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Everything about playing GM is presumptuous . You've done it , I've done it, Everyone does it. That's also my answer to GreenSox .Yo9u just have to assume things when contemplating how it might have turned out for the Sox . Have to assume Moustakas hits the same with the Sox as he did with the Royals and have to assume the trade also turned out similar. everybody does it. You're one the of guys who thinks the most money will get Harper or Machado but the most money wouldn't have got Moustakas ? Guess what ? He's in Milwaukee now and probably somewhere else next year too so leaving KC aint no big thang . And really is being in Chicago so far from KC that an extra 500K wouldn't mean anything ? He only went back to KC because no one wanted him with the draft pick attached and KC didn't have to give that up so probably outbid everyone else for a whole $6,5 M ,about 7.7 X higher than the Sox paid for Luis Roberts. If we want to take that to the extreme thats the equivalent of the Sox receiving of 15 AAA players the caliber of Phillips and Lopez for what they spent on Robert. But taking a chance that Moose turned into 2 AAA players for $7M and another A ball OF wasn't worth it ?

Didn't necessarily have to happen this year as I said above. You could have tried this year and if no one bites there was always next year since his player opt out didn't kick in till after year 2. If in year 2 he has another great season maybe he opts out to become a FA thereby lessening the load for whoever trades for him to only a half season. Since his contract is front loaded the Sox having him for the 1st 1.5 years takes approx. $37.5M off that $110M thereby potentially reducing it to $72.5M. More teams in the mix for year 2 which would include the off season could be expanded to include the Phillies and Braves and whoever else crops up as suitors. The built in protection against the Lisfranc injury is also a good part of the deal that protects buyers should that injury be determined to be related to the 1st one. The Yankees didn't want him because they traded for Stanton, The Red Sox were the only team that wanted him because of the greatly reduced prices on free agents and Dombrowski unwilling to bid against himself and insisting on the injury protection. I think it was a great deal done by a smart GM taking advantage of the depressed prices and may very well be the move that made them the odds on favorite to win the WS and an early pick to be favored next year too. Maybe if the Yankees had signed JD instead of trading for GS they'd be in the same position as the Red Sox and for less money.

If you picked the Bears against the spread you came out golden. Some of the hot takes sound like they had the Bears to actually win this game. The spread was what it was for good reason.

That's how I look at it .Some conservative play calling in the 2nd half led to this. Passing plays became lateral instead of vertical. Bears had a chance to seal the game with an interception and Fuller drops it like he had done all of 2017. MT looked fine in the vertical passing game until Pack threw 6 and 7 DB's out there. For a game in GB the Bears showed a lot of promise. Losing the way they did is a gut punch but they shouldn't hang their heads. Imagine when Mack gets his stamina and Smith learns the defense better.

Only the biggest Bears halftime lead in GB in 70 years.

MVP Mack Valuable player !!

So Roquan's very 1st play is a sack . I love it !

Great play by Mack ! Sack strip recovery !!

Rodgers just took a knee to the head plus a lot of weight on his leg and is hurt.

Good wideouts plus an accurate QB with running ability and a strong arm ? Plus now an above average defense ? Pinch me I'm dreaming.

With Mack the Bears went from 100-1 to win the Super Bowl to 40-1 . Quite the difference maker.

The first possessions by the Pack and Bears are precisely the reason why I'm tuned in with great interest.

I feel bad for you. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place in your arguments. On the one hand you say you despise the Sox front office as much as anyone here. On the other hand you have your past arguments with me regarding Moustakas and JD Martinez. If you stick to your arguments like you have done about Moose and JD then your hatred for the Sox front office isn't what you say it is because they did fail in not getting very affordable free agents to flip this past off season. That applies to Moose and perhaps others but JD does not fit into affordabe as in cheap affordable. So you have something against the Sox spending 1/3 of the amount they will have to spend on a Harper or Machado on a very fair contract that was 5 years instead w/e it takes to sign the megastars. No ? OK then you have something against the Sox spending a mere $15M on this year only to get a potential Triple Crown winner and then attempt to flip him for a boatload because according to you our draft status may suffer from a 97 loss team to a 94 loss team ? Do i have that right ? Ok you think the contract is so bad that no one would want a guy who might win the Triple Crown added to their playoff lineup. A front loaded contract where the team trading for him might have to only keep him for 1 1/2 years one of the best hitters in baseball or lose him completely to FA after the 2nd 3 rd or 4th year/ Ok so you might have to keep one of the best players in baseball longer but there's also a salary relief in the final 2 years if Martinez gets that Lisfranc injury again . Overall its a very fair not too lengthy contract for not too much money for one of the top 3 hitters in baseball. I think you could move him and at worst you keep him and try to move him the next year . After that he could leave anyway opt out. If not, now you have him for the competitive years at a reduced salary . Where really is the downside here ? He was affordable since we're spending nothing on payroll and flippable and worst comes to worst you keep him for the competitive years when his salary is under $20M a year or less if he gets that injury again. I think you really like the Sox front office a lot more than you actually say. or just can't admit you were wrong . Hmm I wonder which one it is? Edit: For anyone trying to follow this argument the JD Martinez deal is very complex and can be viewed here. https://weei.radio.com/blogs/alex-reimer/jd-martinez-contract-might-be-most-complex-red-sox-history and if you do futher research on it you might find things like Red Sox got a bargain considering how good he is and his agent (Boras).

Ok you edited your post adding a lot more to what you said. The edited version is much better.

Even if he doesn't you still have Brett Phillips . If Steele Walker ever turns into what Brett Phillips was at AAA and whatever he becomes in the future we will be lucky. And frankly who cares how he does against a playoff caliber roster. Young pitchers struggle. Fact is the Sox couldve had 2 young major leaguers with upside since thats what Phillips and Lopez are right now for a small investment in Mike Moustakas, Now you throw in the fact that Kopech got injured and you can add in another starter to throw into the mix for next year if the Sox had converted him like the Royals did. After all isn't that the Sox strength ?

Way to twist things, My argument was not what you twisted it into . Those were your words not mine. I wrote a long post stating my arguments if you want to twist them into your Readers Digest condensed version in order to justify that you lost this argument go right ahead. Who exactly could the Sox use more at the moment and the next 3 or 4 years Steele Walker or Brett Phillips and Jorge Lopez ? Frankly I had hoped you'd admit that my idea wasn't so bad after all. Instead you took the low road.

He said the organization has taken a hard line against PEDs in response to a question about CaSTtillo. Frank Thomas is not the answer and is not part of the organization and hasn't been for a while. Frank Thomas has nothing to do with any current stance on PEDs one way or the other. I know why he said Frank Thomas I just don't understand what it had to do with the current price of tea in China.

Dnmn u quoted me before I could edit it to 6 innings not 7.

That should be it for Lopez. 6 innings 2 hits 0 runs 3 BB 10 K's. Outstanding !

Lopez 98 MPH on pitch 100.

Well you got 1 and that will be all.

I don't understand the answer, Frank never used PED's.

To add to what I said about Moustaskas a few posts above this one which I posted in another thread since we have so many now about what happens next. I also wanted JD Martinez and he's only going for a Triple Crown this year .Quite the hitter the Red Sox picked up for maybe a 1/3 of what Harper and Machado will end up costing. I know he's older than them and doesn't bring the defense and his contract is very complicated with player opt outs for FA after the 2nd and 3rd year and mutual options after that . Doesn't sound like a bad deal for the player or the team.Maybe the W. Sox could've flipped him too if they had signed him to a higher and similar deal. He'd have had an extra yr to play with but could've got a return similar or better to what the Dodgers gave up for Machado . The extra year worth more than what Machado brings defensively in only 1/2 season . I am on record of wanting both Moustakas and JD Martinez many times in the off season and spring training when they both were still unsigned. I certainly know I don't have the credentials to be a GM, far far far from it. But in those 2 instances. I think I did better than the W, Sox front office did and the many posters who didn't want either because they didn't fit the window of competition, the draft choice we would've lost and the chance to see if any of our scrubs turned in gold.

Probably the same reasons in the arguments I got back for not signing him Didn't want to lose the draft pick and it was a development year and guys like Sanchez Davidson , Delmonico ,Engel etc all needed a chance to show what they got. I also wanted JD Martinez and he's only going for a Triple Crown this year .Quite the hitter the Red Sox picked up for maybe a 1/3 of what Harper and Machado will end up costing. I know he's older than them and doesn't bring the defense and his contract is very complicated with player opt outs for FA after the 2nd and 3rd year and mutual options after that . Doesn't sound like a bad deal for the player or the team.Maybe the W. Sox could've flipped him too if they had signed him to a higher and similar deal. He'd have had an extra yr to play with but could've got a return similar or better to what the Dodgers gave up for Machado . The extra year worth more than what Machado brings defensively in only 1/2 season

Another failure of the front office that no one has mentioned is they failed to get any free agents in the off season when they were really cheap that could've been flipped this year, Instead they decided to give chances to guys like Engel, Sanchez . Davidson, Cordell , Delmonico. How has that worked out . I argued with just about everybody on this boatd who didn't want Moustakas because of giving up a 2nd round pick . The Royals gave him a year at $6.5M. Maybe the Sox could've got him for an extra .5M .So this is not just hindsight on my part. The Royals got a pretty good return in Brent Phillips and Jorge Lopez. Phillips has higher upside than Engel is younger and has a cannon for an arm and Lopez just pitched 8 innings of perfect ball against the Twins, Both AAA players where the Sox are weak and an arm like Lopez surely would've helped in the event of a Kopech injury. Ok so maybe the Sox don't get the same players in return but I would've rather had a similar return than Steele Walker another OF when the Sox are loaded in the OF in the minors and very far away from the majors.