moonslav59

I'd say Nate's contract was okay, and about on the same level as Porcello's. Wacha's was good. Hill ws okay, for the cost. Even Paxton's 21 GS for $10M was okay. The last big contract for a pitcher, that we gave out? Hmmmm. (The Beckett extension was not great.) Pedro's extension, over 2 decades ago?

The last thing we need is an OF'er. Now, Casas, Yoshida and Fitts for Bryce Miller, and maybe... (Maybe Castillo with no Fitts, instead of Miller)

I don't see a Garver-Yoshida swap as something SEA would want. They are done paying Garver, after this year. Now, add a guy like Casas or a lesser one, and they'd perk right up. We'd need more than Garver, if we added Casas.

I can never root for the Yanks, but I hate the Dodgers. I won't watch any games- just the highlights. I could care less if Betts or Dugo get a ring.

Thanks. I know soxprospects does not always jive with MLB's criteria for graduation.

Even those who live in that world think $700M is nutty. I'm not sure why you think I need to explain why it is.

I just explained it. Maybe not enough for you, but I think a 31% increase in a budget that was already one of the highest in MLB is extreme. I used "nutty" to denote "extreme." It was extreme. Just because they can afford it, does not change the fact that they blew history away with last winter's 4 signings. I call it "nutty." I explained why. Agree to disagree, but why can't you you answer why you disagree?

I'd be fine with this. I value catcher defense almost as much as SS defense. I do think we could try and fix catcher D, while also adding to our RHB power, but that is secondary to the D.

Huh? I'm all for adding Campbell and Anthony to the 40 and 26 on day 1 or 2 of the season. (Day 2, if we need to wait to place someone on the 60 IL to make room for them.) The day Story gets hurt, I add Mayer to the 40 and 26, unless he's hurt, too. I'm NOT for adding Garver. We have too many players that are better hitters than he is vs RHPs. We have ref vs LHPs. We can put DHam, Romy, Grissom and even Rafaela in AAA, if we need room on the 26 for a big 3. I think adding the big 2 or 3, plus 3 key additions would get us to favorites to make the playoffs.

If Garver is the only way we can dump most of Yoshi's contract and maybe get some kind of production out of the return, I'm okay with it, but getting back a DH, is not what I'd like. I'd rather get a pitcher who has a 5% chance of doing just okay in 2025. I also think we have an overload of batters, and I have more faith in the 3 prospects than some. I know none fit the DH profile, but I'd be fine with using the DH to rotate players for "rest" instead of giving them 5-10 days off. Play Ref at DH vs every LHP, and then "rest" guys at DH vs RHPs: Devers 10 games, instead of 5 days off, Abreu, Duran, Casas, DHam, Wong and maybe even DHam or Story, here and there. I do think E Valdez has a close to equal shot at doing well vs RHPs as Garver.

Why does "nutty" have to mean causing financial trouble? They are spending way more than most teams and have even outdone themselves with the Ohtani and Yamo singings. It's nutty compared to other teams and even quite extreme for their own history. They used to spend a ton back in the mid 2010's, but they went under $190M in 2018. $187 to $267 is a massive increase. On CT Tax, they were at $205 in 2019 and are now at $352M. You seriously can't understand why anyone could see that as going nutty on spending in a short time? Just from 2023 to 2024 they went from $268>$352- a 31% increase. Who else does that besides the Mets and maybe TEX did that, ever? Let's not argue semantics. 3 teams vastly increased their spending, and that is just part of the reason we dropped in ranking. Of course, JH's recent cuts is also a major factor. Last winter Dodger spending: $700M/10 Ohtani $325M/12 Yamo $140M/10 Will Smith $136M/5 Galsnow (This one alone is more than most teams did w one guy.) I'd like you to explain why this is not nutty? This blows away any winter any team has ever had, except for maybe that year the Yanks signed something like 5 out of the 11 QO FAs.

Even DH'ing GG candidate Abreu would seem like a waste. Ref vs LHPs, yes. Who vs RHPs is in doubt. I mentioned E Valdez as a longshot choice. Maybe DHam, if 2B is covered vs RHPs, but he's our best defensive 2Bman. Devers as a FT DH could work, but then we need 3B covered.

Doing this trade would necessitate a trade of Abreu to uncrowd the OF and balance the L-R skew. I'd only do this, if the plan is to move Devers to 1B and Campbell or Mayer (Grissom?) to 3B for 2025... not to sign Bregman.

I stand by teams like the Mets, Rangers and Dodgers exploding with their spending. I call it going "nutty." As much as I think JH should spend more and could spend like they did, I do not think I should criticize him for not going to their extremes. With the revenue the Sox make, and how rich JH is, he can and should spend more. I have never argued otherwise. That does not mean we have to lie about his spending trends- not that you have, but we increased spending by 28% from the super low point in 2020 to 2022. Thatw as the second highest % increase under JH. When people say he is not spending or is continually cutting the budget, it's just not true. That's not taking him off the hook or "defending him," but it is the truth. I've been highly critical of JH without inventing falsehoods. He let Betts go, and that is unforgivable, IMO. I was for paying Betts $400M/14, so I'm not some skimpy budget fan. I think JH decided he did not want to risk losing Betts and would not pay what he thought he'd get. (I think he got less than JH expected.) For some reason, JH decided to go into rebuild mode. I hated it.

Yes, they were hyping Valera and others. It will be interesting to see where they rank all these pitchers in their EOY Rankings. (They said those will come out around Thanksgiving.) Right now, they have 1 pitcher in the top 10 (Perales at #6.) They have 6 in the 11-20 slots (Sandlin, Fitts and Tolle 11-12-13 and Dobbins, Penrod & Wikelman 18-19-20) 8 in the 21-30 range, which is nice, but we need some to move up in '25. 6 in the 31-40. 6 in the 41-50. 5 in the 51-60 range. That's 17 of those last 30 and 25 of the bottom 40. I think Wikelman should drop below 30, but the may have him 24-28. Fitts could be top 10, but I don't see who would drop to 11th. I'm not sure what criteria they use to "graduate" a prospect, but a few must be close: 12 Fitts, 19 Penrod and 27 Guerrero. Soxprospects.com has our top 4 prospects all starting off in AAA. None are even Rule 5, yet, so it could get interesting, if we choose to begin 1 or 2 with the big club on opening day. Perales would likely have started in AAA, had he not gotten surgery. #9 Meidroth is also in AAA, and #12 Fitts will be, too, if he's not in MLB. #19 Penrod, the same. Dobbins is Rule 5 and in Woo. So many are finally ML ready or just months away from being so.

I haven't mentioned it in quite a while, but I used to say it often. The big money made on baseball, by the owners, is when they sell the team. I am not defending JH's lack of spending. I'm just pointing out that the trend is not much different from his past, and that one of our biggest percentage increase in budget came from 2020 to 2022, yet people act like he has been on a 5 straight year slash and burn mission. I also pointed out that we saw the biggest cut in his era from 2019 to 2020, so that dampens the following uptick, and then some, and not just inflation matters, but the other "nutty" owners made baseball budget inflation more than the national average. I do not give just one side, at all. I'm just countering with facts that disprove what many others keep saying, over and over. We don't need to tell lies to criticize what JH did and has been doing. There are plenty of truths to pick apart, and I'm right there on that, too. He could and should spend more. Max may be right about how he should spend it (not all on 2-3 players,) but I do think there are times when you have to pay to get the best, and to get the team over top. Playing it halfway hardly ever works. (2013 did.) I have often railed against that strategy. Either go for a full rebuild or go for glory: halfway keeps a team mediocre for longer. Looking at the budget increase from 2020 to 2022, of course it rings hollow. We lost Kimbrell, Betts, Price, Porcello and others without replacing them even in half kind. Then, we lost Beni, ERod, JD and Bogey and the budget went up: whoop-dee-doo. It didn't feel like we were adding to the talent, although many of them were aging, anyway. I'm not happy with JH since 2019, but I'm not going to hate on the guy that brought us 4 rings, and yes he did, despite what Old Red wants to believe. There is a lot of gray area in my opinions, and it's not all black and white. I'm happy JH took over the team. I'm happy we focused on rebuilding a sustainable farm and am seeing results, already. I could go on and say "You ignore the good" and "only try and paint everything as negative," but that gets us nowhere. I'm hopeful, JH sees a window as being open now. I fear he thinks 2026 or 2027 is "better," but I'm thinking he might start spending more, soon. As I've said for about a year, I'm not expecting it. It's still a "sham" in my eyes, which hardly sounds like I'm praising JH & Co by saying that more than Red says, "I keep telling you guys..." It has hurt too much of the time, following this team since 2019. 2021 seems more and more like a fluke than anything to praise JH & Co for. We've had 5 years of letdowns. That's on JH as much as anyone. We also have 4 rings in his 24 year era. We had zero in the 30 years I followed the Sox before JH. It's not all bad, either.

No doubt, this "dip" by JH was steeper and seemingly longer than others, but there was a pretty big uptick in the middle of the 2019 to 2024 budgets. Not counting the huge dip in 2020 and the rise to 2021, JH also increased spending from 2021 to 2022 by $26M, according to cots "opening day 26 man" and $30M on the EOY 40 man numbers. Up $30M from 2021 to 2022 was the same as the rise from 2016 to 2018 or 2019. cots has the CBTax going from $239M in 2018/$244M in 2019 to $223M in 2024. That does not seem as shocking as I expected, despite inflation.. We dropped $13M from 2016 to 2017, which is almost the same drop.

You bring up a good point, and concern. The pitcher of the year is not necessarily the best prospect, and I know you are aware of this. Soxprospects says Ingrassia's FB is 90-92 with "solid control" and "jumps on hitters." He's already 22, so I'm not sure about how much velo he can or will add. Their scouting report has not been updated.

I've said keeping him and hoping he improves is our best bet. I do think we should seek out any takers, but paying all but $4-5M is not really worth it, to me. I'd rather bank on Yoshi doing well. Now, if we can get a pitchers at a net cost of $4-8M, in return for Yoshi, then I'd strongly consider gambling on a pitching dump than a DH dump.

I doubt he's even plan B or C. I'm just saying that to show how little we need Yoshida, if he's not much of a drop off. (It also shows how little other teams want him.) BTW, Valdez has a career .743 OPS vs RHPs, out of the gate. He was a really good hitter in the minors. A platoon between him and Ref could very likely top Yoshida's career OPS of .775 or his .765 2024 OPS. I'd rather have a young bat or rotate the DH as plan B.

I'd rather try Campbell or Mayer at 3B and use the money at Closer, SP, set-up man and catcher. Maybe Grissom could work out at 3B, if he could hit well enough. I do not see why we'd spend huge money on Bregman, when we have several infielders that we need to find out about. We are not going to move Devers off 3B, unless we trade Casas, and that is very unlikely. Just find a hitting catcher on a 1 year deal and spend on pitching.

Yes. I've said this several times. The big difference was just how steep the drop was from 2019 to 2020, and then when you factor inflation, it took a few years to come close to where we once were. The other major factor is that a few teams started going nutty with spending and passes the Sox. Our ranking dropped quite a bit as a result. I'll go by cots end of season budget and the percentage gain or drop: +15% 2003 to 2004 -11% to 2005 (down the same $14M as from 2003 to 2004) +18% to '06 +13% '07 -5% '08 -5% '09 +21% '10 +2% '11 -3% '12 +5% '13 -5% '14 +10% '15 +8% '16 -6% '17 +22% '18 -1% '19 -25% '20 +12% '21 +16% '22 -6% 23 Nothing seems way out of place, recently, when you look at the trends. The biggest drop was before 2020, but one of the bigger 2 year jumps was from 2020 to 2020. Two year jumps: 34% 2005>2007 28% 2020>2022 (This probably surprises many) 24% 2009>2011 21% 2017>2019 7% 2014>1016 Largest 2 year drops: -23% 2018>2020 (By far, the largest drop and a clear impact.) -10% 2007>2009 -6% 2022>2024

MLBTR reports... The Red Sox are nearing a deal to hire Taylor Smith for an unspecified analytics-based role in the club’s front office, according to MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo. Smith could be joining the ranks as an assistant general manager, which would presumably also come with some type of VP title like Boston’s other four assistant GMs under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

The AP put one loss Georgia ahead of undefeated Penn St. Hmmm.... 1. Oregon 7-0 2. Georgia 3. Penn St. 6-0 4. Ohio St 5. Texas 6. Miami 7-0 7. Tenn 8. LSU 9. Clemson 10. IA St 7-0 11. BYU 7-0 12. Notre Dame 13. Indiana 7-0 14. Texas A&M 15. Ala 16. K St, 17. Boise St, 18. Ole Miss 19. Pitt 6-0 20. Ill, 21. SMU 23. Army 7-0 24. Navy 6-0 25. Vandy