Nick

Assuming we're sending $17M to the Braves for Sale, Sox paid him $104.5M for 151 innings pitched the last three years. For a team now concerned about money, we sure have pissed away much. And that's the bottom line. That money wasted would have paid for 3 years of Mookie.

So this is our potential, positional lineup Age as of 7/1/2024 28 CC Wong (5 yrs of team control) 26 1B Casas (5 yrs) 23 2B Grissom (6 yrs) 27 3B Devers (10 yrs) 27 31 SS Story (4 yrs plus 1) 27 LF Duran (5 yrs) 23 CF Rafaela (6 yrs) 25 RF Abreu (6 yrs) 30 DH Yoshida (4 yrs) 30 29 O'Neill (1 yr) Go spend $30M on a starting pitcher and we have something to build on.... 25 Bello (5 yrs) 39 GS, 214 IP 28 Kutter (5 yrs) 36 GS, 208 IP 29 Giolito (1 yr) 178 GS, 1013 IP 31 Pivetta (1 yrs) 153 GS, 883 IP 28 Houck (4 yrs) 41GS, 252 IP 28 Whitlock (3 yrs + 2 opt)19 GS, 223 IP Sox have said that both Houck and Whitlock will be stretched out during spring training.

Cot's has Sox at $38M under the cap after posting Giolito's contract. Assuming savings of $10M in Sale's trade, we still have $48M to go after top of the line pitching.

Time to move on from injury prone guys....especially past their prime.

But maybe we now have our 2B of the future. (Does this goes to show you that Sox not impressed with Yorke.....a surprise 1st round pick?)

The trade to get Sale was excellent, the extension not so much....now I can finally move on from my love affair with Sale.

On December 31 each year, there's only one winner. Ask the Dodgers. After winning 100 games and the Division, they get swept 3-0 by the team winning 84 regular season games. Despite supporting 2 super stars in Betts and Freeman, they invest over $1B in two players, including one that has never pitched in the majors. They won it all in 2020, season that deserves an asterisk. You have to go back to 1965 to make the Dodgers a four time winner. How about our rival Yankees? Team with opening cash payroll of $277M in 2023 and not even making the playoffs, they have added a rental at estimated $32M plus prospects in desperate search for ever evasive World Series ring, last won in 2009. I really only care about winning the Oct/Nov series. I like our position players. Sure, we can upgrade it but the young core is there. I'm patient. Texas Rangers won the last game played in the majors. Everyone else lost. Positives Casas (5 yrs) Bello (5 yrs) Duran (5 yrs) Wong (5 yrs) More to come? Rafaela (6 yrs+) Abreu (6 yrs) Don't we have a window of 4-6 years?

At this point we need to stretch out Whitlock and Houck. I'll believe it when the contract is signed or a trade is completed. Until then 1 Bello 2 Sale 3 Pivetta 4 Kutter 5 Houck 6 Whitlock Wake me up when something happens....

We agree on many things. Some posters are near sighted. We will have close to $140M to spend for 2025 assuming all FA for the Sox after next season (ie Martin, etc)are gone and Sox does not pick up Sale' s option. Why not blow past the tax limit for 2024? Go spend $140M. We can reset after 2024. It can be done.

Not sure it's been dicussed. Cora when asked about Sox outfield going forward he mentioned Duran, Abreu and Rafaela. Duran will get a long leash from Cora. He loves Duran' s speed. Cora said Abreu has strong arm to go with his offense. He also thinks Rafaela's defense will balance out his offense at the start but says he needs a look.

I try to watch every game Bello starts. That's what gets me excited. Wong Casas Devers Duran Rafaela Abreu Bello Houck Whitlock And I'm perfectly okay players above getting 'replaced' by better talent. Go get 2 top of the line starters..... I will judge the new 'regime' by one thing. Produce in-house starters. Trade top young positional players for top young starting pitchers.

Is he any good? per overthemonster "It’s hard to say for sure, owing to the fact that he doesn’t have much of a track record yet, but he looks promising. Campbell has pitched just 28.2 Major League innings in his career, having made his debut last July. Prior to that, he was a four-year college pitcher who missed significant time due to Tommy John surgery, and then spent an additional two-and-a-half years in the minors, so it’s not like he’s some young phenom (he’ll be 26 on Opening Day). But having said that, the 28.2 innings he pitched last year were pretty good ones. He gave up just two homers and struck out 33 hitters while posting a 2.83 ERA. He throws a mid-90s fastball, a slider, and a sweeper, with the slider being a very effective wipeout pitch that yielded just a .137 batting average and .157 slugging percentage against. Where he struggled last year was with control, as he walked over four batters-per-nine-innings. But what’s notable about that number is that it represented a marked jump from his time in the minors, where he kept that number down to 2.5 over the course of 89.1 innings. If he can figure out how to keep getting hitters out while limiting the free passes, he can turn into a very effective late-inning reliever for the foreseeable future" Lots of ifs but maybe promising. Still need another lefthander in the pen.

Is there any evidence that teams actually use BTV as an analytical tool to evaluate trade possibilities? I'm with Old Red on this......I have no interest in it.

I will be first Duran fan to scream out "bench him" if he's not doing his job. But he has some unique skills that make me want him to succeed. His 4 doubles game without a ball ever getting to the fence was incredible.

DH'ing by committee. Cora will have 1)scheduled day off or 2)scheduled defensive day off but DH'ing.

Until transactions take place, our OF right now looks like LF Yoshida CF Duran RF Verdugo OF Refsnyder Of course I want it to be LF Duran CF Rafaela RF Abreu OF Refsnyder DH Yoshida Traded Verdugo Nothing has happened yet other than Turner and Duvall leaving.

Exactly. If Rafaela and Abreu moves up I'd imagine AAA team will need some depth piece.

Yep, you just keep complaining about him. You do know that he makes $30M right? Glad you're not in the Sox front office.

Yes, Sox should just put him there and let him bat 9th. That's what the Big Red Machine did with Dave Concepion at short. His bat eventually caught up. Rafaela I think has much higher offensive upside.

I always thought good defense up the middle was the first need. CC Wong...check SS Story...check 2B ?????...???? CF ?????...???? I wanted hitters in corners with power 3B Devers....check 1B Casas.....check LF Yoshida....nope RF Verdugo...nope Any questions?

Devers also won a Silver Slugger in 2021. This season, he led the Red Sox in games played (153), hits (157), HR (33), XBH (67), total bases (290), runs (90), RBI (100), SLG (.500) and fWAR (3.1). He was one of only three AL players with 30 homers and 100 RBIs, along with Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez and Texas’ Adolis García. Devers led AL third basemen in slugging percentage, OPS, extra-base hits, homers, RBIs and total bases, hitting .271 with 33 homers, 34 doubles, 100 RBIs and an .851 OPS. He was also nominated for the All-MLB team at third base. He starts his 10 year deal in 2024. He's my third baseman. Keep working with him on his defense. How about some analytics? Where's his weakness? If he was our #1 worry, we should be winning 110 games.

Boston Red Sox Wikelman Gonzalez, RHP (No. 9) Luis Perales, RHP (No. 10) Angel Bastardo, RHP (No. 16) Shane Drohan, LHP (No. 18) Eddinson Paulino, INF (No. 21) Allan Castro, OF (No. 30) Will they all be protected by being on the 40 man roster?

Yes...quit messing around with mediocrity. Was Paxton really a bargain? We paid him while he rehabbed in 2022.

Stop it Moon. Are you satisfied with mediocrity? That is what you are proposing. Getting rid of these 3 will allow us to target 2 top tier starting pitchers to go with Bello, Sale and Kutter. Why keep Pivetta if that's preventing us from acquiring a second top tier starter? Aren't you the one that PREACHES replace #1 and #2 and not the #5? Which is it? Quit pussyfooting around. State your preference.

It's in the $30M range, the guy is only 25 right?