5GoldGlovesOF,75

This season will be all about the Big Three, the trio that made MLB's 2024 All-Minor League Prospect Team: Anthony, Campbell and -- that's right -- Jhostynxon Garcia... Yes, The Password: the true reason Breslow and Bailey's dingaling circus won't spend on a bat, not even to replace their team home run leader who defected to a division rival. Garcia will soon homer his way to the big leagues, or ruin his back trying. He's the company answer to who will be the next Manny, the righthanded power bar to Raffy Dever's Big Papi. The swing and hair kinda do resemble Ramirez (or is that just Jho being Manny). Curiously, Soxprospects.com -- a highly-regarded site -- gives JG a "Potential below-average hit tool." Potential used as an adjective means "having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future." Isn't that something good? Professional hitters may develop some bad habits, but don't all amateurs classify as below-average at the pro level until they at least sign their first contracts? We're all possible below-average at anything, but would any baseball scout keep his job if he told his bosses to draft a kid because he had below-average potential?

He's not lying. He wants the Sox to win 90 and the AL East a couple times -- but he doesn't give a timetable. It could be in his lifetime, in the next century, or at least before the planet implodes from weather catastrophes and deadly pandemics because of fossil fools causing climate change and ignoring worldwide health.

At the beginning of the offseason -- when Sam said the Red Sox will exceed the tax -- his quote got cut short. The entire quote was "the Red Sox will exceed the taxi -- get me some Uber -- cuz when it comes to spending big on upgrades, we are outta here!"

And that's why we won't see them start off the year in Boston. Because if one or both or eegads, all three struggle, it totally exposes the front office mantra of "the future core, the-core the-corp the-corpse." (even though erudite fans such as we know full well that most new guys have to adjust to MLB growing pains before they transition into faces of the franchise) Imagine the letdown if Red Sox Nation realizes the prospect hype was just an excuse not to upgrade the big league roster with actual talent all these blooming years of breslowering expectations.

Thank you for paraphrasing my posts from the past half-decade. Right now in New England, wind-chill temps are reaching below-zero. It just gives the Red Sox front office another excuse -- just when I thought we could get some fresh air, they slam the window shut again.

The Nomar post was to show why the front office won't sign Bregman. Remember, Epstein is now an employee again, and he's the one who can show them all stats to justify how he traded Nomar just in time (though Theo was part of the high command that made the offer Cherry Garciaparra turned down). My Bregman post was why Boston should sign him -- to upgrade the position player roster back to mediocrity... ... because we all know if they don't sign him, it's not like the Sox are going to spend on someone else instead -- especially, not someone better. Still body-surfing at the beach: not this wave, the next one!

Track? Dogs or horses? See how these threads sustain themselves (reminds me of that alien aluminum foil from the Roswell crash -- crumble it up, it straightens itself out... oh, it was from a weather balloon?). As for the cliche "you really got to hand it to them" -- tell Dave Roberts that, when he's only got one baseball to hand to kajillion pitching kajillionaires. The rest of the league can just sit back and enjoy watching LA's dissension-filled sunflower seed shell-spitting comp.

It's great the Red Sox could have the best ERA. The problem is they could also lead in URA. Again.

That right there is the excuse the front office tells themselves -- a situation created by themselves. But they just love it that some fans see this as a playoff team... ... all we need is the starting rotation to use elbow grease and have five guys average 30 games started like the '04 Sox... and the rookies to each blast 20 home runs, have a 100 RBIs and bat .300 like on the '75 Sox.

Good lefties will shred the Sox, and southpaw specialists will keep them all in the park -- even the guys who practice going oppo will make a lot of weak contact. And Devers will blow out his back swinging harder than ever with nobody around him to provide protection.

The White Sox blew it by not paying Wilbur Wood to come out of retirement and coach all their pitching prospects to be like him. Imagine the value of a guy to a pitching staff -- especially the bullpen -- if he can throw 300 innings per year. Wood won 20 games and lost 20 games in the same year... for those who still care about such stats, that might seem to negate his value, but even then he was always near the top in WAR (before it was created) -- 11.8 WAR in 1971, 10.7 WAR in '72! For context, Pedro's best WAR was 11.7 in 2000...

For those worried about the Red Sox signing Bregman -- why? Do you really think Boston is instead going to spend the savings on anybody else any decent? Are all the new kids going to be instant star hitters in the big leagues and smash open our window (with bars on it)? Bregman might not be a superstar, but he can immediately help change the K Kulture for a vastly overrated offense. His strikeouts per ABs last year were better than anyone's in the American League besides Kwan and Ramirez in Cleveland, and KC's Vinnie P. Bregman in '24 also had a hard-hit rate and exit velo better than every Red Sox except Devers and Duran. He has pull power for Fenway, plus his opposite-field rate was right there with Duran's. He's still good, and that's better than can be said for most of our batters with big flaws in their swings. He can bring a Gold Glove to the infield and provide the veteran leadership of a champion. The Red Sox need more major league talent. Bring on Bregman.

In this decade of way offseasons, Red Sox fans would just settle for being whelmed.

We're still in the Elite Eight!

Red Sox fans who buy tickets to games and subscribe to NESN or MLB streaming may disagree that they get what they pay for... ... except for those all-in on the Fenway experience, and students who get discounts for cold, Spring weeknight contests.

Internet sources have been saying the Red Sox were going to sign Soto since before Thanksgiving. The president told fans that money was not an issue. People fall for a lot of things these days.

Nils was better playing guitar for the E Street Band.

Nomar got traded after he turned down a Red Sox offer of $60 million for four years, circa 2004. According to Amortization.org (annual inflation of 2.58%) that's a value of about $100 million today. Btw, Garciaparra signed a one-year contract for $8.25M the next season. He was 31. If you think that's bad, Bregman -- who will be 31 in March -- turned down Houston's offer of $156 million; in '04, that's equivalent to around $260M -- quite an increase from the offer to Nomar, who had very close to the same value as Alex B. Nomar's bWAR in Boston: 41.2 Bregman's bWAR in Houston: 39.6 Post-script: after leaving Beantown, Garciaparra played 5 more years and earned 3 WAR. Total. Yikes...

If it's Tom again, my dogs will throttle him.

But our window!!! Still isn't even a peephole yet...

The "Dodgers." What exactly are they Dodging these days, anyway? ... except, of course, LA's schools of lake trout, herds of goats with horns, and dudes wearing crowns and halos trimming their fingernails.

Translator kicked out of the clink for insider secrets after laying off all the action on Roki LAsaki.

2019 Raffy blasted 90 extra-base hits. Ninety! Juiced ball, young eyes and supple muscle tissues aside, Devers also had the luxury of hitting in the middle of a powerhouse offense, with Silver Slugger All-Stars like Betts, Bogaerts and JD Martinez shredding pitchers. Raffy was one of eight teammates with 18 homers or more in '19. Last year, he was one of three -- and O'Neill is already gone and not replaced. It's hard to believe a quality hitter has peaked at age 28... but Boston desperately needs some company in the batting order to be dancing with Mr. D... What's that, you say, Sam? Oh, right, we have Rice, Lynn and Evans about to explode onto the big league scene and take the world by storm. Never mind spending on any additional talent.

As great as Yaz and Lonborg were in '67, it's notable that the Red Sox won their first pennant in the Integration Era when they finally started as many as six black players.

I'm not an ungrateful Red Sox fan. I can say without hesitation Pedro Martinez was certainly the greatest pitcher in Red Sox history, and that no one in baseball history has come close to his unique accomplishments... ... and not only because he dominated the biggest, baddest batters on steroids, won three Cy Youngs, and had the most extreme statistics. Pedro made pitches to bring three world championships to Boston. One was on the mound, the others were on the phone -- when he called the front office and talked them into signing DFAvid Ortiz.