moonslav59

I'm afraid they convinced themselves the money was spent on Anthony and Campbell.

I like OBP, a lot. I'd be fine with Donovan, but we'd still need a power bat, and at what position? OF is already a logjam +1. We just filled 1B. DH has the $18M man. We aren't adding a power bat catcher. It would have to be 3B, which means trading Mayer. That's not happening.

I'm afraid to say his name. Just mentioning him brings upon the RED WRATH.

I'm not sure what Anthony says matters, but the Sox do know how much Bregman helped other players be better and get better.

If Casas proves he's back, Masa's days are numbered. (They may be numbered even without Casas, if Campbell, Romy and others prove they are for real, or we don't trade an OF'er by the time the season starts.) I think we'll trade for Donovan and complete the Cardinal trifecta. Forget the Ray North: we have become the Cards East. He's a LHB with little power, but he gets on base and doesn't K much. I seriously doubt we add Donovan plus a 3Bman and leave Mayer on the farm. Could we add Suarez and Donovan, then trade Mayer and Duran for an ace? (Does CIN take Mayer, Rafaela/Duran and Crawford for Greene?) I think all of our OF'ers are worth more than Donovan, so maybe we still trade an OF'er for a #2 and something else for Donovan (or Vientos, Paredes or someone nobody has thought of yet.)

Yes, indeed. Price played 4 years, was traded, sat our the covid season, then retired after his 7 years ran out. Devers was promoted at age 20 and played with BOS into his 9th season, but was "dumped" shortly after the ink was dry on his 10 year mega-deal. The Bregman optout contract was done with a purpose, but I'm sure the Sox would not have minded had he stuck around. The deferred money made a difference. I'm curious if we seek out other highly deferred contracts. These three mega deals kinda dwarf the next tier of deals the Sox have signed since the Manny contract signed before JH's era began. There has also been a noticeable difference between FA contracts and extensions signed. FAs since Manny's $160M/8 deal in 2001: $142/7 Crawford (also dumped not too long after signing) A big contract back in 2011 $140M/6 Story (kinda midlevel for '22) $110M/5 JD Martinez (kinda big for a DH) $95M/5 Pablito & $88M/4 HRam in 2015 $90M/5 Yoshida in 2023 (w $10M fee) $83M/5 Lackey in 2010 (with the famous add on year) $73M/7 Rusney Castillo in 2014 (KaPOW!) $70M/5 Drew in 2007 (borderline midlevel at the time) $68M/4 Nate in 2019 (more like an extension coupled with Sale's extension was the end of big spending for a long time.) $52M/6 Dice K (plus massive fee in 2007) The next tier was a big drop to Renteria at $40M/4- talk about a quick dump! ___________________ Extensions: $314M/10 Devers $154M/7 AGon 2011 $145M/6 Sale $120M/6 Bogey 2020 (opted out) $110M/8 Pedroia in 2014 $68M/4 Beckett 2011 (was traded afterwards) $52M/4 Papi in 2007 $41M/4 Youk 2009 $41M/6 2009 Pedroia $38M/3 Lowell 2008 $30M/3 Beckett 2007 $30M/4 Buchholz 2012 $30M/5 Lester 2009 __________________ Arb/pre-arb extensions: $130M/8 Anthony 2026 $60M/8 Campbell 2025 $55M/6 Bello 2024 $50M/8 Rafaela 2024 $19M/4 Whitlock 2023

No, even when DD had money to spend, he traded away a lot of what was thought to be quality assets. While I agree JH has tightened the strings, that does not mean Brez does not know what he's doing or what "the plan" is. The plan is obvious: try to win without any long term deals given to anyone over 29 years old. Spend to near the tax line. Don't trade any top 3 prospects. You can hate that plan, but it is a clear one.

I just can't see KC being on the 26 with just a platoon role, so something would have to happen. It seems a waste to have Masa and Casas on the 26 at the same time, unless Contreras is on the IL. Wong and Romy will take up two of the 4 bench slots, so there will be room for 2 from these three: Casas or Masa (DH) Campbell, Sogard or Eaton

I predict, at some point, this season, he will say, "See, I told you ____ would happen," despite never making any tangible predictions.

It's been over 80 all week, here. 86, today.

Agreed, but a short-side platoon at DH or OF is not ideal, either. He should play FT, but he has to show he can before we trade away someone to make room for him. Right now, his best spot looks to be DH or LF, and we already have 4 OF'ers and an $18M a year DH, as well as Casas without another position. Something has to give. Even if we trade an OF'er, we still have 3 FT'ers. Maybe KC can platoon with Abreu, Duran and/or Masa/Casas, but that's just starting about 30% of all games. If he can prove he can hit, maybe we trade him of someone else to make room for him.

I think they do, and are actually pretty good at building up a formidable 40 man roster and farm on a restricted budget. Brez has made some major gambles that did not pay off- most notably the Sale trade and Buehler signing, but he's done a lot of savvy moves. (To me, the Priester deal is still pending.) I was very bummed, last winter when "all we did" was sign Chapman & Wilson for the pen, yet our pen was a major part of us making the playoffs. The Crochet deal and extension looks to outshine the Sale deal and more so with the extension part. Locking up 4 kids, long term is something we haven't seen much of, and I'm glad we joined that line of thinking. Brez has almost totally remade the roster and farm in just a couple short years. There are only 13 players on the 40 man roster that were on it, when Bloom left. (Yes, some were in the system, but still- many more of those 27 were added by Brez.) 7 of the top 10 prospects are Brez adds. 11 of the top 20 are, too. I'd put Watson, Delzine, Ramos & Rivas above Cespedes, Bleis and Castro, making my top 21 with 14 Brez prospects. It's been a stunning turnover without calling it a rebuild.

I was a big Cespedes fan, but he has fallen a lot, and with reason. I actually think he, Bleis and Castro are over-rated, now.

Nice breakdown on these three interesting and exciting prospects. I think the Sox drop in farm rankings will be short-lived.

But I love spaghetti!

If there was, maybe Devers is still here.

It does show the actual potential of this roster as a whole. There is not much flash, but there is a large quantity of good to very good talent and potential.

The Casas and Campbell questions are among the most intriguing and perhaps meaningful questions we have, besides who plays 3B. Apparently Campbell has bulked up and is ready to explode on the scene. The silence on Casas is deafening. I'm thinking May 1st might be too wishful. With Contreras at 1B and Masa's contract being what it is, giving him a long look to start the season makes the Casas wait not so urgent. I am very far from giving up on Casas, and we should not trade him, right now. I still think the guy can hit over .825 and hit 30+ bombs a year. What's not to like about 30+ bombs and a .350 OBP? (Okay, but we can ignore his horrific defense by DH'ing him.)

Indeed, and many have perfected the art of moving back and forth, yearly. I hope to retire, soon and plan on summering in Maine and wintering somewhere with very mild or short winters. Maybe NC, Georgia, Northern Florida or the like.

Yes, I understood your point and the context. To go further, the one who never predicts anything, very often claims he was right on open-ended non predictions.

The best players available as FA or Trades -in terms of helping the Sox roster: 1. Tucker (We could trade 2 OF'ers for 2B/3B and SP2) 2. KMarte (Trade) T3. Bregman or Bichette 5. Okamoto 6. E Suarez 7. Joe Ryan (Trade) 8. Paredes (Trade) T9. F Valdez or Ranger Suarez T11. T Imai or Lodolo (Trade) T13. Donovan (Trade) G Torres (Trade) or Hoerner (Trade) 16. Seager (Trade) T17.. Vientos (Trade) or J Jung (Trade) T19. Ragans (Trade) Gore (Trade) Bubic (Trade) Alcantara (Trade) S Imanaga, S Bassitt, N Martinez T26. Alcantara (Trade) P Lopez (Trade) L Castillo (Trade) L Giolito, Z Littell, S Dominguez 32. Realmuto (borderline) I'm not interested in these highly rated players: Gallen or Bellinger (I would not trade 2 OF'ers, so we could get him.)

If we do nothing else, this winter, maybe this is the set up: 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Story SS 3. L Duran DH 4. R Contreras 1B 5. L Abreu RF 6. R Romy 2B (S Sogard) 7. R Narvaez C 8. L Mayer 3B (R Eaton/ S Sogard) 9. R Rafaela CF Bench: Wong, Yoshida, Sogard/Eaton, Campbell) SP: Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo (Tolle/Early) RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Crawford, Harrison, Weissert, Kelly, Hicks/Watson

They even have a tunnel under the city, so people can walk around without ever going outside! The city is growing a lot. It's amazing how people flock to an unlivable place.

Of course all that won't happen at once, but none are outlandish, and some will do better. This is expecting good results from all key players- not great- but all decent to good.

GMs have to try and build the best teams they can on paper, and projecting production plays into that task heavily. Projecting health is not easy and often domms a GM, and a team, but some players are clearly more likely to get hurt than others. Age progression and regression is just one aspect of projection outcomes. To me, the age thing is working in the Sox favor, as we have very few key players past prime. Only Chapman and Gray are significantly past prime, and bot have key roles, but the rest of the 24 players on the 26 are all close enough to prime to not expect major regressions. Most of our key players are on the upswing or in peak prime. That might be the best hope we have for 2026. It's super hard to project players like Mayer, Campbell, Early, Tolle and Anthony. It's not much easier figuring out how well Narvaez, Romy and Rafaela will do. Story's health is a worry, but he, Duran, Abreu, Contreras, Crochet and Gray seem like the only players we can reasonably guess how well they will do. I get the argument that we lack true major stars, beyond Crochet and maybe Chapman, but teams can win with balance, too.