5GoldGlovesOF,75

Of all the non-Trout big name free agents who have signed (or will ink) megadeals in the past decade, I think Mookie is the surest bet to actually earn most of his next contract. He's a better player than Harper, a better character than Machado, and provides more ways to win than Stanton, Pujols, Cabrera, or any pitcher (and won't be tainted like ARod). I feel Mookie's career and contract will be defined by his performance over the next half decade, during which time I fully expect him to produce another 30 WAR and lead his new club to at least 450 wins. If he helps win another World Series, it will be worth it to that franchise and its fan base. Boston losing Betts can't be as bad as losing Babe Ruth, but I fear it will be the biggest Red Sox mistake since -- one that media and rival fans will haunt our sons with for a long time... especially, if the Bosox blow much of their savings on free agent busts filling unavoidable voids, trying to win back fans. Giving away Bagwell while a prospect was bad enough, but the Red Sox had a HOFer about to enter his prime... and couldn't keep him.

My take on what Boston took: Verdugo was the best young outfielder available with 4 WAR, .800 OPS promise, the kind of above-average player a contender needs. Yes, there are questions about health and maturity -- and not just with talksox posters like me -- but even with most young athletes we rant about. Downs rockets to the top of Boston's prospect list, like a shortstop snagging a foul pop and diving face-first into the seats after 89 more strides. If he continues to rake in the minors, I predict this middle infielder will debut at second base in Fenway by mid-summer (as does ESPN)... depending on the depth of Sox suckitude. Wong has been compared to Swihart because of a promising bat and versatility, though he's only played catcher for two years. My initial reaction is that I don't want another Swihart debacle -- catcher is too all-encompassing to waste time dabbling at other positions. He cranked 24 homers last season, more than any Red Sox outfielder still in their entire system. Maybe a faster path to the bigs is to shift Wong to left field full-time today. Now, I'd like to leave this nightmare thread behind forever... can someone please direct me to thread about moving forward and the coming MLB season?

Well, according to all the owners and officers, they aim to compete this year and every year, dammit -- so now that they've reached their goalnotamandate... you can be sure they'll start making some moves. Chaim be jukin soon!

They have to undo this; the trade simulator gives it a big red "Oops! Not accepted." I mean, a sophomore and two middle schoolers for the second best player in baseball, plus the pitcher who beat LA twice in the WS -- at half price (I know, probably literally)? Bloom stood firm and got three guys back, increasing the odds by 33% that at least one of them will be part of or contribute as a trade chip to the next good Red Sox team. At least now, Verdugo can truthfully be called the centerpiece of the package... because before it was impossible to be the center of just two guys (unless he was sitting on Brusdar's package). Now, who predicts Graterol will be a bigger key than LA's other two key acquisitions in their next postseason run?

Right -- go back to his swing that made him the top college player in the country. Speier's book details Beni talking about showcases for scouts and how all the big guys tried to jack, while he just ripped line drives. When he came up, Papi called him McFly -- fondly, because a lot of those liners hit on the sweet spot carry over the fence...

That's why we need Gonsolin - he rakes: .308 in the bigs last year, .305 in college with 11 jacks and 17 triples! He is our starter in every inter-league series.

If he bats leadoff he has to change his approach. I don't know what was more aggravating last year: Mookie taking a first-pitch fastball down the middle or Beni fouling it back to the left (though his first pitch was usually higher; pitchers and advance scouts talk). But Beni has succeeded batting leadoff plenty of times in his past: in the minors, college, etc.

There's no way any coaching staff wouldn't know something was going on, even if it was orchestrated by players. But after reading about the machinations detailed in the article, it seems like any analytics department not using every resource available wasn't doing enough... apparently, many of the Houston employees got promoted for their efforts.

Yankee scandals are littered with Hall of Famers; remember when Mickey Mantle risked his asterisk on the roof of a Washington hotel, leading teammates on a beaver-shoot? That rat-fink Jim Bouton... I asked him once about the fugly groupie Ball Four described as "Joe Torre with tits" -- and he quickly blamed the quote on Pagliaroni.

If Bloom was willing to settle for Maeda, the trade would've been done a week ago -- and LA wouldn't have had to drag the Twins in at all. The Maeda tree has a lot of rings in the trunk (but none on the fingers), and Friedman must have seen one of those pilated woodpeckers land on his back. Dodgers need to add another sapling to seal the deal.

I agree with all of this. The Red Sox have to reconsider their overall fan base (public opinion even supersedes the many rational and statistically-valued proposals proffered by posters here) -- As do the Dodgers, whose title-starved fans already have Mookie pencilled in at the top of their order. Boston cannot settle for anything less than top prospects in exchange for its best homegrown player in half a century. LA has the pieces to get this deal done, but you're right -- Henry and Co. also have the funds to keep the face of the franchise... and then let Bloom really earn his own salary by lopping off everyone else necessary to reset by the end of the season.

http://archive.fo/9ojBf The Feb. 7 Wall Street Journal article: (Intro) "On Sept. 22, 2016, an intern in the Houston Astros organization showed general manager Jeff Luhnow a PowerPoint presentation that featured the latest creation by the team’s high-tech front office: an Excel-based application programmed with an algorithm that could decode the opposing catchers’ signs. It was called “Codebreaker.”" Alex Cora became bench coach for the Houston Astros two months later on November 15, 2016. The article never mentions Cora once, but does name half a dozen Astros' front office employees who were the actual masterminds behind their "system"... here's my favorite line: "The existence of Codebreaker shows that it was the Astros front office that laid the groundwork for the team’s electronic sign-stealing schemes." Most of us who love Cora (and a good conspiracy) have said he was the scapegoat from the beginning, but no one has said it quite like Carrabis from Barstool: https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/1828992/can-someone-please-explain-to-me-how-alex-cora-was-the-mastermind-of-the-astros-sign-stealing-scheme-when-he-wasnt-there-when-it-started-or-ended

A secret pact? Employee: "I love that dirty water..." Employer: "Ok, here's the deal -- we can pay you 27 mil to stay here this season, but after that we can't pay you any more... OR... we'd like to transfer you somewhere warm and sunny for 2020, where you'll still get your 27 mil, and then after that if you come back we'll give you 40 mil per for another decade." Markus: "Boston, you're my home!"

Sure, but what to make of the quotes from Jim Rice -- current Red Sox employee -- who said he talked to Mookie Tuesday and Wednesday? Might Betts' words have Henry reconsidering, even just a smidge? It's not like he hasn't changed his mind and approach to how his club should be run several times, especially in this most contradictory past year...

I've been saying this all winter: as an employee at the top of his industry, Mookie Betts deserves a top of the market salary. The problem is that the actual numbers are too impossible for many, many fans to ever relate to... It is ironic that people seldom -- if ever -- complain about stars of other entertainments, like movies or music. When did you ever hear (or say), "He's making too much to just be an actor" or "No singer ever deserves that much money"? Has anyone ever been so turned off by salaries of movie stars or musicians that they debated not watching a movie or listening to a tune? Another tangent regarding Betts that I think the Red Sox have surprisingly underrated is the value of Mookie as the face of the franchise -- the best player to watch and root for, and best role model to emulate (feeding the homeless undercover, always smiling, ever-working hard to improve and sustain production), and the guy with the best name-recognition for kids and future fans to grow old with...

I'm thinking this better get done tonight, before the columnists stoke the hopes of the entire Red Sox Nation of keeping Mookie... because if ownership has a second chance to keep Betts and blows it again, the revolt may be more than a walk-out; the front office may be sacked, and Gammons might usurp Bloom, with Manny as his sergeant at harm.

Go ahead, make me write a happy haiku.

The medicals opened the door to closing the door, in order to mollify the backlash.

I'd demand Maeda and one more pitching prospect, but have my doubts that Bloom's long past working for Friedman has prevented any demands on Boston's part. Why else would Bloom agree to take someone else's prospect (unless he really wanted Brusdar -- but more than May or Gray?)? It better not just end up being Caleb Ferguson... Though, after all, LA is doing us such a big favor taking Price that we already thanked them by throwing in a Hall of Famer. If the Dodgers don't budge, the Red Sox either have to accept an even worse return -- and further alienate fandom and suffer the wrath of media -- or nix the whole deal, give Mookie his $400 million and take one cent on the dollar for anyone to take Price; that guy has to stay gone for good. I vote for the latter, somehow, some way... at least most fans will like that plan, Bloom, Henry, the brand and the laundry. Right now, they don't like much about any of those...

No need to guess -- according to Purloined Prize winner Ken Rosenthal (this line wrapped up the introduction to his bombshell): "inside the game, there is a belief that is treated by players and staff as fact: That illegal sign stealing, particularly through advanced technology, is everywhere."

I read the recent reports, just have doubts on how effective or all-encompassing visitors' systems could be in road parks, especially after the Red Sox booted Astros' employees from trying to film inside their dugout in the playoffs. If Cora ever writes an autobio, it would be interesting to see how he had Boston foil Houston's schemes in '18...

Those without sin can cry all they want, but it won't change the facts on how much better the 2017 Astros were on the road compared to when they had home field "advantage" (over 100 more runs scored in away games!): Home 48-33 .593, with 395 runs scored Away 53-28 .654, with 501 runs scored

Clarification: The current video replay era, with manager challenges, began in 2014. Since then, LA has the most wins, with Houston second -- but many fans might argue the Astros were more successful because they won a World Series. The Giants won three rings in the first five years of the past decade, but those were just before or on the fringe of the era in question (that has all but ended)...

I believe every team in every era has players who do whatever is the fad to get an edge. The Yankees in the 90s were the best of their particular era, just like the Astros in the 10s were the best of their era...

I was going to add that you could asterisk all the Yankee titles during that era because Pettitte admitted taking PEDs, but he's the only ballplayer in history who gets a pass because he "felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible".