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I’m still waiting for a move they make this offseason that makes them better at a spot than last year

Sheets was a 2nd round pick who made a steady, albeit deliberate, progress in the minors. His lights came on, when the stage lights were off: at the ATF in 2020. We heard murmurs of his leap 2020, and then when the lights came back on in 2021, we saw it. His OBP was solid; Palka's was 298. Sheets advanced through our system; Palka had already been through two other systems, released by the last. He's one of the few LH hitters we have; he absolutely raked last year. The idea that "he has no future with this org." is just beyond me. Sure he may be a platoon hitter. So what -plenty of winning orgs platoon. Yes, he may be a Palka - it's more than worth the wait to find out. "Selling high" (there's always a first time, I guess) still won't be particularly bountiful. And another, largely coincidental and "apropos of nothing", the Sox haven't had a 2nd round pick who ended up worth a hoot in 30 years. Maybe we finally do.

There’s our outfielder

Get me a big bat for RF and a Manaea and I'm feeling great.

You guys both need help.

Just save your hourly Sox meltdowns for when all the free agents sign elsewhere. No one knows anything right now

Ordering McDonald's for Lynn.

Either La Russa has gone blind or he’s helping Hahn negotiate via the media.

Very annoying how much draft capital and other assets sox spent in 2017-2019 for relief pitcher profiles, only to be using SO much of their position player savings on the bullpen. Sox are pound wise and penny foolish and it drives me nuts.

It's possible the Twins and Guardians see the Sox dumpster diving and think the division can be had.

Good riddance to Cruz and Donaldson. But seriously Gary Sanchez going back in the trade? Huh?

Since the departure of Jim Thome, we've been chasing the LH unicorn in free agency with zero results. Now perhaps we find one costing us pennies, but yet he has no place here according to some.

they look happy about something probably the big velasquez deal

Good grief someone put a padlock on the dumpster already.

Conforto or we riot.

I don’t know, I guess I was expecting too much for the roster to be improved. A roster that was embarrassed in the 1st round of the playoffs and had every weakness exploited for a national audience. Maybe it’ll be different this season….

Someone dared RH to field a team made entirely of utility guys, first basemen, and relievers. So, a challenge

Good depth piece flyer. I like these types of pickups, but I fear the Sox tend to see them as reliable solutions instead of insurance policies with upside.

Can we get a RF today? Maybe a Piñeda signing as well?

He didn’t clarify. Just so he can say he was right either way!

No it means the eeyore gang is loud

Alright, thinking through where the roster currently stands, here are the goals I had in mind for us coming into the off-season: Improve left-handed balance of the lineup ⛔️ Acquire a #3 caliber or better starting pitcher ⛔️ Strengthen the right side of our bullpen ✅ Add power to the lineup where possible ⛔️ Add some sort of infielder to address 2B ✅ Enhance our team defense where possible ⚠️ Acquire backup catcher / add catching depth ⛔️ So far we have made four moves this offseason that will add ~$26.5M towards our 2022 payroll. Of the seven needs outlined above, we have only addressed two and a half of them. Assuming Kimbrel is eventually moved, our RH setup men coming into the offseason would have been Ruiz & Burr which is obviously a bit terrifying. As such, Graveman & Kelly were both essential additions and put us in a much better spot. Unfortunate we had to spend a combined ~$16.5M on them, but that’s what happens your system can’t pump out cheap relievers fast enough. Regardless, I’m very glad we made these moves. The problem I have is spending $11M combined on Leury & Harrison. Our biggest two needs heading into the offseason IMO was adding left-handed balance and acquiring a #3 caliber or better starter. Yes, we needed to address 2B and it didn’t have to be anything crazy, but it was one of two spots where we could have easily added a left-handed bat and instead we added another low power RH hitter, one who is somewhat redundant with a guy we already had in Leury. Given our broader needs, I’d much rather have Eduardo Escobar at 2B and use Romy Gonzalez as our utility guy for basically the same price or gone with Brad Miller as a cheaper 2B platoon option if wanted to keep Leury’s versatility. At this point, the success of the offseason will come down to two things. First we must offload Kimbrel’s salary and get something of value (reliever, catcher, etc.). Second, we must use those savings to sign Conforto. He adds left-handed balance, he adds power, and is a large improvement defensively over the Sheets/Vaughn combo in RF. If we have to pivot to Schwarber to address our left-handed balance and power needs, then our defensive upgrades are limited to 2B. Can we overcome that? Sure, but having a black hole in RF is far from ideal. The one piece of good news at the moment is the Sox seem determined to add another starting pitcher. Whether they have the ammo to acquire a legit #3 and one with more than a year of control remains to be seen, but it won’t be from a lack of trying and they will no doubt add some SP depth. I just pray they don’t go the scrapheap route here and add someone who can be impactful, even if only a rental.

I would love to know what fan bases for the Mariners, Cards, Brewers and Padres are saying right now. They are all possible contenders who haven’t done anything since the lockout ended.

He probably called NCAA to encourage them to put Michigan in the tourney

Sox have been extremely active, just not very exciting additions unfortunately

I know it’s premature and it still sounds like there is hope for the Sox to add to the rotation and maybe more, but let me complain about the RF situation for a second. Last winter Hahn brought in Eaton when Brantley was available, in 2020, he brought in Mazara when Castellanos was available. In 2019, they could have spent the big bucks and signed Bryce Harper, but opted to give Palka and Leury a majority of playing time. In 2018 it was Nicky Delmonico and the list continues… Hahn also says every winter that they will always look to add at the trade deadline if needed. Well it will always be “needed” because the Sox constantly go bargain bin shopping for right fielders, the one constant hole on this team since Jermaine Dye. For ONCE spend some $$ and fill the damn hole. At this point I don’t give a damn if it’s Conforto or Castellanos, but it’s safe to say, a premium RF addition is LONG OVERDUE!!!

The big bats are all still out there. Grab one.

I'm going to scream if we get outbid by Colorado for savage hitters.

As much as we want to poo poo spending money on bullpens, they tend to be key in winning October baseball games.

Leaving no stone unturned. How very positive of you

It’s what happens when you think too highly of guys like Leury and Engel

If he doesn't bounce back to 2019 level, there is a real chance his option is declined.

Coop will fix him

For anyone like me that was wondering if Tim Anderson had a mystery injury, it's the suspension from the Tigers series at the end of the season.

Let’s go!

Again, you are missing the underlying reason why you think they are not allocated to your expectations. When your rotation is mostly young and cheap, you aren't going to have a heavy allocation there. When your line up is young and cheap at the typically most expensive to fill positions such as SS, 3B, CF, etc, again, you won't have a heavy allocation there either. That essentially leaves the pen to spend on. And they did. They also spent to see guys like Grandal and to extend Lynn.

Wait if THE DODGERS were in on Harrison, that has to make it a good signing now, right?

I don't see this org ever signing a guy like Conforto when they're already stacked. I could've seen the Sox signing him in 2018 or something, which means I expect him to go to Arizona or Miami rather than a team like ours. Conforto and Castellanos seem to be marginal improvements over the RF collective, and that improvement is probably purely defensive.

The Sox have the core of their line up filled with young cost controlled players. Where others would have expensive LF/SS/3B/SP/CF, the Sox have cheaper stars. This allowed the Sox to use that money to spend other places. He's quite literally discovered that the Sox did a successful rebuild and lockin of their young stars and is mad about it.

I’m eight hours late to the party, but this exactly the type of posted I needed after reading through nine pages of Harrison talk.

Both. I like Kelly's attitude, he's fun to root for and he'll fit in with the organization. Those are some positives, even if I think he's more likely to be a 3.75-4 ERA guy next year; which would be serviceable enough. Harrison just makes no sense. Same complaint I had about Cesar when they got him but even worse. It's more likely that Leury has a better year than Harrison which is really really bad.

Can't get over how bad this move is. Joe Kelly makes some sense to an extent and is a potentially quality player. Josh Harrison is replaceable by Romy Gonzalez. I'd say it's greater than 45% that Romy would outperform Harrison if they played the same amount next year.

And that’s the problem. We’re spending $11M on two guys who mostly do the same thing plus have a younger guy in Romy who mostly does the same thing. Like we can’t even combine Harrison & Leury to form a good 2B platoon. And now we have one less spot to address our weakness against RHP. I like the Kelly move, but this one is pretty frustrating.

I miss D. Jimenez

Lulz @ FO trying to save face by insisting on a real return for Kimbrel. It's a sunk cost. It's over. You lost. It was a disastrous transaction and he's an anvil tied around our necks. The return is getting out from under the salary. There will be no other "return", Rick. Put your ego aside and get some damn savings to spend on a savage before It's too late. I'm sick and tired of their damn pride getting in the way.

The funny thing is I guarantee other team fan bases hate their bullpen and wish their GM spent money on bullpen guys like the WSox.

The Sox just spent 13 million; you're now pushing their payroll north of 200 million before a Conforto or outfield move. This team has done nothing to prove to me in the past that they're going to push that threshold, and I don't think they unload Kimbrel without taking some player with at least 50% of that contract back.

Since 2019, Kelly has pitched 11.1 innings in the post-season and given up 10 runs. edit: I will say, compared to the Josh Harrison move this is like signing Babe Ruth.