5GoldGlovesOF,75

But if we stopped speculating, how much fun would it be to be a fan of a club whose leaders just aren't fans of their fans? The Red Sox have become a processed food that changed their recipe from using natural ingredients to cheaper artificial sweeteners. Young consumers don't know any better, but old guys notice the difference in distaste... and more old rats keep getting cancer. Even the size of Sox cereal boxes and cans for Boston baked beans have shrunk.

Sam: "Come on, Executive VP Committee, there has to be one of you at this entire room-length rectangular card table who can sign us a pitcher who used to be good, before Winter Weekend." Guy in a tie who's been on the payroll for decades: "Hey, what about Giolito? He sucked last year, so we should be able to get him at really good value -- short-term, bounce-back arm." Analytical analyzer: "Gave up the most home runs in the AL, so any improvement at all would make Craig look good, too... that is, if Bailey can fix him." Andrew: "Montgomery's wife's interning near Fenway, studying to be a vet or something -- if we hire her to fix him, maybe Jordan would sign here, too." Brez: "I glean a different calculus, a transactional transmutation of the traditional three-way tryst... at least fans won't expect surprise litters of puppies." Papi: "This is our f***ing dog pound."

... but how many belly itchers?

It would be like bragging the Red Sox had "the sixth-best offense" in the entire league -- based on runs -- when those of us who watched all the games know how overrated their O was... ... six games when Boston scored 12 or more vs. 46 games scoring 2 or less; tallies don't always equal rallies (Sox lost one when they scored 12, won three when scoring 2 or less).

So far he's pulled off 57 homers from the roster by losing Turner, Duvall and Verdugo... but gained 9 from O'Neill. Let's say Tyler stays healthy, and they add Teoscar and Drury -- it's possible that new trio could combine for 57 dingers. Then we'd be just as good as last year.

They're not even your grandchildren's Red Sox... ... talksuck only discusses the Boston Ear Elephants

Agree with your scenario, but differ on closer -- go get Devon Williams, as part of a blockbuster trade with Brewers. He's younger than Hader, arguably better (higher WAR past two years), and probably available... along with Burnes, Adames and Yelich, who would considerably soften the demand for burning down the farm in return. Wanna make a splash and also get serious about winning? Acquire some winning ballplayers. Milwaukee may not play in the monstrous AL bEast, but these guys have been in a lot of postseasons, compared to our favorite fifth-best Sox.

... for a sec, I thought I read "pending the sale of the Red Sox" -- but we're still mired in the '23 scoffseason. Martin was the Sox' best player at his job this year, and it would make sense to optimize his value when considering when to deal him. It would seem a return may be better this winter, because a trade partner may swap more to have Martin at the beginning of the '24 season. The other factor is that there is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that Martin will automatically duplicate his near perfect '23 -- and thus retain his current value... especially since he'll be a year older into his older age (though he may retain most of his gray hair -- unlike the more balder posters on talksox).

Would trading Jansen and/or Martin this winter be punting to some posters? What if they were included as part of a package that upgraded another area for the '24 big league Red Sox?

I've never seen MVP pitch... what's missing in his repertoire that you like more from Keller?

Red Sox: I Talksox: W

I told you it was a motorbike -- but before you can open the throttle, it has to be kick-started. Problem is, Lefty Brez slipped with his right foot, flipped over the handlebars and is now on too-weak concussion protocol.

The Red Sox strategically signed one for more money at the time than their homegrown star who could actually hit, moved the new guy to second base for a year, then back to short the next, and are still able to brag being the fifth-best team in their division both seasons!

I'll stop joking if you do. "If you really want Mookie, you have to agree to take Price. Now let's discuss the return..."

Freidman to Bloom: "You seriously want two prospects for a Hall of Famer? No way... well, only if you'll also give us your starter who can't ever beat the Yankees, and who refuses to pitch in the Bronx, or at night, and only if he promises to publicly mock our retired Hall of Fame pitcher in front of the whole team!"

... even with a five-time Silver Slugger shortstop whose former team only made the playoffs five times, and won two world championships, in his 10 AL seasons? Edit: in his first World Series, he actually played third base... for the first time... as a 20-year-old.

... second-biggest, to trading a Hall of Famer in his prime for Hall of Shamers with attitude problems and Yankee names.

Because every offseason outlook of my favorite team the past half decade has sucked so badly, I'm entitled to post an opinion. The Committee isn't about to invest $30M per year on any pitcher that needs fixing. Bailey may have to work his magic on prospects and the next crap of rehab projects. Breslow can't confirm this publicly, though, until maybe next month, when Red Sox PR has told us he might talk to the media again. At least we'll get fan questions and canned answers from the stage at the Winter Weekend...

You-get-what-you-pay-for doesn't always work in baseball for the most expensive free agents... but it usually does for the least expensive bargains. At least that's what we've seen in Boston the past five years. And don't bother to list Bloom's minor victories that saved a million here or there so he could blow it on other failures. Contrast with Dombrowski's Phillies, and how much more fun Philadelphia fans have had the past few years. No rings -- though the Phils would've been in the World Series two seasons in a row if not for one Dombro mistake, forgetting Kimbrel in the '18 postseason (and good luck this year, Baltimore).

2017? Moneyball was published in 2003, and the movie came out in 2011. Here's John Henry's quote from the latter in the Billy Beane interview: JH: "Anybody who is not tearing their team down right now -- and rebuilding it -- using your model... they're dinosaurs." Henry hired Beane (who soon backed out), pivoted to Epstein, and we know the rest... Yet most of the Red Sox front office still-intact-for-decades bragged in a 2020 tweet about resetting the luxury tax. Whoop dee dog doo. After spending big on championship players from Epstein to Dombrowski, Henry finally transitioned to his Moneyball dream (please don't reply how Bloom's Sox had a top 5 payroll -- when the bulk of his budget was already burned paying money owed from previous regimes, or blown on Chaim's short-term contracts for mediocrity). What it has done for ownership: 1. put more dough in their pockets; 2. put more of their teams at the bottom of the standings. And now free agency risks any remaining Brontosaurus burgers to go extinct. Does Henry's paleontology dept. really need warnings that they're the endangered species?

If good free agents cost too much for Red Sox ownership these days (seventeen hundred days, but who's counting), it seems more likely that this offseason will be defined by some kind of significant trade, in all its splashiness... ... though the water displacement might look more like little ripple rings at the end of a skimmed stone, instead of your drunk uncle belly-flopping at the 4th of July barbecue.

Not all of us. Never liked the guy, after he threw at Nunez for swinging too hard. Arrogant pitcher -- so when he still had a fastball in pre-suck Sox days, was it ok for a batter to chuck his bat at Kluber if the pitch was thrown too hard?

When surveyed, the Sox' front office admitted they learned all their German from watching reruns of "Hogan's Heroes" and reading 60's comic books like "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos." It's not like they know nothing... but it's easy to see how a guy like Snell! Snell! Snell! would turn off the somnambulant owners and their Breslow-moving committee...

We can only hope if Paxton returns and wins another Pitcher of the Month award next spring, that Breslow won't trade him at the deadline -- especially if the Sox are the fifth-best team in the AL East for the fourth time in half a decade.

Personally, I think a Lackey comp, as far as the expectations vs. actual performance (not WAR numbers, posters) -- for such a high-priced investment at the time -- is Dice K. Both had their moments and helped win rings; both had their injured years where they didn't help much at all. Overall? Depends on one's definition of value and worth (at least Dice K seemed like a decent guy to root for).