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Right around the time they extended Eovaldi, they also extended Sale for 5 years $145mill. And still had David Price on the roster. Price signed a 7 year $217mill contract. He opted out of one year, so his deal (including in LA) was for a pitcher who pitched 6 years and was worth 11.1 bWAR. Or less than 2 bWAR per year. They signed Sale to a 5 year $145 mill contract. After 4 years, Sale had accumulated 2.6 bWAR. It took a Triple Crown/Cy Young/6.2 bWAR season to get him anywhere near 2 bWAR/yr. So for $305mill, the Sox signed themselves two pitchers almost as effective as Kutter Crawford Eovaldi signed a 4 year (really 3.4 yr) contract for $68mill. In those 3.4 years, he was worth, 7 fWAR, making him the by far best FA signing. Of course, at the time Eovaldi was a 29yo journeyman with 2 Tommy John surgeries and a career high of 2.3 bWAR in his rear view mirror. There were bigger names on the market that got paid more than Eovaldi. But we got the mid-range guy, and he outperformed the overpriced stars. Of course, part of that is he the mid—range arms dont get 7 year deals. But that is also a huge factor. Maybe this is why they avoid pitchers like Fried and Burnes…

Crawford is too good to waste in a long reliever role. Long reliever is the White Flag of the bullpen. I like him as a fifth starter. But he might have more value as a trade chip…

Crawford is in his first arb year with 3 arb years remaining. He’s been worth 4.3 fWAR / 4.6 bWAR over the last two seasons, and is coming off a 33 start / 183 IP season. Those 33 starts lead all of MLB. BTV places his surplus value at $30mill. While he is no longer a minimum wage earner, Crawford will have his appeal with nearly every team in MLB. With a few holes to fill and the free agent market saturated with overpriced dreck, this might be a better solution. Crawford did lead MLB in home runs allowed last year, but about one third of ten came in a bad three start stretch after the All Star break. If the Sox can deal Crawford for a good defensive catcher (not a career BUC guy, either) and a good bullpen arm, they should do it…

He could have come in here already canonized as Saint Aroldis, but after his first walk off home run, he’s a bum!!!

The Sox “jumped” at Story? They signed him on March 23rd. That’s like a week before opening day. Im not so sure they jumped at Yoshida, who they did apparently have on their radar even before abloom was hired, if you believe the story. It seems like the tendency is for us to assume any signing we don’t like or that doesn’t work out is the product of laziness or sloppiness by the FO. Deep down, we know that isn’t true. But it’s easy. There is no amount of hard work that makes predicting the future a perfect task, despite what we’d like…

Image or not, fans are harsh on any player who struggles…

Then he should fire his agent. Doubtful the Sox just jumped up to an $18mill figure on their own, and I doubt Sandoval’s agent told him to just accept first offer. These lesser budget teams are looking for cheap pitching. Certainly one or two called Sandoval’s agent…

This is why the Sox shouldn’t waste time with Burnes. Add some bullpen arms, preferably a high leverage one or two, acquire a catcher who can catch, and upgrade the defense. All those moves will improve the pitching.

I don’t think you’re going to see another good starter added unless it’s via trade with one of the ones we already have heading back. Sandoval is the tenth or eleventh SP on the Sox 40 man roster, depending on whether or not you count Fulmer. That’s a lot of spots just for starting pitching. They could (and might) deal off one or two to get a catcher or a RHH or whatever. And maybe they think of Dobbins or Fitts or whoever as a reliever. But I’d be surprised if they started the season with 12-15 starting pitchers on the 40 man.

Did you expect half the league to trade for him? If the Mariners pulled that off, our friend MaxBialystock would be impressed..

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was. The pitching market is hot right now; there’s a reason half the league is interested in Luis Castillo…

Are the Sox really going to ad another SP? Currently on the 40 man roster they have Crochet, Houck, Bello, Giolito, Crawford, Priester, Fitts, Dobbins and Criswell. And reportedly they plan to try and return Fulmer to a SP role. And now Sandoval, who cannot be moved to the 60 day IL until Spring Training. That’s 11 starting pitchers out of 40 players. Sure, a couple (few?) might eventually fall back into bullpen roles at some point. But that’s kind of a lot of SP numerically to have at this point in the offseason…

That’s only because that’s how long it took the grounds crew to roll him off of it…

But that was Bloom. Paxton was healthy and pitching when Breslow acquired him. And that is a rarity right now…

To be fair, Sandoval was signed by one GM, released by another, and should have never been in Boston in the first place…

When they moved Sale, I understood that they had simply been too frustrated with his constant injuries. But lately it seems like thats all they want. Even Crochet has had one TJ. I suppose this bodes well for anyone eyeing Walker Buehler. Unless the Sox think he isn’t injured enough yet.

If they acquired a 3b that can field (and demote Yoshida to Worcester), and get a decent pitch-framing catcher, the staff will improve without actually improving.

Sandoval is a good pitcher, but enough with the rehab deals already. We haven’t even seen if the first two worked out yet.

Houck is the ace we think we need.

What was smart about hiring Stearns is it shows Cohen knows his limitations. He doesn’t want to be like that other famous New York baseball owner who frequently tried to run the show himself.

Definitely. For almost all of their 63 year existence, the Mets have failed to gain much notice in the New York media. Cohen clearly wants to change that. Getting Soto on its own was a big coup, but that he took him from the Yankees just makes it that much more significant. I do not think he’s stopping there. Not until he jumps ahead of the Yankees in the New York sports pages.

TH makes the most sense. Unless the plan is to move Devers into a 1b/Dh role and trade/release/demote Yoshida, and actually use Bregman at 3b

But with Conforto and Pages already on board, why would the Dodgers up their offer? They’ve already removed Mookie from the overcrowded corner OF spots Seems to me they could consider upgrading the defense by focusing on defense with a CF or a SS. Or just flip flop Betts and Edman’s positions,.

The Sox lost Pivetta, O’Neill and Jansen. Martin, too, but his 0.2 bWAR isn’t irreplaceable. They added Crochet and Chapman. And expect to get back Story, Whitlock, Hendriks, and Fulmer, all of whom played very little last season or missed it entirely.. Safe bet Tampa and Toronto had some players as well…

I think while fair value is not the goal, it’s quite often the solution, as a trade proposal only becomes a trade when both sides agree. And more trades are done for reasons related to money. In those cases, getting an overpayment (or even equal talent ) isn’t always the goal. I mean, no one thinks Cody Poteet is as good of a baseball player as Cody Bellinger…