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The Midwest gets some serious bitter cold. Not so much snow, but lots and lots of cold down to temperatures so low sometimes, you know it’s just God’s way of being sarcastic. I’d rather have snow than cold. At least you can shovel snow...

That wasn’t an option...

Or: Bogaerts at $220/9 and Martinez at $100/4 or Betts at $320/9?

I’m the same chat, they place Mookie at 10/$350mill to 10/$392mill. Bogaerts at $24mill AAV or Betts at $39mill AAV?

Minor league deal. He’ll be a free agent again next off-season...

JD Martinez OR Tate Matheny? Boy that really is a conundrum...

Not really fair. Until the 1980’ the NBA has a major exposure problem. Games were never televised nationally and even the playoffs were scheduled around when networks wanted to air them. Sometimes they played in the late afternoon on weekdays!

If Pearce hits RHP better than Moreland, this is a recent development and probably a marginal difference. For his career, Pearce has a .743 OPS vs RHP, which is less than Moreland’s .780. Pearce did have a .828 OPS vs RHP last year, but only in 130 plate appearances. Moreland hit his career .780 vs RHP last season. I’d be hesitant to expect too much from Pearce. He’s a good bench bat/weak side platoon player, but the Sox are probably better off not expanding that role too much...

Those are just the internal options. Jose Iglesias might not be a bad stopgap option a year from now...

Maybe. Pearce himself has only been worth 1 fWAR three times in a 12 year MLB career. But all 3 have come in the last 5 seasons. But now that I think of it, Swihart might have been the right-handed platoon partner...

Really how many entire urban areas are dedicated to one sport? Boston also has a really good basketball following. They have a solid football following right now, too, but I don’t think it’s representative of when the Patriots are not doing well (whenever that’s is)...

Yeah I’ve railed about that one a few times. I’m not even sure how much of an upgrade Pearce is over Chavis and/or Travis...

What I would like explained to me is: After acquiring Kimbrel, DD did some binge shopping for relievers with closing experience, acquiring Thornburg, Smith and Reed. But then after losing Kimbrel and Kelly from the bullpen - Colten Brewer? Will he even be in Boston in April?

But those other regions are as large or larger, have further to the next competing market, have transplanted fans who move when they retire, etc. and everything the Sox have for a fan base. But they apparently also have some sort of regional or cultural stigma against mediocre baseball teams. Detroit even has just as long of a history as Boston with baseball and Michigan plus northern Indiana has about the same population as New England. Toronto has no other competing team in the entire country. Atlanta has about 20% more people in their metro area alone . So why are these markets so much smaller?

I didn’t say they weren’t. I think this whole “too many teams are tanking” is overblown and not exactly anything new in MLB (or any sport). But they certainly might start out poorly. Remember when Detroit acquired Miguel Cabrera and the press penned them in for the AL Central title with over 1,000 runs scored? And then they came in last in the AL Central after an 0-9 start? It can happen and wouldn’t be unprecedented...

That always confused me. Boston is about the same size as Detroit and is smaller than Toronto and Atlanta (metropolitan areas, not city), but somehow the Sox can support a much more expensive team than all three, and do so year in and year out.. And it’s not like those teams don’t have recent successes. But they do all apparently have fan bases with less patience....

OK. But I might be correct in assuming he’s not the highest priority. He might have the advantage of being the easiest to keep...

I was reading one article somewhere that did a study of fWAR accrued by everybteam in recent drafts. The conclusion was that the overwhelming majority came from first round picks. Certainly everything that comes after isn’t luck, but it does appear to be less and inconsistent. The Sox have 5 first round picks in your list. It’s a bit early to give pass/fail grades to Chavis and Groome (although Groome hasn’t given anyone a reason to get excited either), but certainly Benintendi and Kopech have worked out for Boston, even without Kopech ever making the MLB squad. If both Chavis and Groome do pan out, that’s actually a pretty good run of first rounders. Remember, about 30% of all first round picks never play Major League Baseball...

Exactly. And the current plan for reloading is to keep as many of the current young stars as possible. While plenty of fans and some in the media chastised the Sox for not going “all in” in 2019 and bringing back Kimbrel or a close equivalent, I think a big part of the reason was to keep some cash and payroll space available for as many of Betts, Sale, Bogaerts, Bradley, Benintendi, etc. as possible. I don’t think Porcello is on this list, but he might be. DD has a long history with him...

Weird thought of the day: Somewhere in the USA or Dominican Republic, there is an 8 year old boy who will one day play Major League Baseball against or with Bryce Harper before this contract expires...

The Phillies are making a huge splash this off-season and certainly grabbing headlines. And obviously selling a few tickets. But until this actually translates into wins, the competition for the entertainment dollar of the casual fan isn’t over. If the Phillies start out, say, 20-40, Bryce Harper Mania won’t matter to casual fans, beyond the occasional gripe about how “overrated” Harper has always been...

Bogaerts is the clear shortstop, regardless of how Lin does. If Bogaerts misses time, Lin is certainly more likely to replace him than Chatham, especially for short stretches. But for 2020, it’s a little more wide open. Lin likely has a future in Boston as a utility infielder. Chatham might replace Bogaerts in 2020 or might fall into minor league obscurity for the rest of his career. It’s too early to tell either way...

But how much of these boring offseasons is from owners deciding to pocket money as opposed to GMs holding back to make better baseball decisions? We’re used to offseasons where the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs and Giants spend like drunken sailors. None of those teams were heavily involved in free agency this year. The Dodgers and Giants made an attempt at Harper and the Dodgers signed Oollock and brought back Kershaw. But beyond that, those teams were silent, but not because they’re pocketing revenue-sharing. But without those teams, it magnifies the lack of activity from the rest of the league, which in many cases is consistent with most offseasons. Teams act like this in other sports all the time, and really always have in baseball. Why is it a problem now? The big problem comes from Boston, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Cubs and the Nationals producing good young, cost-controlled major leaguers and not needing free agency. And that they all did it at once just made it look so much worse...

Oh please. Yes you’re very generous with your accolades for other teams signing free agents and spending money . But with Boston - it has to work out and translate into wins. Or do you suddenly have some appreciation for Ben Cherington now? After all, when he signed Hanley and Sandoval, was he or wasn’t he trying to win?

Nothing sells more tickets than winning. Isn’t that what it’s all about? I’m not counting Machado, Arenado and Harper, since they all just signed. But if you look at the 10 largest contracts in MLB history before this off-season, they have resulted in TWO CHAMPIONSHIPS. One was A-Rod in 2009, the other was Price in 2017. Now plenty of these deals have not finished, but I don’t think that number is going up by much. (And hopefully all by Price.) The reason these teams don’t sign star players is the risk. If the star doesn’t carry you to a title or two early in the deal, chances are he will follow that up by dragging your team down late in the deal. Sometimes it comes down to a simple choice - do you want a star player or do you want to win? If you don’t like Harper vs Sizemore, that is what the Pillies bought. Harper has a better Q factor for name recognition and for TV commercials but that doesn’t make his baseball any better and isn’t going to translate to more wins for Philly. Unless you count a win in the war against dandruff...