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Colome and Joc Pederson. And maybe Mitch Moreland. I'm modifying my plan...

Yes. That is when they ripen and practically fall off the tree at their peak juiciness...

Also true. Missed him because he is not listed as a CF. I am a rare one who likes Pederson and would not bother platooning him. He gets 5-10 PA vs LHP every year. He's not going to learn to hit them without getting more. I'd be OK with bringing on Pederson for RF/CF. Wonder what his demands are. I'm calling Bloom...

Yes. Don't you? The only way it isn't is if Renfroe just takes over RF and Verdugo moves to CF, leaving Benntendi on his own in LF. Exactly, which is what I would try to avoid...

I think we know who is platooning with Renfroe. As for a LHH CF, the options are: via Free agency: Bradley Brian Goodwin Billy Hamilton (S) Jarrod Dyson Jon Jay Danny Santana (S) Dee Strange-Gordon via trade: Ender Inciarte Adam Hasely Roman Quinn (S) Not sure what other LHH CFs can be had via trade. I will say I do like the LHH off the bench thing more so because I would prefer a Plan B in case Dalbec goes all Chavis on this team after he gets exposed. Mitch Moreland should suffice. Becuase right now, if Dalbec flummoxes, who plays 1b? Chavis and/or Ockimey?

Ozuna is not a horrible defensive OF. He actually had seasons where he put up good defensive metrics in CF...

Hopefully the Sox can get another arm (or two - hey, MiLB deals are a good thing) and a RF/CF and they might actually have a decent team. If they get Colome and Ozuna, I would think this team could get a WC. And if things break right, who knows?

And if that happens, hopefuly it keeps the Sox in some sort of contention. Richards has a team option already, so that one has been taken care of. (And he is not a guy you go long term with anyway.) ERod is really the only long term candidate from the option year guys...

Yeah, those NESN expenses were killing the Sox on the luxury tax...

Is it? If he is earmarked for the bull;pen, leave him out there and let him pitch as needed. I just don't like the idea making him a reliever until needed as a starter. If he is a relief pitcher, put him in the bullpen. If he is a starter, but him in either rotation - Boston or Worcester - to start the season until he is needed in Boston. and if he goes to Worcester, that is a good thing because it means the Sox have 5 healthy starters for the start of the season. Service time need not be an issue with older rookies. This is not a guy who is going to be commanding $30-35 mill when he hits the open market...

By beating us up while wearing another uniform?

While possible, as long as those players are out there, no one wants Benintendi. Although Benintendi seems like an odd fallback for a team that misses out on JBJ...

The Sox are positioned right now that could make some sort of "make or break" move to improve the 2021 season and try for post-season contention. And if they are out of it at the deadline, they have enough short term deals that can still do a mini fire sale and get some prospects/young major leaguers and be poised for 2022. Right now, they have the following players in their final year aka deadline trade bait: Rodriguez, Barnes, Ottavino, and Richards And then they have the additional year for Benintendi, Andriese, Eovaldi and Plawecki. Even in the biggest deadline fire sales, how many deals an one team make? If they only move the one year players, that's four trades at one deadline, which is an awful lot for any team to make in that time frame anyway.

Either way. At that point, you're getting to the downside of his career. His age 25 season is likely to be just as good. That is all assuming he even has a full 6 year career, which is well above league average...

And certainly a better chance than even a "good prospect" turning into what Beni used to be. The Sox explored dealing Benintendi, but it turned out to be nothing more than due diligence. The league was not interested. and now it's Benintendi's job to make them all look silly for it...

Why could you possibly find that puzzling? (Hint: It has to do with pinstripes.) If the Sox had been the team to acquire Taillon, he would be making long medically-based posts about how much of a risk it was...

Margot is a good one. Forgot about him. but OF depth is not a strongsuit of the Sox farm. We have Jarren Duran, who struggled in AA but does seem to impress in these MiLB-equivalent short seasons like the AFL and the one in Puerto Rico. And beyond him, the next two best OF prospects are two guys who play the the same position (CF). And then we have Nick Decker, who seems like he has been in A ball forever. But I guess he is still only 21. After that, probably nothing more than a bunch of longshots..

I'm talking about grabbing them NOW.

Why bother with his service time? He's almost 25. Is the goal here to maintain control of Houck for his age 32 season?

Oh I am not so sure they feel that way about our OF prospects. Has the Sox farm graduated any OF from the farm since Benintendi? On any team in MLB?

It's on the table for all the short timers. But that can wait until the Sox are actually out of it. I'd rather grab a couple more good players and try to get back in it.

I wouldn't demote Houck due to service time concerns. This is not some 21yo who we want to keep from reaching free agency at age 27. 2021 will be his age 25 season. But if his role in the future of the Sox is as a starter, then make him a starter and don't half-ass it. If his role is the bullpen, that is different. Keep him over Brice or Valdez...

I'd actually rather have him help the Sox play meaningful games in September/October. The Sox farm system lacks any high upside "future All Star" players. But we do have a lot of guys who might be actual MLB players, either supplementary starters of bench players. Ottavino would bring back more of the latter and none of the former...

If anything of actual value was available for Benintendi, he would have been dealt for it. There is a reason there is no buzz about this anymore when, a week a go, a deal was reportedly "imminent"...

I wanted Taillon in Boston, but pretending he is healthy does not make it so. Part of his availability was due to the significant health risk, which is why Cherington traded him NOW instead of waiting until July or until next season. His salary for 2021 is only $2.25 mill, so it's not like this is some sort of huge savings. Get real. Colin Moran makes more money than Taillon! Colin Freakin' Moran!!!!! And when the dust settles, Steve Brault and Chad Kuhl likely as well. But those guys are all good bets to make it throguh a season so the impetus to deal immediately them is lessened. And THAT is why the Yankees got him so quickly and so cheaply, and probably also why a lot of other teams did not even get involved in the bidding, including the Red Sox. Do you honestly think those borderline Yankee prospects represented a better offer than any other team could have made for a healthy starting pticher who was a former #2 overall pick and makes less than $3mill and has 2 full seasons of control? Your post above actually makes it sound like you do. Those multi-TJ pitchers do not have long shelf lives. Taillon is good, and he is a worthwhile gamble. But there is the reason he was available now and came so cheaply, and also why a lot of teams backed off...