S5Dewey

...and I'm very good with that! I'm not too worried about the value of the comp pick (whom the Sox choose) vs. the value of the pieces other teams are willing to give us. There's a good chance none of them will become ML'ers.

That's just cold.

Thanks! I AM available and I'd work cheap but I'm not sure I could take the abuse from my pals on Soxtalk.

Like the Angels, you mean? While the Angels aren't cellar-dwellers it has to be frustrating for their fans (and for Trout too) to be rooting/playing for a team that doesn't even come close to winning big when they have ostensibly the best player in baseball.

Regardless of what Mookie thinks about his talent he may be faced with a Reality Check sooner or later. Right or wrong, Trout is considered by many to be the Gold Standard for baseball players and gets paid accordingly. You and I and Mookie and Mookie's agent may not believe that's true but that doesn't matter. What matters is what some team is willing to pay him. If no team is willing to pony up more money than Trout is getting Mookie will be "forced" to take less than Trout money...or sit out a season. It'll be interesting to see where this ends up if he signs with the Sox - or anyone else for that matter. It's been my experience that when two parties want to get things settled one side pays more than they said they would and the other party accepts less than they said they would.

Good point! Should be used in negotiations.

You're right. The fact that Mookie has made a counter offer is a very good thing for those of us who want to keep him. However. this would be a good time to educate your son on how bargaining works. While I don't have an personal insight on how much either party is willing to settle for at the same time I do have some experience in bargaining and here's what I'm confident of. 1) The Sox don't expect to get him signed for 10/$300. 2) Mookie doesn't expect to get 12/$420. This is what happens in a bargaining process: The two parties start talking with their positions at numbers they don't expect to be there at the end. They start at the extremes and then bargain their way toward some middle ground. The fact that Mookie has made them an offer is good news because the Sox now know what Mookie's position is and that he's willing to talk. Our FO now now has to weigh the ramifications of paying him some amount between $300M & $420M and decide how much they can afford to pay him, pay others, and still make a profit. This is progress and any progress is good. That doesn't guarantee that the two parties will come to an agreement but at least they're now talking with their positions outlined.

I agree with this. I'm tired of all the poor offers for Mookie and Price from other teams. Yes, there's a downside to these two players but there's a huge upside for the team that gets them too - especially in the case of Mookie. Sit tight with what we've got and see how things look mid-summer. If we decide to be sellers I have to ask how much worse can the offers be then than what we're getting offered now???

Here are some differences between Billy Hamilton and JBJ: Billy Hamilton hasn't had an OPS over .700 in his career other than his rookie year when he played in 13 games. Jackie Bradley Jr. Hasn't had an OPS UNDER .700 since 2014 in the past six years, and he's had two seasons over .800. And as much as I hate to use WAR, when in Rome.... Hamilton has a combined WAR of 8.4 over the last seven seasons - his entire career. JBJ has a combined WAR of 15 over the same past seven seasons - also his entire career. Hamilton is a fine substitute for JBJ if a team is dumping salary and they want to put warm bodies on the field but if they want to be competitive JBJ is the better choice.

I'm beginning to think we're looking at Bloom's plan for 2020: 1) See if we can get what we think is a fair return for Mookie. If not, keep him and move on. 2) See if we can get what we think is a fair return for David Price. If not, keep him and move on. 3) See if we can get what we think is a fair return for Nathan Eovoldi. If not, keep him and move on. It's looking like we're not going to get rid of anyone just for the sake of cutting salary if we have to take a bath on it. There are no glaring deficiencies in the team's offense or defense and we'll be taking another shot at the ring this year. If this doesn't work out we'll be sellers at the trade deadline, but what we get in trade then won't be vastly inferior to what other teams are offering now so we may as well give it a shot.

IMO this is exactly why Bloom isn't jumping through anyone's hoops to trade Mookie. Mookie is worth one Hell of a lot more to the Dodgers than he is to...well.... anyone else just because he's the guy who could bring the long-awaited flag to LA, and there aren't many teams who can both say that and have the prospects to give. Yes, the Dodgers can hold out another year and acquire Mookie without giving up prospects but when they do that every player on the Dodgers becomes a year older. When you think you have the horses to win it all you go out and do what you have to do. You can't have too much talent.

I used to be friends with a woman whose 1st husband played A-Ball in the Cubs organization and she pointed out to me that being a player's wife isn't as glamorous as it seems. He got drafted by the Cubs and she followed him to Illinois but came back home to her family because he was never at home. He got cut during the 1971 season but never got over the fact that he wasn't good enough to be a major leaguer. He died of acute alcoholism about 3 years ago. As she said, being a ball player's wife certainly isn't for everyone. When the player is on the road they're alone and when the team is at home their husband is at the park every day. They raise the kids alone and manage the day to day operation of the home alone. In addition they have to be ready to move to another city if the player gets traded so they never get to set down any roots. Then if the players is wildly successful they get to live a lavish lifestyle.. alone... until the player retires. If he didn't stay in baseball long enough to become a multi-millionaire they often end up selling cars and reliving their Glory Days, basking in the perks that come from having been major league players. It's not for everyone, for sure. I'm surprised there aren't more divorces than there are.

Blind squirrels and acorns, i guess.

I'm completely on board with this. If I were commissioner each team would be required to play one Sunday doubleheader a month, even with separate admissions if necessary. We could then go back to the season starting in April and ending before the last week in October. Who ever decided that the World Series is a cold weather championship is nutso.

Another upside of this is that it will do away with the delay while mangers wait for the video to determine whether they want to appeal a play or not. Appeals were supposed to speed up games and that delay throws a monkey wrench into that idea. Let the managers make a decision based on what they saw and go with it.

If we're looking for two pitchers to pitch half a season while the other is injured we could always match up Eovaldi with Clay.

Wow. Who are you, and how did you get Moon's login information? I can understand not being enthused about the 2020 season but you're talking about a BIG TIME fire sale here! It takes a long time to build a team as strong as this one and you're willing to gut the whole thing in the hope that Bloom can rebuild something equally as strong? We have an outstanding core of players under team control for 2020 - that's our entire outfield, the left side of the infield, the DH and the catcher. This didn't fall together overnight. I'm willing to see them fill holes in the right side of the IF and the bench as they can and give this pitching staff another shot. This entire fire sale mentality is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The worst case scenario is that we're toast by the deadline and trade these players you're so willing to get rid of now.

I can't get enthused about signing Yasiel Puig. This guy is a disaster waiting to happen. He has a long history of hamstring issues and an equally long history of being traded after being involved in on-field brawls. He has the potential to be an embarrassment to the organization when he's unhappy and it doesn't appear to take a lot to make him unhappy. No thanks.

Do you really want to go down that road? Would you be willing to trade both legs for $56/M and live that way for the rest of your life? Think about what your life would be like. I wouldn't trade one leg for $56M, let alone both. IMHO you're greatly underestimating the value of your health.

The more I look at this situation the less I like it and the more I think we should just let Mookie walk and not resign him. "BLASPHEME" you say? Here's the problem with letting Mookie go and then resigning him for $375/11. (notice that I've split the two estimates of $350M & $400M since they're both estimates anyway). It's a short term solution to a long term problem. If we resign him for $34M/year for 11 years we're still on the hook for $34M/year for one player. All we've done is kick the LT can down the road a couple of years and after that couple of years we'll still be on that hook for $34M when we'll be looking at Devers' contract as well as replacing JDM's bat + trying to rebuild a pitching staff with the "leftover" money. I question that's even feasible unless JH wants to get back into the high LT cycle/rebuilding again - only this time with Mookie's salary guaranteed. I'm seriously beginning to wonder if it's not smarter to spread that $34M around rather than pour it all into one player who only comes to bat every nine AB's and can only play one position in the field. Injury risk aside, I'd rather put that money into a FA pitcher in a front-loaded deal.

There are time when I wish this forum had a "Like" button and this is one of them. Unfortunately this is one of the Red Sox traditions: When a former great player is down and out and lying on the floor the fans kick him toward the door. If he ends up crossways to the door and can't get through the door they kick him harder until he fits through the damn door!

As has been said before many times, "Nothing is sometimes a good thing to do and more often a good thing to say."

Of course it's not a "ridiculous ask". Betts is the only bargaining power the Sox have right now so they're using it. If they find a taker at that price they're willing to part with him and it's not unreasonable that someone will be willing to pay the price - if not now then in mid-summer. If someone wanted to talk about ridiculous, how about trading the second best player in baseball for a couple of A prospects just so they can say they got something? The chances of those A prospects actually being ML players are very slim so If they're going to do that they may as well just release him. THAT would be ridiculous.

Did you happen to help John Grisham write "Calico Joe"? That's exactly how a character in the book set up hitters. He'd throw him two outside, then get him looking and leaning over the plate, and then throw one high and inside knowing that the hitter couldn't get out of the way. It was portrayed in the book as being possibly the dirtiest thing a player can do in baseball and that hasn't changed.

If there's anything good that came out of the 2019 disaster season it's that maybe the Sox won't have the Sunday Night games this year and we won't have to listen to The Three Stooges.