moonslav59

I get that, and agree, but I do think bringing in Bloom was an attempt to have a GM that found "gems in the rough" at low cost. He was involved in those types of moves with the Rays, despite not being the one who did the evaluations to determine which ones to get. As it turned out, Bloom did not do such a great job finding the right guys, and it seems obvious, it was because he did not have the proper people in place to identify the "right guys" to sign or trade for. Peraza, Martin Perez, Godley, Weber, Covey, Kickham, Stock, Brice and that whole 2020 mess of a roster. He did "find" Schreiber, Aroyo, Kike I, Renfroe (seemed like a typical Rays add-on,) Refsnyder, Wacha, Strahm but then there were more like Cordero, Andriese, Sawamura, Richards, Diekman and Kluber types. I'm cautiously optimistic we are doing the right thing and heading in the right direction. I know I have said this too many times, already, but I do think we are already seeing improvements at the ML level from our farm development (Houck, Crawford, Bello, Duran, Casas, Rafaela and more) and talent evaluators (Abreu, Whitlock, Fitts, Slaten, Wink, DHam, Wong, Kelly, Weissert, Bernardino, Criswell and others acquired from other teams.)

I don't think this presented scenario makes more sense than it being Ohtani that was doing the gambling.

All teams would like one- few have the pieces to offer to get one, or they do not want to part with top prospects.

They did go back to Nate, so I think they did want him, then. That was long ago. I hope we can do better than Nate, but he is still pretty good. I think we need to think about getting someone as good as Houck or better. I'm thinking we may end up settling on someone below Houck's projections, and I won't be surprised if we end up with a Criswell/Chase Anderson type addition, instead. I'm not a big fan of Crochet, and I wonder if 2024 was just a fluke, but I do think adding him is better than anyone we've added since trading for Nate in 2018. I could see trying to trade Mayer or maybe Casas + Abreu with maybe some lower level add-ons. The thing about the CWS is that their 40 man is so weak and shallow, that they might be one team that would take a 4 for 1 or 5 for 2 type trade that would open up roster slots for our Rule 5 guys plus not rule 5's like Anthony, Mayer, Campbell, Meidroth and maybe eventually Teel. DHam and Abreu would be FT players on the CWS. If we included Crawford in a trade for Crochet, he might be their #1. They may also prefer to take prospects, if they view their next "window" as being 2027 and beyond. I'm also not a big fan of RHB Luis Roberts, but his $8.3M lux tax numbers looks pretty good. ('25 $15M, '26 is a $20M club option w $2M buyout, and '27 is the same option as '26.) I'm guessing the CWS would like to shed Roberts salary, but they do not view him as a salary dump. I doubt anyone thinks his contract is "underwater." Would this deal be acceptable by both teams? Mayer, Abreu, DHam and Winckowski for Crochet (2 arbs remaining) & Roberts (Owed $17M/1 guaranteed) Maybe Roberts comes to life in Fenway.

We do need an ace, and I agree we should trade for one rather than spend. I'd keep Duran over Casas, easily, but Casas alone, does not get us a solid SP'er, let alone an ace. (Duran would get us a better pitcher than Casas, by far.) I'd see what we can get for Casas, Abreu, DHam and Dobbins/Wink.

Good article. The Rays have a long list of non-headline signings that go on to have a career year(s.) I hope this is not a sign that they are looking to do what they hired Bloom to do- build a winner without spending much at all. While these signings are important and useful, we cannot rely on only minor deals to get us back to glory.

So, Texas want to cut salary ($24M gets them under the tax line, so this trade works for them on that front): Yoshida ($54M/3 and $18M lux tax hit) Dobbins & Winckowski for deGrom ($115M/3 and $37M lux tax hit) Chaffin ($6.5M/1) +$1.5M cash Note: I'm not really for this trade, as I have very little faith in deGrom and am tired of rolling the dice on injury-prone pitchers.

I agree. I don't see Jon Gray as an upgrade over what we have. Andrew Chaffin (LHP) at $6.5M/1 might be nice, but he's 34 and has not been very good for 2 years (4.10 ERA/3.77 FIP/1.45 WHIP) Nate has a $20M player option... maybe. I'm with Randy. I don't see a fit. We need pitching. Those everyday players aren't of interest, to me.

Amazing how on so many of these triples, you see where Duran is, when they cut to him running. This guy is FAST!

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.