5GoldGlovesOF,75

If I'm positive PEACE does that make me a negative WAR?

Sox may be waiting instead of having to overpay early to entice players to join a last-place team. Morton reportedly signed with the Braves to stay close to his home in Florida, but for a veteran looking for a chance to win, there's no comparison between Atlanta and Boston.

Sounds kinda Rusney to me...

Then again, smoke and mirrors can kill you... it did in a few pitchers in the 1980s at least.

Changing my choice: the 2nd baseman will be Bogaerts... after the Sox trade for Francisco Lindor. If the argument against that idea is that shortstop is not an area of need, here's the counter: on a last place team, really good players are an area of need. This is the splash to put this franchise back in the spotlight. Boston needs pitching, and free agent pitchers certainly consider a team's defense and a club's chances at winning when mulling offers. The Sox need better players in a lot of places to contend, and adding a new face of the franchise will show peers and fans alike they're serious (plus, keep a guy like Lindor from joining rivals). Lindor will thrive under Cora, the Sox will extend him with some of the Mookie money (7 for 210), and invest the remaining hundred mil on starting pitchers and relievers... They can still afford a platoon centerfielder like Marisnick, and re-sign Moreland to share first with Chavis, while awaiting the debuts of Duran/Jimenez and Casas. Cleveland reportedly wants a Betts-like return for Lindor, so the first to go in the deal would be Downs, and next would be Dalbec. The trade simulator approved this swap... but only after the Tribe also kicked in Carlos Carrasco, also rumored to be on the block. The block between Lansdowne Street and Renamed Street would welcome him, too.

Merrifield can hit, run, play the infield and outfield -- the kind of multi-purpose guy Bloom covets -- except that Whit is a proven MLB starting position player and top of the order man... something Chavis, Munoz and Arauz are not (yet), and Peraza and Lin were not (in Boston). But the real reason to trade with KC is to pry pitching out of their young stable. The Sox position prospects may appeal to a (nother) rebuilding team.

Whit Merrifield. KC is my new trade partner. Dalbec, Downs and Duran for Merrifield and Brad Keller. Bloom will ask for Brady Singer, but settle on Keller, the Royals' ace and already a three-year starting pitcher at age 24. Gotta give up something to get something... ps. trade simulator accepts this proposal as fair

Type in three more pitchings and I'm in.

That does it, I'm changing my name to 5Goldbergs, where those boys are always Beastie.

KC's MVP was their bullpen; many have tried to duplicate their success, few haven't failed (thankfully). At least the 1990 Beastie Boys had Jose Blame-it-on Rijo...

... and that's why Orlando Cabrera traded her.

He swung a 40-ounce bat and once used it to hit two inside-the-park homers in one game. Those facts are hard to fathom for few ballplayers, much less human beings (and even ballplayers who are much less than human beings).

I mostly agree, but the old school thinking that pitching is 75% of the game hasn't really changed (though the way MLB teams now use pitchers, and how they pitch, is why the games are 75% longer). When Ryan threw no-hitters for last place clubs, it didn't matter how bad the team was around him. There are also guys who could win both 1-0 shutouts and then pitch to contact to win slugfests (when they intentionally rely on their defense to defend, rather than strain their own arms). Do contenders need "winning" pitchers to contend and win? It's unlikely that a 90-win team could parlay, say, a staff of 30 different 3-game winners. But here are my favorite W-L stats in history... presenting the 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks (regular season and postseason records combined): Schilling and Johnson combined: 52-13 All others on the club combined: 51-63

That's why I conceded stats can be misleading. I'd also argue the reverse; that winning teams are often the reflection of their best starting pitchers. I've said in the past, anyone who plays long enough knows a pitcher or two with a seeming knack for being able to "nail down a win" in ways better than others with similar talent. Now, whether that's just a matter of harnessing stuff, finding the zone or painting the black, I'm sure there are graphs and charts in some analytics department to rank such virtues. Some clubs nowadays won't let a starter go the required five to even get a W... though that qualification is in serious need of revamping in this day of openers and bulky roles. But I do remember a few times Francona yanking a distracted Buchholz with a big lead in the 5th; I assumed Tito was punishing Buch for punishing the team with his lack of focus.

Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.

The pen's at least a four-way street. Don't let it bring you down; it's only castles burning...

A lot of people valued Eovaldi; I don't think the argument was whether he was that good, just whether his contract was. But a year later Wheeler's deal at $20M per instantly transformed Eovaldi's $17M per from risky overpay to fair-market going-rate for a good MLB starting pitcher. The real prize free agent pitcher from two years ago turned out to be Charlie Morton, who Nate outpitched in the '18 ALCS. The Gausman QO -- in an extremely depressed market -- is the head-scratcher. Stats can be misleading, but it's at least notable that in Gausman's eight-year career on four different teams that he has never once had a winning season.

I think we'll find in the next year or so that a lot of MLB players whose stats nosedived in 2020 will bounce back once some kind of normalcy returns to the universe. Some won't, of course, and it will be fascinating to see exactly which prescient GMs/Chief Baseball Officers discern the aberrations and anomalies in order to recruit the right players to revive teams.

Arizona grass, the kind in the outfields, is crunchy. The hot sun bakes it to a texture that gives a diving defender rug burns similar to Astroturf. Of course, these are my subjective realities, from playing tournaments in Cactus League parks there last century (though temps back then were in the high-nineties, not the hundred-and-teens).

I'm ok with it, as long as they sign relievers to use for the middle to end of games...

JoJo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, Bought some California grass (Paul wrote it before legalization in AZ?)

If the Sox sign Springer, that means Cora has forgiven him (and maybe even some of his teammates) for making AC the scapegoat in exchange for immunity. If the manager has gotten past it and welcomes George, then fans will, too. It will be the same if Boston signs Marisnick or someday a guy like Correa.

Now I can't get that lyric out of my head: Excuse me, while I eat these fries...

Fair point. The market has changed, even since then. It makes me doubt guys with opt outs like JD and X will ever use them -- who will pay them more than $20 million per year? All those great shortstops becoming free agents next year all at once will drive their own markets down. I'll bet one or two who get traded will sign extensions with their new clubs, like Mookie did (but not for Mookie money). When the Reserve Clause was overturned in the 70s, genius player rep Marvin Miller insisted that clubs still retain five or six years of control, so free agents would emerge each year and not flood the market all at once... supply and demand.

Agreed, if they start 157 games like the '04 rotation: Schilling Martinez Wakefield Lowe Arroyo