caulfield12

Or we could just trade for Escobar, McMahon, Merrifield, Frazier, Baez, etc. Burger’s going to have to hit like that for at least another 2-3 before it’s considered…even then, still think they would prefer someone like Schoop that’s not ideally suited for the position defensively.

Right now, it’s looking like both of these are going to be blocked by the Chinese government. Black Widow, maybe, gets a mid August but so many good pirated versions are out there due to Disney+ so it’s really going to be diluted results for bottom line, maybe $50-75 million and Disney only keeps 25% as opposed to a higher split in most intl box office.

Who would take on the Grandal and Keuchel deals right now, ala Sox with Rios?

The Darvish deal started out so poorly, but the timing was all off. Just like Kimbrel pitching like his old self. That said, they just didn’t produce enough quality replacements on the pitching front from either the draft or international signings. Of course, they made mistakes as well like Chatwood and Edwin Jackson.

Used to always be after league all star games but imagine that got pushed back due to late starts…as a reward for those selected players, they usually stayed for that hame then moved on quickly or even right after the games.

Oh, I thought you meant we would have both guys, but that’s probably not realistic going by Sox history.

Beginning to miss 2017-19… Also, some newcomers popping up around here are reminiscent of freaking Braves fans in the 90’s and 00’s complaining about not winning enough World Series titles…but not going to the playoff games even because they expected to lose eventually. How about let’s FIRST make the postseason two consecutive years before nitpicking every single player to death? Maybe at least change the thread title to HOT CAKEZ…because tasty food is good.

But then we wouldn’t have Rodon/Boras looking at five sure starters and Kopech bunched in front of him. He would have gone somewhere where he’d still get an opportunity to start. (And not battling essentially Lopez and Lambert.) Unless you think it would have been okay to relegate Cease to the bullpen or minors. Probably not a great fit with his intermittent control issues.

That’s why some are bringing up the Moncada higher tier salary kicking in…Giolito potentially leaving after 2023, Anderson after 2024. There’s just no way to keep all our young players together like the Cubs did (except Darvish) for seven full years. Sure, Grandal and Keuchel will be gone, but we really start to hit a payroll wall three years down the line. A deal like you suggested (instead of front loaded for 2022-23) would mean we’d have to run a $175-185 million payroll, essentially. OR say goodbye to some of our core players beyond the two vets I already mentioned, Hendriks and Abreu.

Well, that’s par for the course with people trying to burnish their credentials to get a paying shot somewhere. Like an internship…tend to be over exuberant and over analyzing the littlest things like BP or running to first or just 30-50 yard times in flats. When you have limited material to work with (think Robert videos when he was signing, there was concern about his playing CF for example)…that said, when you cover a team for at least 142 games or at least all the home games and follow video or radio for the road you should get a better idea how to assess simply by talking to the team’s coaches and scouts. Really no point to even watch BP unless working on a specific skill or returning from let’s say an oblique injury.

If that’s the case, we better win this year…because resigning Lynn might just about our us over already.

Not sure about 4 years (Eovaldi), but it will be at least three and probably realistic incentives for a fourth not unlike the Keuchel deal. Two years is too risky to Boras unless at $22.5-25 million per season. Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Angels, Mets, Yankees can afford a risk like that. Maybe Houston or Toronto. The Twins almost have to, unless they want to tear down the whole thing.

I think you’re overestimating the number of Sox fans willing to attend games if the Delta variants (well, any mutations) still haven’t been defeated 100% and the country continues to be split and/or vaccine proof is required for stadium entry like they’re implementing all across Europe now…basically everywhere but the UK where they had 60,000+ at Wembley. Then again, a World Series or even ALCS appearance with 1-2 major additions in the offseason…still think 27,500-30,000/game is a more realistic target for 2022. Not even sure cap is 35,000 right now after decreasing stadium size.

What were Lindor’s numbers with CLE if you strip away AL Central competition…? Just curious.

Uh-oh…

Bohm, for example, hasn’t lived up to his billing with PHA.

Devers, Bogaerts and Kopech, lol.

Duane Shaffer, fired midseason 2007.

They were also Yermin, Dane Dunning and just $3 million to Rodon away from lucky to be hanging around the .500 mark.

Fwiw... "Several other teams also stocked up on arms. The Los Angeles Dodgers took pitchers with their first 15 picks before sprinkling in position players in the 16th and 18th rounds. The Cleveland Indians ended up with 19 pitchers out of 21 picks." Other than catcher and RF (where we might already have a Cuban answer), this strategy of pitching only or pitching first makes so much sense with the elevated number of pitching injuries around the majors (obviously Sox have suffered more on position player side) and the cost of elite starting pitching in free agency. It's also another weak point in the current depth chart...unless someone like Vera quickly emerges or one of the three youngsters at lower levels suddenly turns their season around. Depending on what happens with Lynn and Rodon, the only other logical place to turn is Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Interesting also that the richest (Dodgers/Angels) and poorest (Indians) see the niche or competitive advantage being elite starting pitching and lockdown pen being a more viable strategy than constantly losing position stars like Lindor and Jose Ramirez due to market forces.

Baker has the Astros with the lowest AL odds to win the WS. Seemingly TB is there every year. Oakland continues to succeed, somehow. And then you have the Red Sox that everyone was picking fourth.

It was a bit frustrating to watch Narvaez, Bassitt, Semien, Escobar and Tatis in the ASG. Three of those guys are players capable of playing 2-3 or even all four infield positions in a pinch… Obviously things will look better for the Sox with Robert and Madrigal back in the middle, and Adam Engel has been a late blooming success story…but we’ve had a horrible run developing our own outfielders as well as middle infielders, other than the obvious big names already listed and TA7. We also lack the flexibility to move Moncada to open a spot for Burger…and as a result have a glut of those players now like Sheets, Burger, Collins, Vaughn, Jimenez, Grandal, Abreu that really belong at 1B/DH. Mercedes, too. Other than Leury, there’s just not enough positional flexibility. If you look at the Dodgers, they found three guys like that in Turner, Taylor and Muncy for basically free, and that’s not even counting Kike now with Boston. That’s one the many reasons they’ve won eight consecutive NL West titles. The best “find” the White Sox had from all that rebuilding playing time from 2016/17-19 is now an All Star with Milwaukee in Narvaez.

If you’re adopting that high school strategy, the majority of the impact will be 2026 and later. If you’re fortunate with some, 2025. Other than the Astros in 2019-20-21, no “typical” rebuilding team after the first wave hit has sustained themselves in the back half of a window. For example, the Royals and Cubs. The players just got hurt, unaffordable…and then a number of bad FA decisions in concert. The jury’s still out on Atlanta and Toronto, but we should be trying to emulate Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee in how we operate…unless we’re going to be at least above a $150 million yearly budget. This future wave has some pieces, but let’s look at the Royals or the post 2011 Chicago White Sox. Both teams held onto veterans like Gordon, Perez, Merrifield and Duffy to name a few. It seems they got caught in between, where they never really bottomed out in a way where they would get at least three Top 3-5 draft picks. Witt, Jr., and some pieces are definitely better than we have in our system, and they drafted a ton of pitching, but they’re still how many years from even contending? 2 or 3? They’re definitely behind the Tigers, who hit rock bottom and are now fighting back behind strong drafts while carrying forward the ugly Cabrera deal. Even the Cubs eventually ran out of money to keep their core together. Unless you’re the Dodgers and can spend well over $200 million (or the Red Sox/Yankees), you’re going to experience these boom and bust cycles.

McDowell, Ventura, Thomas, Fernandez…Karkovice, Grebeck, Bere, Pall, Radinsky, Thigpen

Worse than pulling Snell early?