Hugh2

It's also about how they spend. They went over the cap as recently as two years ago now but it's because they spend $10-$20 million on many players for a year or two, and never take a big swing at the big fish. John Henry effectively got burned by David Price, and then Dave talked him into Chris Sale and he got burned again. Now he has decided that he will never dance again. He's effectively become an incel of the sports ownership world.

The reality is. There isn't a silver bullet to fix this team, realistically a good plan wouldn't view this year as the "be-all-end-all" and I certainly don't want any freak out impulsive buys just to look good. However, they're in this position because of years of tightening up and lack of conviction in the market from Bloom to Henry. Are only hope is that Breslow is really really good at his job. And it will probably take him more than one season to turn this organization around.

Devers has also been much better defensively in the past than he was last year. If he could be coached up to play first base, why not coach him up to get his defense back up to par at 3B.? Maybe having a consistent partner who is good defensively on the right side all year can help.

Right. This is why I don’t trade Mayer for pitching this offseason.

There's definitely a version of the future where Story gets traded, and maybe even brings back something of value. If Grissom hits and can field second and Mayer isn't traded thats your middle infield. If Story gets healthy and productive for a season, he becomes very tradeable.

If we have a good shot I think you have to keep him. If you can scout and draft well that pick should still offer some real value. But if they're statistically in it, but not really in it, like this past year I'd rather sell high.

If he pitches well enough, he's a lock to reject it. That pick might not be as valuable as what he'd be bring back in a trade (if he's pitching well). But the difference seems worth it to keep him (if you're a legit playoff contender). If he'd accept a qualifying offer, you'd think he's not opting out of that contract.

If He's pitching very well, and we don't trade him.....it better be because we are currently holding down a playoff spot at the end of July.

I saw that with Grissom, I think he has a very high floor with the bat, if he grows into some power and improves on defense he can be a star in Boston. I'm pretty confident he's going to do at least one of those things. I'd take a little bit of both, average power average defense with above average hit tool. I also like how him and Trevor Story are going to be working out together.

When Grissom graduated he was a top 100 prospect in baseball. He will be 23 all of next year and comes with 6 years of team control. It is blatantly obvious that this trade was all about getting Grissom in the door. Any team, with the financial position to do so would have done the same, including the likes of LA and NY. This was never a salary dump. If it was they would have found a team who would have taken a larger porition of his salary and taken back a much lesser return. I also don't agree that this is any way handcuffs the Sox (saving only 10 million instead of more). I'm not defending the front office as a whole, but no matter what people want to say they've been pretty consistant with total money spent and what they've said. Sure, they've signed some bad contracts, ignored home grown talent, refused to be serious on the big boys. But they've consistantly spent up to the tax line, and when they've felt they had a chance to win gone above it. Sales money with or without this trade was off the books at the end of this year. If there was a financial decision to be made that would put them over the cap this year, and they thought they had a legit shot at winning, they would just do it, and they can reset next year.

You might be right, but I think his ceiling might be higher (ceiling in terms of ranking) Teel was ranked end of year by pipeline at #88 when Grissom was promoted to the majors in the summer of 22 he was ranked 77 by baseball america. Two different ranking bodies but the closeness in status eludes that at their peak two scouts could give you two different answers on who is better. That might make his ceiling #3. He's blatantly a better prospect than Yorke, so I think that 3-6 window is appropriate. He's definteily not on the same tier as Anthony/Mayer.

I was just thinking about this the other day. Remember when people use to always complain about players, coaches, prospects, trades, contracts and all that when this team was good and winning 95-100+ games a year? I certainly do. It just goes to show that some people will always express their fanship from the front of seeing the bad. I suppose they at least have good reason now. Perhaps very good reason.

The poster said that he doesn’t know anything but he has a friend on the inside. He’s just a guy who knows a guy who is. So, certainly he wouldn’t make that up.

For what it’s worth Giolitos wife hit him with a divorce right when he fell apart. This has me hopeful that it was never a stiff problem but a mental health issue. If he is right, or can get right he’s probably going to be much better than Sale will unless Chris manages to start 25+ games

I thought I just reversed engineered it in BTV

I didn’t do what the trade was I did what made it equal. Of course, I had to trade to get Sale back. Regardless, point is, the value of this trade comes down to Boston’s evaluation process with Grissom.

BTV accepts Grissom to the Braves for Sale and 4 million in cash lol. Grissom has a higher value, but (according to BTV) we overpaid in cash by about 13 million. Heres' the thing, a team like Atlanta needed that to avoid the highest tax line, team evaluations of players can vary wildly. If the Sox believe Grissom can turn into an everday second baseman, this is an absolute STEAL. If he's a bust, then it's not the trade that was bad....it's the Sox ability to evaluate and assimilate talent into their organization that's the problem. It's not just about having the right guys, but having the right guys around those guys. Unfortunately, only time will tell how good Breslow and company is, and we will judge him now, although perhaps at this point the fan base is more readily accepting of shiting that blame onto ownership.

Other teams models of bringing in pitching often include bringing in young unproven players, or young cost controlled pitchers without a performance record, where said team is able to fix something. Or they're trading for young pitching (like the Fitts trade). THe other way is to draft. The former, is something posters in here would complain about prefusively, the later.....well Boston just doesn't do that. Maybe Breslow will change the organizational philosophy on drafting and developing pitchers. But in the absesnce of trading away the farm for a guy....there's zero quick fix. It's going to take years to build the pitching up in this organization. And fans will not like hearing that one bit.

With Mookie it felt like they just didn't want to go as high as he was talking, with Yamamoto, it feels like he just wanted to go to LA all along. Allegedly Steve Cohen said he'd up any offer LA gave him after he left new york but didn't even give the Mets a chance. He took his bids to LA and they matched and he signed. Yamamoto was always going to LA. I know there are reports that Mookie was always going to FA, and he wasn't going to resign here, but who knows how true that is and if $365 million dollars would have changed his mind. Also, he signed after covid hit and there was a lot of uncertainty in the world at that time. $365 million dangled in front of your face might look a whole lot different in the summer of 2020 than it would in the summer of 2019. But I suppose we will never truly know for certain what could have been, but I'm fairly certain Yamamoto was always a no go here. I wanted him hard, but after seeing how the whole thing went down, it's obvious to me now that we never had a chance. It was LA all along.

Found the 2022: Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 45 | Overall: 55 Braves Top Prospects | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball In 2019, the main attraction at Hagerty High School in Florida was Riley Greene, who went No. 5 overall that June to the Tigers. Grissom was that school's shortstop, and while he wasn’t as highly regarded, the Braves liked him enough to go over the $125K limit in the 11th round and sign him for $347,500. He’s rewarded their investment by hitting pretty much everywhere as a pro -- from his summer debut in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League to the alternate site, where he was one of the youngest players, to a full-season debut in 2021 in which he raked in A ball and earned a late promotion to High-A. Grissom routinely displays outstanding bat-to-ball skills with a very good approach. He has a strong feel for the barrel from the right side of the plate, manages his at-bats well, draws walks and rarely strikes out. He’s short to the ball with relatively simple hitting mechanics and has solid bat speed. The Braves hope he’ll continue to fill out his 6-foot-3 frame and grow into more power as he matures. As solid as Grissom has been at the plate, it’s been less clear where he might belong long-term defensively. He’s still seen more time at shortstop than any other position, but he’s also played a fair amount at third as well as a little at second. He has the arm to stay on the left side of the infield, where he’s more comfortable and while he doesn’t always have silky-smooth actions, he’s a solid defender. If he can’t play short, he might need to raise his power profile a bit to be a fit at the hot corner as a regular.

And what does his 2022 scouting report say? WIthout looking it up I know for a fact his hit tool went up to 55. I like prospects who have upward mobility at a young age. Those are the guys who turn into stars, not that he will, but he has youth and performance on his side. I also wouldn't say he "slumped hard" in only 75 PA's Grissom was rushed to the majors. He effectively got a month at AA before making the season jump starting in A ball all the way to the majors. In 2022 he was 21 and had a .921 OPS. I have zero concerns this kid is going to hit, but I'am a little concerned about his fringey bat speed and the defense. Get him in the weight room, with his age and athetlcism it's very reasonable to project improvements in those fields with the right people around him. I'll take 6 years of that for one year of Sale.

That's also not an appropriate way to evaluate the trade. That's how much money they're STILL spending in 2024. But if Grissom is a good, how much are they saving over the next 6 years? good, young cost controllable talent is highly valuable. Only time will tell if Breslows process of bringing in these types of players pays off. I like that he's swinging.

This is the main problem with this organization. And the truth is, it can't be fixed overnight. Breslow can make all the right moves and draft picks and it will still take years to pay dividends. I think Sox fans could stomach the team not wanting to go out and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on players entering their 30's if they locked up their young studs. That ship has obviously sailed, and there's no silver bullet short of everything going right next season. Which even then, they still need two starters. I just don't think they are willing to spend big on guys like Montgomery and Snell anymore. I think we will be selecting from guys like Stroman, Paxton, Imanaga, and I still think they can trade for someone. Given some time, it will be interesting to see if Breslow does, with trades, and his first draft next year. It may be true that Breslow is going to have to operate under the same parameters that Bloom did. If so, we have to pray he's much better at this than Bloom was.

Barracini????

Despite my tagline I’d be very surprised if this team signed Montgomery and Snell. I think we sign one to two from the Stroman, Imanaga, Paxton group or trade for a guy still. One thing is for certain, Breslow is expected to fix this team in one year. But that’s not realistic. If he doesn’t believe in those guys, and they get overpaid drastically, and that affects the decisions he can make because he has a budget then I won’t blame him for not going after Montgomery and Snell. I like those two, and I’d be excited if we sign one. But I’m having serious doubts we do now.