5GoldGlovesOF,75

The C-22 movie revolved around the Big Guy's planned and celebrated bye-bye -- and I think the big pivot initiated when the boys recruited a distaff member of the staff to exploit his life of the party... or was that MASH (I'm stuck on the shower scene).

Catch 22 was a military book and movie, but I liked the film version of MASH better... speaking of Song and the latter, the TV show's theme was Suicide is Painless, which was really the main idea of Catch 22 -- it's all very circular, so maybe Noah winds up back in Boston -- though probably not in a Red Sox uni, but Navy whites.

Letting Ellsbury go (to the Spanks) worked out, because they knew Jackie Bradley could actually throw, and already took better routes in college.

... mainly for his connection to Cora -- and he is both younger and better at shortstop than Bogey. Plus, Correa crushes it at Fenway (the games I attended). Recently, I predicted a Carlos signing in Boston would mean that neither X nor Raffy would be extended... I was thinking Correa would lead the new wave, and be a team player willing to shift around the infield when core prospects are promoted. But today I've changed my tune. Now the only way to save this offseason -- for the freaking fans -- is to extend Devers and sign Correa, and then ink either Rodon, Senga or Eovaldi, and either Wacha or Kluber. People will be ok with Correa and Yoshida replacing Bogaerts and JD... and because of our better bullpen, that's a better team.

It's really hard for me to call Bloom or O'Halloran good right now, because even if Henry was calling the shots, they were complicit in the idiotic way this entire Bogaerts fiasco transpired, beginning with the one-year offer to the most powerful agent in pro sports. And again, just judging them by their words and actions this fall and winter, they are either incompetent or liars... or incompetent liars.

Honestly, I don't see any other option. I don't relish the cliffs and valleys that come with albatross contracts, but it's part of the game... if you want to play the game. That's the real Moneyball in the 2020s.

He said Henry should get on TV and apologize to the fans. There's really no way out of this now unless they spend and spend big. Cutting corners and picking up a placeholder or two, signing a few more #3 starters, even trading a decent prospect -- all those options that made sense and still could've kept the Sox in wild card contention -- that's over now. Imagine the reaction if Bloom trades Devers for someone's #10 prospect and then picks up mediocrities to replace Raffy and Bogey now?

Just blow past the tax, like the billionaires on other teams are doing. It's their money, so who f***ing cares. If you can afford an estate in Tuscany for more than you just paid the Japanese Juan Soto, then you can afford to put happy faces in your laundry and your box seats.

The beat writers who cover the Red Sox daily have been noticeably bitter because they were so misled the day before by Boston execs that Bogey was going to re-sign. They all posted rosy reports, then after midnight the CBO was off the rose. It's not just fans that are pissed. And though we're all human and have bad days, it's one thing to make mistakes -- but nobody wants to be lied to. Ever. Not by a friend, spouse, president or ballclub. Just tell us the truth -- we can handle it.

No will challenge the Red Sox as long as Madman Sale is around. They'd be afraid he'd scissor their shirts, ram them with his bike, and king kong them with big screen TVs.

Even Xander said in SD the Red Sox could sign Raffy if they want to... And I disagree that signing Correa wouldn't be a good step for the future. Star players in their prime form the core that teams build sustained contenders around. You don't build around mediocre bargain bin guys -- they're the scaffolding you take down, once the renovations are complete.

Trading Devers doesn't make sense, because no one will give up anything good for him unless they legitimately think they can sign him; that narrows it down to a small handful of clubs that like spending. Even then, the return for one year of Raffy won't be anything special -- for example, one-for-one trade proposals on BTV in swaps for Sean Murphy or Brian Reynolds don't even come close to being acceptable. What a debacle for the front office. New England is really pissed, and ownership knows it needs to just pay Devers -- but we don't know if he'll even sign now, for any price after the past week of free agent riches. If he won't, the best remaining option has to be to pay Correa -- the middle-of-the-order righty power bat and Platinum Glove defender in his prime that won't cost any draft picks. Swanson as a consolation prize won't cut it: good player, but older than Carlos with only 14.5 career WAR. Correa is the star, with 39.5 career WAR and 18 postseason home runs. He's also the best fit for Fenway and with Cora.

Devers' agents will open at 14 years for $490M -- that's $35M AAV -- with the intent of settling for $30M AAV. And since he's younger than Xander, he'll want more years, so 13 for 390 is not out of the question... ... if he stays healthy and has a 90 XBH salary-drive season, someone out West will pay him.

The Yankees will give Soto $600M for 15 years that will take him through age 40, when an incentive clause for living that long automatically anoints him mayor of the Bronx, with an opt out during the Pinstripe Pandemic of 2050 -- the same year he'll run for the House of Dracula, using his fortune to produce ads exposing the bipolarity of his opponent, Old Man Walker from Texas, who morphs from a bull to a werewolf, depending on when the moon is full or made of green cheese.

It's just hard to imagine JH last spring, sitting on his yacht, thinking, "Screw Boras -- offer X one more year" ... ... and the front office agreeing, when everyone had to know the ramifications. It would be as unbelievable as a president refusing to use the national guard to protect the government during a calamity, and everyone in the Pentagon nodding their heads.

If Story shifts to SS -- presumed since the Sox explored trading for Kolten Wong -- then I'm in on Jean Segura for second base: career .285 BA, .739 OPS, 13.9% K-rate... 32 years old, but never a negative dWAR... righty stick, 13 HRs per 162. Segura is younger than Elvis, and lets Kike stay in CF.

Ok, but no one can ignore the Devers in the room. What do you forsee as a solution? His situation needs to be clear one way or the other by Opening Day or he's a lame Raffy.

Bloom wouldn't survive in the stands surrounded by fans. On second thought, the crowd won't be big enough anymore to hurt him, and they can't afford enough overpriced beer or franks to do damage.

The Red Sox offered one year to a client of Scott Boras, the most powerful super agent in the industry. One year! Then they said signing that player was their Number One Priority. Such hypocritical failure is so disgusting that someone should be fired for either mere incompetence or just for the PR hit of utterly lying to the public. No company in any business would stand for this crap (none I'm allowed to mention on this board, anyway).

Trade Braiser to Washington for Thad Ward.

I really can't see a viable solution to the Devers dilemma. They can't possibly pay him $400 million, and they can't possibly trade him or literally all of New England will abandon ship. And no one wants to watch the slow, miserable departure of Raffy's last season in Boston... no one in the dugout, in the clubhouse, in the press box, in the stands, or in the recliners in their living rooms.

I know, how pre-2020 of me. My unease from the very beginning of Bloom -- and the total about-face of the now faceless ownership -- has manifested into Mookie and Xander in California. Next is Raffy -- because extending him at market value will be like admitting they f***ing blew it with their other fan favorites. And big egos don't ever admit they're wrong. I never thought, like a lot of others on here, that Henry and Co. would eventually start spending big again on star players, just because they did in the past. And if Raffy does get traded, there are no backs left to turn while turning back on fandom. Don't be surprised if the Red Sox are up for sale within a year.

Agreed. If a big move doesn't happen soon, the clamor only gets louder. Which is the more likely splash: Correa or Rodon? Swanson won't polarize like Correa -- who comes with no QO, but will cost between Judge and Turner bucks. However, paying someone else for more than Bogey got will just elicit more WTFs... Senga also doesn't have a QO, but can another splash that's never played an MLB inning be trusted by the already distrustful Red Sox Nation masses? Trading a legit prospect doesn't make sense for a rebuilding doormat; doesn't any splash almost have to come from the checkbook?

The Sox are going nowhere without an ace starter and zero run production from the now missing heart of the order. There are no bounce-back candidates who will suddenly find out how to hit .300 with 30 homers again. Devers is the only one, if he's not traded. If Bloom for some out-of-character reason (ownership) suddenly signs Rodon and Correa, trades for Murphy or Reynolds and extends Devers, then Kike's club will be better... because, after all, they finally have a bullpen.

I'm ok with moving Kike to short if Rafaela makes the team. Verdugo is brutal in center, and reports are Yoshida isn't a great outfielder, either. But every eval of Rafaela is that he's a big league defender right now. His quick-twitch bat might not be ready yet for a steady diet of MLB sliders, but the Red Sox need some quality defense as they attempt to return to respectability. Posters can snort about bringing up not-ready-for-primetimers, but fans of the Dead Sox can really use some youthful exuberance -- not the kind that stand there and watch inside-the-park homers. Plus, Rafaela can run, and baserunning will be a big weapon with the new rules -- especially for teams that can't hit.