Nick

Loony Larry with his daily rant.

I know that yo directed your question to jacksoniamarch. My point is if you can win 2 out of 3 with your top three, then you'll win the series 4-3. I'm not sure why it's that hard. Hell, obviously there are no guarantees. But the absolute best from Price, Sale and Pom looks pretty good.

My point is winning 2 out 3 with your top pitchers. Then, i'll take 50/50 chance with my 4th starter. You are not going to have advantage in all four spots. There's a difference between regular season and post season. You want elite pitching in playoffs. Now my top three has not shown that it's elite, yet, but they are the best we have. I'll take my chances. Why don't you worry about your team? Let's compare your top 3 starting pitches' best seasons with my top 3 best seasons.

You need 3 solid starters for playoffs. It should be Sale, Price and Pom. If E Rod or Porcello is our #4, then we're in good shape. If the trio can't do it along with solid bullpen, then we're fast becoming the Atlanta Braves of 1990's. I guess there's a worse place to be in.

I get it that not everyone here is enamored with what's been done by DD despite winning back to back division championships. I'm going to give him a pat on the back because I think he did what he had to do. We also showed some restraint by resetting the luxury tax penalty rate in 2017. As Bellhorn04 points out, Sox has really struggled with developing young pitchers. And I'm not really sure why. You would have thought with God as our GM not long ago, we would have had plethora of young starters lined up. I'm still not buying the 'impending cliff' theory though. I would argue that 'varsity' team should on the average have one positional rookie or near rookie inserted into starting lineup every year. We're on target with this with additions of Beni in 2017 and now Devers in 2018. That's on the heels of adding Betts, Xander and JBJ in 2014/2015 seasons. Vazquez and Leon also came along at the same time. Sam Travis would have been another potential candidate for 2018 but I'm sure it's even a 50/50 proposition at this time. Maybe he'll recover fully for 2019 season. Blacke Swihart should have been in the mix by now but realistically he's behind Vazques at this point and may never recover. Concern now is that we won't be able to sign some of our position players when they become free agents. I would argue that any player lost via free agency should be replaced by acquiring another free agent. We have the money to do it unless it's spent all on starting pitching. Sox should also be able to insert a young starting pitcher every other year. I will pretend E Rod is our own guy, having acquired him via a trade for Miller. But this area has been our biggest failure and it's cost us dearly. Price, Pom and Sale additions were expensive in terms of prospects given up and/or contractual obligation incurred. We potentially lose out on Pom after 2018. Let's hope someone steps up for 2019. (no it won't be Groomes) I get what Kimmie is saying and I agree with her approach, it's also my Plan A. But failure to develop young talent on consistent basis in a TIMELY manner has made DD go to Plan B. And Plan A people don't like it.

Ever hear the term playing with sense of urgency, Larry? 3 last place finishes in 4 years. I do recall 3 years ago. I only watched games where E Rod started. He was the only bright spot on a miserable team. Desperate Dave has made my TV Sox watching more palatable the last two years. For me, it's all about entertaining myself. Thank you Desperate Dave.

I think we're in the same spot with Hanley at 1B as we were with Pablo and 3B last year. FO is 'hoping' Hanley can provide us with 130 games at 1B next year BECAUSE WE OWE HIM $20M next year.

I have not seen anything from front office to indicate Devers will not be our permanent 3B. Has anyone?

Go big or do nothing. Please don't half ass it. Brentz can DH when not filling in LF. Hanley can play 1B for 130 games. Find a suitable replacement for Pedroia at 2B as he recovers. We really don't need to do anything. Of course I would prefer we trade for Votto and Stanton and then sign Martinez. Don't waste big money on mediocrity. Save the money for later.

Let's hope he's smart enough to retire before his contract runs out. He'll quit if he can't perform at high level. I just don't see him playing just for money.

I think they were Scott Boras client from get go. But you are correct. He thinks there's nothing to gain by extending. Of course, he did fail Mr. Drew.

Did you read my post at all? Who said anything about 'restricting'. Isn't one reason you're advocating signing Stanton is due to his salary value of $25M? Sox at some point can spend 'savings' on another player for say $5M. Fake money says $30M but in reality players are getting paid $35M ($30M for Stanton and $5M for the other guy).

This is where player's union does not do a very good job fighting for its members. We've already discussed how the team revenue is increasing at much higher rate than the luxury tax thresh hold. Owners are pocketing big chunk of the money. I would like for union to fight for incorporating 'team discount' into luxury tax computation. Here's how this would work. Whatever team a player qualifies as a 'Rookie', that team becomes his home team. You then put a cap on Annual Average Salary on that player regardless of actual contract. So in case of Mookie Betts, Sox signs him to $300M contract over 10 years or average of $30M per year. But because Red Sox is his home team, his contract is valued at say $25M. That $25M number is an artificial number. It can be tied to something similar to how the qualifying offer is computed. This would give Red Sox a leg up on signing Betts. What does the Union care? It gets what it wants. Overall player salary is going up. Fan base is happy. Or say in case of Sandoval. If a player is released outright, then his contract at the time of the release goes away for the purpose of luxury tax computation for the releasing team. What the hell does union care? Red Sox is now in position to spend additional $20M 'obligation' it just got rid of. Obviously its still on the hook for balance of his contract. I really think Players' Union does not do enough.

Yep, why not give Brentz a shot? Can he do much worse than last year's Young? We need to look under every rock, especially those that doesn't cost us much. We have to quit pissing away $5M here and $10M there.

Exchanging bad contracts works in NBA. I don't see much of it in MLB.

Better chance of Sox trading for Stanton AND Votto, AND signing free agent Martinez than trading away Hanley. Come on, where do you get this stuff?

Might as look good going over the cliff.

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Shohei Otani

At least my bridge doesn't cost me nothing. I like to think I'm optimistic, not delusional.

Changed my mind. My first option is to get a free agent with no loss of draft pick. Otherwise, just sit tight and move on. Chris Freakin Sale repeats. Price gives us entire season. Porcello can't be any worse, can he? Pomeranz continues to improve. Finally healthy, E Rod gives us quality starts beginning in June. Wright returns to his pre base stealing days. Carson Smith continues to get stronger. Tyler Thornburg returns to his Milwaukee days. Kimbrel repeats. Johnson makes smooth transition to pen. Hanley gives us 130 games at 1B. Betts back to his MVP runner up year. JBJ goes on a two month hot streak. Beni improves on his rookie year. Xander gets physical at the plate. Devers gives us 30 homers. Vazquez takes over behind the plate. Japanese kid becomes two way player. Kimmi is estatic. Not one single player is lost.

$210M/7 yrs for mediocre defensive player? I'm not sure I'm ready to pay $30M per year for DH. Ugh.

I still think Price was a good signing. I also think we need Stanton. He will solve our power issues. There's been so many pissing the money away signings in the past I can't keep track. We pissed away $10M here and there to death by God Theo and his little disciple.

I'm just happy that Sox are able to pursue high ceiling players.

I would love to see either one in Fenway. We need power bats.