moonslav59

Maybe Arendao is still in play, since STL will pay enough to make him cheaper than Bregman. I'd love to pry Helsely into the deal, but they want too much or want to pay less for Arenado. Would Rafaela and Cespedes get us Arenado + $10M a year x 3 yrs? (Maybe add Fitts or Sandlin?) Arendao's AAV is $30.5M - $5M from COL= $25.5, then minus $10M fro STL=$15.5, then minus $6.3M for Rafaela= $9.2M ... Just cheap enough for JH. Hell, there I go hoping, again!

He is supposed to be healthy by Feb 1st, so I think we hand him the 5th slot, unless he stumbles in ST'ing. Crawford could really help eat innings in the pen and save the rest of the high leverage RP'ers from doing slop work. I'd still like to see a solid pen arm added and maybe a RHB- I'm thinking cheap now, all the way. Maybe the best we can hope for is Estevez, Kittredge or Sewald and Grichuk or Profar (Trade Abreu or Rafaela?) Sad, that we've reduced ourselves to hoping for scrubs.

I feel like I owe an apology to you, Fred, Randy and the many others that have been ruthlessly slamming out FO for years. I felt like you guys went overboard, but now I realize I was underboard.

Would they listen to Theo and let him spend?

We should not play Rafaela< Grissom or DHam at SS, unless for a quick fix, one game emergency. That leaves Romy or Campbell, but we may need Campbell at 2B. We could give all 3 of our top prospects a long look, this year, but I hope we wait until they all gain a service year. Who knows, maybe this will be a year like Lynn and Rice's 1975 season.

Ideally, it would be Bregman at 3B and Devers/Casas sharing the 1B/DH slots. Both could get all the rest they need while DH'ing and would not need more than a day or two off, all year, unless injured. That forces the $18M Man to the bench or LF (EEEK!) or trade for whatever money we can save. Apparently a few million matters to JH. Once Campbell or Anthony start making a statement, we can then trade Rafaela and or Abreu plus DHam or Romy/Grissom to fill other needs, and maybe we can cobble together a truly competitive team. I see no hint that are serious about AB or any other of the remaining handful of significant FAs left who fit our needs.

Yup. Well, one main reason to try and dump most of Yoshida's contract was to save a few dollars and maybe stay under the tax line. That's not an issue, this winter, so we might as well give him a shot to get healthy and increase his trade value (or value to us.) We aren't winning, this year, so I'd rather keep Campbell and Anthony in AAA, at least until another year of service is gained... maybe even 2, if we wait until 2026 has started. None of our big 3 prospects need to be added to the 40, this year. To me, we are wasting one of Crochet's 2 years of control. Why trade 3 top 8 prospects for a 2 year player, if we plan on continuing the rebuild? There is no cohesive plan with these guys. It all seems knee-jerk and reactionary with no proactive actions. What's left on the plate, this winter? No great fits, and the ones that might be (Scott or Hoffman,) I doubt we are even considering making an offer. I guess a Bregman signing might get my pulse back up, but he was never high on my list. To top it off, these clowns were talking about signing Alex to play 2B NOT 3B! The absurdity never ends with these guys.

Indeed, and this on top of statements about the tax line not being an issue. It just gets worse on the BS. My point was that we do some replacement spending, but these short term and "pillow" deals are tiring me out. I'd rather we spend $26M on 2 guys for 5-6 years than $2-$10M on several one and dones. OK, we finally spent over $20M on an AAV (Bluehler at $21M and 1 year, of course,) the only one, except Story since who? JD? (Nate was technically a FA signing, but I count him as an extension, and not new blood.)

We will need Campbell and or Anthony to make a significant impact. We also have almost all of our players in pre-prime mode, so we could expect improvement from returning players. The return of Story and Casas (also Devers & Yoshida) to possible full seasons could make a difference, but someone is bound to get hurt. Nobody is post prime on O, except our short-side. platoon DH: Ref at 33. Prime: 31 Yoshida, 28 Wong Just entering Prime: 27 Devers, Duran, Romy Pre-Prime: 24 Casas, 25 Abreu, 23 Rafaela & Grissom, 26 DHam It would be nice to have a big power RHB, but we might end up better than 2024, despite losing O'Neill. Maybe this is the line-up by mid-season: 1. L Duran L (LF) 2. R Campbell (2B) 3. L Casas (1B) 4. L Devers (3B) 5. R Story (SS) 6. L Abreu RF/L Anthony RF 7. L Anthony CF/ R Rafaela CF 8. L Yoshida/ R Refsnyder DH 9. R Wong/ R Narvaez C This could work out very well! (Or not.)

I'd really like to know, for sure, if every FA were lost out on was because JH & Co said no, or if Brez just decided no, on his won, on one or two. My guess is JH has ended all of them, but maybe not. The years thing is also something that may be an issue, but Brez did spend over $52M this winter ($21M Buehler, $10.75M/1 Chapman, $18.25M/2 Sandoval, $2.25M Wilson.) It's $62M if you count Hendriks from last year. Only Sandoval is on the books for 2026, so the AAV for 2025 is $43M w/o Hendriks or $48M counting him.

So, nobody holds the HR record, because MLB is far from over. I'm not saying we won anything. I even pointed out we can be passed, but as of now, we hold the record.

Here is a look at our top fWAR players by season since 2020, and how acquired: (No label= drafted or IFA) 1.3 fWAR + listed 6.7 Duran '24, 6.0 Bogey '22, 5.0 Devers '22, 4.2 Devers '21, 4.1 Bogey '21, 4.1 Devers '24, 3.9 Houck '24, 3.4 Devers '23, 3.1 Abreu '24, 2.5 Duran '23, 2.4 Crawford '23, 2.3 Houck '21, 2.0 Bello '24, 1.9 Crawford '24, 1.7 Vaz, '22 & Casas '23, 1.6 Bogey '20 & Bello '23, , 1.5 JBJ '20, 1.3 Vaz '20, Bello '22, Houck '23 & Barnes '21 FA: 5.7 Nate '21, 3.7 Kike '21, 2.7 JD '21, 2.6 Renfroe '21, 2.5 Story '22, 1.8 Hill '22, Martin '23 & Wacha '22 & Duvall '23, 1.4 Jansen '24 & JD '22 Waivers: 1.8 Schreiber '22 Rule 5: 1.6 Whitlock '21, 1.4 Whitlock '22 Trade: 3.9 ERod '21, 2.5 O'Neill '24, 2.3 Pivetta 2.1 Sale '23, 2.0 Pivetta '24, '21, 1.9 Pivetta '23 & Verdugo, '21, 1.7 DHam '24, 1.6 Verdugo '20, 1.5 Pivetta '22, 1.5 Slaten '24, 1.4 Verdugo '23, 1.3 McGuire '22 That FA group is pretty freaking bad, when you total all the money spent on FAs.

I doubt Burnes was ever a "plan." Fried might have been, until the bidding went out of JH's range.

Agreed, and Campbell can play 3B, so no biggie, but he was a deserving #8 prospect.

OK, if you count a century win total as a record, then we hold one, for now.

Of course to all, but a record is a record until broken. It is very likely a team will win more than 4 WS in this century, and it may not be BOS.

It's not a record? Nobody else has more, and any record can still be topped.

We are still over $30M under the first tax line, and it was mentioned that we were able to go over line one, this year. I know we don't have to spend big just for the sake of spending, but we still have 2-3 major needs to be filled and precious little FA fits remain. In theory, we should have $30M-$50M to spend. Some of the FAs that were signed by other teams seemed to want to play for those teams, even at lower contract cost, so there was not much we could do about that. It seems Cohen was not going to be outbid on Soto, and now the reported $700M offer by the Sox is being disputed. As much as the Price contract stands a stark warning on large and long contracts, I think we need(ed) to bite the bullet, choose one guy that fits the best, and just refuse to be outbid, unless the bidding just gets totally absurd. I do not see many that fit the "totally absurd" category, but Soto and maybe a couple others do or come close. Here are some signed deals that I think we not absurd overpays, knowing full well, some of these guys would not have signed with BOS, even if we offered significantly more: $60M/3 Kikuchi (looks like a steal, now.) $8.5M/1 Jansen (We couldn't go $17M/2, knowing Teel was to be traded?) $12M/2 d'Arnaud (We still need a catcher) $13.5M/2 Higgy (not sure he'd be worth $14+M/2, but we need a catcher who can catch.) $11.5M/2 Carson Kelly (See d'Arnaud, Jansen and Higgy above) $75M/2 Manaea (NYM might have bid higher) & Nate (TX native) $210M/6 Burnes (wanted AZ) $60M/3 Walker (would then trade Casas for pitching) $218M/8 Fried (borderline absurd money & years) $66M/3 Teoscar (wanted LAD)

Ok, how about a MLB record of 4 rings in the 21st Century?

Probably true, and trades will mean depleting our future assets. We already lost 3 of our top 8 prospects to obtain a 2 year SP'er. Talk about shrinking the window. (Unless we extend Crochet.)

Most wins by a Sox team. (108 vs 105 in 1912.) Only time in Red Sox history we won 3 straight division crowns. Is two enough?

I realize SEA is looking to save more money than just $6M for '2026 and 2027 ($24M Castillo- $18M Yoshida,) but it is still something, Saving $30M in 2025 is a hug savings that can be applied to future years. It's $6M in 2025 more than just dumping Castillo's full salary on someone without including Haniger, as you suggest. it's over $21M more for 2025 for Castillo+Haniger vs Yoshida. I think the money part is okay for SEA. I'm not sure they like or want Rafaela, so that part could be changed, which would add more saving to SEA (and cost to BOS.)

It's looking that way. I'm not a Bregman fan, at all, and it has nothing to do with cheating. His .795 OPS over the last 5 years. He's really good on D at 3B, and that would help the whole staff. I'm pretty confident Devers could upgrade the 1B defense, but if not, he and Casas can share DH duty when not playing 1B. Neither would need days off for rest, so we could keep both bats in the lineup over 160 games, if they can both stay healthy. He may be the best we can do. It's sad that it has come down to hoping we get the best of the rest.

The best guys still out there that could make an impact are... Bregman (only if they moves Devers to a 1B/DH share with casas.) Scott (I seriously doubt we even make a piddly-ass offer.) Santander (We'd have to trade Rafaela and or Abreu for a pitcher or catcher or both to make sense.) Hoffman (might be our best hope for actually winning an auction on someone good.) Lesser add-ons: Estevez, Kittredge or Sewald Or Trade for Arenado, Castillo/Woo/Miller or Pablo Lopez or _____? Trade for a catcher or big RHB (Sean Murphy could fill both needs.)

SFG was also going to lose more draft picks and I think bonus money, if the signed another QO guys.