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I asked ChatGPT, and it said this could not be determined. I’m scouring the web for a Talksox from an alternate timeline where the Sox signed none of those players. I found one where they only signed Lackey, but you don’t want to go there. Their version of Notin has a very foul mouth and their Bellhorn is best described as “surly”…

Also They Might Be Giants

What do you think of this Sox rotation? With the 4 youngsters in it? I don’t think Houck and Crawford will stick, but I can see giving both a chance. Houck scored a few points for himself last night..

Once Sale went down, it made trading the unextended Betts the right move. ERod going down just hammered that home…

I am never going to even pretend I know what his agreement with Henry is. And my opinion on that subject is not relevant…

Last year the cry was we needed Schwarber back. We dealt with Arroyo in the OF and Pham and the Dalbec/Franchy debacle. Schwarber would have fit right in!! Of course now in Schwarber’s two best defensive positions (relatively speaking), the Sox have Yoshida and Casas. And suddenly, we don’t need Schwarber any more. All of this “but look who we replaced them with” ******** ignores that not a single starting pitcher that has signed with the Sox in the last few years has received a multiyear offer (except reportedly Eovaldi). These are all stopgaps. And many have stepped aside to let Whitlock, Houck, Crawford and Bello step into the rotation and try to claim a spot. Just because a player doesn’t get replaced RIGHT AWAY doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen…

Sale is more relevant to this team than Wacha…

He was signed to pitch for 7 years, not 4. And in two of those 4 years, he pitched less than 108 innings. He was a bust, which is why Boston had to take less for Betts just to unload him…

But these are players who, when in Boston, made it difficult to make the necessary long term commitments each required. Eovaldi came in with a significant injury history, spent two of his 4 years missing significant time with injuries (and one of the two years he didn’t was 60 games long), and moved on to sign a deal that, with options and incentives can earn him $63mill over 3 years. I don’t care so much about the money as I think “what did this guy do in the past 4 years that makes him worth 3 more?” Especially since he’s now 4 years older. (Bloom apparently did offer him a multiyear deal in November. The terms have never been disclosed.) Wacha’s contract can be about the same. The $6.5mill AAV is a misrepresentation; it’s only that if he is awful this year. If he is good, SD has a 2 year $32mill team option. Not sure if they exercise it, but Wacha, like Eovaldi, isn’t known for lasting 3 years. To me, keeping these two notoriously fragile arms in a rotation that already has Chris Sale strikes me as a very risky idea. Kluber was a stopgap. That’s it. He didn’t work out and he won’t be back (barring an extremely unlikely turnaround). If they DFAd him tomorrow, even Mrs. Kluber would understand. No one knows if the Sox will get involved in the pitching free agent market or make a deal for another starter, like trade one of their CFs. But at least they have those options they might not have if Wacha and Eovaldi were tying up anywhere from $60-100mill and two roster spots for the next free seasons… And next off-season will have better

The argument that Mayer “fell into his lap” is for simpletons. Mayer was passed on by three other teams, all of whom selected players ranked lower. No one ever discredited Dombrowski selected consensus top ranked draft pick Jay Groome because he simply “fell into his lap”…

Elvis Andrus was out there even longer and settled for a paltry $3mill…

AAV is only one way to value a contract. The folks paying the bills might also care about the overall commitment. And if they do, Yoshida, Turner and Duvall will receive much less money than Bogaerts has coming to him.

I’d call it incomplete. And I think his goals and our expectations don’t align as closely as we would like. For example, many of us (myself included) have wondered why there’s been almost no focus on MiLB pitching. Not in trades. Not in the draft. It’s like he’s grabbed the occasional token arm but not much else. Whitlock, Winckowski, and ? Well now in 2023, we’ve seen the minor league put three starters in the rotation with varying degrees of success. But it’s getting more apparent how completely devoid of hitting talent this minor league system was. If you look at the 4 drafts run by the Dombrowski regime - and at 4-7 years ago the book on them is almost closed - to net produced almost nothing in the way of MLB-caliber position players. Granted, the jury is still out on some 2019 draft picks. But the first 3 drafts to date have only produced 4 hitters with as much as one professional plate appearance. Casas is still young and shows promise. Duran flirts with looking like an MLB player. Dalbec is the only other one to ever suit up for Boston (and God willing never will again). And the only other one is the departed Sergio Espinal, the lone All Star of these drafts (to date). To me that does lend some credence as to why position players dominate early in his drafts and dominate his trades. Granted, it does very little for the current team…

The Betts thing has been done to death, but per the media before his trade and all during his negotiations, Betts was dead set on trying free agency. That he reportedly countered a $300mill offer with $400mill doesn’t make this so unbelievable. But that this negotiation was under Dombrowski - not exactly known for holding back money/years - and didn’t get done simply means to me it wasn’t getting done. And after 2019, Betts wasn’t coming down in his demands as he got closer to free agency. And Henry was going to let Bloom spend money he didn’t let Dombrowski spend. So the only options were - trade Betts. Or hold him for one year and settle for draft compensation. So I take it you prefer draft picks. Of course signing Betts meant keeping Price, but it also probably meant not extending Bogaerts and Sale…

So next year, if Kike is doing well, I assume he will be added to this list. Maybe Pivetta will be the next “one that got away”? Why oh why is Bloom ripping out the heart of the 2022 Red Sox team? And this board should be rife with hindsight if Kluber gets another job and puts together two or three good starts in a row…

Iglesias, Grigorius or Simmons. Or, play Hamilton. Or Reyes…

Right. The Hernandez people are living in the past. Not the Fred Lynn/Reggie Smith crowd…

Nope, for multiple reasons. Point?

Ok. Is he a better hitter this year than Freddie Freeman or Yordan Alvarez? In should point out when I call batting average the worst offensive stat, I am referring to how it tells you the least about a hitter…

Great. It’s still the worst offensive stat. What does it tell you?

Right. Former Gold Glove winner. Two whole years ago. I suppose Bloom needed the REIGNING Gold Glove winner in CF. So despite neither being available to any degree we know of, should it have been Trent Grisham (BA .184) or Miles Straw (BA .221)? I include their batting averages because, despite it being the most useless offensive stat, you seem to like it and, as far as I can tell, use it to measure defense. Which is why you spent all off-season and a good chunk of the regular season crapping on the idea of getting defensive whiz (and available free agent at the time) Joey Gallo. Batter all - low batting average. So what AVAILABLE outfielder should the Sox have gotten? And by your own standards, cannot have some old rusty Gold Glove as far back as 2021…

Don’t forget you’re trying to argue that the Sox don’t get players who can hit and field. And in the process you actually included a former Gold Glove winner with a home run title to his credit. It doesn’t matter whether or not your care about Duvall’s Gold Glove or that he is not being used at his best position. The fact is they actually got a guy like that and you’re digging all over the place to find a way not to accept him as exactly the type of player you were complaining the Sox don’t get…

The top 4 AL leaders in runs scored are all on the Rangers…

He’s spent minimal time in CF, but think about how you’re trying to downplay his 2021 GG for RF. In order to win that, he had to beat out a certain Dodgers RF. That takes some skill. He’s far from a bad OF. Heck he’s far from an average OF…

Right. Much better than the “he hasn’t won a Gold Glove in two years” argument…