5GoldGlovesOF,75

Starting pitching -- it all starts with starters. Doesn't matter if you're a contender looking for a championship boost, or a cellar-dweller beginning a rebuild. Red Sox major mound additions that eventually led to rings (pitchers specifically recruited to fortify playoff rotations): '04 Schilling, '06 Beckett, '10 Lackey, '17 Sale. But most relevant to the 2024 Sox may be the biggest and best acquisition: Pedro Martinez in '98. Boston was coming off a losing season with a 78-84 record -- identical to the '23 Red Sox -- when Dan Duquette swung a trade for the 26-year-old NL Cy Young winner. Pedro instantly catapulted the Sox to 92 wins, back into the playoffs, and changed the culture for decades. Bad teams simply cannot wait until they're somehow good again before investing in really good pitching. A top of the rotation starter changes everything: giving the D confidence, taking the pressure off his O, resting the bullpen, easing stress for management, and from the business standpoint -- exciting the fanbase, sparking a buzz through the media, and making the host city more appealing for future free agents.

They're not apples to oranges, but they are a prehistoric reptilian monster (awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation) to a body by plastic dumbbells.

Well, they already blew one sale. I just went on MLB Team Store to buy a Bearclaw jersey, and they were none on the Red Sox page. But they still have the following for sale: Hernandez #5, Rodriguez #57 and Retired Player #00... imagine a non-baseball fan buying that for someone's birthday, and having to wear it during a game (it would have to be a tv game, from the recliner).

The Sox aren't hard up for making money, they're hard on for not spending it. They have to know if they reduce payroll it will not enlarge bankroll. And it stoned Van Morrison to his soul. Stoned him just like jelly roll...

If other teams are truly inquiring about Yoshida, then keep him. The Red Sox have been so incompetent in so many ways, that it's obvious other clubs are trying to exploit their idiocy before Breslow cleans house. Metrics somewhere must predict improvement for Masa...

I'm still waiting for the Sox to sign Springer to replace Betts, for less than half the money they saved by not extending Mookie...

Except when the rest of the division gets to bat against Red Sox pitchers.

I'm kinda hoping for a Cease trade just so I can watch the forum fireworks when someone points out how .500 the WHITE Sox were, with Cease and Giolito as their #1 and #2, sometimes throwing to Reese McGuire.

Some as in many ones... unless they're waiting until they're good before they spend money on good players.

The ugly heads that have failed in pitching development the past two decades still haunt the Red Sox front office, but new faces in the new regime give us hope. CBO Breslow and pitching coach Bailey specialize in mound rebounds, and they've also brought on board a new director of pitching in Justin Willard, who served a similar role in Minnesota. This is one area where we owe these guys some time to make improvements. But it can't just be targeting and recruiting projects; fans and media have had enough of that approach -- bonafide reliable talent must be added to the MLB rotation to justify customer investment of time and money into this entertainment product.

Rosenthal speculates momentum building towards the White Sox trading Dylan Cease into the AL East... will it be New York or Baltimore? Will it even be worth it for Boston to overpay with top prospects to keep Cease from New York or Baltimore? One big move like that for Breslow would almost necessitate more; otherwise, why sell the future if you're not going for it now? 1. Trade for Cease, 2. sign Montgomery or Imanaga, 3. sign Teoscar or Duvall... ... or keep all the prospects, sign some lower level arms, and just field a full team to sell tickets for '24.

What if... this is also Breslow's way of clearing out some of the more unsavory characters that defined the Bloom Era? Wiping the slate clean, blowing dead leaves into the suck truck, making room for new growth. After Verdugo's issues with Cora last summer, along with his impending free agency, it was clear he had to go. Coincidentally, Dugie was also the centerpiece in the worst trade in Red Sox history... Chaim Bloom's first big move as CBO. Sale was extended by Dombrowski, but there's also no doubt he was a polarizing figure of the entire Bloom Era -- an erstwhile ace holding up team stability month after month, season after season, by his multitude of aches and pains -- which made even every offseason an ughfest for year-round fans trying to anticipate any semblance of a starting rotation. Time to move on.

Enmanuel reportedly took some throws over at first base, before an inning once in Worcester. That's where he got the nickname: Valdez Oil Spill.

I just fell off my stationary bike and broke the big screen TV

He got new Giolito money: 2 for $38M... (... except if Gio has a good year, he'll want old Sale money).

That's why I posted this in the realistic thread. We know they have to sell tickets, but a lot of serious fans at this point could really do without the bullcrap comments from upper management -- from Werner's fool "Throttle" to Sam's "All-In, Absolutely"... even Breslow's "We'll Be Competitive" is deceptive, or at least generic. No more waiting on Bloom to "surround Devers with talent" though... Competitive how, Craig? Not for the top free agents. Not for World Series rings. Maybe to get out of fifth place... at least to field a big league-caliber club that has a chance to win some ballgames?

Alex Speier, the preeminent Red Sox beat writer, just confirmed what we all suspected: ▪ The Sox aren’t treating the 2024 season as the be-all-end-all. (boldfaced heading, just like it was presented in the Boston Globe). In comparison, he offers the Braves, who traded for Sale, and their "playoff-level floor." For Boston, he adds, "Getting to the playoffs would be a coup." Now, in deference to Stats Masterson, he must mean coup definition #2 -- "a notable or successful stroke or move" (and not def. #1, of which any public figure accused of attempting would be appealing appeals as long as possible to stay out of prison). The thing is, most of us rational older posters would be ok with the rebuild -- if Sam Kennedy and company would just. freaking. admit it. SO IF YOU'RE NOT PAYING FOR ANY GOOD PITCHING, WHY EVEN BOTHER TRADING ANY GOOD PROSPECTS FOR IT? Hang on to all your top prospects who will give fans hope and new life (MVP's 2025 line-up actually looked ok, if all the youngsters play well enough to stick). We already know what we're getting with the big league club this year. So let's see what we got on the farm for one more season...

A regular playhorse.

That means Haniger (long coveted by 5Gs) is well-rested for what he's been saving himself for, all these years: the chance to finally show off that Fenway swing all over the AL East ballparks. IN!

Merrill? So many lefty batters... but young Bleis gets the late-season call-up for the postseason (like Bogie in '13), Teel is All-Star game MVP, Anthony Rookie of the Year, Ceddanne Gold Glove, the entire infield wins Silver Sluggers, and Raffy is voted AL MVP. My gummy was lime green.

He already got rid of Llovera once, last year in San Fran... Andrew, discussing his terms to join the Sox as pitching coach: "I don't want to see him again. Make that first thing on your list, understand?" Craig: "Understood."

Paint us a canvas of what it will take to get this Red Sox roster back in the postseason -- with a winning record, even. And while you're at it, drool a few of those Dali clocks on the horizon, to remind the Breslow pokes that time is money. I know, someone is going to say this post is a pipe dream, but that's overbudget. If this was the realistic thread, it would be a gummy dream.

Now MVP has me intrigued moving Raffy to shortstop. Does anybody remember in the days of the shift how he got to really show off his canon deep in the hole? On another note, does anyone remember in the days of the shift Devers ever diving for a ball up the middle and deflecting it away from the real shortstop, who was trying to backtrack from the second base side? Me, neither. Maybe all the assumptions about someday moving Big Puppy to first base would only reflect a waste of talent -- his, not the speculators (our fingers be blogging in with passwords that cannot be confirmed).

In '24, root for 30 games of Wobbly Starts: 6 IP, 4 earned, couple Ks, BBs, 1-2 dingers. As long as he keeps us in the games, the Sox' vaunted offense should win half of those... in their quest for a .500 record... so Sam can point to evidence of improvement... closing in on his annual goal of winning worlds championships.

The obvious get is Franco. Not Wander -- Sox are too budget-conscious to post bail... but Julio! He's only 65, and the only problem is he might be still playing under contract in Asia or Eastern Europe... ... though Julio would be an ideal reclamation project, if Brez could bring him back to the states. Be advised there will be a rehab stint, as he regains land legs running on flat ground, and stretches his arm out aiming rocks at street lamps. Should be ready to return right after the trade deadline -- by which time he'll be better than any other retiree they could deal for.