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If Hosmer does stay for a while, his salary will be a BIG part of it. I expect him to be on the trade block all winter. And once all the other MLB teams pass, he might get a shot at DH. Honestly, I do think his salary makes him a good fit for a deal with Milwaukee as they have their arbitration-crunch. For Adrian Houser? I’d do it…

Really what that says is whatever arm the pitcher uses, Yordan just don’t care…

There is no point in the season when power rankings are more useless than right after the postseason when the free agents are set to depart but no one has replaced them yet. Revisit this is March…

I’m just talking about absolute locks as starters (assuming no one is injured). C - McGuire is the current front runner, but would you really be surprised if the Sox brought in someone to start over him? He’s defensively above average, but his offense in Boston is definitely not sustainable. 1b - Casas is the front runner, too. But Hosmer is still here for now. Either one might be the DH. 2b - Story until he gets hurt 3b - We all hope it’s Devers, but a lot depends on his contract situation. He might get extended, traded, or just play out his last year. SS - Bogaerts’ opting out is extremely likely. Free agent? Will it be a big name like Correa or a stopgap like Segura? Or will Kike move in and hold it down for a year? LF - Verdugo for now, but apparently the Sox were not too happy with his attempts to bulk up and the effect it has on his play offensively and defensively. CF - Most likely Kike. Unless he plays somewhere else, like SS. RF - No front runners. I’m sticking to my prediction of Gallo. But nothing has obviously happened yet. DH - Please not Hosmer. The position is designated hitter, not designated mediocrity.

I think that’s why they brought in a guy with more success at it…

That’s people avoiding the data. And incredibly obvious data…

Fair point. I wasn’t referring to the staff and bullpen yet. But Bello feels like a lock for the rotation, along with Pivetta. Sale certainly has a spot if he’s healthy. The bullpen? Beyond Houck and Schreiber I don’t know. Whitlock could be in it, but probably won’t. Zack Kelly will be. And Barnes, unless he’s dealt in a bad contract swap…

And Kike in either CF or SS. I’m actually not all that confident Verdugo returns. And speculation about Devers is rampant. I suppose if Verdugo does stay, it might only be because the Sox wouldn’t be selling high. But then they didn’t with Benintendi…

The Sox did win 78 games and the stays made the postseason with only 86 wins. So the climb to the postseason shouldn’t be too daunting. But then the roster is in real flux right now. Really outside of 2b, how confident are you to name the starter at any position?

I don’t think fans really care how much most players make as long as they put together a team. Mookie was offered $300mill and most people are still critical of that trade…

It is not dying, it is not dying…

And that was 12 years ago

Last year, Oakland gave MLB the Arbitration Fire Sale. They dealt Chapman, Olson, Bassitt, Manaea and (eventually) Montas. This year, I suspect will see something similar, although maybe not quite at that scale, from Milwaukee, who has the following players eligible for arbitration: Brandon Woodruff, Corban Burnes, Hunter Renfroe, Willy Adames, Eric Lauer, Adrian Houser, and Luis Urias. And probably a couple more. This might be where the Sox grab some help…

They traded Lance Berkman!!!

The draft picks are nice, but only Bregman and Tucker remain from that mixed bag streak of high draft picks. What has carried the Astros has been the international free agent signings like Valdez, Javier, Garcia and Urquidy. It’s been mentioned their rotation after Verlander is all homegrown. But really, of the other 5 starters, only McCullers was drafted. And he’s been their most inconsistent one attendance-wise…

That’s why I can’t get too worked up about missed draft picks. That round the Sox selected “MLB-ready” Durban Feltman, who still isn’t as MLB-ready as he was that day…

If the Sox do spend at SS, I'm still holding that it will be Correa. Bogaerts? I will predict Philly. DD has signed him before...

No way. The Sox have to re-add all of the 60 day IL players and then protect the "draftables" like Rafaela...

Old and injured isn’t Dombrowski’s type? He is the one who signed Eovaldi and Sale. Ort will be DFAd before the Rule 5 draft. Book it…

You would enjoy being a Tigers’ fan. Sure the team only won 66 games. BUT THEY DIDN’T FINISH IN LAST!! And isn’t that all that matters?

Ort is 30. He doesn’t need more AAA; he needs to get used to living as a career minor leaguer…

Not even remotely true. Not sure why you think free agency - where players can set their own prices and negotiate with multiple teams - is cheaper than arbitration, where players have to justify their raises to a third party and do better than the team justifying a lesser raise. And you really can’t go dumpster diving in the arbitration process as that involves the cheaper players that the cheaper trans want to keep. Now I’m free agency…

Have you seen the Astros? What pitcher did they acquire via free agency? Even Verlander was acquired via trade. And free agency is probably the worst way to try to acquire pitching. Too often it involves paying pitchers in their 30s heavy salaries for what they did in their 20s. I’d rather explore the trade markets. There are always quality pitchers out there whose arbitration prices are exceeding their team’s budgets…

The Sox would have nearly $90mill in AAV tied up at second, short, and third…

Correa is represented by WME Baseball per his b-r.com page. They’re not necessarily any easier and he could fire them and hire Boras any second now…