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And jad

Talk to Dombrowski. not sure why he was so unaware that Betts was going to be costly. Or maybe he just didn't care because he planned to ride the current team to (hopefully) two more titles before it all fell apart...

EXcept that the Sox would not have reset. Duffy's AAV of $13mill is close to Bradley's $11mill, so it's only a $2mill net gain for this year towards the penalty. If the Sox could have dealt Bradley, maybe keeping Price was more realistic...

I thoght Kennedy had another year, which would make it a big plus for KC to deal him, but he does not. One guy worth targeting might be Jose Urena. He's actually not a bad pitcher, but the Marlins are flush with cheaper, talented SPs. The BTV Simulator had a deal of Connor Wong for Urena as a modest overpay, but it doesn't look unrealistic to me...

This board is a small cross section of fans, but there have been more than enough "Pedroia needs to retire" posts that the feeling definitely exists. I'd be more supportive of that attitude if Pedroia injured himself in a motorcycle accident or a skiing accident or some prohibited activity. But the man was hurt in the line of duty...

f*** that. Don't make rule changes that change team strategies. If a manager wants to change his pitcher 4 times in one inning, let him. If he wants to position all 7 infielders and outfielders on a line between 1B and 2B, let him. THere are pluses and minuses to both these strategies, and when the minuses outrank the pluses, everything returns to normal. Want to speed up games? ENFORCE THE EXISTING RULES FOR THE TIME A PITCHER HAS TO THROW A PITCH!! Also, stop allowing teams to call up their entire 40 man roster come September 1. I know this is partially in place, but why allow even the 2 extra players? What other sport does this? You get 26 players. If your team is out of it and you want to see some younger kid get a debut to evaluate him against MLB, or to instill some excitement in a very bored fanbase, cut someone and make room for him. You get 26 roster spots! Even allowing 14 pitchers is too many. No one needs a 9 man bullpen for any game. Not even Bruce Bochy. And how does this rule affect the Angels? Does Shohei Otani count as a pitcher? Or some of the other 2 way players, like Mike Lorenzen and Jake Cronenworth? What's the ruling here? Will tems start allowing some of the younger two way college players to maintain both roles so as to take advantage of this rule? f***ing ridiculous rule changes. 1. Just make it 26 players all season long. Or keep 25. Both are fine and I won't quibble about a roster spot. 2. And enforce the existing pitch clock rules. And see if that alone does not accomplish the goal..

Well, that should help speed up games.

His salary is comparable to Kevin Kiermaier, but he is also only signed for one year (unlike Kiermaier) and has a much less significant history of injury. Bradley is arguable paid acceptably in accordance with some of his peers, but his contract is not exactly movable in the wake of serviceable CF options who were available on the market this year and willing to settle for less. The only way the sox move Bradley now is if they take back another contract some team wantsto dump. Someone positied a Bradley/Samardzija swap, which might work out. Except that the Sox should not touch this deal with a 20 foot ... err.. umm.. trading stick? I got nothing here. Samardzija is at the point in his career where his fastball velocity is dropping like a 90's dotcom stock. Now if the Sox got creative, and moved Samardzija to the bullpen, where he does have a good track record and in the reduced role he very likely sees some velocity return, and then maybe bumped Barnes into an opener role, it might work out. But that seems a little too specific to hope for...

You only put one number is, and it could not be more wrong. Sale, Martinez and Eovaldi alone will make $63mill towards the tax (which is what matters) and $70 million combined. The remaining 37 players on the 40 man roster do NOT make a combined total of negative $20 million...

I don't see the infield as being "in flux." Bogaerts and Devers are locks long term. The Sox don't have any real dynmao at the SS position anywhere in the approximate pipeline (unless you are a CJ Chatham fan), but they do have a potentially serviceable 3B in Dalbec should anything go awry. Moreland is a seasoned MLB veteran at 1B with a Gold Glove and a World Series ring to his credit. He's not the most exciting player and not a personal favorite, but he is not exactly a weakness either. And we are liekly to see Chavis and possibly Dalbec get reps at the position. 2B is in flux, which puts it kindly. While it is possible Chavis takes off and runs away with the role, that feels like borderline wishful thinking. The role could also easily fall into the hands of some combination of Pereza, Lin and Arauz. Chatham is going to require some injuries to even see Fenway this year, and hopefully no one to Bogaerts. Hernandez is not even on the 40 man roster and has a history that puts him more likely to see the 60 day IL. I'd like to see the Sox sign Brian Dozier here, but I think/hope pitching gets the higher priority. The Sox really also should (and hopefully will) make a deal with Houston to keep Arauz if they like him so he can play in Pawtucket (and if this happens, it is actually likely to be well into Spring Training after the Sox have made a decision on whether or not they are keeping Arauz). The whole idea of keeping Arauz on the bench and losing a year of development while gaining a year of service time is just a worst case scenario for a younger player and a team. And hey, maybe Arauz can be some sort of stud in ST and actually take over the 2B position as his own. (Warning: Do NOT hold your breath. Or anyone else's breath. No breath-holding period.) but as much of a question mark as 2B is, the pitching staff - both rotation and bullpen - are really better places to try to improve. Even a marginal improvement would be welcome, despite also being potentially insignificant...

That is a very supportable argument...

In all likelihood, Betts does not come back. There is just a chance now. If he does not, it will position the Sox to build around Devers and Bogaerts, which is not exactly the worst thing ever to happen to this team...

For one thing, 6 other seasons. They are basically the same player. In 7 seasons, Bradley has a 92 OPS+ and worth 15 bWAR / 13.5 fWAR In 7 seasons, Pillar has a 87 OPS+ and been worth 15.2 bWAR / 11.5 fWAR. It is worth noting that these stats measure accomplishments and not ability. The defensive portion of Bradley's WAR is compromised by playing next to a superior RF in Betts, who likely took some chances away from Bradley. A look at defensive totals vs innings played does confirm this. Given a lesser RF, it is possible Bradley really increases his numbers. Pillar has played next to a slew of different corner OF (and played some RF himself) and therefore has not had such a limitation. His numbers might actually be a bit more representative...

And you are one who typically believes "pitching equals parades." I believe that is a direct quote from you. And absolutely has some merit. As for this year's Red Sox team, I don't think losing Mookie will be what keeps them out of the post-season. Last year, they were a top 3 (runs scored) or top 4 team (fwAR) in offense, depenind on which metric you prefer. In both cases, they were the highest ranked team to not make the post-season. Pitching was another matter. They were closer to the middle of the pack in just about every metric. Pitching really was why they did not play in October. Right now, the real big problem is, their pitching is probably worse. Their biggest addition (Perez) has never been as good as their biggest subtraction (Price). The bullpen, maligned as it was, appears to only be adding a rookie who puts the "wild" in "wild card." There was a modest farm upgrade, but so far no one has really been moved to address these areas. The Sox have added a few questionable middle infielders (Pereza, Arauz) to supplement their incumbent questionable middle infielders (Chavis, Lin, Hernandez), and done some bench patchwork. These are nice upgrades, but the team finished 12 games behind the second wild card team. Also, the Bloom has loaded the back end of the 40 man roster with fringy relief pitchers discarded by other teams. Obviously he sees something in a few of them that I don't. But I doubt it's 12 more wins...

Usually fans, especially if the statement fro 5Gold, if I am interpreting it correctly, says "People can worry all they want about the second-half of the contract, but do any fans really think or care about seven years from now while their team is better and a contender with a Hall of Famer for the next half dozen seasons[/I]?" Yes. if I'm still alive, I plan to be a fn in 2027 as well, and like most of us who were fans before 2004, I won't let a poorly performing team change that. But I'd rather the team took measures to position themselves to not perform poorly in any of those seasons...

Complaining about the present is fine. Thinking the remedy is to completely ignore the future is unrealistic. Common, but unrealistic...

Especially in the last couple weeks. Because in December and January, the two biggest acquisitions were so noteworthy that we barely ever even talk about the "impact" expected from Perez and Peraza....

Well, I called the argument stupid. I’ll cop to that being too harsh, but it is being short-sighted. I apologize, and don’t think you or your opinions are stupid. It's not my job to tell you what offends you; it'a my job to respect those limits. Now criticizing and disagreeing with that viewpoint is fair (and should be done with more courtesy). As fans, we have the luxury of saying “let’s worry about 202x when it gets here and not one second before.” As a GM, Bloom does not have that luxury. We will always be looking at this from a different viewpoint. And we don’t really even always fully understand his. If Bloom every read my posts -any of them - his first thought might be “what a f***ing bonehead. Does he even remotely understand my job?” And let’s face it, that response is infinitely more likely than him ever saying “hey, this guy gets it and has a great understanding of what I need to do.” But on your post, I do think it is short-sighted. And Pedroia, who arguably was on a Hall of Fame track himself - is a prime example of how little fans appreciate what a player has done and why he got that contract in the first place when said player becomes a financial hamstring blocking upgrades in other areas. The Sox hopefully get Mookie back. My guess is, without the reset and without dumping half of Price, there was zero chance of this happening. However, with both of those accomplished, the chances of signing Mookie to a lengthy, overpaid contract went from 0% to some number greater than 0. In short, they improved. And hopefully more than marginally...

Not to mention the whole “WE WOULD GET TO WATCH A HALL OF FAMER!” argument just proves any point that fans are solely into the present and quickly forget the past and believe the future needs to be ignored until it gets here. Is this supposed to be a novelty? The Sox had Hall of Farmers in left field for 50 STRAIGHT SEASONS! We’ve seen them. Also, those 50 years resulted in zero titles...

Don’t make stupid arguments like this. Dustin Pedroia took a hometown discount and fans STILL think he needs to retire so the team an access his salary, which is about ONE THIRD of Betts’ reported asking price...

If I’m the Mets, I’m ok with swapping Smith for Workman, but not so keen on depleting my starter depth...

Multiple...

Unless an injury just makes him completely fall off a cliff performance-wise at a relatively young age, like Grady Sizemore...

One could also argue the reverse. Not extending Eovaldi, Sale and Bogaerts (although that extension is awesome. He’s only included because I don’t want to pick and choose.) then the Sox would easily have kept Mookie and my had to worry about Price either. And they’d be just as many pitchers short as they are now. (Since Eovaldi is such a question mark anyway.)

His Red Sox fan father named him Jeter? This could should be named Nomaah Downs!!