moonslav59

Of course that is at least half of the issue, but if we really chose someone else over Story, Yoshida or maybe Bregman, we could have chosen to "do what it takes" to land him. Instead we outbid everyone for Story & Yoshida, and now, maybe Bregman. Yes, it's kinda like War Games, where our objective is "not to play the game," but it is also making poor choices on the games (guys) we do choose to play. We are plating tic-tac-toe, while others are playing 3D chess.

It's not worry: it's wonderment. Of course, I'd be happy to see us fix two of what I view as out top 5-6 high need areas, assuming he starts at 3B. I just wonder, "why him?" Because he's the last decent FA remaining? Because maybe his price will fall into JH's range? Because they don't think they have shammed the fans into enough interest to turn a big buck? We will, indeed, be much better with Bregman than without. That's a good thing, but we all know one thing for sure: a dollar spent by JH< now, will be a dollar not spent tomorrow. It's always an either/or situation, and signing Bregman, now, mean not filling a need that develops, later- maybe 2 or 3 needs. We can also look at just this winter and ask, was this the best way to spend the winter budget handed to Brez? Assuming Bregman gets $160M/7, we could have gotten Scott & Teoscar for less, "in theory," (I'm sure we could come up with other combos of 2-3 others. I get the sense that the Sox upper brass is not feeling the level of angst fro Sox Nation, perhaps they should. The whole Dodger situation has made many MLB fans throw their arms in the air and think there is no hope our team can compete with that. We stick with our one and done deals and make a splashy trade for a 2 year deal. Whoop-Deee- Freakin'- Dooooo! But hey, they tell us, "We have a bunch of injured players returning," like this is something new and promising.

You crack me up. I'm just hoping a top 2-3 group of SP'ers will carry us into the playoffs, where I've often heard, "all bets are off."

Dodgers to sign Yates, right after the Scott deal. There goes the one area of weakness they had. This is worse than the Yankee reign of financial dominance.

I could see the Sox signing Yates, since he turns 38 before opening day and would take a one year deal. Jansen turns 38 in September, so maybe he could still be a late signee on a one year deal. I'm not sure how much either of these two would move the needle, but at least both have experience as closers, and pitched, last year. We probably will not be adding a RHB, unless it's someone like Grichuk, but we already have Refsnyder. Could it be Yates and call it a day? (Could it be we are done with any meaningful additions?)

We came a lot closer than we have in decades, but OSU was just too talented to overcome. I'm excited about our coaching, and maybe getting this far will help with recruiting, going forward. The 2025 schedule: at Miami FL Texas A&M Purdue at Arkansas Boise St USC Navy at PItt at B C N Carolina Syracuse Not an easy schedule, but not super difficult.

I'm thinking STL is so desperate to dump Arenado, maybe we end up getting him, and we end up getting a second piece to sweeten the deal. (Helsley, Herrera or Contreras?) Or, we just get them to pay a big chunk or take back Yoshida, and we pay some, but not as much as we would trading him by himself. I have no idea who STL wants, and I'm sure they don't want Yoshida. Getting someone like Helsley, Herrera or Contreras won't be cheap. Contreras makes $18M x 3 (same as Yoshida,) so maybe Arenado & Contreras for Yoshida, Fitts, Cespedes & Valera. Maybe, no money changes hands, so basically Yoshida cancels Contreras, but maybe STL would still pay some. I'm not a fan of Arenado, but dumping Yoshida and getting Contreras, Herrera or Helsley could be a difference maker, and our D would improve.

That has been the story since letting Kimbrel and Kelly go after 2018, and doing nothing to replace them. They also came close to trading Betts during 2019, and it's not changed since then. Counting 2025, we are now 7 years running on this top priority.

Many viewed Houck as the 6th starter, until Gio went down. Criswell might have been viewed as the 4th starter in AAA by soxprospects.com, behind Gambrell, Van Belle and Alexander. I do think our depth for the rotation is one of our pluses. First, we may start with a 6 man rotation, and then we have Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins and Fulmer. That's 11 guys with some promise. Maybe we can use some of them to beef up the pen.

I'm not asking anyone to go back and Monday morning QB this thing, but just think about all the players who were FAs, and who the Sox ended up identifying and going after strong enough to be the highest bidder or the team the FA chose to sign with. We signed Price to a huge deal in 2016 and then JD to $110M/5 in 2018, then the only big deal guy we got was Story and the next might be Bregman. (Count Nate as a FS, if you must, but he was at half the money Story got, anyway.) 7 winters: Story and maybe Bregman. Those are the two "guys" we chose to target and make it happen. This is not about sour grapes on Story. I saw the value in the signing, but still, that's it? Just one guy and that "guy" is Story, and now the next one might be "Bregman?" I get that part of it is just being too cheap to pay more and get Semien or the like, instead of Story or someone like Fried, Burnes or FAs from the last few years vs Bregman. Another part is just getting the mid and lower mid range signings wrong way more than right, and that is a bit of hindsight judging, but also you get what you pay for when you go for bargain deals.

It was Criswell.

So, it's more about the 4 years than the age, as mentioned, before. Scott will be younger at the end of year 4 than Jansen and Martin were, when they started their duo two year deals.

No, I say he's not the kind of guy I think we should have spent large & long on. The Sox might very well do it. They did on Story, too. This is not about hindsight evaluations, but these are the only FA signings, after JD over $39M: ***$140 Story $68M Nate (nore like an extension) ***$90M Yoshida If you are going to spend like this, would you pick these 2*** over a 7 year period? Or make Bregman #3?

You think otherwise? It looks like another "play if halfway" or try and give the perception we are trying to compete, while falling short of being a true competitor. My point about Grichuk and then trading Abreu to fill another need was not a tank move, unless he was traded for prospects, which I did give as one of 3 options. (We could also flip the prospects from Abreu for a catcher or RP'er) I'm not for tanking, this year. My position has been clear as day: The window should begin in 2025. We should not wait until even 2026.

I mentioned a few in the Story-Bregman range, which are not "cheap" deals. Maybe the Yoshida deal can be included and JD, if you go back to 2018. Just 4 FA deals over $40M since Price: $140M Story, $110M JD, $90M Yoshida & $68M Nate (more like an extension) It's 3 after JD and two, if you don't count Nate. It's one, if you set the filter over $90M. This is clear evidence of going cheap, but it also highlights what a bold move it would be to break protocol for a guy like Bregman. Again, I ask "Why Bregman?"

I also think that we could do and could have done better with the mid range deal of Story ($140M/6) or whatever Bregman gets ($85M/3 to $190M/6ish) I just don't see these two guys as the "ones we should have targeted" to spend the most money on since Price's contract in 2016. That's not to say the Story signing had no logic to it, or that a Bregman signing wouldn't help us, now. I just think these two would not be who I pick as "the guys."

I'm surprised Dubon still has one arb year left. That trade seems so long ago,

Yes, and that was the largest FA signing in 8 winters. It was just short of the total money given to Sale over 5 years, as an extension. If you look at this 7 year period (JD signed for $110M/5 in '18) and end up saying the two largest FA deals went to Story and Bregman, I think it would be a head-scratcher. One part being, "Is that the highest we paid?" and the other being, "Why those two?" The next tier is significantly lower: $90/5 Yoshida (plus posting fee) $68M/4 Nate (more like an extension, to me) Then another big drop to the next tier: $39/2 Giolito, $36M/2 Jansen Here are some hindsight deals signed since 2019: $118/5 Wheeler '20 $175/7 Semien '22 (pretty close AAV to Story) $88M/5 Willson Contreras $79M/4 Schwarber '22 (less than Yoshida) $72M/4 T Scott '25 $64M/3 Kikuchi '25 $54M/3 Chapman (much cheaper than Bregman will be.) $53M/4 Imanaga $45M/3 Seth Lugo $38M/3 Holmes, $22M/2 Minter, $12M/2 d'Arnaud or C Kelly

Great article. I loved it. I sure hope he improves his defense. He looked like he got worse on D, not better, in 2024. I think Narvaez may play more than some think, due to his plus D and a little power. I see Sabol as Gasper-like.

Buehler's best year was the best of them all. Best fWAR seasons since 2017 in MLB by rank: 28. Buehler 5.6 in '21 44. Giolito 5.2 in '19 48. Buehler 5.1 in '19 64. Crochet 4.7 in '24 95. Giolito 4.1 in '21 125. Houck 3.9 in '24 145. Sandoval 3.7 in '22 222. Buehler 3.1 in '18 We have 5 SP'ers who have had a 3.1 or better fWAR season. Buehler 3 times and Gio twice. (Gio might have been 3 times, if you project 2020 to a full season.) Other good seasons 2.0 Giolito '20 (short season) 2.4 Crawford '23 2.3 Sandoval '23, Houck in '21 2.0 Bello '24, We have 7 SP'ers who have had a 2.0 or better fWAR season since 2021, or the last 4 seasons. None are post prime. None are dealing with a current injury, except Sandoval. I went back 8 years, since none of our guys are past prime enough to think it impossible to repeat a season completed at a younger age. (Past injury might have made it near impossible to do so.)

Exactly, there are so many factors to be considered. My guess is they will put Soto 28-35 and other IFA after 35th.

My point is, they should have targeted someone better than him over the last 9 winters, and then did what it took to get him. Signing Bregman reeks of just "settling" on the best of the leftovers just because he'd help the team, and not out of some deep-rooted analysis and vetting. I felt the same way about Story. He was a knee-jerk reaction signing, meant to appease the fans, and they felt his price had dropped to a manageable amount, which was less than what they knew ZBogey would get. The Yoshida signing was not on the level of Story and Bregman, and far from the Price level, but I do think they really spent time evaluating him, singling him out as the guy they wanted (rightly or wrongly) and then they went and got "their man." I don't see Bregman as "their man." Sure, he checks off two boxes, assuming they play him at 3B, and he'd help the team with a new RHB added to the line-up, but he is not the guy they wanted, all along. Not even close.

When you include the tax, the amount they end up paying is so absurdly higher than the next bidder.

Bregman should not be the largest FA signing since Price, in 2016.