5GoldGlovesOF,75

Winter Weakening 2024... ...featuring Sam Morrison on stage: You know that it would be untrue You know that I would be a liar If I was to say to you Ticket prices won't go higher

The noise from that '13 team -- for fans of the strategy of collecting affordable free agents bent on comebacks -- always seems to drown out the fact that the best Red Sox were mostly still homegrown stars. 2013 World Champion WAR Leaders: Pedroia 6.1, Victorino 6.0, Ellsbury 5.8, Ortiz 4.4, Buchholz 4.3.

They're so young, the breakout is likely to be caused by lactose overdose (but never hormones).

There are two bullpens now on most MLB rosters: the back-end -- couple set-up men (ideally, one righty, one lefty), plus closer -- and the middle inning crew of interchangeable one-time through-the-order arms and bulk guys. Starting rotations of five horses, with a few call-ups in Triple A in case of injury, are so last century. Today's staff that's built to last has a rotation of 10-12 men in the system always stretched out but ready to compress and throw harder than ever in shorter innings.

Option 1 is definitely the best option for a new CBO looking for the quickest way to improve the D... but alas, the most expensive. And sorry I called you a lass... should've been a lad.

Coming in on a wing and a prayer.

Waiting for B&B to focus on our former best pitching prospect -- and put Noah Song back on top of the Billboard 100.

Wonder if Brez covets those assets because he was more a pitch-to-contact, offspeed kinda pitcher. Red Sox people: always want what we can't have. Why, it was just this weekend Craig was talking about the Red Sox reclaiming their "rightful place atop the division." How entitled...

Baerga was another that got an extension. He was a star back then. I don't see the Sox doing a Chourio, like the Brewers did for a guy who hasn't even made the majors. Then again, the Dodgers did same with Yo Yama. But Bloom inked Whitlock after his Rule V bullpen stardom, so the Sox' 400-man front office must discuss such strategy. Casas would seem a natural. If Brez did lock up the Big Three prospects, wouldn't that also make them even more tradeable? For example, Albies is "under control" for the next four years at $7M AAV... who wouldn't want an All-Star in his prime at those prices? Also have to wonder what a doormat like the Sox would give up for the great Oz instead of Grissom? More than Sale...

Leave Sam alone. The Red Sox asked him to stand in their dugout this year so batters can hang their pine-tar helmets on his Pinocchio nose.

Remember back in the '90s when Cleveland was locking up all its good young players? The then-Tribe was starting a trend for all small-market teams (like Boston wants to be).

The Astros must think that since they're still good, it's ok to spend on good pitching.

Henry says nothing. But Sam says the budget will be less than last year, so forget about spending on an ace or extending young guys. Just remember what Tom -- the voice of ownership -- told you: there's more to like about going to Fenway Park than just the Red Sox' won-loss record.

Petition the lord with prayer.

Instead of overpaying for one or two players who can actually pitch, the Red Sox' big offseason recruit is someone retired from the mound: Andrew Bailey, pitching psychologist, who will elevate holdovers to overcome their jeers and become good enough to soon sign market rate contracts with other clubs. This is the plan the front office expects will prod the club back into competitiveness. Longtime fans should think twice about giving up their season tickets.

At Winter Weekend, Tom Werner and others reminisced how Fenway rocked when the Sox whupped the Yankees in the 2021 Wild Card game. It was a reminder of how intense the fanbase can get again -- and it all it takes is a winner. That '21 postseason isn't even three years old now, and here's who's left on Boston's roster -- position players: Devers; pitching staff: Pivetta, Whitlock, Houck. Dalbec is still around, but not exactly a lock to break camp. In three rounds in '21, he hit .000 (oh-for-12). Duran and Wong saw some playing time in that regular season. That's it. The point is, Tom, that it's a lot easier for a fanbase to root for a club with continuity, for familiarity, for regulars. Constantly replacing players with replacement players only sustains suckitude disguised as mediocrity. Show us some plan, any plan, to keep a core. Lock up Casas and Bello longterm, so Sam Kennedy can finally be truthful about something by signing someone for big money. If you pay them soon, it won't have to be so big that you keep misreading the realities of the market... like you did with Mookie year-after-year until he was gone.

Tom the owner said with better defense, they would've won 8 or 9 more last year and made the playoffs. And look how much the D has improved since then...

He literally is. 1st MLB team: Atlanta; 2nd MLB team: Boston. Grissom has been described by coaches who like him as having the potential of becoming a big league regular. But right now he has a lot to prove -- which can or could be said for almost all of the acquisitions of the BresBloom Era... so far.

True, but for the current roster of the '24 Red Sox, things may have to break right for this team to win AT ALL.

Who is criticizing Grissom? When the Red Sox acquired him, all reports were that he could hit in the majors, but he was not the answer at shortstop in Atlanta. The Red Sox didn't acquire him to play SS, but had a hole at second base, and immediately anointed him this year's starter. His winter league manager, who played him in the outfield per orders from the Braves, said he needed to improve on defense. Hopefully, Grissom improves 2B for Boston, and is better than Arroyo, Urias, Valdez, Reyes, Kike, Turner, Dalbec, Chang, Hamilton, Rafaela and Wong -- who all played second in '23.

The best team gave him an opportunity to be their full-time shortstop. Now one of the worst teams is giving him a shot at a different position.

Taken out of context: 1. Acquire -- Breslow's department... continue scouring Bloomingdale bargain basement bins 3. Develop internally -- Bailey's department... spin gold out of mold 2. Draft -- the other 400 front office employees' dept... scout/select/sign prospects, then oversee their progress, and hope some make the majors five years from now (this isn't conscription, where boys go to boot camp for three months and are thrown on the front lines). WAIT TIL 2029!

Of all the blab we've heard and read coming from Winter Weekend, one conclusion keeps creeping: the 2024 Red Sox really aren't in a rebuild. Maybe next year or 2026... right now, Boston is in Make-Do Mode. A true rebuild involves demolition and an infusion of new materials. Sox said goodbye to Sale and Verdugo (and let other oldsters exit), but only replaced them with Giolito and O'Neill -- reuse/recycle is not a rebuild. Grissom is billed as the new addition, but even he's a second-chance man in a way, at a new position... a stone patio beyond the deck, which still needs to be enclosed to become a sunroom. The other new recruits are bullpen pieces Campbell and Slaten. The true rebuilder besides Breslow appears to be Bailey, the baseball version of the Bar Rescue guy. The '24 Red Sox -- just trying to stay in business.

All of baseball suffered The Strike of 1981, but when they played, the Sox were still fun to watch, with plenty of star power: Yaz still kicking, Rice and Evans in their primes, Tony Perez had joined, Remy hit .307, and Carney Lansford won the batting crown at .336. Gedman hit .288 and finished second in Rookie of the Year as Fisk's replacement. The next year they won 89 games. Boggs came up and hit .349. Three guys in the bullpen won 33 games, and a lot of young starters began taking turns in the rotation. Clemens arrived in '84. Because of this next wave of hardball heroes, going to Fenway -- that old classic piece of artwork -- was more than just squeezing into uncomfortable seats, peering around a pole to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa for three hours. Plus, I'm guessing a lot of the old-timers ready to tune-out in 2024 were a lot more supple, 40 years ago...

I've always been about spending for top end talent -- instead of trading prospect capital. But historically, the Red Sox have done better more often dealing for star pitchers that were about to become too expensive for other clubs: Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, Sale were all top-of-the-rotation starters on teams that won rings. They were all better acquisitions than contemporary big-money free agents like Price and Lackey. For some reason, this Boston tradition goes back to the advent of free agency: Eckersly was a good trade, Mike Torrez a not-so-good signing (except for Bucky Dent). For decades, trading for a Corbin Burnes seemed like the logical move for the Red Sox... before the monster of Scott Boras was created.