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I’m convinced he’s our best defensive catcher. His offense is abysmal, but let’s not pretend Vazquez is some poor man’s Buster Posey out there. And $2.75mill sometimes seems like a pittance in baseball, but the Sox, universally agreed upon as needing bullpen help, have let relief pitchers making that much or less sign elsewhere. Heck, teams go to arbitration, a process that can and often does involve alienating players, over less than $2.75mill all the time...

What you regrettably omitted is just how awesome “Hercules in New York” was. At the time, it meant nothing. But once we were all familiar with Schwarzenegger’s thick accent, his dubbed-over voice made that movie so much more enjoyable. Also, baseball. Gotta stay on topic...

I have a few exceptions with this. First of all, Arnold Stang to bodybuilding is not remotely equal to Alex Speier to baseball. Speier watches, covers and writes about baseball endlessly. It’s his career. Stang was an nerdy bespectacled actor with a funny voice who did lots of cartoons and had zero connection to bodybuilding except that he never did it. Or if he did, he was not very good. Second, while the gist of the post was “the players are the experts”. What??! You take that stance NOW?? After ripping me multiple times for quoting former closer Mark Wohlers on the subject of closers?!? I was quoting Mark Wohlers, not Mark Wahlberg. Whether or not you agree with Wohlers is one thing, but by your own opinion here, the players should have better insight than us. And third, if you want a former player named Alex as your baseball expert, the correct answer is “Cora”...

I don’t think CC gets the same type of retirement your Jeter and Rivera got. But I agree with your Cooperstown assessment...

Actually C.J. Chatham might be the in-house option if he does well in AA this year...

It is rare, but it has happened as recently as 2017 with Corey Kluber (29 starts, 203.2 IP). Sale also averaged 7IP per start in 2016 and both Kershaw and Keuchel did in 2015. So as far as I can tell, only 4 times in the past 4 years (min 200 IP, or 29 starts). It is pretty rare...

I do wonder if that changes any opinion of him. Sam “Mr. March” Travis does that every year and I doubt he could be traded for a new batboy...

Well as our top pitching prospect is unlikely to throw this year, it might stay low. But a few others will be coming back from injury (Scherff, for example) or trying new roles they fit better in (Houck?), so there is a chance for improvement based on what the Sox have. Also our reliance on our farm might not be so big this year, with maybe only Feltman, Lakins, Chavis and a small amount more (Sharwyn? Hernandez?) suiting up in Boston, so there will be some returnees who can improve. The large amount of minor league deals DD gave out this year does give the Sox some depth from within beyond just the prospects...

Well we were talking about 2017. The Sox did get 132 starts from their top 5, but the Yankees got 134 from theirs. In 2018, the numbers do favor the Sox. But your premise also operates on the assumption that all starters and starts are equal . The big reason for the low total from NY was the 6 starts from Jordan Montgomery, the #5 guy in the Bronx. The Sox lost Chris Sale for essentially the second half. While Sale did make 27 starts, after the break, he only made 7 and had his IP count reduced to only 29 innings. Is losing Montgomery for a full season equal to losing Sale for a half season? For some perspective, Jonathan Holder threw 27 IP for the Yankees in the second half. We got roughly the same IP from our ace as you got from the #5 guy in your bullpen...

Are you referring to Harper and/or Machado or our cast for the movie? You’re right in both cases...

And I don’t see that changing. I think Swihart gets DFAd right before opening day. And at that stage in the game, he might even clear waivers...

But the issue for this is that the Sox need to get down to 25 players for opening day. They’re not going to demote Devers or Benintendi in order to keep Swihart...

Why would any team trade for $2.75mill worth of Leon when they can negotiate with Martin Maldonado and likely come up with a lower number without giving anything up? It might be one thing to acquire Leon as part of a salary dump, but I don’t think Boston is in position to receive one right now...

It is truly amazing how everyone on the Yankees was better than all their counterparts on the Sox (except Sale, but he is clearly injured and his career is over), yet somehow the Sox won the division by 8 games and then won the World Series...

And yet we won the AL East that year, too...

But when your three previous seasons combine for a 3.01 ERA and 16.9 fWAR, I think the argument is there. Are you actually trying to argue that all things are equal with the Sox losing Price and the Yankees having to endure FIVE STARTS from Luis Cessa?

Porcello had the best season, but one year does not an ace make...

As the off-season lumbers to its eventual and unspectacular halt, DD seemingly has one last item on his checklist, namely clearing up the catching situation. This leaves the speculation as to what Hall end to the Sox most expendable catcher - Blake Swihart

Yes but not all teams had injuries to $31mill Cy Young winners who were the ace of the division champion team one year previous...

Can I spin it by saying “The 2017 Red Sox won the division over the Yankees by two full games despite scrap heap reclamation project Doug Fister starting more games than former Cy Young winner David Price”?

Are you back on the Pedroia Bandwagon now?

As Spring Training moves on, MLBTR still lists over 60 free agents without homes. Some of them will likely retire, probably 15-20 or so. But some of these guys still have some baseball left on them. (And how is Jose Iglesias still available? It’s not like some team is waiting on him as a fallback in case they don’t sign Machado, is it?) There’s still a few guys I think could help Boston, even on minor league deals. Bullpen arms. I’m actually surprised Dombrowski passed on Jake Diekman, but Ryan Madson and Nick Vincent would both represent upgrades for the Sox pen. I’ve never been a huge fan of Tyler Clippard, but he does have a good track record. And while I’m opposed to LOOGY strategies, it is a job Aaron Loup has done well. At this stage, one might think any of these guys fit the budget. Logan Forsythe on a minor league deal also makes a lot of sense. Even with Chavis trying 2b, the idea is to replace the depth that was traded away in Esteban Quiroz. Forsythe is also a very good defender at 3b (unlike Chavis), and Cora has expressed interest in having a defensive replacement at 3b. Craig Gentry is another guy I’d like to see the Sox sign to a minor league deal. The Sox outfield depth in the minors is abysmal. At this stage, getting an OF who can hit might not be so likely, but one who can at least field could be helpful. And Gentry is among the best defensive outfielders in the game. He is also an excellent base runner should the need for a pinchrunner arise at some point. But if I had to guess, I think all that’s left on Dombrowski’s To Do list is to trade a catcher for rotation depth, which is a hard move to figure, since Swihart won’t get much, especially if the pitcher having an option is a requirement. The best the Sox might get for Swihart is another prospect who failed to live up to the hype, like Cincinnati’s Robert Stephenson or Lucas Sims. Or maybe a career minor leaguer with some MLB-caliber skills equaled by his flaws, like Cleveland’s 26yo Jake Paulson. Now if they trade Vazquez, that might be a different story. But it’s still tough to figure who they could get for him...

My original thought was straight up Darth Vader.

The pink color was the only gumlike quality about that stuff. It used to actually hurt as it cut up my tongue and cheeks when I crunched (Crunched!?!? Gum that crunched!?!?) into it. I just threw those things out. Safe bet not one stick has biodegraded yet...

Thomas Haden Church?