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1. I wouldn’t concern of the SP rankings. I was just filling in slots. 2. Stop knocking Ward. He is the long term savior and short term Eli White placeholder 3. Like or dislike Teoscar, I tried to limit myself to actual attainable players and not pipe dreams like Elly De La Cruz. And his StatCast is somewhat comparable to Arozarena, but his contract will be notably shorter, Bello is a high price, but it was fair on BTV. Hernandez will definitely be available, but the price might depend on the new CBA…

Not to mention the loaded question. “What young players did the Red Sox and only the Boston Red Sox trade away that went on to become an absolute stud?? And not counting Curt Schilling, Jeff Bagwell, Anthony Rizzo, Hanley Ramirez, etc.”? The main reason it’s been so long since the Sox have traded away a minor leaguer who then became a superstar was the Sox have been keeping most of their better prospects of late. Engage in this practice often enough and you will be sharing the downside with other teams. And if anyone still isn’t sold and needs an example of a young minor leaguer traded away that went on to become an absolute stud, the NL will be naming one MVP shortly.

MLBTR only mentioned Boston on Arozarena, Suzuki snd some Japanese pitcher whose name escapes but I don’t think I will actually need to know anyway…

He swung at everything, including pick off throws to 1b…

You’re on!! Early score - notin 2 moonslav 0

If the Sox follow my blueprint and add Marte and Teoscar, they’ll be better. More expensive. Still no cup holders. But overall better…

He fell off dramatically after a decent first year, and wound up fetching a34 yo career backup catcher in a trade that ended up being far more equal than it should have been…

Or a lot of Sox fans have gambling problems…

So I have to pay more money AND hold my own cup? Whats the umbrella situation?

Ketel Marte hit 50. Just sayin’

With cup holders?

We could replace Abreu’s .198 ISO with the .203 ISO of either Suzuki or Arozarena. That’s nearly 3 more total bases per year!!

Vegas odds are not determined solely by possible outcomes, but also by the amount of bets. For decades, the Cubs were always among their Wirld Series favorites just because Cubs’ fans placed ridiculous numbers of bets on the streak ending…

Middlebrooks was a K machine through the minors with no concept of plate discipline. The only thing he did right was come up at a time when the Sox minor leagues rarely produced any worthwhile hitters so it was easy to get excited over him…

Well, it was far more prevalent before 2012 when MLB implemented the slotted bonuses. There were still occasional players who had higher demands, notably Jay Groome who was also the top talent but fell down to, was it 12? for that reason…

If you ran the Reds, would you make that trade? Bear in mind the Reds are fairly loaded with young, cheap controlled SP and cannot find good outfielders and offensive talent. Other than just seeing what they could get, not sure why Cincy would be eager to explore moving De La Cruz…

Both…

Ceddanne came up like a useful version of Will Middlebrooks….

Mead at leadoff? Not going to poo poo that. Especially against LHP…

My pet Komodo Dragon is named Mr. Fluffycuddles. It’s not the most accurate name…

My current dog’s name is Blue. My last dog was named Patches, because he was trying to quit smoking. (Rimshot for an old joke)

Username: mvp78 Password: the same as my luggage FWIW I might have to try that out…

Duran is easy to figure to move. Yoshida is a major DFA candidate. I never got the impression Breslow wanted him. Sogard? Limited return. Most teams have at least one Nick Sogard clone already. Abreu is cheap and has not signed an extension. If the Sox maje a blockbuster, msybe he moves (and Duran stays?). I withhold judgement until I hear some rumors about the return. Mead also might be a candidate. Trading isn’t just about unloading the undesirables…

8 spots are definitely filled. But Breslow has already shown himself to be somewhat of a tinkerer. As I hinted before, other trades are actually likely, beside Duran. I can’t even guess who the top candidates are, but it wouldn’t surprise (nor delight) me if Mead or Abreu or Rafaela got moved. Other than Story not being traded and Yoshida being DFA’d, I am not confident about anyone else definitely returning..

I don’t see the Pirates as a team chasing defensive players at all. Last year they added Brandon Lowe, Marcell Ozuna and Ryan O’Hearn, three players whose best position is DH. And they pushed defense whiz Ke’Bryan Hayes out the door in favor of offensive upgrade Nick Gonzalez. When I think of teams chasing gloves, the first team I think of is Tampa, who adds players like Ben Williamson, and Cedric Mullens to play alongside Taylor Walls, Chandler Simpson, etc. The Athletics? They’re building the team you want. C/1b Tyler Soderstrom in LF. Adding Brent Rooker, Jeff MacNeil and Shea Langeliers. Extending Lawrence Butler. These are not glove first players in any way. Ignore defense and pitching suffers. When pitching suffers, most teams lose. The biggest mistake I see out here is the repeated example of the two playoff games. Two game sample, yes, it’s meaningless. The Cubs and the Astros had two of the best offenses in MLB and didn’t do any better, and neither is blowing up their roster solely because of first round losses. This doesn’t mean the Sox should ignore offense. But it probably means hetting two elite bats is just as much the fantasy tjis year as it was last year. First of all, the additions of Mead and Rutschman are already in place. And assuming Duran gets moved, we likely know who 8 of the starters are already (barring additional trades, which are actually pretty likely). Once the Sox decide where Mead fits in, they probably add either a 2b (Marte? Arraez? Lowe? Paredes? Semien? Abrams?) or a DH (Teoscar Hernandez? Arozarena? Suzuki?). DH kind of leaves the door open for numerous possibilities, although not so much on the FA market…