Perfect Vision

Nothing will give a better indication of the competency (or lack thereof) of the Sox front office than if they decide that McCann/Collins is the catching duo they're ready to move forward with into the contending years, because McCann is about to turn back into an offensive pumpkin (already did in the 2nd half last year) and Collins is no more a catcher than Schwarber was.

Yes, but I'd rather see a short term option (Calhoun or Gordon) and see if any of the outfield prospects break out next year, or a trade for a RF. I want all the big free agency dollars going to Grandal and a good starter.

Those two and then quite a few pitchers. I only see the Sox giving out two big contracts this offseason (at most), so if they sign Castellanos, then i think the Grandal + good starting pitcher hope is dead. To me, Castellanos should be a backup plan if they don't land Grandal.

Don't like this if true. Not because I wouldn't like Castellanos on the team, but because he should be far down the priority list of players they should be pursuing right now.

Collins just hit .282/.403/.548 in AAA. He's shown he can hit at that level. Sure they can send him back there, but then they're right back in the same position with him next offseason. We know the Sox are going to roll with Robert and Madrigal getting significant playing time this year. I'd prefer they do the same with Collins. If they sign Grandal and him/McCann/Collins share the C/DH positions, that's fine with me. If they sign EE and McCann/Collins share C, that's also fine with me. But I would prefer they don't sign both Grandal and EE, and instead take that money and put it towards something else (and give Collins his shot).

I don't think the Sox are ready to give up on or trade Zack Collins. Signing both Grandal and EE would leave him with no role on the team.

Ok, let's go get Grandal

Probably because he's done ethically questionable things countless times in his career on behalf of countless clients, and he doesn't see this as risking his agency. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised you think everyone involved is squeaky clean and doing everything by the book when there are millions of dollars on the line.

So your theory is teams and agents always play by the rules... Rules are broken by team personnel, players, and agents all the time in all sports. Sometimes they're caught and punished, sometimes they get away with it. But it's naive to think that Boras wouldn't be trying to get information in ethically-questionable ways, or that a team interested in giving JDM a bigger deal than his current one wouldn't be trying to communicate that in some fashion to Boras.

It does seem likely that this is happening to some extent. To me, the most plausible explanation for JDM to wait until the last second to make his opt out decision is that these type of communications between Boras and teams are occurring, so that Boras could be fully confident that he can beat JDM's current deal. There's no other analysis that Boras would be doing now that he couldn't have otherwise done over the last month regarding JDM's likely market, so why wait until Monday afternoon to announce his decision unless he's trying to confirm likely offers.

Question for anyone who knows: In this type of situation, would Boras be permitted to talk to the Sox front office (and vice versa) about potential contract terms without violating the CBA or other league rules. Until he formally opts out, he's technically under contract with the Red Sox, so I would assume no.

Didn't Grandal turn down that Mets offer expecting to beat it, only to have to settle for the Brewers offer when the Mets went in a different direction. Heyman's tweet implies that Grandal chose the 1 year deal over the 4 year deal, which I think is incorrect. In any event, will be interesting to see if Grandal's experience last offseason affects his choices this offseason, namely, he will sign early if given a reasonable 3-4 year offer rather than playing the long game and risk the market drying up.

If those prices are anywhere near correct -- and I think that they could be -- I could see the Sox focusing almost exclusively on the bats and trying to sign both JDM and Grandal (and maybe Puig too), and picking up one of the lesser starting pitchers on a 1 year deal. I have my doubts that they would be willing to give any starting pitcher a contract over $100 mil.

We'll know one week from today whether JDM has opted out, and I expect him to. I also think that within 24 hours after that decision, Boras will be talking about how hard JDM has been working on his defense and that he's willing to play either corner outfield or first base. There's just no way that Boras is going to concede JDM's market is AL-only. Before it's all said and done, we'll certainly get rumors from Heyman, etc. that there are mystery NL teams in on JDM. Even if he signs with the White Sox, there will be a lot of doubt and hand-wringing before then.

Adolfo with 3 hrs in 10 AFL games. Now slashing .206/.325/.471. Still way too many strikeouts. The power is obvious, but the swing-and-miss in his game is going to prevent him from ever being an MLB regular.

I would prefer JD Martinez at DH, but Schwarber would be the next best option in my opinion (so I agree they should be looking to do better than this but should be willing to pivot to Schwarber if Martinez doesn't opt out or they don't sign him).

According to the recent MLBtraderumors article, he's only projected to make $8 million in arbitration next year.

I think the Sox are serious about signing at least one big bat (JDM, Grandal, Ozuna) and one good-to-great SP (Wheeler seems like the best bet), as well as some secondary pieces. So I would expect closer to $120 mil if the Sox successfully execute what I think their plan is.

Boras has always been about total guaranteed money over highest AAV. We saw that with Harper's contract last year. So I would guess that he would perceive a 4/70 offer as better than the current 3/60. Hard to believe that the Sox or the Rangers wouldn't be willing to offer that.

There are two kinds of Sox fans: Those who see acquiring Schwarber, Heyward, and Quintana as only helping the Cubs, and those who see acquiring those players as the Sox taking advantage of an overextended club. Heyward's deal is bad and the Cubs would have to throw in some money, but none of those players are trash and they would all be good fits for the Sox.

I don't doubt that Bumgarner would prefer to stay in the NL. But if an AL team offered him the most money, would he really turn it down?

The Rangers are one of the teams generally listed as a possible suitor for JD Martinez if he becomes a free agent, but would probably be out on him if Choo remains on their roster (who DHs about half the time).

Another triple for Rutherford yesterday. That's 3 in 10 games (which are kind of buoying his .825 OPS).

I'm not a non-stat guy, but I swear the amount of faith some fans put into fWAR is laughable. Hey guys, Yolmer Sanchez has 5 fWAR over the last 3 seasons! He's actually really good!! Your eyes have been deceiving you this whole time. Let's sign him to a 5 year deal.

My final comment on this. I don't know how you can agree that Quintana will be paid just slightly less than what he's worth on an AAV basis and in the same breadth say it's a lock that they pick up his option. If the Cubs want to move on from him and if his salary next year would be about market value (and any difference only nets a small return in trade), then it's not a lock that they pick up the option.