moonslav59

Look how often the whole Betts situation was "reported." The narrative changed several times, and did just recently, once again. Why should I believe accounts, even if it looks like "all accounts."

Agreed. We will not be adding 2 infielders, unless mayer is traded, and that's not happening either. My point was on adding Paredes and Suarez. Even then, if an OF'er was traded for Paredes, Suarez would DH, Paredes at 3B and Mayer at 2B (or Mayer 3B/Paredes 2B.)

I'm really not sure what to think on Shaw and Baty.

They said this was the only time they ever chose the later date. They wanted a weekday.

Same ole - same ole rag.

No. See how easy it is to actually answer.

The idea is that we if we could get to even on offense - not "losses"- maybe the pitching boosts us high enough.

BTV has Mayer worth more, but I disagree with that. 0.001% chance we get him, but maybe somebody is out there we don't know about. I used to think KMarte was the only solution.

The opt out made the no trade clause less important, last year. I happen to think it was an essential aspect of Breggie's demands. I could be wrong. If we could never give that to him, then the rest is kinda moot. (It still matters, if Brez is a clown, and it could matter the next close talks we are in, but in this case, Breggie was a goner, when we said no to the no trade clause.) The same might be said about the deferred money. That might have been an unmovable object on JH's demand. Maybe not.

I'm deeply concerned about our offense, but I also think we should not undersell the fact that teams can win in a variety of ways, and we greatly improved our rotation. I know some think rotations are over-rated, and maybe I am one who thinks they are worth more than they really are. While Contreras is certainly no Big Papi or Manny or even JD or Devers, he is a decent offensive player. While he's a little older than Breggie, he's done way better in the last 3-4 years than Bregman, and yet all we hear about is losing Bregman, how we lost Bregman and Willson is hardly mentioned. Last 3 years: .817 Contreras (127 OPS+)/ .796 Bregman(121)/ .827 Alonso (130) Last 2 years: .813 Contreras (129 OPS+)/.791 Bregman (121)/ .830 Alonso (133) Of course, I'd rather have Alonso than Willson, but he's still pretty good, but you hardly ever talk about him, unless we point it out to you. He's better than Abreu and Casas, who you mentioned. Duran has better numbers, too. No, we don't have the bat to protect Anthony. We didn't last year, and he did okay. Don't say Breggie protected him, because Willson is close enough to Breggie. We agree we need a bat. We need a 2B/3Bman, too. This one is cheaper, and so this is the one we fill before day one, IMO.

Exactly, and if we assume the Sox model of not budging from their top offer was in play, we were likely never going to get Breggie as long as the Cubs offered what Brez was not allowed to offer and never would have been, even if he did everything right. Bloom got serious grief for bidding against himself on Masa. It's not always easy to know when that is happening. In hindsight, we all think, how can you not have known. Now, in hindsight, we are saying he should have known it was not a csae of bidding against himself.

Assuming all accounts are 100% accurate, my point is that as long as Brez was not allowed to budge on the no trade clause, any "botching" didn't matter- this time, but would still be concerning. Maybe the no trade clause could have been overlooked by Breggie, if he had felt respected, and Brez gave back some on the deferred money, but if Brez has no leeway on that, I come to the same "the botching didn't matter in this case," because the Cubs would have gotten him no matter what, and again, I'd still be concerned about Brez's techniques interfering with future signings, especially those I think are worth overpaying for. I am fully open to the idea Brez made some mistakes on this and likely several other talks. IMO, we were never going to give what the Cubs gave, and that the reasons were not of Brez's choices. That does not put him above criticism for things he did wrong, but I don't think Breggie was going to be a Sox, as long as that Cubs offer was out there.

I'm thinking it very likely happened. I wonder if it mattered.

While I see no indication the Twins might part with Keaschall, would he fit the bill? (We can't trade Mayer for him, unless we later trade an OF'er for a 3Bman like Paredes.) To me, Keaschall and Paredes would put us top 3, even if we lost Mayer plus an OF'er or Tolle.

Would Paredes (2B) and Suarez (3B) be enough? I know that's not happening, but... (Mayer would be in AAA.)

To be honest, I don't know much about other team's players, except by looking at stats and BTV values, years of control and AAV. Shaw looks very promising and is just 24. I think he has 5 years of control. Gotta love that, as long as he's good. We thought Jeter Downs might/would be good. We thought Grissom might/would be good. Baty has 4 years of control. I'd rather have a RHB, but he shows promise, too I'm pretty big on Tolle, and I'd still prefer to trade an OF'er for an infielder, but I'd probably do it, if I felt either of these two was going be valuable.

Just don't tell Fred we signed someone else's UT guy.

or if it might not be true.

While I do think it matters if a GM is turning off players to the point where they sign somewhere else out of disgust, uneasiness or because they feel like the other team appreciates them more, and maybe Brez caused some of this to happen. Maybe it influenced Breggie's choice- maybe it didn't. If it did, then "by all accounts he botched the talks" has merit. To me, Bregman did not fill the "big bat" need, but he's certainly better than DHam in the line-up. Contreras is better than Toro, but he did not fill the big bat need, either. We still need a big bat. We still need a 2B/3Bman. We will likely just get one- the 2B/3Bman. Two possible choices might be: Paredes: .around .800 and maybe an average fielder at best. Donovan: around .775 and a decent defensive 2Bman who can play other infield positions decently. That being said, chance are Brez gets someone nobody mentioned.

MLB announced the trade deadline for 2026 will be Monday August 3rd at 5 pm ET. Expect no major Sox trades.

Only the post season numbers are shown, so...

What planet do you live on?

LOL. Granted, nobody hangs out on my corner, but I do listen to sports talk radio while staying at a Holiday Inn Express.

I think almost all of us agreed we needed one big bat. Some wanted two. I think we all wanted a solid and dependable #2 SP'er, and some felt Gray was close enough- some didn't. We needed a 2B/3Bman, and some felt we could get one and fill the one big bat at the same time with KMarte, Breggie or Bichette. Some felt players like B & B and Paredes don't quite reach big bat status, but they'd fill the 2B/3B need well enough. We did not fill the big bat need. Contreras was a nice get, but he barely replaced Bregman's bat. Nobody is replacing Devers' bat. We have yet to fill the 2B/3B gaping hole, and it looks like no big bat options are out there for those positions, right now. Paredes and E Suarez come closest, but each have downsides- like the ES defense at 3B and what we need to give up to get IP. Now, we added to the rotation in more ways than any of imagined. On paper, the massive gains are indisputable. Whether it is enough to offset the non gains at other positions of need remains to be seen. We still have an OF/DH logjam. That's going on 2-3 years. It makes little sense to hold such strength on the bench, when you have such a glaring problem at 2B/3B. We also have added strength at SP'er depth, which is never a bad thing. It's hard to predict if we need that much, and that area also seems like we could spare one piece to give up to add a 2B/3B piece. Let's see what Brez still has in him. He's been a wheeler and dealer, recently.

Can't argue with that. The same could be said about every team's top 2 players, except maybe the Dodgers. Their 3rd and 4th best players are better than most teams' 1-2's.