Hugh2

When you have big expectations and reduced resources it's easy to see the desperate moves that have been made. For example, Bloom probably put all his hope into a scouting report or two he got from our internal guys telling us everyone else was wrong on Yoshida and he held tremendous value. Knowing he could sign a $30 million dollar pitcher, he got desperate and signed Kluber to one year hoping he could pitch like an ACE again for one more year.

Exactly, that's whats hurting this team. John Henry's affinity against investing too much money or years into one player, yet 3 $11 million dollar men who fail is just as bad as signing an allstar who fails as well. Just look at the two teams battling it out in the world series (although it hasn't been much of a battle so far) the Yankees and Dodgers haven't been afraid to shop at the top of the market and they find themselves on the biggest stage. Coincidence? I think not. Yoshida isn't hurting this team. John Henry is.

So how much is a guy who has a .765 OPS and .823 in the second half last year hurting this team?

Because I don’t think Yoshida is so bad that losing him is going to help you as much as what you give up may potentially hurt you. Teams aren’t just going to exchange contracts and give us pitching for Yoshida, he’s a bench bat being paid like a starter. He’s only getting older, he’s not very movable, and doesn’t really even need to be moved. Regardless, an overpaid bench bat moves you FURTHER away from pitching not closer to it in a deal, so why even entertain these thoughts. i think there’s a larger probability the Sox sign a high value free agent pitcher than it’s they trade Yoshida this year

You’re not going to, everyone needs pitching, so the market will be high, and adding Yoshida makes the cost higher not below market.

I’d say more like 5% Yoshida could be worse in a few years. Why get underneath Garvers contract by taking on a longer liability.

It’s not like only winning a World Series makes money. So does winning every year, making the playoffs, and having that chance.

I would never in a million years package a distressed asset with a high value asset. I’d rather get the return for Casas all on his rather than throw someone like Yoshida in the deal

you're not getting peanuts for Mayer, but youre' probably not getting what you think you can for him unless you're packaging him up with a few other high value pieces. Of course, you could package Mayer up with Yoshida and get back peanuts and clear out some payroll.

Sox seem to have lacked both in recent years.

Is this a trade? it's an SI article, smoke, nothing but noise. Lets at least let them make the deals before we criticize them.

Another interesting story line is HOW THEY SPEND their money. Even if we could assume the same old same old song and dance, then knowing they won't spend big we still know they're going to spend in such a manner that brings them close to the luxury tax limit but most likely won't go over. THat's still roughly (give or take) about 70 million of AAV they will add to next years roster. With the position side mostly locked up, how can they NOT spend this money on pitching? Literally, they don't have much else to do. You could say they trade for a guy and THEN lock that guy up adding 25-40 per. That would be a nice slice of the pie, but still plenty of pie to go around. Perhaps they split the difference

Yeah, because he realized that covering for his friend implicating him to doing something really bad that was going to get him in a lot of trouble. If I was going out of my way to help a friend in need, especially someone struggling with an addiction and I found out what I was doing to help him was illegal, I'd back out as well. I think that's what we need to know here. Was Ohtani giving him money before hand to help him with his problem, inadvertently breaking the rules? (I don't think he with intent was gambling with his own money) or did his interpreter legit steal from him? The problem is the story changed, which is suspicious, but I don't think it's malicious. Is there still an investigation going on into this????

I suppose it's all a matter of perspective, I'm not sure helping a friend make someone a bad guy. Especially if he truly didn't know the legality of the matter. In his mind, his friend did something that didn't hurt anyone other than himself financially and he wanted to help him. Morally, that doesn't make him a bad person, in my eyes. Maybe it makes him look bad because he didn't know when he should have? I think it's all trivial.

Bello is also very young, more room for growth than Nick Pivetta.

I'm not sure how the rangers are really a fit. Dunning isn't an ace, he's nice but he's sliding into a rotation that already has 3's and 4's. I'd also love to stay away from DeGrome, Texas would have to pay us for him to come here. I think the stars are aligned to just go out and buy a pitcher again.

It feels like Ohtani initally walked down the path of covering for his friend not realizing it implicated him in something serious and had to retreat. I don't think he did anything sinister, but this is pure conjecture. Of course, his affinity towards caring about the people around him may have led to actions that will only fuel the conspiracy theories.

Or a number 3 if if Houck doesn't and Bello takes a step forward.

And a lot of that goes out the window after this world series. If the Yankees win, we can't say they haven't won crap lately and all we will hear about is 28!!!! when LA wins, that's two from them since we gave them Betts or won one ourselves.

Numbers are less convoluted after the fact but still confusing because there is a difference between cash payroll and luxury tax payroll which calculates AAV. I'm not sure comparing two arbitrary years provides much if one is a season after winning the world series where they had the #1 payroll in the league. Boston has a history of going over and then under the luxury tax, it's variable. It was only two years ago they were over. But if you use the AAV then in 2019 they spent $229 vs. $225. I could say payroll is down $4 million. Which isn't much in a reset year vs. a contending year. Also that year was a high, how much did they spend a few years prior to that? does a 3 year window set the precedent for several decades in Boston? I would say no. All of this is mute, because I think the Sox could spend more, should spend more, and will spend more. Also it's also mute, because even if cash payroll is down, they still spend up to the luxury tax limit every year and they're sitting more than $60 million below it, so clearly they spending their money somewhere this offseason I'm just not sure people are going to like how they spend their money.

Suarez doesn't exactly strike me as a guy who's going to get better, if anything his age 33 season on will be worse. He could be less valuable than Yoshida. There's a very thin market at the position side this winter after Juan Soto

So, you won't to roll the dice on Alex Bregman. I would nominate Bregman for the "most likely to be the next Trevor Story" award. I would be very nervous about paying him. I think Story/Mayer/Campbell alone will make the defense much better. Keeping Rafaela in CF and having continuity at 1B will also go a long way. I suspect the Sox will sign a guy like Jansen and Teel will be ready mid season. Defense isn't going to go from awful to superb in one season, but it could get much better next year.

Saying payroll is down $50 million from it's peak is a little misleading. Sox have have always spent up to or over the luxury cap, even this past year their payroll for luxury tax purposes was only $11 million under the cap. Those "peaks" were years the Sox went over, but even then they always dipped under. The Sox have never paid the 3rd year penalty....never. Minus the absence of deciding to go over the cap the Payroll is right where it's always been, right at the cap.

I'd trade Yoshida in a heartbeat if the right deal was on the table. I'm just VERY pessimistic that the right deal is on the table.

That's also fair. People are entitled to their opinions. I'm entitled to mine, and they're entitled theirs, and I'm entitled to my opinion about their opinions, and they're entit.....I'll stop here.