harmony

In the offseason, Craig Breslow traded for Willson Contreras, who this year posted 4.6 bWAR, Caleb Durbin, who posted 4.4 bWAR, and Sonny Gray, who posted 4,3 bWAR. That wasn't enough to offset the departure of Alex Bregman and the regressions of Garrett Crochet, who dropped from 6.0 bWAR in 2025 to a negative 0.5 bWAR this year, and Jarren Duran, who dropped from 4.9 bWAR in 2025 to 0.4 bWAR this year. The Red Sox disappointed in the postseason after an exciting streak in the regular season.

After entering year with sky-high expectations, the Mariners flopped with the most disappointing season in this poster's 64 years of following baseball. Hats off to the Red Sox for posting a better record than the Mariners for the second time in the seven seasons of the 2020s.

The Red Sox need only a two-game winning streak to advance.

I would not give him $45M/3, but someone will give more. Teoscar Hernandez was 32 years old when the defensively suspect righthanded hitter landed a three-year, $66 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers after posting 2.3 bWAR in 160 games with the Seattle Mariners. Randy Arozarena, who turns 32 in February, is a defensively suspect righthanded hitter who has posted 10.5 bWAR in 368 games with the Seattle Mariners.

https://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/2015/11/west_linn_51_sherwood_7_how_re.html?gift=ab8335d2-e29e-4d84-b28f-8f98c1dc5dc3

Adley Rutschman and the Diamondbacks' Tim Tawa have a history dating back to a high school football field in 2015: https://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/2015/11/west_linn_51_sherwood_7_how_re.html?gift=ab8335d2-e29e-4d84-b28f-8f98c1dc5dc3

This season Luis Castillo has posted 1.0 fWAR in 110.2 innings while Sean Manaea has posted 0.9 fWAR in 104.2 innings. Steamer and ZiPS project Castillo with rest-of-season WAR of 0.6 and 0.4 in 45 and 39 innings while projecting Manaea with ROS WAR of 0.5 and 0.3 WAR in 43 and 28 innings. Before the season the ZiPS three-year projections had Castillo with 1.9, 1.5 and 1.0 WAR in 2026-28 and Manaea with 1.1, 0.7 and 0.3 WAR in 2026-28: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/luis-castillo/15689/stats/pitching#zips-3-year-projections https://www.fangraphs.com/players/sean-manaea/15873/stats/pitching#zips-3-year-projections Castillo has a 2027 salary of $24.15 million with a 2028 vesting option for $25 million if Castillo pitches 180 innings in 2027 and passes a physical. Manaea, who is 10 months older than Castillo, has an average annual salary of $25 million under his three-year contract, but has a 2027 salary of only $19.2 million with a luxury tax assessment of $22 million: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/19022/sean-manaea This week Castillo struck out 10 over seven shutout innings as the first-place Chicago White Sox blanked the Cincinnati Reds: https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-castillo-has-season-high-10-strikeouts-in-white-sox-win-over-reds

In some respects Sean Manaea is the lefthanded Luis Castillo with a similar contract and age.

FWIW Sean Manaea is on a streak of four straight quality starts, posting an ERA of 2.16 over 25 innings.

Marcelo Mayer on Rafael Devers' influence in the Red Sox clubhouse: https://www.mlb.com/news/marcelo-mayer-excited-to-join-giants-after-trade-from-red-sox

Some Mariner fans have turned their immediate attention to prospect Boston Smith, who was acquired in the Luis Castillo trade. Smith hit five home runs in his first week with Double A Arkansas, giving the 23-year-old catcher 27 homers on the season.🙂 https://www.milb.com/news/boston-smith-takes-tl-player-of-the-week https://www.marinertalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11053&sid=597100700460e0ceadb9f964b19ad899

A sad, sad season indeed for the Seattle Mariners.🥲

On the Marcelo Mayer trade, Baseball Trade Values determines: Red Sox receive $9.4 million in value The Giants receive $27.9 million in value https://baseballtradevalues.com/trades/220476 BTV needed to update (and downgrade) Mayer's trade value.

The Red Sox almost certainly traded Marcelo Mayer for today's best offer. The issue for the front office may have been whether Mayer's trade value was likely to rise in the future. The trade suggests that the baseball execs were betting against an elevated future value.

A favorite Adley Rutschman video;

Seattle is unlikely to trade a package including George Kirby for anyone less than Mason Miller.

The Mariners reportedly are in the market for a right-handed bat but Randy Arizarena nevertheless may be available. However, the Red Sox and Mariners don’t match up well in a trade.

One-time No. 6 overall draft pick Jarred Kelenic keeps getting signed (although he’s currently searching for a home).

Even before this year's disappointing season, the ZiPS three-year projections gave Marcelo Mayer only 0.7 WAR in 90 games in 2026, 0.8 in 95 games in 2027 and 1.0 WAR in 99 games in 2028. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/marcelo-mayer/29668/stats/batting#zips-3-year-projections Mayer may be a glove-first utility infielder whom Red Sox fans hold in higher regard than many MLB front offices would.

Seattle reportedly had interest in Curtis Mead's right-handed bat but the Mariners were unlikely to trade starter Emerson Hancock for Mead. Compare the 2026 lines for Connelly Early and Hancock: CE 17 GS, 91.2 IP, 3.44 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2.74 K/BB, 119 ERA+, 1.6 bWAR, 0.7 fWAR EH 19 GS, 105.1 IP, 3.16 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 3.73 K/BB, 125 ERA+, 2.4 bWAR, 1.6 fWAR Early is nearly three years younger than Hancock and has five more years of team control to Hancock's four years. Early is a left-hander but right-hander Hancock has avoided the injured list. Interesting comp.

Curtis Mead had been mentioned as a trade target for Seattle but the Mariners may become sellers shortly.

Seattle reportedly is in the market for a righthanded bat but the Mariners nevertheless might be willing to part with the expiring contract of their only 2026 All Star, the righthand-hitting Randy Arozarena. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfc-RBouqMM

That's hyperbole as the Red Sox won/loss record ranks 16th among the 30 teams since the start of the 2020 season, covering seven campaigns, including the 92-win season in 2021.

softlaw once started a new thread to berate this poster for suggesting that Will Middlebrooks could use more time in the minors.😁

Felnin Celesten and Luke Stevenson are curently with the Everett AquaSox of the High A Northwest League. MLB Prospects gives Celesten and Stevenson ETAs of 2028. https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/mariners/