5GoldGlovesOF,75

Damn, beat me to it.

He'll be ok. Boras will hire him to run a beauty parlor to spruce up prospective free agents. They'll call it Triston Casas In.

Once a Breslow boy? I still can't get over Mookie's comp, Wally Berger... sounds like something Chevy Chase ordered for lunch on a Lampoon vacation.

MOST SIMILAR BATTERS from BB-Ref Similarity Scores: Tris Casas: Frank Schwindel; through age 23: Bill White Raffy Devers: Alex Bregman; through age 26: Eric Chavez Jarren Duran: Jeff Abbott; through age 26: Hal McRae Trevor Story: Corey Seager; through age 30: Marcus Semien Masa Yoshida: (MLB) Angel Echevarria; through age 29: Garrett Cooper, Hideki Matsui Carl Yaz: Dave Winfield David Ortiz: Frank Thomas Manny Ramirez: Frank Thomas Dustin Pedroia: Howie Kendrick Kevin Youkilis: Trot Nixon Wade Boggs: Rod Carew Dwight Evans: Luis Gonzalez Jim Rice: Orlando Cepeda Fred Lynn: Reggie Smith Carlton Fisk: Johnny Bench Xander Bogaerts: Rich Aurilia... Mookie Betts: Wally Berger?

you gar, ghoul!

I didn't go to Yale, but isn't this next season the f***ing future?

I know it's all about the laundry, but bright yellow hurts my eyes. The cool blue is more soothing -- should reverse for jerseys, with yellow letters (like the caps).

Yellow jerseys.

My take is based on the public reactions of virtually all of those who were involved. None of them, except Lying Luhnow, were in denial or pleading for their lives with profuse apologies. Maybe they didn't think what they did was right, but many teams were doing it -- which doesn't excuse wrong-doing, but also makes it easier to shrug shoulders. Remember, a few players on other clubs only showed outrage after the story broke... two years later. Manfred had to make a display of authority because two reporters collaborated on the scoop, and the scandal went viral. But let's not pretend baseball wasn't aware of the issue beforehand -- not when several organizations had departments specifically assigned to aspects of video resources. The Astros did it better because they won, and that wasn't fair.

Neither one of us meant to state our opinions as facts. I should have said, it's the the most overblown scandal in my history of baseball. And not just because at least half the teams in the bigs were documented to be involved in similar schemes (except the Yankees, since Manfred banned the public from seeing the evidence against them). There's Pete Rose betting on his team to win and lose. Then almost everybody and his brother sticking sports ball inflation needles in their butts to puff up and break all mlb records that others set on caffeine, nicotine and gansetts. And finally, sign-stealing. Only one has been an accepted part of the game since its invention... in a sport where "stealing" a base is an offensive strategy, and players and coaches are allowed to create, and try to crack, secret codes. And heaven forbid anyone use modern technology, like in 1951 when telescope and electric buzzer conspired on the most famous home run of all time at the Polo Grounds and "the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant!" At least we now have specially-approved transmitters and receivers so batteries can now plot in privacy. You can be sure no club will ever try to get an edge in the future and hire Sheldon and Raj to intercept such signals.

Unfortunately, I'm not amazed by people who read or hear a report from someone in authority like Rob Manfred, and forever after accept his words as fact, when there are literally many voices from the organization in question that have since pointed to offices above field management to expose the true "masterminds" of the most overblown scandal in the history of baseball. Did the coaches and manager use the resources passed down to them from the front office? Absolutely -- and only they paid the consequences of the wrong-doing. The players who truly benefitted got to keep their jobs, their rings, and all the riches that continue to come their way. And Landis probably wouldn't have suspended anyone for sign-stealing, which has always been an accepted part of the game since it was invented. He was more concerned with how the integrity of the game was affected by gamblers, and players trying to lose on purpose.

And for letting fans of the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Dodgers and Mets take over Fenway Park. This is the only antisocial media I frequent, so someone let me know if the Red Sox front office has celebrated selling blocks of tickets every weekend to fans who cheer for the other side... or if Henry and Werner are heroes with the Chamber of Commerce for boosting the tourism economy in the city.

Since Breslow named the big three as guys he's counting on soon, Mayer looks like a keeper. Hearing him in interviews at Fenway's prospect party this week, Mayer's poise already makes him a team leader type... it's evident the way he comports himself that he's been talking the talk and backing it up for a long time in his short life.

But Bloom sure did make some bad moves by not making moves. Ya, ya, it was easy for posters to suggest dozens of guys he didn't or wouldn't sign, or didn't deal for or dump at the deadlines -- and none of us have been hired by the Red Sox since. But none of us has been fired by the Red Sox for not making those moves, either...

What position is Cespedes playing and where does he project once he makes the majors?

You mean the owner of the club who -- after Manfred's scapegoats were suspended -- actually promoted some of the front office execs who devised the sign-stealing system?

You can't hide your lyin' eyes And your smile is a thin disguise I thought by now you'd realize There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes

How blessed we are that there is one poster who knows with certainty that only Houston's manager and owner played no part whatsoever in implementing a system devised by their own analytics department that helped the Astros' players. If only Hinch had more fortitude, and Crane had better hearing (the drumming could be heard on game videos all over the internet), and Luhnow hadn't GMed a front office that presented the scheme he eventually lied about, before throwing the entire organization under the team bus.

Employees of the Astros' analytics department acknowledged they invented the video sign-stealing system before Cora was hired by Houston. Cora admitted he helped implement it, along with the baseball players who confessed to actually using the system to enhance their performances. After pointing their fingers at management, none of the Astros were even banned from one single at bat. If Landis was still commish, they'd be making a new movie about it called "Fifty Men Out."

So Theo actually honored the name Moneyball, while the A's and Rays were No-Pays.

Sounds like he's still shoveling it, even when trying to edit himself: "if I was going to say it again, I would say that we’re going to be pressing all levers"... Shouldn't Tom push or pull a lever? Then press a button? Someone that into TV who sets himself up for a Sheldon loses credibility.

And yet, Cora's shoulder blades were the roadmap of immunity for all the Astros' players and their daggers...

Breslow and Bailey are here to teach pitchers, fix the pitching staff, and change the system. B&B... Bread and Breakfast... or with disrespect to recent comments: No-Bread and Makefast. N&M. With their expertise -- and we'd better accept that this could represent this offseason's big change -- who are the big leaguers they can help improve in 2024? They paid big bucks to show they could turn Giolito around. And certainly, the younger guys like Whitlock, Houck and Crawford would be candidates for some prime tinkering. It's not hard to see all of them become different pitchers after buying into new throwing programs brought on by fresh, new voices with track records of success. Whitlock and Houck are more than a year out from structural procedures, presumably healthy and physically ready to let it fly. Pivetta is another who could benefit. He already showed he is willing to apply lessons learned from Chris Martin, who learned from Ohtani. Which leaves us with Bello. The pupil of Pedro took steps forward last season, but his stuff still seems like it could dominant even more -- at least on a consistent basis. Brez and Bailes are the new mound gurus. N&M. Please stand up, please stand up.

Can the Red Sox just raise ticket prices again?

... he may have believed that then, but the guy is certainly being honest with us today