notin

Rafaela doesn’t look like he’s worth that deal to you? His AAV is IKF money…

So Chapman never won a ring on a team he started the season with…

Bello might be the best answer to a questionable bullpen. But a few arms need to get heathy first…

You also said 90 wins. And the Rays have the second best record in the American League (despite lacking a highly overpaid batter, no less)…

Also Crawford and Sandoval…

This could be bigger than Duran’s struggles. Not sure how Eaton’s fills the void. Someone finally going to let him pitch?

And many fans wanted Like Keaschall over Mayer despite Keaschall putting up numbers that are worse than what got Campbell demoted…

And those are not all on Anthony. Duran and Story each need Ruthian hot streaks to get back to a .600 OPS first. That’s certainly not on Anthony to make that up…

That’s not anything the team said. In fact, they said they expected Abreu to break out this year. And they tried to bring back Bregman and to some extent, explores options like Marte, Paredes, and even Seager in some unsubstantiated rumors. That doesn’t sound like handing the team over to Anthony. Don’t confuse fan expectations with team plans. Anthony’s numbers will work themselves out. Sure he won’t be Ken Griffey Jr Jr, but does the team really expect him to be? I think right now they (and we) had higher expectations from Duran…

A lot of this is your personal theory. Nowhere did the Sox publicly state they wanted Anthony to “carry the team.” If that were the case, why pursue Bregman? More than likely they signed Anthony because they didn’t want to risk another Betts situation where their options were pay $300mill or trade. And the “hype” wasn’t from the fans or the Red Sox. Neutral third party scouting sources like Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus ranked him very highly on their own…

I have 0 concerns about Anthony. StatCast data tells me much more about how he is hitting than batting average and RBIs, especially after only 110 PA. I have patience a lot of thing will balance out because he is hitting the ball with authority. His Ks are higher than I like, but then he is also walking a lot. If he was striking out and not walking, thats a legitimate concern..,

Ummm… making MLB by age 21 is special, isn’t it? Like I said earlier, there are probably going to be highly-regarded players drafted this June that are his age or older, and will be headed for A ball. Just because a player is “special” doesn’t mean he makes the All Star team before he can legally drink. Roman is basically putting up Mookie numbers. His age 21 OPS exceeded Mookie’s (.859 to .812). And after 110 PA, this year his age 22 OPS of .642 is nearly identical the .649 OPS Betts had after 103 PA at age 22. In hindsight, do we wish we signed Betts to an extension then?

Sure there is the possibility that all 4 of Bello, Anthony, Campbell and Rafaela soend thr rest of their careers in AAA. But it’s slim based on Rafaela alone securing a roll. Or maybe Anthony never becomes a star and Bello (a punching bag today, but we all know he can pitch better because he has done it) just remain average players. Well, right now they’re all really paid that way, which makes them tradable. The combined AAV is around $40mill, which isn’t a killer for 4 players. And their total spend (including money already spent) is about $270mill. Again, Thsts for 4 players and spread across 9 seasons. This isn’t the stumbling block many are afraid of, especially considering it’s not like Boston was collecting top tier free agents even before these deals went out. It’s not like it prevented them from signing Bregman and Suarez. And they aren’t going to turn into the financial handicap the Schwarber/ Turner/ Harper/ Wheeler/ Castellanos/ Luzardo/ Nola are going to be in Philly over the next few seasons. Fans want contracts with immediate results. Sure. I get it. But for these types of deals, it might not happen right away. If they become stars, their immediate assets. If not, the players you wind up missing out on are the Lorenzen / Finnegan / IKF types. Fantasies that the Sox were going to save all $270mill and sign some Dylan Cease type should have been abandoned long ago, even before any of these deals happened…

It’s not an excuse to look at how well he is hitting the ball on his StatCast page and notice he is doing most things right. Some of us don’t use RBIs to measure a leadoff hitter, or really, any player. Sure 1 HR. So what? Plenty of good hitters have that total or less right now. And so what if fans get excited about him? There is plenty there to get excited about, and getting excited is what fans do. Demotions happen, and if it does here you will unlikely gloat. Not because you were right; youre noncommittal about everything until it becomes time to blatantly lie. But only because you don’t like seeing fans (which is short for “fanatics”) get excited about their team. It’s not going to stop happening. I mean, are you really calling for patience on a hitter “an excuse” IN APRIL?!??! Hes a very young player; some of us have patience. Labeling him a “suspect” until he meets whatever your criteria you have is absolutely not patience…

You’re right. He’s clearly a bust. It’s like the old saying goes “if they’re not hitting by 21, they never will.”

Because he hasn’t set the league on fire before his 22nd birthday?

Is it worth giving 5 players utility infielder money to risk getting one superstar? Campbell has an AAV of $7.25 million. On today’s market, that gets you Steven Matz. Bello makes a little over $9mill AAV, enough to almost sign Kyle Finnegan. Now together, both their deals are worth $115mill, which can get you 3 years of Framber Valdez, who is likely only that cheap due to his anger issues. Or, hey, the Sox could have gotten 4 years of Kazuma Okamoto and had enough left for 3 years of Tsunyami Imai, not that either of them have earned their contracts yet. Why not roll the dice on these deals? Because you want a $500 mill contract attached to a player who then gets surrounded by replacement level talent? Thats the beauty of these deals; the players don’t need to turn into stars to justify them. Bello is making less money this year than Mike Lorenzen. Have you EVER wanted the Sox to sign Mike f***ing Lorenzen? Third rate closers have higher AAVs than Bello. His pitching might be a bust, but his contract isn’t, because he fits in well with s*** team closer money. Earn their money first? We don’t want them earning the wages they’re being paid..

Absolutely. Why tie up young players for mediocre player money when you can see if they become stars first and then trade them for Jeter Downs and Alex Verdugo?

Anthony has a bit of a weakness for chasing curveballs in the dirt, but he will be fine. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/roman-anthony-701350?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb Especially when you remember that this June, some future top prospects that are older than Anthony will just be getting drafted…

You must have been off planet during the Pablo Sandoval years…

Weren’t people calling for his demotion just a couple days ago?

… and that might be why he didn’t ask about Abreu..

So like $900 million tied up in 7 players, only one of whom is under 33. That’s pretty bad, even for Dombrowski…

And that was Hudson’s problem. Here he probably saw Chisholm keep the ball in the infield and get to his feet while Eaton’s was rounding third, and he didnt stop to accurately predict Chisholm was going to make a crappy throw before wantonly throwing up the stop sign. Curse him for not making some sort of Wendell Kim style aggressive call that all Sox fans loved for years and years!!

I just learned that right now. Too many Chad Tracy’s. Also too many Logan Allen’s. The world is a confusing place…