5GoldGlovesOF,75

Red Sox fans are still misinterpreting this. When building a roster, money will not be a factor.

At Last Call, Chaim grabbed a half-finished beer from someone else's vacated table... Henry hired him on the spot.

... and not one employee of the other 28 franchises ever omitted data from their taxes nor drove over 55 mph. One guy did confess to doing a double-take at a crosswalk once -- but only after she turned out to be a co-worker of his wife's friend.

Moncada was once Baseball America's Number One prospect -- and he was traded for a skinny southpaw, who was also extended (soooooo extended he snapped the tendons and ligaments in his shoulder, his elbow, and the patience of Red Sox Nation).

But no freaking trumpets! Where is your sense of joy and jubiliation... Scherzer and Verlander tried to start a booktalk club, and all the younger players thought they meant to compare gambling sites and parlay odds.

His character from Moneyball was always lurking. Maybe Bloom copiously studied the book and movie before his interview and totally told him what he wanted to hear. "That's it -- no more interviews! (I'm tired...) "

... but it almost never does. The Mets spend kajillions, but everyone kinda knew they were cooked even before the season when Diaz blew out his knee in the WBC.

'23 AL averages per 600 PA: 19 HR 69 RBI .247 BA .317 OBP/.411 Slug/.728 OPS Without pro-rating every guy on the roster (the Sox had three with 600 PA), there were four with at least 19 HRs, three with 69 RBI, but seven who hit .247 or better, and got on base and had a higher-than-average OPS... the skillfull seven: Casas, Devers, Duvall, Duran, Turner, Yoshida, Verdugo. The first five had at least .800 OPS, including three who qualified: Casas, Devers and Turner. The first two guys can certainly improve, and hopefully, so can Masa. JT is probably a goner, and may not be replaced from outside the org -- if the bulk of spending is appropriately on pitching. Moon asked if a few new studs at the top of the rotation, added to most of the returning roster, is enough to win. Depends on... winning what? Another handful of games to nab a wild card? Maybe... depending on the progress of younger players. Improving the pitching of a last-place loser more than likely makes them an average team. Enough to win it all? Very doubtful, unless you're assuming Martin and Jansen at a year closer to 40 will not regress nor get injured, and automatically repeat their '23 successes.

Let it be known, in 2023, in the greatest division in the history of never, the only AL East team with a winning record in October was the Boston Red Sox. October 2023 W-L Boston 1-0 Tampa 1-2 New York 0-1 Toronto 0-3 Baltimore 0-4 We're Number None!

The Shamwow guy can't hit or catch, and the angry band shouter always gets picked off base. Wolly Bully is just another DH.

Not doing enough at the deadline had a lot to do with the team only winning 78 by the end of those years... ... on the field, in the dugout, in the bullpen, in the clubhouse. Red Sox W-L '22/23 March-July 107-102 August-Oct: 49-66

Howard Hughes of MLB: designs and flies a twin-engine around the world in his prime... becomes a total recluse later in life.

I don't necessarily agree. The Astros are always favorites precisely because of their title experience. The Rangers are doing it with postseason vets like Eovaldi and Seager, while the Orioles chose to just roll with all inexperienced young guys -- and they paid for it by not paying for it. The Rays and Jays were done in by sloppy D, which almost makes it ok the Sox didn't squeak in and get exposed on the national stage and laughed right off our TVs.

It all depends on whether the "new" direction will actually be new, or just status quo with a different talking head tip-toeing through the tulips. If a new, decisive GM comes in and swaps assets for younger talent -- discernible to even our senile eyeballs -- than my take is the average Red Sox -- so sick of what they've been seeing -- will be on board... ... looking forward to legitimate sustainable improvement.

Nobody's job is safe. It's not like the Sox are loaded with five-tool stars. Who is even a three-tool tool: Verdugo can catch and throw, mostly hit (despite a season-ending slump)... not much speed or power. Story (catch, run, sometimes hit w power)? We got a lotta dual-tools... or is that duel-tools... eating Square Peg pizza sitting on round stools.

I put them on the block because they were both good this season and expiring (contracts, contracts!) after next. Martin was so good, that his value will never be higher (like unreasonable expectations that he'll repeat his near-perfect level). Guys like that can actually fetch something good in trade for a rebuilding GM... ... unlike, say, a lot of other names with baggage being floated on the boards.

I'm the type who knows better than to count on pitchers rehabbing from major injuries or whose 35-or-over age makes them bigger risks to break down more often -- or, more likely, not to repeat levels of success every season they're closer to 40. The worst non-trade Chaim Bloom made wasn't at the '22 deadline, but this past summer when he didn't deal the best deadline chip of his career -- James Paxton, coming off a Pitcher-of-the-Month award, and bound to land back on the IL. So this winter, a new GM look should absolutely look into getting young talent for Jansen and Martin. No positions or areas fluctuate more than relievers and bullpens, and new ones are constantly being converted with live arms, new pitches and new grips.

Be honest -- even if you're an eternal optimist -- pining once again for the once-in-a-franchise 2013 worst-to-first repeating itself -- "if everything goes right." No one is untouchable, because this team needs so much more than just two top starting pitchers. A blockbuster trade that even changes some of what are perceived as "stable" positions would still be a positive move, if it improved the team's overall line-up and chances. Would any fan really miss Martin, Jansen, Wink or Dugo -- or even Raffy's D -- if some new stars came to Boston and led them to the playoffs?

Nobody's perfect, so no player is without flaws, but this is a legitimate question: which Red Sox player, at any position, was all-around solid this year? Let's put it this way: the guys who didn't strike out a million times all had problems catching or throwing the baseball -- or vice versa. And even the best pitchers either couldn't stay healthy or couldn't keep the ball in the park... ... except maybe Chris Martin. One guy, one place = LAST. Blow. It. Up.

... who reigned for four months and drowned my garden, wiping out all squash and melons. But he strategically left the hot peppers, which are lethal on viruses.

He almost read what you just called him, and is about to respond...

Eovaldi was going to take the Red Sox offer, but Mookie's mother made him turn it down.

Just a worn-out bill, crinkly, stuck in a dungaree pocket, sopped from wading into a trout brook to dislodge a rooster tail snagged on an overhanging branch of mountain laurel.

Nathan Eovaldi is just being himself in the postseason. What he continues to accomplish shouldn't surprise any Red Sox fans... just like the label "injury-risk" -- which can be used for every single person who pitches baseballs for a living. But there is a difference between a guy who's oft-injured from someone "on the IL." As in: signing a pitcher and waiting a year-and-a-half for him to rehab, before he can finally play his first game... and then pitch great for a month, before he inevitably lands back "on the IL."

Geez, all Tomase would offer are Mayer, Anthony and Bello... because we'd rather trade our best young pitcher for another outfielder.