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He was the smallest part of a triumvirate of failed signings in a short 15 day span in which the Sox committed roughly $27 million to 3 s***** players...

Not true. 11 days after the Sox signed Matt Young to a 3 year $6,35mill contract, they signed Jack Clark to a 3 year $8.7mill contract Four days after that, the Red Sox signed reigning NL ERA champion Danny Darwin to a 4 year $11.8mill contract. These contracts were actually are pretty big deals for the time. And none of them worked out. So maybe just spending is not everything....

I'm sticking with my gut here. I think 1) the Mets can f*** this up, and 2) a lot of these Japanese players surprise us all by eschewing the East Coast markets for the more proximal West Coast teams. It was not that long ago that Shohei Otani was earmarked for the Yankees...

To be fair, the economic scale of salaries was a lot different in 1991 and even in 1999. In 1991, the highest paid player in MLB was Darryl Strawberry ($3.8mill). In 1999, it was Albert Belle ($11.9mill). For Strawberry's salary today, you cannot even get a decent middle reliever. Jose Urena, who pitched 107 IP in the past 2 seasons and was non-tendered by the Marlins this year, received $3.25 mill from Detroit. https://sabr.org/research/article/mlbs-annual-salary-leaders-since-1874/

Oh there is a decent chance I would invent new personages. Talking about myself in fourth and fifth person are both a given. It's just a question of how many new ones I can invent...

Probably true. In fact, there is a good chance I would create multiple accounts just to talk about it more often...

Sugano expected to sign tomorrow. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/latest-on-tomoyuki-sugano.html Most fans expect him to sign with the Mets per MLBTR polling. Notin expects him to sign with San Francisco...

So... I have a chance and my hiring will be quiet?

Or Puello! C'mon! Get on board! The bandwagon is leaving soon!!

It was really a tad unfair of me to leave ERod for their open #5 slot when as of today, he lines up against Cole. But the bottom line is that the Red Sox are one decent SP and a couple bullpen arms - all of which the Sox can afford - from having a staff as good as the Yankees.

The fact that Steamer is projecting 171 IP for Eovaldi shows how questionable that system is...

You do realize that after Gerrit Cole, the Yankee rotation is not much better than Boston's. Montgomery at #2 "was a solid piece once." So "used to be good" is a justification here? First of all, he was an OK pitcher, and that was over 3 years (and 75 IP) ago. He is essentially a cheaper version of Nathan Eovaldi, but somehow less durable. And worse. German is OK as a pitcher, but let's not go overboard. He's never thrown more than 143 IP in a season or been worth more than 2.0 fWAR. In both of these respects, he is less than Nick Pivetta, but, German is older. Deivi Garcia had a nice 4 starts. So did Tanner Houck. Even if you like Garcia's pedigree more, and you probably should over the never-ranked Houck, the future is still equally unknown for both. Oh, and that leaves ERod vs Clarke Schmidt or whoever. Advantage: Boston. Do not even try to counter that one. Ditto the same when each team gets back their mid-season pitchers. (Severino vs. Sale.) Now, the Sox are unlikely to add a pitcher as good as Cole this season (unless you count Sale), but Gerrit is the only thing that separates the Yankee rotation from the rotation of a team you recently said "as presently constituted [was] a last place team."

I am going to put some faith in the Sox for knowing what they’re doing. Because, you know, unlike us they have actually met her and used her person as criteria rather than sweeping generalizations. And you don’t have to play a sport to coach it. It probably helps, but history has clearly shown it’s not necessary. Some of the most successful coaches in NFL history (Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown, Bill Walsh) never played in the NFL. (And college football isn’t really the same.) The most successful coach in women’s gymnastics history - Bela Karolyi - did not compete in gymnastics above high school. I get the lack of activity, but this is a non-issue...

So you think the Yankees are ready for the season despite having #2 starter whose thrown 75 IP in the last 3 seasons combined?

Fire sale!!!

Per MLBTR, the Red Sox are 1 of 5 teams showing interest in Alex Colome. Eh. Hand and Bradley, please....

Oh there stuff blows us away. It's not like they have not heard of Fangraphs. But baseball is probably the only sport where people like to play GM. No one tries to dream up NFL trade scenarios, because every trade involves salary for draft picks. Player-for-player trades are almost unheard of. And the NBA trading rules are so complex, it actually requires a PhD specializing in NBA Math (which is not an accredited program anywhere in the world) just to understand the rules alone, never mind about determining the actual players each team might want. And even then they get future draft picks with conditions attached. Even the most popular website (http://www.realgm.com) dedicated to determining if NBA trades follow the rules does not include all the rules. And no one watches hockey...

I would suspect he is on the radar. These guys are all going to sign somewhere. So we shall see how many wind up in Boston...

Matt Boyd (10.93 K/9, 2.64 BB/9) is a top my list of targets I would like to see Bloom acquire. For some reason, BTV gives him a very low trade value ($3.5mill), which I doubt agrees with Detroit's evaluations, but they might be gunshy about paying his final two arb years, too...

This Sox team really needs someone who is a high K guy (preferably with low BB). Until we know who is at 2b and CF, the current defenvei alignment is not really geared towards run prevention. Keeping the ball out of play as much as possible can only help. Porcello is not much for high K. But he is absolutely up there for not walking people. In this market, Paxton (11.16K/9) is the leader among available free agents. But he is always hurt. Chris Archer (10.75) is second over the past 2 seasons. But Archer walks more people...

True. I have accepted the specialized closer, but I think as more teams find starting pitching massively overpriced, we will see more committees in the bullpen and bigger overall bullpens that pitch more frequently. If nothing else, it will be done to keep salaries in check in small market clubs...

Well, I think I have to when people think team stats are good for judging individual performance. And I am not the one who brought ERA into the mix as an evaluation. I only like it because it is relatable, but really, it doesn't mean as much as many people like to think it does. I think WHIP is better, because at least it removes the bullpen flaw...

But does that mean they were better pitchers? The Rays rotation, fresh off a World Series appearance, has the same number of wins from their starters since the beginning of the 2019 season as the Rangers. (And fewer than the Red Sox.) "Wins" are a team stat. Sometimes pitchers get wins because the team around them is better...

For all the years Porcello has pitched (12 years, 351 starts, 2096 IP), he just turned 32 this past week. The other 32yo pitchers on the market - Jose Quintana (9 years 1495 IP), Chris Archer (8 years 1235 IP), James Paxton (8 years 753 IP) and Masahiro Tanaka (7 years 1054 IP) - are all not only less durable, but have been that way despite all pitching fewer seasons...

He's AAAA material. He won't get many more at bats for the Bombers than I will...