moonslav59

In baseball, the object is to go home. In football it to get to the END ZONE!

Big if. Hey, we're paying $19M a year for Gio, who slots as a 4/5- actually, it may come to $38M/1.

I did mention, once that Mayer could play 2B or 3B, until Crawford's time is up.

The Bruins don't allow any runs, though.

That has to be it, but boy, they sure projected a steep regression. His numbers in SEA do have to be adjusted for park factors, but to me, he's a damn good pitcher. He'd be our #2 and maybe even a #1, if Houck takes a step back in '25.

I totally understand your point about SEA not needing a SS, and it informed me as to another possible offer being better. When you suggested trading an OF'er to the Sox, I informed you, that an OF'er is about the last thing we need. Yes, we need a RHB, but I do not think in the OF, despite the fact that we signed O'Neill, last winter. If Abreu was part of the trade to SEA, then maybe we'd take a RHB OF'er as part a larger package. In terms of the Sox getting what we need, we need pitching.

Would it matter if Ohtani did it before he was under contract with a MLB team?

To me, Castillo is easily worth his remaining contract of $22.75M x 3 with a conditional and seperate vesting option for 2028 at $5M or $25M. He also has a full no-trade contract, but he might agree to be traded. BTV seems way off on him. I also think Yoshida should be worth less than -$23M. He's owed $54M, so they think his actual value is worth $7M a year. (I'd say $4-6M.)

I am one of those, and I have suggested trades to SEA offering way more than BTV says is needed. My point was that you seem to act like BTV means something, when it involved us overvaluing a SOx player. You also often say, SEA "does not need another ___ (SS)." and that is why I pointed out us not needing another OF'er.

I think it was 700, who said he felt like Price was not a drag on the return.

We could have just paid Price to go away (or half Price.) We chose to get a lesser return from LAD, if they took half-Price off our hands. Of course, that is way different than losing Casas, but the theory is similar. According to BTV, Yoshida is about as "underwater" as Castillo, but I don't want to be accused of spreading mis or dis information.

And hyperbole is exaggerating information to make a point, like calling Arozarena an “eighth outfielder”. -notin I did not mean 8th ranked OF'er: I meant 8th ML or ML ready player on the Sox, who can play OF. 7 Current (Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Ref, Yoshida, Anthony, Campbell) + 1.

I'm assuming the worst for him.

I think you have to opt into those notifications. I don't get them, but my wife opted in and gets them.

Also, banks notify the IRS on large transactions, not the customer or MLB.

I have no issues with you or your interactions with me. You are one of my favorite posters. I hate the idea of thinking back to 4 rings to help ease my pain from recent season results, but I do remember a time, when I did not have that little piece of comfort. That time was over 3 decades, for me, and more for other Sox fans. More than this, though, is my belief that we have finally righted the farm, despite some lingering worries about finding and developing fine young pitchers. To me, this is the strongest farm we have had since the mid Theo era. Couple that with my belief that we currently have the best set of pre-prime to prime, core players than we've had since Betts, Bogey, JBJ, Beni and ERod. That was 5 years ago, plus. Much has been said about the farm's failure to produce good pitchers, but when you look at past winning Sox teams, they were mostly dominated by acquired pitchers. We had one peak time with Lester, Buch and Masterson, but since then, we've been pretty awful. Once can argue, many of our current homegrown pitchers are barely better than mediocre, are inconsistent or have some major flaws, like a high BB or HR rate, but I see a significant improvement over years past. Don't get me wrong, we still need major additions, and I am nowhere near confident that JH will allow Brez to fill the 3-5 gaps we have with quality and high quality players, but I'm also not sure he is done spending, like a few posters seem to think. The fact is, we don't know what he will do, or if e will ever spend like he did with DD. (He may not ever have to, if this farm comes through.) I have given the pessimistic view, several times, already, and I seem to give the optimistic view more often, and certainly more than some, but I like our core of pre-prime and prime players. Pitching needs help, but this is a pretty decent, and mostly low cost foundation: Gio is 30. Weissert & Kelly are 29. Houck, Crawford & Whitlock are 28, Criswell & Penrod 27 and Slaten, Wink and Campbell 26. Bello is just 25, and Fitts, Priester & Guerrero are 24 or younger. Only Hendriks (35>36) and Fulmer (31>32) are post prime. Although Whitlock spent no time on our farm, he and almost all the other under 31 pitchers listed here, did. The age of our key everyday players and the ML ready or near ML ready prospects is something I find very hard to not be optimistic about. Sure, there are questions, and health concerns with some of our key players, but it seems like we now have the depth covered, and some of the depth has more upside than the starters. Only Ref is over 32, and he will most likely only be a short-side, platoon DH and 5th or 6th OF'er. IMO, that is rather stunning and grounds for optimism, all by itself. Story is 31, and has health issues, but we now have Mayer. Rafaela & Grissom are 23, while Casas is just 24. DHam, Abreu & Valdez are 25 or 26, while Devers and Duran are 27 and just entering peak prime. Wong is 28. This is 7 or 8 key players (9 if you count Ref), and then we have quite a list of very promising depth to fill the other slots or provide injury insurance for 2025. This is an awesome looking list of ML ready or near ML ready prospects, of which we may only need 1-2 do do very well: Anthony, Campbell, Mayer, Meidroth, Fitts, Priester, Guerrero, Penrod, Shugart & Dobbins Teel, Sandlin, Romero, Jh Garcia, Castro, Early among others I'm pretty sure Brez will add 3-5 players to the 26 or 40, but a lot depends on how high quality they are, and if they can stay healthy and not disappoint, like so many of our most recent pick-ups have done. I'm cautiously optimistic- not about JH deciding to spend "what it takes," but because we have such a large group of pre prime and prime players to choose the best 26. If the 3-5 additions come through, the group I just highlighted only needs to fill 21-23 slots, plus any injury slots that open up. I don't think that should be an issue.

They did cut 20% of their budget from 2013 to 2018, but unlike the Sox, they kept winning regular seasons. I think Sox fans would love to see JH go nutty on spending.

I've always appreciated your posts. It's nice to see someone own what they do.

No peanut allergies, here.

I do think SEA and all but one fan would love to have Casas on their roster. It's funny, how that fan uses BTV, but when we talk of trading for Castillo, all of a sudden the -$30 value Castillo is worth more than Mayer. BTV would accept Yoshida for Castillo +$7M cash. That same fan keeps saying, but we don't need Mayer, because we have a SS, then suggested we add our 8th OF'er.

I think you solved your own puzzle. That whole situation was downright nutty.

Yes, all Mariner players are undervalued. Sox players are overvalued or correctly valued by BTV.

I could have said that word.

No, but I'm fine with others saying it was a nutty overpay for a DH.

We all said, "No way would we have paid Bogey what the padres gave him." I call that nutty spending. I don't want JH spending like that. I would not criticize him for refusing to do something like that. I find plenty of other examples to criticize him on, but not for things like refusing to offer Ohtani $710M or Yamo $320M. The Sox have been the highest spending team, at times, and maybe other fans called JH nutty for spending so much on Price, and then adding JD and paying Porcello $22M x 4. I'm not getting into semantics. I think nutty has many different meanings and connotations. A few teams made some massive jumps in spending within a 2-3 year period. It was not something you see happen. I have repeatedly said that is not the only or even the main reason for our spending ranking drop, as the topic moved from just spending to "ranking," after it was pointed out we raised our spending by over 25% in a 2 year period, while many posters were screaming that JH was "being cheap" of "cutting spending." Those Statements were just not true, and pointing that out is not being a JH apologist or defender. I do defend him on other things, like 4 rings, but not letting Betts walk. Not letting countless stars walk without replacing them with anything near similar resemblances. Porcello might have been mediocre, but Martin Perez, Richards and Kluber couldn't carry big Dick's jock. That's on JH. Again, I'm not changing my term "nutty," because you don't think it fits. It has been extreme spending by 2-3, maybe 4 teams, of late: LAD, NYM, and SDP/TEX for briefer moments. (Maybe PHI, a little bit.) I would not be pissed at JH for not keeping pace with those 4-5 teams + the NYY, but I would for the other 4-6 teams ahead of us. Thanks for explaining why you disagree. Nutty, to you, means irrational, and those signings made sense to you, because they are a team like LAD who has oodles of cash and revenue streams. I still call it "nutty." Yes, I do think Ohtani at $700M is extreme and nutty. I think Yamo's deal was, too. Glasnow's was, as well. The Mets deals were a joke, and they later dumped some. The Bogey deal was absurd. Is that a better word than "nutty?"