poppysox

Preaching to the choir. I fear for baseballs long term survival.

I agree.

It would be very helpful to find takers for Leury, Diekman, and Kelly. They represent $20 million that is virtually worthless.

Yep.

Interesting!

I agree that a floor is needed at approximately$150 million.

Agree with you 100%. My issue is simply...it's not good for the long-term well-being of the sport. I would love Elon Musk to buy the WS and that would be the AL version of the Mets. It's a shame there isn't 30 of those types to go around. Maybe Leury could be a 20 million per year guy if that was the case.

I fear the Walmart type situation. Walmart comes to town and all the little businesses go under. Works great for the big guy...not so much for the little guy. Most baseball owners have personal wealth ranging from 1 billion to 4 billion. Cohen has wealth 5 to 20 times greater than his peers. Not exactly a fair fight. I don't want to turn the game into a battle of who can afford the biggest payroll. That's not good for the game, or the fan. I guess a league of 10 teams would work great for the players who make the cut, but two thirds of players will be left with no major league team to play for.

Yep...what we need is a Cohen over in the AL. We can open each season with the World Series between the Mets and their AL counterparts. Then just play pickup games between everyone else. I never thought baseball would be dead before me.

I'll second that!

Yeah...that's a real equalizer.

Then at the least have a higher bottom cap.

True...but the variance between the extremes is obviously leading to half the league can't compete.

I don't think Hahn is the GM in a traditional manner. We have a 3-piece GM committee with JR, KW, and RH. Rick is actually the contracts guy with KW being the talent evaluator and JR of course is the banker. They are all in this together so can't blame any one of them.

The Met spend over 7+ times the money to spend as some of their rivals...and baseball claims to want competitive balance. A hard floor and a hard cap are needed before the game is given up for dead.

It's very hard to separate Hahn from the three headed monster that is the FO. I cut Hahn some slack because it isn't easy to say no to your bosses who sign your check.

If you are going to spend $200 million there is no reason not to try to assemble a team with a chance. I believe TLR just sucked the life out of this team with his don't run hard, play Leury every day, and naps during the game. I'm thinking Pedro is going to pump some life back into this disappointing team. He certainly has commented on being aware of the problem. Hahn has until ST to fix the known weaknesses and keep me from turning on him.

In my opinion, Moncada was one of the people Pedro was referring to when he observed that it was obvious the Sox didn't always look ready to play. I have a hunch that Moncada, Robert, and Eloy among others will have some needed attitude adjustment with the new coaching staff.

I hope you are wrong but fear you are right. My hope is we fill our openings with some obviously great players, and we all feel ashamed we ever doubted. Yeah...I know this isn't what most poster think is probable.

Of the names we have seen mentioned...Kepler is still my #1 favorite. Does lots of things this team needs.

Excellent observation.

I agree with the points you make. However, there are many players who might be available that would greatly fit the bill. I am trying to keep the faith and wait to judge the offseason until it's over.

Agreed! Also, concentrate on strengthening the real problems that are RF and 2nd while trusting the new manager and staff to have a pulse.

My take is that PG is the real deal, and the coaching staff is the best since the Al Lopez era. Pedro seems to have known that the team frequently looked flat and disinterested. The manager change will make a BIG difference IMO.

That would be giving them the benefit of the doubt.