Nick

But he gets no credit for 2 Division titles. Just go ask Kimmi. It was all Theo. And if we win it all this year? Theo. Using that logic, I'll blame it on Ben if we don't win it all this year.

Can we just fire DD and hire Theo part time? You know the baseball God that everyone here kneels to. He did bring us two division titles while not being on Sox payroll. Of course he had nothing to do with our three last place finishes.

Obviously Marlins are going to want as much as they can get. It will be up to the Sox and other suitors how much they want to drive up the bid. Marlins won't be interested in anyone in arbitration phase. Whats the point of getting Betts? He'll be expensive and that defeats the purpose of shedding payroll. Devers for me is a deal breaker. He's under team control for 6 years. I'd entertain Beni simply because Stanton is an outfielder. Beni and couple of long ways off minor leaguers would make sense for Sox. That includes Groome. Sign Martinez and trade for Stanton and call it a day.

Give me a freaking break. I guess until every Sox player dies, all success is attributable to Theo. Theo the God. Hell, he won two division titles this year according to you and your elk. Yes HE WON TWO DIVISION TITLES.

I'm glad you are not our GM. All DD has done is bring for 1st time back to back Division titles. You are okay with coming in last place 3 out of 4 years? He is responsible for key players on the team. We don't win without Price last year. We don't win this year without Sale and Pom. We don't win either years without Kimbrel. He's hamstrung by Pablo's bloated contract for two more f***ing years after overcoming it for last two years. Tell me again how he has failed the Sox?

My view is only few minor league players succeed in majors. Any time you can get a 'sure' thing, Sale and Kimbrel, you do it even if you have to give up future talent.

You are correct. On the heels of two straight last place teams, what the hell do people on this board expected DD to do? Stand pat? For those arguing overspend on both Kimbrel and Price, you have NO IDEA what went on. Moon loves to talk about overpay on Kimbrel trade but if anyone here knows the exact spot where events turn, then YOU SHOULD BE A f***ING MILLIONAIRE BECAUSE YOU KNOW EXACT HIGH AND LOW POINT IN STOCK MARKET. Your FA bid should ALWAYS succeed because you are able to offer just 1 cent more than the next offer, assuring we don't ever overpay. We overpaid for Castillo BECAUSE JUST A YEAR PRIOR, WE CAME IN SECOND PLACE IN ABREAU FA SIGNING. Sox were NOT going to be outbid the following year on another Cuban. International scouts obviously overvalued Castillo. We won back to back Division Championships last two years. DD understands he was hired to win the World Series ring. He fired JF. Our luxury tax rate is reset. He is ready to change the composition of this team (which right now is not good enough to win it all as it is constructed).

To say we don't have the pieces is ludicrous. Again, the way this team is constructed will not yield World Series championship. We need better balanced offense. Read POWER. Just look at how the games went in first two games thus far in w.s. It's too difficult to piece together bunch of hits. 3 singles in Fenway often does not score a run. Simple thing to do is to give Martinez whatever he wants. But if there's a possibility of acquiring Stanton, DD has to go kick the tires. He's cheaper than Votto from luxury tax perspective. $25M per year on the tax hit is music to DD's ears.

So basically we're selling Groome for cash? That will make Kimmi happy.

Who in the hell wants Hanley's contract? Do you honestly think there's an idiot GM out there that will take portion of Hanley's contract and give up something in return? And he just had a surgery. Get real.

please don't ruin a narrative based on false assumptions...

Nobody wants Bogey. He's already in his 2nd year of arbitration. Sox will NOT get anything in value. Similar to Pedey. You couldn't even give Pedey away without even NOT getting a player in return. THINK ABOUT THAT!

None

Here's a real value of Dustin. Do you think there's a team out there that will take his contract with Sox asking NOTHING in return? Nope.

Beni is team controlled for 5 more years. Stanton will be under contract for 10 years. His annual $25M luxury tax amount is very cap friendly.

What was Xander's excuse 2nd half of 2015? What was ailing him then? Feelings?

I'd do your 4 for 1 deal in a heartbeat. You're talking about 60 freakin home runs. We have no idea Groome and Chavis will be in the majors. E Rod is replaceable.

Moon Obviously we don't want to empty out our farm. But we have probably a 3 year window to win a title. Just look at all the 'busts' in our system. Owens, Ball, Johnson, Swihart on and on, they were all thought to be can't miss type. Bottom line is that more minor leaguers fail than succeed. Your odds are better to trade them if you can get value in return. I'm just not going to lose sleep over trading away Groome and others. They are long ways off from major league. In reality, Betts and Devers are only two position players I wouldn't trade.

Moon Betts, JBJ, Beni, Xander, Pablo, Pedey and Hanley ALL UNDERPERFOMED. (yeah I know this was Beni's rookie of the year, but remember he was a SHOO IN for ROY). That's 7 out of 9. Price was hurt TWICE. E Rod did not make any improvements. Hell he's hurt all the time. Porcello was no better than Wade Miley. He was a batting practice pitcher. Hell I'm amazed we won the Division. We can talk all we want about EE but the penalty rate had to be reset going forward. Now there's really no restrictions. In my mind, we have $40M to spend. Arbitration raises will be covered by contract expiration of Young and Moreland and couple of others (Abad, trading Holt?, etc) Look ahead, don't waste time looking back.

Team was built around starting pitching for 2017. Price came off the rotation. Has there ever been a Cy Young pitcher following up with the season Procello had? Sox did the right thing by resetting the penalty. BUT NOW IT'S TIME TO f*** THE LUXURY TAX THREASHHOLD.

Devers, ABSOLUTELY NO. Beni, a maybe if Stanton or Votto.

Devers would be my #1 untouchable. He'll play for league minimum for 3 more years. He also has power potential. No way in hell he's included in any package.

Who said DD was "outside the box" thinker? I like his approach. Where do we need help? We need a power bat? Who is out there? Do what's necessary to make the trade happen. He's pretty straight-forward in my opinion.

Moon, it's my contention that construction of our team is flawed. We need to trade out the pieces on our current roster. Yes we MAY need to trade cost controlled players to acquire some power bats. Note that Betts is projected to earn $9M in his first year of arbitration. His arbitration years will end up HIGHER than first 3 years of Stanton's mega deal, which is back loaded. Your analysis is correct. Our budget is $40M plus our farm hands plus salaries of players traded. This is right up DD's wheelhouse.

He didn't sign EE in 2017 so that he can reset the luxury tax rate back to zero. Don't you pay attention to what's going on? Sox can spend $236,999,999 and pay 20% tax on $20M or $4M in penaltiy for first tier penalty and pay 32% penalty on additional $20M or $6.4M. Combined Penalty is 10.4M in 2018. Had the Sox Not reset the penalty, Sox would have paid 50% tax on $20M or $10M for the first tier penalty and pay 62% penalty on Additional $20M or $12.4M. Combined Penalty for not resetting would have been $22.4 M in 2019. Bottom line is that Sox can spend $236,999,999.99 and pay $10,400,000 penalty. Basically we have $40M to spend on FA's or trade targets such as Stanton.