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The Sox could try to get Keibert Ruiz from the Dodgers, who already have a young pr-arb catcher in MLB blocking him in Will Smith. That would probably cost the Sox Triston Casas, if the Dodgers had any interest. Casas has an .824 OPS as a 19yo playing in A-ball. Ruiz has posted a .772 OPS across all levels of MiLB through his age 21 season. Prior to the 2020 season, Casas was ranked #70 by Baseball America and Ruiz was ranked #81. So this is actually a very fair trade. (And yes, it works out as a one for one on BTV with Ruiz having a surplus vaue of $23.4 million and Casas having a surplus value of $22.2 million.) These "top prospect for top prospect" deals are rare, but this move would help the Dodgers by opening another spot on their 40 man roster, which could be important given their farm system, while dealing from a position of depth. The Soxwould get an elite propsect at one of the tougher positions to fill. As Casas is not a Bloom guy, not sure what his opinion of Triston's future is...

I think the Sox pick up a short term catcher on the market. They could go all in for Realmuto, I suppose. But if not, James McCann and former Bloom acquisition Mike Zunino top the list of suspects, along with dark horse Tyler Flowers. I have no idea who this year's Charlie Morton aka Bloom Target is, if there is one. I never saw Martin Perez as a target for this past offseason. But it is possible that Bloom relies more on the SP he already has, which is a list that does include ERod and Sale, plus whoever he gets via trade (Lopez? Someone for Vazquez?), and then focuses on building up the Sox lackluster bullpen in to more of a team strength, or at least less of a liability. Liam Hendriks, Trevor Rosenthal, and the very underappreciated Trevor May seem like good candidates. Hector Rondon is struggling this year, but it also typically a very underrated reliever who has had a pretty good career..

I was saying this just the other day to JD Martinez...

Some predictions, which, let's face it, rarely come true when I make them. Andrew Benintendi and Christian Vazquez are in their final week of games for the Red Sox. Benintendi to the White Sox for Rodrigo Lopez is a trade that makes a ton of sense for both sides. Vazquez will go to the Rays for a package that includes Kevin Kiermaier as the "bad contract" Bloom uses to up the return for a farm system and pitching staff he is obviously very familiar with. As Tampa has already taken multiple steps to replace Kiermaier (by acquiring both Manny Margot and Randy Arozarena), they would also clearly find this to be a good start. While the free agent who clearly fills the biggest need for the Sox is Trevor Bauer, I have my doubts Bloom tries to sign him. Tampa is 222-157 (.585) since 2018, and the biggest external name Bloom has added to that staff is Charlie Morton (6.7 fWAR), who trails only their internally-developed Blake Snell (8.1 fWAR) for the team lead, but in one less season. I don't think adding an ace i going to be his style. But I do think he will spend...

Noted. I will limit my Macho Duck links accordingly...

Especially since ERod's case might be worse. For everything Moncada has still wrong with him, I don't think he has been diagnosed with myocarditis. (Also I did mention it at least once before when dgalehouse tried to point out that Moncada was nothing special after his performance this year.)

Cut him some slack https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/white-soxs-yoan-moncada-on-covid-19-definitely-my-body-hasnt-felt-the-same-after-the-virus/

It's a bullpen game now. With the advent of pitch counts, larger bullpens and specialized relievers, managers simply do not leave them in nearly as long any more...

That's actually a very common outcome for long term expensive free agents. Sure, the first year or two can be very productive, but they almost always end up being burdens before the contract is up...

Well, that could be because the best player he traded away had COVID 19 and has been slow to recover....

In 3+ seasons, Quintana had a career total of 2.8 fWAR, 2.6 of which came in 1991. Granted, the defensive contributions from that era are incomplete. But honestly, I saw Q play and nothing he did with his glove was going to help him here...

For you, denny

Well, that's only if we pretend Walker Buehler, Mike Soroka and Trent Grisham were not still available...

Unlike Lin, Chatham has options remaining. But if Lin is back, I'd be surprised if it was anything except a minor league deal. And if the Sox have a roster spot available, it probably goes to an outfielder, and probably someone capable of playing CF in a pinch...

Yes but it's a stat encompassing his year long accomplishments. To say "he pitched 100 less innings allows someone else to generate more WAR" is a ridiculous reason. Does it mean he pitched better in his 100 fewer innings? Yes. But using outside "Not David Price" factors, like how well someone else might have pitched, as an evaluation of Price is just flat out wrong. But his durability as measured in IP is a factor when looking at the two of them...

So what you're saying is that when giving Price a contract, a GM might think "Well he does not throw as many innings as other pitchers, but that means he gives better opportunities to the relief pitchers to pick up the slack. Hey, that is worth $17 mill per year!!" Just imagine how much Price could get if he stopped pitching altogether!!!

Maybe they're the same person. A little CGI to adjust the build. Use a mirror to make it look like he's throwing with the other arm. Boom - Nathan Sale...

What? It's a really, really safe bet that any reliever contributing positively would have had ample work opportunities. Even the managers you don't like manage their bullpens that way....

I would avoid LeMahieu, since there is no way to tie him to an improved pitching staff. Not like anyone playing 2B for Boston is great trade bait. I would avoid Turner, while it does create a logjam with Devers and Dalbec, I think the Sox are better off with their current corner infielders. Brantley is an interesting thought. Excellent hitter who frees up Benintendi. My only concern is how much field he will be able to play over the next 3 seasons, since the Sox are likely to have DH filled for 2 of them. Forget Yates, Minor, Greene. Hendriks and Schoop have promise in my eyes. The reliever market is one the Sox relly need to look in to, but the bet option is a tough call. Springer and Ozuna figure to be among the most expensive, and the money is probably better spent on Bauer or Realmuto. Tanaka is a Yankee, so pass. Stroman is a possibility, as is Robbie Ray...

But only 3 of the top 10 have, and only 2 were traded (Realmuto and Jorge Alfaro)...

I'm very ok with that...

It's not like the NBA draft where you need a top 3 pick to get very high odds on getting anyone good. I don't see any real difference between picking 5th and picking 10th in he MLB draft...

Yes, which is why I am down on Eovaldi as a starter. Lackey did turn it around after 2 awful years, but not many pitchers will give you that on long term free agent contracts..

I'm ok with that. As long as they don't go overboard with the years...

Ok, but then he combined for 0.9 fWAR in the nest 2 seasons. His 4.2 fWAR from 2010-2012 is certainly a far from impressive run...