drewski6

Its a treat watching him play OF. Its beautiful, its majestic, its eye-popping. It really stands out. And thats why, I think its overrated Its worth something, its worth a lot. Id love to keep him in CF, dont get me wrong. But I think Duran is the better overall ballplayer.

I also expect #2 from Sonny

I expect #2 from Tolle.

cedanne could go, masa could play 1b. There are other players/pitchers we could trade for Marte. But if we're trading duran for marte, its at lest better than duran for more pitching. I think Masa would be fine at 1b, personally, and I dont think Casas is going to be healthy in 2026.

Ive seen some of the best boxers who have 0 ground game turn into elite grapplers. Ive seen elite grapplers with no boxing training turn into elite boxers. Because whatever that fighter had that made him elite in one area is still there. How did Cedanne become sooooo good in the outfield? Work ethic, natural baseball instinct, athleticism, good arm I do see your stats in the other thread which show he was not the same player at SS or 2b (which is a recent sample, sure), and its valid but I still embrace positional versatility

150/6, I will be able to convince myself is 150/5 with a free year tacked on....I dont think I would cringe. 180/6 and im getting nervous.

I agree. Im offering pitchers cuz we have too many. Harrison + Dobbins + Fajardo Why Fajardo ? Because I just now learned hes a dude, never heard that name before. But I see him on sox prospects and its like finding a $20 in your pocket.

Why is that my choice? If you are asking if I would trade Duran for Marte - thats a separate question. And the answer is yes. But hes not the first guy I offer. But my point was that I dont think its wise move Duran for the purposes of freeing up 8m. My "choice" is rotations infield/outifeld/and DH Sometimes cedanne plays infield, sometimes masa plays first, sometimes duran DHs. I embrace versatility. I believe positions are for dinosaurs. They are barely a thing in basketball, and I think baseball is moving in the same directon. You want to find a way to get your best 9 bats on the field, but you do NOT prioritize ideal defensive alignment. Cedanne plays some infield, Duran DHs some, Masa plays some first, guys move around depending on who is hot, who is healthy, if its a righty or lefty pitcher. As long as our defense isnt awful, I really dont care.

I think Im a little less hesitant to trade Mayer than you are, but my point with this post right now, is that I prefer to talk about the high level strategies than the actual players. When I say theres a time to focus on a compete window, Im not thinking super specfiically. To some extent sure, so like when I see people multiple prospects in one category player x AND one of tolle, early, harrison and im like those three are individuals and im way more willing to part with harrison than tolle (for example). And certainly when it comes to players we're getting. I have my dudes around the league who i especially like. Maybe becasue I had em on a fantasy team, maybe because i like playing with them in the show, maybe because they are my style of hitter (attack mistakes) or pitcher. But I appreciate how you are willing to converse from a more philosophical level. I like how you can talk about concepts (with or without specifics). I like talking about baseball players, but I LOVE talking about baseball philosophies and concepts and evolutions

cuz he has "it"

"all in" is not really an expression I use for a few reasons. Mainly because it can mean different things to different people. I would prefer to be less black/white. Im a live in the gray kind of guy. If I think we have a very good core, I am more willing (than I would otherwise be) to sign a guy to an 8 year deal, who I think will be overpaid in those final 2 years. Im more willing to make a deadline trade or an offseason trade I do not want to trade off everyone, I just want to be say 75% focused on the present when I think we are "in a window" ; whereas, if I feel we arent in a window, I may be more focused on the long term outlook.

My concern is that you are taking this personally, and that was not my intent. Just a vibe Im getting from this rebuttal. I am not sure if you were on boston.com and apologies if you were as Hugh and Im not remembering. But Im new here but ive been fan posting for 20 years. And what Im talking about is the people getting all giddy presenting a depth chart 4-5 years down the line. All homegrown. And I dont mind that. But some of these depth charts were like (in 2002) a 2005 OF of Ellsbury, Westmoreland, Wily Mo. And im like wheres manny? And they are like what would you rather have in 2004 Manny making $x as he declines or Willy Mo!!!! Ready to move on from Manny. (Maybe these names arent 100% right, maybe willy mo wasnt a thing till after, but the gist) Okay, but then 2005 came and these people are suddenly ready to move away from the dudes they were giddy about last time, because now they cant wait for 2010 with an OF of x,y,z (all current prospects in 2005). Then 2010 comes and its I cant wait for 2015 because x,y,z. You bring up Roman. First of all, Roman is kind of an exception because he was #1 prospect so thats irregular / special and the stuff Im talking about (that bothers me) is regular. Im not saying never look down the line. Im embrace cyclicality. Yes, we should have been focusing on 2025 in 2023. Thats just logical. Because thats where we were in the cycle. And if you are thinking well, I think our best years are in front of us. And I really dont want to be signing guys who are going to be drags when Roman is hitting his prime. I know its been 6 years, but I honestly think its not time to go after those expensive free agents. If this is your mindset, okay. Im fine with it. My point is that if we flash forward and its now 2029. And Roman is a monster (in a good way). At that point, I dont want to start reading well we cant sign this free agent because while he'll be good for the next 7 years, it will take a 10 year contract and im worried about those back end years. Or even worse. I dont want to read omg i cant wait until 2034 because omg look at this next crop of 21 year olds!! I wont be mad but ill roll my eyes and think how long did we jsut wait for roman? My only point is that there is a time to prioritize the short term. To act like the window is now. Whether the window is now , I can understand an argument that it isnt (Anthony is 21) and I can understand an argument that it is (I cant comfortably assume Crochet will be this awesome and healthy) For years Ive literally said buy or sell, I dont care, jsut not both. Now I find myself wanting to buy and the reason is not wanting to waste any of Crochet's window.

I agree and we dont have the resources that the sox do (up-close look, experts, doctors, deep-dives into the health of his arm). Its certainly possible that they had good reason to consider him a good bet for 2026 at one point in time and no longer do. Personally, Im in the dark on this one.

Yes, while I dont hate the trade, my issue with it or at least how it has been presented (by a few people) as a money-saver is that Duran at 8m is adding to the offense at very good value. So i have a hard time believing we'll be able to stretch that 8m saved far enough to compensate for even the loss of Duran, never-mind painting the freeing up of Durans money as a way to "improve" the offense.

Ones that will accept short term contracts.

I have been beating the drum, since before I knew of your existence (the boston.com days) that the best approach to roster building is cyclical. (Not to imply I was ahead of the curve or that you are parroting me, or that I deserve a point - I dont sports forum scorekeep) but I want to do more than just like this post, I want to vocalize or type-out (you cant hear my vocals) my extreme agreement with the bold. There is a time to prioritize the future nad there is a time to prioritize the present. This is like my only rigid (uncompromising belief) I could even be convinced that our window isnt 100% open (Im not there currently). But the point is that its possible to convince me that we are not quite yet in the "win now" phase, but you just cannot (well, not you but you know what I mean)....One cannot convince me that it is appropriate / strategic to always be looking 5 years down the road. My concern with the posters who in my opinion go a bit too far on prospect excitement, loving the youth, always thinking about prospects, penciling in our 2030 lineup and being like OMG!!....My concern is that in my experience, and this goes back to the boston.com days - my concern is that Ive just heard it all before. There are some people who in 2010 presented an all homegrown lineup for 2014 and were like omg this team is gonna be soooo good, then in 2014 has a 2018 lineup filled with all new homegrowns (omg , this team is gonna be sooooo good), then in 2018 showing 2022. And its not as clean/consistent as Im implying, but its certainly true that some people are so excited for the "next group", and the problem is that when that "next group" arrives, those people are on to the next "next group". Someone said something about how posters have "shiny new object" syndrome when we express wanting that next free-agent. But I honestly see "shiny new object" syndrome more with the "work in the kids" crowd than I see it from the "sign free-agents" crowd.

I think it would take 14 mins of practice for Cedanne to go from 0 to the best shortstop of the decade. And I may be overshooting it.

I just dont understand why not ss (if 2b)

so my issue here is that casas has been at fort myers this whole time, which means he has been with the team (or at least the offseason version of the team) , so to me this makes the lack of a meaningful update bad. Every day I hear about Tatum. I havent really heard one thing about Casas, and if he was swinging a bat, lifting weights, jogging, we would hear. The fact that there is still no timetable.... Anything you get out of casas is gravy at this point.

Yeah, not quite following what you mean - are you saying contreras is a top 50 hitter and so i should be more willing to make the trade that i called an overpay? If thats what you meant, sure - but i think that boston may be trying to get money eaten cuz we cant afford players at market value prices, we need subsidies.

“He’s been in Fort Myers the whole time after the season,” Cora said. “That’s great for a young guy to know what he needs to do to compete. He’s done that. Hopefully we can get him heathy.” As for a timetable, Cora didn’t give one. “There’s no timetable right now,” he said. “We just gotta get him right, and hopefully he can contribute next year.”

Bryce Harper? Or is that going to lead to another plane altercation like when eck got accosted on the team plane? Or are we smart enough to keep Bryce away from pap. Or maybe just let em go? Baseball needs a fight. Granted thats not the one I had in mind. Who you taking in that one? Feel like Bryce if he can get in close but thats no guarantee cuz pap has a good amount of reach advantage. Or the "extension"* *remember we were talking the other day how they always make up new names for stuff to try to sound smart? Like how they use to say "releases the ball closer to the plate" now they say "has good extension". In basketball they call it wingspan. In boxing they call it reach. How many different words/phrases for "long arms" do we really need?

I can solve our #2 pitcher woes: 1) trade duran for cliff lee and 2) trade bello for a time machine. Get 2011 cliff lee.

Also: Cliff Lee

Yes we are heading to THE (financial) cliff, coming out of A cliff (bar) and headingto ANOTHER cliff(ord the big red dog)