greg775

It's safe to say we need a few veterans both in our lineup and on our pitching staff if we hope to win it all anytime soon. Of course if the tank/rebuild takes long enough, Timmy and Moncada could be those veterans.

Howie Kendrick, LOL! Greg looking pretty good with his outdated theories. Veterans, in his case 36 years old, can help in a playoff situation. 36 years old and Howie baby hits a grand slam, biggest hit (or in top 3) in franchise history. What are Howie's advanced stats like, folks? At 36. He had great traditional stats, only a 2.6 WAR. Maybe that's gonna be Jose at 36 blasting a homer like that.

I'll shut up after this as I tend to obsess on certain topics, but it confuses me why a guy on a good team who makes very very good money, more than he'll ever need, would opt out of 61 million dollars to go play for some other team that 'may' offer him way more, may not. Baseball has had some weird offseasons in terms of paying players (Moose comes to mind) and I don't know why a guy guaranteed that much loot would enter free agency when he's already on a great team in a great baseball city. Oh well, I'll shut up now on this topic.

Thanks Ron. I am passionate once in a while and I've been passionate about Avi, mainly because again of the thrills he gave me that incredible season he had with the Sox. He's always passed my eye test and his stats have been fine. Yeah he's sort of a clod defensively, but he's not exactly an embarrassment on defense either. He was 4 for 5 in a huge playoff game. I hope he keeps it up. Sometimes veterans are what you want in the postseason. Bats cleanup tonight, goes 4 for 5. Rays tie the series. Oh I wish Avi could somehow be the hero of Game 5. Odds are huge Astros will pound the Rays into submission however.

Anybody know why he'd opt out of a 3 year 61 million dollar deal? With a good team? I don't care what his stats are and you all suggest they are great ... Somebody will give him 3 years 75 mill or something? Kind of strange to me that Boras would have him opt out. He's that good that 3 years 61 mill doesn't excite JD anymore? Just askin'

Thanks Ron. I do love me some Avi Garcia. I'd be so happy if they brought him back. If I lived in Chicago I'd buy season tickets for he and Jose anchoring the young lineup and I'm serious. We could get Avi for 2 years 12 million total probably. JD Martinez is gonna cost so much it'll make our heads spin (caveat: I do not care bout Jerry's wallet shrinking a bit, still bang for the buck Avi might give u that and spend the $$ on pitching, pitching, pitching). p.s: Avi is cleanup hitter on a playoff team tonight for an organization that likes advanced stats, hmmmm....

Not trying to be a dick, but this is interesting. At age 32, with normal stats like JD has (very similar to Jose's) ... I thought guys didn't have a slight chance of getting a contract better than 3 years 61 million. Why the heck would he opt out of that?? Makes very little sense. That's a lot of money and with baseball age-ism as it is, shouldn't Boras tell him to be happy with his current deal? And I would think this very unpopular with Sox fans. 3.3 WAR is great in greg's world but aren't the advanced statters concerned that he could stop hitting at any point because of his age and his WAR figures to go down not up? Just asking.

Have we signed many Boras guys? In 2004 Kenny Williams said in the Trib: "I do not expect to sign any Scott Boras clients. Let's just say that we both respectfully agree to disagree on the value of his players." I like the idea of Martinez but I have to laugh at the similarities to Abreu. He's 32. Had a 3.3 WAR a bit higher than Jose. He hit 36 HRs and 105 RBI with a BA of .304, about 25 points higher than Jose. Good old fashioned stats; advanced stats shouldn't have the advanced stat people doing cartwheels at 32. I'll sign him though. He fits the greg profile. PRODUCTION in terms of HRs and RBIs is nice. Funny ... prove me wrong but I have a feeling folks won't be mentioning his age at all while continuing to mention Jose's. Why? JD is the sexy unknown acquisition; Jose old news of some of the advanced statters.

Truthfully? I expect the richest team in the division to use this to get back to 2005 status and this time sustain it. This better not be a KC Royals thing, two or three years of excellence then nothing again. Especially when a team like Minnesota shows time and again how a playoff appearance can in reality mean NOTHING if you are 0-3 or lose the wildcard game. Look ... I was against a rebuild. I think another way to win is to contend every year like a big city team in a crap division should, and compete every single year or 8 of 10 years in a decade. If Jerry can't spend with the big boys in keeping these star players ... please SELL! The Royals deserve credit for not blowing it in the postseason like the Twins, but let's say the Royals were flops and got swept in the postseason during their years of excellence. That's a huge failure when you after 3-4 years are back to losing 90 to 100 games every year.

We better be title contenders for more than one year. If not, Jerry needs to sell the damn team to somebody with money and a clue. Right now, our manager and his staff and arguably our front office look like laughinstocks if we only contend one year.

Girardi or Maddon.

I just ignored you, Tony, so if you want to read my posts you can. Or you can ignore me back. You and southsider don't get me so this is best before I get banned, Adios, have a nice winter in the bitter wind of Chitown and GO SOX!

Good points,. I just get mad because nobody acknowledges the fact you don't need a star at every position and they never gave him credit for that monster year he had for the Sox what, two seasons ago?

He just hit a home run bomb to help Tampa Bay win the wild card game with a payroll of what, the lowest in baseball? Why not praise the guy instead of partake in a battle with greg? If some of you folks can't see the value in having a veteran player on the roster I can't win that argument. Intangibles matter in sports and the Sox would do well to have both Avi and Abreu to anchor the young guns. It's not all about advanced stats. Even though the Rays also love them, they just beat Billyball again. GO RAYS. GO AVI. Why not sign Avi? At least I give actual reasons on how cheap he'd be. Spend Jerry's money on pitching baby, pitching! In answer to your question ... the going rate for Avi for some reason, his defense I guess, is only 5 or 6 million a year, not 12 million. I guess baseball considers him average at best. I happen to like him!

I get ripped on here so much for my "eye tests" loving certain players. I love this guy and here I feel like praising him is almost getting me banned or called a troll. Folks ... Avi is a pretty nice guy for the Rays' batting sixth in the order. He ain't a bad No. 6 hitter who makes PENNIES. Tell me more about how much of a baseball clown fan I am. Congrats Avi baby; hope u guys did the champaigne thing in the locker room tonight! p.s. looks like he hit it in the shadows, too. Guys, it's not all about stats. Leadership/veterans. You need a mix on teams, folks. Trust me.

I'd definitely want Maddon. We NEED a veteran manager who knows how to win. And who is a good judge of talent.

He'd be an idiot to give up this gig. Baseball tends to keep its announcers in one town for a while. Bennetti probably has that job for 20-40 years if he wants to keep it and he can continue to do ESPN in winter and parts of the fall. He'd be a dummy to leave. Plus the Sox gig probably pays 250,000 or more I'd think. How can you give up that kind of security?

Can u imagine how good we'd be if we signed Cole and Strasburg? Suddenly we'd HAVE to be division favorites if the squad is properly managed. Two phenom starters would change the outlook of this organization for sure. Be creative with set up and closer and BOOM. SOX WIN!

It sure seems as if Coop needs a change of scenery at least. And my stance on manager is why not get the best when they are available LIKE NOW? Coop doesn't have a lot going for him. It's not as if all our pitchers stay healthy because of him. In fact, we've had a ton of injuries. He probably deserves one more year to see if he can make Lopez as consistent as Gio has become. And can he do good work with Kopech, Cease and even Nova who was maddeningly inconsistent?

Thank u sir. I'm just trying to see why my takes on RF/Catcher are seen as obscene. Thank u for your time.

Somebody educate me why my stance on this is bad. To summize: He's cheap; you know what u are going to get; financial resources can go to pitcher$ and lot$ of 'em. $eriously ... pretend his name is not Avi Garcia but Ted Wilson and tell me why my idea is bad. And what the hell is wrong with my idea to let a No. 10 draft pick who passes the eye test play??? Thank u.

Isn't it time we turn to Kevin Seitzer as hitting coach? I wish we'd hire the best manager possible first of all. The Sox need a great manager, folks. The team doesn't spend a lot of $$. I wish they'd spend on a genius manager.

I want no part of the wildcard game in the future especially with teams playing the game abnormally. In a one-game series with analytics only to become more prevalent, it's going to be a terrible game to witness. Overmanaged? Probably. That would be one reason to keep Ricky I guess. He might not mess with it. Didn't the Brewers overthink that game?

He played in 125 games. Sox had a lot of guys miss games, too. 125 isn't bad. Over 500 plate appearances not bad.

The ball is live now. He hit 20 homers for Tampa this year in 125 games. It's easy to assume in the Cell with the live ball he could up that to 25 or more. The guy had a good year starting for a playoff team. I never said I was smartdf than everybody else. I happen to like Avi's game and he comes cheap. What's not to like? You've got to concede plug him into our lineup as one of our "weak links" and he fits in there nicely. if he's one of our worst hitters ... wow. And he's attainable. Again, he's on a playoff team for gosh sakes. It's not like he's some stiff. Conclusion: He's very affordable; he knows playoff baseball; he's a veteran presence. And we've still got Engle and Palka if for some reason he turns to crap. I am against trading any of the tank/rebuild acquisitions BTW. If you are going to tank and acquire players, see this through. If that means Rutherford over Avi, fine.