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It's also possible Boom Boom Bloom uses the CF position to take on an undesirable contract from another team to upgrade a pitching acquisition. The two obvious candidates are Tampa's Kevin Kiermaier (2 yrs / $25.8mill or 3 yrs / $36.3 mill with an AAV $8.9 mill) and Atlanta's Ender Inciarte (1 yr/$9.7 mill or 2 yrs/$17mill with an AAV $6.1 mill). Tampa isn't likely to bench Kiermaier, but they have made him expendable with last off-season's acquisitions of Manny Margot and Randy Arozarena, both of whom are very capable center fielders. and they have a clear need at catcher and a strong interest in Christian Vazquez, or at least reportedly did last August. And Tampa is loaded with young pitching talent Bloom of which Bloom is very aware. Atlanta is very likely to flat out bench Inciarte, making him that much more available, and give CF to top prospect Christian Pache. Now they might not be as interested in Vazquez if they are satisfied with Travis d'Arnaud and their catching prospect William Contreras (who was on the NLDS roster this season). Their most glaring need is 3B, where they have been playing Austin Riley lately, but they have also found reasons to try him in other positions, and they had so little confidence in him they went so far as to pick up Pablo Sandoval. Defensive metrics do not like Riley at 3B, and really, don't like him anywhere except maybe LF. This begs the question about whether or not they might have interest in Bobby Dalbec, and whether or not Boston would move him for pitching. (Devers goes nowhere.) Everybody's favorite website values Dalbec with a surplus of $23.mill and Inciarte with a value of (-$9.7) million. The difference is not enough to get Ian Anderson out of Atlanta. So which trade looks more plausible? Dalbec to Atlanta for Inciarte, LHP Tucker Davidson, LHP Kyle Muller and RHP Jessel de la Cruz works on BTV, but no way Atlanta gives up three young pitchers for a 3B with 92 career plate appearances and no MLB innings at 3B just to save $10mill. Maybe you can get two of them. Maybe. But I remain skeptical. Vazquez to Tampa for Kiermaier, RHP Shane Baz and LHP Shane McClanahan also works. Still a tough sell on Tampa, but they give up fewer pitchers and save more money, which is crucial to them. Of course, if they win the World Series with Michael Perez and Mike Zunino behind the plate, they might be less desperate to acquire a catcher at all. Although they more than likely watch Zunino walk, so there is an opportunity. Both Shane's have combined for a career total of 8 innings in AA, all of them by McClanahan. But McClanahan also made his MLB debut in the post-season this year, and I think he is the first pitcher in MLB history to make a debut this way. I think a deal with Atlanta is more likely, but not with 3 pitchers coming back and definitely not those 3. Maybe the Sox can get two pitchers, and more likely one of them is Kyle Wright or Bryse Wilson as opposed to Davidson or Muller. And the second one is someone still in A ball. That is assuming they are willing to part with Dalbec, of course...

If the idea is to draft a pitcher for 2021, it’s probably not going to happen. Especially not as a starting pitcher. The only starter in recent years to skip the minors and go directly to an MLB starting rotation is Mike Leake. But the Sox might be able to get someone capable of pitching in MLB in 2022. Most of the top arms in the mock drafts I’ve seen are college arms. And while the Sox should be able to get one, bear in mind there is no such thing as a “can’t miss” prospect. They can all miss...

Dee Gordon? Leury Garcia?

So the NBA season just ended. Last year, their regular season started on October 22nd. Can they ramp up and go again in 9 days?

And the next season he was a -0.9 fWAR guy in a third of a season...

And most of the ones that do are very often rather mediocre, like Pete Incaviglia and Mike Leake...

You going to have Santa put out a hit on him for you?

Ah Pedro Ciriaco. The one-time Shortstop of the Future! Then that day passed...

His skillset does work out very well in RF at Fenway...

Brad Miller. Not so much a CF, but can be a 1b/2b/3b/corner OF and bats LH. He was also a Bloom guy at one point...

Obviously, but the sheer lack of 60 game seasons makes wining percentage the only real method to compare. I'm not going to go through season by season to see what the Sox worst 60 game start was in team history. Maybe moon will do that someday..

If the Sox opt to spend on pitching, they could just go with Jarren Duran in CF, knowing if nothing else he will provide some defense. I would suspect a Bradley/Pillar type safety net signing with the goal of bringing Duran in as the season progresses (assuming Duran at least makes a case for himself)...

Or.. crazy though... deal Judge for pitching. The guy is about to get crazy expensive through arbitration, and he might be worth it if he wasn't always injured. And unlike with Torres, the Yankees already have a replacement in-house in Frazier...

I haven't read their lease, but I doubt there is a "World Series Champ Opt-Out" clause....

Hey, Middlebrooks tried to make that game-saving tackle on Allen Craig...

The .400 winning percentage was the lowest since 1965 (.383). Prior to that, the Sox haven't had another season with a sub-.400 wining percentage since 1932, when they had the franchise-worst winning pct of .279...

Looking around, prospectinsider.com has the Sox taking OF Jud Fabian (U Florida). They have previous pick Hill going 19th. This is also the latest anyone has Fabian going. https://prospectinsider.com/2021-mlb-draft-order-top-prospects-rocker-leiter/ Bleacher Report has UCLA SS Matt McClain going 4th, but they do not impose a team order over their rankings. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2895880-2021-mlb-mock-draft-early-predictions-for-top-1st-round-baseball-prospects Prospectslive.com has the Sox taking Jack Leiter (RHP Vanderbilt) https://www.prospectslive.com/mlb-draft/2020/9/26/2021-mlb-mock Prospects365.com has the Sox taking Jack Leiter, but they have the Sox picking 3rd. They have Miami Hurricane C Adrian Del Castillo going 4th https://prospects365.com/2020/09/04/mason-mcraes-2021-mlb-mock-draft-2-0/

As of right now, Baseball Prospectus has the Sox taking LSU RHP Jaden Hill. http://baseballprospectjournal.com/2021-mlb-draft-mock-draft-top-10-picks/

And even if they lose faith, they can flip flop him with Dalbec. Devers is last on the list of Sox problems...

“MLB-ready reliever” is a Kiss of Death among Sox draft picks. See Hansen, Craig...

Former HOF second baseman and ESPN commentator at 77...

After which, they should fire Cashman. I assume Boone will be long gone. The Yankees should trade Dominguez and Frazier before dealing Torres...

I think he trades for Jessica Biel and surprises us all...

Legally, it was considered a lake...

I left off a few precedents, most notably Jumbo Diaz and CC Sabathia...