moonslav59

Is signing Cobb, Nunez and Duda enough to not be considered "standing pat?"

Yes, I realize Boras might issue an ultimatum, but it would be rare for an agent to tell the Red Sox, (again, assuming we are the top bidder right now) to up their offer of be shut out of any further negotiations. If the BS about wanting more money, because we will force him to DH against his wishes, then that is a choice JD will make- less money to play OF. I just can't see DD thinking a DH should make more money than an OF'er, and he shouldn't. If this is indeed the situation, then I could care less who may end up issuing an ultimatum. Parting ways will not be the end of the world, unless it drags on beyond the point where secondary options are still available. If Boras wants to "move on" to lower offer, go for it. One can only gather, he is following JD's wishes. If JD is so firmly against DH'ing, then I don't want him here anyways. I suspect it's all a ploy to try and get more, and Boras will accept any ultimatum the Sox present, unless someone else has an equal or close offer and an Of opening.

Perhaps we will add a SP'er instead plus someone like Duda to hedge against HRam.

Then, he can take his ball and go home. It's his client who would suffer (assuming we have the top bid and nobody will top it going forward).\ Look, I realize there are more professional ways to get the same point across, such as, "We need to have an answer by _____, or we will move on to someone else."

I doubt he has a better offer in hand, but if he does, then DD has already given his top offer, and it's time to move on. I he "laughs" off his best offer, then he risks doing a great disservice to his client. I would not go any higher. I've been preaching patience for weeks, but we're getting close to the point where secondary options will be flying off the table.

True enough. I'm willing to take 3 years of a known PED user just to dump his ass.

He had the Sox 7th best OPS over a 4 year period before the signing, which included his monster year. He just was not as good as many felt he was, and then the whole age and player type argument screamed, "STAY AWAY!" http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=500&type=1&season=2013&month=0&season1=2010&ind=0&team=3&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=9,d

DD should tell Boras, "My offer is ______, and it will go down $1M everyday starting ______."

The $22M goes a long way towards justifying Braun's $57M.

I'd try to make them take HRam as a partial salary offset and then offer them more than just Johnson. HRam, Holt, Hembree, Johnson and Brentz for Braun, Suter & Webb.

It might take Vaz, Chavis and Mata.

Wow, that's cheap. You usually bash us for suggesting such light offers.

Moncada started the last third of the season and posted a +0.9 WAR in 54 games. Prorated to 162, that's 2.9. That's way better than "replacement" level. He's a starter. Again, I'm fine with not playing it halfway, but I'm also not going to deny the long term effects (not that you are). When we traded away almost our whole pitching staff years ago, I was fine with the idea. We were losing those guys anyway. What I disliked about the return we got was that I felt Ben played it "halfway". I felt he should have tried for higher ceiling players rather than established ML players and fully ML ready youngsters.

He can "demand" all he wants. If nobody offers more than 4, that's what he'll settle on. My guess is he gets 5.

Yes, the Ellsbury deal was worse. I said at the time, "I wouldn't have paid him half that much."

HRam, Holt & ERod for Braun, and then we sign Arieta or Cobb..

The Brewers no have a couple OF'er they are shopping. I wonder, if a team looking at JD might turn to the Brewers, instead.

Good points. His positional player acquirements and Sox OPS are... .892 Nunez .773 Young* .769 Moreland* (only starter wire-to-wire) .595 R. Davis .577 A Hill * Only two signed in the winter.

It's early on judging the players traded away, but Moncada and Margot are both starters. He also traded post-prospect Travis Shaw- a starter.

No. It was not good.

In all fairness, Groome was a high school pick and has less than 65 innings pitched in pro ball. His not being a top 20 prospect at this age and point in his career is not necessarily a ding on DD's record. CJ Chatham was the 51st pick in 2016. Not many of those rise to the top 100 in less than 2 years. The 2017 draft is too recent to judge. Sure, some draftees from 2017 made the top 100, but I'm not sure how many lower picks made the list. I'm cautiously optimistic about our picks over the last two years, but your point is well taken. Nobody has jumped out as being something very special in a limited time period. Maybe someone will this season, but I doubt we come anywhere near as strong as our farm was 2-3 years ago for quite some time.

Kinda reminds me of the fools who signed Ellsbury.

You mean Swihart, Marrero & Johnson won't get it done? (LOL)

He'll be a horrible signing for any team at the price he will get. Being the top Red Sox fan in the world makes me rank the Sox 30th in deserving of Hosmer & his bloated & lengthy contract.

The system was different under Theo's reign and a little different under Ben's. No more swooping in and drafting better players with lower picks due to signability issues with poorer higher picking teams. No more unlimited spending on international free agents. No more stockpiling comp picks. If we keep winning and spending, we will get lower draft picks. We will pay more and more in taxes. We may face penalties, including having our picks lowered further and pool money reduced. There's no guarantee our farm is doomed until we lose more than we win, but it won't be easy. Losing Flores so tragically hurt. Trading so many once highly ranked prospects in such a short period hurt our future badly. I'm not upset by this. I would not have gone so far, but I understand the idea of not playing things halfway. Top prospects traded recently, as ranked by soxprospects.com (highest ranking while here): 1 Yoan Moncada 3 Manuel Margot 3 Anderson Espinoza 5 Michael Kopech 7 Luis Basabe 9 Mauricio Dubon 13 Logan Allen 18 Luis Basabe 20 Carlos Asuaje 21 Victor Diaz 24 Josh Pennington Other lessers 3 Cecchini 6 Javier Guerra 9 Nick Longhi 11 Coyle 12 Wendell Rijo 13 Pat Light 30 Aaron Wilkerson