S5Dewey

I'm sure we all appreciate your concern about the Boston Red Sox 2019 season. I think we all know that the 2019 New York Yankees have no weaknesses and are going to be the very best team of all time. Of course, according to "a certain poster" so were the 2018 Yankees at this time last year, but that's another story. Here are the odds to win the 2018 WS set by MLB on November 1, 2017 1) Dodgers, 5-1 2) Guardians, 6-1 3) Houston, 6-1 4) Washington, 7-1 5) Yankees, 8-1 (and I assume favored to win their division) 6) Red Sox, 10-1 7) Cubbies, also 10-1 8) Mets, 20-1 9) DBax, 20-1 10) Cards, 20-1 It's a bit early to be blowing one's horn about how good their team is. A lot will happen between now and next October, but here's what I'd bet on. The Red Sox will make the playoffs. After that, who knows? Right now Vegas has the Sox to win it again, followed by the Astro's, the Dodgers and the Yankees (4th) in honorable mention.

It's a combination of the two things. Also, he temporarily fell out of favor with some of us during 2016 during that period when he was yanking his curve ball and couldn't find the plate with both hands and a flashlight. Once you see that happen you have to wonder if it'll happen again... and it did for a while in 2017. That, in addition to the size of his contract demands and his lackluster WS performance would keep me from signing him to anywhere near the contract he wants. I would sign him for the right price, however, but I suspect it's less than he's going to get offered elsewhere and less than he'd take.

I think there was more to it than ugly uniforms. I believe there was a lot of unrest because of the issue with LaRoche's son and how the FO handled it, and cutting up the uniforms was more of a symptom of that unrest.

IMO the bigger question is whether there's collusion among the owners, or if the player's salary demands are catching up with them.

...and in most situations it's because the team that signed them to the big contract couldn't find anyone else to take it on - so they were stuck with them.

Seen on a bumper sticker:

Mal! Good to hear from you again, my friend!! I hope you're doing well.

The fallacy in that reasoning is that we don't know that he has the $208MM budget. That's all supposition.

I have long maintained that one reason the Sox went 84 years without a WSC was because they were always in "Wait 'til Next Year!" mode. DD went all out last year to do what was necessary to set the team up for 2018 & 2019. The Sox won it all in 2018 so do we now rest on our laurels and be sure 2020 looks ok or does the team gear up for one more big run before the exodus of star players? That exodus IS going to happen, whether we win it all again in 2019 or not.

How perspectives change after the team wins. It wasn't that long ago that one WSC was all we were asking for. "Just one. It's been 80+ years. All I want is ONE before I die." Now after four WSC's in 15 seasons we're saying, "We've got a legitimate shot at another one but I'm willing to pass that chance up because I'm more worried about 2020-2025. I dunno. Maybe I'm different from most here. My day to day demeanor isn't dependent on whether the Sox won or lost on the previous day. I love the wins but I also accept the fact that a team can't win every day... or every year, but IMO when the opportunity is right in front of you to go B2B you take your best shot at it. If it works, great, and if it doesn't it's still only baseball and (I hope!) my life will go on.

IMO if they pick up Machado their weak area might be the clubhouse... but what do I know?

It would almost make one glad to be Canadian.

Maybe, but maybe not too. What that says is that the Red Sox aren't willing to negotiate with Kimbrel but they want to know how little they may be able to sign him for. We have car dealers like that. "See anyone else you want but see us LAST!!!". These are the dealers who don't want to put the work into the negotiations but they're more than willing to have me (or Kimbrel's agent) travel all over Christ's Creation to strike a deal and then up the deal by as little as possible. I avoid these dealers just on general principles. It reminds me of Stephanie VanDerkellen saying to her boyfriend, "I'm sick of fighting with you. What's the absolute least I can do for us to get back together again."

It could very well be that the next domino to fall, whether it be Kimbrel or Ottavino, will be the one that makes DD take action on the other one.

Am I the only one who finds that "setting an entire family up for generations and allows you to live a life of luxury from retirement {from baseball at maybe age 40} until death" is just a tad ridiculous for someone whose only contribution to society is playing baseball? I know that's the way it is, but am I the only one who feels that way??

I don't think this is at all a fair representation of the faith the fans have in DD. This assumes we know what he's doing. We don't. All we know is what he has done and what he hasn't done so far. For all we know he may have decided that Barnes or Brasier is going to be the closer so he's not looking for anyone else to close. OTOH, he may be waiting for the market to settle for closers hoping that he can sign Kimbrel to a deal, maybe one with an opt out. We don't know.

This is exactly what I'm thinking. This team's window is only going to be open for a short time. This is a great opportunity - undoubtedly the best in my lifetime - to make a serious run at B2B WSC's. I think most of us agree that the Sox are going to run into a serious money crunch when many of these players reach free agency all at the same time. To me it would make A LOT more sense to do what he has to do for 2019 and then see what 2020 brings.

I agree that you don't have to pay a fortune to get a great closer, but at the same time you have a better chance of landing one - and therefore a better chance of a 2nd WSC - than if you just throw guys out there and hope for the best. We may stumble onto something like we did with Koji... but there's a better chance that we won't. I'm in "win now" mode. While I don't believe in the cliff at the same time I do believe that it's going to be harder to compete for even a division championship in a couple of years so I want the best team I can get on the field in 2019. IMO DD is playing the same waiting game that he did with JDM, He's waiting until the price is right, hoping that nobody else is willing to pay more than the Sox, and then he'll swoop in with an offer that Kimbrel can't refuse.

Since this is the "realistic" thread I may as well chime in with a bit of realism. Going into 2017 we had a lot of posters who were saying, "We don't really need a big bat in the middle of our order. We've got enough hitters with a high OPS to make up for it". That, along with Kimbrel's 35 saves, propelled the Sox to a winning the division by 2 games over the MFY's. However, that lack of a big bat contributed the the Sox being eliminated in 4 games in the ALDS, scoring just 8 runs in their three losses. In 2018 DD added that big bat and JDM along with Kimbrel's 42 saves brought a WSC to Boston. Now we've got posters discounting those 77 saves over two division championships saying that maybe having a big closer isn't all that important. Heck, anybody can do that, right?? Even having a replacement level "closer". Besides, everyone is supposed to have an 'uptick' this year, so we'll just throw someone out there to close. It'll work. After all, what could possibly go wrong? For me, I'm going back to what Doji said a couple of months ago. Not having a lights-out closer isn't a big deal... until you don't have one. Face it. Not having that proven closer is going to severely hamper our chances for B2B WSC's. It looks to me like DD has most of his eggs in the Kimbrel basket and I sure hope it works out because the rest of the division (that's the Y's and TB) have gotten stronger.

I've had good luck with both Fanatics and MLBshop but I'm in the US. I understand your frustration though. I ordered a Mookie Betts game-type shirt for my granddaughter (gotta raise 'em right!) from an outfit called "fanzoutlet.com" through a website located in Chicago on December 13. On the 14th they sent me confirmation that it was shipped and a tracking number - which doesn't work. I should have been apprehensive when the tracking number was for Canadian parcel post. Canada Parcel say it's not in their system. NOW I find out fanzoutlet is a Chinese organization and other people have had trouble with them too. Looks like I'm out $49 (ok, I got lured in by the low price ) because Visa won't investigate any charge less than $50. The moral: Don't buy anything from fanzoutlet.com. Learn from my mistake.

Got it. I mistook the comma for a period. Thanks. (I thought it was low, but who am I to argue with Forbes? )

Leave it to a CPA to muddy the waters!

https://www.forbes.com/teams/boston-red-sox/

According to Forbes (and if my math is correct) the Red Sox franchise was worth about $27MM after the 2017 season. It's probably more than that today. That's about 10% of his total worth. So he probably can gamble with a few million without worrying about altering his standard of living.

No doubt it's a gamble because if the Sox win another WS he may be able to recoup his "investment" in Kimbrel through increased ticket sales, t-shirts, etc. But if they fail to make the playoffs.... ugh. It must be nice to have several million dollars to be able to gamble with.