Nick

For those that wanted BOTH Houck and Whitlock in the pen, you won't get your wish. Cora made it official today. Houck will start. No more going back and forth. He's our third starter. Period. He will follow Eovaldi and Pivetta in season opening series against Yankees. 5 years of team control. Will earn minimum wage of $700K (or something). This is how you pay for Story. This is how you compensate for E Rod leaving. And so far, we've kept all our prospects.

Strictly based on actual payroll and not the luxury tax payroll, Sox should be the #5 spender in 2022. $200M+ club 1 Dodgers 2 Mets 3 Yankees 4 Phillies 5 Red Sox 6 San Diego Bloom says don't call me cheap, just frugal.

I'm guessing there's no way Cora will move Kike off the leadoff spot, unless he becomes JBJ III. 1. Kike 2. Story 3. Devers 4. Xander 5. JD 6. Verdugo 7. Dalbec 8. Vaz 9. JBJ

MLB has its top 100 prospects list out. There are 3 18-year olds on the list, highest ranked #25. There are 6 19-year olds on the list, Sox's Mayer is top rated at #14, Nick Yorke is 4th highest rated 19 year old at #55 There are 9 24-year olds on the list There are 2 25 year olds on the list, Duran coming in at #85 Casas, a 22 year old is ranked #16. Mayer is highest ranked under 20-group. Not shabby.

In my fantasy world, I have Dalbec playing right field like Dwight Evans so Casas can take over 1B... You have to admit, we just got little more athletic and have more ability to score runs..... Hey our tax payroll is above the $230M line....can't call us cheap.

I don't care what anyone says but the Sox just gave a middle finger to paying Xander $30M that he thinks he deserves. Trevor is better shortstop. Let's see if he can match Xander's numbers at the plate. If Trevor has a good year, no way the Sox gives Xander $30M. Bloom can stomach $23M but not $30M. But I'm happy to have both for 2022.

Good way to control cost is obviously to develop in-house starting pitcher. Bloom made a great trade with Phillies acquiring Pivetta and Seabold for Workman and Hembree. It's anticipated that Pivetta will earn $3.75M in his first year of arbitration. Looking at his career numbers, he's been durable for most part. He made his major league debut back in 2017 with 26 starts and followed up with career high 32 starts in 2018. He mostly pitched out of bullpen in 2019. What pops out to me was him giving up career best .234 BA last year. At 29, he's ready to take it up another notch. He has good stuff. I hope to see Whitlock start. I really don't give a crap if he's not the closer. I want him to start. Give the kid a chance. He's under team control for another 5 years. Hats off to Bloom for picking him off the Yankees. Pivetta, Whitlock, Houck, Bello and Matta. That will allow us to keep both Devers and Xander. Bloom is slowly but surely collecting young talent for future. We'll probably see Casas this year and I hope Yorke will show up in 2024.

Can someone post a top 10 Sox relievers as of now? Assume one of Whitlock/Houck is starting.

I'm guessing we have some intelligent people on this board. There's one group that wants to keep Xander despite his mediocre defensive metrics. Most think $30M or so would get the job done. There's second group that wants to extend long term contract to Devers. Most think $30M for 8 years may get the job done. There's a group that belongs to both groups. How realistic is it to have 2 position players making $30M? Moon does zero baseline budgeting and he does a very good job. He constructs team payroll for all 26 players. I'm lazy so I approach the team payroll based on what it is today and then add or substract from players leaving or coming. We all know that Price's $16M comes off the book after 2022. Cot has Devers at $10.25M this year. In mine mind, we ca give him an extension this winter using mostly Price's money. It will get us close. Which means our beginning payroll of $213M (close to $17M below the luxury tax limit) stays in tact. Or we can also give that $16M to Xander. There will be some money leftover to sign couple of bullpen help. We can also dream big and assume both Houck and Whitlock will be starters in 2023 and let Eovaldi and his 17M go after 2022 season. Starting rotation for 2023 could be Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Houck and Whitlock. Under this scenario, we can keep both Devers and Xander. Just a fyi, I'd pay to watch both Whitlock and Houck start. I want to watch them pitch 6-7 innings every 5th day. Shoot me. Go find me some relievers. I have no idea how things will work out for Dalbec this year. Many of you want to trade him and I just don't get it. He is under team control for 5 more years. He has not played out of future Red Sox teams yet. Obviously Bloom still values him. Bloom came in here to develop young talent and I'm all for it. I like our approach. We need to continue to develop our farm system so that when we can go for it, we have enough cap space to go grab that difference maker. A poster here made an astute comment about maybe the game plan is to get rid of additional contracts before we swing into action. That gives us more time to develop a Matta or a Bello. Our 'balance sheet' is getting cleaner.

I hope to see some of our younger guys. With Verdugo, Kike and JBJ possible starters, I hope to see Duran play more. I would love to see either Houck or Whitlock get a chance to start. I can't wait to have Casas get to the majors this year. Some of our farm guys should see time in the pen. This is not the 2018 team but it can be a fun team to watch if some our younger kids are playing.

Let's see...if I got this right Jays added Chapman but lost Siemien. Jays added Gausman but lost their Cy Young guy. Yep looks like mega improvement.

With Chris Sale out indefinitely, I'm guessing Wacha will get an opportunity to start. He should be familiar with that role considering he's started 184 games out of 202 games pitched. Based on recent trend in Bloom's spending, it would have been an overpay to have Wacha in the pen and pay him $7M, topped only by unfortunate contract extension given to Barnes. But who knows what was discussed during negotiation.

Blue Jays trade for Matt Chapman: Boston Red Sox AL East rival continues to improve roster, adding All-Star (report) The 28-year-old Chapman, a three-time Gold Glove winner, had a down year offensively in 2021. He batted .210 with a .314 on-base percentage, .403 slugging percentage, .716 OPS, 27 homers, 15 doubles, three triples, 75 runs and 72 RBIs in 151 games (622 plate appearances). Toronto signed starter Kevin Gausman who posted a 2.81 ERA in 33 starts for the Giants last year and finished sixth for the NL Cy Young. The Jays also inked lefty Yusei Kikuchi earlier this week. He had a 4.41 ERA in 29 innings for the Mariners last year. BUT The Jays lost stars Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray in free agency. Those were significant losses after Ray won the 2021 AL Cy Young and Semien finished third in the 2021 AL MVP voting. Tell me again how the Jays just improved their roster from year ago?

Wacha has started 184 of 202 games in his career. Do you have any evidence to think he's okay with coming out of the pen? How in the f*** do I know what was promised? Do you know? Maybe we signed Paxton to be the closer.....Do you know or as a smart guy that you are you would assume he was signed to start. Give me a break Moon.

You're asking Bloom to LIE to our free agents? You honestly think Hill signed thinking he maybe moved to the pen? It's one thing to be moved because you SUCKED, aka Richards, it's another to move a veteran to the pen after signing him as a starter. Word gets around. Who in the hell would sign with Sox when we don't keep our word? I hope I don't ever get hired by you.

No to trading Duran, Dalbec or Downs. None has shown me that they won't succeed in majors. Do you honestly think Duran has been given a fair shot? We'll wish we have Downs when Xander opts out and Devers sign elsewhere. Dalbec and Casas can be in the same lineup. Do you think Verdugo, Kike and JBJ is enough? Duran can't hit less than JBJ. No to trading our younger players.

Starting Rotation Season Opener 2022 vs 2021 Eovaldi vs Eovaldi Sale vs E Rod Pivetta vs Pivetta Wacha vs Richards Hill vs Perez Sale made his debut on August 14th and started 9 regular season games. I just don't understand the 'panic' on this board. Moon, Eovaldi, Pivetta and Sale (thr 8/14) has chance to be better than Eovaldi, Pivetta and E Rod (thr 8/14) of 2021. I'd say Wacha/Hill combo versus Richards/Perez is a wash. I would also contend that we have more starting options in 2022 than in 2021. I won't even bring up Paxton because a Yankee fan told me he's brittle or something. Why the panic?

I don't mean to give impression that I'm okay with the team as it stands. I will be very disappointed if we don't add Suzuki. Verdugo, Kike and JBJ? Really? I'm not a fan of JBJ. I was hoping we flip him again for additional minor leaguers. The guy goes on a 3 month slumps. Or Sox can make a bold move and add Correa. I love Xander but he's just not a very good shortstop. You'll know a good shortstop when you see it. Contracts coming off after 2022 $22M JD (replaced by Dalbec/Casas) $17M Eovaldi (replaced by Houck) $16M Price $07M Kike (re-sign him) $07M Vaz $07M Wacha (replaced by Whitlock) $05M Hill (replaced by Paxton) $03M Strahm Total $77M Throw in another $20M for Xander opting out, that gets us close to $100M coming off the books for 2023. Cot's has us at $210M. We could blow past the $230M this year and bring it back down next year.

Yankees add Josh Donaldson. He's right handed, no? Interesting. I thought they wanted to add left handed bats.

I became a Sox fan in 1967. Henry's teams have won 4 World Series and I will give him the benefit of doubt. He doesn't intentionally put on a s*** show. At some point, it's on the players. Look at 2019. On paper, our starting pitching looked very good. It didn't turn out that way. We're almost done getting rid of dead money, Price and Pedroia contracts comes to mind. I'd be surprised if we're not a finalist for Suzuki.

We added two lefties today to the pen. Jake Diekman is projected to be our best lefty. Matt Strahm was the other depth piece. That's on top of three other lefties that pitched for the Sox last year, Hernandez, Taylor and Davis. Bloom is making incremental improvements. You simply can't dismiss every addition because they are not signed for $10M+. If Houck or Whitlock starts, that means one of the projected starters will go to the pen. You NEVER see the other side of equation. We had a closer in Barnes, look how well that worked out. Maybe he'll be the closer again this year. You keep trying to make the team better, Old Red. Bloom is not going to give up. Henry is not going to put out a s*** show. Lastly, a reminder that our 2019 opening payroll was higher than 2018 World Championship team. We reset in 2021 (forget 2020). We have $100M possibly coming off the books after this year. I doubt we'll ever have the payroll that Rays live with. Bloom has done what he said he will do. Our farm system is improved. Eventually that will benefit the Sox. I think we're on the right path.

Up 2-1 with 2 games in Fenway coming up....I'll take that every year. Some of you keep bringing up E Rod being gone. Here's my take. We have Chris Sale to replace him at beginning of season. It's my hope that Paxton will replace last year's Chris Sale. There's still chance either Houck or Whitlock will start if needed. I think we have more depth in the pen. We should get more help from our farm system. I think overall pitching depth is better with today's 2 signings. We still need a right handed outfielder in my opinion.

It's the dumbest discussion title...misleading....wtf...

Lets sign some Free Agents..... I want Whitlock to start because I want to watch him start on my MLB subscription. Just don't start him on Friday nights.

No to trading away top prospects. We have some money to sign FA. Luxury Tax at $230M. I think we're slightly above $200M. Also we'd be a first time offender in 2022 so going over may not be a bad thing. Couple that with expiring contracts after the season means we can be little more aggressive. #1 priority for me is Mr. Suzuki.