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Typically spending is also related to fanbase. Teams that have a more voluminous and more enthusiastic/rabid fanbase tend to get better revenue streams and therefore can spend more money. It's not like anyone owning a major sports franchise is living paycheck-to-paycheck. If they have a product people want, they can use that to generate more money and produce a better product. But the small market teams do tend to lack fans, so when they spend less fewer people are disappointed. However, there is a self-propagating aspect to this, too...

Exactly. I care more about years than money. And about age when those years begin...

I'm a little simpler. DFA/release the following: Chris Mazza, Jeff Springs, Matt Hall, Robinson Leyer, Andrew Triggs, Dylan Covey, Mike Kickham, Ryan Weber, Zack Godley, Austin Brice Option the following to Pawtucket: Robert Stock, Colten Brewer (will require a DFA, but he'll clear), Kyle Hart, Marcus Walden Retain the following for MLB roster: SP: Eduardo Rodriguez, Nick Pivetta, Martin Perez BP: Barnes, Hernandez, Brasier, Taylor, Phillips Valdez, Nate Eovaldi (Yes, it is time to move the ever-fragile Eovaldi out ofthe 150 IP role and into a 60 IP role, assuming he cannot be dealt). Add 2 SP's, one of whom might be Mata or Seabold, who can hold on to Sale's spot for a couple months. Load up on relief pitchers. C: Vazquez, Plawecki. (Vazquez might be some form of trade bait.) INF: Dalbec, Devers, Bogaerts, Chavis, Munoz/Lin/Chatham. Maybe add a 2B. While I like Munoz, it's not like he has a great track record. Non-tender Peraza and option Arauz to Pawtucket. OF: Benintendi, Verdugo, Martinez. Add a CF and a 4th OF. So the Sox need one SP (minimum), one 2B (?), one CF, maybe a 4th OF if they can't find one internally, and maybe 3-5 relief pitchers. And a catcher if they deal Vazquez, unless they like a Plawecki/Gruillon tandem back there...

My only problem with the Pomeranz trade was letting Preller clearly cheat, lie and steal. And Pomeranz has turned into an excellent pitcher who has pitched for 4 teams since that trade, while Espinoza has pitched all of 32 innings for the San Diego minor league system, and none since 2016. Had the Sox not made that trade, what good would Espinoza be doing us today? Making Jay Groome look healthy by comparison?

He has, and I am thankful the man has dropped a couple billion dollars on my entertainment. And I have reciprocated by spending exactly 0 dollars on his. But the bottom line is the man does have spending limits, despite the numerous foolish retorts of money-saving moves being to "save Henry money." Never my thought. My thoughts/plans/posts typically revolved around retaining players like Betts rather than foolishly dropping huge quantities of cash of players on the wrong side of 30 and hoping they miraculously don't age, or by signing players for 6-7 years to fill a one or two year gap in production. Which brings me to a conundrum on Trevor Bauer this offseason. He is clearly going to be looking at a Price-esque contract, but no one else on the market can expedite the turnaround of this team any better. But that might mean a better team in 2021-2023, and then, what? Right back here again, dumping Casas and Groome to get someone to take Bauer off our hands?

Price was also 30 at the time, and signed for 7 years. That meant even a healthy Price was probably going to start declining very early in that contract (which he did). Betts is 27. He had more years of production ahead of him, and he was a better player to begin with. So while Price was dropping from a 5-6 fWAR pitcher to a 4 fWAR pitcher to a 2 fWAR pitcher, from Betts we might have seen him go from being an 8-10 fWAR outfielder to a 7-9 fWAR outfilder to maybe a 5-6 fWAR outfielder over time. And maybe after 9 or 10 years, he is a 3-4 fWAR outfielder, but by then you have a much better ROI on that contract...

For me, I don't care about the size of the payroll, but I do care when too much money starts getting tied up in aging players, because that limits the team's ability to retain younger players and limits their ability to improve in the near future, which is where we are today. That's why I did not like the Price signing and the Eovaldi signing. I would have liked the Sale extension, but I do think Sale only signed it because he knew he was hurt (and I think Dombrowski only offered that lowball extension because he also knew). But paying heavily for younger players like was done for Manny and Pedro were both fine with me...

The Rays added an infielder to their player pool named Ford Proctor, in the "Name That Sounds Way Too Much Like A Make and Model of Car" category...

In the Braves-Marlins game, Adam Duvall hit a 2 run home run, a 3 run home run and a grand slam (9 RBIs!!). He needed just the solo shot to be the first Major Leaguer ever to hit the home run cycle...

As much as we complain about the pitching, how many people realize that the Sox put up 13 runs on opening day and haven't had a double digit run day since? Now they do have a disadvantage in that they never get to face Red Sox pitching...

The Sox pitching is bad, But look around the league today, The Tigers' pitching gave up 19 runs, and didn't even come close to having the worst day in the league. The Braves have put up 29 (and counting) on the Marlins. (Sox worst to date is 17.)

The Kinsler trade didn't work out? The Sox wanted to shore up 2B defense. Kinsler won a Gold Glove that year. We weren't going to get that out of Eduardo Nunez. And Kinsler got to fulfill two long-held dreams - 1) Win a World Series, and 2) finally take a job away from Dustin Pedroia...

It does depends on their faith in Jarren Duran at some point. I would think a one year stopgap (with a team option?) in CF should suffice...

There is a lot there. The Red Sox put Hall of Famers in left field for 50 consecutive seasons and did not win a title in even one of them. Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Ty Cobb rank 2-5 in career fWAR (behind Babe Ruth) with a combined total of exactly 600 fWAR. They also have combined for fewer World Series rings than Pablo Sandoval ...

They were willing to do so with an older and (I think) riskier David Price...

Marcus Semien will not make up for losing Mookie. Verdugo is taking a little sting out of it, however...

He was by Philly..

Well, Willie Calhoun fields like he is wearing a Gold Glove...

Or "And I'm the guy who got DFA'd?!?!?"

So did Masterson...

It doesn't hurt that we traded away a couple like Frankie Montas and Justin Masterson, and converted some of the better ones left into relievers, like Barnes and Papelbon. To say it's the scouting or development is probably not correct, since this goes back nearly two decades. And if you discount Lester and Buchholz, you have to go back to Aaron Sele in 1991 to find a SP who worked out for the Sox. That spans nearly 30 years and over half a dozen GMs and probably hundreds of scouts and minor league coaches. At this point, it is getting far too coincidental for my liking. Maybe part of the reason is the Sox have had a habit of filling the rotation with veteran arms as they could afford them, and simply dealt their better pitching prospects away or converted them to bullpen arms...

At age 19, Lars Anderson posted a .828 OPS in 533 plate appearances in A ball and a .975 OPS is 47 PA in High A-ball At age 19, Triston Casas posted an .820 OPS in 493 PA in A ball and a 1.429 OPS in 14 PA in high A ball. Very similar, especially since Casas High A resume is built on so few plate appearances (and two of his 3 hits went for extra bases, including 1 HR)... Anderson debuted in MLB 3 years later, but was a complete flop. This doesn't mean Casas will be a dud like Anderson, but it might give some semblance of his timeline...

Devers looks to have one corner INF spot locked up for a few years. Beyond that, the other corner is wide open for the time being.

It might be a tad early to worry about logjams created by A ball players. There is no such thing as a player in A-ball being blocked...

Welcome to the 2020 Red Sox..