Nick

Sandy Leon worked as Sale’s personal catcher last year. But Christian Vazquez caught Sale’s first spring training start. Vazquez caught the first five innings before Leon replaced him in the sixth. Sale pitched 4 scoeless innings while giving up 2 hits and striking out 7. He said afterwards, "It would have been a no hitter and 12 strike out had Sandy been behind the plate".

Spring Training games are meaningless. It's not as though he's seeing opponent's best hitters.

How does Vazquez react after being told constantly that both Price and Sale prefer Sandy? You don't think it creates little bit of friction? I thought this team was all about unity?

Nothing like letting your teammate know that he sucks.

By Christopher Smith, MassLive It’s time for the Red Sox to trade Leon and commit to a Vazquez-Swihart combo. Swihart has the most offensive upside of the three catchers. He also improved defensively in 2018. He always has had a strong throwing arm and he showed much better ability blocking balls in the dirt last year. Sale prefers throwing to Leon. But Sale finished in the top six of the AL Cy Young voting five straight years with Chicago without Leon. He’ll be able to establish a relationship with Vazquez or Swihart. Are we going to trade Swihart and keep Leon just to please Sale who may not be here in 2020? Swihart has the highest ceiling of the three.

This is what has ruined NBA. Players run the league. Cora is our manager. He obviously thinks Vazquez can be our #1 catcher. Maybe we need to trade both Sale and Price along with Sandy. Because he is the only one that can catch the two.

We all share the love for our Red Sox. I've been a fan since July 19th, 1967. There has to be some intrigue about the season. No doubt Devers could have used more seasoning in the minors. But it's all about choices. We can't have it all. Having $33M, $20M, $17M and $15M starting pitchers mean you have to cut corners elsewhere. Had everything gone according to the plan, we would be contemplating whether or not to grant Pablo Sandoval the option year in 2020. Well that didn't work out. For me, sometimes you just live with a 22 year old going through ups and downs. Devers came up with some big hits in the playoffs. I wished we had the bullpen Yankees have, but you know, about the choices Sox made, regarding where to spend the money. I'm enjoying the prospect of seeing someone such as Hernandez. Lakins and Feltman pitch for us in 2019. it's very possible they all fall flat on their faces. We've discussed Devers' shortcomings as a defender all last year. I'm not sure what do about it. Cut him?

Hey, I guess we should have signed Machado. Bunch of whinny asses on this board. Not enough that our payroll is $243M. We want PROVEN all stars at each position.

Let's look at Yankees payroll for a minute. I think we've discussed Sox payroll at nauseam. Cot's has the Yankees at $225M right now, $19M over the initial threashhold. This amount will be taxed at 20%. Didi Gregorius is making $11.75M this year and will become a FA. CC Sabathia has announce his retirement at the conclusion of current season. He is set to make $8M. Brett Gardner is on a one year deal at $7.5M. I guess the hope is to let him go and replace him with last year contract of Jacoby, who is set to make $21.143M in 2020. That's total savings of $27.25M, bringing down the CB Payroll to about $198M. Luxury tax will be $208M for 2020. They will need to replace Gregorius. They will lose a starter in Sabathia. I'm not sure if you can count on Ellsbury. James Paxton will be in his final year of arbitration. He's currently making $8.575M. Both Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez will be 1st year arb players in 2020. Judge could break Betts record $20M in 2021. Signing a big ticketed FA in 2020 may become problematic with some of their younger players becoming arb eligible in 2020 and beyond. They are in better shape than Sox but they're just couple of years behind what we're gong through. If we have a 'cliff', they they'll have theirs two to three years later.

My approach would be to maximize Mookie's presence on the roster for next two years. I'm concerned about what Boras will demand on behalf of Xander. I'm interested in watching some of our younger players develop. Chavis, Dalbec and Chatam. Hernandez, Feltman, Shawaryn and Lakin.

Meet the two time Spring Training Silver Slugger Award Winner.....Sam Travis. Any f***ing questions?

This is Sox manager talking. Yet the smart people on this board doesn't think he'll be ready this year. They should apply for the job. Always pay attention to what Cora and DD says. There's never a misdirection from DD.

If you have the 'stuff' and can throw strikes, no need to wait. Especially when the parent club is in need of bullpen help. He's a college kid. He's not a high school grad. What is his ceiling and how close to it is he?

With both Holt and Nunez becoming fee agents next year, Lin is someone that can take over one of the utility roles.

3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 4 strike outs.....my hope is he pitches in majors as a reliever this year and stretch him out to start next year.....mark my words, that's what the Sox will do.

Some thought he may pitch in the major last year.....yeah, pretty optimistic. Line on him is that Sox shouldn't waste any more pitches than you have to in the minors. He is what he is, what he will ever be.

According to my calculation, we can start bringing up first year players on April 11th and not get their full year service time. 6 years and 171 days of team control. Perfect. We may see Feltman and Hernandez earlier than many expect.

Yeah but we paid him $39M for THAT. lol

Pretty funny Moon. I didn't realize Jacksonianmarch has a twin.

Per MLB.com 12 free agent deals that delivered instant payoffs. 2019: JD Martinez 6.4 WAR 2004: Vladimir Guerrero 5.6 WAR 2001: Ichiro Suzuki 7.7 WAR 2001: Manny Ramirez 5.2 WAR 2001: Alex Rodriguez 8.3 WAR 1999: Randy Johnson 9.1 WAR 1997: Roger Clemens 11.9 WAR 1996: Kevin Brown 7.9 WAR 1993: Greg Maddux 5.8 WAR 1993: Barry Bonds 9.9 WAR 1988: Kirk Gibson 6.5 WAR 1977: Reggie Jackson 4.5 WAR 15 year gap between JD and the previous impact player. Keep Sale, JD and Betts.

Not reseting.

I guess we saved around $680K in salary.

If Wright gets any sympathy from me, it's because of this.

Great read. It's unfortunate that Kimbrel was not free agent AFTER his stellar seasons in 2011-2014. I believe Sox went with his 2nd half stats/performance and did not want to gamble next 4-5 years on him. Kimbrel obviously is in decline. "Save" is most meaningless stat.

Not sure. I give Yankees credit. They made very good off season moves. I like one comment that was made by Cashman or someone else in the organization. They want to keep the core together and they realize at some point, their young super stars will go through what Betts is going through. $20M in second year of arbitration? They can't load up on long term contracts with veteran free agents. Old Yankees would have jumped on Harper and/or Machado. Just think what they could have done with Ellsbury money.