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We could also move it to the 2020 thread. There isn't much else worth talking about on this team...

That is why it because so overblown. The collapse of the Sox has also been tied to making the team play an unscheduled makeup doubleheader against the A's, which is always seemingly ignored in favor of the more popular "chicken and beer" fiasco that had probably been going on for years. Like AJ implied, that type of behavior is ubiquitous among MLB franchises. Do we think the 2004 starting rotation did not have some sort of equivalent behavior during games they were not pitching?

It has impact on 2021, so I don't see it';s inclusion here as wildly inappropriate. Especially if the Sox learned nothing from the history here...

The most overblown scandal in American Sports History. In the words of then-White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski - "I've played on three different teams, and seen that in three different clubhouses."

That's potentially a very weak pair of corner outfielders. Not to mention, why the weird alignment of Verdugo in CF and Duran in RF. Both are clearly better suited to be switched back. I like Munoz as a 2B/utility INF candidate, along with Arroyo, assuming the former doesn't have a fit and storm out of camp again. But neither is a guaranteed solution even at 2B as it is. I don't think Munoz' bat will play in LF any better than Benintendi. At this point, you taking a guy who has "disappointed" with a .751 OPS since 2018 and replacing him with a guy whose career OPS is .736 in limited play. You're just replacing a disappointment with a surprise and not taking into account that there, at best, the same hitter, and you're re-arranging the defense to accommodate him. If the Sox can trade Benintendi for a pitcher, that's not necessarily the worst idea. I've thrown out Benintendi for Matt Boyd or Benintendi for Reynaldo Lopez as trades that seem fair. Don't expect much more. But if the Sox do that, they have no good internal candidates to play LF. There OF prospect depth begins and ends with Duran, who would be wasted there. And Munoz is only 16 months younger, so there is no argument that he is more likely to get better than Benintendi over time...

Or not...

I think it is bigger than you think. Really, star or not, if you get the minimum wage starter, then it becomes easier to retain your stars. Fr example, if the Sox still had Margot and Allen, sure neither are stars, but also maybe they do not extend Eovaldi and repeated extend Bradley. Now while Allen is hardly stellar, we would say the same thing about any prospect who gave us what we have gotten from Eovaldi, who has given us 105 IP of 5.57 ERA (86 ERA+) since signing that deal after 2018. That representant close to $85mill i right there. Certainly not enough to retain Betts on it's own, but a big chunk of it. And the decisions can be piled on to it. Was the Sale extension done (which it clearly appears to have been) because he was injured and unable to pitch? Should that have been done? That's another $145 mill and we still have to replace him anyway. And how many of those 5 years will he be effective?

But this is year 6 of his deal.. In the previsous 5 years, Lester posted an ERA+ of 118, which is essentially what the Sox got from Price (also ERA+ of 118) but for 354 fewer IP and for $73 million more...

If he throws 180 innings, he’s better...

If you like, I can play it forward a bit, to when we trade Devers so we can hold onto so mid-30’s overpaid hype like Trevor Bauer and Marcus Stroman. But you’re going to have to accept that the “we didn’t give away any exceptional players” crap is actually not the point...

Maybe, but Ben had to get the team out of “sell mode” before I can accept that...

No pitching? The Sox did draft Brandon Belt as a pitcher a while back, but I think that ship has sailed...

The Shane’s. The Sox could increase the return by taking back the contract of Kevin Kiermaier, which helps clear up the CF logjam for Tampa and clears a path for Margot or Arozarena. Vazquez to Tampa for Kiermaier, McClanahan and Trevor Richards. Boom. Done...

Bingo. For example, we could use a 2b right now...

Not all at once. I hated that Cherington never traded any. Dombrowski traded them all. We need a happy medium. Trading all the prospects left the Sox with no minimum wage replacements, and that was likely a factor in not signing Betts...

If I could have filtered the ads, I would have...

And really, who from Dalbec, Houck, Casas, Chavis, Ward, Song, Mata and Duran is a quality MLB player?

Except that they can still be traded before they don’t turn out. Tony Armas Jr. was a good prospect, for example, and probably one of the most important ones in Sox history. But not for his pitching...

When people talk about the low-ranking farm, it doesn’t mean no one in is capable of playing in MLB ever. It means we have fewer and lesser prospects than other teams...

Funny thing about walks. They don't count less just because you're younger.

For you

Is Ward's issue with walks (3.9 BB/9) really that much more of an issue than Deivi Garcia's (3.8 BB/9)? That's all of 1 walk for every 90 innings, or maybe 2 per season...

Or retire...

While I don't think the Sox are going to let every expensive player walk, what would you prefer? To be in contention every year or have a player Devers on the occasional last place team?

No, but it is a lot for a pitcher who has missed almost all of the last 2 seasons. He's become Tyson Ross with a better pedigree. And no one offered Tyson Ross an MLB deal last time he reached free agency. When you start using the phrases "$5 mill" and "multiple Cy Youngs" in the same sentence, that's an admission that there is something very wrong or very risky here. Kluber only gets a guaranteed deal if he starts receiving multiple offers, which is possible, but certainly not a guarantee. In fact, there is no guarantee he could pass a physical...