5GoldGlovesOF,75

I'm with you on that one; watching Mookie's salary drive lead Boston back into contention is what I campaigned for all winter. As for the salary dump, I still say Betts was included to get rid of Price -- because there was no other way anyone one else was going to take him off our hands without the greatest pot-sweetener in history. The owners can blab all they want about "the value" we got back, but they knew they weren't going to pay Mookie, and were glad to get even a bag of BP balls in return.

He'd get suspended for the chemistry, but only for using after the MLB banned it. Like PED users or video users... I always love when some writers say Bonds and Clemens should be in the Hall, since they were already great before they juiced. Ya, and Son of Sam served in the US Army before he started shooting teenagers in parked cars (that's the best notin analogy I can come up with tonight).

Whaddayamean? Haven't you been listening to Henry, Warner, Kennedy and Bloom all winter? We're going for it -- this year and every year!

I was impressed by him in the Boston series in July and was convinced they'd demand him in any Betts trade. After a good rookie year and better upside, Verdugo appeared to be the best replacement available. Other posters inadvertently agreed, when they mocked my insistence at his inclusion for one-year-of-Mookie. Obviously, the odds of a monumental, franchise-defining trade turning out positive go down when the centerpiece is damaged goods. Though young guys can heal quickly from muscle pulls (legs, even shoulders, obliques, etc.), two problem areas that can linger forever are knees or backs...

Bottom line: by trading Betts, they never expected -- or intended -- to contend in 2020. It was pretty obvious, but Verdugo's status further confirms it.

Don't worry -- this is exactly why the Yankees are safe -- despite the Beltran before-and-after connection (how is it even feasible his special talents weren't used or at least one of the reasons he was rehired after retirement?), not to mention incriminating words from Chris Young, Logan Morrison and even Girardi, himself. Of course there were/are many teams using tech to get any edge they could/can, because every club has an analytics department. All we know for sure right now about the Houston scandal is that it was not "player-driven" as reported by Manfred, but a system devised by non-players in the front office, and that Cora and Beltran were hardly masterminds, but maybe -- just maybe, since they were both gone and easy scapegoats for the Astros to blame -- master implementers.

That seems to be the prevailing theme: 2020 -- Nothing to get excited about. Sam Kennedy should send you a check for royalties (or in this case, peasantries). Just wait til next year, when our new coveted flexibility can put the likes of Trevor Bauer in crimson hosiery.

Strong calves, well-balanced, unreliant on fossil fuels...

You mean, can he stay on his feet and not twist a knee in a bullpen every single year like our top returning winner (just did again)!

That's quite an opinion. I might counter using those same words to suggest that anyone in a particular era is not tainted or under suspicion by the culture in question.

Don't forget (I wish I could) the Red Sox in 1990 with Larry Anderson, who was great for 15 games... except the guy he was traded for was great for 15 years.

We'll probably never know the answer to that question, since Jeter played in an era -- and on a team -- when many players enhanced performances through chemistry; the issue was so prevalent that all players from that time are still suspects. It was very similar to the current era -- when traditions were enhanced by technology -- and where the article that exposed the problem identified it as happening "everywhere" (thus casting suspicion on players and teams with guys like Mookie Betts, Alex Bregman, and any club that Carlos Beltran played for...

I think this list speaks to a couple of things: first, the unpredictability of stardom or even MLB promotion of prospects -- high-ranked guys like Swihart and Margot, even Marrero (once considered #5 at a time when the farm was loaded), who made The Show but fell out of favor; and second, 20 guys from one farm with at least a cup of coffee in the bigs is a credit to any organization. In a pennant race, prospect depth affords a club possible call-ups or more likely, trade options when upgrades are needed. Dombrowski deftly used these resources to do his job and build a champion... and if you read Speier's book, Homegrown, while it sometimes hurts to lose a youngster, even scouts and front office types that draft, sign and develop a kid are proud when the return helps them win.

Then he'll never break down, lose his strength, lose his speed, and lose his value. Sign Jeter for 10 years!

... if only the mother ship from Torre's office in NYC wasn't beaming an impenetrable force-field around them.

Nope. There is a chance Mookie's gambit backfires a bit: what if his stats suffer in a new league, facing a lot of new pitchers, in a lot new parks... not to mention -- depending on The Investigation -- added tension from his new teammates and new hometown fans. Things could go badly for him... but I doubt many of us think they will.

I was also thinking that, but nowadays the second baseman spends half his time standing in right field, so it's usually the shortstop. It can't be the third baseman, because that would leave the whole left side open to a bunt -- and nobody wants to see a bunt because major leaguers can't bunt anymore.

People just can't stop citing numbers. Is it reasonable for Mookie Betts to ask for a top of the market contract? Is it reasonable for him to think he's worth more than Harper and Machado? Is it reasonable for him ask for Trout money two years after Trout signed and salaries have continued to rise? Is it reasonable to ask for the same AAV as Cole -- a pitcher who only plays once a week and who's only had three great years, while Betts has had five? The Red Sox front office will never admit it, but it seems like every time they reportedly made a big offer to Mookie that it was still slightly below his market value at the time. I think fans would really like to see the actual numbers on Henry's futile "offers" -- to see just how much they were prepared to pay Mookie, and when, compared to other star salaries. All we heard was the last one they leaked to Merloni that in retrospect was a lowball offer compared to what others got, along with Mookie's highball counter offer. I would think if Boston had actually tried to negotiate and meet him in the middle, that their high bid would've been the one that was leaked.

I'm sure hitters on every single team at every single professional level -- given immunity -- would admit to doing the exact same thing as Kinsler. Analyzing video is part of the modern game. No players -- no matter what they say -- consider looking at video as cheating (I don't care if a guy was a choir boy, his dad's a reverend and his mother is named Teresa). It also doesn't matter to them that Manfred told them not to, because he also gave them access to video in the first place, allowing tech in the dugout, bullpen, clubhouse and everywhere else. Such hypocrisy is probably what led to their disrespect for the commish in the first place, before he started dissing their trophy. I think what guys are really pissed about is the disclosure that Houston's entire organization devised a devious system that the Astros players blatantly bought into, banging away and acting cocky in the process.

Like I've been saying forever: How can you not? In every video of you hitting, there's a catcher squatting behind flashing fingers. This problem is not going away because technology is here to stay. No one needs video rooms when there are ipads in every dugout. JD's is attached to him, like drivers texting at every stoplight in the nation...

Why not? Sox are already decimated, kicking them while they're down won't alter the current MLB landscape. Plus, it will be fun watching Price defend his old mates to his new mates... and listening to Mookie quote Pedey: "It's not me, it's them." Just -- whatever you do -- don't investigate the Beltran pinstripe trail from the Bronx and back to the Bronx. https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/steve-mcqueen-and-dustin-hoffman-in-a-scene-of-the-film-news-photo/141561501

The Dodgers' bitching and moaning could work in Boston's favor: do you think Manfred may go easier on the Sox to prevent further backlash from within the shiny new LA ranks? Imagine the delicious dissension if Betts and Price are branded as outlaws in the same clubhouse with their victims? Call it hype if you want, but the MLB has taken such a hit in the public eye and among other pro sports lately that the last thing it needs is further uproar from The Great Blue Hope.

Totally agree -- and Bellinger isn't doing himself any favors to remain top dawg by constantly whining about the Astros, either. Correa and his mates should take the heat at this point, but I agree with him that Bellinger should stfu about the '17 WS (when Cody hit .143 with 17 Ks in 7 games).

This has always been my feeling about Mookie insisting on going to free agency: some place closer to home, some place warmer, some place not Boston... Maybe I've been myopic, but to me, Betts was one of the rare baseball stars beloved by a fanatical fanbase of a large market franchise dedicated to winning who never publicly expressed a goal to remain with his original club forever. Unlike Lester, Bogaerts, Sale... even Lindor has been saying lately he wants to stay in Cleveland. Didn't Lowell take less to re-sign than go to Philly? These guys aren't all just mercenaries. Competitive athletes want to win, and once they're set for life monetarily they start craving intrinsic rewards like Manfred's piece of metal. If Mookie sees like-minded compadres like JBJ and JD jettisoned in favor of a rebuild, that may be another factor in his decision. Look at Arenado now; a year after hitting the jackpot he's hungry and having second thoughts about staying in Colorado. As far as signing with a team for one dollar more -- if a guy prefers one place or another, I'd think the runner-up would have to exceed the best offer by enough to make him change his mind. In other words, if he likes LA better and it offers 420, Boston may have to go to 450... but these are all hypotheticals (hypatheticals) since we already know the Sox don't deem Mookie at the very top of industry market value. Yet.

Right on -- and if he's really good, an ace can throw a demoralized order into a funk for days, even inducing the start of some batting slumps.