SoxBlanco

Do you think Cueto gets a larger contract than Clevinger during this offseason?

Right, but you’d have to look at it as a completely separate move to adding a 5th starter. Whether or not we replace Gio with Clevinger, we’d still need a 5th starter. If Sox have no interest in Clevinger unless it is packaged with a Gio trade (I have no idea if that’s the case…just saying hypothetically if that IS their thought process), then there are two options: 1. Sign a 5th starter like Quintana or someone along those lines. 2. Sign a 5th starter like Quintana, and then replace Giolito with Clevinger. If those are the two options, I can see why the Sox would choose option 2 if they truly think Lucas will never be good again. Of course, the third option is to just sign Clevinger as the 5th starter, which is what I would do, but option 2 is better than option 1 if you think Lucas is toast (which isn’t far fetched after watching him pitch last year).

If Clevinger does end up being a replacement for Gio, the Sox must feel like Lucas is truly toast at this point. I wouldn’t bet against him going into a contract year, but it’s not that crazy to think Clevinger will have a better year than Gio next year. So if the price for both is similar, and you can get something of value in return for Gio, and your scouts think Clevinger is the better pitcher next year, it’s a no brainer to pull the trigger. Like I said, I wouldn’t choose to go that route because I wouldn’t bet against Lucas in a contract year, but I would at least understand the move.

It depends on whether you think this team is closer to what we saw in 22 or in 20/21. I think last year was the anomaly, so I don’t think it’s overly optimistic to think this team will be better next year.

But Clevinger is going to cost the same as Giolito, and possibly a little more. Signing Clevinger and trading Giolito isn’t a move a “cheap” team would make to help them financially.

@Pal This the name you heard?

If the Sox had a solid manager last year instead of TLR, how many more games do you think they would have won?

I still feel like TLR had his hand in that signing…and then proceeded to make it look even worse by playing him every day.

Always appreciate the info, Pal. Happy Thanksgiving. Do you know which SP? No worries if you’re not at liberty to say.

Me too. We’re talking about a team that was the HEAVY favorite to win the division last year. Now all of a sudden the Sox are the third best team? No way. Last year was literally a “whatever can go wrong will go wrong year”, with the worst manager alive on top of that. Now that manager is gone. Yes, so is Abreu, but other than that, it’s basically the same team. And hopefully the loss of Abreu isn’t as big, considering it could mean we have better outfield defense. If I had to bet right now, I’m taking the Sox to win the division.

I know. I would like to add Wong. But when the payroll is apparently so limited, I don’t want to spend $10M on a second basemen, especially when it means giving up prospects.

If we make a trade, will Milwaukee pick up all $10M? And will they be requesting no top 30 prospects in return? If so, then I’m interested.

Me too. It was exactly what we needed at the time. Just like Nimmo this offseason.

November 21 is the day we made a big move early in the offseason in 2019 by signing Grandal. So who are we signing tomorrow?

Eh, it’s kind of fun to see what the 26 man roster might look like if the season started today and then how that evolves as the offseason progresses. I like the thread.

Orlando didn’t have any real connections, did he?

Do you have guesses on who runs that Twitter account?

The Grandal signing made perfect sense because we desperately needed a guy who could work counts and take walks, and he has given us exactly that. Yes, his defense is not what you would hope for in a catcher, but if it was that detrimental to a team, Grandal wouldn’t have made the playoffs 7 straight years before 2022.

Maybe if we started hitting more home runs that would be different.

This is honestly the most concerning thing with Grandal. He might have been the slowest runner in the history of baseball last season.

I haven’t seen anything, but I’m not claiming he WILL bounce back. I have no clue, and you have no clue. What I do know is that Grandal is only 14 months removed from a time when he was completely carrying the team on offense. I don’t expect to see that Grandal again, but I do think a wRC+ in the 105/110 range is more likely than the 68 he put up last year.

You are assuming he can’t play on a major league roster based on last year. If we are willing to give up major assets to help the team, I’d rather give up those assets for a different position. That doesn’t mean I would hate a Murphy trade, but I would need to see all the corresponding moves before fully getting on board.

Grandal's number the past two years are pretty crazy: 2021: 375 PA, 158 wRC+ 2022: 376 PA, 68 wRC+ Seems impossible to fall off a click that badly unless injuries are a significant factor. So the question becomes whether those injuries are lingering/permanent now. None of us know the answer to that question.

Is that 1.000 career BABIP sustainable? If so, I'll take him.

Correct.