5GoldGlovesOF,75

They were in 2018. Why don't you ask Sam Kennedy when they'll be "all in" again? Maybe by then, Cordero, Renfroe and Duran will have improved their skills and honed their tools. All five of them have serious holes in their games right now.

Management has basically said they're not all in, and can't/won't spend big or longterm right now. There is a definite chance that none of the outfielders will be part of any core of contenders -- when/if they're good enough to contend again (especially if Bloom trades Verdugo, whose youth, potential and years of control make him without a doubt one of the most attractive chips).

If I'm the Sox picking #4 -- assuming the two Vandy aces are off the board -- I'm leaning towards Jud Fabian from U of Florida. Fabian is hitting home runs and robbing home runs in Division I... further along in development and closer to the majors than maybe a high school shortstop, which may be attractive to a rebuilding team in need of top outfield talent.

I'd like to see him lose the leg kick and shorten his swing. A lead-off type hitter with his speed needs to be on base as much as possible. Duran's approach right now looks like either he or the org envisions him as a future middle-of-the-order bat.

Cordero showed his power/speed potential: just missed the sweet spot and still lofted one off the right-center wall... Margot lost it in the sun and Cordero jogged into third with a triple, then jogged home on a Chavis sac fly to left.

Early observations from a televised game: Jeter Downs made a great play from deep in the shortstop hole, gunning a perfect throw from a pop-up sitting position (though runner beat it)... maybe he sticks at short? Cordero plays left field on the warning track! Anything over his head is gone, and anything in front of him is probably falling in... maybe he sticks as a DH?

I just read this on a Yankees forum: Whitlock just got turned on for having a live arm.

How could you possibly say that about us -- the fans and posters who tell everyone we're smarter than the media (and do it on anti-social media) -- on the internet, no less! Too much/under the bus; I want it, I want it, I can't... have it!

Moe, Shemp and Jerome "Curly" Howard; Larry was not a brother, but a Fine fiddler.

Right, and Eovaldi was our ace last summer. We've now got both our top winners returning from '19 and '20!

ERod wasn't known as durable even before the pandemic. Recurring knee injuries at a young age don't bode well for pro athletes. ... or humans, in general.

Boras just got McCullers five years for $85 mil, around the same $17 mil per that Nate got, except one more year. This only reinforces what may be the going rate for a pitcher who may be in demand. McCullers also has an injury history and only one All-Star year. He would've been the youngest good starter of next year's free agency crop, so Boras may know something about the market and next CBA...

Five years for $145 million? ERod had one great year when he finished sixth in Cy Young voting. Sale finished in the top six in seven straight seasons... ERod would have to have to win the Cy and probably the AL MVP to get a Sale offer... and there is no evidence that would come from the current Red Sox Chief Officer. Like I posted yesterday, a good season and a good three-year offer are more likely in Boston... and that would be the first three-year offer or extension we would have heard about for current Sox players.

I think the uncertainty about longterm Covid effects are different from wear-and-tear arm injuries. The training and treatment of modern athletes is ever-evolving, but just look at how many times science and medicine has changed what is "known" about this virus in the past year.

I was all in on signing both Sale and Eovaldi, but also admit I wondered if less than 100% health was a reason why Sale would take a slight team "discount" (less than a Scherzer contract). I also hoped the latter was instead a show of loyalty to the franchise, like with Bogaerts. Silly Sox fan that I yam. I'm hoping for the best from ERod: his full recovery from the scourge of the planet, a great year on the mound, and a longterm offer from Bloom. Questions: which of these three scenarios is the most likely and which is most unlikely? Are they all directly related? If ERod just feels ok and has just an ok season, will the Sox try a lowball offer?

Sox play O's 6 of the first 9 that count. It would be nice if we could win 4 of the 6 (with Tampa in between).

I'm still crooked: any concerns prior to Sale's extension were about his shoulder... and then he goes and misses over a year for an operation on his elbow? I don't play a doctor on the internet, but personal concerns the past year have been atrophy and apathy from inactivity, and failing vision from staring at screens. Now I'm going to go pull a muscle in my brain.

Dynasty?

The caution on Sale was late-season burn-out -- remember Bauer predicting Sale would fade from one of the Cy Young races? So it made sense for the Sox to pace their use of Sale, or reign him in as Autumn approached. We know he was on the DL in the regular season in '18, but neither he nor the Sox were ever going to admit he wasn't 100% in the postseason. A few observations about that final euphoric inning of World Series closing vs. LA: after witnessing the return of total Sale dominance, even for one inning, it was easy to assume/hope he was all the way back... then again, maybe Cora and the Sox knew that a hurt Sale didn't have much left to give and kept him in reserve for one final frame to let it all hang out (with all winter to rest). And what was the real reason the pitching staff gave Sale a standing ovation as he exited the bullpen to finish off the Dodgers? Was he the hero of his teammates because he was a great pitcher or because they knew he may be risking his career with a shredded elbow for their championship rings? Or were they just afraid of him because he swore at all the regulars the night before?

"Had we signed Bauer... we'd be no better off than we are, now." Maybe not "now", but we'd be better going forward -- and I'm not a Bauer guy. But having an ace to lead a staff, even a rebuilding staff, is invaluable. Despite all the vaunted pitching potential on the Yankees, would any of their fans honestly think that they were going to finally win another World Series if they didn't have Cole? Sure, there are rare examples like the '15 Royals, but not on Red Sox teams that won anything in the past half-century. The Impossible Dream had Lonborg, the 70s had Tiant, the 80s had Clemens and Hurst... then came Pedro and Schilling, Beckett and Lester, Sale... I never considered Lackey or Price aces in Boston -- maybe Porcello was in his Cy Young year -- though I thought Eovaldi had the stuff to be one. We're all hoping for the best for ERod, but who knows if he's even here by the time the Sox contend again.

It would be cool if it was Whitlock. This feels like we back listening to Bangladesh: "Awaiting on You All"...

Totally agree; right field is harder to play in Fenway. Most here expected Boston to sign a cheap glove-first centerfielder this winter, as there were many available. The Sox must really like the potential of Duran and/or Cordero...

No one is pretending the Sox still wouldn't have a high payroll just with names they owe money to from pre-Bloom... just as no one is pretending that the next three-year contract inked by a new player or an extended core guy will be Bloom's first. And good point about assembling a roster of pre-arb MLBers -- it's been working for Moneyball teams for a long time.

We all know this 2021 payroll is tied up with a lot of dead money of players no longer here or currently unavailable... and that "owing" isn't quite the same as "spending". But such limitations are probably the reason the Sox opted for -- and these are just examples that don't necessarily correlate -- Richards over Odorizzi, Renfroe over Rosario, Marwin over Semien, Ottavino (really German) over Hand, etc, etc. I'm not a pessimist, but you'd have to be quite an optimist to think nothing has changed in the way this franchise is doing business going forward... not when we haven't heard one peep out of the principal owner in over a year.

Surprise contenders often seem to "discover" a young pitcher by mid-season who becomes a major contributor and infuses hope. Who will be that guy in Boston? Can we even identify a candidate on the farm -- especially, now that Mata is out? Can the Sox not draft Rocker or Leiter #4 if either is still on the board in July? We know how low the odds are for using first-round picks on pitchers, but opportunities are rare for adding mound talent with legitimate high-upside to a system. By all accounts the Vandy pitchers are exceptional; it's not like media outlets were drooling over who would get Trey Ball a decade ago. Tampa has the Number One ranked farm right now, and a lot is based on arms; it's also a caution against predicting the Sox to win more than the Rays (even without Snell).