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That’s very true. It’s weird to think the professional leagues filled with drug use, gun arrests, and criminal violence are the honest leagues...

For a lot of people, they went to college and get excited for their alma mater. None of us are alums of the Boston Red Sox. I also see my alma mater was overloooked AGAIN!! Oh NCAA Committee, when will you acknowledge the basketball prowess of Worcester Polytechnic Institute?

Absolutely. Fewer years is always king...

So why did we let Kimbrel walk and bypass all the other closers? If free agency has taught any lessons, it’s that closers are the safest signings. (Mostly because they take fewer years.) But instead, you’re saying our limit-free budget ignored the bullpen while simultaneously backing up right against the highest spending limit and that’s purely a coincidence...

I still like Brock Dyckshoorn the best...

As long as Betts, Benintendi, Bogaerts and Martinez are the top four in almost any order, I’m good...

5 years $170mill ($34mill AAV). Does he bite?

So two free agent pitchers have gotten 7 year contracts and no one got 8? Scherzer is probably the best comparison. But even his contract was when teams were doling out bigger deals. Sale isn’t going to be cheap. He’ll get a better AAV than anyone listed. But I don’t think he necessarily gets 6 or 7 years. Especially with all the buzz that has been around forever about the risks associated with his throwing motion...

I’ll take the under. Who was the last free agent pitcher to receive an 8 year contract?

I said that. I also thought he would be a massive bargain for someone this off-season. And he might be...

Craig Kimbrel might feel differently. No one should accuse the Sox of penny-pinching, but just because they do spend doesn’t mean there are no limits. For example, look at the current bullpen. Our priciest reliever is Tyler Thornburg who isn’t even a lock to make the team. The Sox bullpen will make up 28% of the active roster but make less than 3% of the total payroll. This is because we have spending limits...

It’s interesting that Colorado s becoming a popular “out” choice while the Dodgers are not (except for by me). I think the latest Kershaw injury, the loss of Puig, Kemp and Wood, and only Pollock as a replacement might not offset the Rockies, who were just as good for 162 games last year...

The problem wasn’t just that he bombed out, but that he did so in Boston nd we all watched. But that doesn’t change that Sandoval was actually an exceptional player for a long time...

I also think most fans set the bar WAAAAAAY too high for younger prospects. If the parallel for Devers is Sandoval, we are talking about a player who, at age 25, was worth 15 fWAR with an OPS+ of 128 and 2 All Star appearances. Devers just finished his age 21 season and is worth 1.8 fWAR with an OPS + of 100 and no All Starvappearances. Why is Sandoval such a bad wish here? No one is saying that Devers is going to copy Sandoval’s fitn SS regime and apparent apathy. That can’t be determined through stat comparisons. But if the comp says that in the next 4 years, Devers is going to be worth 13.2 fWAR with 2 All Star appearances while surpassing 28% of the league offensively, would you take it or not?

High K guys in the majors are a bit different than high K guys in the minors. A big part of the reason I’m wary about Dalbec...

Joe B and myself were all over that with Middlebrooks...

Let’s b fair. Back on BDC, he used Mark Reynolds as a good comparison for the future of Will Middlebrooks. I think I was the lone holdout that wished that would happen. Middlebrooks is out of baseball. Reynolds, despite being 5 years older, played last season. Now in hindsight, don’t we all wish Middlebrooks turned out to be as good as Mark Reynolds?

Some prospects are worth getting excited about, even with mediocre ceilings. The ability to play competently at the Major League level while making minimum wage is an undervalued skill in itself...

I’d rather he spent heavy right now and re- offered the QO to Kimbrel. 1 yr $17.9mill...

One more year could be a lot. If Sandoval didn’t sign for “one more year,” we might have Craig Kimbrel in the bullpen. (Or another closer fresh off free agency.) How many good years do you think Sale has left? Comparisons are tough, since most of his equals or close matches are not much older. But Johan Santana is a great comp through age 29. And how were Santana’s next 5 seasons after that? Well for starters, he only pitched in three of them. If something like that happens to Sale in three years, you think those first 3 years will be good enough to justify a 3 year $105mill deadweight commitment with a $35mill AAV clogging up the tax situation?

5 years would be my limit, and I would do it with great trepidation.

YBut Well the 2015 rotation appeared to be built around a groundball pitching staff with acquisitions like Porcello and Miley. But they had defensive weaknesss exposed at third base, where Sandoval suddenly lost his agility, and in LF, where the “groundball staff” was supposed to limit opportunities. The Royals did win the World Series that year with a staff “ace” named Edinson Volsquez, but the Sox did lack the bullpen firepower of KC, although the Sox pen wasn’t exactly horrible. And even then, Porcello did turn out to deliver an ace-caliber performance starting that August that he carried through the entire next season. But even if you didn’t like the lack of an ace, Cherington didn’t watch as other aces signed minor league deals with other teams while banking on borderline arms that have been unattached to MLB teams for prolonged periods. It feels like Dombrowski is letting the success of Brasier go to his head...

To be fair, the Sox still have the highest payroll in the game. I can't call them out for being cheap. I'm rather disappointed they prioritized a backup 1B over a bullpen arm. They paid Steve Pearce $6.25mill. For less than that, they could have signed Justin Wilson (AAV was less, but 2 years), Brad Brach, Greg Holland, Jake Diekman, Shawn Kelley, Sergio Romo, Adam Warren, Blake Parker, Hunter Strickland, Tony Sipp, Aaron Loup, Zach McAllister, Nick Vincent, Tyler Lyons, Brandon Maurer, Bud Norris, Alex Wilson, or Tyler Clippard. In fact, if they didn't sign Justin Wilson or Brach, they could have had any two of the others. Or a countless combination of higher counts. And the most puzzling thing to me is Dombrowski watched as good MLB relievers like Clippard, Norris, Vincent and Alex Wilson signed minor league deals. The same deal he gave to aging AAAA options like Daniel Schlereth, Ryan Weber and Dan Runzler. Seriously? Three of those guys have MLB closing experience, but our GM took Schelereth, Weber, and Runzler instead? The tax dollars thing doesn't bug me as much as the signing of Pearce...

The Sox are clearly playing the "depth" game at bullpen. To me, I think this means it will be a big surprise if both Workman and Thornburg are not on the opening day roster, and from there it becomes a matter of time before either are both are either established or released. With 2 open spots on the 40-man roster, the Sox do have a few internal options they can promote. A lot of the arms the Sox signed might never see Fenway. Who has high hopes for Schlereth or Runzler or Ellington or Tapia? (OK I have mild hopes for Tapia, but they aren't likely to come true.) Before any of them, the other 40-an options include Poyner, Hernandez, Lakins, and Colten "Big Offseason Acquisition" Brewer. I would expect the last 2 spots to go to pitchers like Mejia, Feltman, Putnam, and Sharwyn at some point. And to get all 4, there are a few expendables like Walden and Shepherd and possibly even Sam Travis who might get DFA'd. We might even see Mejia on opening day, since Dombrowski says he believes closers need a special mentality (although his history does make me question if he believes it or to what extent he does) and Mejia is the most experienced closer in the entire Sox system. I'd like to see the Sox ad another bullpen arm - notably Josh Fields - but I don't think it's going to happen unless a minor league deal is involved...

Requiring speed for the leadoff hitter is the 1980's style of baseball, when stolen bases were king. It actually makes more sense to have the speediest player - particularly if he has limited OBP - batting 6th, 7th or 8th in the lineup, when the weaker hitters who are less likely to hit extra base hits are coming up and stealing a base to get into scoring position is more valuable. People like the 6th spot to still have some power potential. However, if you better SLG bats are hitting 2 through 5, you might not have anyone left by the 6th position anyway. And in that case, a speedy hitter who can start a rally in front of the weaker hitters does make sense. Stolen bases at the top of the lineup are an unnecessary risk. If the SB is part of the strategy, it makes more sense to use it when you actually need it...