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Ah yes. The Annual Giancarlo Stanton Injury. Verdugo is useful for covering that…

I said before the season they would move Verdugo. An outfield of Soto-Trent Grisham-Judge is far superior defensively to their current alignment, and barely a drop offensively. No idea why they are so dedicated to Veduho’s bat…

In both cases, the other team likely asked for the money because they knew the risks of trading for damaged goods…

A convenient story. Of course, if this deal was 100% about just cutting salary, why make the deal at all if you’re paying that much? And if you have so much faith that Sale was back and ready to go, why would Atlanta ask for money and risk Boston killing the deal?

Possible. My point is one was linked to the other. Not like the Sale trade negotiations started earlier that same morning…

Yes, they wanted to move Sale’s contract. Did the part about Atlanta asking Boston take the financial burden not show up on your screen? Or do you only read partial posts so as to leave room for irrelevant criticisms? And despite his brief performance in Boston, Grissom was absolutely a valuable trade piece, and one the Braves were not merely handing over for nothing. Why do you suppose the Sox paid $17mill? Or better question - why do you suppose Atlanta asked for a huge chunk of money be included along with Sale?

Right. They need to stop being so efficient and scoring and stuff. Why score runs when you can irritate the opposing pitcher…

I flat out googled it. Apparently Will Smith is the first. Don Baylor played in 3 consecutive World Series with 3 different teams, but lost the first one (with the ‘86 Red Sox) and the third one…

A much simpler way to cut $10mill would have been selling high on Chris Martin. Sale, coming off 4 years of extensive inactivity, was a tough move and one they paid almost 3/4 of. Plus was more expensive to replace. I’d think if the goal was to cut $10mill, Martin was a better option as trade bait…

That’s one theory. Another one is they saw the chance to move Sale’s contract, which had been largely unproductive for the past 4 years. Atlanta had reportedly shown interest in the past, so the Sox reached out and asked about Grissom. As Atlanta was not about to surrender a piece as valuable as Grissom for a pitcher who could very easily miss the entire season again, they agreed assuming the Sox took on the bulk of the financial risk. Sale then insisted on some sort of an extension as a condition of approving the trade. There was absolutely no other reason to extend him so quickly. None whatsoever. Now without Sale, the Sox needed an arm in the rotation. They identified Giolito as a good option due to his durability, as they hoped he could handle the innings Sale couldn’t. I’m not as sure Giolito was the primary focus like in your narrative. I think offloading Sale’s deal rather than going through another year of hoping he would bounce back and salvage the season. They preferred to try players that might actually play. It couldn’t have turned out worse. But it always looked to me like that was the goal.

Lifting the ball isn’t a new concept, and it doesn’t become one just because someone coined the phrase “launch angle.” Ted Williams recognized it as the root cause of productive hitting over three quarters of a century ago, and he probably wasn’t the first to do so. The best strategy for running a team is “hit it in the air, but keep it on the ground.” A lot of metrics are just massive expansions of this simple principle. Now I would agree that some hitters should try to keep that launch angle under 30 degrees, and get back to the disappearing art of being a line drive hitter. I do think a lot of metric stuff is mis-cited. For example, many think sabermetrics frown on bunting. Not true. They frown on sacrifice bunting. But if you can bunt for a base hit, that’s a different matter…

A Binelas sighting?!? Rare indeed!

Ok. Thanks for the clarification. And I would agree with it as well…

I’ve never understood what this is supposed to mean. I see the points about Hamilton. Just not sure why those would only appeal to the Red Sox…

I agree. Considering swapping out Sale for Giolito cost them a fair amount of cash, it feels like a massive oversimplification to say this was about Henry’s budget. Sure the budget influenced it, what with Sale’s previous four seasons involving paying him some $110mill to pitch all of 151 innings. Sale was expensive and unreliable. That was a bigger factor. If you think Henry is all about the budget, I don’t get how one can conclude Henry would rather pay $35mill to the combination of Giolito and Sale as opposed to just paying $27.5 mill to Sale…

Also worth noting, Smith signed with KC this off-season, a team sitting on the fringe of the postseason …

He is. My mistake. But back to the point of the post, is Smith alone in that regard?

I like the Bello extension much better. He was good last year but his last few starts really skewed his numbers…

That’s an odd stance to take. I prefer arguing against starters being injured more often…

The deadline has officially begun!! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/brewers-to-acquire-aaron-civale.html

Recently my daughter pointed out to me RHRP Will Smith has 3 World Series rings in the last 3 seasons. Has anyone else ever won 3 consecutive rings with 3 different teams?

Yeah I misunderstood it at the early hour

Not Flaherty. At least not until his back can be cleared medically…

Ok but what’s more important here? Winning or Henry selling? I mean, if we win, isn’t that enough?

He played in the Sox minors, but he previously played in the minors for Oakland and the Angels. He was a successful dumpster dive…