Nick

I wash my hands, wear a mask, try to social distance as much as I can and I've also been vaccinated. I hope everyone does it. Let's stop talking about it.

We'll just setting up for the greatest comeback ever. We need to get down by 10 or something.

Hey I'm looking forward to Dalbec take the mound.

It's difficult to have herd immunity when we've been locked in basement. Okay, I'll stop. I've been vaccinated.

It's not political. Many of the guys testing positive have been vaccinated. You don't understand the issue here? I suppose we could DFA JD since he's not vaccinated. It has nothing to do with politics. I'm vaccinated but it's clear not everything is black and white here.

In all fairness, I believe Devers has played in 12 straight games. It's very possible Devers could have DH'd. But what to do with BOTH JD and Schwarber.

Do you care to explain it? Most of COVID guys have been vaccinated. I'm vaccinated with hundreds of non vaccinated kids around me. What is your solution?

Schwarber was batting .181 on 5/5. Now up to .270.

Perhaps Devers? The delta will be much less than $33M (assuming he gets what was Eovaldi/Price AAV) with his arb 2 coming up this winter. I doubt it'll be $15M but $12M might be close. So we'd still have $12M for another player.

Thanks...

Are you 100% certain if Sox can offer him a QO when we signed him as a FA? I thought that was no longer possible.

Per SoxProspect on Kutter Crawford.....Sale has better outlook on the guy than SoxProspects.....another bionic arm guy.... Career Notes: Reportedly taught himself his cutter over winter break during his junior year. Transferred to FGCU after two years at Indian River State College. Brother, Jonathon, was a first-round pick out of the University of Florida in 2013 by Detroit. Was invited to 2017 Fall Instructional League prior to it being cancelled. In 2019, pitched just one game after July 15, that in mid-August, due to a forearm strain, and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in late October 2019, then had another procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow in June or July 2020. Participated in 2020 Fall Instructional League, although he did not participate in simulated games at that point in his rehab. Summation: Projects as future reliever due to overall lack of pure stuff and high-stress delivery. Potential for two above-average offerings, but lacks a third pitch at present.

Right, in the year earned and not pro rated over the terms of contract (obviously it would be difficult to re prorate is performance bonuses are on going...ie every year of the contract...say Sale earning top 3 votes for Cy Young award each year of his contract).

Okay, one thing I was wrong on..... Luxury tax is calculated on December 2 each year for 'Championship Season' which concludes on December 1st (which coincides with CBT calendar date, December 2nd to following year December 1st.) Which means club option on Richards will be settled by that date.

Wait you just confused me. Performance bonuses are assigned to the "Championship Season" when earned, never prorated. I don't understand what you're saying in second part.

If we can get into the playoffs, this season will have been a successful season. We have learned great deal about our players. Kike was a player that Cora and Bloom envisioned when he was given a two year, $14M deal. Arroyo is one of those grinders that Sox always seems to have in their lineup. Dalbec despite his late push is still unknown commodity BUT it's not time to trade the guy. Not even close. Chavis turned out to be like several players we've had in the past. We all had our fingers crossed but the former first rounder just didn't make the grade. Traded and good riddance. Verdugo may never reach stardom but he's a keeper. Renfroe with his rocket arm and surge in power (I suppose he's always hit hard and long) is ideal right fielder for the Sox. Xander even without the 'star power' plays and produces like one. Some guys are born to hit. Devers is that guy. He more than anyone else on the roster is a keeper. Quote from Rounders. "Pay the Man. He beat me." Schwarber enhances any lineup. Natural born hitter without relying on analytics. See the ball, hit the ball kind of guy. Duran, work in progress. Not time to trade him either. Whitlock has mental makeup along with elite arm to be an ace someday. Houck, listen to what Chris Sale has to say about him. "He has better slider than me". He's one 'splitter' away from being a stud starter. Pivetta, not sure of his ceiling but you can do lot worse as him as our fifth starter. He came cheap, another one of Bloom's nice pickup. Taylor and Darwinzon, probably shouldn't get excited about relievers because they always seem to start all over again each year when it comes to their effectiveness. But good lefties are hard to come by and they are under team control for four more years. Wong, good solid backup catcher for the future. Eovaldi, answered critics about his durability this year. On the cusp of being a solid #2/#3. May warrant extension at some point. E Rod, frustrating as ever. Waiting for him to get to another level. But there's no doubt we have won more times than lose by wide margin when he starts. I'd say we bring him back and focus solely on our bullpen. I hate hearing people say his production went down due to overuse. Well that's most overused excuse for Barnes. What changed? No longer seems 'team friendly' contract. Meanwhile our farm ranking went up to 9th. We got the best player in the draft according to many experts. We also signed couple of other potential high ceiling guys. Life is good in Boston.

MLB Reportedly Proposes $180MM First Luxury Tax Threshold, $100MM Salary Floor To MLBPA https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/mlb-proposal-to-players-association-included-changes-to-service-time-structure.html This is a must read.....talking about 2022 without knowing where the negotiation is headed seems fruitless. Current contract expires on December 1. First question is will there be a 'freeze' in transactions (ie opt outs, free agency, etc) until the new CBA is finalized? Historically, there's not been a freeze (with exception of COVID period when both sides agreed to 'freeze') Ultimate question is will the new season start on time?

We save $45M off of expiring contracts of Pedey, Beni, E Rod, Richards, Marwin, Ottavino less $5M pay increase for Barnes for a net of $40M. Arbitration increases will come from Devers, Hunter, Verdugo, Pivetta, Arroyo, Taylor and Pivetta. Moon probably has an estimated number for the increase. Position players are fixed other than adding Schwarber. I'm not going to worry about JD until he decides to opt out. What's interesting is that JD has to decide before the new CBA come out whether to opt out if I'm not mistaken. Any chance Schwarber would accept the mutual player/club option at $11.5M?

Beauty of adding Schwarber is he'll hit anywhere in the lineup, he just wants to hit. Once Kike, Xander and Arroyo comes back, our offense will be solid. It's too bad JD hasn't expanded his marketability by working on playing 1B in addition to outfield. He certainly has the length to be a 1B.

“I think a lot of pieces came together today. Slider was pretty good, especially whenever I needed it,” he said. “The splitter was definitely the go-to offspeed pitch today. I’m incredibly excited to have that pitch as effective as it is now. It’s been a long year of learning and developing that pitch and pushing myself to make that as big a weapon as it is now.” Houck sure doesn't sound like he's working towards being a closer. He's close to being a very good starter and that's what we need first. And that's where the money is. Every pitcher wants to be a starter at first. Whitlock, Pivetta and Houck, our young guns. When you throw in Seabold, Bello and Matta into the equation, you have some starters on the horizon.

Thats a good lineup. I bitch about our D but thats not something u can change overnight.

Unlike maybe others on this team, you will never hear him complain about where he bats in the lineup. He just wants to hit.

Isn't it odd that Sox fans value JD (I do) but when push come to shove there aren't many takers for his 1 year $19.325 pay? Don't even talk about what we would get in return. Probably not much. As you said, we would have to eat some of the money.

Someone here made fun me about Devers playing second base to cut down on his throwing errors. What say you now? Dalbec at 3B.....we can hit every good hitter on the team.

I'd want to know how many outs did Duran not get compared to 'average' CF. Otherwise what anyone says in meaningless. Who is an average defensive center fielder by the way?