UtahSox

That sucks…. Wish our beloved had its highest payroll ever.

They could have bylaws that they have to uphold? Payroll being a max certain % of Revenue etc etc. we don’t know what we don’t know. Minority owners can sometimes dictate limited Amount of control/ checks and balances. what’s interesting to me, is John Henry has enough money to last him several lifetimes, even with the private jet, private yacht, etc. To me it seems like it would be more about his legacy. We know baseball is his biggest passion, outside of music?? He named his entire sports group after the baseball team he owns. It’s strange to me that he doesn’t want to win more with his crown jewel.

What’s crazy is we also have this really good manager, who by almost all accounts is very well respected by players/ FO people in this league. How long till he gets an offer to fix the Mets, take the Phillies over the others top etc. and he takes it? Look at this offseason, Instead of coming out of pocket and signing Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman, served up on a platter..,.. we’ve lost countless prospects, trying to mix and match our way to a championship Dynasty team. That’s just not how they’re usually built. On a separate note, I’ve been gone for the last week. Have we confirmed that Alex Bregman has a five or six year deal on the table?

Now do this exercise with Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Bluejays only….. in 7 seasons what is average? How many WS appearances is avg? Championship series is avg? How many do Red Sox have?

The framework of the argument is wrong because averages are over 30 teams who gives a sh** about the 30 team MLB. The Red Sox should only compare themselves to 6 teams right now. And of those seven teams, is two playoff appearances in seven seasons average??? abso-freaking-lutely it’s average at best. The Red Sox have very little in common with the Tampa Bay rays /Miami Marlins of the world etc. IMO comparison should have their data removed.

This is one thing I strongly dislike some Red Sox fans do from time to time- I refuse to compare the Boston Red Sox to the 30 team MLB. We should have very little in common with Rays, Rockies, Royals, A’s of MLB They should and MUST always be compared to the others in the big 4 (Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees) lately you could be kind and add (Phillies, Mets, Bluejays) but at worst we should compare everything the Red Sox do vs these others in top7. It’s interesting to watch the Blue Jays starting to carry the same kind of aura the Red Sox had from about 2000 to 2018. It feels like we’re watching a team transition into a national brand, with revenue accelerating quickly and momentum building on and off the field. If I were John Henry, sitting on $100+ million in additional revenue and a roster on the brink of breaking wide open, I’d be aggressive. I’d go get Bichette and Bregman. Then I’d trade Tristan Casas, Marcelo Mayer, and Campbell or Ceddanne Rafaela to land frontline pitching — whether that’s Alcantara with Cabrera, Ragans with Bubic, or separate deals for someone like Peralta or Skubal. What you can’t do is allow Toronto to spend heavily, succeed, and grow unchecked. You want them to feel the sting of going all-in and still falling short. If the Blue Jays fully ascend on this trajectory, the AL East won’t just be the toughest division — it’ll be the most punishing path to the playoffs in baseball, by a wide margin.

Funny how they added 2 right handed bats that they needed that each hit 36+ home runs and 100+ RBI’s both are right in their prime. And swapped essentially Baz for Rodriguez (always injured) and are still not done. And we marginalize their improvements. If we added Baz for Houck, and Ward+ Alonso to RS we’d be over the moon. They still have all the young core Henderson, beavers, Basallo, Holladay, rautschman, westburg… I don’t know much about their FO but that was a master class on how to maneuver in a “championship window”. AL East will be a nightmare.

If you think Houston would even entertain this, I have some beautiful oceanfront property here in Utah to sell you.

The idea of trading Duran for Paredes plus a reliever from Houston is interesting, and I don’t hate it. I can see Paredes at third base working. Is he as good as Bregman? No… and you’d unquestionably lose a lot of intangibles, leadership for Anthony and others as well. That said, if Bregman or Bichette truly aren’t realistic options (can’t believe I’m writing this sh*t) then a deal like this could make sense — but only if it’s paired with a legit SP2 signing. In this scenario, you almost have to go out and sign Ranger Suárez or Framber Valdez to compensate for the downgrade from last year at 3B. What is becoming clear to me is the idea that this team can meaningfully improve only through trades without eventually gutting the farm system. Every “controlled, cost-efficient” upgrade comes at the expense of multiple prospects, and that bill adds up fast. This is why the Yankees, Dodgers, 2004-2018 Red Sox were always in contention. They didn’t mortgage the future for the now. And they always spent in the now to stay in the window. That’s really the core issue. There’s no scenario where this roster takes a true step forward without either 1. spending real money or 2. accepting real farm depletion. If ownership won’t spend, then the latter becomes inevitable — and that drastically shortens the championship window. Or maybe I’m being forced to confront a third reality… Story time: When I was in high school, I played on a competitive basketball team made up of players from four different schools. One guy on the team was loud, aggressive, muscled up, and honestly kind of a douche. He was by far the least skilled player we had. If plus-minus had been tracked, I have no doubt he would’ve been dead last — and not even close. Most of us didn’t like playing with him. He took unnecessary chances on D, constantly forced you to ad lib from your assignment to cover for him… He was not a very skilled offensive player. But to his credit, he figured something out early: the coach valued guys who “cared loudly” Yelling. Emotional swings. Hustle. Fighting. Physicality. “Wanting it.” So even though he wasn’t good, the coach kept playing him. One day at practice we were scrimmaging, and there was a loose ball headed out of bounds. It was obvious to everyone on the court — myself included — that the ball was gone. There was no angle, Usain Bolt wasn’t going to be able to save it, no chance anyone was getting within 10 feet of it. But this guy took off after it anyway. He sprinted, launched himself, and jumped straight into a garbage can on the sideline, cutting his forehead open above his eye. I’m not exaggerating when I say he was at least 12-15 feet away from the ball when it hit the ground out of bounds. Everyone was thinking the same thing: “Why the hell did he jump? That was weird??” Practice stopped. He went to get stitches. And the coach — completely blinded by what he thought was “hustle” — made the rest of us run ladders, yelling that we needed to be more like him. The guy ended up starting the next few games because of it. That moment always stuck with me. Because it taught me that sometimes it’s not about outcomes. It’s about performative effort for the person/ group you’re trying to appease. Which brings me to John Henry. By all accounts, he’s a very smart man. He knows what it takes to win at the MLB level — he’s done it before. So the question becomes: is this ownership group actually trying to win, or is this really just performative effort to keep Red Sox nation at bay?? Is the front office just jumping into the garbage can 12 feet from the ball? Time will tell, but if we don’t add at all by free agency, I think I’ve come to my conclusion.

you specifically said “you could logically trade one of those guys for a prospect haul to restock your farm‘ To which my rebuttal was I think if you’re in a championship window…. (Breslows words) You don’t trade a gold glove center fielder, or a 4.7 WAR guy to restock the farm system. You use those chips to make the team considerably better. And if that trade isn’t available, you keep the 4 OFers, play Rafaela at SS/2b when those players have an off Day, with Duran in Center. Then have Duran DH 60-70% of time. That will help team win much more than trading Duran for a 2029 left fielder. Duran > Yoshida…. So unless a trade helps team now, you don’t make that trade.

Not if you’re trying win a World Series in 2026. You don’t trade a gold glove CFer or 4.7 WAR player for 2029 prospects in the midst of a World Series run. You need value back. I think you’re gonna need all 4 OFers. Unless it makes you drastically better.

Much rather have Contreras for 17m than Munetaka for 17m. Right handed, much better defensively, much higher basement….. Other than we lost Dobbins in deal but you can’t have 30 pitchers on the 40 man. Good move by Breslow.

Where you seeing that?

Yeah I like this move, looks like we gave up Dobbins, Fajardo and another guy I hadn’t heard of. looks like 8m in cash as well. How does that cash work vs AAV? So he is owed 41.5m over 2 seasons can we cut his AAV down to 17.25m?

By far the biggest thing would be push ownership to spend! Via business plans, communication and vision. Not trading for 62 pitchers and none of them w/ TOTR stuff.

I think I’d rather keep Duran than trade him for Lodolo in this deal. crochet, Gray, Bello, Oviedo/Sandoval/Tolle/Early LF Anthony 2b Marte 1b Diaz RF Abreu SS Story CF Duran DH Casas/ Yoshida or Romy c Narvaez 3B Mayer (hope he isn’t a platoon if he is… multiple prominent Talksox contributors will have some explaining to do.)

Section 10 said it…. Not me, their sources said that they both project best as DH’s which is part of why their markets haven’t been hot.

DD went to a WS, an NLCS, (2) NLDS and played the Dodgers tough in playoffs last year. Phillies have a 300m salary, way less revenue than RS…… and have had waaaaaaay more success since Dombrowski got there, and he has some really good prospects as well. . So yeah like I said we need some Dombrowski energy right now.

Per section 10 they have scouts who have followed Japanese hitters, and their thoughts were it wouldnt translate in MLB at 3b for either Okamoto or Munetaka. And that both will be poor at 1b, that most likely be destined for DH.

I’ve seen this a few times… but had never recognized how little we ran into luxury tax…. An organization running into the luxury tax by 91k. Is that weird? Feels intentional so as to give excuses for not running salary up later.

Section 10 said that Okamoto might be a really poor defensive 1b. That he actually projects best at DH.

Other teams, I think make more sense than the Tampa Bay Rays: I think the Mariners would be a killer fit if Dbacks want close to MLB prospects, not mlb ready…. Dodgers could trade Glasnow for Marte if they want pitching now? Maybe the Padres doesn’t make sense… but AJ Preller is crazy man? KC could form best middle infield in baseball, have pitchers to trade? A month ago I thought it was really important for the Red Sox to sign Marte before AB2 for negotiating purposes. Now I think with Alonso off the table. (Guy I wanted most) The inverse is now true. We should sign Bregman first. Tell everybody “we are very comfortable and happy with Mayer at second base” or that “we are willing to sign both Bichette and AB2” Then trade for Marte as DBacks leverage is diminished….. maybe Mayer+ Witherspoon for Marte. lastly, I recognized my thoughts are all over the place thanks for reading. If you got this far, I guess this is kind of par for the course for talksox?

I saw on Twitter that the Rays are still main vocal competition for Marte? I just don’t logically understand why they would go after him? They are clearly the least talented team in the AL East, and are clearly getting rid of their veteran talent, and punting on trying to compete in the AL East in 2026 through 2027 for sure. So what would a Marte trade do for them just doesn’t make any sense? I also acknowledge any team could jump in at any point. You never know what’s going on, but it just doesn’t feel like the Rays would be trading for Marte? Anyone else have any insight?

I’m interested in Murakami’s market…, he has a Monday deadline… there has been very little conversation about him. He might be the 2025 Bregman contract Beta Breslow does this year. Where he signs a 3yr 45m deal, with opt outs after each year.

Been reading/ listening through all this sh*t/ twitter for the last day…. Good hell this organization needs some Dave Dombrowski/ AJ Preller type leadership right now. Paralysis by analysis. Just DO SOMETHING Beta Breslow. I won’t criticize, but grab a bat and get in the box and swing. Free Agency will never work with Beta Breslows logic value models, because market dictates value, and Beta Breslow scared of shadow types will never compete. Probably the worst thing that ever happened to him, was getting lucky on AB2 last year. Breslow would be the perfect general manager for the Colorado Rockies. GTFOH with this beta thinking and the effing Boston Red Sox.