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Actually it was Johnny Damon with 20, a distant third from the 41 Ortiz hit. Millar and Varitek had 18 apiece and Bellhorn had 17...

If I was his agent and the Sox came to me with that deal (sans the comical additions), my advice would be. "Thanks but no thanks. We can do better." Besides ungodly sums of money, most players want years of control. Giving him multiple opportunities to get those years as he ages and they become less likely isn't the most appealing compromise. Some crazy GM will absolutely meet the 5 year $100mill guesstimate. Might even be Theo Epstein. If you think about it, that might be the perfect match. Team needs a closer. They have plenty of room left before the luxury tax. And they have already locked up several of their young star players. (They would love to lock up Kris Bryant, but that is not going to happen on Boras' watch.) And they will very likely be jettisoning another young talented player in Addison Russell this off-season, which might even bring back some cost-control. The Cardinals, Nationals, Angels, Phillies and Astros are also all potential landing spots for Kimbrel. He isn't taking some cheap deal to stay in Boston. Not with the attention he will be getting...

It depends what you mean by "price himself out." Sure the Sox will be able to afford him. But at some point he is going to stop being as effective. And at some point, retaining Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley and eventually Benintendi has to be a priority...

A fun trivia question (without looking it up) is - who as third on that team in home runs?

The entire point is that Kimbrel is going to price himself out. You can’t argue he’s the best on one hand and that he won’t insist on being paid as the best on the other. He did hire an agent for a reason...

And the next series as well. It’s a big deal...

It is amazing how many people want Kelly off the playoff roster in favor of Lin or Swihart or Wright or Workman or Velasquez. Kelly is going, folks. Book it.. Moreland is too...

Unless there is an injury, which is a legitimate concern with both Nunez and Devers this year...

No. Not for Holt. Sometimes he only triples...

Not to mention a four-time All Star Gold Glove (in 1979) shortstop in Rick Burleson who might be one of the most under appreciated Sox players in the past half century...

Oh they threw a lot. Complete games were not rarities. But in 1978 Bob Stanley threw 120 IP from the bullpen (and 21 more in 3 starts). How many relievers top 100 IP from the pen today? Overworking relievers was commonplace. The Dodgers once used reliever Mike Marshall in 106 games AND FOR 208 IP!!! And, despite it being a still-standing record, no one thought it was a big deal. For some perspective, Eddie Guardado was called “Everyday Eddie”, but maxed out at 83 appearances (for 73.2 largely ineffective innings)...

Many sportswriters overtly said Tony LaRussa was taking a huge risk by converting an aging starter to the closer role. But I think we both agree Dennis Eckersley worked out ok. Very few minor league closers assume that same role in the majors. So therefore every closer was a risk at some point in his career. I’m ok with taking one. And by using an actual talented pitcher (like Richards or Harvey), that risk is severely mitigated. Of course it is likely neither Richards nor (especially) Harvey is open to the idea...

The way Holt has been off the bench, keeping him for a key pinch hitting role is not a bad idea...,

What would you say was the best Sox team? If not this one, I go with the 1978 team that had four Hall of Famers (Yaz, Rice, Fisk, Eckersley) and a couple other Hall-worthy players (Tiant, Evans)...

Stanley averaged over 2IP per relief appearance, but that wasn’t the fault of a clueless manager. That was how bullpens we’re used back then. No one had all these specialized bullpen roles until the late 1980’s. Teams frequently used their best reliever as often as they needed him as opposed to making him solely a ninth inning specialist. And it was very common for a reliever to face the same hitters twice in the same game, something I would bet Papelbon never did as a reliever in Boston. The 1978 Red Sox used a four man bullpen (Stanley, Dick Drago, Bill Campbell, and Tom Burgmeier) for the majority of the season, meaning they had to rely heavily on the four pitchers they had. Can you imagine a team doing that today? It was actually common in the 70’s...

So did Keith Foulke. Big deal. Papelbon was a one inning specialist, whereas Stanley was an all-purpose relief pitcher. You could have at least countered with Dick Radatz..

A sad legacy for a pitcher who was probably the best reliever in franchise history...

Reggie did hit the home run for the fifth run. Although technically, the way a game winning RBI was defined, Bucky Dent did have the game-winning hit...

Reggie Jackson proves what I have always said about clutch - that it’s more of a reputation and the successes are memorable while you forget the failures. Reggie had a terrific postseason career with over 300 plate appearances, but most people only remember the 1977 World Series. The truth is, overall, Reggie did not hit much better in the postseason than he did outside of it. His .885 postseason OPS is only marginally higher than his .845 career OPS, an OPS that was brought down by playing until age 41...

If he continues to have prolonged slumps, maybe his arb price comes down and he becomes easier to retain...

And now he is off playing cribbage with Michael Bowden...

Do you really think the Sox are going to leave their All Star 1B off the playoff roster because of a late season slump?

Sold!! I'll take .600 from Bradley with his play in CF.

He was also EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD!! Should the sox really give up on every 18yo who isn't an immeidate superstar? At 19, Mookie Betts had a .658 OPS in low A-ball. Maybe he should have been dealt then, too...

Especially now that I jinxed him on the grad slam thing...