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Except that with Acuna, Pache, Waters, Riley, and Inciarte, OF might not be their most pressing need. Betts is a clear upgrade over all of them, except possibly Acuna, but outfield might also not be where they chose to spend their allowance...

Who says he even likes Tennessee? He might love Southern California. At least until he has to drive somewhere. In some respects, Boston has a big advantage. He knows the place and what it is like to play there. And per Peter Gammons, he was happy with the Red Sox. The Sox will be positioned to bring him back, butt here has to be mutual interest as measured in US dollars...

Exactly my point. He was just less involved. Metrics don't catch that up front, but analysis of metrics does...

It's not like John Henry is on Youtube with a puppy saying "Buy Red Sox tickets or I will do a Facebook Live where I drown little Happy here!! So do you want tickets or do you hate Happy?"

Oh no! Marketing! In a social media world, they'd be fools not to. Do you think the Yankees don't do similar things?!

The $1 was more symbolic. The point is that if the Sox are interested in Betts, they’re on a level playing field with 28 other teams (Dodgers will have a slight advantage in an exclusive negotiating window), and not starting off with some form of penalty or disadvantage...

I think a big reason for the decline is that his per inning chances are among the worst in MLB. UZR and DRS and, well, any defensive metric rely heavily on having plays to make. It is possible Betts, whose opportunities are noticeably higher, has been taking some opportunities away from Bradley. I don’t think the skills are declining. Not that much. Put Myers in RF (hypothetically) and JBJ will have a “miraculous” return to defensive form...

He should be doing both, since they are for different reasons...

Unless teams don’t quite meet them. If that’s the case, expect a prolonged free agency for Betts that drags into February...

As far as we know, Betts’ price to every team is one dollar more than the next highest. Not sure why you’re singling out the Red Sox here or what Bradley and Martinez have to do with it...

Based on what? Mookie wanting revenge? The amount the Red Sox have to pay is based on what other teams are willing to pay, not based on their record from the previous year. If no team is willing to pay him 12 years $360 million, they the price for the Red Sox doesn't increase over the original 12yr / $420mill demand. It goes down. Unless Mookie is willing to leave a ton of money on the table, which is the one thing he seems to have any reluctance to do....

Agree on Kimbrel Not on Sale. No way to get a player of Sale's ability on that dirt cheap contract without giving up quality and quantity. If the Sox did not give up Moncada and Kopech plus, another team would have acquired Sale...

THere's no such thing as a bad minor league contract. I stand by that. I would just like some minor league pitching contracts...

As many other have said - "print the playoff tickets!"

Assuming another 2B made the play. While it looked like an easy play, let's not forget Kinsler won a Gold Glove that year...

Weren't they willing to pay 50% last time arpund, but Boston wanted them to pay more?

Thee will likely be a decline in attendance if the team does not win immediately. But Mookie was not the difference between winning and not winning this year. The Sox had Mookie last year and it equaled 85 wins. Fans will come back when the team wins. And some will stick throughout. Most of us started following this ballclub at some point between 1918 and 2004. A rough season or two is not exactly a novelty for us...

They had no choice...

He’s run Tampa. Declining attendance is a given. The whole “Boston media is voracious” probably doesn’t have the impact you think it has. Too many Boston sportswriters did nothing but whine about each and every move regardless of how good it is. And for some of them, Chaim Bloom could singlehandedly extinguish a burning kindergarten classroom full of kids using nothing more than the contents of the sandbox, and all they would write about is how he destroyed one of their toys. As the saying goes on sports management, “don’t listen to the fans, or you’ll wind up sitting with them.” The loss of ticket sales is probably expected, but Henry is letting Bloom do the long term thing. We’ll see if Henry learned anything from the way he cut Cherington’s long term vision off in favor of a quick fix..,

Well, what was the benefit to keeping Mookie in 2020 and then losing him for a fourth round pick? In 2020, the Sox season hinged 100% on the health of Price, Sale and Eovaldi. Not Betts. The Sox offense was top four in MLB using any metric you like. Pitching? Not so much. And their Big Three are all expensive and oft-injured. If the Sox kept Betts, then Price, Sale and Eovaldi are all still here next year. Betts is not. Martinez is not. Bradley is not. And a few other lesser players. Price, Sale and Eovaldi May or may not continue to get injured. But they all definitely get older. The farm system gives maybe a little relief? The payroll is still in the $190-200 mill range. The lineup (C:Vasquez, 1b: Dalbec?, 2b: Chavis, 3b: Devers, LF: Benintendi, CF: Duran?, RF: ??, DH:??) can certainly no longer be called a strength and borders on Marlins-like production. And the rotation is as described. That team would finish above Baltimore. But if you enjoyed 2014 and 2015, you might not mind so much..,

Liar. I remember seeing your scrawls in the sand about how cheap Jean Yawkey was and how Heywood Sullivan was such a bad GM...

I’m sure he does like the guys he acquired. But then a volume-based approach on MiLB arms never hurt anyone. But more important, at one point he clearly wanted a pitcher in the Betts trade, going so far as to get Minnesota involved. Downs and Wong were, at best, Plan B. So the question is, will Bloom do something to replace Graterol?

People keep trying to compare Betts leaving to other players, but the Sox whole financial picture is different since then. Both payrolls and salaries have skyrocketed. No one wanted this to happen, but something drastic did need to be done to avoid becoming the Tigers...

It is a minor league deal. Just not exactly the position the Sox need...

At some point, he might have to get beyond the “don’t like that one. Or that one” phase and realize it’s last call...