moonslav59

The Sox appear to not be willing to budge off their shorter term offer. It is rumorer the Tigers and Jays have offered longer deals and the Astros may have recently upped their 6 year offer in dollars, but they are said to be longshots, still. That lead me to think DET & TOR have offered more than $160M/6. Maybe we offered a higher AAV and or an opt-out, but maybe just 4 years. (Maybe a 5 year higher AAV would work, but I doubt we budge.)

My OCD has migrated to the Sox, almost exclusively. (I'm still a contract bridge fiend, as well.)

The Cubs are reportedly shopping RHB Suzuki to cut costs. He's owed $19M x 2 ($17M AAV on CBT.) How about expanding the deal to save them even more, while we get to dump some lesser salaries, ourselves. $137M/5 RHB Swanson SS and $38M/2 ($25.3 AAV) & RHB Suzuki OF/DH (Total: $175M and $42M AAV +$6M x 3 paid towards Yoshida= $48M AAV vs $41.3M now) for $77.5M/3 Story ($23.3 AAV) and $55.8M/3 Yoshida ($18M AVV) + $6M x 3 yrs = Total: $115M and $35M AAV Add 2 from Crawford, Abreu or Cespedes/Bleis. Would you move Swanson to 3B for Mayer or try Mayer or Campbell at 3B, when we finally moves Devers to 1B/DH?

Top Sox Prospects from soxprospects.com by position (I moved a few to fit the top prospects into the starting 9): C: Jo Garcia (15 A-) 1B: Ju Gonzales (25 FCL) 2B: Campbell (2 AAA) 3B: Mayer (3 AAA) * from SS SS: Arais (5 A+) LF: Jh Garcia (12 AA) CF: Bleis (6 A+) RF: Anthony (1 AAA) DH: Cespedes (7 A-) Bench: Romero (13 AA) Castro (18 AA) Narvaez (28 MLB) N Taylor (26 A+) or Jordan (27 AA) SP: Perales (4 AA) Dobbins (8 AAA) Fitts (9 AAA) Tolle (10 A+) Early (14 AA) RP: Sandlin (11 AA) Guerrero (17 MLB) Pendrod (20 AAA) Cason (16 A-) Valera (19 A-) Monegro (21 AA) D Reyes (22 FCL) J Paez (23 A+) or Mullins (24 AA) When you look at this, as a whole, it looks pretty solid and maybe more balanced that it has been since the days of Lester, Buch and Masterson.

If we end up with a so-so closer, we might be able to compensate by having the next 3-4 guys have great years and lockdown the 7th and 8th, so we don't need so many save opportunities. Say Hendriks closes: if Chapman, Slaten and Whitlock can pitch like they have shown they can, recently, and Wink holds his own, maybe the pen can surprise us.

Nobody has to google Burger King.

Yes. I have mentioned how DD's farm was not as bad as some suggested, and that the trio of Houck, Bello and Crawford were the best 3 from the farm in a very long time. We wiggled and wormed our way into acquiring Whitlock, Wink, Slaten, Fitts, Priester & Sandlin. While Bloom was benefited by DD's sleepers, he was in charge during their "development" and made a few shrewd moves to bolster the staff. (Too many failed, for sure.)

I totally agree. Weak at closer. Weak at #11-13 of staff. Good at #1-6 SP Good at #2-5 RP Good at #13-20 pitching depth.

How can we ever know? For one thing, we don't even know if Alonso chose the best deal. MLBTR projected $125M/5 and he got $54M/2, but it seems like 1Bman value cratered, this winter. That can't be blamed on BorA$$. Soto was projected at $600M/13 and got $765M/15. POW-SAH! Burnes $200/7> $210M>6 Bregman $182M/7> TBD Snell $160M/5>$182M/5 W Adames $160M/6>$182M/7 Fried $156M/6> $218M/8 Alonso $125M/5> $54M/2 looks like the worst deal, so far, until the next one... Flaherty $115M/5> $35M/2 Santander $80M/4>$93M/5 Manaea $60M/3> $75M/3, Teoscar $60M/3>$66M/3, Kikuchi $60M>63M, Walker 60>60 T Scott $56/4>$72M/4, Severino $51/3>$67M/3 That's the top 15. I'm not even sure how many of these guys are w Borass.

Nobody ever said he was not the best because of the many failures. I questioned who sets the criteria? Certainly, if the criteria is most money contracted, there is no argument. Maybe, if a customer satisfaction survey was sent out to every player who ever signed a contract and turned in, he'd win that one, too- by sheer numbers, probably yes, but by percent of happy clients, who knows? It's impossible to know which agent gets the most money vs expected money on a percentage basis, which would probably be a better criteria, but who sets those numbers would be highly questionable. Maybe, someone could take MLBTR's top 50 FA projections and dollar amounts and see which agent gets more, by percentage than others. (This year, Soto, alone would make Borass the clear winner.) I'm just questioning the criteria- just like I firmly believe McDonalds is not even close to the best burger joint. They don't even make my top 20 list, but by the criteria used on Boras, there is no discussion: McDonalds is the best. Period. I disagree. I'm not sure who is better than Boras, and I'm not even sure what I'd pinpoint as my criteria to determine who is the best, but it would not be all about who makes the most money for players that could make a ton representing themselves. How much more does he make for them? How much more do the other top agents make "extra" vs the norm? Probably impossible to determine, so let's all just say the guy who has the most big-named clients has to be the best. Are Johnnie Cochran & Alan Dershowitz the best lawyers in America?

Of the 9 pitchers you listed, 6 are SP'ers. We are the only team with 6 SP'ers with a projected fWAR or 1.2 or more. That suggests that we can maybe withstand 1-2 injuries to the rotation better than most teams. We then have Criswell (over 1 WAR on '24) and some promise in Fitts, Priester, Dobbins and Fulmer in AAA with Criswell. To me, our pen is the big concern, and the worry is at the top: we have no sure thing as a lockdown closer. You did not mention Slaten, but I think we have a pretty nice set-up crew of 4 arms in Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten and Whitlock. One will have to be the closer, so we drop to 3. It's not a bad 4, but it's not top 10, IMO, and one could argue it's not top 15, either. 2 missed all or most of 2024, and Chapman has been in a decline mode for a while. I kinda like Wink as the 5th guy, and he can go 2-3 IP, if needed, but the rest are marginal, with some having various levels of promise. The plus to the pen's lower the #5 pitchers is that there is a pretty large numbers of them, many already on the 40, as our roster is sorely lacking everyday player depth on the 40. (No real biggies, as Anthony, Campbell & Mayer are poised to be added, in a flash, if needed.) One issue coudl arise: we have to cycle through 12-15 pitchers to settle on last 2-3 pitchers on the 13 man staff. We could lose a lot of game playing the process of elimination game. Guerrero, Weissert, Bernardino Penrod, Kelly, I Campbell Mata, Mills, Moran N Davis, Stock, Adams Harris, Newcomb or a converted SP (Gambrell, Drohan, Fulmer, Dobbins, Fitts, Priester, Criswell) Some are not on the 40, but many are, already. Same with the pen: if we have an injury or two, we look to be better positioned to replace the injured pitchers with something maybe more decent than other teams have on their depth chart and deep depth charts. Key word: MAYBE.

Top Suspects List as Red would say.

I don't think the best means the most clients. Is McDonalds "the Best" burger joint?

True, but many people get to the highest places without being the best.

I can see why we can be viewed as the most unpredictable with so many players returning from injury and or joining the 26 man roster for the first time with Boston: Crochet, Buehler, Giolito, Hendriks, Chapman, Wilson & Narvaez Players who missed most of 2024's MLB season: Whitlock, Story, Casas, Grissom, Guerrero, Fitts, Priester and more... These players make-up about half of the projected 26 man roster. Other teams have many questions, too, but not really at this level.

Undisputed by you and probably many others- not me.

Yup. Here are all this winter's Rule 5 players: December 2025 Karim Ayubi Alex Binelas Miguel Bleis Caleb Bolden Jonathan Brand Taylor Broadway Allan Castro Juan Chacon Isaac Coffey Nathanael Cruz Noah Dean Kelvin Diaz Matt Donlan Shane Drohan Nate Eaton Max Ferguson Nathan Hickey Alex Hoppe Blaze Jordan Ahbram Liendo Enderso Lira CJ Liu Andy Lugo Marcelo Mayer Tyler McDonough Daniel McElveny Alvaro Mejias Tyler Miller Yordanny Monegro Juan Montero Hayden Mullins Christian Nunez Wyatt Olds Jedixson Paez Eybersson Polanco Luis Ravelo Eduardo Rivera Dalton Rogers Ronald Rosario Corey Rosier David Sandlin Michael Sansone Armando Sierra Phillip Sikes Adam Smith Noah Song Cristofer Soriano Christopher Troye Tyler Uberstine Brian Van Belle Diego Viloria Jacob Webb Jeremy Wu-Yelland

We may wait to see how Anthony looks before trading Abreu. Any developing plan that sees Yoshida-Ref as the major LF combo would also ease the way for a Wilyer trade. I do not think trading Casas is a good idea. 1. Our offense is suspect and he is one of our best hitters vs RHPs and LHPs. 2. The trade value for 1Bmen has dropped, of late. 3. He's young and cheap- just what JH loves. If we add Bregman or Arenado, I'd still keep Casas, even if it means benching or severely cutting out Yoshida's playing time. I think trading Abreu, after adding a 3Bman would make more sense, despite the weakening of the OF defense by having Yoshida & Ref platoon LF. It would likely only be a temporary plan, as we wait for Anthony, or even a Campbell in the OF possibility. We could also see Yoshida build a little trade value and move him at the deadline, or when we call up Anthony. This is nota horrible OF on O or D: LF: Yoshida-Ref platoon, CF: Duran, RF: Abreu-Rafaela platoon Yoshi & Ref could DH, when casas, Devers or our new 3Bman needs a rest. Duran could play LF, when the above happens, and Rafaela could move to CF for those games, or when Duran gets a rest day.

Yes, but waiting does not always work out best for him or his clients. Overall, he is likely the best at getting the max, but it's hard to know if that is true.

Having the most players as clients does not make you the "best," and what determines who is the "best?" Maxing dollars? (How do we know he got more than someone else might have gotten?) Getting the client what he wants? (I see countless examples where his clients seemed to get screwed while he attempted to max out their take.)

HOU reportedly "upped their offer" to Bregman, but are not considered a likely landing spot. It seeems like DET and TOR have offered longer deals than BOS offered, so what is the hold-up? Is BorA$$ waiting to see if BOS adds another year? If HOU adds even more? If DET or TOR one ups the other? I'm thinking once Bregman signs, Arenado will be traded to one of the other teams. I hope it's not us, unless STL pays down the deal, so it costs us no more than $10M x 3. Even at that cost, I'm not sure we should have to give up anybody, except maybe Jordan.

Moncada to LAA at $5M/1

He might be better than I give him credit for. I agree, if Brez sees more hope in him than I do, then no-go.

Many 3Bmen become fine or capable 1Bmen. It's not a major change, except fielding throws and doing the stretch. Devers is not bad with the glove and range. His major issue is the inaccurate arm. The one big factor in moving him to 1B, is that he only has to be as good or better than the worst defensive 1Bman in MLB, Tristan Casas. The bar is set as low as it can go. If it turns out, he's worse than Casas, then he DH's and Yoshida becomes a bench, PH'er or maybe a platoon LF'er w Refsnyder, if he shows he can hit .800+. (Duran plays CF and Abrue/Rafaela platoon RF, until Anthony arrives.) The upgrade in 3B defense would outweigh the downgrade in LF defense, IMO, but it certainly is not ideal. The hope would be, he does okay, and we trade him, later, once we know Anthony is the real deal.

Several, probably.