5GoldGlovesOF,75

Those of us who rooted for the Red Sox from 1972-78 would pick Tiant as the one starting pitcher to win one game -- winner-take-all -- for any pennant, World Series, or for the fate of the free world... ... and that's over Pedro, Schilling, Beckett or Derek Lowe (and I won't mention anyone else who couldn't even beat those guys or Dave Stewart).

What Sam Kennedy says in October is utterly meaningless (that's what I'm posting about...) And his last two young genius CBOs both have stuttered from the moments of their hirings. Whenever they tried to sign or make trades for good pitchers, the only thing stainable was their boxers. Dombrowski never has such worries, because he attends the Winter Meetings commando.

Brez consulted the firing firm that did an audit on the organization, but since they're from from New York, they said keep everyone in place and promote them all to Assistant Vice Presidents asap. This was right before the playoffs called them the other night about a missed play at second base. Ruling: "Wait -- Jazz is a Yankee? HE'S SAFE!"

No way -- pitchers like Roki Sasaki will be so pumped to reunite with Masa, they'll take a discount to sign in Boston. In fiction, Roki already said with Yoshi playing in front of the Monster, any line drives he gives up will be lights out!

When I saw this quote I immediately wondered if Sam meant next offseason -- as in Winter of '25-26 -- since the Red Sox and their fans are already in this offseason... and he's "an offseason away" from this offseason.

Maybe the front office overbid on Yoshida in the hopes it could influence some of his tournament teammates -- who pitch -- to also consider signing with the Red Sox. They were ultimately only a few billion dollars short on getting Ohtani, Imanaga and Yo Mama.

If you were a CBO who knew there was no way you'd be allowed to add three starting pitchers to your rotation (because relying on Giolito to come back -- fulltime, healthy-without-setbacks, and effective -- is like waiting on Paxton/Sale/Fullmer/Ponce de Leon)... would you really rebuild by demoting one of your three inning-eaters?

Let's just get right down to it: in 2024, no pitcher in the majors gave up more home runs or lost more games than Cutter Crawford. But no one started more games, either. If a starting pitcher makes the most big league starts, then he's a big league starter.

Remember when Sam said, "There is a way we can keep both JD and Mookie"? Unfortunately, they kept Sam instead.

Second base is where Iglesias mostly played down the stretch in helping the Sox the last time they made the postseason. He hit .356/.915 that last month in 23 games. This year in half a season for the Mets he only hit .337/.850... again, mostly at second base, but also filled in a bit at SS and 3B.

Ya, they were all set when Kike took over shortstop. I'll bet for every poster who wondered why they wouldn't sign an actual MLB middle infielder last year -- or I dunno, even this year -- there was half a poster who found statistics that showed Iglesias was just no good anymore. No good at fielding, no good at hitting, no good at leading a team to the postseason, no good at singing, nogood-nogood-nogood.

Cutter Crawford is the perfect player for the current Red Sox: an employee who doesn't make a lot of money for an employer who makes a lot of money and saves a lot of money. Crawford takes a regular turn on the mound so Boston can field a team and sell tickets. What could be better for a team consumed with concessions? (such concessions include, but are not limited to, the following: uniformed management's concessions using a roster that can't qualify for the postseason; fan's concessions expecting a front office to sufficiently upgrade the roster; and ownership's concessions at Fenway that remain overpriced, taste like crap and sell like hot takes).

Hey, I saw all three of those players on my postseason TV, just last night! ... along with Schwarber, of course, and another guy who the Red Sox decided they didn't need anymore -- Jose Iglesias. Yes, the Red Sox, who featured some of the worst middle infield combos in baseball the past three years... Yes, Iglesias, the scourge of analytics departments like Boston's that just can't seem to calibrate a statistic that encapsulates the dugout and clubhouse contributions of solid veteran character leadership in a pennant race.

Reports that Sox will focus on a free agent starter over relievers are from McCaffrey from The Athletic, and Sox beat men (who at least quoted her). As for your #2 point, I still don't see how a prospect with zero MLB at bats can be worth more than an MLB star hitter in his prime with four more years of control. If Anthony turns out to be a bust, two more years of zero stardom isn't "real value" -- not compared to a big leaguer with 8.5 WAR in one year or 8.5 combined in those extra two years. Jarren Duran has real value right now. All Red Sox prospects are Bobby Dalbec until proven otherwise.

Reports lean towards the Sox signing a free agent starter, instead of trying to be top bidders for this winter's available bullpen arms. I'll believe either when it actually happens. But trading a left-handed hitting veteran or two has to be inevitable if they want to make room on the diamond for top prospects. The part I'm confused about is why anyone thinks any Boston minor leaguer will bring back better returns than Duran, who barely makes MLB minimum wage with four more years of control and is already a proven big league star.

"But it made sense at the time"... ...for the Red Sox -- whose entire starting rotation consisted of three young pitchers rotating their heads back and forth at each other -- to offer a guy with a borderline 5.00 ERA the past two years both a ton of money AND an opt-out to seek presumably even more from other clubs... JUST IN CASE HE WAS GOOD IN BOSTON.... ... because, as the front office expects out of gullible fandom, why would anyone EXPECT that the Sox would want to pay market value to keep an actually good pitcher around on a bad pitching staff? Ya, that makes sense, never.

Sugano is old enough for the Red Sox, but he'd be more desirable if he brought down his price by getting injured this winter. If rehab then projects him to throw his first pitch after the summer trade deadline, he'll be perfect for Boston.

Maybe nothing. Fans just aren't privy to every single reason behind manager decisions -- especially the unspoken ones hidden from the public. Some have to do with undisclosed injuries teams are trying to keep quiet. Others have to do with personality conflicts over incidents clubs absolutely need to keep secret, for PR or even out of respect for those involved. We do know this about Cora: he flat out refuses to play Yoshida in the field again, maybe ever. As for shifting Devers to first base, maybe Raffy told him he can't hit if he can't play his favorite position at third base. Or maybe Cora actually did try Raffy at first base in a private practice, and he was so bad he tripped over the bag every time. Or maybe Raffy refused the move, and threatened AC with posting all those late-night pics of him from the '18 team party if pushed.

Try this: Maybe you haven't played a lot of first base, but I know you've watched a lot of first basemen in action. A good first sacker doesn't just have good hands to make scoops and save throws in the dirt. The consensus is that most of Devers' bad D at third involves throwing errors. I don't have a stat, but 1B might actually involve more key throws than 3B per game. We hold our breath when Raffy has to throw for a force-out at second; that won't change if he's trying for a 3-6-3 DP from first where the throw is even tougher (throwing around the lead baserunner). Also, on most defenses, with a runner in scoring position, the third baseman is the cut-off on a throw home from LF, while the first baseman is normally the cut-off on hits to RF and CF... so that's twice as many cuts for 1B to take. Twice as many cuts = twice as many throws, potentially. Why was Keith Hernandez considered the best first baseman of his day? He had range, footwork and hands, like Doug Mientkiewicz, but Keith was most famous for his bunt defense. Hernandez could pounce and gun guys out a third, and basically took away a big strategy (back when bunts were popular). We know Raffy has a strong arm. We also know we'd cringe every time he fielded a bunt and fired to third... where a bad throw is a run, every time. Finally, a quick glance at fielding stats shows Devers gets between 300-400 chances a season. Vlad Jr. gets between 900-1,000 at first base. E-gaads.

Little League perspective on Devers as a first baseman (on a Wilyer Abreu thread): Beginning at the lowest level of hardball, coaches know the most important position is first base, because someone at least competent has to catch -- or stop -- all the throws from the rest of the positions. A first sacker has to secure those routine, precious outs, or be nimble enough to at least secure the baseball so runners don't continually circle the bases. In the majors, Devers might make an isolated error as a third baseman, but if he's the first baseman he has to try to prevent Es from four or five other guys, too. Every inning. And it's more than just catching the ball; it's all about footwork and timing, sprinting to the right spots on time to take cut-offs, making spin moves to throw out runners behind you, even leading pitchers with soft underhand tosses when they're charging to the bag. Not saying Raffy can't make the conversion, but it's not automatic. Vlad Jr. may be one of the MVPs of the league with the bat, but when he's called Bad Vlad at 1B, it's bad for Toronto.

I think they will sign a pitcher, maybe two or three... But I don't think they will pay market value for an actual good one.

Expectations! Patience! If they rebuild too fast, it might fall down, and then they have to start all over again. Oh.

It's a good point, with a parallel: the guy who replaced Ellsbury was a superior fielder but inferior offensive player -- prone to streaks and infinite posts by fans horrified to watch his swings and misses. And yet... JBJ won a LCS MVP and helped the Sox win another World Series.

Might as well say this, too: Duran probably hasn't endeared himself to Red Sox ownership for comments (and inactions) that prevented him from being allowed to play in games this past summer, and a few years ago. Fans might not care so much, but it doesn't make a guy beloved, either. In other words, when a team is as blah as Boston's the past three years, there won't be an uproar if the front office actually makes what finally look like sincere moves to legitimately improve.

Breslow might balk in trading away a guy once called a righty Chris Sale (had to say it).