JUSTgottaBELIEVE

I wasn’t joking when I said he could be the next Randy Johnson but therein lies the blessing and the curse. Because if he’s that good and that durable the next 3 seasons, you really think the Sox will pony up to extend him? That’s just not realistic.

If they can get a Cease type return (or better) I would do it. This team isn’t competing until 2026 at the earliest anyways and it’s not like the Sox are going to pay him after the 2026 season if he’s the next Randy Johnson.

I know the weather sucks but he’s shutting out the best offense in baseball and making it look easy. If this guy stays healthy I don’t see why he couldn’t put up 2022 Cease numbers or even better with less innings (only because of the expected innings limitation).

He doesn’t even need them, that’s the crazy thing

If Crochet shuts out the Braves is he a legit cy young candidate?

Clearly you hate the guy but he did have a 2.2 fWAR season in 2023. If does anything close to that again in 2024, $3M is well below market rate.

He picks the site to reference based on whichever best suits the narrative he’s pushing at that time. If the Q deal was reversed and the Sox traded Cease/Eloy for Q he’d still be bitching about it in 2024. That much I guarantee.

If he thinks it was a bad trade for the Sox, how would he grade the trade for the cubs?!? Yikes, Q was a bust there outside of a pretty good 2019 season. Certainly much worse than the collective Cease/Jimenez combination.

Sad but true. If this group of players puts up 15 it’s a big win for the Sox especially given their current state of non-contention where Cease would have been wasted,

To pin it all on development is unfair. It was likely a failure in both scouting (drafting) AND development. Guys like collins, Fulmer, Madrigal, etc. were highly flawed from the time they were drafted. I’m not sure that’s on Getz.

Even if he slows down a bit, having a starting RF that can produce 1.5-2 WAR on an annual basis would be a marked improvement over what we’ve seen since Eaton was traded.

Max Kepler would be a nice addition from the mid tier group that the Sox will likely be fishing in. Unless Fletcher is a big success, god knows they’ll be in need of a solid starting RF for several years.

Welp, Burnes it is then…

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/too-early-2025-mlb-free-agency-rankings-juan-soto-at-no-1-plus-predictions-on-who-will-actually-hit-market/amp/ here you go. Time for another run at Zack Wheeler? Ha. I wouldn’t be opposed to it. Or would you prefer the all-in Juan Soto signing?? Should be able to afford either one easily but always a question of what Jerry is willing to authorize. Theoretically, Wheeler should be cheaper than the last time the Sox offered him the top contract in his free agency period.

Santos is also injured so arguably Wilson has more value as things stand approaching this July’s trade deadline. That’s all I care about at this point. If Wilson can be flipped for a couple 40/45 FV prospects in July that would be HUGE and make this trade look a lot better.

The only non-arb guys I see for sure returning next season are Benintendi, Robert, Fedde, and Brebbia. 4 other vets have options that are unlikely to be picked up from what I can tell. So you have 4 non-arb players returning none of which are terribly expensive and there’s a chance that 1 or 2 (Fedde or Brebbia) could be dealt at the deadline this year or next offseason. Looks like a pretty clean slate to me from a payroll perspective.

This season is already a lost cause so who cares. What matters is what they have committed to payroll in 2025 and beyond. And as far as I can tell, it’s very little. Like bottom 5 in the league little as we currently stand with the possibility of going even lower (if vets are dealt at the trade deadline in July).

I’m sure the bigger ballpark is a factor but his strikeout rate is slightly higher than santos too.

Also to add on to Wilson, he probably walks a few more than you’d like to see but he doesn’t get hit much. He has a career WHIP of 1.11 in over 100 IP in mlb (santos was at 1.30 last season for reference). As we’ve seen over the years, sometimes top relievers don’t find success until their late 20s.

And I wonder how much of his August struggles were attributed to his hip injury. Before that, he had an ERA below 3 and was at 3.06 the year before. Assuming he’s healthy now, he could very well be the best arm the Sox have in the pen this season. If he sports an ERA below 3 and is effective in closing games into July, he could be a very highly sought after deadline arm for a contender.

I don’t think they have a choice. There’s no quick fix here.

And despite all those short term free agent signings they’re still what #19 in payroll this season? They haven’t made any significant signings. And they have very little committed to 2025 and beyond payrolls. They have a ton of payroll flexibility after this season or at least they should pending Jerry.

Oh, it won’t happen in one offseason. This is a 3-4 year rebuild at least. Strap it down folks, it’s going to take a long time for this thing to turn around.

That’s not the debate. I said I’d prefer to have a clean slate at the mlb level with little to no payroll commitments versus a bunch of guys like Eloy and Moncada that in my mind carry negative surplus value. In theory, if they build up a top 5 farm system they should be able to produce mlb regulars at a fraction of the cost of eloy and Moncada and then can supplement with vets via free agency and/or trades. A much better situation than where they were a year ago.

Because then they have payroll to add FA vets or trade for them. If they were already maxed out on payroll and had a s%*# mlb roster and s%*# farm system they’re at a dead end (aka 2023 season).