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The way the Sox have been drafting lately, a top ten player will fall to them in that position, a la Teel and Montgomery…

Radatz pitched some 550 IP in his 5 years as a “closer” for the Red Sox. That’s not comparable to the role today. Was his decline due to mental fatigue (aka burnout) or physical issues? He was adamant after his career that modem relief pitchers (and closers) lacked the durability to pitch like he did. He was probably right, since even the most active RP are at best just over 300 IP in that same timeframe…

High burnout rate? I can’t think of a single closer (or player under 35) who “burned out”…

And many other teams as well…

Fair. But I think we all know who is going to be in the hot corner for Boston next year. And it isn’t going to be Mayer, Campbell or Bregman…

There’s almost no chance Campbell or Mayer takes 3b. As much as I’d like to move him across the diamond, Devers will be at the hot corner. And very likely, Casas will be at 1b. I’d love for the Sox to sign someone like Bregman (but less whiny) and re-arrange the infield. But I don’t think re-arranging the infield to give 3b to one of two prospects with less than 50 career innings combined at the hot corner is the answer…

The Sox signed 2 experienced closers last off-season, presumably to replace the aging Martin and Jansen. I doubt they sign another, especially given the options on the market. But I hope they pursue Tanner Scott (who does have closer experience) since the current LHRP options are pretty fungible. They needn’t anoint Scott as the closer. But they’d probably have to pay him like one…

He’s got 5 months to recover. Given the direction the team was headed, even the most minor setback probably shuts him down…

Barring sending lots of money along with him, I think this is unlikely…

It’s very heavy on left-handed hitting, but on another post you suggested it was the solution to our RHH problems? It has numerous valuable prospects. That’s all that matters, because prospects can be dealt to fill specific needs. I know you know this. And we’ve already seen it done…

40%%?!? Based on previous injuries? ;)

If the Sox are counting on Chase Meidroth to fix their offense, I’m going to become a Cubs’ fan for the few seasons. Even relying on Campbell to help vs RHP is unrealistic. Especially since he isn’t likely to break camp on the 40 man roster.

I don’t think they’re going to be too upset with him if he does for their farm system what he did for ours…

BTV suggests the price for Kirby or Gilbert is Duran. Probably accurate. Definitely unlikely…

Mrs O’Neill? And his daughter is on the fence…

Depends how you said. If you said “Henry wants homegrown talent fans can identify with from th Time their rookies, and wants a steady flow to keep the wins coming, sun shining and to help save the whales!” Probably ok. But if you said “Cheap ass Henry just wants minimum wage talentless players so he can spend more resources hiring child labor to raise ticket prices faster while killing puppies!!” Might be too negative…

Sure. Say it succinctly and with clarity while I go type rants on the subject ;)

And every negative post about Matt Dermody was one less comment or not complaining about John Henry. Who gives a s*** about right wing views on social media?? What’s next? Will Bauer’s staunch pro-choice views be a reason not to sign him? If he buys an EV, should the Sox not sign him because he has clearly surrendered to the liberal media climate police?

Ok, but before he points it out, he never limited the Mookie negotiations to 2019…

I think there’s a good chance Winckowski gets traded…

Stealing signs is NOT illegal, unless done with the use of technology. Pedroia absolutely broke that rule. As did Cora and the entire Astros organization. Of course, breaking actual MLB game rules is another matter of inconsistency with its acceptance and a subject that gets off the rails of Bauer. But if a change of direction is needed, why is Gaylord Perry in the Hall of Fame? That one will always confuse me. He admitted to cheating, defied authority at every turn, and even gave his illegal pitch top billing in his autobiography “The Spitter and Me.” And the BBWAA found all this amusing and enshrined him for cheating. But then decided to crack down on anyone even suspected of steroid abuse, even if the closest thing to proof was questions on Internet forums like this…

MLB is loaded with immature players. I saw Milton Bradley fire a (plastic) beer bottle into the stands once. I’m sure if any of us did the research, we could find plenty of incidents of player behavior annoying the team. (I also doubt the Dodger players cared if Bauer got paid or not.) How do you think Ozzie Guillen really felt when Chris Sale destroyed the White Sox throwback jerseys? Bauer is an a-hole, and upfront and proud of that. But being an a-hole has never lead to this kind of collective banishment before. Those same Dodgers that discarded Bauer also killed a trade for Chapman due to his incident. Bauer is in purgatory, never to escape, but Chapman has pitched for an additional dozen years for four different teams, likely to be five in six months. Why?

Every time someone mentions Bauer, there’s the (understandable) response of “would you want to explain to your daughter what this guy did?” I’ll going to answer that prematurely. I have a 17yo daughter who’s old enough to understand sexual assault. She’s also a baseball fanatic, easily as bad as me, and makes some observations I never thought of, like “Christian Vazquez clearly has some form of albanism.” Diehard Cubs fan who was visibly upset when they traded Christopher Morel. Her statistical preference is OPS for any player, always eschewing BA and RBI and only discusses HRs as a rate rather than a total. She also thinks Alex Cora, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman should be banned from MLB, but not Jose Altuve as he did not participate in the scandal. On Bauer, she asks me “why is MLB doing him dirty?” And she mentions players like Julio Urias, Marvell Ozuna, and Aroldis Chapman, who were just as bad and punished minimally in comparison. She’d probably freak out if she knew about Bret Myers, who once beat up his wife on Lansdowne Street in full view of numerous witnesses and was allowed to pitch again. Bauer is a PR problem, but not more of one than numerous others. Yet he doesn’t get a second chance. If only he had stuck to more wholesome hobbies, like using his interpreter to place his bets. Of course, Bauer is actually not being punished by MLB. He’s just being collectively avoided as a PR problem by the same owners who look at Aroldis Chapman and think “But good left-handed relief pitching…”. (Since his incident with the Reds, which was bad enough that the Dodgers backed out of a trade that had already been publicly announced, Chapman has been acquired by the Yankees, the Cubs, the Yankees (again!), the Royals, the Rangers, and the Pirates, and won two World Series rings. I’ll also wager sixth team signs him this off-season.)

The White Sox are 8-42 in their division. 5 of those 8 wins are against the first place Guardians…

Breslow has an advantage Bloom did not. Breslow inherited a team with several young players breaking out and a farm system with 6 prospects in the Top 100. That was the plan all along - get the farm going and start producing with young, competitive CHEAP talent. Hopefully the competitive part improves a little more in 2025…