Sarava

Wow, so now we're whiners if we want them to sign Gerrit Cole? It does feel like Sox management looks at their fans as the enemy. I know Steve isn't part of management, but he seems to of taken on the role as their mouthpiece.

There's a third kind of Sox fan. One that wants a better hitter in RF than Jason Heyward is. That proposed deal nukes the Sox's financial flexibility, while not adding premium talent.

Agree. We aren't trading any of our core young studs for a 1 year rental. How does anyone think this is a good idea?

It is bizarre to hear some of these things. They've been given more fan support than they've earned, to be frank about it. You'd think they would be grateful.

The Shark trade looks bad now. At the time, the whole country declared the Sox the winner of the winter meetings that year. While I'll hope for better results, that's the exact kind of aggressiveness I'm hoping to see this winter. I don't want them settling for average players.

Eh, that's just a small part that goes away then. It's the first year of arb for a few guys. Its not like they'll be getting 20 mil per. Oh and LOL - I see you posted the same thing at HF,

But they've never been in this position before. So much talent and so much payroll flexibility at the same time. Unless you count last winter. But we all knew they weren't quite ready to compete a year ago. They are ready now with the right moves.

I know everyone around here is expecting the Sox to be 'on the cheap' once again this winter. You can see it by the roster, trades and free agent signings they keep proposing. But I'm going to hold out hope that they shock us. Jerry did it once before in signing Joey Belle. He can do it again by signing Strasburg or Cole.

Everything does't have to be black or white. There are shades of gray in the world. The Sox spending big money this off-season will greatly improve the chances of winning a World Series. But that doesn't mean they can't win one without spending big cash. There's a lot of talent floating around in this franchise now. One wouldn't be wise to have no expectations, or to give up on them already.

It all goes back to him being cheap. He doesn't want to spend like the Ricketts do or the Red Sox do. But he wants to win on his terms and dollars. That formula probably adds up to a 2nd place team in his head. But it's nuts to say he actually shoots for 2nd place. As CWS said above, he is risk adverse, but that just spins off him being cheap.

With the Cubs on a gentle slide backwards right now, the Sox have a golden opportunity to grab the bull by the horns this winter and take alot of the baseball attention for this city. I really hope they do it. And we should keep in mind, the Sox have 'won' the winter meetings a couple of times in recent years. there was the year signing LaRoche and Robertson and trading for Shark...then the start of the rebuild with the Sale ad Eaton trades. I think they do like the attention big splashes at the winter meetings brings. I'm hoping they go for it again.

I love Moncada, but he's also the kind of player that always gets nicked up and misses some games here or there. You might not see a lot of 155+ game seasons out of him.

That's where signing JD Martinez to a 4 year deal might make sense. It pushes us up beyond 130 right now, but by the time Giolito, Moncada,Robert, etc. are all starting to really get paid, his money will fall off the books. And let's be honest, JD Martinez is a massive improvement not only over the DH debacle the Sox had in 2019, but your trio that would split Catching and DH duties.

Funny, Cole hasn't lost since the Sox beat him in May. But for him not coming here. I've always assumed it is because we are too cheap. What makes anyone think he wouldn't want to come here?

This doesn't go anywhere near far enough filling the DH/RF gaps for my tastes. I do like Wheeler as a fallback, assuming our team is too cheap for the top guns.

It's frustrating that we're all resigned to the reality that our team is too cheap to go after top notch talent. With the lowest committed payroll in baseball, plus living in the 3rd largest city in the country - why are Cole and Strasburg off limits?

I admit that it doesn't bother me as much that we missed out on him as it did about 7 months ago. I still would expect Many to improve going forward, but yeah if you're a Padres fan, there probably is some reason for concern.

I would be on board with this off-season. Though I think Wheeler gets more than 4/70.

Betts has already said he is going to free agency. So are we willing to give up guys like Giolito, Kopech, Robert, Vaughn...for a guy that very likely is gone after 1 season? To me this is an easy answer - no.

"The money will be there" with a photo of Gerrit Cole photoshopped with a Sox hat on.

I know Boras won't take that. But for a guy who will turn 30 before the allstar break next year, it's hard to imagine anyone offering much more than that. As much as I get on the Sox for being cheap - I wouldn't want them offering Rendon more than that.

Not sure. But all the guys that matter for the future of this team seemed to progress very well. I'd be surprised if they pushed him out.

Yep, and like 2017, the Sox will pick 11th and the Angels 10th. They got Adell last time, and we got Burger. Let's hope fortunes are reversed this next time.

Wasn't he a huge part of Moncada's emergence this year? Do they really want to go there?

Honestly I have no idea when Andrew will get here. He needs to dominate A ball before I start making plans for him in Chicago. Another area we might disagree on (not sure) is Nick Madigral. I think he is so opposite of many players in baseball these days, and teams really need guys like him. Watch the Cubs and how their offense gets shutdown so easily because every guy on their team swings for the fences every friggin at-bat. I think/hope he's the kind of guy that can help us have a more consistent offense in the years ahead.