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If Bogaerts can’t/won’t be extended, Enmanuel Valdez is off to a hit start in Worcester pushing for 2b. The FA OF class is weak (and won’t containJudge, especially if he breaks Maris’ still-standing AL home run record), but there’s always some arb eligibles that teams want to move. I mentioned Laureano already. Cody Bellinger is a non tender candidate. Bryan Reynolds is one that should grab lots of attention…

I’m sure both want that kind of cash. But both have agents telling them “ not happening, dude.” Soto is 23 years old (24 in October) and despite this one year has already established himself among the best hitters in MLB despite being only one year older than the top overall pick in last year’s draft. By the time he is 27, he very well might make Mike Trout look like Tim Salmon. Bogaerts is 30 and probably looking may a deal close to the 7 year $175 of Marcus Semien last year. I put Bogaerts at 6/$150, I might be light. Devers was offered something similar to the deal Matt Olson got from Atlanta (8 yrs $168mill) and commented the Sox were “about $100 mill off.” Since I doubt he wanted $68mill, let’s put him at $270mill for 9 years.

Leave catcher. Extend Bogaerts, Devers. Make a run at Ramon Laureano for CF. (BTV accepted Yorke and Duran, but would Forst?) Rotation should be Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Winckowski, and either Whitlock or Crawford. (I’m on the Crawford Train) Bullpen starts with Houck, Whitlock/Crawford, Schreiber, German, and still has Barnes and Brasier. A couple arms to push Barnes and Brasier further down on the depth chart would be cool.

Very affordable. But you have to clean house every three years…

But then comes the obvious questions. How long do you give it to not work out? And what options will be available between then and the end of July? It’s not like some sort of steady stream of first basemen were out looking for work. I’m sure the Sox could have grabbed a few disgruntled Amazon employees and lured them to the clubhouse with promises of restroom breaks. But would this really be any better? And the answer here is never “it would have to be.” As low of a rung as Cordero/Dalbec represent on the MLB ladder, they’re still higher up than many even in AAA can reach…

There are actually quite a few successful Swiss Army knife types in MLB. Our own Kike Hernandez being a prime example. Most are more the Chad Pinder/Joey Wendle type who get maybe 1.5-2.5 fWAR in a good year. One of the more successful one in recent years might actually be Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who, in his brief career has already excelled defensively at 3b (Gold Glove winner), shortstop, and even did a fair job as a catcher. They do serve very useful purposes for small market teas plus those on a budget crunch.

So you’re saying Dombrowski proved himself incapable of running a team once he moved Swihart to the OF?

The JBJ trade didn’t work out because JBJ didn’t bounce back. It made sense at the time to those who saw the need to improve OF defense. But it didn’t work out overall. The results are not always in the plan. I’m pretty sure when DD extended Sale, the plan wasn’t to have him make 11 starts over the next 3 years. The plan when Bloom extended Barnes wasn’t to watch him revert into a C-League high school pitcher. I’m not sure who decided to play Cordero at 1b or Arroyo in RF. But the flexible do make sense sometimes, especially if you can’t afford real depth. It’s worth noting none of them signed anything longer than a 2 year deal. But if you think JBJ was a bad idea and think playing guys out of position should never happen, does that mean you liked using Renfroe in CF last year?

You take being wrong so well. Just for clarification…

I think you mean a therapist to be named later…

I watched the interview harmony linked above. About 8:30 or so in he starts saying things like “if you can imagine we probably thought if it and in many cases pursued it.” Granted, an exaggeration. But it doesn’t sound like he never talked to anyone else…

You said “this will do”. I quoted it in my post. It was the very thing I said was pure conjecture that you were supposed to be refuting…

If Nelson Cruz can hit 43 more, maybe I’ll nominate him…

No one said he’s not a great player. But is any member of the 500 HR club more overrated than he is? Assuming any are overrated at all. To me the most underrated is Jim Thome. Over 600 home runs. 8th all time. And he just feels like a complete afterthought…

Where does it say he wasn’t talking to anyone else about a 1b?

Just because the Sox are a large market doesn’t mean they have infinite money. They’re not a large market with a $75mill payroll. The Lux tax payroll is up around $240 or so mill per Bellhorn. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) And roughly one-eighth of that tied in in 7IP. So yes, not a lot went to 1b because the initial plan went 0 for 3. But then what? It’s not like there were a lot of sellers in May and June. Two of the 3 First baseman you said were traded went in the last 96 hours. And Santana isn’t exactly a substantial upgrade over Cordero/Dalbec. Hosmer, despite that ringing double, doesn’t excite me. But he does bring one massive advantage that Santana/Mancini/etc. doesn’t. The main reason I like building the farm up isn’t to get star players, although they certainly do help. But it’s to be able to afford them. If the Sox want to keep Bogaerts/Devers beyond their current deals, it becomes much, much easier if the farm fills some gaps with players, some of whom need only be serviceable but make minimum wage. Serviceable at minimum wage? Now THAT is a description of Eric Hosmer. At least it’s the one we traded for. So would you be happier if the Sox took on a pricier 1b earlier? Even FA-to-be Santana can’t do what Hosmer can do - play for the Sox next year for minimum wage. If waiting 100 games for a marginal upgrade for does increase the likelihood of keeping Bogaerts and/or Devers, is it worth it? And it does increase the likelihood. But it doesn’t guarantee anything…

Yes because most managers don’t bounce starters from position to position like that. How often did Betts shift to CF when Bradley was hurt? And Cordero only started 11 games. I don’t think it was a statement about Verdugo as much as a desire to just keep him in his routine…

Cody Bellinger? Lately Chris Sale, who by year end will have been paid $78mill (including the pro-rated 2020) on his current contract and has delivered 48 IP…

I think that since Bloom has only been around since 2020, the entire farm system above A ball - which is where the MLB ready players are - was brought in by other GMs. I was excited when DD drafted Groome, but I’m not surprised he was dealt. He’s struggled with injury after injury. His velocity has dropped. He seems to finally be coming around after over 5 years, but it’s looking pretty unlikely he is going to amount to much. He was rapidly turning into Anderson Espinoza 2.0…

I didn’t interpret it the same at all. The whole reason they acquired Bradley was for defense. So once Story was on board, they had the gloves in RF and CF and let Verdugo handle LF. Duran was called up to replace CF. I’m sure some teams have re-arranged their OF for an injury replacement, but it’s more common not to. They simply brought up Duran for Kike and let Verdugo do his job. Just like how they never slide over Story when Bogaerts is out…

If he could be Dewey or Betts, that would be great! But just because he can’t be either doesn’t mean he has no business there. Frankly I’m confused why people think he’s so bad at covering a RF that the Sox once let Tom Brunansky defend. Is it just that Betts spoiled us?

I’ve asked before - is that Bloom or Cora? At some point, putting a lineup together is Cora’s job. The big one to me was Arroyo in RF. Why? Who called that? Just play JBJ and forego the offense to get the D…

Was it that Verdugo wasn’t good enough or JBJ was just so much better?

A link or story would be nice…

Some absolutely is conjecture. Although Boston being involved earlier is at least supported by the timing. That he talked to no one else about a 1b is supported by nothing…