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Teams trade for pending Rule 5 guys all the time. If they have a spot on the 40 man roster, it's not a big deal. And it gives the extremely valuable added bonus of allowing the player to stay and play in the minors, not gain a year of service time, and postpones free agency for a full season. Heck, sometimes teams actually trade for a Rule 5 player that has already been selected. The Twins did very well dealing for Johan Santana this way...

How much value and potential do they have? Duran has some value, although how much is in question. Mata is a bigger question mark right now, since he is not going to pitch for several months. Groome is finally showing something. Winckowski was traded a year ago as one of several players who only netted Andrew Benintendi in return. I don't expect his value has catapulted that much in the last 10 months. Basically, after Duran, these are a bunch of question marks. At the deadline last July, teams were dealing ranked pitching prospects for half year to one and a half years of control. Are any of thee players part of any competitive offer? If I can foresee a fire sale in Oakland, it's a safe bet every pitching-starved GM with even a moderate budget also can. And the ones who can't will be getting told about by Dave Forst himself. Is Duran, Groome and Winckowski really a competitive offer?

They should offer him one...

Eh. I've seen worse fans. Heck, I've sat in front of them...

If the Sox do plan on making a trade for anyone who is any good, they can't make all the prospects with potential off limits. Certainly we don't want Bloom to empty the farm of talent, but he is going to have to part with something of actual value...

The problem with Angel Hernandez is he just stands to close to the plate. He should be further back. Up in the stands. As a paying customer…

I could see either being taken, but if Rosario is taken it is to be a 4th outfielder, which is probably his ceiling. Jimenez, as I have mentioned before, might be selected based upon the success of Baddoo last season. Especially since he is probably a better player than Baddoo. So I do DFA Rosario to protect Jimenez...

Of course, right now you argument focuses solely on the post-season. There are 2,430 other games that could use better and more consistent umpiring before we even get there...

I don't think Mata coming off TJ is going to carry the value he should carry. He won't even throw a pitch before August. If you were GM of Oakland, would you deal Montas and Trivino for any of those packages, or try to get Yorke? That you have removed Yorke from the offer tells me the answer. I have mixed emotions. I don't want to give up Yorke, but also I realize I have to give up talent to get talent. And I don't think a pitcher who was acquired for Hembree and Workman seems like enough. It's a tough call. If Forst insists on Yorke, I might turn to Detroit first and see what Duran can get me from them. Their CF situation (and OF in general) is atrocious. BTV gives Duran the same value as Casey Mize and more than Tarik Skubal. I have my (extremely serious) doubts they move Mize here, but I actually think Skubal might be in play.

That also could be a possibility. Actually both starting Iggy and Arroyo huting himself on the bench are possible.. Iglesias hit well last year, but that was probably an aberration, given how the rest of his season went. He might be a better option than Yollmer Sanchez for the role. But both are basically Glove Men who will bat 9th. Arguing one over the other is tantamount to guessing.

It comes down to who else Oakland wants. I have mixed emotions about dealing Duran and Yorke for Montas and Trivino...

Iggy deserves some consideration, but I already have Arroyo for that role, and also Arauz (with options!) for when Arroyo injures himself running the bases or brushing his teeth or watching from the bench or whatever high risk activities he clearly engages in far too often...

I like the idea of a primary DH, rather than the (IMO) foolish option of using the position to rest players. The position is basically a freebie for getting a productive bat into the lineup without worrying about defense. Internally, the Sox are somewhat limited unless one prefers a Dalbec/Casas type at the position. To me, not the ideal solution. If the Sox cannot keep either JD or Schwarber, then the other options on the market that might not break the bank do include Mark Canha, Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, and maybe Eddie Rosario. The dirt cheap longshot is Renato Nunez, who showed once that he can be a slugger, but primarily just struggles to stay in MLB. But his spray charts show that Fenway might actually agree with his dead pull power. If he is left out alone with no dance partner again, absolutely get him a MiLB deal at minimum...

Would you DFA Rosario to protect Jimenez?

Disagree on Schwarber vs JD. Over the last 3 years, Schwarber has an OPS+ of 126 and JD has an OPS+ of 125. They're more equal than you give them credit for being. Not sure how many years he wants, which should be the biggest factor in determining if he his a fit...

I think the future probably holds none of those moves besides keeping Bogaerts. I should mention I also non-tender Plawecki and give Wong first shot at the back up catcher role...

I would be very surprised if he did not try other angles. Hey, they don't always work...

Screw 2023. The time is 2022. I would not worry about making up 8 games, as that is an impossible target, given that Tampa is also going to make offseason moves out of my control. First off, I keep Bogaerts. In fact, I try to extend him. I ignore the SS free agent market, because Lindor signed an extension all of them will be benchmarking. It's a waste of resources. In free agency, the focus should be on RP and 2B and Kyle Schwarber. If JD opts out, he might be added to this list. If he does not, I will worry about where Schwarber plays later. My irst thought was Chris Taylor for 2B, but some points about his weaknesses have been made. One intriguing free agent is Eduardo Escobar, whose defensive metrics at 2B are actually fairly good, but are also in limited action. If the focus is straight up defense, metrics say the best options are Joe Panik and Yollmer Sanchez. Another option worth exploring might be a trad with San Diego for Adam Frazier (since the Padres still need to find a place for CJ Abrams to play). Frazier might make about $6mill or so next season, but can hit and field pretty well and has just the solitary season of control left. His BTV trade value of $0.8mill makes him available for a lot of individual Sox prospects, and the best fit might be Durban Feltman ($0.5mill). Keep both Houck and Whitlock in the bullpen. I like the idea of making as many games as possible 6 innings long for the opposing team. Support them with Taylor, Barnes, Braiser, Valdez, Davis and (if he is not traded) Darwinzon Hernandez I try to upgrade the starting pitching via trade with my first call being Oakland and using Jarren Duran as the centerpiece of my trade package. All other prospects are in play except Casas and Mayer. Montas is my top target, but I have my doubts. I also want to acquire their arb-eligible closer Lou Trivino. If Oakland is not amenable, I turn to Detroit, who has lots of young pitching and no young hitting. ERod gets a QO. And extension talks, if he refuses it. Along with Sale, Pivetta, and Eovaldi and whoever comes via trade, And then I attack the pitching depth with lots and lots of MiLB deals...

Exactly. And stop pretending this kind of thing is not done in other sports. Now, if someone has an instance of how one aspect of officiating was done in another sport, and it did not work out or it made matters worse, that would be a good counterpoint...

And "enabling", while rarely a good thing, is not exactly an easy decision. People often do it out of fear of what will happen if they don't help out. It's not on par with being a co-conspirator and it absolutely doesn't mean you condone the other person's actions...

This was further shown by the fact that by the time the season ended, people were impressed with Chris Mazza...

And if all he did was pay the bills for his own son, I have no problem with that. In fact, I don't even see the problem there. In that same situation, I do the same thing...

Jimenez is a long shot to be taken, but I’m not sure there is a GM with the necessary combination of patience and stupidity to take Thad Ward. I could at least see someone looking at Jimenez and thinking “he’s this year’s Baddoo!!”

So replacing Xander AND Renfroe with Correa (and no one?) will make 8 games? Maybe I shouldn’t be the one you fired

They did stop using Ryan Weber as the #3 starter…