Nick

Speaking of Yankees, if they want to remain under luxury tax, they have approximately $33M left for FA spending. Machado would eat up all of it. They will probably go for 1 FA starting pitcher and another via trade. $22M paid to Jacoby is a big hurt. Maybe he can stay healthy next two years. Yankees do have some trading chips for sure. It's not as though they can spend unlimited amount of money if and it's a big if, they was to stay away from luxury tax. Good news for them is that for 2021, they only have two players under contract for $42M. They will have expensive arbitration players by then.

One thing I liked about DD last year was that he signed Moreland early. Obviously he very well may have overpaid for him but after the signing, we had every position covered. Remember, Hanley was probably going to DH. Moreland signing I believe gave DD an insurance against overpaying JD. His approach very well may have been "look, we have a team. JD can join us or not, but it will be on our terms." He outplayed Boras.

Is it also slam dunk that JD will opt out after 2019 instead of 2020? He's paid $23.75M for 2018, 2019 (opt out), and 2020 (opt out). Last two years he'll only get $19.375M. Can he get a 4 year $100M after 2019 if he repeats this year's numbers? Why didn't he get that last year when he was year younger? Plenty of people had opportunity to sign him. I think the championship window exists for two more years if we sign Eovaldi and JD does not opt out. Pablo contract will take care of arbitration raises for 2020. We'll also have Moreland ($6.5M), Porcello ($22M) and Sale's ($15M) coming off the books for 2020. That's $43.5M. That's probably enough to sign one starter to go along with Price, E Rod and Eovaldi. Couple of guys need to step up from our farm system. Maybe Dalbec will be ready to play somewhere along with Chavis. Will our farm ever produce a reliable starting pitcher?

C Vaz (1 Betts 2 Beni 3 Moreland 4 JD 5 Xander 6 Devers 7 Vaz 8 Lin 9 JBJ ) 1B Moreland 2B Lin? SS Xander 3B Devers LF Beni CF JBJ RF Betts DH JD Utility Leon, Nunez, Holt, Swihart SP Price, Sale, Porcello, E Rod, Hector RP Barnes, Brasier, Hembree, Johnson, Workman, Scott, Poyner, Thornburg 26 players. Is that good enough to win it all?

Would you give Kelly, a 4-year, $28M and Eovaldi a 4-year $60M? Would that get the job done?

DD took the job on the heels of Sox finishing dead last three out of four years. His first task was to right the ship. Signing Price, trading for Kimbrel and Pom were his first order of business. He then moved towards competing for World Championship by first signing Sale and then adding JD to a lineup that seemed 'soft' the previous year. He completed the pursuit by adding Eovaldi and Pearce at trade deadline. Realistically we shouldn't count on Wright nor Pedey returning at 100% next year. They are incapacitated. My priority would be to sign Eovaldi, then Pearce and if we can squeeze in Kelly then we'll be set. I think we can fill 2B internally. We did it in 2018. Cot's has the Sox at $219M. Our fictitious budget is $246M ($40M plus the luxury tax limit of $206M). That only gives us $27M to work with.

I want us to sign both Eovaldi and Pearce. Bullpen will be manageable. Add reinforcement if needed in July. I know I sound like broken record but Eovaldi signing is a hedge against losing both Porcello and Sale the following year. Think also about another possibility with Eovaldi in the fold. Assuming Wright comes back healthy, and both Hector and Brian continue to improve, I can see a scenario where one of them will occupy the fifth starting slot. This group is all about the team and winning. I can see one of starters stepping in after the All Star break to become a closer. You may think it's stupid idea but who would have thought we'd use so much of our starting pitching out of the pen? Big if but if Pedey comes back healthy and productive, it will solidify one of our weak spots. Young Devers will continue to improve. Christ, he's young. Leave him alone. Star in making. We can build the next great team around Devers and Beni. Hopefully Dalbec, Groome, Chavis, Feltman, Shawarryn, and others will come through.

I don't remember that but I can get pretty stupid at times.

Can we also take a different approach with FA signing? Suppose DD says to his baseball staff. I want to sign Eovaldi to a four year contract. The goal is to win in 2019. We will trade him at the end of 2020, hopefully he'll help us go back to back, and hopefully his trade value is high. Let's see what young players we can get in a trade? I think what I'm getting at is find a value in Free Agents signing a good contract and flip them before the contract expires. What can we get for JD right now?

Positives 6 more years of team control...Poyner, Lin 5 more years of team control...Devers, Johnshon, Hector, Brasier, Maddox, Scott 4 more years of team control...Price, Beni, Marco, Swihart 3 more years of team control...E Rod, Barnes, Vaz, , Pedey, Hembree 2 more years of team control...Betts, JBJ, Wright, Workman, Sandy 1 more year of team control.... Porcello, Sale, Xander, JD, Moreland, Holt, Nunez, Thornburg What if Betts was the only player we don't sign? Can we afford everyone else? Including Pearce and Eovaldi?

I completely agree on Mookie. I just think it's not prudent to give 10 year contracts. I'd like to see the Sox 'go all out' again 2019 and I think they will. We need to do a reset at some point. Would it make sense to explore the trade value of Mookie after 2019 season? Can we not garner a cost controlled young starting pitcher for Mookie? 2018 win was all about team effort. Had we solely depended on Betts and JD we would have been toast. It's better to have 25 solid major leaguers as opposed to say a Machado or Harper.

Based on success rate of young players, i would continue to make 2 for 1 trades for farm hands to increase the chance of finding the diamond in the rough.

Or you can front load the contract with opt out after 2 years. Of course you r screwed if performance goes down or in case of in injury. Give Eovaldi 5 yer $75M. Pay out $18M, $18M, $13M thereafter.

Our starters need to grow up. It's not their call to decide who should catch them. That decision is up to Cora. If I'm Vazquez, I tell Sale or whoever to GO f*** OFF. You want Leon to catch? f*** YOU. That's how I would feel. They're still bunch of prima donnas. Yeah, that's really being a good teammate. Nope I don't JD in right field on the days I'm pitching. In ten years, it'll be in their contract.

Something else to consider is there will be a new CB Agreement year AFTER Betts is signed. We may incur less penalty with luxury tax threashhold going up. It's really an exciting time. I know this, all good things must end. I hope Henry leaves the window open as long as he can. Henry will be remembered for owning the Sox more than anything else he'll accomplish in his life. He's been a good steward for the Sox fans. He's set the bar high for next ownership group. He's a smart guy. He knows this is is legacy.

Unfortunately his $18M could be the difference between winning the world series again. Just think what we can get for that, year early.

Yep, that's what I'm hoping for.

You make too much sense. I keep thinking about the Sox offense in 2017 and how pitiful it was with no power bat. My guess is most Sox fans think along your thought.

Thanks for the vidual aid. It helps. In terms of priority, we need both Betts and JD. We suspected Betts would have a bounce back year but having JD anchor middle of the lineup solidified this team. We need him. Throw in team controlled kids in Beni and Devers. I would keep JBJ around too. What to do with Xander. We are making a terrible mistake if we give him $20M and up. It's NOT that he's not deserving but spending too much money on a shortstop will necessarily force someone else not being signed. We can't have it all, you have to make choices. Same goes with not signing Kimbrel and looking for a cheaper alternative. Same goes with not signing Porcello when his gig is up. We have to give up something. I rather bet on Betts and JD to continue with our success. We will need to up the ante for JD after 2019 season. I see him as more of priority than Xander. You can always find a good defensive shortstop. Not many JD in this league.

I agree with you. Pitchers are so fragile these days. Pitching must be an unnatural motion. Maybe it'll be more durable Porcello we end up signing. This may sound stupid but someone should open up a Knuckleball Academy. Teach younger players to throw a knuckleball. No base running though.

JBJ is a four year arb guy. He become FA with Betts. You are right about others. Porcello, Price, Xander, and JD will have option to opt out twice, either after 2019 or 2020. This is why I'd like to see the Sox sign Eovaldi. We can let Porcello go and try to sign Sale and Xander. With Pablo's $18M, Moreland's $6.5M and Porcello's $20M, we'll have $43M to sign Sale, JD and Xander. Remember, we're talking 'delta'. These three guys are already making decent money.

I'm trying to tamper my expectations going forward but this has been a great run. Deep down, my hope is Henry decides to 'go for it' again and again. I realize we can't sign everyone but if the core group can be kept for few more years, I'll learn to do back flips at age 60. It's all good. I also enjoy being nice to Yankees fans (our high school baseball coach is one) when we're on top. I work the scoreboard at our high school baseball games and we play "Sweet Caroline" after top of the fifth inning. A little dig at our baseball coach but the fans love it here in Indiana.

We can build from within.........Kimmi approves.

There's a possiblity of Sox completely starting from scratch for 2020 under following scenario. Pedey retires at the end of 2019 due to another injury. JD Martinez opts out after 2019. (He can do this both 2019 and 2020). At that point, there's only two contracts on the books. Price 3 more years at $31M. Vazquez 2 more years at $4.517M. Trade away every arbitration eligible players for surplus of young, cost controlled talent. If we win again in 2019, I don't think I'd be too upset. What can we get for Betts, JBJ, Beni, Devers, E Rod?

Look, I love baseball but I have no idea about pitcher's ability to go from starting to closing and vice versa. Let's say you want to 're-set' Sale's arm fatigue coming from pitching 200+ innings while striking out 300+. And let's say we extend his contract in April of 2019, 6 years, $180M. (we did this with Porcello when we announced his new four year deal). And let's say we sign Eovaldi and everyone is healthy including Wright, Johnson and Hector. Is it possible to use Sale as a closer for one year? Will that 'save' his arm or does closing games for entire year take same toll as starting 32 times? Any former pitcher or pitching coach out there? Sale will be making $15M for 2019. Not unreasonable cost for a closer. (Or can you rotate say, Eovaldi, Price and Sale for two months apiece?)