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If teams are not willing to give 5 years at $20mill plus to JD Martinez, Ellsbury has no market at 3 years for rougjly the same price. All Ellsbury's has left are the expensive and less productive years teams are looking to avoid in the first place. There are plenty of younger and cheaper centerfielder available that can provide 2.4fWAR. ..

It appears to be a self-propagating stalemate The big ticket guys are not signing until they get better offers, but those offers won't get better until the other options are reduced by more second tier players signing. But the second tier guys are not signing as they are waiting out better offers from the teams that lose out on the bigger names. At some point, one or two big ticket names will sign to be ready for camp, and there may be some fallout. But I really doubt everyone signs in time...

I'm not saying Yawkey wasn't a racist. His racism is pretty well documented and reportedly cost the Sox a chance to sign Willie Mays. I just don't think saying they were the last team to integrate is necessarily the proof I would settle on. There was a last team in the NFL and NBA to integrate and no one accuses those owners of racism based on that. In fact, the way MLB celebrates their integration had always bothered me. Not only do they only honor one of the 4 African American players to play in 1947, but really the whole thing smacks of MLB saying "Congratulate us!! It only took us 80 years to get past the Civil War!!" Both the NFL and NBA also integrated at some point, but with significantly less fanfare. Anyone know who the first African American player was in either of those leagues without looking it up? Or even with looking it up? Those leagues bith did it so seamlessly and successfully many people never even think of them doing it at all..

Plus Arrieta carries QO penalties, unlike Martinez. ..

In 7 seasons, Eric Hosmer has never hit 28Hrs one time. He's not going to start doing it consistently and as a minimum. Unless he learns how to stop hitting ground balls so much. The real problem with Hosmer is he is an above average first baseman who wants to be paid like an elite first baseman. He's a bad idea...

I do recall not too long ago, Yankee fans were all about rings and seasons they didn't win one were considered failures. Now their trash talk is about maximizing their glory from one failed playoff run...

If the Yankees are going to hand out a short term deal like that, I would think Darvish or Arrieta would make more sense as recipients...

Im fine with LoMo and Nunez. And some pitching depth that can be stashed in Pawtucket. Like Hellickson or Buchholz or Locke. As for SP, Tillman and Cashner look like the best bets. Although it is always silly to underestimate Francisco Liriano. ..

I think the Sox would prefer Martinez sign a contract he wants as opposed to one he was extorted into accepting quickly.

Bring back Eduardo!! He's the only piece that has left last years's pennant-winning team!

Although someone had to be last, and that may not necessarily be tied to racism. After all, if you concede the last team to integrate was racist, what about the second last team? Are they also racist? Or the third last? When does it stop being racism and start just being the order of events?

It's somewhere in the $100 to $130 range. I've seen all kinds of numbers. The only consistent one is the 5 years. Either way, it's the best offer he has. And probably by a lot...

Yes but where is that breaking point? He could live the rest of his life on a 5 year $75mill contract, and AZ would undoubtedly love to offer that. But it won't happen, and we all know it. (Granted, the MLBPA would be rather upset with him for leaving $50mill on the table and setting a dangerous precedent.) But would the $50mill from Boston make him happy? And only for 5 years? No idea how Martinez feels about Boston, but for $50mill, I'll live in a sewer for 5 years. And then move out 5 years later directly to the north shore of Oahu. At some point, there is a breaking point where he returns to AZ, but part of me also knows he didn't hire Scott Boras because he wanted to give a hometown discount. Reportedly the DBacks' offer is now somewhat equal to Boston's, but it's only being reported that way by Jon Heyman, who's basically Scott Boras' homegrown version of Squealer. So right after DD spills the beans about Encarnacion, Boras runs back to the press and has his little toady say "the offers are equal!! The offers are equal!!" Not buying it. Unless that happened in the last 24 hours, which I doubt, then I still wonder why JD was only mad at Boston for being inflexible and not Arizona. To me it still looks like Boston is the only guy throwing money around. And I think Martinez' frustration might be more with Boras for letting this drag on than it is with Boston...

The reverse might be true as well. One of the reasons DD hasn't turned his attention away from Martinez is that a lot of other bigger names haven't signed....

The problem for JD is he does not have any other offers even close to Boston. I have no doubt he would prefer to play in AZ. He had the best 3 month stretch of his career there, one where he became a legend. Or even more, he became an Unholy Killing Machine unleashed upon NL pitching. He was Roy Hobbs times Pedro Cerrano with a little Benny the Jet thrown in for good measure. But his only reasonable offer was from Boston. We know this to be definitively true because his quote, likely manufactured by Boras, was he was upset with "Boston" being inflexible. Not with other teams being inflexible. Just Boston. Know why the Sox were singled out? Because they were his single suitor. So now he is desperately trying to re-open negotiations with AZ. All things being equal, I believe he goes back to AZ. Maybe even some things being less, he goes back. But how much less, is the question. And Boras needs two suitors to make this work. Which is why, right after the quote about Martinez being unhappy came out, so did some long ago rumor about the Sox being offered Edwin Encarnacion. That was DD responding with "Maybe you don't have other options, but we do."

Bernie Williams

Well it's been one year. How are some of the older free agents from 5 years ago doing?

So now we're all reading that JD is fed up with how inflexible Boston is and might sign elsewhere out of spite? So if Boston doesn't value him enough, the plan is now to sign with another team that values him even less? Does this make sense to anyone?

With Nunez, there's always the question of what he wants. He might be OK being a highly paid superb who rotates from position to position and gets 400 PAs per year. But he also might prefer a starting position where he is atop the depth chart.

I remember fans calling him a "Monday." From what I saw, the fans and press were very hard on him. He was at the time the highest paid outfielder in MLB history. ..

Wright is 4 years older than Porcello. ..

I'd rather have Porcello for two years than Lynn or Cobb for 4. Not only are Lynn and Cobb both older, but both have had TJ surgery in the past two seasons. Data to date suggests TJ surgery lasts about 600 innings, so both are at risk for another surgery and missed season during a 4 year deal. Also both carry QO penalties. So Lynn and Cobb might get you one extra season over the next four, and one fully paid season with very few IP. And cost draft picks, not helping a very depleted farm that would be needed to replace them. And Lynn's last season appears to have been carried by some BABIP luck. Just keep the cheaper, healthier and shorter term Porcello over these two...

Except that the first year of that extension was a year he won the Cy Young. So he's only had the one bad year since it kicked in. He got the extension primarily because he's very young for a pitcher looking at free agency. He's only a few days older than Bryce Brentz, whom many think still deserves a chance. That he settled for 4 years when he could have gotten 6 or 7 on the open market and probably well over $120million did mean the extension made sense. Jason Heyward got a crazy expensive long contract primarily based on age around that time...

The Sox might let Bogaerts walk to accomodate Machado. They've already expressed an interest in Manny once....

The Sox might not be so eager to move Porcello. If he isn't very good in 2018, moving him will be next to impossible. If he is good in 2018, replacing him for $20mill might be next to impossible. ..