Nick

I'm with Moon on adding pitchers. Go big or go home. Instead of signing JD and Moreland, I'd been okay with trading for a front line starter.

I see that nothing has changed with E Rod. Another 20 pitch inning. If you can't go after the hitters, you don't belong in mlb. Don't get me wrong I think highly of his future but is he another Dice K?

Not at his price tag. It was an expensive insurance policy for not signing JD.

I think DD rolled the dice that Price, Pom and E Rod was not going to be out significant portion of the year and that we had enough depth in the minors. I guess better question is WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

The concern was our starting five would miss significant amount of starts at the beginning of the season. That turned out not to be true. You maybe smarter, but I'm pretty sure I know what depth is........what's funnier is 'people like you' presumed to know more than others.

Lack of starting depth was overblown. E Rod is set to return tomorrow. He's missed one turn. Pom is also on his way to return maybe even early as next week. AGIAN YOU CAN'T HAVE IT ALL FOLKS. You have to manage the roster. There's a price to be paid for paying one player $31M or $22M. Worse yet we're paying someone not even on the roster $19M. DD has given this group a chance to win its 3rd straight division title. I doubt the players think DD has not done enough. Don't give him any credit, I really don't care. It's up to the players. THEY OWN IT, GOOD OR BAD. ALL THE CREDIT GOES TO THEM IF THEY WIN.

All very good points and well said. I'm optimistic because we won 93 games last year and we have almost everyone back. And we've added JD. He'll be as good as advertised. He makes hard contacts with lift. Maybe a bigger optimism stems from hoping to have Price start 30+ games after only starting 11 games last year. Porcello certainly can't be any worse, can he? He gave up 38 homers in addition to most base hits among all starters. Will E Rod finally stay healthy and get over his nagging knee problems? Our offense can't be any worse than last year, can it? Even without factoring in contribution from JD? We can't predict injuries but I'm very optimistic.

With a day off on Monday and Tuesday night starting time, do we rest players again tomorrow? I'm assuming Vazquez will start.

I'm hoping he gets his pitch count high so he can be pulled.

Me too. I also said the same about Moncada. What the f*** are we afraid of? If they struggle, move them down. Why baby these guys?

I don't want to trade him. But we can talk about 2018 off season, no?

Excellent point. It's the delta. If we trade him, it's not like we have to play with only two outfielders. Assuming it's true that we don't lose much by moving Beni over, than the real question is how good of left fielder fills in for 'Beni'. Left field defense should be easier to replace. Impact is negated further with an offensive left fielder.

If someone is dumb enough pony up more $$$$, they would be responsible for additional money and the higher AAV. Realistically, Pedey ain't going nowhere. He's an institution despite throwing his teammates under the bus just to ingratiate himself to an opposing player.

Wow....good answer. You have a very good point, as always.

No one wants Pedey.

What if you had to decide between Pom vs JBJ? What if Johnson can replace Pom? I think it has to be priorities. What if we can keep both but we have to give up Kimbrel because Hanley vested? Or do we keep EVERYONE including the FA knowing our payroll might hit $260M? Who goes if you are in charge of this team? Decision has to be made on Kimbrel, Pom and Kelly? The topic of keeping/trading JBJ comes up because Betts is a keeper and Beni is under team control for 5 more years. Simply saying keep JBJ seems like an inadequate response. It's got to be about the entire team. Not picking on you. I just wonder what you are thinking? ("I want to enjoy this team play would be my guess".) ("I didn't want us to sign JD......."....I guess you did answer it )...I'm talking to myself now.

Obviously the first 3 will get expensive. I think E Rod's 2nd and 3rd year will not exceed that of Pom unless he has an outstanding year this year. I think performances will dictate who to keep and who not to keep. It may also be a function of how others perform.

Pretty good start by 25 year old rookie Bobby Poyner, 2015 14th round pick our of Florida. Workman and Scott gives us depth, stashed away in Pawtucket. 6 years of team control. Kimmi approves.

Now you're making sense. Too often we throw out a trade without thinking through logically. The upcoming theme for Sox is that WE CAN'T KEEP THE BAND TOGETHER. We need to explore every avenue. Yeah, I want to keep JBJ even as a fourth outfielder but at what price? Let's think for minute what you suggested. Pom is already at $8.5M. That's a significant savings. I guess he'll command north of $15M if he repeats last year's effort. Maybe it'll reach $20M. JBJ is already at $6.1M with two more arbitration years. He can probably get to $10M this winter. The best scenario maybe to trade JBJ for younger player. Suppose someone like Swihart becomes the fourth outfielder with JD starting in left. Johnson takes over the fifth rotation spot. So instead of spending $30M for JBJ and Pom, we may be able to get by with Swihart and Johnson, expanding their current role, along with making JD more of an OF than a DH. THIS MAY NOT BE THE DEAL. BUT WE HAVE TO BE REALISTIC. WE NEED TO SHED SOME PLAYER(S)/SALARY. I'd like to keep Kimbrel, Sale and Betts.

Why worry about line-up when every player is asked to take a maternity leave during the season? We won't see a starting line-up again until the game one of the playoffs. I hear it's going to be cold today. Give Betts another day off. He's awful skinny to be out in this brutal cold weather. Funny to hear someone say resting players worked for Houston. I guess when you're up 23 games you can rest some players. After Kansas City won, it was all about lengthening the bullpen. I wonder what trend will be set for 2019? But the Sox will be imitating the Houston Astros this year. They are the new gold standard.

It's a great point......baseball season is a marathon. It's a true test for Division Championship.

Yep, if I recall we struggled mightily against the A's.

Gee, I thought there was a time you thought Swihart was a rock star.

I like it that 1 Seemingly not doing much in spring training, Kimbrel looks pretty solid, ready to pick up last year's results. 2 We already have a luxury of +4 in won/loss differential after just one week. 3 Despite consternation about lack of starting pitching depth, our two temps look to be 'serviceable'. 4 This is still MLB, outcomes are never given regardless of the quality of the teams you play. 5-1 is 5-1. 5 Good time to have a 10 game home stand. We'll be well rested for the Yankees/Orioles series due to weird scheduling. 6. You never know but very encouraging with Price. He started only 11 games last year. Him starting 30+ games will be huge. 7. JD makes hard contacts. His defense is as advertised. I hope he sees that when he watches Beni, JBJ and Betts play. He needs to be the DH on this team. 8. Devers is pretty much picking up where he left off last year. Just leave him alone. We got bigger problems than him. 9. Good to see Vazquez as the starting catcher. He's just more dynamic than Leon. 10. Swihart looks like a major leaguer. We just need to quick screwing with him.

I think the tactic of resting players are fine if you have wealth of talent, and I think for most part we do. But let's not pretend it's ok to rest Beni, JBJ and Betts equally. I would want more playing time for Betts. As I posted, I wanted JD, Beni and Betts in the line up. Big part was day off today, play, day off Friday, play, play and another day off. To give Betts three days off out of 4 after only 4 games into the season just did not make sense to me. That's all. I've been very wrong before.