Hugh2

I don’t think it matters anymore, at this threshold Soto is going to go to the team he likes best. I won’t be surprised if he ends up taking a lesser offer this point (from the 700+ ones) any more money is probably just us bidding against ourselves. The Ball is in Sotos court at this point. Let the cards fall where they may

I’m generally with you, but he’s also years younger than those free agents. Sox have been saying for years their preference to handing out bigger contracts to younger guys. And literally said such when they extended Devers

I just don't know why Boras would have such a meeting, or at the very least without having one with another team as well and telling them to match. Perhaps, if the price is right would him and Soto be willing to sign something then and there? if so will Henry hand out that kind of money.

Teoscar is rumored to be resigning with LA

I thought that would get people going, but it has to make you think. How things could of been different if things turned out differently. At the very least, you can see the logic in the return, Sox saw a hole that needed to be filled with up the middle in coming years (even if you kept Bogaerts 2nd base has been a hole as well). You don't have to love the trade to see the forest for the trees here. I can't help but look at hypotheticals....like what if, what if Martin Perez had his 2022 in 2021? and/or they picked up one more bullpen piece? Maybe we have a 2021 world series too. People forget we were just 2 games away from an appearance 3 years ago and they don't wanna believe John Henry is about to go BALLS again despite his constant history of spend/constraint/spend/constraint/spend/constraint. Yes, I share your disdain for his in ability to break that cycle and retain a fan favorite (Mookie Betts)

And I wanted Dansby Swanson. Both would of helped this team the last few years. So would Jeter Downs if he wasn't a bust.

They've certainly made their share of bad free agent signings over the last several years. Here's what I think NEVER happened. Scout "sir we've done extensive analysis of this guy called Trevor Story, on paper he's just as good maybe even better than Xander Bogaerts, but we believe his arm is about to blow up and he's going to provide almost no value going forward" Bloom " shiiiiiiiiiiit give that guy a fat check, we need him on our roster" Conversations that never happened. Point is, the guys at the top pulling all the strings are only as good as the information they're being fed. Sox have allegedly made massive changes in their structure and a ton of investment into their scouting and development departments the last few years. They obviously have seen the problem and are trying to fix it. Hopefully they're putting that to the text this offseason.

Not if they're going over, it's just peanuts at that point. Sox are way under and would be first time offenders. Like MVP just said its the non tax penalties that are the harshest. The Sox could spend $92 million dollars more before they'd have to lose draft position. If the Sox spent all the way up to $280 million (and I'm not saying they are) it would cost them a little over $10 million. They have said repeatedly over the years they will spend when they have a team worth building around. This is John Henry's MO, he's done it here, he's done it in Florida over and over again, and they're literally telling us they're doing it this year. I predicted it earlier and I'm going to say it again. The Sox are going over the CBT this year.

Look, if we are going to blast the Red Sox for not extending guys they should have.....shouldn't they get credit for refusing to pay top dollar for a guy who has shown to NOT be worth it in his later years? I feel like we can't play both sides of that. Gotta pick one.

Let me reiterate, I don't believe that number was reasonable. That's why the Sox let him walk, and I think they legit would have matched but they didn't see anyone out there offering close to $300 million. Sox were wrong, they miscalculated and it ended massively working out in their favor.

I vehemently disagree with that. Bogaerts ALREADY signed an extension, he could of honored it to the end and made money. His decision to opt out was all about maximizing his market. When guys do that, they don't sign extensions unless they're getting what they think they will get in the market. What do you think Scott Boras thought Bogaerts was going to get?

I mean, it's $10 million 1 year. That's pretty much what a good bench bat makes nowadays. If that's all they do for the pitching I'll be pissed too. I think they get another reliever and an elite starter. Also Chapman has a reputation of being very good with younger Latino players and that might be a very positive thing with guys like Bello/Rafaela/Abreu and even Devers around.

Boston was a lot more attractive back in 2020 as well. Just won a world series, most championships in this century la de dah dah dah. If anything I hope Mookie Betts taught Henry a lesson, and next time he gets a chance to sign young elite talent long term he jumps on it. If he lands Soto, he's earned my respect back.

They literally extended him, he opted out. They didn't want to re-extend him by more than a few years. REALLY kind of looking like the right decision right now tbh. There's also a difference between your first offer and your final offer. Bogaerts already signed an extension, he already got his lesser security payday, it was obvious he was opting out and looking to maximize his pay day. We really can't be mad at Boston for not signing him to 11 years. Looks like we dodged a massive bullet.

I don't understand this we f***ed up on Mookie so why are we signing Juan Soto logic? I mean, why not go further back. We messed up with Babe Ruth so we should never have a good team again. I hope Soto happens, and I hope you all eat your words of defiance, and we are here celebrating winning seasons again and fighting over more superficial things.

Soto 25 Career 36.3 Fwar Betts in Boston 26 34.9 Fwar. If Mookie Betts was born 5 years younger and they both hit free agency this year there would be a very strong argument that Soto is better. He's literally just entering his prime and could be even better than he's been.

what? lol I literally just said that at the time of the Betts trade nobody knew what type of impact Covid would have, must people didn't even know about it then. He was traded on Feb 10th, 2020 and most of the discussion probably took place the month BEFORE that. I speculate that Mookies decision to sign an extension with the Dodgers may have been impacted by that, which happened well into 2020 when the world turned to s***.

Dude, nobody knew how crazy things were going to get on February 10th 2020.

There's also a difference between paying someone $300 million when they're about to hit FA vs. a lesser figure when you're buying out more team controlled years. Some guys take the money, some guys bet on themselves. That's the way it is. Take this group of players: Casas/Duran/Crawford/Anthony/Mayer/Teel/Campbell. One of those guys is going to be a star and sign a team friendly extension early. One of those guys is going to be a star and hold off no matter what. Kind of like when Soto turned down $440 million dollars in 2022 two years before he hit free agency, which would be closer to $585 dollars in 2025 money. He bet on himself and it looks like it's going to pay off for him big time. Sox probably could have resigned Mookie, but it would have been at market value after he hit free agency. Had he stayed in Boston when Covid hit and the world became a more uncertain place and Henry put $360 million dollars down in front of him could things of turned at differently? perhaps. But the dynamics that played out before that were not new or unusual.

At the time I thought it wasn't just insurance, but also a long term fix at 2B if they were able to resign Bogaerts. This was the year before the shift ban, and the Sox may have seen the coming increase of value in up the middle defense on both sides. It can both be true that they wanted to extend Bogaerts, and they had Story there to possibly move there if they could not.

a million? ONE? WTF knows. Guys get hurt, some guys stay healthy.

There was this little thing called Covid that year that may of had an impact on thought processes. $360 million dollars in a world filled with much more uncertainty is worth a lot more than $360 in a more predictable world.

I've been following Zack Scotts twitter and listening to his dialogue. He really really really makes it sound like the Sox wanted and tried to extend Mookie but gave up after 2019.

I remember diving in very deep to the signing at the time. One could argue Story at that point in time was better because he had better defense. The argument was Story was helped out by Coors field, well seeing how Fenway is a hitters ballpark as well at the time I compared their away stats. Bogaerts and Story had .002 OPS between them. The signing was underwhelming because ever since he's signed he's been plagued by injury and been unable to stay on the field. In an alternate reality, a healthy Trevor Story has been an all star for the Boston Red Sox.

Soto is about to get about 700 million. $10 million is chump change nowadays.