Nick

Sale may opt out of contract after 2022 season This has not been discussed much....so in theory Sox can lose $25M Sale (opt out) $22M JD (FA) $20M Xander (opt out) $17M Eovaldi (FA) $10M Paxton $7.5M Kike (FA) $7.0M Vaz (FA) $7.0M Wacha (FA) $5.0M Hill (FA) That's $120M plus $16M for Price, total of $136M. 2022 off season will be interesting.

Great point and this is where Moon is off base. It did not cost Sox the entirety of JBJ contract. You have to reduce that liability by debt relief provided by Renfroe's contract, estimated to be $7M for 2022. My guess is Bloom as a former executive of Rays is betting Renfroe reached his peak offensively and his defense was suspect despite having high assist figure in 2021. It would be a typical Rays move, sell high on a player. Don't fall in love with a player. I'm one of those fans that's devoted to Sox. As long as the team is winning I will never complain. Sure it would be nice to retain Betts of the world but free agency is about player movement. Some here should be on suicide watch if we can't retain Devers. Not me. I'm just as anxious to see what type of return we can get for him. When push come to shove, no player is worth $300M contracts.

You think we have to give prospects, plus JBJ, plus assume his contract? Contract requires two parties receiving something in return. Under your scenario, what is Sox getting?

Playing devil's advocate.....what if we do the Ottavino deal with another club? Trade JBJ for prospects and pay most of his salary?

It's difficult to have a meaningful dialogue without knowing the revenue side of the equation. Padres went from $104M in 2019 to $184M in 2021. What happened? Holding out in 2019 and pocketing big chunk of money or did the owner go nuts, convinced he can win it all in 2021?

Football and Baseball teams have different business model. Football truly is more of 'non-competitive' competition from business standpoint. TV revenues are essentially shared equally among all 32 teams. Small market vs big market really does not exist. Games are essentially played for our national pastime of sports gambling. Difference comes from stadium revenues in football. Teams such as Dallas has huge advantage over say Green Bay due to number of luxury suites and such. There was a Forbes magazine article in mid 1980's that pointed out San Diego Padres had total revenue of $50M from all sources. The Yankees on the other hand surpassed that amount on LOCAL TV/Radio revenues alone. This disparity has not completely gone away. I am all for imposing minimum player spending or eliminate revenue sharing altogether. Let these owners go bankrupt. There's always willing owner to step in and throw good money away. That's the nature of capitalistic society. Tampa gets plenty of help from Sox and Yankee fans propping up their gate revenue.

Does Sale's name appear in 2021 rotation in my post? I'm comparing 2021 vs 2022 projected rotation in April. At worst, its a draw in my opinion.

You missed my point. Sale was NOT in the starting rotation at the beginning of 2021. Read carefully.

Interesting that some believe 2022 rotation of Sale, Eovaldi, Pivetta, Hill and Wacha has greater health concerns than 2021 rotation of Eovaldi, Pivetta, Erod, Richards and Perez. I don't see much difference when you consider E Rod did not pitch in 2020.

I was half kidding.....I'm just amazed at Bloom's ability to clean up Sox contracts. I would like to call it "he's cleaning up our balance sheet". Long term player liabilities are disappearing. Curious as to what he'll do with Eovaldi (maybe a 3 year deal) Kike (another two year deal at $20M?) Vaz (Probably won't get what he made, a one year deal with a team option) JD (probably gone) Xander (probably nothing) Devers (for the sake of organization, he needs to move to another position)

Sign Suzuki, trade Bradley for additional prospects by paying for majority of contract. Then you'll have traded Renfroe and $5M for prospects. That sounds about right.

Not three? We'll have $100M to upgrade the team in July....lol.

I'm surprised you haven't heard of all nine starters.

Random thought... If Xander opts out, Sox can get rid of $107M worth of contracts after 2022. Only Sale, Barnes and Xander contracts totaling $45+M remain for those making $5M+. What I'm saying is Bloom is getting rid of long term contracts that may hinder the club. We also get rid of $16M on Price's last remaining year. I think that's incredible. Future liabilities are dissipating. Possible lineup without major additions for 2023. Would you watch this team? C Hernandez 1B Casas 2B Yorke SS Downs 3B Devers LF Jimenez CF Duran RF Verdugo DH Dalbec SP1 Sale SP2 Pivetta SP3 Houck SP4 Whitlock SP5 Bello SP6 Mata Bullpen TBD

I think what you're saying is don't get hang up on league average when it comes to catchers. Next step is to have xRC+ by positions.

Moon, I have a project for you. It would be interesting to see a break out of Luxury Tax Payroll and how you would break out the $210M. Start with SP1 $25M Sale ($25.6M) SP2 $20M Eovaldi ($17M) SP3 $10M SP4 $5M SP5 $3M SP6 $1M Total committed to starting pitchers, $64M It would be a road map of how the roster will be constructed. If you pay someone over the slotted amount, then some other position would have to take less. You would have 5 major groups. Starting Pitching (6).....$64M Bullpen (7) Position players (13) 40 man roster fill ins and medical (Cot's has that amount at $20.9M) Contract being paid on non performing player This would be similar to annual draft. Correa singing would have to be adjusted elsewhere, say trade Xavier and Devers. You would match the current salaries.

http://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2021/10/22/seiya-suzuki-a-deep-dive-on-the-next-big-thing-out-of-japan Is this why Renfroe was traded? Flexibility of Kike rotating between CF and 2B with JBJ and Arroyo filling in depending where Kike is playing? Is this the 'big signing' we're waiting for?

http://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2021/10/22/seiya-suzuki-a-deep-dive-on-the-next-big-thing-out-of-japan Is this why Renfroe was traded? Flexibility of Kike rotating between CF and 2B with JBJ and Arroyo filling in depending where Kike is playing?

We can agree on couple of things. Bloom is building for long term while competing to get into the playoffs. As such, he will not trade away highly thought of prospects. Someone mentioned Nick Yorke as a trade candidate. No way in hell will Bloom trade him. They thought they found a diamond in the rough type of player, surprising many experts when Sox drafted Yorke in the first round. Casas hell no. Last year Bloom stated that Duran has chance to become great. I seriously doubt he's already done a 180 in less than a year. (of course Moon's response was well what else is he going to say). Show me another Bloom quote, "he has chance to be great". Bloom is risk adverse when it comes to financial dealings. Say what you will about Richards signing, no one will claim Sox got devastated by that contract. I absolutely love signings of Wacha, Hill and Paxton. Majority on this board, unlike me, wants to keep Houck/Whitlock in the pen. Well you got your wish. But you're still unhappy. We have an opening day lineup regardless of acquiring another player. Obviously Bloom's main focus will be strengthening the bullpen going forward. Bloom is a Goodwill shopper. Sometimes you do find a good value at that store. You can't go wrong paying $4.99 for an article of clothing. You don't like it, you just throw it away.

Bloom also acquired Ottavino and assumed his full salary in exchange for prospects.

I'm not sure if I have any sympathy for the players. First of all, it's difficult to have one union represent someone that just signed a $200M long term contract versus another that is surviving on league minimum. Just really think about it. I see a guy like Marwin Gonzalez making $3M. I bet 95% of population doesn't make that in a lifetime. Some on this board will argue but 95% of people aren't as good as Marwin. I simply can't have any sympathy for the guy. Owners take all the risk. Players don't have to play. Go start your own league and pay yourselves zillions of dollars.

But they pay those players less than average starters so there is THAT.

I doubt Bloom would trade away a recent first round draft pick. I would bet you $100.

I'm trying to think like a Tampa fan....I think this deal is for replacing Eovaldi and his expected $20M+ contract once he hit fee agency in 2023. Bloom is always thinking ahead. If Paxton recovers early and is able to pitch in September, great. Otherwise, he's the backup plan for 2023, a cheaper version, for Eovaldi leaving. I just think that's how Bloom is wired. He looks for guys with higher ceiling than shown due to injury or otherwise. I will repeat this going forward. Bloom wants to spread the risk. He will sign Wacha and Hill, hoping one will come through.

I don't mean to be sarcastic and thank you for stating the obvious. We're still wrapped up in Price contract for $16M. That would have paid for E. Rod perhaps. It really is about choices we've made in the past and we are paying for bad contracts in some cases. Realistically, I just don't see the Sox able to retain Devers. There needs to be plan B. I think Bloom is doing what he can to put a team out there in April that can compete. If season started tomorrow, C Vaz 1B Dalbec 2B Arroyo SS Xander 3B Devers LF Verdugo CF Kike RF Renfroe DH JD Not horrible...You have about $80M tied up with possibility of $56M coming off the books (Vaz, Xander, Kike and JD) SP1 Sale SP2 Eovaldi SP3 Pivetta SP4 Wacha SP5 Whitlock RP1 Barnes RP2 Houck RP3 Sawamura RP4 Brasier RP5 Darwinzon RP6 Taylor RP7 Davis RP8 Valdez It's not the worst lineup. Maybe we can get help from our farm system when it comes to relievers. Show me a trade that upgrades the team but still stay within the budget. Cot's had us $22.5M under the tax limit before the Paxton deal.