Hugh2

ERA for a starting pitcher alone is a horrible gauge. Also the average ERA is about 4.50 so calling a 4.65 "horrible" is a pretty big stretch. Even his 2016 season isn't that bad. 2020/2021 was pretty bad.

That's actually a great comparison, Story hasn't been bad when healthy, just a little subpar from his career norms. I can see him having a phenomenal next 2-3 seasons here.

I think you need to know who your closer and set up man is out of the bullpen, and you hope Barnes regains his old self and then you can throw him in the mix with those two guys to not burn them out.

23 is still pretty young, he will also be 23 to start next season. Bello advanced at least a level each season he's been in the system, actually two levels his first year, two his 3rd year, and 3 this year. He signed at 18, two years older than the typical IFA prospect and missed an entire year due to covid. All things considered, he's flown through the system. He also struggled, not a lot but a little at Portland when he first arrived in 2021 then he adjusted quickly and became dominant. His stuff has ticked up and improved every year he's been in the system. Given a clean bill of health, he could be a regular in the rotation at some point next season.

Oh you better believe he'd be bashed for trading JD and Eovaldi. That would have been a clear sign of giving up. Unfortunately, Bloom is in a "damned if you do damned if you don't seat" maybe it's deserving, maybe it's not. If the Sox bounces back with a 95 win season next year his seat is going to cool down a lot, but at this point here's going to be a very vocal crowd of Bostonians that will always dislike him no matter what he does now. That's just the nature of fans.

it comes without saying that additions to the bullpen would look pretty darn good to improve things, but looking internally a bounce back from Matt Barnes would really go a long way. He's been pretty good in the month of august since coming back and if you took away his appearance on the 30th he's been really good. Can't bank on him at this point, but I would love to see him be an important piece of the 2023 bullpen.

I never understood the hate for Agon. I know a lot of people had a problem with the comments he said about things "not being in gods plan" and that just never sat right with me. I'm probably the biggest atheist out there and I took no offense to that, growing up around religious people that's just how they think and process many events. It was in no way an indictment on his effort or desire to win, but rather a reflection on his beliefs, which even though I didn't share I respected. J.D. Drew was another one that got way too much criticism, I think if I remember correctly people didn't like his personality. Not that he was a bad, rude or mean person but rather that he acted like he didn't care. I just saw him as a level-headed, calm down to earth guy. Adjusted for inflation today it would be like signing a guy to a 20 million-dollar-a-year contract. If we got that guy today and he hit a .825 OPS with plus defense in the right field we'd be pretty darn happy. He underperformed a little in his first/last year of the deal and it came to light he was dealing with some heavy family stuff off the field with his kid. But he played at an all-star level in 2008/2009.

How much is 60 games from an all star really worth? The Sox most certainly got the best deal they could from a guy who had given every indication he was going to FA.

Injuries are no excuse, this bullpen should have been great. Next man up!!!

Anyone who expected that is just not realistic at all. Imagine the outrage if we have up Marcelo Mayer for a rental this year? Sure no one is untradeable, but there’s a difference between trading for a shortened season of Betts and 2 years of Betts, or even 3. It would be like trading Devers this off-season, we wouldn’t get as sweet of a package as we’d have received if we traded him this offseason. It takes two to tango and the other team knows what they’re trading for.

We are also seeing more and more teams willing to spend, taking away the Sox competitive advantage. With the amount of money coming in, the market for it, and a rapid fan base, I hope Henry is thinking about opening up his wallet.

I thought I read somewhere that player salaries in baseball have been pretty stagnant for a while. It's the all star mega deal guys that are getting the increase in payroll expenditures. Agents seem to be doing a good job for the best players but not for most if that's true.

This team has a history (recently) of going last to first rather quickly. Here’s to hoping it repeats itself. Will be easier next year with less games against the stacked AL east

It’s funny how a 31 year old Mike Trout scares people, but paying Mookie Betts until he’s 39 doesn’t. There’s a very good and real chance he falls off a cliff somewhere between 30-35 with a little regression coming before then. Not that I didn’t want him resigned, the time to resign guys is before they hit arbitration. Give them the long years then so you’re paying into their mid 30s instead of when they’re into their late 30’s. You will still get burned, but we’re talking 1st degree burns, not 3rd degree.

Dude, listen, I wish John Henry would grow some balls and compete with the Dodgers. Resign Bogaerts/Devers and go get my some Judge/Contreras/Nimmo and trade for a TOTRS this offseason. I'd be willing to bank on Bogaerts power coming back in that lineup and having the best offense in baseball.

Sure, facts are facts, just like mine you can't dispute the reality of what I'm saying. Betts only had one year of team control left FACT, that was 1/3 a season FACT, he was resigned for 365 million dollars FACT. You can't compare that trade and completely IGNORE 365 MILLION dollars. It's absurd to not factor that into the equation if you want to evaluate the trade-out past the 2021 season. anything short of that is not rational.

No, I think the Dodgers fans are having fun because their ownership isn't afraid to pay 280 million dollars a year. If we were spending that type of money Mookie Betts would still be on this team.

Oh absoltely, he's the extreme example. But overall, the days of the 200 inning pitcher are over.

Verdugo doesn't replace Betts, because every year after 2021 Betts wasn't under team control. How you spend 30.5 million dollars is what replaces Betts. That's the larger picture.

Let's also not forget that 12 years is a VERY!!!! long time. We have no idea what Betts is going to look like in 10 years. It could get very ugly. Think of a player like McCutchen who has a very similar profile to Betts. Imagine being so insanely angry we didn't sign him to 365 million dollars.....how happy would we have been several years later?

You can call it the company like or whatever you want, we can argue semantics until 2055 but you're only comparing 1/3 a year of Betts. If we want an honest comparison, value for the value of what you got and what you gave out in the trade then you're only comparing 1/3 a season of Betts. That's a fact. If you want to make the arugment that "well they could have resigned him if they didn't trade him" that's fine. I don't think that's an honest argument but for the sake of it I'll concede that point. Now you have to value Verdugo every year PLUS what $30.5 gets you. And that's insanely objective. Every year I can take the most productive FA signings made after 2021 and add it up to 30.5 million. It's very likely I'm going to get value comparable to Betts. It's a losing argument for you either way. This can be true, and it can still be true that they should have resigned him. They're not mutually exclusive from one another.

I doubt we ever see someone pitch 332 innings and start 39 games like Nolan Ryan did back in the day. You have to think some of these guys are capable of it (not that, maybe 250/32) for many seasons but the new norm is to baby pitchers. And it doesn't seem to be resulting in a reduction of injuries at all. I could be wrong here.

At this point, what pitcher doesn't have some kind of injury history? It feels like everyone either has an injury or they're healthy and then you sign them and they get injured. Which is weird given how starting pitchers are throwing less innings now a days. I miss the days of old where work horses went 240 innings plus on the regular and pitched full careers.

The thing about giving out QO's is even if it inflates the payroll it makes it very easy to reset the following year. Looking at a Devers extension the year after that might hold a lot of value.

To be fair, given the FA class and the mandate Bloom had presumably been given this may be the year to judge him on what he does with that money. Seeing how the Sox have about 100 million per to spend.