5GoldGlovesOF,75

Bob Stanley driving a flying saucer... I'm not on board that.

Now here's one area where most humans can agree on using the word "cheaters" -- except, that is, for ballplayers who insist that groupies are part of the game...

Anything on the Charles for Mission Beach, even if it's a one-year rental. The North End's untouchable, plus it would put them over the lux tax...

If Moreland is re-signed, he would just be the lefty stick in a platoon and/or defensive replacement at this point. They're all temps while the Nation awaits the next big thing -- Casas -- who is reportedly getting bigger... https://sports.yahoo.com/top-prospect-triston-casas-quite-173557037.html?src=rss

Ah, an astute one-time head hunter. Once I hit a walk-off HR vs. the top team in our old-mens league. Next time we played them, I led off and their ace threw the first pitch at my ribs, but missed. He had the best control in the league, so I thought he was just warming up... then he got me with the second pitch. You bet I stole on the very first pitch to the next batter, and eventually came around with the first run.

Who gets thrown at first: Bregman, Altuve or Fiers (it would have to be an interleague game in an NL park, and don't be surprised if his club shuffles the rotation so he misses that scheduled start)?

Notice that nobody is actually sorry for doing their jobs; they're just sorry for losing their jobs. Guys are of course apologetic for the spotlight shining onto their respective teams... At first, I predicted other teams would retaliate against their infamous colleagues, but now I just expect business as usual. The former or the latter will go a long way in revealing just how egregious or overblown this whole thing actually is...

The problem that a lot of people don't want to hear is that for baseball ballplayers, the C-word isn't even part of their parlance. Seeking an edge is in their DNAs. Players, coaches, scouts, employees in the analytics department constantly study the opposition; it's their job. Baseball is a game based on using codes, and the guys who who can break a code are among the most respected in the game.

it is a fairly god awful deal for one season of Betts. There, I placed the adjective after the adverb to make it make sense. Trading a Hall of Famer for someone's negative-WAR big money albatross, without getting back that team's top prospects (yes, plural) is about the worst salary dump proposal I've seen all winter -- and this one wasn't even made up by internet posters! MLB sources -- give me a break, this is yet another instance of instant media blather. This SD deal wouldn't be getting back pennies on the dollar, but instead be giving up dollars for someone to take our dollars. Bloom would wilt before his first season. Betts could do for the Pads what Yellich did for the Brewers... and once he gets a taste of San Diego weather, he ain't coming back to New England.

I agree with all of this. ERod would be the perfect low-cost addition to a team trying to get to the next level. The ask would have to be two pitchers coming back; an MLB-ready starter and a top prospect. Trade simulators -- get on this now... what pretender needs a 19-game winner to be a contender?

The plan isn't to go rudderless... the Sox know more than us about the deal the MLB cut with them (as in, "give us Cora, and we'll take that into consideration during your sentencing"), and they probably know more about which way the report will go. With absolutely no candidates in the news -- I know they want to keep it private, but there's got to be a Red Sox fan or two working at Logan Airport who would at least recognize a name and start a rumor -- it looks like they're staying internal... maybe even for the next few years: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/merloni-why-alex-cora-could-return-red-sox-manager-2021

I know some people here were apoplectic when I mentioned that I could see Cora back with Boston in the future... but now Merloni can see it: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/merloni-why-alex-cora-could-return-red-sox-manager-2021

A year ago the Sox were hoping for Pedroia to start 100 games. Before long, Holt's son scratched his eyeball and Nunez forgot the take sign. Leon was cut, Travis started the second game of the season at 1B, Swihart the third game at C... Pearce didn't even play until the second week (and little after that). DD was still counting on Thornburg to be a viable relief option. They're all gone, and so is Porcello -- maybe the most important guy to replace, and he had a 5.52 ERA... Even Bloom's no-names have to have a decent chance to at least equal their production.

I think all Sox fans should be prepared for the worst possible report and punishments -- Cora ban, coaches implicated, lost draft picks... even if there is no evidence like youtubes of banging, we have to expect Manfred will underscore his agenda by hammering the felonious two-timing Bosox. I would think he'd want to wrap up the whole debacle just before spring training and the new season, so baseball can revert focus to the game (and good old-fashioned sign-stealing with binoculars, telescopes and magnifying glasses). The Sox probably have some info and are waiting out the timetable before naming an internal managerial candidate who may be judged guilty by investigation. Don't be surprised if the tireless and tieless front office goes all in for a good start to 2020 to soften some of the PR hit, and also shoots for a strong finish to ensure the lost draft picks aren't in the top 20.

Bongs

Smokescreen set by Manfred...

The article in The Athletic that forced Manfred to concoct his two-team scandal with convenient patsy opens with this third sentence of the intro: "But 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." The Yankees are untouchable, scandal-proof, the Teflon Donalds, in this whole set-up. The MLB desperately needs New York to win again. I would even venture to speculate that some owners from other teams would agree, and even have incentives; isn't the take from merchandising split equally?

I'll take my chances for a better season. But good luck assuming another combined 10 WAR from Tauchman, Urshela, Ford and Maybin. Even DJ (as good as he is), coming off a career year at 6 WAR... it's not automatic anyone repeats a career year. I remember I thought New York was golden when they traded for Trout at the All-Star break... Steve in 1987 was 6-3 with a 3 ERA in the NL when he joined the first-place Yanks. Trout went 0-4 with a 6 ERA, and NY limped home in fourth place.

Wow, that was so generous of a Yankees fan to try to help the Red Sox become an absolute non-factor in the AL East for the next decade. Trade the entire core, because we can easily replace it with other clubs' minor leaguers. Since what the hell, everyone knows that Urshela and Gleybar are already better than Devers and Bogey, Sanchez is a better catcher than Vazquez, and the outfield of Judge, Stanton and Gardner is all-around better than Betts, Beni and JBJ...

It's a good take -- and all six homegrown guys that Boston kept and were on the field for the last out in LA are still here...

By the way, lux tax or not, future starting pitching may have to come from either trades or Bloom's moundsmen in the rough. The best of the '21 free agent class -- arms around 30 -- are Robbie Ray, Bauer and Stroman... good, but not Sale or Cole material. There are more options in '22, but again no earth-shakers: Jon Gray, Vince Velazquez, Folty, Matz, McCullers, Urena, Rodon... Maybe, Noah Song will be honorably discharged by then.

I already proposed this: Devers and Barnes for four Braves prospects -- Pache and Langeliers (catcher), and Atlanta's top two starters, Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright. Move Dalbec to third. But I also said the only way I'd trade Devers is if they knew they could lock up Betts...

I'm no Dombro fan, but Kimbrel and Price were both needed at the time and ultimately contributed to three firsts and a ring. At the time I was in favor of the Kimbrel deal and against the Price signing; I preferred Jordan Zimmerman (shows how smart I am). I was totally in on Sale, and glad we kept Benintendi over Moncada, partially on the basis that I'd rather have a guy who was a college star as an underclassman than a kid who blew some of his signing bonus on fancy cars with custom hood ornaments of his initials (like any of that matters). I also think the Eovaldi for Beeks trade won the pennant and the World Series. I don't regret that the Sox couldn't add a top arm to their staff this winter -- not just Cole or MadBum; even a Ryu, Wheeler, Ordorizzi could've helped. Because Boston did the right thing investing in starting pitching a year ago. In hindsight, tons of fans are down on both the Sale and Eovaldi signings... but look back at threads at the time and see how few thought it was a bad idea to lock up studs who just won a title. As much of a risk Sale was to injury, there was equal risk that an unsigned Sale would have the usual Sale year in 2019 and command Cole money. Remember, he had finished in the top 5 in Cy Young voting the past six years in a row and was coming off a season where only one pitcher in the AL had a higher WAR (Snell). Eovaldi was injury-prone, but bidders had good reason to think he had turned the corner with the workhorse durability displayed in the second half through the postseason. Comebacks from these two guys might surprise fanatics, but I think people in the industry, especially in Beantown, expect bounce-backs and would be surprised if they didn't get at least one...

The main problem with not fielding a contender is that it is our money as far as supporting the club. Fans will still take in a game or two at Fenway because it's a fun thing to do outside when the weather is nice. But the big loss of revenues -- and I think this has been said -- will be with NESN. It's just too easy to turn off four-hour games that don't matter.

The reason for that is simple: Manfred gave Astros players immunity if they named superiors -- the feds let mob underlings go state witness to take down the kingpins. And how stunning the guys they named over and over were a coach and a player that no longer work for Houston. The Astros didn't throw Cora and Beltran under the bus; they buried their carcasses under a Greyhound station.