Perez is back

This is true but those guys will have some uncertainty.

I have a broader question, and I don’t know if anyone has seen anything but given that ERod missed a full year — and really that everyone threw relatively few innings — does anyone know if that will create innings limits or different treatment? I just wonder if going from 200 innings to 0 innings and back requires any caution. Has anyone seen anything about this, or will pitchers just be go as normal (if they get a normal spring)?

I think most every starter has reason for reduced innings except maybe Perez
Sale: Will start several weeks after everyone else and will be babied throughout the season
Edro: Will most likely proceed very cautiously. Never pitched deep in games even when healthy
Eovaldi: Been very solid for the Sox but has had TWO TJ's
Houck/Pivetta: Young pitchers generally build up inning totals year over year.
Perez: Dependable underrated starter

I think that the Red Sox still need another starter for sure. Whether that's Odorizzi or another lefty like Paxton.

The last start of the year Roenicki left Perez in too long and blew up his ERA from 3.88 to 4.50.

Adding Erod already improves the rotation. They likely will sign one more starter. Thats already a better rotation from last year. Also Sale will be back to help as well at some point.

Martin Perez was available to everyone else also.  But this signing is supposed to show that.....I don't really know what it shows.  We need starting pitching, that is what it shows.

I guess the disappointing thing is, and what seems to get lost in translation around here, and apparently in MLB in general....You can actually sign players for more than 1 year (and whatever option).   You can also pay premiums for players.

Sorry for being so snarky, but really, what we have is player salary suppression going on.  Maybe that is CoVid, or maybe it is new bargaining agreement...whatever.  Trevor Bauer is available and if we aren't having discussions with his agent, then that is club managerial malpractice.

maybe they are on spending limits.  I can't tell them.  I am sure they have people that can approximate it fairly closely.  However, this isn't just this offseason, it has been going on now for the last 3-5 years. The franchises are increasing in value.  They are closing Minor Leagues franchises.  And we have a generation of GM's that are rooted in math.

And what of all the arguments we heard that gate was no longer as important to a team's / leagues profits.  I argued against it, but was told that league TV revenue made the gate less important.

There is a sickness in this league and the people that run it, that goes beyond the loss of stadium revenues.  They all want to operate as small market teams.  The Sox, given their franchise, market, revenue have a fiduciary responsibility to be at or near the tax threshold every year to help the overall health of the industry.  I have no doubt they will, but this bargain bin hunting is trying my patience, and i am not the only one. 

We need some stud pitching, period.

Why is this the realistic best case scenario ?  You don't think we should be signing Bauer ? Or do you think his asking price will be too much ?  

I know Bauer is a head case, but I also know he is a helluva pitcher, who would likely upgrade our rotation for the next 5 years. He is  helluva competitor.

Unless I am mistaken, we have reset the tax penalty.  I guess I need to understand why it is we have to avoid large ticket items.  Fenway Sports has been great owners, but they have also been given alot also.  The Betts sale should not be a continuing business practice.  We need to flex our financial muscles.

That is fair, thanks for responding.  But...every team has holes.   The strength in ML is in the NL.  The AL is pretty wide open.  The MFY aren't any better at this point.  I am less worried about position players as our offense has remained top tier for a number of years.  The 2013 team was indicative of a team where lightening can strike

That being said, signing some pitching this year is setting yourself up for the years you are talking about.  I don't think you can just say...wait until 2022 and think the plan will come together any easier.  Other teams will also be in play for good pitchers services then.  We are operating on the margain's here.  It is frustrating to see and I am not convinced it is either necessary or good mgt.

Also, I think you were confusing Bauer with Kluber.  I have not read where Bauer has signed yet.

This is the issue that few on the board seem willing to bring up. There are reports of $100 million losses for some teams. That's a tough way to run a business.

There is still enormous uncertainty given the emergence of more infectious strains of the virus. This is a serious game of risk/reward. It's not surprising at all that the reigns are being pulled in, that there's so much caution.

I've been a fan for 40 years, saw the end of the Fisk/Lynn era, so I go back a long ways too, although you date backlonger to the Tony C/Yaz Billy C driven feud days.

I've gone 24 years waiting and waiting, and lived through that miserable ending of the 1986 World Series. I'm not some kid who jumped on the 2004 bandwagon, thinks the Championships are my birthright, and is upset that my team might have to wait a few years to win.

It's nothing about being spoiled. It's about being disappointed that Bloom, armed with 25 million or so to really improve the team has been unable to secure any of the most impactful players that were on the market and had to settle for the same mediocrity that we saw last year.

I'm really good with a "rebuilding time", if they're truly growing an impact core, but I'm quite aware that the minor league hopefuls they have now more closely resemble what they had in the late aughts (the Bowdens/Mastersons/Kalishes/Lars Andersons of the world) than what they had in the mid aughts (when Pedroia, Lester, Ellsbury, Buchholz, Hanley, etc) were in the pipeline or the mid mid-teens when Mookie, Devers, JBJ, Vazquez, Bogaerts, Benitendi, etc. were in the system.

It's going to take awhile for them to rebuild they system - the most important acquisition they will make is that #4 in the draft. Ok. But I felt they had a chance to make themselves reasonably competitive without compromising the future, which is why I would never advocate giving up that 40th pick for the talent that's out there this offseason nor trade somebody like a Casas who is the jewel in their system.
But I don't see how they drastically improve this team given what's left on the market (a bunch of mid tier players of less - I can see them signing Semien or Hernandez, Odorizzi or Shoemaker, Colome, and Almora, plus dealing away Benintendi for a young OF and young pitcher).

I would like to see the Sox build something to last and I'd like to see them win the World Series again in my lifetime. I've waited decades and I've been blessed with the evening of the law of averages (5 championships in 15 World Series followed by an 0-85, followed by 4 championships in 15 seasons). I'm well aware that the next one, even if Bloom does everything right, could be another 30 plus years. You can never take for granted that the next Championship is right around the corner or that you have decades left to see another one.

Understand I have no desire to see Bloom take shortcuts that short circuit the vision of long-term dominance. The Dodgers, Braves, and Yankees have shown that if you do things correctly, you can compete year after year, even if the luck goes against you, as the Dodgers had just 1 Championship the past 8 dominating years, although they have chances for more, the Yankees have been above .500 for 28 straight seasons with no big dip in sight, and had tremendous luck (1996-2000 before it ran out in Game 7 of 2001 and have only won once since, and zero luck the past decade), and the Braves of course won 14 division titles in a row with only a single championship to show for it, so I'll always appreciate the championships I lived to see, but also am quite aware that the next one is never a guarantee, and that the best way to do it is to have many years of being great so that the law of averages can finally work to your advantage. And the winning in the past....well it never stops me from wanting to see the next one!

You're right about the mixup of the 2 former 'Cleveland Baseball Club' pitchers - that's what I get for posting at 1am.

The overall post is still accurate though. It doesn't seem to make sense to sign a player to an 8-figure 1 year deal for a team which isn't expect to contend for a World Series this year.

In reference to the 'why'; in addition to the financial losses mentioned above there is a 3-4 year window in which the Red Sox (or possibly any team) are willing to exceed the luxury tax. It certainly seems to make more sense for that window to begin in 2022 and last through 2025 and span 2021 through 2024. (it is true that the luxury tax will likely be changed by this time, but unlikely the change will alter the general structure or planning as the MLB teams seem to like its effect)

Imagine this conversation:
Chaim Bloom: I would like to exceed the luxury tax and spend 'X' additional dollars in 2021.
John Henry: Will the 'X' dollars get us to the World Series?
Chaim Bloom: Probably not.
John Henry: Will it assure us a playoff spot?
Chaim Bloom: Maybe....but assure? No.
John Henry: Then, no.