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Have you seen the other divisions? The Central is mediocrity defined. The West? Houston and Seattle. And those teams are not without flaws as well. Defending champion Texas will start the season with more question marks in their rotation than Boston. It wouldn’t surprise me if the East sent 3 teams again. And if they don’t , they definitely send two and the third one doesn’t miss by much. (I still like Baltimore and Tampa ahead of the overrated Blue Jays.)

Exactly!!

It’s a huge ask. My bold prediction is actually not all that bold at all. Could they all stay healthy and pitch that much? Sure. It’s possible. Will they? Not bloody likely…

5Gold just said essentially the same thing. And it’s not my fault the rest of you want to be wrong

I think so, but less important for the older Abreu…

That outfield arrangement makes more sense for April. It’s also possible the Sox hold Duran until July 31st and then shop him, ending the year with O’Neill-Rafaela-Abreu…

I didn’t think Duran had ever played RF. Not even in Little League. That’s why I questioned that lineup. That and him platooning with Cron…

Without factoring in service time, I like the idea of Duran-Rafaela-O’Neill. Abreu can start in Worcester and shuttle back and forth as needed. Or is the new lingo “Uber back and forth as needed”?

81-81 is not as horrible as one would think from the board traffic. It’s only 3 fewer wins than the reigning NL champions had last year. I think this season comes down to ONE FACTOR. Just one, despite the numerous lists of things some people think need to go right for this team to compete. There’s just one. Health/durability of the rotation. If the Sox reported starting five - Bello, Crawford, Houck, Pivetta, Whitlock - can make 140 or more starts and pitch 700-800 innings, this team will do well enough to make the postseason. Even if they miss the postseason, it won’t be by much. But this whole season will collapse if the Sox need to dig too deep into their questionable SP depth…

Montgomery started 32 games last year, 21 of which were for a LAST PLACE team. Can we stop pretending he spent the entire season on the Rangers? Snell really isn’t better than Montgomery; Snell’s peaks are higher, but he spends most of his seasons in the valleys…

As I have said repeated - free agency is about PR. It sends a message to the fanbase that money will not be a limiting factor on being competitive. Henry is loudly stating that he wants it to be a factor…

Soxprospects lists the Sox starting OF for 2024 as Duran in LF, Rafaela in CF and Abreu in RF with O’Neill on the bench. Now I could see this OF happening on occasion, especially given O’Neill’s propensity for injuries. But is it the starting OF a respectable website should predict? I will say it’s better than the mess on Roster Resource, who have O’Neill in LF and Rafaela in CF along with Duran in RF. Duran in RF at Fenway is questionable enough, but then they have him platooning out there. And it looks like his platoon partner is CJ Cron. I suppose Cron could be DHing with Yoshida starting in RF against LHP, but I’m not sure that’s much better. So what should the Sox starting OF actually look like? I’d think it’s either Duran (LF), Rafaela (CF) and O’Neill (RF) or O’Neill (LF), Duran (CF) and Abreu (RF). Barring any more injuries, of course…

They now have Criswell in the bullpen and - just to further their credibility - have put Tyler O’Neill on the bench…

1. Besides the already extended Bello, do we have a bunch of pitchers we can extend? 2. Those “younger and better” players you want to sign are not in the same position as Montgomery - running out of options and not carrying a qualifying offer. Not to mention other teams will be interested in them as well. 3. You’re supporting questionable circular logic. “We won’t be good until we spend on pitching, but we shouldn’t spend on pitching until we’re good.” Well, at least it’s a financially sound plan…

This is why I’ve been hopeful the Sox will just make that one addition. There’s no such thing as “timing”; much like “rebuilding”, it just means you want to save cash. I certainly hope that’s all it is right now a euphemism for being cheap. I do like to think the folks running the Sox aren’t so stupid they they’ve leveraged their entire future on a bunch of minor leaguers with ZERO combined games in AAA…

To further disprove this statement, the Rangers spent big added to their infield after a 60-102 season in 2021, and only improved to 68-94. But those moves certainly paid off in 2023…

Both were worse than the last place Sox in 2022…

Not necessarily true. First of all, they don’t need to sign a pitcher to a one year deal. With Giolito, Hendricks and Fulmer back in 2025, it’s actually ok to grab an improvement to that rotation now. But a big difference maker like Montgomery might be enough to put the Sox into the postseason. They did win 78 games last year with that rotation after all. And they were in the hunt when they punted the trade deadline…

Why does May 1st matter for free agents with a QO? Is that the new deadline for not losing a pick? It used to be after the actual draft itself took place in June..

Not sure if he will, but he should. I get the notion of these long term deals is to get the production up front and the last few years are albatross. But the Sox have already started stockpiling 2025 anyway with Hendricks and Fulmer and now Giolito (and unfortunately not Woodruff). At this point, adding Montgomery for 2025 makes more sense than waiting a year to pay even more for even longer contracts from Fried/Burnes/Bieber/Buehler...

Why?

At this point, the Sox should just sign Jordan Montgomery. I know they have been sending clear messages that they are running up a white flag on 2024. But they do need fans to come and buy tickets at some point. Also since he has made 0 spring training appearances, Montgomery himself might not exactly be prepped for 2024. And unlike fellow Boras Four members Bellinger, Chapman and Snell, Montgomery would be ill-advised to take a short deal with an opt out only to re-enter the market next year. Unlike the other 3, Montgomery could very easily have a Qualifying Offer attached next off-season. Add that to a season possibly hampered by a late start, and another year of age, and next offseason could actually be even less exciting for Montgomery. At least Bellinger, Chapman and Snell will all be ineligible for a QO. So go for it, Boston. Montgomery will probably be much better in 2025, when he starts working out on time. And he can be joined by Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendricks on a pitching staff with some serious promise…

I’d award maximum points for it…

But did you ever try a Sonoran hot dog?

Arizona has a weird take on hot dogs. And that’s coming from a native New Englander transplanted in Chicago…