fans, but I'd rather see a shorter period of rebuilding, even if it means having an awful 2020 season. I don't want us to suck, but if we make some good trades for some top young talent, my optimism will overpower my dislike for seeing us lose a lot of games in 2020. If it takes 2 years to get back to a top 4-6 team, I'm okay with that, too. I do agree with you on the mediocrity thing. trying to stay mediocre, while rebuilding, might just extend the time it takes to get back to the top.

Well said. I will say, I do not think we should trade guys like Barnes and Beni, who just came off somewhat down years. If Barnes looks good to start 2020, maybe look to get something nice for him in July. Beni is under team control through 2022, so he's different, but I might still look to trade him next summer, if the offer fits our needs. Sell high candidates might be Walden & Taylor (still pre-arb), but I'm fine with keeping both for 2021 and beyond. Stretching out Pedey's deal might be a good idea, but if we want to start spending big after 2020, it might be best to just bite the bullet and get out from under his cost all at once- or renegotiate it after 2020.

Bill Mueller. What a fun guy to watch. (BTW, for those who just love hating on the "selfish" Manny, how about when Manny sat out the final game to make sure his teammate, Mueller, would win the batting title?)

I, for one, am fine with our approach. I may think DD went a bit too far, but he wanted to make sure we had a rock solid ring roster, and he got us there. I'm fine with a couple down years used as collateral. Just get us back to the top again in 3-4 years and keep bring a couple rings a decade and I'll accept anything in between.

For 2 years of control, I'm pretty certain we'd get top 20 or top 10- maybe a top 25 and a top 50.