moonslav59

I'm his biggest fan, but you are right. This year might tell us more, but there will always be a lingering concern.

For argument's sake, how would you keep Sale & Betts, reset the tax next year and be poised to keep Betts after his control years expire? Do you let Bogey go or trade JBJ? Any other ideas besides hoping Pedey retires?

So, I guess no reset.

He keeps harping on our least strong area. It's his only hope. Bull pen sucks. Sale is toast. Kimbrel was our MVP- we'll be crap without him. Eovaldi will be as crappy as when he was a Yankee. Betts & JD could never come near their 2018 numbers again. No Sox player, even the pre-prime players can get better.

I've posted the CERAs by pitcher-catcher match-ups, now here's the OPS against: This makes Vaz look worse than the ERA/CERA numbers look. Sale .561 Leon (1250 PAs) .616 Flowers (2227) .622 AJ Pier. (806) .632 Navarro (388) .643 Vaz (218) .680 Avila (449) .725 Phegley (363) (Swihart has 0 time with Sale.) (Some stark differentials.) Price .599 Avila (451) .616 Jaso (713) .634 JMolina (1878) .636 Leon (769) (.646 Swihart with just 48 PAs & 5.73 ERA) .661 Navvaro (542) .691 McCann (433) .705 Shoppach (705) .735 Vaz (1113) (Leon has 100 points on Vaz.) Porcello .731 Leon (1889) .735 Avila (2253) .737 Vaz (564) .774 Swihart (498) .779 Laid (1285) .831 Holaday (373) (It doesn't seem to matter as much with Porcello) ERod .662 Swihart (301) .677 Leon (415) .723 Vaz (1178) .778 Hanigan (221) Johnson .727 Leon 203 .759 Swihart 199 .888 Vaz 153 Velazquez .660 Leon 130 .794 Swihart 87 .796 Vaz 237 Kimbrel .495 Vaz 332 .499 Leon 306 .500 McCann 633 (.813 Swihart with just 25 PAs) (Pretty close) Joe Kelly .619 Vaz 409 .698 Swihart 288 .721 YMolina 688 .751 T Cruz 333 .761 Hanigan 403 .785 Leon 250 (Weird Leon dynamic.) Barnes .643 Vaz 417 .676 Leon 344 .861 Swihart 169 (Scary Swi numbers) Hembree .579 Swihart 97 .740 Leon 333 .843 Vaz 365 (Swi looks great here.) Workman .647 AJ Pier 182 (.670n Swihart with just 28 PAs) .708 Vaz 282 .814 Leon 135

Vaz doesn't call the pitches. I think it's more about comfort level and Leon being burnt out, physically.

Yes, I saw that, and it's been known the Sox "call the pitches" from the bench, so that's one reason I call it "staff handling" and not "pitch calling." Vaz has gotten better numbers with the same pitchers than Swihart, but admittedly Swihart's sample sizes are very small, except with pitchers like Johnson, Pom and Velazquez. "Weakest part of his game" may not mean weak, although weaker than hitting implies a net negative affect.

MLBTR... Machado will receive the $300MM on a fairly evenly spread basis, with the opt-out chance midway through the deal. There are some key elements of the deal still to be worked out, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Notably, the sides have yet to hammer out terms on trade protection.

Well, it was pretty far from the Cubs offer, so one can easily speculate, they knew the offer was not going to be enough all along. That doesn't mean they never wanted him back. They placed a value on him and wouldn't go higher. That's their M.O. with their own players. I'm not complaining. except for the initial botched offer.

Texas has high property and sales tax to make up for no income tax, but yes, playing in TX would be better, if only they'd offer big contracts.

lol!

Nobody knows, but even the $20M boost fell pretty short of the Cubs offer.

Super high taxes, though.

Expect dominoes to fall quickly.

$300M/10. So, are players really getting screwed?

Maybe, they knew that wouldn't get him, and it was just a PR stunt.

I wanted Lester back. I even wish we bid $1 more than the Cubs, after we traded him. I was just pointing out the context. As it turned out, Porcello has been pretty close to the dollar per performance as Lester, and Porcello's deal ends after 2019, while Lester has his advanced age years left.

I've always been high on Salazar, but he's more like Buch than Buch did. He's probably worth the gambe, though. I just do not want to see Leon catch more than 80 games, tops. I don't want to see Swihart catch more than 20 or 30, unless there's an injury. I'd lose on both counts by trading Vaz, but Salazar offers too much upside. I'd say yes.

Not true. I qualified my "optimistic" view. I agreed, we may see declines from Betts, JD & Moreland. I have agreed our pen is shaky and will likely need fixing in the summer. Keep dreaming of the Yankees of old and their 27 rings. Me, I'm in the modern age.

Yes, I forgot 1996. My bad. It doesn't change the trend. Besides, after this year, it's 5-5 over 40 years.

Assuming he's done before his contract ends, I still think restructuring his deal into a lifetime services contract would give him the money he's owed and lessen or eliminate the tax budget hit.

Lester was born in January of 1984. He turned 31 before his first FA year. The word was the Sox were avoiding any longer term deals for a SP'er over 30. They broke their rule with Price.

Last 40 years: 4 BOS 4 NYY Last 30 years: 4 BOS 4 NYY Last 20 years: 4 BOS 3 NYY Last 15 years 4 BOS 1 NYY I'm seeing a trend here.

Then why are so many fans upset we let Lester get away?

Cora rested our players often last year, but several of our best players missed time last year due to injury, or they weren't on the team for much of the year. Of course, we will have injuries this season, but there is a lot of potential for more and/or better production from many of our players on the roster right now. Games played in 2018: 3 Pedroia 50 Pearce 80 Vaz 121 Devers 136 Betts 136 Bogey 144 JBJ 148 Beni 12 Eovaldi 18 C Smith 20 Poyner 20 Wright 25 Thornburg 34 Brasier 43 Workman 23 GS ERod 27 GS Sale 30 GS Price