MiddleCoastBias

Agreed, I view this round of FA as an investment to earn a better perception around the league for when we actually need FAs to sign here in a couple of years. I'd rather get rid of that "ew, I don't want to sign there" stink on some B+ free agents so we aren't out of the running on the better FAs in the (hopefully) near future.

If I recall, the broadcast seemed like some random old baseball players that just needed a job haha

Oh man, this reminds me of the Covid delay and waking up at 5am to watch the KBO to scratch the baseball itch. Saladino and Palka representing on Samsung, woop woop

Minneapolis too. I was just there a couple of weeks ago for the Nats series. Overall pretty meh stadium (a little disappointed), but walking in from the street in the RF corner to an open concourse/plaza that leads down to the 1B-side seats was really nice.

I was the one to suggest this yesterday and I agree with many of your points. My suggestion was to bring back the red piping around the current logo, akin to what they had back in the '50s. The logo is still effectively the same, the brand image is still the same, everything is still recognizably "The Sox"... just with a little added color and definition. I get people may still view that as change just for the sake of change, or throwing out a recognizable logo, but I contend that it changes *just enough* to mark a new era while still retaining the Sox brand and identity.

I know this isn't the point of this thread but I'm going to bang the drum I've been beating for a couple of years - I think we see a soft rebrand when Ishbia takes over, and we need it. Blah blah iconic black and white logo, I get it and I agree. But I think we rebrand and add red to the logo like the '52. Keep everything else, just add red accents. Small/big thing but it'll signify we're making a big transition, hopefully from top to bottom as an organization.

Bonus upside to restructuring his deal and buying out those option years is that we can still trade him later and he'll no longer be viewed as a rental* (*assuming he continues to produce at the level that he can, and that he stays even remotely healthy)

Ok so I was in the old camp with "but if we give Harp-chado $600M, we won't be able to afford contracts to fill out the roster to support them!" And a friend finally convinced me - it's not my money to spend, so who gives a s%*# what they spend it on. Just spend them money. It's not my job to be frugal with someone else's money to make the business case for them. I don't care if we 'miss' on the extension and Robert gets injured again/has a down second half/turns into a literal pumpkin. Our payroll next year is a fart in the wind. Take the risk and extend him if it means a CHANCE at a better return if he plays to the ability that we know he can play. If we extend him for $20M and he doesn't perform/get that return, I won't cry for Jerry.

Sure things have drastically changed in Hahn vs. Getz. But Jerry is making the final decisions when it comes to contracts and handing out millions of dollars, and you can't convince me otherwise.

I get what you're saying, but he also literally did this for a bad Craig Kimbrel just a couple of years ago. The better argument would be that he doesn't want to do this again if he can avoid it, but I still don't think I can say that with certainty.

*cocks gun* Yet.

Man, saw Teel get tripped by Luzardo and tumble awkwardly over and past first base. Thankfully he's ok. Flashbacks of Robert, Eloy, and Moncada - thought we were going to have another funeral in the dugout.

Contrary to any of my previous opinions, torpedo bats are actually good for baseball 😉

I question if we'll even get any value if we exercise the option and trade him in the off-season. He seems like a "motivation" guy, and his struggles can be tied to the whole "holy s%*#, playing for this team is bleak as hell right now", and his recent surge is because he's excited at the prospect of playing on a happier/better team. We saw this with Moncada - dude was killing it playing with his countrymen for Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, and then was a bum again weeks later when he was playing for the Sox. I feel if we don't trade Robert now, he's going to be depressed again after having the potential "shiny new team" idea pulled out from under him and have a down second-half, leaving us with a less tradable asset at a $20M price tag.

From MLB Pipeline: "Tears redshirted at Tennessee in 2022 and then got only 56 at-bats due to hamstring and oblique injuries in 2023. Trading Robert for a guy with historical hamstring and oblique injuries sounds like a great idea. 🎵"and the next verse is same as the first"🎵