moonslav59

Yup. He hit 9 bombs for SEA, and while Lowe did not do poorly, Naylor might have carried us. What also hurt was the $21M on Buehler and then the D May flop.

That was real bad. Brez went over by $1.5M, last year. Why not go over by 19.5?

Well, Suarez would not help the infield defense.

Exactly how I see it, and I think we can do this without going over the second tax line. I know some hate hearing that, but it's the reality, IMO.

it might quiet the masses until the next do-nothing deadline.

I guess the Anthony and Crochet money is all a hoax.

Tough talk gets us nowhere and fast. We can beat the spend more money mantra drum 24/7 and loudly. If it never becomes reality, whoopie... we can run around saying we are not wimps. That sure would make me feel a lot better! NOT! I'm not buying the argument that looking 5-10 years down the road is counterproductive or wrong. Of course, it should not be the only part of any plan, and recognizing when the time is ripe to pounce on the hear and now is important to winning rings from time to time while trying to maintain a steady flow of winning teams for the fans- the customers. The winning ways of the Sox from 2004 to 2018 often involved step backs in spending and or refocusing on the future at the expense of the now. We were still able to put competitive teams on the field in between ring seasons until the Ben era, but then the all out DD era gave us a taste of "what could be," and some read that to mean (or hoped it meant) "this is how we will be forever and ever." It wasn't and never was going to be. That's the reality for fans that are wimps, tough guys and everyone in between. It's who we are. It's not going to change, except for maybe a splurge here and there.

There are many ways to build a very good or "better" team. I'd be fine with a SP2. I doubt we add two key pieces, but I don't think it would be all that hard. We could sign a shorter term contract FA like Suarez or Bassitt and trade for the other piece like Lodolo or KMart/Donovan or even Vientos. We can't do KMarte & Suarez without going over the second line, but something like Suarez and then Duran for Lodolo would keep us under the second line. Rafaela for Lodolo works better on BTV and keeps our offense better. Crochet, Gray, Lodolo, Bello, Oviedo, Sandoval Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Harrison, Crawford, Hicks, Moran 1. L Anthony CF 2. R Contreras 1B/C 3. L Duran LF 4. R Suarez 3B 5. L Abreu RF 6. R Story SS 7. L Casas 1B/DH or Narvaez C 8. R Romy DH/ L Yoshida DH 9. L Mayer 2B/ R Romy 2B I'd really like this team, and we'd be under line 2. (No long term deals.)

There is nothing wrong with improving upon a strength area, like our rotation, especially if you don't view Bello as a great playoff caliber #3 SP'er, but am from the school of thought that it is better to improve the team by addressing your weakest links by trying to bring them to the norm or better. To me, our #1 weak area is the lack of a big bat, hopefully with power and the ability to hit LHPs well. We also need a 3Bman (2B, if we play Mayer at 3B.) We could try to fill both needs with one guy. Once could argue Bregman & Bichette don't give us the power we need, but either would net a big plus over what we have now. (It might just keep us even with 2025, but hopefully Contreras and better pitching makes up for other losses.)

Harrison.

Yes. Eventually their salary will be higher than their AAV or Tax Line number. The tax dollars hold no more weight than actual year to year salary numbers to some, but to me, it represents a choice to spend more money for now and going forward. I, for one, am thrilled we are locking up our best young players and lessening the chance they bolt to free agency in mid prime. Sure, we may get one of these extensions wrong, but I like the new direction in this area. Utah is right, too, as what good does it all do, if you end up playing it halfway and won't go that extra step to get us over the top, like maybe no bold moves at the last deadline.

The bell may Tolle Early, this season.

There was a marked change from 2024 to 2025. I admitted much was undone by the Devers dump, and pointing out the lack of deadline moves was something I neglected to mention. So far, this winter, we have not been "aggressive" financially, despite all the extensions kicking in and adding some salary via trades for Gray & Contreras. I agree on that.

You made some great points, but I have to disagree on this. Just because the nearly $50M spent on new pitchers ($21M/1 for Buehler) and $18M/2 for Sandoval, $11M/1 Chapman + $2M/1 for Wilson) did not all work out very well, we were aggressive. When you factor in the highly aggressive trade and extension to Crochet, it's hard to think we were being meek & mild on pitching. The Devers extension kicked in in 2024, and dumping his salary sure fits your comment on not being agressive as that was a move backwards, despite taking on the Hicks contract (add him and the Chapman extension to the 2025 pitching ledger- mid season.) However, spending $40M on Bregman, which blows away the Sox record FA AAV and topped the Devers AAV can hardly be considered nonaggressive. On top of his deal, we extended Anthony and Campbell on the heels of the Bello/Rafaela ones from the previous season. We are being aggressive, but just in different ways. We haven't signed a mega large and long deal since Price. The JD, Story and Masa FA signings have been our largest. That's a big change and could be viewed as being passive. I get that. Maybe spending $20M more in 2025 than 2024 is not "aggressive" enough, but it is a significant uptick. The end of year budget was almost $23M more than 2024. Only 6 teams had a higher AAV line than we did in 2025, and while that reflects sme future spending more than current, I thought that was a good thing. One of biggest gripes has been losing our young stars to a free agency and not extending them. We just locked up Crochet, Anthony, Rafaela, Bello & Campbell. That's a hge swing in philosophy and a bit of a gamble. Dare we call it "aggressive?"

I think KC is going to be more than fine.

Casas/Romy/Narvaez would be the immediate replacements, assuming an OF'er is traded.

I do wonder if one domino falls, they all follow quickly. Bregman or Bichette, then the other and Suarez and maybe a trade or two (KMarte? Donovan? Vientos?)

sp.com has him on the bench in AAA.

I think we will look to Harrison and Crawford to help the pen by taking bulk innings. A lot of that depends on how healthy the other SP'ers are and can stay. Last year, we looked 11-12 deep and even traded away Priester, thinking we had more than enough depth. We ended up trading for D May, starting Criswell, de Leon and some "opener" starts, as well. Then, we ended up promoting rookies, Tolle & Early and ran short of starters in the playoffs. I see Tolle & Early as the guys we most trust to fill in rotation slots. They might not be the first two tried, but if we begin the year with Harrison & Crawford in the pen, they might be used first. Drohan, Uberstine & Sandlin seem like fringe options, to me, and all may best be used from the pen, but they will start the year in the AAA rotation. The AAA pen looks kinda light compared to 2025, but the winter additions are not complete. If everyone is healthy, Kelly may begin at AAA, as Moran & Watson are out of options or Rule 5. Then, we have Mullins, Samaniento & Song. I'm not sure mentioning Harris, Gamboa & Berrios is worth it. Some AA pitchers might jump over them.

And when you look at how well we've done with comp picks and using the bonus signing money efficiently in recent years, I think it matters a lot to the Sox. I seriously doubt we go past the second line- perhaps never.

With Campbell, I'm thinking it's a FT or near FT role or he stays in AAA. An injury could create that slot. A bad year by someone else could, too. A lot depends on whether an OF'er gets traded, this winter and or, if Duran is significantly used at DH.

Thanks for this. Very encouraging.

Still very sweet!

He does not count. He was healthy when we signed him. He was reversed.

Aren't we due getting one of these rehab pitcher right, for once?