Timmy U

I’d say Cubs are in the new market. 7 @ 25 mil per is a pretty hefty deal. If he’s last year’s model for the next 3-4 years, it’s probably worth it. Funny thing is, Swanson may not be better than Hoerner defensively. With this outlay, they must be buying into their second half pitching performance. It will be interesting to see what effect the balanced schedule has on that. They had a lot of games against the Reds and Pirates last year.

If you trade Seby for a starting pitcher with options, you’d win Exec of the Century.

Just don't ask about his fantasy team.

Rodriguez? You got Popeye making the team ahead of Sosa? Bold.

Keep mind, balanced schedule next year. You can’t win the Central by beating up the Central.

We must get all of the Royals!

My issue with Busch is, now that they have banned the shift, no way is he a second baseman. We do not need another first baseman playing out of position.

I get why people are upset that the Sox didn't go for upside, but I like the move. I said at the outset they needed to sign 1 of Conforto, Bellinger, Gallo, and Benintendi. Of those 4, I probably like Benintendi the best because the Sox have enough guys coming of disastrous seasons/injuries without adding one more. They desperately needed to add talent rather than make a trade because their overall talent pool is so thin. $15 mil is not a ton in a world where top players are getting $40. Is this the huge splash that makes them a WS favorite? No. But it's better than having Eloy out there and Sheets at DH or counting on Mark Payton.

Colas does not need a platoon partner. His reverse platoon splits are insane.

I think this for sure means they are going with Colas in right. They may sign a back up ala Engel, but they're not going to spend any more on OF, imho.

Striker's tweet quote is:

I would go 1. Anderson 2. Benintendi 3. Robert 4. Eloy 5. Moncada 6. Vaughn 7. Colas 8. Grandal/Seby 9. Sosa/Romy/Leury or if all else fails, eventually Popeye. Bench is Seby, Leury, Romy, Sheets? Romy/Leury can both be back up OF. Or trade Sheets and have a real back up CF.

OF defensive metrics are often team dependent. It's possible he has gotten better in the last 2 years. It's also possible defensive metrics can't account for years of playing next to JBJ in a great defensive outfield. With Betts in right, Boston could shade to left. Therefore Benintendi did not catch a bunch of balls that he could have gotten, but JBJ got them instead. He may have the same problem with Robert, but that doesn't mean he's a bad outfielder.

If they're signing Benintendi, Eloy will still get time in LF. These days every team realizes you gotta rotate players to keep them fresh. He just won't get 50% of the time out there. Of all the lefty-hitting guys out there, he's always made the most sense. They've always liked him, he's a good defensive player, and he gives them OBP which they desperately need. I get that he isn't the power bat that they need, but as others have said, if Moncada is gonna suck like last year, it doesn't matter who they sign for LF.

Foodies or it didn’t happen.

Yeah, if you combine the two rosters, you get one good player. Robert. Two if you count the fact that the Padres are moving Tatis to OF this year.

I think the multiple championship thing is by the boards now. I agree, he’s a fun player to watch. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s ready right away or if the league punishes his plate discipline like they did with Sosa. Whatever happens, more interesting than running David Peralta out there.

Doesn’t Gleybar Torres have 1 year of control left? Why would we give up Hendricks AND Crochet for that? Kelenic would be intriguing if Hahn is ready to say, “screw it, we’re announcing a permanent rebuild.”

And we’ll be saying the same thing about Giolito in a year. And then Cease and Kopech. Then maybe Crochet and Noah Schultz and Christian Mena. Sox would always rather err by getting rid of guys than committing to someone and have it blow up in their faces. I suspect they learned the wrong lesson from John Danks.

I don’t understand the Merkin hate in this thread. The article is about how hard Colas is working to earn a shot in the majors. He sounds super humble, saying he got back to work almost immediately after the season because he hates sitting around and he hasn’t accomplished anything. This article is a long way from saying that Colas is definitely the opening day rf. It points out, as we all can see, that Robert is the only outfielder on the roster. I know everyone is frustrated, but this is a pretty innocent piece.

They resigned Payton. They can do this if they are that committed to manipulating service time.

Can we just merge the entire board into this thread?

Too bad they cancelled Soxfest. Nick Avila and Victor Reyes could have been introduced as the big offseason acquisitions.

Huh? Is anyone reporting that Gallo has signed somewhere? Or is this an assumption?

Madrigal was an unforgivable pick. Remember how everyone was afraid they'd take Brady Singer? Tools matter. So does position. If you look at first rounders, the Sox took Anderson and Rodon, two excellent picks. After that, it's a catcher who can't stick at the position with a second round grade from everyone else, a college closer, an undersized righthander with control problems, a bad-bodied 3b with real 1b risk, an undersized 2b with 30 power, 30 arm, a 6' R/R 1b, a LHP with serious reliever risk, then Montgomery (a ss) and Schultz, who I think are pretty good risks. Crochet is by no means the dumbest of those picks. Hopefully, Vaughn hits like a mothertrucker to make this run look medium, but hopefully they learned their lesson and will stay SP/middle of the field for the first round and start taking 1b, 2b, relievers in rounds 5-10 like everyone else.