5GoldGlovesOF,75

Crochet was an All-Star last year. He agreed to a salary of $3.8 million for this year. But what's the price for an All-Star starter? His AL teammates: Corin Burnes $32M, Seth Lugo $15M, Tyler Anderson $13M, Skubal $10.15M... Houck $3.95M... and Cole Ragans $800,000. Of course, Buehler will make $21.5M, Giolito another $19M, and Bello $52.8M through 2030 -- when he will top out at $21M (which could increase to $33M if he achieves incentives). For a staff ace in his prime, an AAV at around $25M or $125M for five years seems fair. So expect the Red Sox to offer Crochet around five for $78M... "Look," they'll tell him, "that's 50 percent more than we gave Bello!"

It's easy to predict the Sox will offer something less than market value. A contract worth guaranteed millions is still hard to turn down for young athletes, especially for pitchers, who are always a tendon or ligament away from Uber driving with one hand. But there are definitely guys who will bet on themselves. A decade ago Scherzer turned down an extension for like $160 million -- which seemed like a huge risk... Then he wound up signing for $210 million, which now doesn't look like that much more, but is still a 30% increase.

How can you say that when we said good-bye to two weak players -- our home run leader who struck out 33% of the time, and our back-up replacement catcher, with the 0.1 WAR, -0.1 dWAR, .188 BA and .623 OPS. We already replaced them both with one Double A catcher. As for the two prospects you want to watch and root for, the Red Sox can't promote them yet because they'll lose control of an extra year, half a decade from now when maybe only one guy on the entire roster is still playing for Boston (like Devers in 2024, the lone holdover from 2019). Plus, do you really think two of the top-rated baseball prospects in the world can contribute more than two Red Sox from last Opening Day -- Valdez and Reyes? You know, the pair whose WBR was -0.6 each last season...

Assuming we don't pay top dollar for Scott (or anyone, anywhere)... Also assuming all the other good closers -- those most recently good at this fickle position -- are waiting for Scott to sign, so they can make more unreasonable demands as the next best things. But the Sox' top priority should be to land either Estevez or Yates.

The Red Sox are rightly mocked as the Kings of Interest, but they've been Jesters of Market Value a lot longer. Their lowball offers that cause homegrown stars to leave and free agents to shun them disgust me. For too long the Red Sox front office has acted like MLBers owe them for getting the chance to play pro ball in Boston. Maybe it started with Varitek or Lowell taking less than other offers to remain with the club, or Lester sabotaging his own upcoming free agency with a stated goal... or even Pedroia taking a team-friendly discount (posters rued that contract at the end, but Pedey signed for less than his contemporary Cano, who maybe had more talent but wasn't nearly a teammate or baseball player of Dustin's caliber). The Sox could've kept Mookie for his Hall of Fame career if they just gave him market value -- not 10% or 20% less, which they seemed to insult him with every time an extension was discussed. Since then, other good players have left, and now we're on the verge of welcoming some of the top-rated prospects in franchise history. Don't screw this up, Boston. It's not just a privilege to play at Fenway Park -- it's a privilege to have so many devoted, paying fans still want to root for the new stars about to call it home.

I left the end of your quote because I think Looie G and the last three are most likely to contribute key roles over any rehabbers. But I'm surprised I'm the only one who doesn't envision Crawford in the pen. Every other member of the projected five-man rotation has had injury issues -- sure, it can be solid if we just look at names and pedigree, but does anyone really think all five or even four of Crochet-Beuhler-Houck-Bello-Giolito will pitch the whole season healthy without IL stints? Cutter Crawford led the majors in games started -- that makes him the most reliable starter on the team. Cora may go with a six-man rotation the first few months, anyway. The most improved part of the bullpen may be Whitlock, if he can regain his rookie form before hip issues.

Hopefully, by then, we won't have posters insisting that we can trade him for prospects -- and then, still sign him the following winter. The only signing this ownership will be doing is waving bu-bye.

After a half decade of stifling our fan dedication, the window the Red Sox keep promising may finally be opening. So why aren't they installing a screen to keep the bugs out.

We all know the real reason the Red Sox don't want Yoshida to play any more left field: The owners are so cheap that they're afraid they'll have to keep replacing light bulbs on the Green Monster from wall balls that Masa misses.

It's ok -- we have new coaches!

You mean like promote Top 10 prospects like other teams do? I dunno - we only have THREE... But you may be right -- imagine the PR if one of them came up and actually helped improve our record, like Top 10 prospects do for other teams.

If so, then better prepare for the Sox to "contend" with the same roster of position players -- minus their home run leader... and hope that Carlos Narvaez is at least a better catcher than McGuire and Jansen. It's been over half a decade of expecting Bloom/Breslow to follow through on their public intentions of acquiring a first baseman, or second baseman, or impact bat that's a keeper (and not a Renfroe-Duvall-TO clone), and authentic MLB rotation help for Chaim or bullpen primetimers for Brez. Nope and nope and nope and nope. Start praying for healthy comebacks from Casas and Story. Does anyone recall Boston opened '24 by winning 7 of 10 on the road...? If the Red Sox just broke even over the final 152, it would've been a winning season -- but they couldn't even do that. From April 9 through the end of September, the Red Sox had a losing record. That's almost six straight months of losing more games than they won. So who will be the difference in the batting order to help us win five more games in '25 and reach the playoffs -- like the 86-win Tigers and Royals did last year? It must be Yoshida and Rafaela -- two guys due for vast improvements!

Right -- one way to avoid them is to trade them, another is to platoon. This weekend Cora said he wanted to try Abreu -- his Gold Glove rightfielder -- at 1B, and Hamilton in the OF... to make them more versatile. Maybe that will also make them more attractive as trade bait. With pitchers and catchers set to report to ST in about a month, here's one assessment of the Red Sox roster: 1. The starting rotation looks better... 2., 3., and 4. the defense hasn't changed, and the bullpen and batting line-up look worse. But if all the rehabbing guys make comebacks, don't get re-injured and play like they once did when they were younger and healthier...

One of Breslow's stated offseason priorities was to balance the batting line-up with some right-handed hitters. So far, the Red Sox have lost one -- their team home run champ, O'Neill. The plan can't just be to play Refsnyder more and get full, healthy seasons out of Story and Grissom -- who have never hit in Boston yet. If not signing someone actually good (no one's counting on that anymore), or trading for someone mediocre, then Kristian Campbell has to be a key in the heart of the order this year...

Yamamoto is a good comp, with same age, Cy hopes, and limited big league experience. Japanese leagues may be more similar in competition to high minors or D1, but will Yo Yama earn his contract -- even if he exceeds perhaps his best countryman in the majors in Yu Darvish (career 33.1 WAR at age 38)? Would the Red Sox be happy paying Crochet if he tops out at a similar WAR? After all, Josh Beckett had a career of 35.1 WAR over 14 years, while Derek Lowe was 34.4 WAR in 17 seasons. Btw: Dice K only earned 9.4 WAR in the bigs... On the other hand, Tanaka in New York was a solid starter for six years in his ages 25-30 seasons -- during which he totaled 16.8 WAR.

Casas' core injury could have long-lasting effects on his career, and may be why a club might want to trade him before he loses all value. But his potential is also a reason why other teams would be interested -- and why a mid-market team like Boston would want to keep him while he's cheap. Here's Casas' BA and OPS for the second-half of his rookie year, 2023 at age 23: .317, 1.034. Compare to Vlad in that same half, same season, when he was 24: .251, .790.

Vlad would be an upgrade over anyone with the bat, but could be a disaster in Boston. He's a dog on defense, with attitude issues, and the fans could turn on him in a hurry... If Henry somehow miraculously changes the spending patterns established the past half decade -- and gives Vlad -- of all players -- what he wants, the Red Sox could get stuck with the worst contract in team history. Plus, think of all the young core players the Sox could extend instead, for the same amount of one risky free agent.

All kinds of talk this weekend by Cora and the front office about plans to increase the versatility of many young players: Campbell at SS, Mayer at 2B/3B, Abreu at 1B, Hamilton to the outfield... Could be excuses to go with the youth and not spend on a Bregman, but one thing that shouldn't be overlooked is the impact a veteran winner can have on an unproven, up-and-coming core. Maybe Buehler can be that leader for the pitching staff, because none of the new White Sox guys -- Crochet, Giolito, Hendriks -- have ever won. For the bullpen we have Chapman, for what that's worth. But as for regulars, the vets are Raffy -- who doesn't yet want the role -- and Story, who doesn't have the cred...

Vlad is a terrible first baseman, he led the majors in errors and would actually downgrade the position in Boston. A few more home runs is not the smart move in any way to improve the club's biggest weakness -- defense. Tris Casas' career is just beginning. He is articulate and introspective -- which intimidates some people for some reason -- but those traits may also promise dedication to improvement. Casas has something to prove, even if it's making swing adjustments to preserve his core and use the Green Monster more, which we've already seen he can do. First base is far from the biggest issue on Boston, and the Sox have a young player who is not yet a star or filthy rich like Vlad already is. If fans think Devers isn't worth what he costs, imagine having another one -- only without the cheerful personality...

Devers' age 23 season was Covid year, but in his age 22 season he had 90 extra base hits. The curse for Raffy is spewed by Cole whenever he faces him.

On their "rule-of-thumb" chart for WAR numbers, a "Solid Starter" is between 2 and 3 WAR. The Sox are projected to have three solid starters: Devers, Duran, Casas. A "scrub" is between 0 and 1 WAR. The Sox are projected to have 11 scrubs: Story, Anthony, Ref, Gris, Hammy, three catchers, Romy, Mayer and Sogard. But we'll be a playoff team contending to go deep in the postseason...

They rate Sox hitters middle of the pack in the AL, and I'm assuming it's all about star power. New York, Texas, Baltimore, Houston, Minnesota, Seattle and KC -- most have studs... though the Twins' Correa and M's JRod weren't much better than Devers' damaged goods season.

Posters on this forum and others were moaning about extending Bello and Rafaela last year because they weren't instant superstars. Some even wanted one or the other demoted for more practice against minor leaguers. Rebuilding a sports team isn't like rebuilding a house, because the latter already has a foundation. Stop worrying about retaining that extra year of control. Do you know how many Boston players in 2024 were Red Sox for five full years? One: Raffy Devers. (Houck and Pivetta joined at the end of 2020, and Dalbec was up and down... can't think of any other).

Like most Sox fans, what I'm really looking forward to this season is seeing the new guys, and how they help the club. That includes pitchers Crochet and Buehler (the other free agent arms they signed, not so much), and especially the debuts and contributions of rookies that Boston and the industry has been hyping: Anthony, Campbell and Mayer. If the Red Sox don't promote at least one or two of these guys from Spring Training on -- and let them become big leaguers -- it won't be as fun. I have less interest in seeing the same regulars return from a .500 team -- minus last year's home run leader -- and hope they all can recover from injuries and stay healthy. It's time for new blood. If they're not going to pay for authentic free agent talent, then bring it up; they're ready and we're ready.

Need more Dempster diving...