5GoldGlovesOF,75

This guy says no: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/did-red-sox-make-similar-offer-mookie-betts-and-he-simply-wanted-out ... but according to his source, Boston is ok with this guy: https://www.espn.com/boston/ Questions for the board: which is worse -- the perception that a team is too cheap to sign it's best player or the perception that a team is undesirable to play for? And to whom are the answers most damaging -- fans or future free agents?

I'll always be a Red Sox fan, but in less than 20 years Mookie's bronze plaque in Cooperstown will be bleeding Dodger blue.

We also hear more music coming from LA. The first three batters in the lineup are classic rockers: Betts, Seager, Turner. That gives the Dodgers the Allman Brothers, Silver Bullet Band, and the Queen of Rock's estranged... What does Tampa have besides a dance song voted the #1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of All-Time: Arozarena!

Before he got there, everything about the Dodgers was whining.

Fans have been saying this since the beginning of time I'd guess... at least since the beginning of my time, I'm sure. The only things that change are the numbers and place values. Commonfolk just can't handle the idea that some young athlete can make so much more money than the rest of us in our own crappy jobs (nothing personal to anyone; that includes whatever profession you're in that's doesn't entail getting paid for playing a kid's game). People get even more bitter when the lucky jock asks for/demands even higher wages than his own lucky peers. There was never any doubt that Mookie Betts was going to get a contract at the top of his market that he has earned and deserves. Or that fans would complain about it, even as the market constantly re-establishes itself within the very industry they support.

Or enthusiasm (or arrogance), if he's a ball hog... or apathy (or passiveness), if he lets you take all his action... or if he's just a peacenik, not a WARmonger.

Manny was a wingnut... and yet, teammates said he was one of the most focused hitters ever -- so it'd be hard to assess him with clinical DDD (Defensive Deficit Disorder). Though I never saw him swing his glove at an imaginary pitch, thinking of his next at bat (like Ted Williams supposedly did), he definitely lacked daisical out there. But I'd take him over Hanley, who it was said never practiced to improve his outfielding.

When I pointed out outfield assists, it wasn't to imply Beni has the best arm, only that he isn't as inept as a few posters here insist. If a ballplayer leads the league in a positive stat at his position, he's at least doing his job. We also know the eye-test shows us that baserunners stopped running on Dewey Evans or Mookie -- affecting their numbers... or that the Red Sox won rings with true rag arms in center with Damon or Ellsbury. It was only two years ago that Benintendi was chosen by professional observers as a finalist for the AL Gold Glove in left field. He also led the MLB postseason in runs scored in '18 and tied for the AL lead in hits with JD Martinez. But bodies can change quickly (Ozuna won Gold in '17 and now he's a DH). Maybe Andrew's dealing with a recurrent arm or leg injury; we shall see.

I actually thought of Cora and Beltran reuniting somewhere (most likely in the PR winter league). All the scapegoats are going to get jobs in baseball again, maybe even by next season. But can you imagine the nationwide ammo for New England haters -- even among the sinless puritans of Red Sox Nation -- if both Cora and Beltran joined Boston... People would be calling for Bloom's head (to hold underwater, to see if he was indeed a warlock).

Fight-Club Kelly. The last time the Dodgers were in the World Series, Joe was on our side: 5 games, 6 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 10 K, 1 win, and an ERA of 0.00.

Manny's gun was juiced!

This is why Devers is not necessarily a given as the longterm third baseman in Boston; whether he is, may be a consideration in the possible rehiring of Rafie's mentor, Mr. Cora. As for Beni, I never had the problem with his D that some posters seem to have on this forum. His range always seemed at least average, he learned how to play the Monster, and his arm threw out more baserunners than any other AL leftfielder from 2017-19.

Only seven more games at most before Alex Cora gets hired to manage in the MLB again. What are the odds it's Boston, Chicago or Detroit? I'd say 51% Red Sox, because no one in the organization has yet to say it won't be AC, or that it will be someone new. There's also added incentive to act fast, because of competitor interest and to kickstart the offseason. Chicago has to be at least 33%, with the Tigers 16% at best.

I agree with this post more than any other on this thread. The guy was confident and successful at every level from College Player of the Year up to world champ in 2018. Good ballplayers in their mid-20s don't suddenly forget how to do their jobs. There has to be something physical (and/or maybe mental) he's working through; it's not like pitchers haven't ever thrown him high fastballs on the outside corner or sliders down and away before...

I was only lurking/reading here during the '19 season, but I've since posted many times how much more fun it was for me personally as a fan watching the Red Sox with Mookie in the line-up. I'm not saying anyone else who cares about contracts and roster construction is wrong, just that I agree with Jad. I can also see Dan Shaughnessey's latest point, in the ways the Rays' blueprint for a title can be bad for baseball fans. Bloom makes me uneasy, and I see him as a threat to longtime Sox fans, at least in the style we've always had of rooting for and following star players. I'm also suspicious of all the reasons the owners even hired him. Does anyone really think -- after 20 years and four titles -- that Boston's old owners are really going all in on a totally different approach to building a winner?

Bloom can divide up and spend Mookie's money on 10 good but lesser players and win another World Series in Boston, and it still may not be as fun as watching a generational talent who can make game-saving catches on three straight playoff nights, crank three home runs in a game six times before he's in his prime, and score the game-winning run from first on a bouncer through the infield like Betts did in his final Red Sox game...

Of course I meant "Boston" generational talent. By the way, I could care less about Mike Trout, who wasn't drafted, developed or signed by the Red Sox, and who won zero rings for the Sox. Thanks to the posters who named the Red Sox stars of past generations. Williams, Yaz, Rice, Clemens and Boggs were all Hall of Fame worthy, and each produced at the top of their profession with HOF tools: hitting and power -- Ted, Yaz, Rice; pitching -- Rog; batting and getting on base -- Wade. Yaz, also a Gold Glover, was probably the most multi-faceted. But none of them had the combination of tools of Betts, a true five-tool player who has already won a batting crown, set a record for three-homer games, and has been the MLB's run-scoring machine and very best rightfielder for the half a decade before entering his prime. If any Red Sox player ever deserved a top of the market contract -- and that's all he received from LA -- then it was Mookie. And Werner's words infer Boston drew the line with its final offer.. p.s. I've always agreed with Moon's estimates of Betts' front-loaded values for the first half of his contract... as well as dismissing the "albatross" of the second half, which probably won't even be egregious in six years after cost-of-living increases on the average MLB salary.

Today's Boston Globe ran an article by Speier suggesting the Sox should model themselves after LA and not Tampa. If all goes well, that means that someday we'll be in a position to sign a player as good as Mookie Betts. None of us will live to see it, though, since he is a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

One of the first quotes we'll hear from new old manager Cora: "We need to take care of Eddie and make sure he's ok; that's our first priority."

Yes, the big market clubs can usually afford to absorb mistakes (I almost said "eat contracts", but Fungu Panda was leering at me). Guys that don't fit in aren't kept around for very long -- like Renteria or Sonny Gray. But if you're Cleveland and you sign Wayne Garland for 10 years and he blows out his arm after one season, you're screwed for the next decade.

What's itty-bitty Mookie? Keebler Hollow Tree-bound? World Series-bound?

Give credit where credit's due... that the Yankees and Red Sox always seem to find overlooked guys that "blossom" or have career years isn't coincidental or lucky. GMs like Cashman and Epstein are smart enough to have their scouts and nerds target "finds" -- which are in reality professional hitters who really benefit being in lineups with middle-of-the order mashers that totally stress out pitchers' elbows and rotator cuffs before their turns at bat. Those batting orders help produce the Urshelas, Voits and Twatmans of the world... and allow Bill Muellers to win batting crowns batting 8th or Steve Pearces World Series MVPs. It isn't always a bench coach like Carlos Beltran "paying attention to details"...

Gotta lotta nerve using the words "Pablo" and "loaf" in the same sentence when it comes to chocolate.

And then, here's today's quote from Joel Sherman, columnist from NY Post: "Judge, like Giancarlo Stanton, just may be too big and strong to stay healthy..." Meanwhile, Mookie -- our former fiscally-unwise longterm midget -- never misses time with nagging injuries that won't heal.

Looks like Yankee fans are finally admitting they can't win a title with Sanchez behind the plate, and were never as good with Gleybar at short instead of Didi. My typing fingers just had deja vu from last winter...