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The thing with JD is, he turned 35 last year. Not ancient but not exactly unheard for hitters to start declining at that age, either. Turner is older but at least offers some defensive flexibility. He basically hit the same as Martinez last year…

So look at the bright side. No posts about letting Turner walk only to improve elsewhere…

Actually what I keep seeing is people who hated the 2022 team still seem to want it all back. I’ve asked repeatedly what Eovaldi, Wacha and JD Martinez did last year to merit new contracts and no one wants to answer…

So $90mill = $110mill? Also JD was worth 1.0 fWAR last year. Yoshida already has 1.3 fWAR…

Where was all that in 2022?

And maybe he’d be part of this lineup if he hit anything like this last year, instead of posting a .790 OPS and hitting only 16 HRs. I mean, should the Sox really have re-signed a DH who got outhomered by Elvis Andrus?

Well, the thing is… Ok the 2019 team had a payroll in excess of $240mill and went 84-78. Not a good record for that payroll. Especially since they finished a dozen games out of the postseason and wouldn’t have made the postseason under the current format. Not by a lot. From 2015 thru 2017, no team in the AL East win 94 games. Boston took two pennants during one of the weakest stretches in division history. They did follow up with a franchise record 108 wins, but then fell 24 games in the standings - second largest single-season drop in team history - in 2019. So for about a quarter billion dollars, the Sox were looking at a team with win totals of 93, 93, 108, and 84. And at a time when the least looked like the AL East was starting to improve and 93 win teams were no longer sufficient. And if one of those win totals was an outlier, it probably wasn’t 84. To make matters worse, this team also had one year left of Betts, who has already rejected $300mill (reportedly), so even the status quo was expensive. Plus they had a rotation that with Sale, Price and Eovaldi locked up for a total of 11 seasons at $290mill and a lengthy history of arm problems to worry about. And to date, 9 of those 11 seasons are in the books and only once did a pitcher reach 110 IP, not exactly a lofty total in itself. (With some luck, Sale could bring that up to 3 seasons.) And finally, their bottom tier farm system wasn’t bringing up minimum wage help that was necessary to hold on the players like Betts and to afford to get actual healthy arms for the rotation. Only Houck and Dalbec managed to climb out of this farm system in 2020, and Dalbec has since crawled back in to it. That’s what I saw. I don’t think 2019 got the apathy from the Sox FO it got from you…

Bear in mind it’s our words , not Henry’s. Not Bloom’s…

Well if they just sell, they get minor leaguers. And for their assets, low level MiLB talent with questionable futures. What does that do for 2024? What does anything they can get for Duvall, Paxton, Dalbec, Kluber, Hernandez, and I’ll even throw in Turner, Jansen and Martin do for this team next year? In fact, dealing the last 3 makes next year even tougher…

Did the Padres and Mets substantially increase or decrease their market value by overpaying heavily for losing teams?

They’re going to do both again. Sell something here. Maybe move on a controllable piece there…

Because you’re trying to make one instance a sweeping generalization. I noticed you didn’t answer about the Padres/Mets…

So the Mets and Padres have just blown up their market values?

Pretty sure my R Kelly quote was true..

He’s 3 for 9. You never get anything right. And clearly don’t grasp what a pink hat is…

It’s weird to think that somehow the Sox are still 8th in MLB in runs scored…

Opinion is divided. Plenty still say this is Bloom’s “make or break” year. The contrary opinion is “we really don’t know what the plan is.” If Henry is on board with this and likes the way the bigger picture is shaping up, it might not be a make or break year…

Why? Is their market value based on team payroll?

No. Do you think he isn’t trying to lower the team’s operating costs?

But with all that, they’re still 40-41? At 40-40, they were 3 games off the pace of the 2019 team (43-37 after 80 games). A team that had a rotation of Sale, Price, Eovaldi, ERod and Porcello. And still had Betts, Bogaerts, Devers, Benintendi, JD Martinez, etc…

But how do you define “a good team to begin with.” 2013 and 2018 both won it all. But 2014 and 2019 both looked similar to their predecessors and yet got 26 and 24 games worse respectively….

“On it” - R Kelly, most likely…

Verdugo needs an extension. Apparently he is open to one, per MLBTR. If you want a quick turnaround back to relevance, limit trading to players only signed for this year and positions of depth at the upper levels. That’s why I mentioned Duran. I suppose McGuire would work, but he would need to make himself relevant quickly, a tough order given he’s on the IL…

If the Sox need to build a pitching staff, the worst way to do it is to trade away pitching. Unless you want a worse team next year…

I seem to recall he was let go before being suspended. Of course, even if that is the case, it could also mean he was fired before the suspension was announced…