Hugh2

It’s not just the age, it’s the poor bat speed, poor bat speed guys skills fall off at an earlier age. Polanco, bat speed wise is more like a 39 year old

Because the 31 year old is still playing. But when you hit the wall you stop playing, if Polanco hits a wall and stinks next year he probably plays a whole season or 1.5 before he leaves the game. That doesn’t change the fact that the risk of him being absolutely horrible is 100% high. i firmly believe your the one with your biases at play here, respectfully. I know you like power guys, but what I’m saying is verifiably correct no bias here I explicitly said I could be wrong and Polanco could be great next year but it’s a massive massive risk. And given his age, seeing how this might be the last contract he ever signs, he’s going to be looking for a multi year deal making the risk even that much higher.

Sorry Drew, but you could not be more wrong. Every single MLB player who is in their 20's playing is going to not be good enough to play. 100% without fail. YOu can look at almost every single MLB player who has ever played the game and with caveats they all start to seriously decline around 30, and most are out of the game by 35 or sooner. This is well documented, verifiable, and plays out in real time every single year. We also have wealth of data and numbers over the years to see if certain skill sets decline faster than others and they do. Poor bat and speed, and below average exit velocity guys tend to decline even faster. Polanco fits the exact profile of the type of guy who will not age well. Has he had a decent career up until now? has he shown good power in the past? is he a nice guy? sure but he's a horrible bet. He's the type of bet the Baltimore Orioles make. If we had less holes on the roster, I'd be more open to Polanco, but we already have way too many question marks to be adding another question mark. Players 100% decline because they're getting older and you lose physical tools. This is true for 100% of humans, professional athlete or not.

Polanco is fools gold. And he very well may have one good season left in him, but If I was betting on players to fall off a cliff next year I'd put him at the top of my list.

No. If anything his injury risk is only going to go up and guys significantly decline between 30-35. I get it, we all get mesmorized by the long ball, but that can be blinding and make people make horrible decisions. He has poor exit velocities and doesn't have great bat speed, guys like that decline early and it's amazing he was as good as he was last year. Polanco having a good season would be like gambling with a 20 year old water heater. Polanco's profile scares the crap out of me

I think Polanco is fools gold. War by season 4.0 - 1.7 - 1.3 - 0.3 - 2.6 A steady decline with a little bounce back last year. But he will be 33 next year, he feels like a VERY strong candidate to be the guy that gets paid and just falls right off the cliff. I have zero interest in adding guys with that profile.

I got a kick out of listening to WEEI last night, getting all razzed up about the Sox not signing Scwharber and not even being in on him and how awful of a look that is. Honestly, if the Sox aren't in on him because people like Bregman/Alonso are on their radar because they are guys who play positions they have actual holes at then I'd be more concerned. WIth that said, the Sox recent history the past several years (last year was ok) should worry people more about not being in on Schwarber. But I guess they need something to talk about at night.

The ultimate pipe dream might be for the ghosts of John Henrys past to infiltrate his body and convince him to sign both Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso. (Bichette/Seager) being the plan b an c for Bregman. Then you're either packaging up a prospect to offload Yoshida to open up the DH spot to a rotation (keep Duran) or you're trading an outfielder for a package of prospects to replenish the system. How would a lineup like this do? DH. Jarren Duran 3B. Alex Bregman LF. Roman Anthony 1B. Pete Alonso RF. Wilyer Abreu SS. Trevor Story 2B. Marcel Mayer CF. Ceddanne Rafaela C. Carlos Narvaez Obviously Duran isn't DHing full time, and he'd get plenty of reps in the outfield, there's no full time DH here, you could subsitute Duran for Yoshida, you could also trade off an outfielder at the deadline if Casas is hitting his way back and you want a full time DH. Obviously this lineup would rake in my opinion, but it would probably push the LT payroll up to $279-285 which does not seem realistic AT ALL. But hypothetically, they should be able to do this and stay below the 3rd tax threshold which is where draft pick penalties kick in and a line I don't think the Sox would ever cross. But they could still do this and be able to reset at some point in the next two years. 2026/7 (Gray/Sandoval) come off the books freeing up $30 million. This would get them below the 2nd LT line, and depending on where things go in the next CBA could even get them below the first line all together. They could shed additional payroll by not pick up Chapman $12.7 or trading away Duran $7.75. Just one of those might get them below. But they would certainly want to reset by 2028. And the year after next they have (Story/Yoshida/Hicks) coming off the books for an additional $53.33 million. Max penalties seem to be 3 straight years over and going over the 3rd threshold. Not only could they stay below that 3rd threshold but with over $100 million dollars coming off the books the next two years they could take on two giant contracts and still reset. Why should the ghost of John Henrys past convince him to do this? sales. Ticket sales, increased viewership, playoffs, playoffs, and more playoffs. A WS caliber team should generate more than enough revenue to pay for this. John Henry just has to stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room and remember he's an owner of one of baseballs biggest market teams again.

It's as if people completely forgot about the offseason we had last year.

Multiple reports are out that the Red Sox are in on _________. Insert any name there

He was a 2025 draftee who has 32 at bats in a ball. He’s not starting in AAA and we don’t have to worry about him with any log jam in the outfield for a few years. interesting move though, Sox drafting all pitchers now and trading for position players just drafted

Well maybe now that he's gone we can all move on and stop talking about it

People appear to be upset, I guess Grissom was really popular around here

What is the market for Bregman and Alonso at this point? it's seems that most of the big market teams are set on the corners and/or have cheap options. Obviously if the price for a hot commodity falls spenders are going to jump in......but I wonder if the Sox wait it out and go with whoever falls to them

That's what DD does, he signs guys quick even if he has to overpay for it. Not saying it's an overpay, but of all the big signings that can happen early probably a DD signing is the least indicative of what a market is going to be.

I like to plug trades into BTV after they happen. Often times the value is spot on, or close.....other times.....not so much.

Yes, on one year deals not guys signed for 1/2 a decade.

And....why would we do it?

I love using BTV, but I can't argue against this. It's an imperfect tool

BTV Accepts MARTE for Masataka Yoshida, Jordan Hicks, Marcelo Mayer, Jarren Duran, and Juan Valera. Then we'd be sitting $40 million under the first cap. Who do we sign for that money? Bo bichette and ALex Bregman? maybe Bregman and Alonso?

Why would Arizona do that?

Everyone is interested in everyone according to everyone this time of year. It's the same thing in other media markets......except maybe the A's. There headlines probably read "According to sources A's are not intersted in trading for Ketel Marte"

If the Diamondbacks want a top infield prospect for Marte perhaps a 3 team trade could be in the works. Mariners get Jarren Duran, Hayden Mullins & Tyler Uberstein Diamondbacks get: Colt Emerson, Kutter Crawford & Teddy McGraw Red Sox get: Ketel Marte BTV grades this as a small overpay by Boston but returns slightly more value to both Seattle and Arizona. The Mariners get the outfielder they want plus two arms for their bullpen in Uberstein and Mullins. Diamonbacks get a top prospect in Colt Emmerson, a young pitcher with team control and another prospect. Red Sox get Ketel Marte

There are times where I wouldn take the proven talent as well. When we are trading from a position of strength for a position of weakness. Trading from a position of weakness doesn't fit the bill. Has anyone ever considered that Arizona would also accept a lesser package? just because they're asking for player XYZ doens't mean they're going to settle on player XYZ. That's like walking into a car dealership and instantenously agreeing to pay MSRP. Sure, that car might be a mercedes benz, but it's still MSRP. man.....I'm just hemorrhaging amazing analogies

I took that analogy straight from the cosmos, I thought it was amazing