YourWhatHurts

Bauer is a mid-rotation starter who flashes top-end performance before reminding everyone once again that he's not an ace. The idea that this guy is worth anywhere near Kershaw/Sale/DeGrom/Scherzer/Price/Greinke/Verlander, etc. money is nuts. I'd be willing to overpay the guy just because the Sox are in position to overpay a FA given the cheapness of their core ATM, but he's not actually worth it on paper. IMO $25M is an overpay that is worth it to the Sox. $30M per for 1-2 years is also better for the Sox than trading away top SP prospects. But if Bauer wants neither, fine, go elsewhere and be a bad contract over there.

Norm MacDonald is probably the greatest most underappreciated comedian of all time. I remember way back when that Comedy Central put on a pilot called "Back to Norm" which I hoped would get picked up. Of course it didn't. I thought it was great. I really can't stand the shitty shock value comedians / bar trash comedy that is just like bullies telling jokes, etc. like Louis CK, etc. Ron White is a hack, etc. OTOH always loved Bob Odenkirk and David Cross's stuff, loved Steven Wright, love Norm MacDonald, those guys.

Considering that Mars is on another planet and nowhere near Cleveland, I'm not sure how anyone would think that's a good idea. Maybe they were looking at all of those desolate craters and thought the scenery reminded them of Cleveland. Still bad idea though.

In large part because of their SP, I think a good name would be the "Thoroughbreds" or "Stallions" or "Horses," etc. On that list, "Cowboys" is okay. "Belters" seems not bad to me. "Spiders" sounds dumb though. "Widowmakers" is a cooler name, or some specific species native to the area. I think the "Lakers" is just fine, even though there is a basketball team called that.

The real Steve Stone loves Madrigal. Also the real Steve Stone wouldn't be able to post an animated gif.

1) Giolito, but at the numbers he will probably be looking for, it really doesn't make sense to just give him that money now unless you think that under Katz as a plus factor (even with Grandal as a minus factor) he will get better. If he maintains or is worse, the number should stay the same or come down, but if he gets better the number will increase. I think most likely the Sox make him "prove it" over 200IP in 2021, if it is a full schedule. 2) Vaughn: absolutely, but it should be less than Robert because he's not a CF. Maybe similar to Eloy's deal, but probably less because Vaughn wasn't rated as high as Eloy (even though he's probably a defender at his position whereas Eloy is just a DH). I have no issue guaranteeing money to Andrew Vaughn. 3) Cease, Kopech, and Crochet: if deals can be found that pay them like an All-Star closer in their 6th years and include TOs after, then sure, but they all need a full season starting to get bigger dollars than that. But in theory, extending them at closer pay and then watching them turn into top-end SPs would be Sale-like steals. 4) Heuer: give him something like Bummer's money, but hopefully less. This guy is nails. 5) Lynn: doesn't have to be done, but should. The Sox are probably going to be high on his return wishlist after the season anyway, and they have him for very cheap this year. Depends on the cost. 1 more year + 1 TO is the goal, but 2 guaranteed years + 1 TO is the likely cost.

Says the guy who stands behind NotCishek at the urinal trying to catch a glimpse of his tiny pecker while waiting for an autograph opportunity. Stone actually has connections. To everyone, most likely.

Nope. He can be traded without his consent.

Uh oh get ready for the assault..... Personally, i think thats a great idea.

A healthy Eaton enhances the teams ability to win in different ways. If hes healthy this is a win. If hes not then ot is what it is. No way Joc is that much better. Joc is a very flawed platoon player. Sure he fits the situation here but both of these guys are way less than Springer. Both also on 1 year deals are pretty small risk with pretty high reward potential.

If Eaton and Joc are both healthy, I would take Eaton over Joc even at the same price. People here are going to be surprised about how nice it is to have a battler and a tough out at the bottom of the lineup instead of a guy who hits HRs but gives a lot of ABs away. We already have enough guys who are prone to giving ABs away.

Sox never take anyone unless its the MiLB phase. But theyre pretty good with C there so we will see.

So 13 for Hendriks and 7 for Eaton = 20 AAV. Why were the Sox out on Springer again? What a dipshit plan. If all Springer wants is 125/5 years or less then thats not even bad. I remember when Texas gave $25M AAV to Josh Hamilton and that was a big deal a long time ago. Now its pretty normal for an All Star type. Thats not even MVP money. Anyway Go Mets! Sign Hendriks! I hope all you people pissing on my reasoning for not doling out $40M to a RP get 1 year or Colome-flavored coal in your stockings this year.

This site is stupid. Yesterday people were b****ing all day about Adam Eaton coming back, even after knowing Springer wasn't happening and there was no other choice but to try to find the tallest midget among 2nd tier options. And now today everybody wants to give like $40M guaranteed to a reliever. Unbelievable.

If it takes you an hour to read the equivalent of a couple of paragraphs you need to go back to school.

I don't want Hendriks. I think the Sox "losing out" on Hendriks is most probably a win. Reasons: 1) We already have a playoff closer, and he's head and shoulders above anybody on the market, and his name is Garret Crochet. 2) Hendriks at $13M+ per year? 3+ years? No thanks. That'll probably go bad. There's a long and storied history of great RPs who really suck hard like half or more of their multiyear contract. This sort of thing is almost always a really, really bad idea. 3) We don't need another "strike him out" guy. What I like about Colome is that, as a groundball pitcher ideally, he only needs one pitch to get an out. He's trying to pitch to contact. I would rather have a guy like that at a much lesser cost. The reality is, especially without robo umps, the more pitches you have to throw to record an out, the more likely it is that you will walk someone. I saw this guy Hendriks against us in the playoffs where he couldn't throw a strike so bad you might as well have called him Carson Fulmer. No matter how good he has been, there's a good chance we will see a lot of that with him in a 3+ year deal. 4) We should save the $$$ for good reason: in June or July, there is going to be a possibility that we may be able to take on a contract. Would the Nats make Scherzer available in his last year if they fall out? Probably. That's just one example, but there may be a lot of teams looking to dump a contract around July and if we were to miss on a guy like Scherzer even for a half season to overpay a RP then that's just bad. If it's a normal postseason this year and not half the league getting in, then there's an excellent chance that the market will be loaded with players whose teams are looking to dump their contracts. This could really be a great opportunity for us. 5) Also around June or July, there are likely to be lots of RPs out there on the market as is usual, many of whom are guys who people think "suck" now but who are in the middle of career years. Think about our Swarzak year, and this time, we are looking to acquire a guy like this instead of trade him. These guys will mostly be available for salary relief and the kinds of players like Sheets, Lambert, Luis Gonzalez, etc. which we have to trade anyway at some point just to clear 40-man space and/or (in Lambert's case) to give an opportunity to. 6) Going off #1, we just need a "bridge-the-gap" closer, which is why I like Colome, because I think at worst, we're looking at 1 year guaranteed with a vesting 2nd year. If he needs 2+ guaranteed years then I'm okay waiting on a 1-year guy or trying to trade for someone. I think we are best off with Heuer and Bummer in their 6th/7th/8th/whenever roles where they can come in and get a big K or groundball, put out the fire and keep us ahead or keep the game winnable for us. We just need a "clean 9th inning" guy. That means someone who isn't a threat to walk the whole world and has decent stuff. Once the playoffs start, Crochet is the guy. He is the real weapon in our bullpen. 7) Michael Kopech and Jonathan Stiever: here are 2 guys who are starters that are very likely to be coming out of the pen later on in the year, **if** the Sox acquire another starter, and **if**we don't have a SP go down with an injury, then it's Kopech likely going to the rotation. Now I know some people are down on Stiever seeing 92-95 and not 94-97 and some inconsistency and nerves, but if his stuff gets back and he's coming out of the pen, he could be a weapon at the front who could push some guys back. And Kopech obviously has the ability to be a monster coming out of the pen. 8 ) SP is still a bigger need. Don't spend $11M on a low-upside type when you can spend some more on a higher-upside type. 9) Tony needs more money to buy alcohol. You can't spend it all on Hendriks. then he'll have nothing to drink. My solution: try to bring Colome back on a 1-year guaranteed deal. Check in on David Robertson on a MiLB contract with a low base also. Move on to the best 1-year guy you can if Colome can't be had for 1 guaranteed year. Look to make a reasonable trade if all else fails. And if we're going to spend more money, put it toward the best SP available.

Great deal. Love it. Smart move. Maybe the FO is finally willing to let go of a grudge (good thing) but more likely it probably means Hahn's deals are vetted by TLR (bad).

LOVE IT!

Cuck Garfien? What about Cock Garfield?

I would be very happy with an Eaton move. I really think he should be a fit here. Also, let's not ignore all those years with the Nats. The Nats had a very veteran clubhouse and I'm sure that changed him at least a bit in some ways. Also again, this is TA and Abreu's team. This is more Eloy and Roberts team. This is Giolito's team, Bummer's team, etc. It's not Eaton's team anymore, it's another team he is going to that will feel like a different organization, aside from the FO of course. But even then, if Eaton gets along well with TLR, then he's immediately got an "in" to ownership. If he wants to be TLR's sidekick, he can bypass the FO entirely if he needs to earn higher favor in a squabble. It's stupid that I'm talking about this drama stuff but hey it keeps getting brought up so that's why.

One thing I can say in favor of ol' drinky LaRussa is that even he can hold together a clubhouse a whole lot better than Robin ever could. Robin Ventura was the biggest surprise disappointment from a manager/coaching staff/executive I can remember. I thought it would be such a good hire at the time. Nope.

Agree. Best compromise IMO is 2 guaranteed years in 2022-23 + TO on 2024. Some of the guaranteed money he wants can be put into in the buyout of the TO, e.g. maybe there's an $8M TO buyout but it costs like $12 or $13M more to bring him back, something like that.

I hope our prospects and young MLBers develop like we should want them to. If that happens, we can always eat some money on the back end of a Keuchel and/or Lynn deal to get a quality prospect back and/or some MLB pieces that better fit the puzzle at a later date. I like having the ability to trade a SP even with 1 year left only. Sure you might have to eat some money, but let's say you have to eat $5M, you can get a prospect or some MLB player contracts which you otherwise could not buy for $5M outright. Having to make room for quality players is good. So for that reason I would try to extend him (and also to justify the expense here, which isn't always a great move but which I think is a logical move in this situation).

I see

Actually though if theres a lockout next year... Hes older... Maybe an extra 2/30 would appeal to him. But i think it would cost a bit more.