5GoldGlovesOF,75

If the Red Sox had extended Betts I could say something about Stanton and Judge and muscle man longevity compared to that shrimp Mookie... but Boston is doomed in '20, while the Yanks will still be good (though maybe they'll both have their hands full with the upstart Blue Jays). It's a sad season for Sox fans when their biggest hope for the postseason is that NY draws anyone else but the Twins...

Not now. He's arguably their best player, and they already dealt their former best player this offseason. But in notin's defense, a few months back I also suggested a similar deal as the best way to add legitimate pitching prospects; after all, one year of Betts only got us LA's most expendable position prospects. Of course, my only contingency in ever trading Devers is if that meant that Betts had agreed to a lifetime extension. Even then, say we acquired the Braves' top three prospects -- they're all just that: prospects. Devers led the majors in extra base hits at age 22. Will Rafie continue to star for the next half decade in Boston like Mookie did through age 26? Hope so, but that's a lofty expectation, since Betts's career WAR in RF through age 26 is the greatest in baseball history. I agree that Dalbec should be swapped for a young arm with potential. He's blocked at third, has never profiled as a .300 hitter like Devers, and is also blocked at first down the road by Casas, the top power prospect in the Sox' system.

I know, Cole has just dominated Boston the last three years: 1-2 record, including a bad playoff loss.

No, the Wade Miley who pitched in twice as many games, started twice as many games, threw twice as many innings and won 9 more games in '19 than he did in '18. He was solid and productive for five straight months before suddenly breaking down in Sept. and getting left off the postseason roster (leading to speculation he was injured). Some Red Sox fans found Miley's consistency from March through August a bit surprising compared to his one mediocre season in Boston five years ago.

We should absolutely expect the Astros' pitching to be next to fall under suspicion. They seemed to have uncanny success with all their reclamation projects: Cole, old Verlander, Morton, Wade freaking Miley... Great coaching, great system, great alchemy... or was it something else???? Morton kept his mojo in Tampa, so it is possible to retain and sustain the secret formula.

I'm with you, Slash. Competitive athletes have always and will always ingest, inject or do whatever they can to enhance performances. Especially in a sport where "stealing" (bases, signs, hearts) is an accepted part of its lexicon. In 1980 I joined a fraternity's flag football team at a southern college. Before the title game, the frat prez had a chalkboard meeting in a classroom next to the field. A brother passed around a bottle of black beauties to prep all the players. I abstained, not caring quite as much as others about being stimulated for an intramural championship.

No criteria, just answering one stat with another. My "horrible" point was that there were several reasons why Adrian Gonzalez was not more important to Boston than JD Martinez. The main one was the JD's team won a ring in his first year -- and a majority (I would've thought before today, nearly all) of observers said at the time that he was a huge factor, on and off the field. Meanwhile, AGon's Sox in his first year suffered one of the worst chokes in MLB history. He was good, but no one ever said he was a leader... and there were a few claims that he didn't quite fit in. I'm not hating on the guy, or loving JD, just posting what I assumed was common knowledge in recent Red Sox history.

I like it. I hope he wins and breaks someone else's bank. The Red Sox have moved on, and verse vicea.

We can make stats say whatever we want: in Gonzalez first 5 full-time seasons -- and last 5 in the NL before playing for Boston -- he averaged 32 HRs. In two years for the Red Sox he averaged 21 HRs.

I totally disagree. JD was the absolute difference maker in a first place team missing a middle-of-the-order threat in '17 to a first place team going all the way in '18. Some fans and media even thought he was more valuable than Betts. JD also led the entire '18 postseason in RBI, and helped other hitters improve by his presence in the lineup and in BP. His WAR might not be as high because he didn't play defense, but as for his importance in Boston compared to AGon's -- I don't think it's even close, and I doubt you'd find few Sox fans anywhere that would choose Gonzalez. AGon was being lauded more before he came to Boston. I was all in on getting him (who knew what Rizzo would become), but Gonzalez never hit with the same power he had in the NL and was overrated on D. I remember my wife -- a casual fan who had no choice to see him whenever she walked into a room with a TV on -- always making fun of him as a slow load at first base, whilst I tried to tell her he had a Gold Glove rep. Beckett was a postseason hero half a decade before he moaned about days off and betrayed Francona's trust. He was cooked after 2011. At least Bradley was a postseason hero the season before last. JBJ may never start an All-Star game again, but I doubt he'll ever quit trying.

No, but those clearance sales didn't include beloved fan favorites who were stars (except for maybe Lester, a guy fans respected for what he endured to become a homegrown ace). The Punto trade got rid of a disaster in Crawford, and complainers -- chicken-and-beer boy Beckett and I don't-like-Sunday-nights AGon. Of all the vets the Sox dealt in '14, most were on the downside: Lackey, Peavy, Dubront, Gomes, Vic. Andrew Miller turned out to be the prize, but wasn't yet a stud. The '14 purge helped win a ring -- four years later -- with staff additions like Porcello, Rodriquez, Kelly and Hembree. But besides Lester, none of the guys the Sox gave up were missed, bemoaned or as valuable as Mookie, or as prime-time special as JD's bat or JBJ's glove (assuming they're the next regulars to be moved).

The Red Sox still have to field a team, and a viable product, and good starting pitchers are the first priority no matter when they're ready to start competing again. Fans might accept trading one great position player if they know he's going to leave anyway -- and this remains to be seen -- but the Nation will never accept clearing the roster like the Marlins or Orioles. There's no need to hit rock bottom like small market teams if you're Boston, especially at the risk of losing your constituency.

If he's solid and healthy, you ride a horse at the top of the rotation. Question (someone could start a poll): who do you predict will have the most innings pitched in the next three years: Sale, Eovaldi or Price? I rank them in the order I listed.

JD for sure will be gone -- you know the Bloom regime won't let him opt out before getting "value" back in return. Nate you hold onto. A starter with his stuff under contract is what rebuilding teams need to build around...

Pete Rose should sue the MLB for selling a sponsorship to a gambling organization.

Shut up, Tex. He played on the Yankees' last title team with ARod, Cano, Melky and Pettitte -- and those are only the publicly-known PED users. Who knows how many others on the '09 champs were tainted... I guess Mark didn't know any, or he'd have outed them all. Hypocrite.

So, the Sox are paying Perez and their entire bullpen as much as they're paying Price just to go away. Makes you wonder when the Yankees will feel a similar need with Cole in the next nine years. Love the spotlight shift so far -- MLB.com's top story a few days ago hyped Cole throwing 98 in his first outing! I kept looking for a blurb on Eovaldi throwing 100, but it must have been deleted...

I like what I'm seeing from Duran, driving the ball more; early success can build two-fold confidence -- for his improvement, and for a Sox promotion (if mediocrity causes a mid-season sell). The Ellsbury comp that someone brought up earlier would be a good ceiling: 7 Sox seasons, .297 BA, .350/.439/.789 slash, 21.3 WAR (5 WAR avg. in four full years), maybe a little more pop but less stolen bases... Just don't expect instant glory -- remember Ells came up in a title run surrounded by stars at their peaks.

Nah, this actually works in their favor: now they can play Tauchman, a much better all-around play-- wait, Beltran's not there this year to tell him what pitch is coming!

I think we're going to see more arms getting early promotions from the minors. While it never made sense to rush a prospect into a traditional MLB rotation, expecting him to achieve or exceed an unrealistic workload, it does make sense in Bloom's world of openers and bullpen games to bring up a live arm and let it fly for an inning or two. We hear a lot these days of "putting a player in situations where he can succeed", and what could be better for a young pitcher than letting him unleash his stuff at the beginning of a game, with no pacing expectations, no high leverage late-inning pressure, and no overthinking? Then as he gets accustomed to the Show, slowly stretch him out into more innings and longer, more meaningful roles...

Not to mock you, but this concise and ironic post shows the perfect hypocrisy of this entire scandalous winter -- and also why I just cannot get bent out of shape over whatever "facts" are revealed in any investigations... ... by a sport that has always been defined by secret codes involving basically everyone in uniform: defensive codes from catchers to pitchers and infielders, who then communicate with their own codes, and also relay the signs to outfielders with different codes; as well as offensive codes from batters to baserunners, and vice versa -- with most initiated by managers and coaches from dugouts or coach's boxes. With all of them constantly trying to crack each other's codes. Technology has predictably brought in new sophistication, and it's not even plausible that the Yankees didn't delve... even NY fans would admit their club can afford -- and would expect their club to employ -- top of the industry analytics and IT experts. But the Yanks didn't win -- the Astros and Red Sox did, and so have the targets on their backs. And shutting down replay monitors isn't going to change much, because video is everywhere and it's not going away -- unless they put metal detectors with little baskets for cellphones and ipads at entrances to dugouts and bullpens. Even that won't stop tens of thousands of people in the stands pointing smartphones at the diamond -- and who knows how many of those folks are club employees?

Careful; you can't expect either to walk back on the mound into instant stardom -- on a team expected to win it all; one's coming off an injury, the other from injuring someone else....

I agree that was a part of it, but I never agreed they would suck being led by a future Hall of Famer. Henry can also afford the tax, and everything I see these days about the next CBA says the tax max will be restructured anyway. Plus, not only do I expect the Sox to add pitching in the next few years, I also expect some of the arms they already invested in to start earning their contracts. Beginning this season... But I have to confess I haven't been able to stomach watching any Mookie-in-blue videos; not in interviews, not in practices, not in games... so far. I'll probably watch him in the All-Star Game (in LA) and the postseason.

Ha, my point has always been that players of every era will always do whatever they can to get an edge, so "let them all in", as in all the best of each era -- and not just Bonds and Clemens... (wait, there are already bronzed contemporaries who were freaks of nature, like 45-year-olds throwing no-hitters or skinny third basemen who got really thick and played thousands of games in a row). I dunno about Rose, though. What would the MLB's sponsors say... like freakin' Draft Kings??????