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I don't think I am going out on a very weak limb when I state I am pretty sure Adam Duvall is the first player ever to finish third in HRs in his league and then be non-tendered in the following off-season...

Now for me, I just don't think the Sox have the deep farm and the players Tampa needs. Jeter Downs is an excellent trade bait and probably a guy the Sox could consider moving for a pitcher, but it won't be Snell (even if they take Kiermaier's contract). Tampa is just too flush with middle infield talent. They might not mind taking another MI but I think they would prefer a catcher, and that tells me the Dodgers (Keibert Ruiz) and the Reds (Tyler Stephenson) are both able to put together more attractive packages to acquire Snell. I think the Sox need to target Jameson Taillon and sign two from Brad Hand, Hansel Robles and Archie Bradley. (It is possible that only one of them takes an offer from the Sox regardless of money as only one of them can close and all three might have the closer role as a priority. As it is their choice, I can't say that they will all be interested. But so far, this is just mesage board fodder) Taillon's trade value is actually reasonable on BTV, but it is tough to gauge what player from the Sox they might want. While that site does give Downs more trade value than Taillon, it is not an unreasonable amount for a swap. And as Cherington is a notorious prospect hoarder, he might even be on board with it. Ideally, I would like to see him acquired for someone else, but not sure what Pitt needs beyond players who make little to no money. The Sox most expendable dirt cheap player is Chavis, but even with his BTV trade value actually looking reasonable at 7.5, I just don't see why any team might be interested in him. Also, the Sox can probably fill the CF void with Ender Inciarte and get him for next to nothing. With the Braves being in the unenviable position of having Inciarte as their highest paid outfielder and not even starting, he should be extremely available from Atlanta. That just leaves 2B (maybe?) and a LHH bench bat. And the LHH bench bat has always looked like former Bloom acquisition Brad Miller would be the perfect fit for the Sox....

But Flahery also only has one season above 2.3 fWAR. And he has only pitched one less season than Snell. (His higher trade value is strongly influenced to his lower salary.) Snell does only have one season above 2.7 fWAR, but he has also only pitched 157 IP in two seasons since his breakout year. In 2019, he managed to be worth 2.7 fWAR in 107 innings! It is not the talent that is the issue with Snell...

If the Sox are taking an unwanted contract back, Polanco is my second choice behind Ender Inciarte. Polanco is coming off a HORRIBLE season last year, but he was among the MLB leaders in one positive category - exit velocity. His main problem was making contact. Anyone with top tier exit velocity and massive strikeout problems makes me first think - time to update that contact lens prescription!

So you wouldn’t trade them for Jack Flaherty?

But he spent most of his innings in Boston as a starter, which can give him an inflated bb rate and reduced k rate as opposed to a relief pitcher. It's not a fair comp...

My thoughts are it's a fair trade, but I don't think Tampa goes for it, and really the Sox should be hesitant, too. With Tampa 1) They might not like Downs so much considering they have two very young middle infielders in MLB (Lowe and Adames) and another as the #1 overall prospect (Franco) plus a fourth (Vidal Brujan) similarly ranked to Downs. 2) Trading stars for prospects within the division is a smart move when you're a bad team and you're basically trading the best of a weak present day for the future of a division rival. In theory, they get worse as your team gets better. But Tampa is the reigning AL pennant winner, and NOT a bad team. 3) It does not even address their completely absent catching position. With Boston, it is a farm killer. And because of that, the primary goal should be to get a bad contract like Kiermaier in in order to reduce the load of dirt cheap players the team needs. I think the Sox need to be in talks with Pittsburgh for Taillon. And if they have to take back Polanco in order to reduce the asking price, I can support that, too...

Well that's like when [people here expected Dustin May, Gavin Lux and Verdugo for Betts. But a deal of Casas, Houck and Jeter Downs seems more reasonable. Would the Sox go for it? Would Tampa? (It does work on BTV.)

No Troy O'leary?

Huh? Tom Gordon was no bueno for the Sox? He was worth 9.9 fWAR in his first 3 seasons in mutliple roles. and was 46 for 47 in save chances in 1998. His 2 seasons with the Yankees totaled 3.7 fWAR. I am questioning if you understand was "no bueno" means and think you might not know enough Spanish to live in Florida...

Hey when you need work, you bleed the colors of the teams willing to sign the checks...

In any deal where the Sox take on an unfavorable contract, they're probably more likely to get a 2B or RP than a starting pitcher. Unless that SP is already available anyway, with some prime examples being Sonny Gray, Jameson Taillon and Joe Musgrove...

Not sure I am so confident that Nunez' .694 OPS with Boston is all that much of an improvement over the .692 he posted with the Yankees. But overall the bottom line is, the Sox have had very little luck with anyone who wore pinstripes for a full season. And the converse is not true. So yeah, avoid Tanaka...

Tiant was certainly a shell of his former self from his days in Cleveland and Boston, but the list of former Yankee pitcher in Boston who made 55 starts and 332 IP is really, really small...

Boggswas better for the Sox than Yankees, but also better for the Yankees than most (all?) ex-pinstripers were for the Sox, at least for those who played at least one full season in the Bronx...

Well, the original postulate was that they stink unless they played minimal time for the Yankees. Jensen's 289 at bats spread out over 3 years is pretty minimal to me...

I stand corrected. Mike Stanley is the undisputed champion of former Yankees in Boston (for players with over a full season in pinstripes. Otherwise it's Jackie Jensen.) I mentioned Mike Torrez earlier, but I didn't realize he only played one season in the Bronx. He actually pitched fewer games and IP for the Yankees than Nathan Eovaldi...

While he was a bust for them, especially at his price, he did manage to play 520 games for them with an OPS of .716, which was below the .789 he had with the Sox. But it is hard to find a former Yankee who came to Boston that was even worth putting in 520 games. As far as I can tell, the all time leader in Red Sox games by former Yankees is 268 by Don Baylor, ahead of the 240 by Ben Chapman...

Yes and his .564 OPS was some 200 points below his pinstriped numbers...

He belongs on the body parts list, along with the player whose name I know has to mean something truly obscene in German - Paul Assenmacher...

Interestingly, a long line of Yankee stars came out of the Red Sox organization - Babe Ruth, Herb Pennock, Carl Mays, Sparky Lyle, Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon, Jacoby Ellsbury, Luis Tiant, Roger Clemens, etc. For some reason, the reverse is simply not true, and former Yankees coming to Boston are always flops, with the one exception I can think of as Don Baylor. And he only played in Boston for two seasons. The only other positive contribution from a former Yankee I can think of was from Tony Armas Jr. whose primary skill seemed to be injuring his pitching arm. But at least he was enticement enough for the Expos to trade Pedro. And Mike Torrez was not horrible, I guess...

It doesn't. It benefits the team dumping the contract. And in order to entice another team to take the deal, the idea is they include a desirable asset. Like when the Sox were trying to get the Padres to include some of their younger pitching in a deal for Wil Myers. It has been done before. In 2016, the Pirates dealt Francisco Liriano to the Blue Jays in order to dump his salary, which was nearly $27 mill for 2016 and 2017. In order to entice the Blue Jays, they also included Top 100 prospect Reese McGuire. (McGuire has yet to pan out, but the Blue Jays were able to dump Liriano on Houston for Teoscar Hernandez, which obviously did work out.)

Maybe, although last year they acquired two centerfielders (Arozarena and Margot), so they might be looking to replace him at some point. And possibly ASAP as his contract escalates over the next 2 seasons...

Yeah I've been floating that idea with those exact names for a while now. Of the three, I think Inciarte is the most likely since he is currently both the fourth outfielder and the highest paid outfielder on the Braves. No team wants their fourth outfielder to be their highest paid one. (Both Kiermaier and Cain make more money on longer deals, but are at least penciled in as starters.) And that team is absolutely flush with pitching. Granted they won't be dealing an ace, but just about all of their starting arms represent an upgrade for Boston...

He's not getting signd without some sort of assurance on his health. And if it is a low base/heavy incentive contract, it's probably a better investment than guaranteeing a deal for a lot of the fungible dreck currently available, including what's already on the Sox roster. Half of a season of Kluber might actually have a greater positive impact than a full season of Chris Mazza. And the $30mill limit right now is really just a guess. We really don't know the budget...