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Soto would be a spectacular acquisition that would give the Sox a superstar to replace Mookie. But I’d be beyond shocked if the Sox made anything above a cursory attempt to acquire him. I don’t see the Sox signing even Pete Alonso, the premier right-handed bat on the market. And Alonso’s next contract will probably be less than half of Soto’s…

Probably. I think that site undervalues him, but that’s just me. Either way, if they are only dealing one starter, I would say Castillo is more likely than Gilbert, Kirby, Miller, or Woo…

Did Abreu die? In the middle infield, the Sox have Hamilton, Grissom, Story, Meidroth, and Mayer. And Romy with his hard hit potential. They only need two starters. (And some think Adames might be in the mix.)

Squat’s an a-hole. You’re better off not knowing him…

“Kind of shifted”?. What’s that mean?

Agreed. It’s odd that people harp in the importance of young, controllable SP but then also think any team that has some will readily trade it away. If Seattle trades any SP, it will be Luis Castillo…

Bernie Willliams was another case…

If the Orioles offered Mayo, Meidroth isn’t a good counteroffer. The other two primarily play positions other than 3b, and very likely are worse solutions there. Camp bell’s arm is “passable” at 3b, per SoxProspects; Mayo’s arm is considered a strength. If Seattle want a SS or a 2b, the Sox have more to offer. But if they want a 3b, Baltimore has the definite edge…

In MLB history, there have been 10 players with the first name “Tanner”. All 10 are/were pitchers…

Cleveland survives another day. the Guardians currently have the longest active World Series championship drought in MLB at 75 years. The only remaining teams that have never won a title did not exist in 1948. But beyond their futility,I like Cleveland more than I do Detroit to beat the Yankees, which is the priority this postseason…

Sure it does. It’s just scattered all over the field. I take it you survived the devastation…

But they have put together a competitive pitching staff without much spent on the rotation, which, outside of one year of Corbin Burnes, isn’t made of starters that appear immediately capable of breaking the bank…

It’s not really misguided for Boston. The Sox have a definite surplus with MLB position players once you factor in the MLB-ready prospects like Anthony, Campbell, and Teel. That doesn’t mean they match up so well with Seattle, however…

If the Sox do have limited resources, maybe a bidding war with Baltimore to get a pitcher who may or may not even be available but isn’t so impressive away from his pitcher-friendly park isn’t the right way to go. If you get in a bidding, do it against someone like Philly that has no prospects. Or start looking for a SP in Miami. Alcantara has two years $35.2 mill left of his original deal of $55mill over 5. Historically, Miami when Miami backloads a deal, they trade away the most expensive years. Alcantara has an elite resume but is coming off TJ. But the risks of pitchers coming back from TJ are pretty well established, so the only risk is if Miami waits to deal him at the deadline. They will wait to trade Jesús Luzardo, who’s coming back from a lumbar fracture. He’s more of a mystery right now. But Alcantara is unlikely to open the season in Miami…

Seattle needs a 3b first and foremost. Baltimore has Jordan Westburg blocking Coby Mayo. Boston has who?

Maybe this is all part of his Master Plan. Rafaela now has a book on himself of throwing nothing but wildly outside pitches. Next year he can just sit back and watch as pitchers throw nothing but pitches out of the zone, and he can rake in the walks. Very clever, huh?

… The Giants might make more sense as they traded away their DH last July and pretty much always have a deadweight contract…

Definitely the Dodgers are a good landing spot for Yoshida, what with that glaring 10 WAR hole they have at DH…

They were a top 4 payroll team in 2014, 2015 and 2020 and 6th in 2022. 2023 was the first time they dropped out of the top 10…

The Sox had a high payroll most of those years, too…

Billy Beane’s ethics are irrelevant here. And sure the film absolutely Hollywooded stuff up. I didn’t read the book c but I had my doubts Beane drove to Scott Hatteburg’s house and handed him a contract; Hatteburg did have an agent. (The whole Art Howe story was very likely pure fiction in an attempt to create a movie villain.) Let’s break down spending/winning. It absolutely can help, but the mere act of spending doesn’t help. And I don’t just mean “spend on good players. Duh!” If you do spend on good players, teams like the ones Bellhorn highlighted often have a steady stream of minimum wage talent in play to keep the team good and within even the craziest budget. The Dodgers do this. The Astros do this. The Angels? Not so much. Also, spending on extending your younger stars is much, much better than free agency. Free agency is often for players over 30 on the downside of their careers. And lastly, don’t go too many years. You wind up with heavily paid non-contributing broken down players that detract from the team. It’s one thing if they won early in those contracts. But if they didn’t, they just prolong the bad streaks. And players getting worse over time is inevitable. The Verlander Exceptions do not disprove this. As much as we all miss Mookie, he’s not been anywhere near the player he was in Boston (42.4 bWAR in 6 years) since going to LA (27.5 bWAR in years)… Although to be fair to Mookie, it’s really more like 4.4 years. 2020, etc. So he’s down from being a 7 win player to a 6 win player, but he still has 7 years to go…

MLB did not add two spots to the playoffs to help the Pirates; they did it to make more television revenue. And that was 100% of the logic, just like it is in every sport. You don’t enhance your revenue steams by trying to tap deeper into the dry wells…

Tampa is the ONLY one? The Brewers have made the postseason 6 times in the last 7 years with a bottom third payroll. And the Guardians have gone 6 times in the past 9 with an even lower one. And a few years back, the A’s got famous for stuff like this. There was even a book and a movie about it. Starring Brad Pitt, no less. And Pitt probably got paid more for pretending to run the A’s than the the real Billy Beane spent assrmbling them…

Baltimore is in a very unique position where there young players and their farm are so stacked, they might not even need to spend, beyond some arbitration costs. But the opportunity is absolutely there for them. And the market is weak as you say. Although Camden is at least a great place to take in a game…

But didn’t the Mets shed a ton of payroll last year at the trade deadline and follow up with an off-season of signing cheaper mid-tier players (Manaea, Quintana, etc) to short term contracts while not extending Pete Alonso?