Hugh2

Plus you're not getting an ace for Dalbec. You are probably going to get the pitching version of himself. A very live arm that has some holes in his game, maybe it's lack of a 3rd pitch, or a guy who has the stuff buy hasn't found his control yet. Maybe you end up getting lucky with a guy who puts it all together or who develops into a late-inning reliever but it could take you a year or two to see that. We need a rotation for 2022.

Fair, but how many up and coming prospects do you hear a GM say, “this guy might be special but he might only be as good as a 4th outfielder”

Ok, I have officially changed my opinion. I'd rather face the Yankees in a one-game playoff. Maybe we can win the 1st WC spot and the Yankees and Bluejays tie for he 2nd one and they both have to burn their ace to face us.

Red Sox have fared better against Cole this year too so maybe my fears are unfounded.

I believe I addressed my opinions on the matter above.

ADD: the reinforcements ready mid-2022 might be a lot better than what we got this year. I suspect Seabold to pushing for the majors and could provide great relief for the rotation. If Richards continues to look solid out of the pen, I'd love to have him back on a 1-year deal to replace the Garrett Whitlock role, and you never know, he may be a guy who can step into a Setup man/Closer role too. Casas bat might catch fire for you in the dog days of summer and I think Connor Wong is a real sleeper pick for a future catcher in Boston. I don't expect Groome to be a serious option right now as I'd have him penned in to spend most of his 2022 in Portland, but if he returns next year and regains some of his velocity back he could fly up to the majors too. Josh Winckockski might find himself on the SP depth chart next year too.

Look, I suppose one could say the prospect of facing Robbie Ray isn't any better. But I think RR is having a career year while Cole is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. Good Pitching almost always beats good hitting. I'd be more scared of facing Cole and the Yankees than Ray and the Blue Jays. But who knows, Maybe the Jays are the team you want for one game and the Yankees are the team you can beat in a series.

I'd rather face Toronto than Garrit Cole and the Yankees in a one game series.

For 2022 I want to strengthen the starting pitching. The rotation may improve naturally with Chris Sale back to full health and Garrett Whitlock making a successful transition to the rotation, but you may be losing E-Rod as well. First thing I do is offer Erod a qualifying offer, if he turns it down you can effectively target another starting pitcher without losing a draft pick. There's no silver bullet in FA, everyone comes with a level of risk vs. reward. Scherzer is still elite but old, Syndergaard could be the steal of the century but he's coming off of TJ. So my rotation is going to look something like this. Sale Erod/Gausman/Scherzer/Syndergard Eovaldi Pivetta Whitlock. Next I'm signing a position player that can shore up the defense and elongate a lineup that's too top heavy. I have Carlos Correra in mind, plug him at 2nd with the plan on moving him to SS when Xander walks. Pick up the option on Vazquez and plug Kike into CF. Your lineup becomes Kike CF Correra 2B Devers 3B Bogaerts SS JDM DH Verdugo LF Renfroe RF Dalbec 1B Vasquez C If you JDM does not return you can sign Schwarber, which gives you another lefty. Of course you could just sign Schwarber anyways and plug him in LF and move Kike to 2nd.

Chris Sale is your #1 pitcher

Additionally, even if bloom is only 1% responsible for the turnaround it doesn’t change the reality of their past and current situation. There’s a timing mechanism to this, the fact that the Sox are resetting the same year they’re competing should spell good things for 2022 and beyond.

That was merely a supporting bullet point to my overall point. It’s fair that bloom is not single handily responsible for the turn around.

It’s the biggest kept secret, and there’s precedent, from the Sox. With exception of the Dodgers this is what the top 1/4 of teams haves one for a while know. Go over, get under, repeat. Everything this management has shown us, from going over to resetting and then going back over indicates that’s in fact the directive. The Sox are not shy about spending money, but there’s a way they like to do it. They got under to reset and spend. That’s pretty much a forgone conclusion at this point.

1. He took a last place team with a Historically horrible finish to a playoff contending team. 2. He had a budget, and a directive to get the team below the luxury tax threshold. 3. He’s spent the last year building up depth in the system, and has returned the minor league system to a top 10 system. 4. It’s wildly speculated that the Sox plan on going over the luxury tax after they reset it. This lines up with next year. A team, vastly improved from the year before adding payroll and improving the quality of the big club. There’s no need to change strategy next year, the strategy was a multi year plan all along.

The baby is premature and still in NICO. Still plenty of life left and too soon to call it ugly.

Bobby Dalbec is in track to make his mlb pitching debut tonight.

BUT to be fair, many considered him a better pitching prospect than a hitting prospect. I remember the day he has drafted all the buzz surrounding whether he would pitch or hit and the story was he absolutely hated pitching and told teams he wanted to hit. He was actually considered a better prospect as a pitcher but he wanted to hit. I think that ship has sailed for him at this point however......

LOL I'm just joking!!!

I'm not the G.M. of any ballclub, but if he's worth something to us, he's worth something to someone else. He's a premium bat that can play multiple positions. I also have taken note that we as fans (myself included) are much much much more likely to underestimate how much a guy gets in FA rather than overestimate how much they get. Here's another way of looking at it. If JD knows he can get more than 22 and opts out...........why would it be hard to believe someone is going to give Kyle more than $15?

Assuming JD opts out that would be saving 7 million, and that's assuming 15 million gets it done.

Well it's true if you're the "first to sign" you don't have anything to compare yourself to, that year at least, but you still do have every other team bidding on you or at least the ability to do so.

Bobby Dalbec, the guy is so hot he's ready to be our Ohtani. Put him in there!!!!

I always view the people who sign before-the-free-agent market as people who either really want to stay or people who feel like they're getting market value now. Market value now as in....you're paying the "buy it now" price. Odds are if you're signing Schwarber to a deal before free agency he wants you to pay the "buy it now" price which doesn't necessarily mean it's that high of a price but I think we as fans have a tendency to all too often assume everyone is going to sign early and cut deals to play for us because we're so amazingly awesome and who wouldn't want to take less money to play here so we can sign more superstars and win the Superbowl every freaking year. This is just a very long way of saying it's much more likely than not he goes to free agency.

At this point let’s just throw Bobby Dalbec there. The kid has a gun.

People forget how young Arauz is. He’s the same age as some of our top Prospects in AA and below.