moonslav59

Big bands often split the gate, maybe not 50-50, when they play at festivals with multiple big bands. If you guys want to nit-pick my choice of band, instead of the theory, then you're missing my point. I guess there's not much else to argue about these days.

Others had good years at his age, then returned to previous obscurity. I wish we had signed LoMo over Moreland, and I'd still be okay with signing him now, but unless we can find someone to take $7-9M of HRam's contract, it might be too costly.

Morrison has been one of baseball’s most formidable hitters. I'd like to sign LoMo, but he's only been "formidable" for 1 season and the last month of 2015.

His final resting spot might be DH, but with JD on the roster, he'll probably be traded, although we may have a 1B job open in 2 years

Buster Trollney

Move Devers to 1B/DH and dump HRam on someone?

I have no issue with JD seeking to make the most. Just because this off season is delayed doesn't mean JD is a jackass or greedy.

Mitch,Holt ,Abad,Young could absolutely be upgraded this offseason via trade or FA .JD is a DH here that's it .... This was in regards to signing and affording EE last winter and being able to reset the luxury tax at the same time.

It's not socialism. When the Who comes to play at a stadium, they get paid. If teh Who and Stones come for the same show, they split the gate.

Maybe we could have cut salary elsewhere... $6M Moreland and maybe... $10-12M HRam $3-6M Young $2M Holt $2M Abad $2M Ross (I know, hindsight is 20/20.)

You could predicate added revenue sharing by demanding a certain percent be spent on raising player salary budgets on the lower spending teams. Yes, owners might demand a hard cap, but poorer teams already get a lot of money through revenue sharing and in other ways. Right now, much of that goes right into the pockets of the owner, as does much of the revenue for richer teams. You can't blame any owner for wanting to increase profits. Rich teams would prefer there always be 8-12 teams that will always remain relatively non-competitive, in large part to lower spending on player salaries. It gives the richer teams a greater chance at winning and keeping their fan base happy and watching or attending games. It's always kind of surprised me how the home team gate is not split 50-50 with the visiting team. That seems fair and would go along way at evening the playing field. Home teams could pocket the concession money. There's an argument to be made that the TV money for each game being split with the visiting team as well. When teams start making 20 times the money playing in NY vs Oakland, maybe some pressure might be put on teams like Oakland to do something, even it that meant moving to a better market area.

We ended up spending $20M for 3 years of Moreland. We could have had EE for $40M more. We might have been able to get LoMo for 2 years this winter at maybe $10-15M more than the $13M we paid Moreland for 2 years. Maybe another head-scratcher.

Let's assume we sign JD and keep Sale, Pom, Bogaerts & Kelly. We lose HRam, Pablo, Porcello, Kimbrel, Moreland, Thornburg and Holt. This would be the framework of our 2020 roster with a few blanks to be filled by cheap free agent options: SP1: Sale ~$32M SP2: Price $31M SP3: ERod ~$13M (arb 3 of 4) SP4: Wright ~$8+M (arb 3 of 3) SP5: __________ FA (or Groome/Mata/Houck/Johnson/Velazquez/Elias/Beeks/Shawaryn) RP1: Smith ~$8M+ (arb 3 of 3) RP2: __________ FA RP3: Kelly ~$6M RP4: Barnes ~$3M (arb 2 of 3) RP5: Hembree ~$2M (arb 2 of 3) RP6: Scott ~$1M (arb 1 of 3) RP7: Workman ~$1.5M (arb 3 of 3) (or Maddox, Taylor, Buttrey, Shepherd, Jerez (bubble), J Cosart, T Lakins or a converted starter) C: Vazquez ~$6M (arb 3 of 3) C: Leon (Bubble) ~$2.5M (arb 4 of 4) C Swihart (Bubble) ~$1M (arb 2 of 3) 1B: ________ FA 1B: Travis ~$600K 1B: Ockimey AAA 2B: Pedey $14M 2B: Hernandez ~$800K (arb 1 of 3) SS: Bogaerts ~$18M SS: Chatham AAA SS: Marrero (bubble) 3B: Devers ~$600K 3B: Lin ~$600K 3B: Dalbec AAA LF: Benintendi ~$3M (arb 1 of 3) LF: Brentz (Bubble) ~$800K CF: Bradley $16M (arb 4 of 4) RF: Betts ~$22M (arb 3 of 3) DH: Martinez ~$25M DH: Chavis ~$600K Min Roster AVV ~$225M (45 players named- only 40 can be on the roster.) Not on 40 man roster: Thompson, Brannen, Scherff

Mata is 18 and Groome is 19. soxprospects.com has Mata starting the season in high-A ball (Salem) and Groome starting the season in low-A (Greenville). I guess it's possible one or both end the season in Portland, but I'm not sure if that should be the measure used to judge their 2018 success. Both have high ceilings. soxprospects.com gives Groome a 3-7 scale and Mata a 3-6 scale. BTW, Tanner Houck, 21, starts the year in Greenville, according to soxprospects.com. His scale is also listed at 3-6.

Maybe, a "few starts" means 15.

Well said. Betts is special. I love watching him play. Superlative defense. Heads-up base running. On base machine. Hopefully, the power returns. I think it will.

From MLBTR Speaking of young players returning from injury, Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez could potentially miss a few starts at the beginning of the season after undergoing right knee patellofemoral ligament reconstruction surgery, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. “[The injury] happened, like, three times already,” Rodriguez pointed out. “I was just trying to fight to pitch with a knee like that. And I did it. Sometimes there would be ups and downs. Now it’s time to get back to the guy I was before I got the surgery.” The 24-year-old southpaw’s had his share of ups and downs across parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. Last season, he put up 137 1/3 innings for the club while striking out 9.83 batters per nine and posting a 4.19 ERA overall.

A look at who our cheap and mid range players might be in future year rosters. Now Under $2M: Beni, Devers, Vazquez, C Smith (Thornburg $2.05M) Barnes, Wright, Hembree, Leon, Hernandez, Workman, Scott, Maddox Velazquez, Johnson, Swihart), Travis, Lin, Taylor, Marrero Elias, Beeks, Brentz, Buttrey, Shepherd, Jerez $2M to $6M ERod, Kelly, Holt 6M to $10M Pomeranz, Bradley, Bogaerts, Moreland $10M to $14M Betts, Sale, Kimbrel 2019 (FA: Pom, Kimbrel, Kelly and maybe HRam) Rule 5 promotion to 40 man Roster? Chavis , D Hernandez , J Ockimey, J Cosart, T Lakins Non Rule 5 Top Prospects possible promoted? Shawaryn, Dalbec, Chatham, Thompson Under $2M: Beni, Devers, C Smith(arb 2) Barnes (arb 1), Hembree (arb1), Leon (arb3), Hernandez, Workman (arb2), Scott, Maddox Velazquez, Johnson, Swihart (arb1), Travis, Lin, Taylor, Marrero Elias (arb1), Beeks, Brentz, Buttrey, Shepherd, Jerez $2M to $6M ERod (arb2), Vaz (Arb2), Thornburg, Wright (arb2), Holt 6M to $10M Moreland $10M to $14M Betts, Sale, Bogaerts, Bradley 2020 (FAs: Sale, Bogaerts, Porcello, Moreland, Thornburg, Holt, (Pablo & HRam) Rule 5 promotion to 40 man Roster? CJ Chatham, Dalbec, Shawaryn Non Rule 5 Top Prospects possible promoted? Groome, Houck, Thompson, Brannen, Scherff Under $2M: Devers, Chavis, D Hernandez, J Ockimey, J Cosart, T Lakins Hernandez, Workman (arb2), Scott, Maddox Velazquez, Johnson, Swihart (arb2), Travis, Lin, Taylor, Marrero Elias (arb2), Beeks, Brentz, Buttrey, Shepherd, Jerez $2M to $6M Beni (arb1), Wright (arb3), Barnes (arb 2), Hembree (arb2), Leon (arb4), 6M to $10M ERod (arb3), Vaz (Arb3), C Smith(arb 3), $10M to $14M ??? (Erod?) Over $14M Betts (arb3), Bradley (arb4), Pedey & Price

Probably. Maybe DD really wanted Moncada over Devers, but the CWS insisted on Moncada. Or not.

I'm always leaning towards the "or nots".

It's hard to imagine us being totally out of contention for 3 years, if we are right below the luxury tax from 2020 to 2022. It's easy to imagine us not being a top contender from 2021 to 2022 or 2023, but I doubt we finish 4th or 5th for 2 out of 3 seasons, let alone all 3. We will struggle to fill the roster with quality, inexpensive players, but the budget should keep us fairly competitive (make the playoffs 1 out of those 3 years?). I'm hoping we get some surprises from the farm, but I'm not overly optimistic.

Most of the big free agents have serious flaws. Some have had one big year (Moose & LoMo). Some are on and off (Hosmer). Some have never had a 650 PA season (JD). Maybe their demands are just too "pie-in-the-sky", and their is no collusion.

The players might be upset at the fact that they signed what they felt was an owner friendly contract that would keep things somewhat status quo, only to find out big signings are not as easy as before. (Jack, I agree with your position, and the contracts signed so far, are in line with expectations.)

The Sox are clearly prepared to pay large and long. They reset the tax for this purpose. Yes, a JD signing will affect the Sox down the road more than teams not over the limit, but we've been over many years before.

If the player's union pushed hard for a minimum ML salary of $1M or $1.5M and a minimum payroll limit (maybe set 40 man roster min salary at $750K instead of high $500's), it would help more player than trying to up the maximum luxury limit.