Nick

I'd love to have Schwarber back. It's not about that. It's about DH not being even close to our highest need area. The fact that he can play LF or maybe 1B, where we have two good players, already doesn't change the fact that he is a DH. I don't view Schwarber as DH only. I think he's better LF than JD. Who is to say Dalbec won't slump again in 2022? Then what? Schwarber and JD will only overlap for one year.

I'm pretty sure every major leaguer had "3 starts" at one point in their career.

Wong....

That's where I disagree with most of Sox fans. His $7M, Richards $10M, Perez's $6M will get you closer to acquiring a stud ace. Catching is a defensive position. Surely there are good defensive catchers that can be had for couple of million. I also disagree vehemently with Moon on potential Schwarber signing. His bat will add tremendous depth in 2022. Move Kike to 2B. Are you telling me now that Verdugo is the worst defensive center fielder? I thought he was the next stud when we got him in Betts deal. Schwarber can play some 1B, LF, and DH. Moon, aren't you the resident expert on replacing 'dead' bats with quality at bats? Surely you already have a plan to get Renfroe, Verdugo, Kike, Schwarber, Dalbec, Arroyo and JD plenty of bats in 2022 for 6 hitting spots. RIP to Marwin and Santana. Neither can play a lick. 600AB x 6 = 3600 AB 3600AB / 7 = 515 AB per 7 players. Cora gives them days off anyway, whether needed or not.

Back to 2022 Red Sox Ottavino, Richards, E Rod, Vaz, Perez, Dustin and Beni will provide $55M worth of relief. That give us about $60M to spend. We lose only Vaz on positional side. Maybe Wong can be a replacement. It's not as though Vaz had a stellar offensive year. His $7M is too steep in my mind. Would the Rays sign Vaz for $7M? Absolutely not. Why should we? To me it's worth $15M to sign Schwarber knowing JT is in his last year of $22M contract. We can then focus on pitching 1 Sale 2 Eovaldi 3 Pivetta 4 Seabold ??? 5 FA??? Pen 1 Houck (5 yrs of team control) 2 Whitlock (5 yrs of team control) 3 Barnes (2 yrs of team control) 4 Sawamura (2 yrs of team control) 5 Taylor (4 yrs of team control) 6 Darwinzon (4 yrs of team control) 7 Davis (4 yrs of team control) 8 Robles (FA) 9 Brasier (2 yrs of team control) On paper, our bullpen is set with several players under control for multiple years. We could plug in Whitlock and Seabold to completer the starting rotation. In theory, we could not spend a dime and put a team out there that might be competitive. I want Bloom to spend the money wisely. Keeping Vaz at $7M is unwise.

I still like our chances to make the playoffs. Anything can happen in a one game series. We were never good enough to win the Division. We'll see what the off season brings.

Boston is not for everyone. I can't ever fault a player leaving for more money and to the beautiful climate of LA. That's part of baseball lore, play outdoors under beautiful, warm skies inside a picture perfect stadium. But I don't have to like it.

Dominoes will fall next couple of years. Q1 Will JD opt out? A1 I don't see this as an issue. If he opts out, Sox can find a DH replacement for less than $22M. Schwarber probably will be available. JD will be gone after 2022 at the latest. Q2 Will Xander opt out after 2022. A2 Short answer is let's see what he does in 2022. There's no point in bidding against ourselves right now. Q3 Will we extend Devers? When? A3 Not sure. If Casas becomes our full time 1B in 2023 (Devers last arb year), what happens to Dalbec? 2023 will be Dalbec's final year before arbitration. I like him. He's cheap. Any chance we'll move Dalbec to 3B and trade Devers? Q4 At what point do we go away from Vaz? A4 Do the Sox view Connor Wong as good enough defensive catcher to replace Vaz? Will robo ump become a reality and a guy like Hernandez become a starter? Q5 Do we give Kike a long term deal if he continues his offensive surge into 2022? A5 Yes, Sox loves that he can lead off and play CF and IF. Q6 Will we sign Schwarber even if JD does not opt out? A6 Yes, 2022 likely will be JD's last year. Schwarber can find enough at bats at DH, LF and 1B. He'll be cheaper than JD. Q7 Will Mayer (18) and Yorke (19) become our long term double play combo? A7 Long way off but yes. Yorke shed 20 pounds last winter to become quicker and he knows how to hit. Mayer was projected to be the #1 pick by many in this year's draft.

We could be swept by the Yankees and I would still like our chances.... After the sweep Yankees 67 losses Red Sox 68 losses Yankees play Jays and Rays at best Yanks go 3-3. Sox will play Orioles and Nationals. at worst we go 4-2. Sox will be 10-9 vs Yankees and win the tie breaker for the second spot (Blue Jays will vault and host the WC game) To me, this is the worst case scenario.

$24M for 2 years......there were people on this board that wanted him back....

Between 1B, DH and LF you can make it work with Schwarber. JD will be gone in another year. I rather have Schwarber's bat than Richards ($10M) and Perez ($6M). JD's $22M will come off the books for 2023 season.

Nice outing by Barnes....21 pitches, 8 strikes.....he's such a wuss

With only 28 players, you can't rest everyone.

We make the team better by signing Schwarber and Iglesias.

I don't miss Betts and his salary one bit.....don't let the door hit you in the ass is my stance to all that leave us.

Please don't waste several pages going back and forth......Divorce Court on TV comes to mind....

Standings Update...top 3 all won, one less game to make up ground, bad news for Yankees. 65 losses Sox, 10 to play (1 vs Mets, 3 vs Yanks, 3 vs Orioles, 3 vs Nationals) 66 losses Jays 11 to play (1 vs Rays, 4 vs Twins, 3 vs Yanks, 3 vs Orioles) -------------------------------------------------------- 67 losses Yanks 10 to play (1 vs Rangers, 3 vs Sox, 3 vs Rays, 3 vs Jays) 68 losses A's (5 vs Mariners) 69 losses Mariners If the Yankees take a WC spot, they deserve it.

He better be as good as God, 10 yr $341M....doubtful Jesus ever made that kind of money.

Sucks to be the METS The most notable, shortstop Francisco Lindor and his monster, 10 year, $341 million contract has been underperfoming from the start of the year. For the season, in 113 games, Lindor is batting .229/.323/.401, with a wRC+ of 103. What Lindor lacks in offense for the 2021 season he at least makes up for in defense with a 5.4 dWAR. For the sake of the Mets organization, let’s hope Lindor is more the 7.2 win player he was in 2018 moving forward in his career, and not the 2.8 win player he is right at the moment. The Mets paid for the 7.2 win player. Another notable is Lindor’s fellow countryman, Javier Báez. Báez was traded from the Cubs to be Lindor’s double play partner at second for the rest of the 2021 season. The Mets gave up OF prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, who settles in nicely as a top five prospects in the Cubs organization, for a player that will most likely be a rental, and a rental that also most likely will not help them get to the postseason. OvertheMonster writer is little untruthful.......Lindor's 10 year deal starts in 2022. He's only making $22.3M this year.

Marwin and Santana can become MVP players for another team. I still don't want them. I've had enough of two. Pissed me off to no end whenever I saw their names in the lineup.

We can trade pretty much the entire team (targeting high paid players) with exception of Sale. C Wong and Hernadez 1B Casas 2B Arroyo SS Downs 3B Dalbec IF Iglesias LF Duran CF Kike RF Renfroe OF Verdugo DH Schwarber SP Sale SP Eovaldi SP Pivetta SP Whitlock SP Seabold SP Bello Cl Houck RP Barnes RP Taylor RP Darwinzon RP Winckowski RP Davis RP Sawamura RP Robles That's slashing away $103M of payroll before adding Schwarber. You can trade away $17M attached to Eovaldi and now it's $120M less say $15M for Schwarber. We can be the Rays North with better attendance.

Standings Update 65 losses Sox (3 vs Yanks) 66 losses Jays (2 vs Rays, 3 vs Yanks) -------------------------------------------------------- 67 losses Yanks (3 vs Sox, 3 vs Rays, 3 vs Jays) 68 losses A's (5 vs Mariners) 69 losses Mariners Yanks got tough road....

I think my issue is our fan base that thinks nothing of giving out fat contracts. Examples 1-4) Ray's highest paid player makes $7.5M. We think nothing of it to take the option year on Richards. Our fans sound like my ex-wife. Let's save $1.5M and give Richards $8.5M contract for 2022. We think nothing of it to extend E Rod a qualifying offer. He made $8.3M and now we want to give E Rod $18M for 2022 after the year he had. We think nothing of it to give Xander a raise over his current $20M at the same time we complain about his defense. We think nothing of it to extend Devers to whatever he wants. I rather Sox take $10M + $18M on a guy like Scherzer. I would trade (assuming I can get something which I highly doubt) for Xander. I would trade Devers for 2 young, major league ready pitchers with high ceiling. I think we worry too much that we can't survive without a player A or player B. We're doing just fine without Mookie and his contract.

Tampa Bay is calling up No. 20 overall prospect Shane Baz to make his Major League debut Monday with a start against Toronto at Tropicana Field. Baz becomes the sixth current or 2021 preseason Top 100 prospect to play for the Rays this season alongside Wander Franco, Vidal Bruján, Shane McClanahan, Luis Patiño and Josh Lowe. Rays are never afraid to bring up a player........

Why can't we have five starting pitchers and have guys in the pen that can go multiple innings? Can a pitcher pitch two innings every other game or two out of five games? Is it the pitch count the key or just number of times a guy gets up to warm up? Not every game needs saving. Why can't Houck close two innings? Who wrote the rule that say closer just comes in for one inning? I like having guys that can go two plus innings.