5GoldGlovesOF,75

Was the Cease trade worth it for San Diego? Three of the prospects he was swapped for are now in the White Sox' Top 10, and the fourth guy is an MLB reliever with a positive WAR on a negative club. To get an idea of comparative value, Mayer-Anthony-Teel all have overall prospect rankings of 55 or better. Only one from the Cease package is 55: Drew Thorpe.

Is DFAed Ty France really just all done at age 30 or possibly a change-of-scenery guy? He was an All-Star just two years ago and has more homers this season than Smith and Cooper combined. If we don't have France, at least the Reds can say they always had (Kyren) Paris in the Spring.

Agreed. Unless you're shooting the moon -- like moon -- then Braden Montgomery just made Anthony a better chip.

Not if they won't open that bag of chips... ... unless development people think his best position is already occupied by the face of the franchise they're committed to paying over $300 million.

Gonna be one of those days, huh. What's your take on the entire point of my post, that a surplus of Red Sox outfielders and not infield prospects may have the most trade value this week?

Not a Bloom guy.

Wonder how many players who were drafted this month with two good ankles are ranked ahead of Monty.

Matt Strahm, NL All-Star pitcher and baseball card TV show host?

I thought Brez said he was involved in making deals at one of the Cubs' deadlines. Wasn't his daughter upset with him for trading her favorite player?

But don't trade Cespedes for Larry Andersen! Or Tyler Anderson. Or Hans Christiain Anderson.

Who would've thought the Red Sox' best trade chips would be young outfielders -- after a half decade of early drafting and stockpiling middle infield prospects? Btw, as far as I can tell, the only best players available to be moved to the outfield in that time have been Yorke and Lugo. But now with Montgomery already rated as high as #63 in Baseball America's Top 100 list, there's no doubt Boston's young talent surplus is in the outfield. Getting serious about the Sox' best options to fortify the '24 roster in the next week: another starting pitcher is needed, but maybe not as much in the immediacy as a reliable reliever having a good year. I could be wrong, but a guy like Tanner Scott should also cost considerably less than starters like Crochet or Skubal...

Just watched Cora confirm he's staying. I was wrong that the Sox would pay him, though it wasn't quite Counsell money. But signing Cora always made sense for owners cutting corners (the ones they hung around 20 years ago), because AC has shown he's as good as anyone getting the most out of a bare-bones roster. There should also be increased excitement about the trade deadline, assuming Cora was given some assurances that the front office would provide the reinforcements that are glaringly needed asap. Locking up a manager vocal about franchise support can also imply better offseasons ahead... Of course, the Sox also told Jansen they were going for it in '23 when they convinced him to sign.

Call up the freshest arm from Triple A and get him to Coors (it's not like the Sox haven't done this before, when guys were down in the pen). Microsoft is mostly fixed, so transportation shouldn't be an issue; they don't need to use the Oregon Trail.

It's not panic, but do the Red Sox have anyone new to bring to mound in late innings tonight or tomorrow in Colorado? If they keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, that's the definition of insanity... at least for fans driven crazy by a lack of front office support for their depleted heroes. The Rockies may have a last place team, but all their regulars who made the majors can hit batting practice pitching.

If not, then why pay at all? (diehard fan version)

I hate when people put bandanas on dogs or Sandoval shirts on panda bears.

Brez will put some New Sox into your Old Red. Just you wait until September and see! (... some may just WOO you)

The Nazis won D-Day with soldiers in machine gun pillboxes above the Normandy beaches -- for about an hour. But the Allies had potential...

M's had Griffey Junior. Royals have Witt Junior. Red Sox have Absorbine Junior Assistant Excecutive Vice President Interns There Is A Season Tern Turn Turn.

Last anyone saw, they were taking the stairs up to the front office. But a Netflix security camera reveals the diameter of the The Blob then grew disposably, with clashing colors in the gelatinous masses.

Who would have ever thought there'd be conflicts in a front office filled with the one guy who always raised his hand back in college to pontificate in the last minutes of the last class of the day -- in each of two dozen universities?

And 27 cooks in the kitchen. Seriously, someone needs to turn a turbo fan on full blast before they light the next lukewarm stove season.

Dueling Banyos... Deliver us from ance.

Everybody's looking for starting pitching and healthy bullpeners (the irony of misnomers). Asking prices from sellers have to be ridiculous with the deadline a week away, but it's almost guaranteed highly-regarded prospects will be traded soon... but probably not by Boston. The evident wear and tear on the entire the Red Sox pitching staff -- already -- has created the need for multiple starters and relievers to legitimately do battle through August and September. Are that many acquisitions even feasible at this point? The 2013 Sox traded Jose Iglesias, at the time a top-rated shortstop prospect, for pitcher Jake Peavy -- who was then a bottom-of-the-rotation starter. Peavy helped win a ring, but was he really worth a guy who became a big league starting shortstop for a decade? Would you swap Franklin Arias, the .400-hitter and flashy glove in the low minors, for Austin Gomber? I can't imagine parting with any of the Big Three, nor envision any deal where two of them are packaged together for maybe one good arm. Then again, it wasn't too long ago when Benintendi and Moncada weren't just Top 100 prospects, but rated by some sites as #1 OVERALLS in all of baseball. Now they're both still under 30 and below-average MLBers (who have to wear belts to keep their jeans up).

Easy solution: coax Porcello out of retirement. He could throw a late inning and bat righty, like when he crushed a bases-loaded double off Scherzer. Or get Beckett back. He hit a homer against the Cubs.