moonslav59

I don't agree so many want him to sell, but I guess a lot do. The grass is always greener is one explanation. Of course 100% would agree with this statement: "Henry sells the team to a better owner willing to spend way more on the team." I'm not convinced we get a better owner. I'm not totally convinced JH will never spend big again. I'm extremely thankful for JH doing what was needed to be done to get us a ring in 2004. The 2007 ring was aided by big spending. The 2013 ring was kind of a surprise as we had cut spending. 2018 was an all in, JH aided ring season, and the contracts signed kept us a top 3 spending team all the way through 2021. I think that 2019-2021 stretch jaded JH and made him hesitant to repeat mistakes made with so many large and long deals and younger players all reaching their big paydays in such a short period of time.

I don't think JH allows us to spend on Bregman & K Marte, unless we somehow dump some salary, like insisting AZ takes Hicks. The #2 SP could be cheap, like Lodolo or Ryan. You are probably right on Bregman getting $150-155M/5 not $170M. I think Okamoto is more in JH's price range, and if we get AZ to cut some of the cost, maybe we can swing this: Okamoto (give an extra year to bring down the AAV by $2-3M. ($15M x 6?) Marte with only an added cost of about $10-13M (they take Hicks w Mayer or Duran) Lodolo/Ryan/____? for Duran at no added cost on the budget.

Not saying I'm for this... Trade: Mayer, Crawford ($2.7M) and Hicks ($10.2M Tax hit) for K Marte $19.4M AAV (Adds $6M to tax budget.) Duran $7.7M for Lodolo $4.5M (Saves $3M) Sign Okamoto at $15M x 5 This keeps us near the tax line. 1. L Anthony LF 2. S K. Marte 2B 3. R Okamoto 3B 4. L Abreu RF 5. R Story SS 6. L Casas 1B 7. L Yoshida DH/ R Romy DH 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela CF SP: Crochet, Lodolo, Gray, Bello, Sandoval/Oviedo/Rookies RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Harrison, Dobbins, Kelly, Watson

Well, you broke apart my two trades, and the other one got us that #2. Basically, we trade Duran and Mayer plus some secondary pieces for a #2SP and a 2B/3Bman that doesn't cost as much as Bregman/Bichette.

I'd rather have Ryan.

Maybe the 3 options vs 1 option was the main reason.

5 years of K Marte for 6 years of Mayer and 5 years of Harrison. I would not trade 6 years of Mayer for 2 years of Polanco at $40M.

Bennett has 3 options left, so maybe this was the reason for the deal.

Good points. I’m still skeptical

Interesting trade. I hope it works out well

I'd say Whitlock is, too. Story and Masa are on the way down from peak prime. Chapman is way past ordinary prime. In terms of age, I'd say 28 is peak prime, so Romy is 28 & Crawford 29. Slaten, Narvarez & Abreu are close by age. So many of our best players are 2-4 years from peak prime: 26: Crochet, Bello, Abreu, Narvaez 25: Casas, Dobbins 24: Rafaela 23: Early, Tolle, Harrison 22: Mayer 21: Anthony

That's even more doubtful. "would be better" is not the same as "want the new owner to be..."

They are also shopping Teoscar.

Indeed, and through all the "ineptness," somehow they built up a top farm system that has created a 40 man roster loaded with so very many promising players under inexpensive team control for many years. Yes, other team have leapfrogged over our spending budget, in very recent year. (Some may not realize we were still a top 3 spending team in 2021, which is not ancient history.) Yes, we have avoided large and long FA contracts, but we have no avoided large and long extensions to younger players, which is actually a nice strategy. Yes, we sign a lot of 1-2 year deals, but at least we've jumped the AAVs from $10M/1 to $40M/1, $21M/1, $38M/1, $18M/1 and $13M/1. I do think we need to move outside the comfort zone and go a bit larger and a bit longer to fill a couple more big need areas out of these 3: 3B or 2B 1B SP2 One could be by trade.

Perhaps, but it would not be 100% agreement. We probably can't even get that number on saying the Crochet trade was great. LOL

Still unsigned: (my projection) Tucker ($440M/11) Bichette ($220M/8) Murakami ($200M/8) Bregman ($170M/6) F Valdez ($160M/5) Iami ($150M/6) Bellinger ($145M/5) Ra, Suarez ($120M/5) M King ($84M/4) Gallen ($80M/4) Okamoto & Grisham ($70M/4) E Suarez ($66M/3) Bassitt ($40M/2) Giolito & H-S Kim ($35M/2) Realmuto, N Martinez & Hearns ($30M/2) Littell ($25M/2) L Weaver, Fairbanks & S Dominguez ($20M/2) Big trade names: K Marte, Paredes, B Lowe, Donovan, Y Diaz, W Contreras, Lodolo, Ryan, Gore, Alcantara, P Lopez, L Castillo, M Keller and others.

He's got some nice upside, but so do others that won't cost picks.

The "full throttle" was so absurdly over-the-top and disingenuous that everything that comes after is doubted and should be. Plus, much of what they said after that has not come true. It's been a never-ending spiraling sham.

And while JH & Co. might view 5 years as large and LONG, it's not 6-10 years.

I agree. For all we know Anthony, Mayer and Casas could outshine most of the big bats signed this winter, and I'm talking just for 2026. Going forward, they might be the wiser bet to do better, but I still think Schwarber and Alonso have 2-3 big years in them and feel their 2-3 year numbers will eclipse lesser FAs signed and any in system players on the Sox, except maybe Anthony. We already got 300+ good PAs from Anthony, so if he gives us 650+ in 2026, it's a nice boost, but it's not a total boost. Signing Bichette would replace Bregman and maybe Ref's total PAs, and may not even match their combined production. I do like depth, especially with pitching, but trading Duran still leaves Campbell as depth and I know Brez & Co still see Masa as a LF option. (I'd prefer he stay an emergency option, but...) Masa in LF would have allowed Casas to DH, had we signed Alonso. Or, Casas at 1B and Schwarber at DH. In both cases, Duran was available to trade for a solid #2 (Ryan, Lodolo, Ragans, ___?) or a 2Bman (KMarte, BLowe + Y Diaz?) I'm not thrilled with the idea, but I think we'd have enough depth with Romy onboard, and if we wanted to, we could sign Ref for one more season. He loves Boston, and Boston loves him!

Of course, but that value is much more speculative. How many 23 year olds who have made it to the bigs last to 28. Then, how many of those do well. As a percentage of total players in those age groups, I wonder how the results look. Also, the thing about Polanco was the 2 year contract.

A healthy Ragans is worth 2 Durans, but...

Chances are we will have some injuries next year, so we can’t be counting on returning players as our saviors or to replace departing players. Yes, it’s just mid December but with reports about budget limits and no long term deals, it sure feels like another sham winter, to me. It can change but my hopes are low

Recent history was Crochet, Bregman, Chapman and a $21M and $18M/2 pitcher who failed.

Getting Greene would lessen the need for offense, maybe from 2 big bats to one. we both want the team to improve, and there are more than one way to do that