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Keuchel, too. Bumgarner isn’t likely to be traded until someone takes Keuchel off the market. But the appeal of Bumgarner over Keuchel is two fold. 1. While Keuchel has been good in the postseason, Bumgarner has been stellar, with both an NLCS MVP and a WS MVP on his resume. 2. Keuchel will require a significant long term commitment. The younger Bumgarner might not, unless he makes an extension a stipulation to waive his no trade provisions...

The more salary you require them to take back, the greater the prospect haul you need to include. And in doing so, you reduce the likelihood of having a minimum wage contributing MLB player in the future the Sox might need to offset the larger contracts like Betts. Especially since there will be other teams in on Bumgarner, many of whom will not be asking the Giants to take their version of Nunez or Thornburg. Better off just paying the penalty now and mitigating the risk of even the smaller contributors to the future...

Chavis plus for Bumgarner/Panik is actually a reasonable trade. Underwriting Bumgarner as “just another arm” while extolling the future of Chavis (who is only 6 years younger than Bumgarner) like his success is etched in stone is homerism at its strongest. It’s a little early for deals, since the Giants will likely want any and all offers on the table before making a deal. But if the Sox want/need a starting pitcher of Bumgarner’s ability, Chavis - who could just as easily be written off as “another infielder with no position” were you to dismiss him as quickly as you did Bumgarner - is probably a reasonable asking price...

While it would have been really cool to see him strike out 20, or better yet, 21, the man was at 108 pitches. Not only is that probably already too many, but he needs a minimum of 9 more to get 3 more Ks. 117+ pitches on a cold night in May is a baaaaad idea...

Little less because I went back in to fix a typo, which is something I do for about half my posts...

Were we looking this up at the same time?

That walk was to Jose Abreu in the first inning 3 starts ago. Sale has struck out 40 batters since the last time he issued a walk...

Why would you get rid of Rosier? And if the C’s do, who mans the point?

So after this one game, the Sox should give up on Brasier, and temper any expectations about Benintendi and Betts? And this loss is a back breaker? A single game in mid-May?

That’s because it’s from an ad campaign so old, the three then-active Major Leaguers involved are either enshrined in Cooperstown or held outside the Hall for chemically inducing those long balls...

Worth pointing out, like every player with a partial no-trade list, Bumgarner has included the Red Sox...

You do even if you take it yearly...

And he was a player-coach for his last two NBA titles

Yes!! The Sox FINALLY get a left-handed starter!!! (Sarcasm)

Really? Bad move for multiple reasons. Even a 2.35% interest rate on a $25,000,000 deposit would yield a balance of over $50,000,000 in 30 years...

And his gritty ignorance and refusal to quit...

I live in Chicago, where apparently basketball before Jordan was basically an Aur Bud movie, but without the skill. Any time anyone challenges Jordan as the best player all time with Kobe or LeBron, Chicago sports fans instinctively chant “SIX RINGS!!! SIX RINGS!” To which I respond “But Jordan played for 19 years and only got 6 rings. Bill Russell played for 13 years and won 11.”

Maybe. But reportedly she messed around with a few of his teammates and was allegedly the reason the Cubs traded Rafael Palmeiro....

If he did do that, he wouldn’t be the first. Ryne Sandberg temporally “retired” from baseball to screw his completely unfaithful wife out of money, taking all of 1995 off. Once his divorce was final, he returned to MLB...

It would be ridiculous to think he was the only Sox hitter to luck into a few bad pitches. He was the MVP because he made those opportunities count...

We’ve all seen hitting lead to a parade as well. We won two rings with defensive grab bag Manny Ramirez playing the field. And one of those teams had defensive clusterf*** Julio Lugo at shortstop. I do think outfield defense is becoming paramount. It’s a launch angle game right now with increases in flyballs and strikeouts. But whether or not Bradley-Betts is better than Benintendi-Betts isn’t the question. (Or another lesser than Bradley defender in CF.) The question is, is that type of drop in CF defense still sufficient? Especially in the wake of Bradley’s non-existent offense. This isn’t the NFL, where you can gameplan around elite defenders. Hitters aren’t avoiding Bradley. But he isn’t as involved defensively as many CFs, and it looks like it’s because of the guys at the corners.

Well, in the case of Bradley, he did win the ALCS MVP. But not for his defense. His timely hitting was a bigger factor. But the subject of debate is his defense vs his defensive metrics. Not his timely hitting...

What camera angle do you have access to that shows his first step on contact? Mine is on the hitter until the director switches me over to the outfielder, whose typically either already in motion or where he (thinks he) needs to be. Unless you’re being sarcastic...

One issue with defensive metrics - and any other subjective defensive evaluation technique - is they rely on opportunity. If a player makes fewer plays, he isn’t as valuable defensively. A really big factor in Bradley’s defensive metrics this year is he hasn’t made as many plays as most MLB center fielders. And a big part of the reason appears to be Betts, who helps take a huge chunk of right-center field flyballs that Austin Meadows and Avisail Garcia don’t get to (which is why Kiermaier makes more plays). This isn’t a flaw in defensive metrics. Eye test can’t tell you how good a CF is on plays he doesn’t make either. But instead is it brings in an extra level of evaluation. For example, as long as the Sox have Betts, do they really need a CF with Bradley’s defensive skill set? If they moved Benintendi to CF or acquired a less range-oriented CF like Joc Pederson, would there be a significant difference? Sure they would miss out on Bradley’s highlight reel plays, but what is the actual big picture impact on defense?

The MLBPA isn’t the issue here. They’d love to do away with luxury taxes and anything else that dissuades teams from spending $1billion on payroll. The issue is the MLB front office and the CBA. Even this is a clear attempt to circumvent paying a luxury tax. Since the MLB office not only is responsible for calculating the tax and also for collecting it, they’re very likely to call this a deliberate attempt to circumvent it. Pedroia has two years left at a modest amount. The best course of action is to simply ride out his deal. It’s not like building a 40 man roster with $230mill is so much more difficult than building one with $244mill. Like nearly every GM, Dombrowski has had to deal with deadweight contracts before and ones far, far worse than Pedroia’s, like Sandoval for example. Heck if he had that extra cash to spend, chances are it would end up on another deadweight deal at some point. Maybe 3 years from now, we can have this same discussion about turning Price into a $31mill bullpen coach. The Sox will be fine in spite of this complete non-issue.