KBX

I don't contest with either of these. What does this mean? Who cares what the roster is in March. We had a bs year in 21 vis-a-vis injuries. I'd say they're due for a swing of good fortune. Just a feeling I have. Be a man of faith, not of science.

No. And the A's should be contracted for trading him. He's 29 and has one really good year under his belt. He probably won't duplicate last season and then he'll be 30. That's bound to be a well lopsided WAR trade over its lifetime. Imv also, once you start trading away those kinds of low cost long term contributors you're setting up for a garbage team in 24-25. I dont see any path to winning the on-paper WS this year. So I'd rather just operate with the mindset of 'just keep getting to October.'

I was under the impression that this year he can be a depth guy and an opener — just multi-inning stuff including postseason where that kind of thing tends to be a huge asset. Come next year he would need a third pitch and be #5 and someone else a depth guy. That's just a rough timeline that seems realistic. Though I don't know what they think at the moment. In all honesty Crochet is the most reliever looking guy I've ever seen. Then again #2 is Sale. As much as Gavin looks like an Oakland A, Crochet is tenfold more a reliever when you just glance at him. However, barring too many injuries I'd be surprised if Crochet weren't a valuable MLB asset one way or another.

Vaughn has his back against the wall. They handled him like maroons. No minor league time and out of position at the MLB level. You can ruin a guy this way.

Vaughn should go to Charlotte until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

Kimbrel was pretty half-hearted and diplomatic. It sounds nothing like Hahn told him affirmatively that he's gonna pitch here. Hahn is certainly working on a trade.

Bellinger for Kimbrel? That seems a bit fantastical.

Well, that mission is technically already accomplished. Very likely they have a 3rd postseason, and still somewhat likely a 4th. I'm glad they didn't get Machado. I don't like him personally and 3B is not the best position to finance at a superstar level. He's obviously a superstar at the position but it's still 122 OPS+ and 30 homers. I do like Moncada, and if he proves to be just a 17-23 HR guy he'll be easier to keep around after 24. This squad is fine if Moncada is an all around solid player and not a major power hitter that the offense hinges on, as is this case with most teams vis-a-vis 3B. Regardless of adding a bona fide starter, any hope of a championship depends on yet unproven starters, and you'd hope one of them emerges as a true ace. That could be Giolito and somewhat less likely it could be Cease. Realistically, Kopech is a year away from that possibility. We don't really know what kind of starters we have. If Cease and Kopech aren't for real, this is not likely to be a championship era. I'm really not sure at this moment if this is the year to go for it. Generally speaking, I'd like them to keep a keen eye on the 3-4 year window and leave themselves in a good position as far as core players and FA acquisitions for when that situation presents itself and there is a strong FA market etc.

Why was Vazquez a good move? He was mediocre the previous two years, and he was a choker. He did have a career year the next year when the Sox were out of contention. Thome was a good guy to have but the point was that he came at the expense of a starting CF and that was a problem for several years thereafter. As far as forward-thinking goes, I mean Vazquez kept Brandon McCarthy out of the rotation, and the Rowand trade handed Brian Anderson a starting job and he was obviously terrible.

Then Magglio hit an epic blast to win the pennant for the Tigers. That was the first sign that 05 was a fluke and KW was cursed. I'm not sure the 06 team was any more talented. Thome looked like a big step forward but he came at the cost of a black hole in CF. The bullpen got significantly worse, as expected, even though KW added a few relievers. He didn't stand pat at all but they were ineffective moves. I don't remember who was a FA that year but they figured to draw 3 million so I don't know why you can't just buy a power bat and keep Rowand.

I know, it was very effective. When Keith Foulke threw a high changeup it was in the seats 4 seconds later. That reminds me of that KW trade where he gave Oakland Foulke/Durham for Billy Koch. Koch had a mysterious virus that basically caused the yips. His wife and kids had the same thing. I wonder if the A's knew about it. in any case I'd prefer we never traded with them or played them in a meaningful game. Vaughn has minimal acumen for it and will probably be normal-bad in RF. You can win with Manny Ramirez and Jose Canseco and Gary Sheffield and countless other non-ballplayers in the outfield. Sheets shouldn't even be an issue though. If he can hit, why would they do anything with him but make him the primary DH and give Abreu a day to rest or DH himself?

A high change up is a meme. It's impressive he can make that work.

They will need someone to emerge as a true ace, not least because it'll prevent TLR from going with Lynn in a Game 1. He's not a good playoff pitcher.

Going into 93, you just had McDowell and Fernandez. Alvarez wasn't proven and Bere was a rookie. But they all had good years so it worked out, but they didn't have enough talent to get past Toronto. It's always been like this. I can see why it's somewhat bewildering that they're actually spending but still afear'd of really going for it and acting like they really want to win. It's as if they're addicted to secondplaceness.

Why is there a scramble to get a backup catcher? Oh yeah, because the catcher they drafted in the first round 6 years ago is still not even backup quality. I'd honestly say that's a more urgent need than a big RF signing. We have several guys that'll play in RF and not kill you. When Grandal sits, however, it's nasty back there.

The Dodgers are stupidly talented and still trying to add Freeman. But they also wanted Josh 'Sparkplug' Harrison. I'm sick of the Dodgers tbh. They've been all in since at least the Kevin Brown signing in 99 and have 1 asterisk World Series to show for it.

But that was a one year philosophy to become 'more athletic' or something like this. They felt the Frank/Maggs/Lee/Konerko thing was stagnant and they couldn't deal with Jacque Jones chopping the ball of the plate, so they overhauled everything in one year. So it was still purely reactive. They immediately said 'to hell with that' and traded Rowand for Thome (essentially a panic move to get Frank back) and then put Anderson and that goofball Mackowiak in center. And as always had their blue chip pitching prospect (McCarthy) in the bullpen. 2007 was a mess, and then 2008 was Alexei and Ken Griffey Jr, more fun in center with BA and Nick Swisher (their first dabble in Moneyball). Rowand and Uribe went on to win a World Series with the Giants. No one insults Gavin. Prepare to have #32 hanging from the rafters (if/when we install them)

The Hahn press conference smirk will be the next statue on 35th. But as for reading into Vaughn and Charlotte, I don't know about that. It's good reasoning, but I'd still not count on it as the Sox are hard to predict. They're always mum about their plans and, as I said earlier, they're more reactive than strategic. I'm almost always surprised by what they do* *exceptions for putting a #1 pick in the bullpen and making a splash in the relievers market

Hahn is in no wise behaving as a man with urgency about his job insofar as RF goes. The Sox are not a strategic organization and haven't been since KW was hired. It's all tactical stuff, not strategic. There's no philosophy, just various ideas and compromises given certain circumstances. It's feeling things out and reacting to situations. Let's 'take a flier' on this and that guy and see what assets we can move in a trade that'll generate some drama. In light of a coherent long term vision, or a vague sense of such a thing, we'd be a lot happier with the way this offseason has gone.

Have the Sox ever turned on the lights for a free agent signing? Has anybody?

Do it Ricky! This guy wants Conforto to hit leadoff in the Bronx.

One thing most aren't accounting for is Correa's looming signing with Balmer. That's key to our offseason: Houston getting worse. Hahn is playing high stakes hold 'em, and y'all are playing Uno.

There's nothing we can do about the FO. If Hahn is indeed messing up 21, he's not gonna get fired because we were sufficiently pissed off. We know how this org does things. The offseason is also not over. Lots of activity today, and we should expect that to accelerate as ST games are starting tomorrow.

Eats, shoots and leaves.

We need a solid glove at 2B more badly than we need whatever it is that Pederson brings to the table in RF. I think Harrison will bring good D and be about an average hitter.