5GoldGlovesOF,75

... at the cost of no players in return... in exchange for cash considerations... and undisclosed routing numbers... not even check inconsiderations...

Good work compiling this list. I just would label Giolito (SP) and omit the #1. He never did a single thing to earn that label in Boston except sign an expensive contract that no other club offered him. His 5 ERA the past two seasons means he lost any #1 status. The Red Sox paid him to eat innings, but nobody is going to leave a guy on the mound if he's continually getting shelled, like Gio at the end of last year... just like former Cy Young winners Corey Kluber or John Smoltz, when they were here. There was hope Bailey could revive Giolito's career, but nobody even knows now how he'll recover from surgery -- not every pitcher is automatically as good as new after TJS.

Yeah, Giolito doesn't have two pitches, but he does have two years to get paid for maybe throwing zero pitches.

Pablo Reyes, cut last year by an A's team in the process of losing 112 games, isn't being counted on to hit -- even though he bats sixth in the order. He's in there for his glove, especially while Raffy heals. And what a replacement! Red Sox third basemen in '24 Devers: 12 games, 1 error, fielding percentage of .958. Reyes: 10 games, 4 errors, fielding percentage of .852.

Blame Yoshida for the new culture. Ever since the Sox started lifting inflatable plastic dumbbells, all they can do is hit solo home runs.

Before these 2020s mostly flopping around near the cellar, the last sustained dark days came in the early 1990s, when broken-down nugatories like Jack Clark and Andre Dawson were batter versions of Kluber imitating the last gasps of John Smoltz. Then Wakefield and Nomar brought back hope until the masses were blessed with a messiah named Pedro. What's the lesson? Don't waste time and money on has-beens. Develop prospects, and only chase stars in their primes. And keep signing affordable second-chance guys cut by others... some can actually help.

Hatteberg got traded for Pokey Reese, immediately signed with Oakland, and never played catcher again. And he became famous for it -- and not just because Pokey threw out the last batter of the greatest comeback of all time (but that was freaking good enough).

Kyle Teel may not make the majors and become a star catcher, but it won't be for lack of effort. During a pregame ceremony in Hartford Wednesday honoring students and teachers, there was only one ballplayer on the field. Keel knelt in front of Portland's dugout, while a coach at the other end used a pitching machine to fire balls in the dirt at him. Keel was honing his craft, practicing blocking "pitches"... warming up to be a big leaguer.

Brez is still evaluating, but over time the right profile -- the right thought partner -- will avail itself. He knows that part of building a consistent winner at the major league level is making really bold, difficult decisions -- and some of those include favorite players and some of those include leveraging prospect capital to enhance the major league team. But he also knows that they have some needs to fill on their roster and there are multiple ways to get there. His job is to take as comprehensive a look as he can at all possible paths. In the meantime, the idea of deploying players in a way that maximizes possible outcomes by creating the most positive matchups that they can is a term that he calls optimization -- and that includes synthesizing analytical information with real-time feedback from players and coaches to make sure not to leave wins on the table. Craig said he was given a very, very clear, unwavering commitment to winning from ownership... and that the front office will search all corners, overturn every stone, and unearth every option.

Keep shaking that bush, Coolhand Luke. "I'm shaking it, Boss!" (... Baseball Bush, out of which very few bats fall out; but where there's lots of gloves)

Are the Red Sox good or just doing good? Am I well or just a little unwell? There's no such thing as living in the moment, because if you are, then you just missed it reading this (I missed it, typing that). April 25th isn't still early in April, and so far this season, the Red Sox are good. I'm living in the month. Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.

Portland bounced back with the longball last night. With the wind blowing out in Hartford, three home runs reached right field's upper deck by Mayer, Yorke and Decker. Mayer signed a few pregame autographs, and the good vibes carried over at the plate with two extra-base liners to right and a single to center. He looked good at shortstop; his error came after a diving stop up the middle when he bounced a throw from his belly. Jordan and Anthony both signed again, and Blaze had another good night with a single and double. Roman's swing was more contained, and produced a single and two opposite field deep drives that were caught. Paulino whiffed three times, but slammed a 390-foot double to CF. Yorke looked ok in LF and added two nice hits, as did Binelas. Teel walked twice and is a fast runner for a catcher. This Seadogs line-up may produce half a dozen big league regulars, but Portland's pitching is suspect. Penrod's mix was all over the place. Olds, Webb and Cepeda had better velo and were harder to hit.

Too late now. The Sox look for unsigned hurt guys who they can pay to rehab and not play for a year -- or forever if your name is Mondesi.

No. Little League has another month... then there's another month for All-Stars... Hill has said he won't be available until mid-summer -- unless his kid's team gets to Williamsport and goes far; that can take the winners all the way up until school re-starts (the Sox could even be out of it, by then).

Like I said yesterday, we need an entire season of the new pitching strategies to assess how effective it is to the overall fortunes and misfortunes of the team. When Billy Martin managed the A's -- after all their world championship stars were gone because of free agency -- he took over a club that lost 108 and finished dead last in 7th place. The next year Oakland had a winning record, and in two seasons the A's had the best record in baseball. Martin landed on the cover of magazines for his famous style of Billyball... ... but part of that was to force all his starting pitchers to throw complete games, and almost all of them burned out too soon.

He explained part of the problem is that he's so big and strong, that the torque of his swing did the damage. Just wondering how recurrence can be prevented in the future? Swing easier? Bat righty and crack the other side for better balance? Or can comic book surgeons just reinforce his ribcage with Wolverine adamantium alloy?

Saw Portland prospects up close last night in a 9-6 loss at Hartford. My 13-year old parked next to the visitors' dugout before the game and got autographs: Coffey, Anthony, Jordan, Binelas, Teel ("good guy; he went back in and got two balls to give to little kids")... one who refused to stop and sign was Mayer, who wouldn't look at fans. Sea Dogs batted three lefties in a row at the top of the order vs. a southpaw throwing low-90s: Anthony-Mayer-Teel, followed by Jordan and Yorke. Overall observation -- the first four all look like they're trying to homer their way into the majors, with long violent head-pulling hacks that made them look bad at least once in every AB. Blaze Jordan was the offensive star, pulling an HR, then going oppo for a bases-clearing double. Anthony and Teel were able to adjust to offspeed pitches for singles; they also walked twice each. Teel hit a comebacker to the mound and busted it down the line straight through the bag. Mayer was 0-for-5, but almost killed reliever Jaiden Hill with a liner off 98 mph heat that deflected to shortstop. Yorke's swing was more under control, and he added a bouncer up the middle. Team OPS-leader Lugo pulled a single. Phillip Sikes scored twice and threw out a runner at third from right field. If no one on offense looks quite ready yet for the big leagues, it was at least encouraging to see that they were all solid on defense. Not spectacular, but fundamentally sound. Paulino made the plays at second base. Anthony can play centerfield, with good jumps, routes, and power arm. Portland pitching? Not promising on this night.

Except, if you ever do see big betting odds... don't be surprised if the fix is in.

It's still burly, Rooster. (forgotten trivia: Red Sox former actual big league All-Star shortstop Rick Burleson was known as Burly in his early years... at least, on my vintage 1970s Red Sox painter cap bought on ebay for fi dollars)

Can't call them the "Ringer Brothers" just yet...

Well, if he looks at standings, he'll see we're better than the Rays down in Boston South. Tampa - the model team that had to trade a pitcher with ace-like stuff (currently outpitching his $300 million dollar teammate). It does say something that most of the big money free agents starters have been meh, while top winter trade targets like Glasnow, Burnes and Cease are rocking.

Even Campbell, whose stuff looked sharper than them all in ST - although maybe the strain of snapping off those hard sweepers makes him the poster boy of the arms on the IL... and maybe something to watch with others, before we get an entire season-long look of the Breslow and Bailey Circus.

The crapshoot theory in the postseason gets amplified for a team using Kimbrel as closer. It turned to crap for the Phils last year, and everybody's darling Orioles will be rolling the dice this October... As for the vagaries of the next three Red Sox months, if they hang in there, doesn't Breslow have to seek reinforcements -- at least for PR purposes (selling tix through the second half)? If it all goes south by the end of the May, I can envision some wholesale changes by midseason, including early trades of veterans and promotions of a few minor leaguers... but not necessarily top prospects -- like Baltimore rushing Holliday (.033 with 50% K-rate in 32 PA); the O's have so many young studs actually studding right now, that move was just getting greedy. One thing we can all agree on: Brez will not sit on his hands in July and get himself fired, like Bloom did.

Bloom may someday extract his foot from his epiglottis, but that last Winter Weekend is still confounding... When comparing Red Sox' organizational structures and/or strategies during contract extension negotiations with Betts and Devers, Bloom claimed they chose Raffy, because they were ready to surround him with talent (?), and Chaim was "willing to make that bet." He lost -- but all the gambling sites matched his losings with more losers for his next bet.

Giolito was never a member of this season's rotation. My optimistic take when he went down is that it would be an opportunity for younger pitchers to establish themselves as starters. That doesn't mean Giolito can't have a successful comeback and contribute sometime next season. The only guarantee is that the Sox will have paid him $39 million by then to see if he can. Since that backhoe bucket of money is basically spent, what do you think the chances are of Breslow investing more on either the staff or position depth this year -- if, say, the Red Sox hang in there for another two-three months and stay within a few games of a wild card?