Nardiwashere

If they can't develop and all their guys suck, why the handwringing about dropping one of those guys?

On Soxtalk, Mena is somehow simultaneously a future stud who will haunt us and also an example of the organization's failures to develop talent.

Just because a contract looks good for a team a couple years after it is signed, doesn't mean it was a hometown discount.

I figured NBC Sports would just go away and Stadium Network would get the rights to the same games and take its place on all the same cable carriers and streaming services. I would imagine you could get the same/similar carriage fees and the teams wouldn't have to split with Comcast/NBC.

I guess it depends on how good he is and what type of returns are possible. Obviously, I'd take very little back in terms of players if it meant we could clear most of his $ and roster spot. He doesn't really line up with the new window. If we are getting an actual prospect, I'd be ok with eating a decent amount too.

I'd love for them to extend Crochet. I'd also like to see a guy like Soroka get an extension if he pitches well. In the future, your rotation could be Crochet, Fedde, Soroka, and whoever is good out of Nastrini, Eder, Thorpe, Cannon, Bush, Iriarte, and eventually Schultz. At some point, you're going to have to lock guys in for 2025-26 and beyond. If there's a market, the guys I'd trade are Kopech, Clevinger, any reliever not named Jordan Leasure, Eloy, Moncada, Benitendi, Vaughn.

Why would today be the bullpen day rather than yesterday? I'd think Soroka would be more able to pitch on a 4 man rotation schedule than Crochet. What am I missing?

Keep in mind this offseason was not like a normal offseason. The two best SPs on the market didn't sign until Spring Training was well underway. It is is possible no one wanted him. It's also possible he was asking for too much and teams moved on and made other signings and he ended up accepting the Sox offer. Michael Lorenzen doesn't have any crazy red flags, right? Did no one want him?

I get it... but if one is taking such a strong stance in support victims of abuse, its very bizarre that they lose their principles or make an exception based on how good the team or the player is. What's the winning percentage that makes domestic abuse tolerable? To me, that's more gross.

I don't remember this being an allegation. I thought she said they got into a fight and he got angry and threw a bottle of dip spit and it got on the baby. Obviously very bad, but it is much different than deliberately taking a lit cigarette and stamping it out on a baby. That's like psychotic s%*#.

I get someone being upset/not liking him due to the allegations. At the same time, I feel like the reactions to him are very extreme. Someone like Aroldis Chapman had more concrete allegations and when the Cubs had him, it was all "Well, sometimes athletes are unsavory characters. Theo wants to win" type vibes. I don't know what Clevinger did or didn't do. I do know that they had him around the team for a season. I find it hard to believe that they'd bring him back if it was as black and white as people on the outside act. I don't personally like the guy but get some innings out of him, hope he's good. Trade him for a piece if he does well. Can't help but think that a lot of the people saying they aren't fans anymore or they want the team to move are being a little performative.

A player has to explain what they feel. A trainer isn't a mind reader. If they say they feel ok and its a lie, what is the trainer supposed to do?

So what does this look like? He pitches half a year until he gets to 100ish innings and then gets shut down? Gaps in between starts? Does 100 IP sound right? If so, whats the target for next year?

I have YouTubeTV and they removed MLB network from their channel lineup a year or so ago. ESPN stopped doing daily Baseball Tonight a while back. I'm looking for a highlight show to watch as I go to bed. Anyone know of an option on another channel/streaming service/youtube? I know MLB does like youtube recaps but from what I see, its just random clips thrown together with no context or anything. Without any host or graphics, its just plays strung together and I can't follow what's happening. I can't believe out of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN+, FSN, Stadium, FanDuelTV, CBS/Paramount, Warners/Turner, NBC Universal etc. there isn't one traditional highlight show available for MLB. ESPN and Fox is all NFL offseason talk and idiots sitting around tables yelling at each other about nonsense. Has baseball become that niche?

I was just going off mlb pipeline's ETA. You're probably right on those two... but still... there's an influx of guys coming and a lot of money available. This doesn't have to be some prolonged rebuild.

This year they will be bad. I think 70 games give or take a few... so like 67-73ish? The goal should be to find a handful of guys who are in their long term plans. 2025 should be the fun "hey, this team isn't bad!" year. 2026 they should be competing. In 2024-2025, the following players should be making debuts Montgomery, Thorpe, Ramos, Quero, Zavala, Nastrini, Iriarte, Eder, Cannon, Fletcher, Leasure, Berroa, Bush. They also have a ton of money coming off the books. There's no reason you need to be bad for 5 years in order to be good again. Full rebuilds can work (Cubs, Astros) but that's not the only way to build a team.

I can't believe they'd trade for a guy who couldn't hit 90mph. Let's say he is low 90s like everyone says. Is it possible for guys his age/experience to just gain a couple mph or is he what he is at this point?

Bauer was always a dbag. In addition to the allegations, he just seems like the absolute worst person to deal with on a daily basis. I want no part of him. Even if he is innocent of all charges (I'm not saying he is), he is such an egotistical loudmouth.... he'd be blabbering about it all season, flying his drones into scoreboards, and boasting about cheating etc. Clevinger is not someone I would want dating my sister and I personally would not want to hang out with him... but his situation seems different than Bauer. I always saw Giolito and Cease hanging out with him and talking. Those two guys don't seem like the type to be friendly with a child abuser or wife beater. Maybe they were just being cordial because he was a co-worker but from the outside, it didn't look like he was some outcast. They have spent too much time talking about changing the culture and vibes... He isn't good enough and the team isn't close enough to winning to waste money on signing him if he's as bad of a dude as the public thinks. Besides, unlike Hahn, Getz strikes me as a guy who would care more about character. I imagine the team knows more about that whole story than the public. Would I sign him? Probably not... but if they did, they are doing it after having him in the clubhouse for a season and knowing more about him.

Lolololol... so on March 14 of his first season here, you have written off Bannister because he gave some generic "I believe in Kopech. I can't wait to try to get his game back to the next level!" quote when he was hired?

This is absurd. Kopech has been here 7 years. He sucks. Also- show me the quote where they said "We guarantee he will be fixed and turn into a good starting pitcher"

I don't find this surprising at all. I figured he was going to be in the bullpen all offseason.... it was at least a 50/50 thing.

I like this. The goal of this season should be to find a few players that will be on the next good team. If we go into next year with 2-3 SPs and 4-5 spots in the lineup figured out plus a handful of bullpen arms we like, that's good news, right?

That's not the same. Bannister doesn't have the same job as Getz had. If they bring him up and he's good, no one will say "Boy, that Paul Janish really knows how to develop players"

Who cares if Fulmer was on the top 100 list in the same calendar year that Getz got hired? Getz has nothing to do with him. The rest of those guys on your list were in the minors partially for service time manipulation. Like others said, they were all "developed" by other organizations. If they bring up Thorpe in September and he's awesome, is that attributable to Paul Janish?

There's some truth to this but Kopech, Eloy, Moncada, Lopez weren't guys who spent time in the minors and were "developed." I assume you meant Fullmer instead of Fuller. He was in majors in 2016. Guys like Rutherford, Collins etc. also could have just sucked. Also, who knows what authority he had... I don't blame Chris Getz because Ryan Cordell was bad. Maybe I'm wrong.