moonslav59

To me, the mindset changed before 2019. They clearly chose to extend Sale & Nate, but were looking to trade Betts mid season '19. Not only did they let Kimbrel & Kelly walk, they did nothing to replace them, even with cheap arms. (They did bring back Pearce, too.) It all started before DD left, and IMO, that was a part of why he left. This may not fit the narrative that DD was able to convince JH to spend, and that he alone could have kept the ball rolling, but there is ample evidence the change began after we won in 2018, not after 2019.

It was a QO, right? Hey, the team was thinking of trading Skubal, so I doubt it's about keeping 1 year players.

Contreras looked okay at 1B. He's way better than Casas, on D. 2025 DRS at 1B: -2 Contreras -9 Red Sox We got better at 1B and likely WAY WORSE at 3B. If Mayer/Romy play 2B they should be better than the -9 DRS the Sox had at 2B in 2025 (mostly due to Campbell's awful D.)

Bichette also does not give us the power we need, but he's close to Bregman in that area. To me, the best option is a 3Bman, and Paredes jumps out as a player about to bust out while stuck on a team with 5 infielders and a guy they want to DH FT (Alvarez.) After watching Altuve in the OF, he is not being slotted there, this season. Paredes is worth more than the $12M BTV gives him, but he won't cost us a top 3 or 4 prospect. (No Tolle- No Early- probably no Weatherspoon.) Get it done, Brez! I won't be happy with Vientos, but he won't cost much in return and offers some hope at filling the power void. 2B is an option, too, but 3B works better, as Mayer and Romy can platoon 2B better than 3B.

I will say to Max: while saying the pitching was a big part of our nice season, who put the staff together, including the depth to handle Houck sucking plus about 5 SP'ers going on the IL for all or most of the season?

Yep. Max is not alone.

Now, the day we signed Pablito and HRam, that had a different feel, but I still had the thought that we spent a ton and got a couple nice bats.

I'm thrilled! Seriously. I am!

Indeed. It almost seemed unfair.

Exactly- typical and no different than many others.

I've been talking Polanco and Suarez all winter long.

When we signed Price, I thought "DAMN! That's a huge overpay, but wow, we got one of the best pitchers in MLB. Okay with me." A few years later we called him "half-Priced."

Ryan Weathers to NYY for 4 prospects.

BTV accepts this. Do you? Harrison, Wong & DHam for G Torres (1yr) Jake Rogers (1 yr catcher) and Comp BAL pick Rd B

Bichette just does not seem like "THE GUY" to go mega long and mega large on. Glad he's going to the NL. Looks like Tucker is close to going to the Mets at $50M AAV

I'm so glad someone else got Arenado. I'd prefer him to DHam, but only if STL pais $40M out of $42M, or took Masa and his $36M owed.

All we know for sure is that our offer wasn't good enough for some reason or reasons. It looks like it was less money, but still a big overpay. It looks like it was for the same amount of years- one to two too many. It's looks like it had more or longer deferred money, that may have been a factor. It looks like we would not include a no trade clause, which may have been a factor. We made an offer, and I doubt any further discussion would have caused Brez, JH & Co to give $10M more, or shorter or less deferred money or give in on the no trade clause. The history is we just don't ever come back with anything substantially more than the last or second to last offer given. I thought $165M/5 was way more than fair, both in terms of money and years. That was already too much and too long, but had he said yes, I'd have been fine with it and accepted that you have to overpay to get what you need. That doesn't mean there is no stopping point, and since I feel $165M was already past the stopping point, I'm not pissed off he's a Cub, now. That's not saying I feel the same about every FA negotiation we've had and will have. Of the one's I've seen signed so far, I think I'd have give slightly more for Alonso, but that was close to Breggie overpay limits, IMO. I'd have given more to Polanco, for sure, but with fingers and toes crossed and contorted. I'm not sure about $65M/4 for Okamoto, but if we end up with nothing, I'd look back and wonder more. I kinda liked the idea of Merrill Kelly on a 2 year deal, but I think he wanted back to AZ ($20M x 2.) I see Suarez as an option- not Bichette. I see trades as an option and really like Paredes. BTV says he's worth 12, but I think he's more like 30. They say Duran is worth 46, but I'm thinking maybe 40. I'd trade Duran (46) for Paredes (12) plus Brian King (7) but BTV rejects it. They called Duran for Paredes, King and Janek (9 a catcher prospect) a "major overpay" but accepted it.

Some felt that wasn't really Bloom's doing, anyway.

I'd offer Duran for Paredes, King & Janek. (Maybe sub Sousa for King. Maybe drop Janek.)

I'm so glad someone else got Arenado. I'd prefer him to DHam, but only if STL pais $40M out of $42M, or took Masa and his $36M owed.

Agreed, but unlike the other top 3 RP'ers in the Sox pen, SD does not have good splits, career: .555 v RHB .751 v LHB I think we can just have Crawford, Harrison and or Sandoval move to the pen and fill this need, especially if it means we have more resources to spend on a big bat and 3Bman, or even a SP2.

Well said. Now, "Opts out" are bad words.

The Price and JD signings were huge, and both did well to very well as long as DD was with BOS. No doubt there was a shift. We went from letting Lester bolt, because he was over 30, but then paid Price way more than anyone else to that date. He made more than Pablo + HRam in total dollars. The thing is, that was about it. We seem to remember that he spent money, left and right on free agents. He really did not. I know Nate counts as a FA signing, although I view it as an extension, but even counting it as a FA signing during his last year w BOS, Nate was just the 11th highest paid FA in Sox history. Guess who the next ranked one is? Mitch Moreland at #34 at just $13M/2 in 2018! (These FA signings don't count Dice-K, Rusney or Moncada.) Price was and still is #1 in total dollars given. JD was 6th. DD's main reason for success, IMO, was his trade success, and some of his additions were high-salaried. The guy rarely missed on his trades, and when he did, they were minor misses like Thornburg and some other RP'er I forgot. His budgets got high due in large part to players from trades and rising arb costs.

Some rigidity has changed since the Devers extension. Many said they only extended him because of the backlash after losing Betts and Bogey. True or not, that should not matter. We did it, and that marked a change. The Devers "Dump" as I call it, and it was more than just a salary dump- I know that- kinda undid that, but they did sign a player to $313M/10, when the previous record was $217M/7 (for Price, who we also dumped... hmmm...) Another seemingly rigid undoing cam with long extensions given to pre-arb young players, so maybe we would not see so many stars bolting to free agency in their prime year. To me, this is a huge change in philosophy that has brightened our future and long term future. That brightness does not shine away some of our dark philosophies and choices made, and I'm not so sure some of our choices have been as bad as they seem to be everytime a FA "of interest" is grossly overpaid by some other team. We need only look at our largest contracts given out to see how many have been clear success stories. I hate seeing us lose Bregman. I think he made a big and positive difference to the team. He helped other players get better and improve their approaches to the game. In some ways, that's priceless. I get it. We have a big hole to fill, and we still haven't filled the Devers canyon. I think Contreras fills the loss of Bregman's bat, but we still need a 3Bman and the power bat we lost with Devers. I realize winning teams can be constructed in various way, but our ring seasons have pretty much followed two major events: 1. Our top SP'ers stayed relatively healthy, and we had two aces or near ace types. 2004: Pedro & Schilling 2007: Beckett & Schilling 2013: Lester & Lackey 2018: Sale & Price (+ Porcello coming off a Cy Young win) 2. We had 2 big power bats or several 25+ HR types. 2004: Manny 43/ Papi 41 (4 others w 17+) 2007: Papi 35/ Manny 20 + Lowell 21 2013: Papi 30/ Napoli 23 + Middy 17 in 94 gms (Okay, this is pushing it) 2018: JD 43/Betts 32 (Bogey 23 + Devers 21) Looking at 2016, we might have 1 ace and 1 near ace, but we have no power bat projected to hit 30+ HRs. We may end up with nobody at 25+.

And not only 2 (or 3) years vs 5, but also $23-27M vs whatever you want to call what Breggie got ($32-35M.) I hate the big drop in D. I hate the loss of Bregman's clubhouse leadership and influence on young players, but how high is too high? If CHC paid him $200M/5, we'd have people saying why not $205M/5 and "it's just $1M more a year!"