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Mid-Season Acquistion Time
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Post by kjkramer on Jul 31, 2019 17:05:53 GMT -5
My take on this is pretty simple. We are not going to win the divsion. We are playing for a one game play in WC game. Not worth sacrificing any future for that one game 50-50 shot for me. I would like to think DD would have definitely made a move if we were in real contention for division title. I am ok making a run with what we have. Eovaldi is rounding in to form. DH is looking good. Hopefully Wright can finally get healthy. Maybe Houck? We still have some success with Barnes, Workman, etc. Braiser maybe finds it again. Ride it out. I am sure the value wasnt there in trades. We have no cap space..
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Post by carmenfanzone on Jul 31, 2019 17:09:06 GMT -5
So can anyone confirm that by not making another trade that the Red Sox are under the cap for the year and thus will not have a draft pick moved down and be subject to the other penalties?
If so, I think I am OK with not getting a reliever since I do not think they are going to make the playoffs with their starters pitching like they are anyway.
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Post by kjkramer on Jul 31, 2019 17:13:20 GMT -5
So can anyone confirm that by not making another trade that the Red Sox are under the cap for the year and thus will not have a draft pick moved down and be subject to the other penalties? If so, I think I am OK with not getting a reliever since I do not think they are going to make the playoffs with their starters pitching like they are anyway. I would have to ASSUME they are under that threshold..... otherwise, not making a move is bad. I think they are only 50-50 to make that one game WC game as well.... 60-40 at best. Way too much to risk for such a long shot to get to playoff series
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Post by jimed14 on Jul 31, 2019 17:13:28 GMT -5
So can anyone confirm that by not making another trade that the Red Sox are under the cap for the year and thus will not have a draft pick moved down and be subject to the other penalties? If so, I think I am OK with not getting a reliever since I do not think they are going to make the playoffs with their starters pitching like they are anyway. Another thing to consider is that moving down from 22 to 32 instead of 34-44 (or whatever it will be) makes going over that 3rd tax threshhold a much more severe penalty. They'd be giving up about a million in draft budget instead of half that last year. You'd also have to add that to the cost of making trades if they were going to go over.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Jul 31, 2019 17:19:22 GMT -5
People are reacting because they don't trust the bullpen in the first place and felt it was an area in need of an upgrade. It's more than 1 game of Colten Brewer that fosters that opinion. I can only speak for myself, but I'm not comfortable in any situations where the Sox are clinging to a 1 run lead in the 9th. There's no stud in the bullpen that gives me the "Game over" feeling. Workman has been great, but he also walks way, way too many guys and I can't help but wonder when his BABIP will rise. I trust him more in the earlier innings, the 7th or 8th, but not as THE GUY in the 9th. That's my opinion and I doubt I'm alone in that. We can rehash the fireman/closer/most crucial outs in the game debate, but it's kind of pointless. I'm comfortable seeing Workman or Barnes (when he's right) come into high leverage in the 6th, 7th, or 8th, but I'm not comfortable with them in the closer's role. Eovaldi has the stuff and better control to be THE GUY in the 9th, but he lacks Ks. And as far as Hernandez goes, he's been impressive in a very, very small sample size, and I have no idea how he would react at this point of his career to coming in to a high stress 9th inning situation (not all saves are the 3 run type of saves) and perform. The only young fireballer I can remember coming up toward the end of the season and seizing the closer job was Calvin Schiraldi in 1986. Koji already had an amazing track record of pitching prior to 2013. He just didn't get the chance to close until then. Can Hernandez do what Schiraldi did in Aug/Sep 1986? Only time will tell. My feeling is that his control will still be an issue, albeit less of one when he starts. The irony is that the guy who would probably be the best closer on the Sox is Chris Sale who really dominates early on and then starts getting in trouble by the 3rd inning or so. The Red Sox have almost always had an elite pure closer since the late 80's, so I get why most are uncomfortable. I would definitely prefer if that had the guy, but the guy wasn't available so I'm glad they didn't make a move out of desperation. Francisco Rodriguez was a terror in the 2002 playoffs (although not as the closer) and that was with 5.2 innings of regular season work. That's no guarantee that Hernandez will do it, but it can be done. Even if you don't agree, thanks for understanding. I looked up Rodriguez's 2002 minor league stats and there's no comparison between his and Darwinzon Hernandez's stats. Francisco Rodriguez was dominant. Hernandez's numbers in AA were ugly in comparison. And yes, I get those were starter stats, but it's harder for me to feel comfortable that Hernandez should be annointed the closer and feel like they're stable with that. I looked up Schiraldi's stats as well in 1986 Pawtucket. Good numbers, although not dominant. His control was spotty, but between Bob Stanley, Steve Crawford, Joe Sambito, and Sammy Stewart (and Tim Lollar), the bullpen was so bad they had to try Schiraldi. Unfortunately we know how that story ended. I still think Dyson could have been the guy if they wanted to get a reliever pitching well who has closer experience and didn't want to spend too much in prospects for. I mean, the Twins, didn't destroy their farm system to obtain him. I think Dyson could have helped given the price for Smith, Diaz, and the situation with Giles.
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Post by grandsalami on Jul 31, 2019 17:21:49 GMT -5
I fine with the Sox not making any moves.
The reason our BP has been struggling, is because
A: for most of the season our starters have had trouble going deep into games. So it’s no shock that most of our BP is fried.
B: outside of E-rod most of our starters have regressed from last year. Porcello gives you inning, but he also gives up runs by the dozens. Sale has good games and bad games and really has not been consistent this year. In July sale has had 2 starts of 6 innings (out of 5 starts) (the others were 5.2(5ER) 4.2(5ER), 5.1 (6ER)
Price has had a horrid July.
In July, Price has only gone 6IP twice in 6 starts.
In the others he has gone 4.1, 4.0, 5.0, 5.0.
Lack of length from our Starters will kill even the best RP due to workload.
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Post by jimed14 on Jul 31, 2019 17:24:37 GMT -5
In July as a reliever, Darwinzon's line is 6 2 2 0 4 13. I mean 6 innings is enough for most people on this board to give up on other relief pitchers, so it should also be enough to be hopeful about them. And those stats are verified by Statcast as being a little unlucky.
Also, I think it's a strength rather than a weakness that they don't have anyone who has to pitch the 9th with a clean inning.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jul 31, 2019 17:26:14 GMT -5
They're likely to bring up more warm bodies from the minors, I think. Having a pen that has to cover 4+ innings over and over again insures that.
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Post by incandenza on Jul 31, 2019 23:35:29 GMT -5
So, now that the trade market is no longer hypothetical, anyone want to weigh in on what they would have done? I'm specifically curious what those of you who burst arteries over our failure to get a reliever would have done.
For instance, Detroit traded Shane Greene for Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte. What would you have shelled out to outbid Atlanta?
I'm not at all knowledgeable about other teams' prospects, but fangraphs has Wentz as a 45+ future value high-A pitcher which is a higher rating than they give Triston Casas. They give Demeritte a 35+ value, equivalent to Jhonathan Diaz. Would you have traded Casas (or, say, Mata) + Diaz for Greene? (I know these FV's may be a little dated; help me out here if you feel you have better comps from the Sox system.)
In another exciting deadline deal, the Jays sent Daniel Hudson to the Nationals for Kyle Johnston, who is a 23-year-old repeating high-A. Who's the Sox equivalent to that? Maybe Diaz again, actually... I don't know. Anyway, do you wish Dombrowski had moved that sort of player for Daniel Hudson?
Sam Dyson was probably the best reliever traded - and for him the Twins gave up: Prelander Berroa, Jaylin Davis, and Kai-Wei Teng (all 40 FV). Davis is a 25yo outfielder in AAA; the other two are rookie league pitchers. Equivalent from the Sox system might be... I dunno, Brayan Bello, Brandon Howlett, and CJ Chatham? (I'm really unsure about these comps; again, feel free to offer your own.) Would you make that trade?
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Jul 31, 2019 23:52:36 GMT -5
So, now that the trade market is no longer hypothetical, anyone want to weigh in on what they would have done? I'm specifically curious what those of you who burst arteries over our failure to get a reliever would have done. For instance, Detroit traded Shane Greene for Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte. What would you have shelled out to outbid Atlanta? I'm not at all knowledgeable about other teams' prospects, but fangraphs has Wentz as a 45+ future value high-A pitcher which is a higher rating than they give Triston Casas. They give Demeritte a 35+ value, equivalent to Jhonathan Diaz. Would you have traded Casas (or, say, Mata) + Diaz for Greene? (I know these FV's may be a little dated; help me out here if you feel you have better comps from the Sox system.) In another exciting deadline deal, the Jays sent Daniel Hudson to the Nationals for Kyle Johnston, who is a 23-year-old repeating high-A. Who's the Sox equivalent to that? Maybe Diaz again, actually... I don't know. Anyway, do you wish Dombrowski had moved that sort of player for Daniel Hudson? Sam Dyson was probably the best reliever traded - and for him the Twins gave up: Prelander Berroa, Jaylin Davis, and Kai-Wei Teng (all 40 FV). Davis is a 25yo outfielder in AAA; the other two are rookie league pitchers. Equivalent from the Sox system might be... I dunno, Brayan Bello, Brandon Howlett, and CJ Chatham? (I'm really unsure about these comps; again, feel free to offer your own.) Would you make that trade? Yeah!!! Hembree is averaging 92 mph right now with the fastball and has a ERA over 7 since coming off the IL, but we have to make sure not to give anyone up to replace that. He's better than half the arms on the trade market!! Couldn't get creative here if you didn't have much money or prospects you wanted to give up? You couldn't take a flyer here somewhere? You couldn't do that?!! Actually this might be believable because Dombrowski is just as creative as a 5 year old with elbow macaroni and glue. Just crap that a lot people is eating here from the team. The team just punted the trade deadline and the GM basically said he didn't believe in the team, despite being a couple games back. They spit in the faces of the fans who spent tickets on this year's team. I'm glad I didn't pay for any tickets this year.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Aug 1, 2019 0:31:37 GMT -5
So, now that the trade market is no longer hypothetical, anyone want to weigh in on what they would have done? I'm specifically curious what those of you who burst arteries over our failure to get a reliever would have done. For instance, Detroit traded Shane Greene for Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte. What would you have shelled out to outbid Atlanta? I'm not at all knowledgeable about other teams' prospects, but fangraphs has Wentz as a 45+ future value high-A pitcher which is a higher rating than they give Triston Casas. They give Demeritte a 35+ value, equivalent to Jhonathan Diaz. Would you have traded Casas (or, say, Mata) + Diaz for Greene? (I know these FV's may be a little dated; help me out here if you feel you have better comps from the Sox system.) In another exciting deadline deal, the Jays sent Daniel Hudson to the Nationals for Kyle Johnston, who is a 23-year-old repeating high-A. Who's the Sox equivalent to that? Maybe Diaz again, actually... I don't know. Anyway, do you wish Dombrowski had moved that sort of player for Daniel Hudson? Sam Dyson was probably the best reliever traded - and for him the Twins gave up: Prelander Berroa, Jaylin Davis, and Kai-Wei Teng (all 40 FV). Davis is a 25yo outfielder in AAA; the other two are rookie league pitchers. Equivalent from the Sox system might be... I dunno, Brayan Bello, Brandon Howlett, and CJ Chatham? (I'm really unsure about these comps; again, feel free to offer your own.) Would you make that trade?Hell yes, and I wouldn't be too conflicted about it either. The Twins surrendered 3 guys outside of their top 30 (for the Red Sox what does that equate to - outside of their top 20 or 25)? Dyson has had one crappy year among a bunch of solid ones including the past two. He could have helped the Red Sox' bullpen. No, he can't make Porcello or Sale or Price pitch better, but if two of those three get their act together, with the Red Sox offense, why wouldn't Dyson help out the bullpen? He's not just another reliever. He's a guy capable of pitching in high leverage/closer situations which is exactly what they needed. The Red Sox farm system doesn't go belly-up if they lost Howlett (one of many 3b), Chatham (very fungible), and Bello (maybe a backend starter?). Not getting Dyson is the one that annoyed me. I had heard about him as a possible guy to target, but when I studied up on him more today I see that the stigma I carried about him from his bad year really shouldn't impact who he has been and what he's been over the past couple of years. As far as what the Braves gave up for Greene, I don't think Casas is an inferior prospect to their top one they gave Detroit. I'm not sure who a comparable guy is for the Red Sox. I know that I wasn't totally disappointed that they didn't get him. I know I was intrigued when I heard hammerhead repeat a radio rumor of Greene for Chatham and possibly Shugart, and was also interested in Givens. I also think the Twins made a sneaky good move getting Romo who is experienced in high leverage situations. Didn't cost them that much. I know Romo is hardly unhittable, but I thought that was a good move as the Twins in my opinion have shored up their pen. I also liked the Rangers move of getting Nate Jones from the ChiSox. He has a good track record of being a solid setup man. He also has a track record of being injured, but if he is finally healthy he'd be worth the flyer. Doubt Texas gave up much for him. If Melancon wasn't so damn expensive, I would have liked to have seen him return to Boston. He's getting closer to his old self and with no Bobby V around I think he could have been helpful.
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Post by hammerhead on Aug 1, 2019 3:21:28 GMT -5
My big issue is we don't have any depth or reinforcements coming that are any good (maybe Houck).
You guys who are fine staying pat keep saying. "We couldn't get anyone our farm system sucks" or is bottom heavy or whatever... But that's the exact place you guys want the depth to come from to fill out the bullpen.
There's no more waver wire trades. What happens when Barnes and Workman get worn down again or if someone gets hurt. This was our one chance to acquire some reinforcements using our one prospect strength bottom heavy volume.
So crucial innings filter down to Brewster or Hembree, and if someone gets hurt it filters down to Weber, Smith, Lakins etc.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Aug 1, 2019 3:35:07 GMT -5
The 2007 Boston Red Sox spent-
4 million dollars to Joel Pinero 2.5 million dollars to Hideki Okajima 3 million dollars to Mike Timlin 1.6 million dollars to J.C. Romero
The 2007 Red Sox spent more money on 41 year old Mike Timlin than the 2019 Boston Red Sox spent on anyone in the entire bullpen in free agency. 13 years later. That's about as sad as it gets folks. Just putting that out there for context. You might have not needed a arm if the Sox spent more than a small market team 10 years ago in this area.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Aug 1, 2019 4:07:45 GMT -5
The 2007 Boston Red Sox spent- 4 million dollars to Joel Pinero 2.5 million dollars to Hideki Okajima 3 million dollars to Mike Timlin 1.6 million dollars to J.C. Romero The 2007 Red Sox spent more money on 41 year old Mike Timlin than the 2019 Boston Red Sox spent on anyone in the entire bullpen in free agency. 13 years later. That's about as sad as it gets folks. Just putting that out there for context. You might have not needed a arm if the Sox spent more than a small market team 10 years ago in this area. [ The 2019 Red Sox spent more than a whopping $90M on its Rotation, the entire payroll of a couple of teams. The top five included 2 Cy winners, one perpetual Cy candidate, a promising 25 yr old, and a WS hero. Depth included a former All Star and two valuable 2018 WS champs. It was rated as perhaps the top Rotation in baseball. Where did that get us? I am 100% certain that getting one or two RP’s like Romo or Diaz or Green, or going over the Cap, would have made the Rotation better and helped us get to the dance. No, not really. Just more context. C’mon Pedro. Cashner and Johnson to the Rotation, the returns of Marco and Travis to the field and Eovaldi, Darwinzon, Houck to the Pen are the real deadline deals, and they should be as good as any trade the Sox could afford to make. And we can stil look forward to the emergence of guys like our own Dalbec, Duran, Mata, Groome, etc. down the road.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Aug 1, 2019 5:37:38 GMT -5
The Sox own manager was even expecting a trade. Saying that the teams that try to make a world series are the ones to make moves. Of course he backed off after his organization left him high and dry, and he's in a management position and that's what you do when you're in that spot.
Fenway even had no buzz. It was just deflating to watch that whole day unravel. Checking no updates on Twitter, then watching the disaster of a game.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Aug 1, 2019 5:59:48 GMT -5
Also, I think it's a strength rather than a weakness that they don't have anyone who has to pitch the 9th with a clean inning.
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Post by ryan24 on Aug 1, 2019 6:08:39 GMT -5
WOW I am not sure I have ever seen pedro so upset with the sox. Dave spent his pitching money on the starters. Turns out that was a BIG mistake. Point here is this, that buying up RP to help the bullpen is not going to make it. You run the risk of more cap penalties, which impact future years teams. Plus that does not help the big 3 starters have any better year. The sox have a chance to make the playoffs and maybe do something. But, they have to balance that risk against long term success. John H and Dave want a competitive team every year not just one or two years and die and go to a major rebuild. The salary cap situation restrict a lot of what the sox can do. You still have 3 more years of Price at 30. Now 5 years of Sale at 30. Three more years of pedy at 12. If you are like the yankees shooting at a budget number of 200 mil a year in salary, that's a third of the payroll on 3 players. Plus you have Mookie coming in 2 years at BIG bucks. JBJ coming next winter at pretty big bucks. Plus 2 more years of JDM. That is 6 guys who make up way over half of your payroll number and still have 34 spots to fill against the number, plus the 8 or9 mill that you have to factor in for insurance. Ouch. It is not that the sox do not have the money. It is the restrictions that the cap and the 2 different draft pools put on the yearly rebuild of the roster and being competitive to make the playoffs. The sox have some serious decisions to make concerning the future of the team and rebuild of the farm. This not making a move, even though it seemed like they could, is the first of several very tough decisions to come.
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Post by rjp313jr on Aug 1, 2019 7:11:58 GMT -5
Holt loves Boston and basically campaigned to stay here his whole career. Stuff can change obviously, but it seems like he’d stay for a reasonably cheap contract. He’s the type of player that provides great depth to a really good team, when healthy. I’d drive Marco and Travis to the airport if they could get something good for them. Well I feel the same on Holt...a classic dirt dog who loves Boston. I've always loved Marco, feel great for him in his perseverance and believe his best days are ahead. Travis is the same to a lesser degree. I want them to be rewarded. Unfortunately there is no perfect world. I don’t think you’re supposed to refer to Brock Holt as a dirt dog
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Post by soxfansince67 on Aug 1, 2019 7:34:37 GMT -5
Two takes last night...Merloni in the paper saying the words DD used in the presser indicated publically that he gave up on this team. Mutnansky last night in WEEI saying DD was right...it is a flawed team that didn't deserve having a move made. Raised various reasons, among them not addressing the pen in off-season and Cora not taking spring training seriously. Lots of references to team coming out flat, spirit broken in Fenway. I could see the team going south in a hurry if they drop the next few series
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Post by patford on Aug 1, 2019 7:41:46 GMT -5
I'm pleased the Sox didn't throw away any prospects for relief help. Dombrowski nailed it a couple of weeks ago when he mentioned the performance of the starters. That has been the biggest problem. You have Porcello who has been awful, Price and Sale who have been less than expected. A mess for a fifth starter and Rodriquez who has been pretty good. The fact is the Sox aren't going to win the World Series without better pitching from their starters. I think the same is true of the Rays and Yankees. The Astros now look almost like a lock.
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Post by incandenza on Aug 1, 2019 8:37:16 GMT -5
The 2007 Boston Red Sox spent- 4 million dollars to Joel Pinero 2.5 million dollars to Hideki Okajima 3 million dollars to Mike Timlin 1.6 million dollars to J.C. Romero The 2007 Red Sox spent more money on 41 year old Mike Timlin than the 2019 Boston Red Sox spent on anyone in the entire bullpen in free agency. 13 years later. That's about as sad as it gets folks. Just putting that out there for context. You might have not needed a arm if the Sox spent more than a small market team 10 years ago in this area. My man, all those guys sucked except for Okajima. Timlin had a 3.42 ERA but a 4.69 FIP. Pineiro was 5.03/4.53. Romero was 3.15/5.69. Those three combined for -0.4 fWAR. This is the point you just never contend with - free agent relievers tend to underperform. As many people have pointed out to you, most of the expensive relievers that were signed this past off-season have been lousy. Now it's a little different if you're talking about in-season trades, since those guys have a record of performance this season that maybe ought to be a little bit more predictive. But complaining about the Red Sox not spending enough on the bullpen is missing the point. It is also driving me a little nuts that people are feeling (per Rob Bradford, apparently) down in the dumps that the Red Sox didn't make a move. They made a move! They got Cashner! That's more than the Yankees did at least. And getting Cashner has allowed Eovaldi to move to the bullpen. That might prove to be the most significant bullpen "addition" any team has made.
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Post by sarasoxer on Aug 1, 2019 8:50:01 GMT -5
Well I feel the same on Holt...a classic dirt dog who loves Boston. I've always loved Marco, feel great for him in his perseverance and believe his best days are ahead. Travis is the same to a lesser degree. I want them to be rewarded. Unfortunately there is no perfect world. I don’t think you’re supposed to refer to Brock Holt as a dirt dog I suspect that you are kidding. The appellation is the highest of compliments, at least from me. He epitomizes the classic scrapper who runs hard, plays hard and gets the most out of his talent.
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Post by rjp313jr on Aug 1, 2019 9:01:49 GMT -5
I don’t think you’re supposed to refer to Brock Holt as a dirt dog I suspect that you are kidding. The appellation is the highest of compliments, at least from me. He epitomizes the classic scrapper who runs hard, plays hard and gets the most out of his talent. It was a tongue in cheek reference to Pedro getting spoken to last year.
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Post by redsoxfan2 on Aug 1, 2019 9:08:15 GMT -5
The 2007 Boston Red Sox spent- 4 million dollars to Joel Pinero 2.5 million dollars to Hideki Okajima 3 million dollars to Mike Timlin 1.6 million dollars to J.C. Romero The 2007 Red Sox spent more money on 41 year old Mike Timlin than the 2019 Boston Red Sox spent on anyone in the entire bullpen in free agency. 13 years later. That's about as sad as it gets folks. Just putting that out there for context. You might have not needed a arm if the Sox spent more than a small market team 10 years ago in this area. So is the moral of the story here that the Red Sox should overspend on crappy relievers? After the deadline, I'm fairly certain the Red Sox are STILL the highest paid team in baseball. If you use the luxury tax threshold as a salary cap then you have to decide how to allocate your resources to fit within that budget. Mookie Betts - $20,000,000 You paying for that? Yes? That's $20,000,000 off the books. Xander Bogaerts - $12,000,000? That's $32,000,000 JDM? That's $23,750,000 It all starts to add up. Have there been bad investments? Yes. Eovaldi has not been worth the $17 million he got this off-season, but he was electric last year and I personally wanted to seem him return, albeit at a lower number. Pearce was a bad deal at $6.25 but he was good last year and the WS MVP. They wanted him to continue to hit against LHP and be a guy who could play some OF and give Moreland a bit of a break at 1B. I can see the thought process there. Point is. They decided to spend heavy on super star bats and their starting rotation. Just like the Patriots who rarely ever spend money on wide receivers, the Red Sox elected this is where they would cut their costs. It obviously hasn't worked out for them, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal if Price, Sale, Porcello, and Eovaldi didn't collectively suck as starters. They had/have a manageable pen. I'm not going to argue it's better than NY or Houston, but it's not the worst in baseball either.
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Aug 1, 2019 9:09:44 GMT -5
The 2007 Boston Red Sox spent- 4 million dollars to Joel Pinero 2.5 million dollars to Hideki Okajima 3 million dollars to Mike Timlin 1.6 million dollars to J.C. Romero The 2007 Red Sox spent more money on 41 year old Mike Timlin than the 2019 Boston Red Sox spent on anyone in the entire bullpen in free agency. 13 years later. That's about as sad as it gets folks. Just putting that out there for context. You might have not needed a arm if the Sox spent more than a small market team 10 years ago in this area. [ The 2019 Red Sox spent more than a whopping $90M on its Rotation, the entire payroll of a couple of teams. The top five included 2 Cy winners, one perpetual Cy candidate, a promising 25 yr old, and a WS hero. Depth included a former All Star and two valuable 2018 WS champs. It was rated as perhaps the top Rotation in baseball. Where did that get us? I am 100% certain that getting one or two RP’s like Romo or Diaz or Green, or going over the Cap, would have made the Rotation better and helped us get to the dance. No, not really. Just more context. C’mon Pedro. Cashner and Johnson to the Rotation, the returns of Marco and Travis to the field and Eovaldi, Darwinzon, Houck to the Pen are the real deadline deals, and they should be as good as any trade the Sox could afford to make. And we can stil look forward to the emergence of guys like our own Dalbec, Duran, Mata, Groome, etc. down the road. It's why a bunch of us wouldn't have resigned Eovaldi or if you did trade Porcello. People laughed at me for wanting to trade Porcello and resign Pomeranz but they have both been bad. Yet with Pomeranz you would have had money to invest in the bullpen. I'm a firm believer in not putting all your eggs in one basket and DD did just that. Yes the starters have underachieved, yet it's only been made worse by a bullpen that has struggled to close out games. The new age thinking anyone can close has kinda been proven false so far this year. Everyone hated Kimbrel because he could look shaky at times, but the guy got you saves almost everytime. Given our payroll and the fact this team has some tough choices going forward, counting on Eovaldi, Hernandez, and Houck to save your bullpen is a crazy risky plan. It might workout, it might blow up in your face also. Those aren't guys like Sale and Price with long track records of being good bullpen arms. Heck everyone is so high on Houck helping and he hasn't even been pitching that well this year. Just a poorly planned and built team. The highest payroll team in the league should have addressed the bullpen in the off-season and shouldn't be in a situation where adding a guy is so hard due to payroll.
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