moonslav59

I forgot about the 5 games he managed that year. I was thinking of the 60's.

The only way would have been to not have almost all of these players: 5.5 Moreland Fister Boyer Not add (pro-rated deals): Nunez Reed Davis Maybe trade or DFA: $6.5M Young $2M Abad $2M Holt

If you were here for Pesky, then what about Johnson?

There's probably 20+ teams that just flat out would not pay anyone that salary. His luxury number of $25M is less than the actual, so that adds value to the top spending teams straddling the limit year after year. I'd say maybe 4-6 teams might get serious.

They could trade for an arb player and flip them immediately or after 1-2 years, depending on how much they want to compete now. A three team trade could also work.

It might bump our power up a little, but if the guy hits .211, it's not an upgrade over Beni.

1) It is a 3-4 year window not 2. 2) Firing JF was essential, and that meant losing the coaches. It's not rocket science. 3) We had a high priority to re-set the luxury tax, so the winter spending budget was not "huge". Other than getting all 3 points wrong, I kind of liked Larry's assessment.

If we signed EE, we'd probably have ended up over the luxury limit, and/or we'd not have gotten Fister, Moreland, Nunez, Reed and Davis. No re-set.

I almost put Thompson #15. As you can see, I count speculative value more than soxprospects.com and others.

My top Sox prospect list: 1. Chavis 2. Mata 3. Groome 4. Flores 5. Ockimey 6. Houck 7. Scherff 8. Brannen 9. Beeks 10. Maddox 11. Travis 12. Chatham 13. Shawaryn 14. D Diaz 15. Raudes Sleeper: Jake Cosart (45th on soxprospects.com)

Yea, I didn't take it that way. I was just saying I'd say no.

I hope the Sox don't do that deal. 30 HRs and 59 RBI. .211 BA (career .222) .315 OBP (career .329)

The cost of closers sky-rocketed right after we traded for Kimbrel. I've always loved Kimbrel, and I thought he'd remain a top 3 closer all 3 years, but I thought the overpay was too much. fangraph's WAR: 2016: 1.2 ($9.6M fangraphs value) 2017: 3.3 ($26.1M) 2018: tba

I know ERod is hurt and Price is questionable, but it seems weird that last year we didn't need pitching, but this year we do. Last winter Pom was questionable and Wright was injured.

Lots of Sox players on the list... 7 Betts 21 Sale 26 Beni (41 Moncada) 45 Bogey 46 JBJ

I think they were gauging interest, perhaps for a winter deal. The salary issues with the Sox trying to reset their luxury tax kept them from making an offer this summer. I think other teams did not claim him, because they did not want the distraction or didn't want to put together a deal at that time. I find it hard to believe no team claimed him, because they were afraid Miami might just hand him over for nothing in return.

They'll still take the best offer, and that depends on how much one GM will give up. I don't think of him as a classic "salary dump", since Miami will get something nice. I've been saying all along, I do not think the return will be super great for Stanton, but it will be substantial. However, all it takes is two GMs who really want him to drive the price up to beyond "substantial".

Chavis got his first two starts at 1B- making one error. Owens didn't walk a batter in his last start! He did, hwever, let up 5 runs in 4 innings. Looks like it's time to non tender him. Travis is learning LF. Swihart is catching and has these numbers in 8 games: .417/.517/.500. Brentz hit 3 HRs in one Mexican Pacific League game.

Or maybe Caribou.

They couldn't guarantee him a slot in the rotation. A minor league offer would have been a slap in Hill's face. I also think they would not come close to the money he ended up getting.

You just said "passes can be given" and other certain deals can be "pinned" on him. I'm all for giving all praise and criticism on the GM. I'm okay with putting it all on the organization as a whole. I just find the splitting of the blame speculative and ultimately non-prove-able.

I had a feeling they'd look to trade (not dump) Gordon. Prada is a straight dump. If we took him with Stanton, we might get by without having to part with one more of our top young prospects. I'm not sure we can absorb his salary though.

Best: 1. Tito 2. Dick Williams 3. Bill Carrigan 4. Jimmy Collins 5. jimmy Williams (McNamara/Kennedy/Cronin) Worst (My lifetime) 1. Joe Kerrigan (He once wanted Manny to change his swing.) 2. Bobby V. 3. Butch Hobson 4. D Johnson (Hated Bill Lee- I mean, come on!) 5. Joe Morgan (John Farrell)

Our highest picks those years: 20th Vitek 2010 (Theo) 19th Barnes, 26th Swhart 2011 (Theo) 24th Marrero 2012 (Ben) 7th TBall 2013 26th Chavis 2014, 33 Kopech 7th Beni 2015 (Ben)

His biggest signings were a bust. The ones that worked worked for only one year (2013 & Vic, Naps, Dempster). He did have a few signings that worked out well, but we remember the big busts more (and for good reason, since they are still killing us). Ben inherited a 3rd place team with a relatively weak farm and a roster and budget with these guys on it: (JD Drew, Papelbon, VTek and Wake all becoming FAs or retiring) Crawford 6 years x $21M+ Beckett $17M x 3 Dice-K $10.3M/1 Youk $12.2M/1 Jenks $6M/1 His significant moves: The good... Resigned Andrew Miller after 8.54 & 5.54 ERA seasons and moved him to strictly the pen. Traded Lowrie & Weiland for Melancon Signed Cody Ross Signed Rich Hill Podsednik for cash Breslow for Albers & Podsednik Wright for Lars Andeson Webster & de la Rosa for AGon, CC, Beckett & Punto Signed Jonny Gomes Signed Victorino Signed Koji Uehara Signed Napoli (the first time) Signed Breslow Mike Carp for cash ERod for 2 months of Miller Robbie Ross for Ranaudo Signed Badenhop Sandy Leon for cash de Aza & cash for Gunkel The so-so Clay Mortensen for Scutaro Signed Dempster Signed Stephen Drew (the first time) Peavy for Iggy & Montas Hembree & Escobar for Peavy Marco Hernandez for Doubront Miley for DLR & Webster Hanigan for Middy The ????? 1 yr 2 mos. Cespedes & draft pick for 2 mos. of Lester & Gomes Porcello for Cespedes & Alex Wilson Joe Kelly & Craig for Lackey The bad... Holt & Hanrahan for Melancon & scraps Signed Stephen Drew (the second time) Signed AJ Pierzynski Signed Mujica The ugly,,, Reddick for Bailey & Sweeney Signed Pablo Signed HRam Signed Masterson Int'l signings, drafted & signed: Beni Devers Moncada Kopech Espinoza Lin L Basabe L basabe J Guerra Chavis Maddox Travis Marrero B Johnson Taylor D Hernandez J Diaz Ockimey Mars J Haley R Castillo TBall T Stanki