Jack Flap

Well, today is the day...any last-minute predictions? Gun to my head, I think he stays for one more year, but I'm by no means sure about that... I've really been hating and dreading the Sophie's Choice the FO seems to have set up between Mookie and J.D., but at least after today we should have some small bit of clarity on what shape the rest of the offseason might take.

I don't know how you got from this post to then arguing against the need for a strong farm system later in the thread. Anyway, you seem to have gone really far out on a limb searching for things to be angry about here (when there will probably be plenty of legitimate reasons soon enough)... why not at least give Dave Bush the chance to do something to piss you off first?

If he has any trade value, he should probably be opting out, yes?

If he goes there will be trouble...if he stays it will be double.

In related news, it sounds like Cole wasn't pleased with the Astros last night and already has his bags packed. (The story doesn't mention it, but he was wearing a Scott Boras cap to boot.) https://nypost.com/2019/10/31/gerrit-cole-already-disowning-astros-im-not-employed-by-team/

The real trick is identifying and acquiring the next Cole rather than spending $250 million on the last one. What do you say, Chaim?

https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2019/10/boston-red-sox-hire-chaim-bloom-is-new-chief-baseball-officer-title-meaningful.html Interesting that O'Halloran's role is expected to be similar to how Bloom operated under Neander in Tampa Bay (which, by all accounts, involved a great deal of power and influence across the organization for the former). Doesn't sound like the GM position is going to be a mere figurehead this time around.

Bloom has been next on my wish list after Friedman was ruled out...very intriguing hire if it comes to pass.

No, it's not. Wasn't trying to contradict you...just thinking out loud here, really.

I doubt it had much to do with the 40-man spot. The Red Sox need every CBT dollar they can scrounge up at this point and didn't want to pay $1.5 million for a guy who wasn't going to throw a pitch in 2020...I don't think much explanation is needed beyond that.

He's always maintained that he never laid a hand on her, and to my knowledge, that's never been contradicted by anyone...not that we've ever gotten to hear the wife's side of the story, however. The charges were domestic assault and preventing a 911 call...clearly something went on, and it wasn't good. At the end of the day, though, this is a league where Chapman and Osuna are still carrying on productive, lucrative careers... Wright's greatest crime was not being able to stay healthy for 5 minutes.

Great post, and I completely agree. Just personally, I love stats because I like having something objective and concrete to hang my opinions on. As they say, though, the game isn't played on a computer or a spreadsheet, and any number is just a number without knowing the context around and behind it. My ideal would be a harmonious marriage between newfangled statistical analysis and old-school scouting and baseball wisdom...I see no particular reason why the two need to be natural enemies.

Perfection. Good to see you, Rojas.

What they said...also, I'll pass on selling low on Beni.

The younger, less experienced players are now subject to a bonus pool system with a hard cap. This is also why Ohtani signed for a tiny fraction of what he could have made if he was essentially an unrestricted free agent, as Moncada was.

Yeah, and it's not like those guys are struggling to find MLB jobs or playing time. I don't know why we often act as if JBJ's offensive numbers are unacceptably, unplayably bad for a terrific defensive CF, because they aren't. If he had Sandy Leon's batting line or something, I would understand it, but with what he provides with the glove, you can sign me up for his .700+ OPS with 10-20 HR any time. I know many disagree.

Machado seems like kind of a douche, and there was the whole Pedroia thing, but his teammates all seem to swear that he's a great guy, and I have to take that somewhat into account, too. I'd say the only players I really "hate" (not in the fun, baseball way that I "hate" most anyone in pinstripes) are the abusers...guys like Chapman and Osuna deserve anything bad that comes their way and I will always be happy to see them fail, regardless of the circumstances.

All excellent guesses (and a close call on Ruth, who was worth 9.1 bWAR as a hitter and 0.8 as a pitcher in 1919), but the winner is one I wouldn't have gotten, either: Rico Petrocelli's 10.0 bWAR in 1969.

Sounds like we can probably cross Friedman off the wish list... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/10/dodgers-rumors-andrew-friedman-extension.html So who will emerge as the next hot target of speculation?

You have to think we'll hear some concrete news about a DD replacement pretty soon, right? We'll know within days of the end of the WS whether JD is opting out or not, and the dominoes will start falling from there...

Barring some team getting desperate and stupid (which certainly could happen, but is never a great thing to have to count on), any trade offers we're likely to get this winter will pale in comparison to a talent like that. Pay the man his money.

If not longer. There have been 13 seasons of at least 9.5 bWAR by a position player in franchise history: 5 belong to Ted Williams, 3 to Yaz, 2 to Tris Speaker. Mookie Betts has done it twice, and counting. (Trivia question: who had the one remaining season? No cheating!)

I've been a JBJ stan pretty much from the beginning (which included defending him through some pretty dark times in 2014-15 when his ever being even an acceptably mediocre MLB hitter appeared in question), so I'll be sad if this winter marks the end for him in Boston -- particularly if it's by way of being non-tendered. That does seem to be the writing on the wall, though. Hard to see us getting much of anything in return at $11 million.

Speier on why Friedman would be the best fit for the Red Sox (if he's interested): https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/10/11/could-red-sox-lure-andrew-friedman-from-dodgers/N0UAvv9HLyXQHTgeX1TVnK/story.html

Hey, I'll take what I can get! Kind of shifting gears to a different issue there, but yeah...a diminished farm and a tapped-out payroll is a recipe for a lot of trouble. I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall for some of the conversations between Dombrowski and ownership over the past 12 months, because I have a lot of questions about how the Eovaldi and Sale signings went down given Henry's statements this month that: 1) he and DD had serious disagreements about the direction of the team as early as the end of the World Series; and 2) that the owners have known they were going to need to re-set the tax for at least a year. If both of those are true, it's hard to understand why Dave's spending wasn't tamped down sooner, and how he was allowed to give out those contracts, which have now put us in a position of likely having to say goodbye to either JD or Mookie (if not both) this winter in addition to others. I know we're meant to believe that this financial mess is all Dave's fault, but I suspect ownership didn't have quite the grasp on the situation that they should have had, either. As I said...many questions...