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I got the joke. Even with it being told wrong. But more important - interesting you keep coming after me and not the original guy who told you it was wrong. And put down a Sea Dog tickets wager. I mean, if you’re holding out for hot dogs to be included, I get it. Or better yet - lobster rolls. But otherwise, not sure why you’re only responding to me. I never challenged you on it…

For his value at the deadline, it depends. Is he late 2023 Pivetta? Or 2020-late 2023 Pivetta? The former might be worth more at the deadline. The latter? Not so much. Especially with trans racing that point in spring training where pitchers start getting hurt. The notion of teams being more desperate at the deadline isn’t so ironclad and therefore will unload better/more prosyto acquire talent isn’t so ironclad. There are also more teams selling at that time, which can certainly impact the return. Last deadline, teams were acquiring some good talent for very little. Unless you like that pile of mediocrity the Cardinals got for Montgomery. So unless we know how many teams are selling and buying and whose going to be available and whether or not Pivetta is even worth acquiring, the basis of you argument is 2 months of Pivetta > 6 months of Pivetta plus the option to get a draft pick. However, the Sox still really shouldn’t deal Pivetta ASAP. They really should see how this season starts to play out and see where they do stand at the deadline. Pivetta might be worthy of and amenable to an extension by then. Or he might prefer not being on the market with Burnes, Fried, etc. as Plan C…

If the Sox think Pivetta is going to pitch himself out of their price range, maybe he should be dealt before the season starts. He certainly ended last year on a high note. And once they start playing real games, trading Pivetta takes away the receiving club’s option to offer him a QO…

Oddly this is playing out well for the Red Sox, as Giolito can’t have a good year and leave them. The Red Sox might have already added two former White Sox to the 2025 staff at bargain prices. Granted, it doesn’t do anything for 2024, which they could still do if they wanted to…

If you’re that confident in your joke, then accept jad’s wager. In case you missed it, he was the first to challenge your tense…

Giolito will likely miss 2024, but TJ would have him out until July-ish, 2025. He might be back for ST next year…

In this case, it’s future perfect…

Are you talking about the same front office that once said “baseball players are expensive”?

Well if anyone is going to get hurt…

Grounds crew needs to dig a trench at 3b. Got it…

Depends on what you want him for. As a starter, yes. As a RHH bench bat to face LHP, probably not. Davis has been almost perfectly equal vs LHP as he is vs RHP. Dalbec at least excels vs LHP. If you need defense, ok Davis is probably the best defensive player of these three, especially if you need 3b and corner OF along with 1b. But that doesn’t mean he’s good defensively, just better than two klutz’s…

The risk for IL stints and missed seasons from the heavily-priced free agent crowd certainly is a factor. But the Sox don't need to go out and sign every David Price that hits the market. Even someone like Mike Lorenzen, unexciting as he is, still represents an upgrade on this current roster and apparently is only asking for a two year deal. I also think backfill the bullpen as relievers get "promoted" to the rotation might not be such a bad way to go, but this is something the Sox have steadfastly avoided for multiple seasons now. And at this point, I'm not so sure it makes all that much sense. A couple days ago, Ryne Stanek was sitting out there waiting to (as it turns out) cheaply supply several effective relief innings. But who is left now? Codi Heuer? Anthony Reyes? Talented as they are, both guys do come with some assembly required. After them, I think the best option might be Branthony Bassberger or whatever their names are if you actually think they are two different pitchers...

I don’t suspect he will be another JBJ, who took over 700 MLB plate appearances before he started to hit MLB pitching. But in the meantime, if he does contribute with game-changing defense, that’s absolutely a startable skill, and one that, as a CF, can be a bigger factor in a game than whatever he does in 4 plate appearances. But in a year where the Sox are making minimal effort to compete, holding him back for an extra season of control certainly has merit. But the Sox are not really loaded with OF talent right now. If Rafaela is in Worcester for April and May, does that mean O’Neill-Duran-Abreu is the starting OF in April?

I think the weak drafting would be less of a concern if the Sox supplemented their staff with uninjured free agents. And not guys like Criswell...

The main argument would be that Rafaela didn't earn his starting role with his offense anyway. But i agree the extra year of control is huge. If Rafaela starts in Worcester, does that clear a path for Abreu to start in Boston?

Bobby Miller pitched well for 124 IP. But most likely just grabbing a pitcher for the sake of grabbing a pitcher doesn’t help much. But so far the two best pitchers in that draft came in rounds 4 and 5…

And the Sox had effective rotations with minimal impact from the draft before. Many times, in fact…

But if the Sox implement a strategy of taking more pitchers early regardless of how the draft i is going, they’re just as likely to miss out on Mayer and Teel - two “best available” players that were predicted to go higher but fell into the Sox lap - as they are to miss out on players like Yorke and Romero…

Hopefully it doesn’t hinge on drafting pitchers…

The Rays? Their roster currently has 5 players they drafted and two players signed as international free agents. The Sox currently have 7 players they drafted and 3 acquired via IFA. The Rays, however, are Serial Traders…

It’s real easy to use hindsight to apply these new draft strategies. Everyone of us - and possibly Chaim Bloom as well - would agree to going back in time and selecting a college pitcher - specifically Bobby Miller - over Nick Yorke. But no one wants to go back and undo the success stories, which, let’s face it, are just as likely if you change strategies. How many people, for example, think the Sox should have drafted LHP Nate Savino out of the University of Virginia or RHP Mason Barnett out of Auburn over some random Florida teenage outfielder named Roman Anthony?

Looking at the top 15 active pitchers in career bWAR. Three of them (Cueto, Darvish, Quintana) were not drafted, but signed through IFA or bidding processes. All of the others were selected in the top overall 18 picks in the draft, except for Lance Lynn (1st round pick 39) and Jake deGrom (9th round). All of them were drafted out of high school, but most did not sign and were later selected again out of college. The only ones to sign out of high school were Greinke, Kershaw and Bumgarner, all three of whom were top ten overall picks. It’s impossible to know why each player was selected by their team. But these were all players (except deGrom) who were expected to be selected high by the agencies that rank potential and don’t care about organizational need. I do recall Sonny Gray (18th overall selection) did fall quite far considering he was among the top 5 picks on just about everyone’s list…

They aren’t selecting high schoolers to save money. High schoolers aren’t necessarily cheaper, because if you don’t meet their demands, they have the option of going to college. College players have much less leverage; they either sign what you offer or go play Northern League ball for a year. It’s real easy to say “why not just draft more highly-rated college pitchers?” It’s not like that commodity is always available. And the best college pitcher on the board doesn’t always equate to the best option…

I advocate that if the SS is the best player left on the board. Drafting pitching for the sake of drafting pitching doesn’t work so well if the pitchers flame out High A ball. The high school SS could flame out as well, but when you take the best player available and he doesn’t work out, you didn’t really do anything wrong. Are you advocating the Sox take lesser pitchers solely for the sake of taking pitchers?

When they make moves to do so. Is drafting the only way to get pitchers? The Sox didn’t draft a single starting pitcher who made their rotation between Clay Buchholz (debuted in 2007) and Tanner Houck (debuted in 2020). Know what else they did in that time? Won three World Series…