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It shows the team is cheap and reluctant to pay what is client is worth. We’ve seen this before. We have all heard stories about blatantly cheap extension offers given to Bogaerts and Lester and assumed them to be true. But we really don’t know what the offers were. I am not sure what restrictions if any teams have about countering these stories, but does any benefit arise from that potential media war? The benefit is easy to see for the agent - the fans always gravitate to his side? How often have you seen comments about the cheapness of ownership as opposed to the greed of players. But fans don’t cheer for owners, so we don’t want to see the players as greedy. Even as recently as last year, stories around the internet pervaded about Devers’ trade being done so Liverpool could afford Florian Wirtz, despite the numbers making no sense. (Liverpool FC is worth more than the Sox and Wirtz’ contract pales compared to Devers’.) But people wanted to believe Henry was making the Sox worse for his own other businesses they don’t care about. Why? Because it’s easy to vilify owners And when Skubal’s leaves, no one in Detroit will say it’s because of his demands and every story will be about cheap ownership caring more about bottom lines than the product on the field…

If Ryan isn’t an improvement (and he certainly isn't stairs quo), why is Boston wasting time with him?

Well, Ive probably called both bad contracts waiting to happen at some point. Ive predicted thr Sox sign one or the other. I could see them signing Alonso because, as a 1b, he will command a smaller deal than Bregman. But they had this exact choice lasts year, and the Sox signed Bregman, so I could see that happening again…

Arenado’s is a step down from Romy Gonzalez in every way except salary. And Romy dopant be a full time starter. And with $42mill on the books for the next two years, Arenado becomes an expensive albatross. Yoshida straight up is the only trade I’d make for Arenado. And if I thought about it long enough, like say 2 full minutes, I wouldn’t make that deal either…

Cohen/Mets didn’t sign Alonso long term a year ago and instead just went with the one year deal. I have my doubts they view Alonso as a 6-7 year solution and are much more likely to spend their allowance tjis year upgrading their AAAA grade starting rotation. They might be able to get by with Baty and Vientos handling the corner infield roles. And if not, they can fix that situation in July…

Why the anger towards BTV? It’s not the end-all-be-all trade reference, but it’s a good source that takes into account performance and salary, which teams do care about. Is it 100% accurate or 100% definitive? Absolutely not, for multiple reasons. Like it cannot tell you if certain teams like certain players. Heck at its core, it uses projections like Steamer and projections are often inaccurate. But it’s a nice third party reality check. And when it says a trade is “Fair” that can be reported as fact, in that it is a fact that BTV said the trade was fair. No one is using as definitive. And that becomes apparent when people complain about it. To me, there is a huge difference between saying “BTV calls it an overpay” ( where I am reporting factual output from a neutral third party) vs saying “that trade is a huge overpay” (which could easily just be my opinion, supported or unsupported)…

He gets pissy when we don’t base stuff like that on RBIs…

It looked like you viewed him as a continuation of the trend…

Huh? So Sandoval turns 30 after next season ends but youre counting him as a 30yo signing because why? Hes going to turn 30 someday? When Sandoval signed with the Red Sox, he was 28 years and two months old. If that’s too old for a free agent, then the Sox should never sign one ever again…

First of all, I get the concern of not having experience. But at some point, they do need to get it. All of our internal options? Ok disregarding thr injured Houck, and let’s also table Drohan and Uberstine, because they are low ceiling depth. But I would say the ones that definitely need work in the minors include Tolle and Perales. And Fitts probably benefits from a reduced role, like a bullpen role. That leaves Early, Dobbins and Harrison as ready for the rotation. But I do question the ceiling of Harrison and (especially) Dobbins. But Early? I’m not so sure…

Why was it a reckless? The Sox didn’t need him in December or January. And it wasn’t like when they signed Stephen Drew mid-season. They wanted Soto. Understandable. It didn’t pan out. But why go committing 6 or 7 years to your second choice when you’re not really sure about the guy?

No love for Pete Alonso, who signed a week later?

But at no point should we rely on internal options, right? The Sox have like 12 starting pitchers on their 30 man roster and 11 of them are worthless!!

Ive posted many, mostly revolving around signing either Alonso or Bregman…

Dealing Anthony would be massive. But sometimes that is the right answer. If not for his contract, I wonder if dealing Anthony for Nick Kurtz makes sense. Gives the Sox a slugging 1b and eliminates their OF depth issue. Plus it helps Oakland’s weak OF and eliminates their 1b logjam…

Next Crochet? What happened to the first one? This search for a #2 starter leaves me asking this. What would you say to a pitcher that was worth 1.1 fWAR in a measly 14IP. For some perspective, Brayan Bello was worth 1.9 fWAR in 166 IP. This is starting to look like a bad 1980s RomCom. Everyone wants the Sox to pony up and sign Leah Thompson. And yet Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio is. RIGHT THERE pitching deciding games in the postseason …

Why is this an issue? The guy has SIX career starts at 1b, and none of them happened in 2025 when the Sox didn’t even have a first baseman. Again - he couldn’t beat out Toro; Hes not going to be the starting 1b this year. Wait until comments start on the Tristan Gray thread where folks interpret THIS is the Sox answer to their power bat deficiency, despite the article explicitly stating Gray will be either last man on the bench or in Worcester…

It’s not just about fans, but broadcasting, too. It was postulated at one point, Vermont was Sox country. I’ve been to Burlington dozens of times over the years - Thats Yankee territory. Sure there probably a few dozen Sox fans, but they can’t watch games. Yankee games on the other hand are readily available. And this goes back to WINS days, long before the ubiquitous YES Network…

You don’t remember the last time the Sox signed a big name free agent pitcher? To go all irrelevant pop culture, I assume you are aware of Jurassic Park? A movie that taught us just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. As it is, you’re trying to argue using accountancy instead of baseball acumen, citing revenue and market share. Also that people condone and cheer for exploitation any relationship between spending and winning is not a good thing. Sports are supposed to be competition with the outcome determined by physical actions during the game, not by flexing financial muscles that render the bulk of the league as muted fodder…

Crochet signed his deal at 25. How many 25yo free agents can you name? Most are on the other side of 30, with careers that will start to wind down shortly. Not remotely the same. My views on free agency are not related to money…

But it’s not exclusive. That was the point…

I could see Wong playing the occasional 1b as a substitution or because Cora keeps his bench involved. But he isn’t going to be a starting option, even on the short end of a platoon. The Sox didn’t have a first baseman last year between Casas and Lowe, and Wong couldn’t even beat out Abraham Toro for starts…

I learned a long time ago not to trust these figures. I think GMs/CBOs are not allowed to discuss negotiations publicly, but they can certainly hurt their position elsewhere by doing so and they almost never do it. Whereas agents can tell reporters anything they want to and are not accountable to anyone for it. Also, fans believe agents 999 times out of 1,000….

Annd therein lies the issue. Like Devers, you assumed 3b was “his” and he was entitled to it and owned it. Devers had every chance to prove he was capable of playing 3b, and he failed miserably, putting up the worst defensive metrics at the position in MLB. But now it is “mistreating” a player to replace him when he proves incapable of doing his job?

I think we have to know him personally to be able to answer that question with any accuracy…