YourWhatHurts

It's just money. We could still go after Marte anyway. And Blackmon is definitely an improvement over what we have been working with. As far as an "answer," I'm not really sure we are going to find that during this trade deadline. Maybe there is an outside shot of the Sox doing something with 2 of Carson Kelly/Zac Gallen/Ketel Marte at the expense of Vaughn + Crochet/Cease, plus maybe Mardgial, Collins, etc. There are a couple of potential deals you could throw out there that might make it worth trading Vaughn + Crochet. But I don't think we will really get a solution unless we put those guys out there. Especially since Y2Jimmy said he thinks even Haniger would cost Crochet. If we are trying to improve the team now, and only spend money, and not forfeit much in the way of prospects, Blackmon should be on the board for sure.

I think the only real "disability" holding Benetti back his is total inability to leave a potential pun sitting there alone, or to leave a potential 90's pop culture reference alone. He must stay up all night watching MeTV/YouTV/whatever all those channels are. Or maybe he has a photographic memory of the 90s. Whatever. I bet he has an entire notebook on Suzanne Somers / Three's Company jokes. Probably an entire binder on that show. I wonder if he was ever cool enough to watch The Fresh Prince. Probably not.

I also loved seeing the old footage of Frank at the plate. Mercy! A lot like MJ, I truly believe that in watching Frank in his prime, I have seen the absolute best and greatest, and most intimidating Sox hitter I will ever see in my life, no matter how long I live. I've seen the best, and everything that comes after will just be lesser. Frank was the scariest human being I have ever seen stand in a batters box. And LOL at young Frank, mercy! What a specimen. He's seriously like some shit out a video game that doesn't actually appear in real life. Frank is welcome on my Sox broadcasts any time he wishes.

Maybe the dorf is thinking he will get some $$ back reselling all that popcorn he had his jabroni security guard confiscate for him last night. Whatever the case, if the Sox are willing to do take on Blackmon potentially, that would be a big lift to the team. I would probably try to do Eaton + Marshall + fringe prospect for Blackmon + cash to kind of get out of a little bit of that extra money owed to Blackmon. I think that's definitely fair for a salary dump. Not a lot of teams will be lining up to take on his contract during this pandemic/post-pandemic season. Escobar also could come with Soria and maybe Calhoun too. If the Sox took on all 3 of those guys, the prospect cost should be very low. Example: Eaton + Marshall + Pilkington for Blackmon (+1 40-man roster spot) Then, Ruiz/Burdi + Sheets + McClure for Escobar + Soria + Calhoun (-1 40-man roster spot)

Not surprising. I'm surprised the security stooge didn't attempt to confiscate their phones to check for pirated media while he was at it. Maybe he did and those kids knew their rights and told him to fuck off.

The Sox don't have a real long man and both Bummer and Heuer have been shit. If the Sox had a true LR bridge guy and the lockdown setup duo they had last year, there would be 2 less players in the pen when Kopech comes back, Foster would be a 6th inning MR and matchup guy, Marshall would be a 1 inning MR and the pen wouldn't suck ass. It's trickle down effect.

That's another hallmark of a reinsdorf organization. That security stooge has no shame. Perfect cap to this shit game.

One of the downsides (and kind of a trial-by-fire good side if you aren't missing so many players) of being a first place team and a contender is that even the lowly teams come to play against you. They want to prove themselves and how good they are against you. So we are kind of like bulletin board material for some of these other teams, meaning that we need to up our game accordingly to be able to put them away.

Umps are checking Kikuchi. They should check his cold sore for herpes cream. He's probably rubbing that all over the ball.

Frank did it way better than either. Okay onto a more serious matter. Every time I hear that dorky Benetti chuckle with the long time space between choke-like laughs (the "ugh-ugh-ugh" one) I am immediately reminded of George McFly laughing at Biff Tanner's bullying "jokes". I cannot be the only one who has seen the "Back to the Future" movies so many times in the past that I immediately think of that. I just wish his broadcast would slap him upside the head and call him McFly when he does that. Every time I hear that laugh I always think, "Are you choking, you idiot?"

Not a chance. Bauer got something like $40+m AAV over the off-season last year ( he will opt out of the 3rd year obviously). Rodon is better than he is. Hard Carl will be getting paid like a muhfukka.

Is the august waiver trade stuff all dead permanently still? There have been so many rule changes over the last 3 or 4 years I can't keep track of them all. I think so but I hope not. If it is gone then they need to bring it back. It was great for baseball IMO and it is especially necessary this year. Sooooo many injuries. Teams will trade for players in July and then those players won't have hamstrings anymore by the end of August.

It's hard to know what other teams are seeing. But remember how few people seemed to recognize players like Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt, etc. We have some good players and probably some nice under-the-radar types, but it doesn't benefit any one of the sellers in baseball to go run their mouths off to the likes of Keith Law or someone else just so it gets published and these players get more recognition. Personally I think we have some nice "safer" arms in Stiever, Lambert, Horn, Dalquist especially, who aren't going to be seen as top-end raw talent guys, but who might all make it in MLB at some point. I bet there are lots of teams looking at those guys. I'm wondering about Lenyn Sosa also. He might be popping up on the radar a bit more now. I will say that every year a player is traded and you go "Who?" And you think the return was really weak until about a year later when you realize that there was a guy down on the farm you didn't really know about who is a hell of a lot better than the scouting reports made it seem he was. I bet we have a few of those guys down there. I know the system is very, very, very weak, but there is still some talent in it.

Calling Adolfo up to the bigs would be like a throwing fireballs to a guy with a paper bat: no contact at all. I was thinking the other day that maybe he turns into kind of a Cornmeal Reyes type but if so it'll probably be at least 1 year too late for us. He has to be on the team next year in order to stay with us and I'm just not sure how we could hold him on the big club. If he was a quality defensive CF he could fit, but he's not. Also it's worth remembering all of those guys the Padres traded away. If they can trade like 3 or 4 formerly highly-touted OFers who can't hit MLB pitching well enough to play for a contending team, we can trade Adolfo. If there is a buyer. Maybe he will end up turning into something with another team, but it almost certainly can't be us. Maybe if he hadn't lost something like 50-60% of his MiLB to injuries (either while on the DL or on the field playing through them) he would be killing it in Charlotte by now, or better.

Frank is great. Frank is also a really cool guy. Jason is such an insufferable dork and with Stoney, Stoney just lets him dork out. But with Frank there it's almost like Jason knows he can't act like such a dork because it'll be so obvious. It's like Jason has upped his maturity level quite a bit just because Frank is sitting there next to him. I also really like hearing Frank root for the team, also without sounding like a total dork. Frank is a good homer Sox fan.

Also the every-other-year "good" version of Javy Vazquez, and Matt Davidson vs. the Royals

Welp, I guess you can take the scumbag out of Pittsburgh, but you can't take the Pittsburgh out of the scumbag. #felipevazquez #starlingmarte #bobnutting etc. Scumbag City

Remember when the Sox made trades with the DBacks like 1-2 times every year? It's been a while.

Wait Marte did that himself? How do we know Marte did that himself?

1) That's a disgusting example of animal cruelty and whoever did that should be beaten senseless. 2) Marte's trade value should go down a bit after that. That's good for us. Remember, KW traded for Brett Myers.

I don't really disagree with you and I hate that guy as much as anyone (probably more) but I like to think we could get both Escobar and Marte, plus a quality MR type and a quality LR/spot starter -- even at full salary relief -- without having to give up a star prospect. And ultimately, as Sox fans all we can do is hope (this part can't be said here because of the rules) as soon as possible. But until that fabulous day happens and we get party/jump up and down with joy, we have to root for the parts we like to still be great even in spite of the other parts we don't like bringing the ship down. Case in point: Starling Marte + Ross Detwiler for Charlotte pieces. Now we have a high-end starting RF plus a guy who can eat up extra innings in garbage time without shitting himself unlike Marshall. Then, Escobar + Soria for probably another Charlotte piece and some low-end stuff. We get a 2B/LF/DH/bench bat and a guy who actually has enough pitches to function as a MR unlike Foster. Bam, we're better. Ultimately we are going to live and die off of our starting rotation and bullpen in the playoffs, just like basically every team in every year. If Rodon and those guys are lights out, and so is Hendriks, and if Bummer and Heuer get it together, then we can win it all. If those guys are bad, we probably won't. But at least we will have the talent.

I'm sorry but that is just a ridiculous statement. If that's the case, we should probably trade Crochet, Kopech, and Hendriks, because none of them are core pieces, and make Foster Australian for Gas the closer. Maybe we can get Reynolds, along with K. Marte or Scherzer doing all of that, but then we had better hope our starters go 9 otherwise we're fucked.

The problem is that Crochet is one of our core pieces. I think people are a little too caught up in the velo being down a bit and the fact that his slider has been hit-or-miss, but that ERA is what it is for a reason. He's still a dominant lefty in the league (and the best lefty on the team ATM) in a pen on a team that wants to win a title. And next year he should be in Kopech's role, and after that, he should be in the rotation in 2023. We will have to be looking at signing Giolito at FA market value around then, or trading him, or letting him hit FA. Keuchel and Lynn might both be gone by then, or Keuchel might just be really bad even if he is still here. Etc. We are really going to be counting on Crochet in every year of our window. OTOH, Marte will be a FA at the end of the year. So will some other players. If the Sox will spend some money, they will be an attractive destination. Colas will be in the low minors next year, maybe Cespedes ends this season in AA, and is at AA-AAA next season. I don't think it is worth it at all to trade 1 core piece to get another core piece; we should try to add more core pieces, not tread water in that department. It's way better to just trade much lesser pieces for Marte and offer him the QO after the season knowing you are overpaying than it is to trade Crochet. Money on the FA market isn't going to replace Crochet if you deal him. But it could bring you a quality RF.

^Also, if the Sox offered some package of any 2 of the group of Burger/Sheets/Stiever/Lambert/Burdi today for Marte, do you think that deal could get done?

Have you heard anything about other clubs looking at Burger and/or Sheets? Is there any sense that other teams view these guys as pieces worth trading for?