Nick

Staying on the topic...how to spend $79M with Pham in fold in left field ($6M mutual option seems will be exercised) Notin had Sox picking up Paxton's 2 year, $26M option. So our starters are now Sale, Pivetta, Paxton, Bello and Whitlock (my pick). Notin however had Xander gone, saving $20M + $10M raise I used. That takes us up to $96M to improve the team. Why not sign Kike for $10M to play centerfield/shortstop, splitting time with Arroyo and Duran? You can buy lot of pitching for $86M that's leftover, if we can live without both JD and Xander and duplicate this year's run total.

Big ??? mark on Paxton. He can chose to play for $4M for Sox in 2023 if Sox does not pick up the option. It will cost Sox 2 year $26M to pick up Paxton's option. It seems pretty large for a guy that never pitched in 2022.

Life would be easier if we had Dodger's payroll. But I guess that's true for 29 teams.

Let's go with what we know. Starting luxury tax payroll for 2022 was $242M. Tax limit is $232M for 2023. Say that's what Henry wants for 2023 budget. Comparing apples to apples (this is for Moon), Sox have 16 expiring contracts (some have already been traded away) totaling $118M, including Price's contract. To get in line with 2023 tax limit, we have $109M to spend for 2023. Let's get the big elephants out of the way. Devers will cost us $10M, minimum, Xander say $10M maximum, and Whitlock's new contract will give us delta of $4M. Assuming Pham and Sox agree on mutual option, that's another $6M. That's total of $30M, leaving us with $79M to spend. With that what we have is as follows C Wong 1B Casas 2B Story SS Xander 3B Devers DH Hosmer LF Pham (mutual option for $6M picked up) CF Duran RF Verdugo Would you spend any more to upgrade this lineup? Or spend it all on pitching? Remember that we rank 14th in team ERA in AL while we are second in runs scored. SP1 Sale SP2 Pivetta SP3 Bello SP4 Whitlock SP5 Winckowski Bullpen RP Barnes RP Houck RP Schrieber RP RP RP RP RP IF I'm Henry, I'd want to know how Bloom is going to fill these openings before I open up my wallet. Come on folks, fill out the roster within the budget. Then you can go to Henry and say with another $30M, we can sign an ace and increase our chances of winning the world series. Bottom line is other than Bello and Casas, who came on aboard within last month, what youngster has made a case that our farm is producing? Are we still couple of years away?

I'm guessing Moon is kidding about trading away Casas. That's not in Bloom's DNA. Simple thing to do is to bring back the left side of infield At most that will cost $20M. Its affordable. Money can come out of JD' s expiring contract. DH role can from Hosmer. Bring back Kike. He would be a valuable infield backup in addition to playing solid center field D.

JD's $22M will be gone too.

He has absolutely no plate discipline.

He's the guy we should go after....

Nothing better than Winckowski? Sad....

Big issue for Bloom is how many of these young guys will develop into above average major league ball player. We've see some hope but not sure where they'll rank ultimately. DFA'd or traded or become a starter. Bello Winckowski Cutter Dalbec Duran Just to name a few. I suppose you can put both Houck and Whitlock in the winning column for now. Recent struggles for Nick Pivetta has put him on not sure category for me. No doubt, we got Nick on the cheap. He's had outstanding games. But ultimately, is he a keeper? I'm still on the fence on Verdugo. He's cheap for sure, but is he improving as much as we'd like? Question for me is can I envision a player on a world series championship team? Whitlock is yes for sure, others? Most are TBD.

Bloom will get one more year.....if the team is unsettled year from today, he'll be gone. There has to be marked improvement at the major league level. Quit trying to build a team looking for diamond in the rough at every position.

So they are saying Sale is making $54M per year next two years.

I've been too optimistic and you've been the grown up here. We have collection of mediocre talent. We think one of worst defensive shortstop with less than 10HR deserves a $30M contract just based on sentimentality. From 30,000 ft above, I don't really care if he leaves. He's peaked out. His best days are behind him. Use the money wisely, Mr. Bloom. Acquire starting pitchers to start........

But they are all NOT going to go 2-12. They can lose 3 to us but win 3 against another team. It's hard to jump over 4 teams. Period. Not happening.

We need high ceiling guys, not bunch of Brasiers. ERA's for relievers is the worst stat. Bases loaded two outs, a double clears the bases but all runs are charged to previous pitcher. Real test is Brasier can not hold a runner on second in extra inning games. That runner is going to score. The formula I would love to see is to bring up all the potential starters, Mata as an example and start them in the bullpen. That will limit their pitch count and maybe in year three they can be groomed as a starter. I too don't want to see bunch of guys from the beer league.

Not sure why but I'm in a bad mood. HR-RBI PA 11-36 300 11-54 449 10-49 426 08-29 228 One guy makes $22M, another $20M, other two earn minimum wage in MLB. Do they really have a bargaining chip to play?

Me and Story. I'm ready to go. I guess he needs another day off. Do the players request for 'scheduled' day off? Do the players get the schedule on Sunday nights for next week so they can go play golf?

Pivetta's ERA is now up to 4.40. It just feels like our talent is mediocre. Hill is hit and miss. You never know what you're going to get. He can be inning eater. Cheap option as a #5 starter. Wacha probably is our top pitcher when healthy. He's a free agent. Eovaldi is back to breaking down. Who knows what bone Chris will break next. We don't have a season without legit starting pitchers in 2023. We need a bona fide top of the rotation guy.

Well, my back hurts every time he swings.

Will Devers be at risk for injuries as he gets older with his violent swing approach at the plate?

Any concern that Casas at 6-25, 250 does not hit for power? And he plays 1B. They keep talking that it will come. When?

Bloom missed on Jake Dieckman (I'm sure he was hoping for better control) but he erased it by trading him away without having to pay his contract for 2023.

Boston Red Sox’s Frank German has 98-99 mph fastball ‘with really good life’ and 2.30 ERA at Worcester We paid Ottavino's entire salary to get this guy. Looks like he'll be in the pen for the Sox in 2023.

Baseball is still about pitching and we don't have it, injuries, whatever. 4th in AL runs scored, 546, despite low home run total. 2nd most runs allowed, 582 runs. Never count on Sale as people said. They were right. He's become Elijah Freakin' Price.

Xander .807 OPS, third among SS, there are 45 major leaguers with OPS of .800 or higher 9 HR 13th among SS in HR 49 RBI 10th among SS in RBI Xander should be leading off, not hitting 3rd or 4th. How much is he worth? Is it more than $20M? yes Is he worth $30M? I would say to Bloom, NO On what planet do we pay $30M for 9 HR and 49 RBI with at best average defense? Just move Story over to SS until our #1 prospect comes up in 3 or 4 years. Use the $30M you want to spend elsewhere.