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1. San Diego prefers Durbin? Over their current future Hall of Fame 3b that they have made the only player in MLB history to sign TWO $300 mill contracts? 2. Please tell me that’s not Seiya Suzuki at 2b. It’s one thing to lower defense as a priority. But the “just get 8 bats and sort out the gloves later” mentality has been tried before and never worked…

There are pros and cons to Polar Bear Pete. Hes a fairly one-dimensional player, but pretty good at that dimension. He’s probably not as ideal for Fenway as you’d think simply because he is more liberal drive prone with his power (not that he’d be bad there). On the plus side, he is NEVER injured. I don’t think he has spent a single day on the injured list in his 7 year career,..

My racist auto correct apparently doesn’t like Abreu. That offer checked both of those boxes and threw in a dirt cheap quality SP…

For? Think Durbin is enough? Im thinking bigger. BTV likes Abreu, Bennett and Arias for Fernando Tatis Jr, who is somehow still only 27. That’s a really good offer that saves the Padres some $270mill over the next 8 years. Would Boston go that high? Would San Diego accept? These are questions I cannot answer…

Heck no. The most famous example was Snell against the Dodgers in the World Series where he retired something like 16 of the first 18 hitters and got pulled. And that was 6 years ago…

While you clearly overvalue offense, I agree the Sox should focus there. Not through free agency. There simply isn’t any impactful hitters there. I don’t consider Randy Arozarena to be an impactful hitter. That leaves trades. Tough when the Sox have but one really tempting prospect in the system…

How was Crochet’s situation unprecedented? He wasn’t even the only guy in that series that hadn’t suited up since April…

Sort of a league-wide thing. Of the 18 SPs in the wild card series, only 4 (Schlitter, Sánchez, Fried, King) went more than 5 innings. Only King went 7, but they weren’t going to pull him out with mid-no hitter…

I wasn’t talking about criticisms from after the game. I was asking about the ones you talked about from before the series. There’s a difference…

No names? Shocking! It’s almost like I predicted it. I’m not questioning the credentials of anyone criticizing Tracy and Breslow. I’m questions the existence of this one particular comment. But I guess your only defense is to turn it into something it’s not…

You’re missing the point on Betts. Dombrowski didn’t talk extension until 2016. But what if Betts had signed a long term extension in 2014 or 2015? And yes, teams were extending players extremely early in their career even back then. Betts wasn’t a “generational star” that early in his career. Don’t go confusing the year the Sox finally got around to trying to extend Betts to when it should have happened. Would he have signed? No idea. Should the Sox have tried? Absolutely. The risk is pretty minimal considering the alternative. For all the complaining about Campbell, for example, his AAV is not much more than IKF got last year.

So what analysts were saying that the Sox bullpen shouldn’t be managed by “geeks and nerds”? Let’s get some names. Specifically the ones who said it “on the airwaves before the series started.” Your exact words. Can’t cite Contreras and Gray. If you think most ex-players had longer careers than Breslow’s 12 years, you clearly have no idea how long the average MLB career is. (Hint: Less than two years.) We both know you won’t supply names. You’ll give some lame excuse like always, and ignore that the MLB National guys (including the ex-players) didn’t criticize Boston for using the same analytics approach everyone else uses before this series. They did wuestion their offensive struggles. Not the same and not ehat you saud. But the Gerry Callahan/Michael Holley types that have two brain cells between them - it really does sound like something they’d say. And they’d actually think is a relevant criticism even when the Sox score 2 runs in 18 innings…

No s***. Anthony just finished his age 22 season with a career OPS+ of 126. After his age 22 season, Mookie Betts only had an OPS+ of 119. Other than stay healthy, what exactly does a 22yo have to do to live up to the hype? Apparently with prospects the only two levels are “bust” and “Mike Trout”…

That quote is older than Belichick. In fact, it’s so old, his girlfriend left him for it…

Why? If you have faith in the player, pay him. It doesn’t always work out, but if it does it pays for itself. And there isn’t always opportunity to sign a player later. Waiting didn’t work out so well with Mookie Betts. Campbell remains the only Red Sox player to extend before his MLB debut, but it’s been done at least 10 other times with mixed outcomes, and a few TBD due to recency. Some notable active non-Red Sox players that extended with less than one year include Kevin McGonigle, Konnor Griffin, Jackson Chourio, Colt Keith, Sam Basallo, Julio Rodriguez, Ronald Acuna, Michael Harris, Luis Lara, Cooper Pratt, Colt Emerson, Luis Robert Jr. Eloy Jimenez, Corbin Carroll, Tim Anderson, and Michael Harris. Lots of Braves, Brewers and White Sox. Others, like Jackson Merrill, waited for one year. Merrill also gor paid more than most of the players on that list, but still had very little service time. This is not uncommon and not unwise…

So the radio talking heads decided these decisions came from “geeks and nerds” and not people who know the game? By chance how many of these radio personnel had MLB careers longer than Craig Breslow? Or had minor league careers as long as Chad Tracy did?

He also hasn’t had his 23rd birthday yet…

Snony Gary…

Gray is from Tennessee. I don’t think he avoids Boston just because of last night. He is aware nearly every team in the postseason pulls their starters early in October. Heck they’re the one team he can make pay him $30mill. But he might want multiple years or he just retires. He’s been playing this game a long time now.

Hoping the Sox shed themselves of some of their utility infielder types that are about as difficult to replace as head lice. Sogard seems to be a fan and Tracy favorite. But Romy, Monasterio, Cheng and Seigler feels like a bit too much of the 40 man roster dedicated to backing up 2b/3b/SS. Also the Replaceables could include players like Gasper and Jones. I do see Yoshida returning because he isn’t tradable but he can hit. I (hope I) don’t see him starting, even in a platoon. Much to my chagrin, I think Cheng will be the first player I mentioned in this post to depart. I wish him well.😢

They never trade anyone I think they should trade, and certainly no one I suspect will get traded. So why not Contreras? But if they do, they are getting someone back. Romy isn’t going to start at 2b next year. Mead can play anywhere but SS, so he’s not a clue…

Absolutely. like I said before, the highest-scoring team in MLB this year scored 1 run in two postseason games. And they weren’t exactly facing Cy Young candidates either. Should the Sox tear down? Absolutely not. Add a missing piece or two. You get Crochet, Houck, Crawford and Oviedo back (hopefully). Some faces will go. My first thoughts are Bennett and either Duran or Abreu might have played their last games for Boston…

Also I readily admit when I’m wrong. Or I can just get lazy and let mvp do it for me…

Sort of what forums like this are for. Ive done stuff like that, even going so far as to chastise players for off-field behaviors that are in many cases just rumors…

Not sure where you’re going here. What started out as saying the Sox need home runs in hitters up and down the lineup has evolved into the glorification of the Phillies and their SP (3 of the top 4 in fWAR this, 4 of the top 10 last year), and home run prowess and what’s not coming up is if they don’t win today, that will have resulted in exactly one more postseason win over the last two years than the (I’m guessing) hapless Red Sox. Gotta love the characterization of Bohm as an All Star. He actually is one, but not one any of us would be excited if he joined the Sox. And maybe that home run prevented him from earning another title - non-tender candidate. (Apparently Bohm is the Phillies’ version of Jarren Duran since Dombrowski reportedly shopped him heavily ladt off-season, to no avail.) But the Phillies do have one thing in their favor today - Atlanta is starting a 31yo career minor leaguer with 3 career MLB starts to his credit. Much better than staring down at Schlitter, Fried and Cole on the mound. I’m assuming Kerr will be an opener, whether that’s the plan or not. Back to the Sox. I agree the Sox need some pop in that lineup. I don’t think anyone has said otherwise. Not sure where it will come from. It won’t be a free agent. What i don’t think is the Sox need 20 HR hitters up and down the lineup. I mean, they’re not far off that now, especially if Mead plays. The only surprises might be Durbin (who did hit 13) and whoever plays 2b assuming it’s not Mead. I think the Sox need a solid 30HR/.900 OPS bat. But probably only one. Gotta move Duran first to clear a place in the lineup…