5GoldGlovesOF,75

And as far as the perceived "sulking" -- what employee of any company wouldn't be grumpy if you knew one winter your agent turned down a $60 million dollar offer, you were being replaced by the wonder boy of the industry, and were being transferred to Chicago. And then to top it all off, the new guy went to New York instead, and your old team that didn't want you had to keep you around after all...

It's all perception, like most of reality. But I saw the game in question on TV, and remember when the NESN camera found him sitting alone on the bench, with every other player around him standing on the top step. No viewers, however, have evidence of whether Tito or the trainer told him to stay down, lest he stub his toe and have to brace himself with his sore wrist. If anyone was really sulking, it was Sox fans, whose hero couldn't or wouldn't play on a day when his counterpart rival was gamely gnawing on a hundred year-old metal armrest in the third row.

I'm going to go out on a limb and do chin-ups until it snaps: he did play in an era where his training regime quite possibly can be blamed for shortening his career. As for your second point -- in contrast with another poster's -- if I ever call him horrible it won't be as a shortstop, but maybe as a teammate. At least, it looked that way toward the end in a fateful Yankee game, when every Red Sox player was standing up cheering except one guy... pouting in a corner on the bench. Unfortunately for Nomar, the day he was sitting out also happened to be the same one when Jeter caught a pop-up, then ran across Kenmore Square and face-whomped onto the chair of a BU co-ed at Starbucks.

Rooster!

Ain't happening. 1. Bloom said at the presser he needed home runs. 2. Valdez is not only his guy, but 3. Bloom traded clubhouse harmony for him... 4. ..and now: long live King Enmanuel, crown jewel of the Mexican Home Run Derby!

Red Sox shortstops Career leaders in dWAR Everett Scott 16.3 Rico Petrocelli 14.4 Rick Burleson 12.4 John Valentin 12.2 Freddy Parent 10.9 Cherry Garciaparra 8.7 I know what you're thinking: would Freddy Parent get arrested if he dated Julia Child? It would've been awkward anyway: she was 6'2, while he stood 5'7.

My bad. I was just looking at one statistic, like some posters often do when they want to refute someone else's opinion. According to dWAR, Nomar was the top defensive infielder in baseball in 2002, like Ozzie Smith in 1989, or Willie Mays, the best at all positions, in 1954.

Fitzy is with the Guidance Counselor right now, asking if he can transfer some credits.

After the win all his teammates wanted to low-five him there, but Altuve waved them all away from that area.

How dare you use the eye test to counter the cold hard metrics I just presented.

Trade Deadline Day, July 31, 2004: Red Sox acquire glove whiz Orlando Cabrera, who hits a combined .293 in regular/postseason, Doug M. -- who catches the last out of the World Series -- and Dave Roberts, who runs faster than Kevin Millar. Oddly, all soon have quirky character issues in Boston...(Roberts' character issue was named Machado).

I don't know about the juice, but here are the five AL guys who played a minimum 900 games at shortstop from 1997-2003: dWAR Nomar 9.6 Vizquel 8.0 ARod 7.6 Tejada 3.5 Jeter -1.5 (that's negative) ... only one of the above is statistically horrible.

I'm already on record predicting Kike at short in '23. I'd even take KK in center. But I really don't want to watch 2,000 strikeouts from the same guy in right and DH for the next decade. What's more likely five years from now if the Sox break the bank for Judge: him smiling down the streets of the Bronx playing "Dirty Water" on his boombox or Yankee fans laughing and pointing at Sox fans stuck with the back end of "the big stiff's contract -- Whoo-HA!"

I'm noting this year only in reference to someone overpaying for his future. The point is no one is giving him the Bonds treatment, even after a record-breaking season. His good D doesn't slump though.

Postseason opponents are pitching to him, and he's struck out 12 times in 24 at bats so far (with only one walk). This is right after Judge had what some scribes call one the greatest regular seasons in AL history. How bad will it get when his bat slows down with age?

All or nothing offenses don't typically go far into October, when really good pitching usually beats really good hitting. Yanks have scored 82% of their playoff runs on homers (18-for-22), just ahead of the Stros' 76% (13-for-17). Who has the better staffs? Houston hasn't even thrown Javier or Urquidy yet, and both are postseason battle-tested... Conversely, the NL finalists are much better balanced offensively: Pads have scored 35% on HRs (14-39), Phils 33% (13-39).

When I said TO Bogey, I meant what does he feel is a fair offer. If Correa gets a penny over $30M, then why would Bogey deserve or take less than $30M? So a fair offer may be 6 at 180 -- that's probably his market value, like it or not... but you know Boras will be insisting on at least 8 or $200M, whichever comes first. Ponder this: say another club offers 5 for 150, and the Sox offer 6 for 160 -- does X stay in Boston?

The biggest question is what is a fair offer TO Bogey? Correa has to factor into the answer, because Boras just advised him to opt out of a contract worth $35M per. Granted, it was only for two more years, so maybe he'll settle for another five or six at the same rate... but you know Boras will be leveraging whatever Correa gets to establish any offers that Bogaerts may consider. It's doubtful Correa opted out to make less than $35M AAV. Carlos is two years younger than Xander, but X just had a better year. Based on that alone, does any poster seriously believe Bogey's market value is less than even $30M? Or that he'll insist to his superagent that he'll settle for less? Who opts out of a contract to be underpaid a second time?

I'll always disagree with this order because I always want my three best hitters guaranteed to bat in the first inning. In a way, it's an uncomplicated extension of the manager who loves a home run hitter batting leadoff: to get a quick lead (plus, they get more at bats than the bottom in the game). I prefer longball guys get more opportunities to go yard with men who are frequently on base. I know, I'm Old Fool, stuck on a line-up strategy that's been around for over a hundred years.

The front office knows all about Boras' methods. They're smart enough to have already been prepared to move on from Bogey since Spring Feigning (their lowball offer). Xander giving another hometown discount and/or telling Boras to get it done before Christmas may actually be Bloom's Plan C or D.

Wha -- you're disagreeing with the analytics?!?! These guys have spreadsheets that will prove to you that it's better to have a leadoff man homer with nobody on base (all game, since the bottom of the order features the worst batters), rather than with a top contact hitter often on base in front of him.

Wait until the last minute? What self-respecting Chief Baseball Officer would accept that strategy? Don't tell me you think there's a GM type guy who may actually use the stalling of his main target's decision as an excuse for not making any other big moves all winter? By the time Bogey finally signs, all the best available starting pitchers, relievers and power hitters may already have new homes... oh.

Some trade candidates whose availability BTV classifies as "medium" in order of "value" (cost for us): Bryan Reynolds -- the most costly, good bat, negative dWAR; Taylor Ward -- classic sell-high guy, coming off career O year for perennial also-ran, another negative dWAR; Tyler O'Neil -- coming off a crappy year after 34 dingers and a .900+ in '21, bats RIGHT, plays LF, valued below Nootbar (St. Louis is going to trade some outfielder); Adolis Garcia -- all-or-nothing Ranger, "high" availability; Jack Suwinski -- another Pirate, all-or-nothing but age 23 and his 19 HRs were more than any Sox except Devers, BL; Mike Yaz -- 31 years old already... or maybe we'd be better off instead with Trent Grisham, who is 25, but also all-or-nothing... though he does have 20 longballs, including 3 in the playoffs so far... Teoscar Hernandez is also on the list with a low value for some reason -- Sox would take a recent two-time Silver Slugger in a second. A lot of big whiffers on this list, but none we'd have to give up top prospects for, except Reynolds.

The Yankee fans I know hate Gallo with a passion and would love to see the Red Sox sign him. I'm guessing those emotions aren't because of his Gold Glove defense.

Ceddane's 2022 season: 63 XBH, .342 OBP. Before anyone goes all Duran on those stats, note that Rafaela is only 21 years old. Excelling at that age in A and AA gives much hope for continued improvements.