Sambuca

I’m sure I would have. 5mil or not, I’m not a huge fan of him remaining an above average closer moving forward. Hendriks is more expensive, but I don’t trust the Sox would have spent that money elsewhere. Some of the money probably would have been used to dumpster dive. I’ll take the elite player when they decide to spend. And Hendriks is elite. Colome is a good pitcher. His stuff is decent, and he knows how to pitch. But I’d rather not rely on my closers relying on guile and defense for the last 3-6 outs of the game. I want a guy who is going to come in the game and miss a ton of bats and leave as little to chance as possible. A closer doesn’t have 6 innings to play with, it’s do or die immediately. There were also games last year when Colome’s stuff looked horrible, and I have no idea how he ended up getting three hitters out, but I’m not celebrating that appearance, only the victory. Some days, it just seemed harder for him to get his arm loose or something. Which isn’t good when you’re normal stuff is already naturally regressing. Hendiks is the opposite of all that, and he is a force to be reckoned with. The amount of bats he’s going to miss compared to Colome next few seasons is well worth the extra money. The Twins signing Colome is “cool, they added a dude to the back of their pen.” Or, “the Twins have a bullpen.”

Meh.

Hector Gomez is a moron. Hopefully age 40 is his regression year, finally. Colome going to MN doesn’t really bother me at all though. Good for them, I guess?

Obvs.

Cease (Not Giolito) has a lot to figure out, fix, and then retain throughout the season. Let’s hope he can be a solid 3/4/5 with flashes of dominance.

I got Moncada with at least a .900 OPS this season.

I’m not suggesting anything, just joshing.

Is 15 months ago PECOTA?

Too late.

Yes. And no, not really.

What would be any reasoning that we are not better in 2021?

Rodon is really no different than any other dumpster dive FA SP pitcher the Sox were rumored to sign (injury risk with potential with a history of some success), and 3mil is ridiculously cheap. We just don’t like it because we actually watched his failures, and aren’t just reading them on Baseball Reference. I am not crazy about it, but if Rodon actually conditions, displays the upper 90s fastball he flashed last season, let’s not forgot his slider can be a devastating out pitch. He’s not a horrible option for SP depth. He’s never actually been that bad when he’s on the mound. Hopefully he can cover how many innings they will need out of him. They do need to add one more pitcher of this ilk, as I don’t trust Cease at all and I want Kopech protected.

Development is probably behind like everything else in this organization, but drafting/scouting is the main cause here. Catching is intricate, and it’s not really a position that’s easy to make average and protected like the OF.

I got them mixed up, but I’m glad he’s not the guy. Thanks, all.

Is everyone big mad?

Wait, it was Fiers who was having sex with teenagers, right?

But Stan, why are you so mad?

Cool response!

Anyone who cares about losing Bailey or Jose Rodriguez to add the major league team during our limited competitive window is being absolutely ridiculous.

And stop proposing Rutherford and Sheets as anything, but maybe the 4th piece of a trade package. They do not have any value, unless you're trading for Ray Durham.

Clearly, the theme/trend is trading for pitchers with cheap contracts and getting bargains compared to the already cheap FA market. Is this one worth it? Probably not. It may work out, but nah, Pirates were looking for serious talent. The Sox will continue to dangle the players they declared available, but if them fish don't bite, they will move on like nothing happened. Guessing at that point, we get a Wainwright (not sure if there's another comparable pitcher in that price range). Then I'm holding out hope, the cheap pitcher is to leave room for a better bat. But we all know if it's not exactly their terms, it almost definitely for sure ain't happening. I have full confidence in Kopech for however innings they can get out of him. He will be above average or better. Cease, I am not confident, but I'll drink some Katz Kool-Aid "(put your fingers here"), and try to remember his stuff is actually very good, and pray the dude will actually challenge hitters. And if he is challenging them, he can keep his stuff in or near the zone. Right before I submit my reply, I always think, why the hell did you write nothing? I did it because I'm bored, and because this board is not doing so well right now.

WAR is okay. Use it as data/information, but not the "end-all-be-all" stat that best represents the player and their production. It's not really as fair as you'd think it would be, and does nothing in terms of assessing a team's specific needs. Once a stat becomes subjective, it's not really that much of a true statistic. Not saying RBIs are a better stat because they are "true." Every statistic has its place. I said nothing. I said too much. Goodnight.

Madrigal arguments going in ovals.

I’ve said this on here before, but I had a really hard time watching him pitch last year. Before the season started, he was one of the players I was most looking forward to seeing progress. I love watching pitchers with good stuff. Even through the developmental stages when they kind of suck, I still enjoy eventually seeing that perfectly spun curveball that gives you so much hope and excrement. Cease was the opposite of that last season. I can’t remember having any positive thoughts because his control was so bad, his stuff was non-existent. How can we be excited about a curveball that starts two feet out of the zone and ends up getting blocked by the catcher’s body. No major league hitter is going to swing at a ball that’s already 20 inches outside the zone and spinning like crazy. And from the guy who has already thrown 70 pitches to get through 2.1 innings. They also are not going to swing at your fastball out of the zone when they know nothing makes it back in the zone. I’m surprised he didn’t get hit a lot harder when he was in the zone with his straight fastball. He clearly had a ton of luck last season to keep a 4 ERA. I think my point was that if Katz can figure out how to make Cease throw strikes, he will be extremely good. Katz also needs to work with Cease on how to use his pitches in tandem. I want to be more confident in Cease but I don’t know if he will ever be able to keep his control consistently. And no, that won’t really play in the bullpen either. That would be a terrible waste of guy with stuff (somewhat) similar to Glasnow. That’s the most frustrating part, when he has a hitter in a rare two strike count, he doesn’t even need to start it in the zone, he can keep in there. Guys will swing through his stuff, especially behind in the count if he puts it near the plate. Learning to use his fastball in tandem with his breaking pitches will huge, but that only works when you locate the pitches anywhere near his target. I do sometimes forgot how good this team would be next year and beyond if Cease blossomed into a #2 Thats all I have to say about that.