Chisoxfn

He is playing himself right into the Eloy / Moncada situation where no one would pick up the option and they will just be a free agent. It's unfortunate - I hope somehow Robert goes on a hot streak but at this point, I really think if you had even a lukewarm offer you take it.

Good move - still ascending and an all around good player. Fair deal and slot/nickel dbs are becoming way more important.

Booyah

I agree - I think they lose around 105-115. I expect a really bad start but when some of the young players come out we will see a bit of momentum (if you can even call it that).

RIP and nothing but thoughts and prayers for all of the people impacted by this tragedy.

Epically good game.

This makes a lot of sense - especially the leverage for that last point.

1st place baby!!!

Shock me in a good way this season!!!

You said it way better than I did.

Him and Giddey are doing it. Heck white isn’t even shooting the 3 ball that great during this recent hot streak. Getting to the line regularly is huge for overall efficiency and consistency and we have seen both elevate their game big time post Lavine trade in this category. Giddey is going to get paid this offseason.

Putting him in the pen to see if he can maximize 2-3 of them and benefit from the presumed higher LOE he can do out of that spot isn't a bad thing (if they see the talent there). So I like this move.

Good move

If the Sox had a list of positional prospects which were home grown moving up the charts and the depth there was strong and ascending, I would have graded him higher. But right now I haven't seen it - doesn't mean it isn't happening and to be clear while I wouldn't have made the move to him in the first place, that is not what I'm assessing...rather, I do think he is on year 2 of what probably takes 3 years to start to see the fruit...but momentum has to start accelerating and in fairness it was probably more of a 3-4 year until you start to see the fruit's of the foundation (or the same cracks start showing) just because of how bad the initial foundation was (and it was really bad).

D - He has done some good, and in general I have liked most of his hires. But I also think he hasn't maximized his asset value in trade(s)...albeit the Crochet deal was my favorite of the bunch so maybe he is improving. I will caveat he is probably a full grade below because he was part of the farm system that has developed no one before he took the role. If he was a pure outsider I would not have been as harsh for the current state of the system and lack of general development. I'm also probably a grade skeptic because the only way the Sox have developed players is via trade acquisition - they really have done a poor job building a sustainable minor league model via the draft. I know it takes time - but I am NOT yet there that I have seen him do the same here. I also have NOT seen him leverage shorter term deals on some people who can accelerate their ability to land some picks / players at the deadline (maybe sign a closer to a 1YR deal where you know they'll have value at the deadline, etc). Plus places where they could buy-low and play - haven't seen them do that, despite having a lot of payroll flexibility. So solid D job.

They just need to dumb luck into cooper Flagg…come on lottery balls.

We look like a semblance of a baseball team in September - post trade deadline and with some in season call ups. That is as bold as I can go. Vargas ends up being good is next bold.

Rondale Moore and Mecole Hardman visited the Bears today. I really would love a short term deal for Moore. 24 with tons of speed - coming off injury and I think in right role could thrive as a slot / take the top off guy with some gadget and special teams thrown together.

I tend to agree with you. Now odds they strike lightning in a bottle twice in a row, probably slim, but Burke has electric stuff (maybe not quite Crochet stuff but its pretty darn good). Just like Crochet he has had consistent health troubles that cause us all to not know whether he can actually be someone you can count on. For those reasons - I feel like an ideal Burke trajectory is anything even remotely close to what Crochet did and I'd probably do the same thing if he had that sort of a year - use it to continue to improve the high end talent in the organization...multipliers.

I agree - he has done a very nice job so far this offseason on paper. He also hired Ben Johnson. Now I want to see him nail the draft - and start to hitting more across the draft too.

I don’t disagree with the above. Poles hasn’t had a ton of draft hits. Now if we see Tyrique, Dexter take a big step forward in yr 3 and Kiran has a healthy offseason and full training camp and ends up being a legit LT (beating out Braxton)…than that would go a long way…but overall from a talent addition perspective outside of the no brainer trade I agree…but I like the approach this offseason but also recognize outside of Thuney, it isn’t like they added anyone special.

You forgot the 26 year old rookie who couldn’t catch (3rd rounder in his first draft)…aka Velus Jones

Very true.

I agree - unless Mason Graham or a high upside player is there trade back - problem is it takes two to tango. Not a position of need, but back to got to hit doubles and triples in round 1 - is there a db worth taking early? If this was a year ago - I’d have taken Jared Verse (or Brock Bowers) but this draft isn’t as deep.

That is a good signing by the Bills. Good buy low on a guy with high upside still in Bosa.