hogan873

I think one of the "attractive" reasons for signing Abreu is to not pay Vaughn $6 million. So, if the Sox are not going to spend money, especially at first base, there are probably several options out there: Carlos Santana Joey Gallo Anthony Rizzo Josh Bell Rowdy Tellez Just to name a few. Most of these guys, including Abreu, would cost less than Vaughn. Do they provide better options offensively and/or defensively? Do they provide better peripherals than Vaughn (leadership, clubhouse presence, etc.)?

Hmmm. The Sox already do a good job of preventing runs. Oh wait, preventing runs by the OTHER team. That makes more sense.

Then another team will sign him and he'll have a two-week streak of good hitting and then the board will melt down.

The prices for the network are ridiculous. Talk about being out of touch with your fanbase. I was literally a phone call away from cancelling DirecTV and going to YouTube TV after trialing it. But I didn't because I want to hate watch the Sox next season, and there's no way I'd pay $20 a month. It sounds like many people are having luck with an antenna, but you'd need to be pretty close to the source. My daughter has an HD antenna and lives in Plainfield. I'm going to see if I can pick up the signal there.

This sucks. We all know the Sox won't sign Crochet to a long term deal, which means the best course of action is to trade him this off season to maximize the return. The problem is, even the best return probably won't be enough. They can't let him walk for nothing after the 2026 season, and the team won't be good enough over the next two seasons for Crochet to make a difference. So, I'm bracing for a trade this off season where the Sox get back a package that will at best be meh.

That could be interesting. Would the Brewers be able/willing to sign Crochet to a long deal when the time comes though?

Maybe a manager doesn't gain wins necessarily, but a good manager can prevent stupid losses. How many times did Grifol make a dumbass decision with a pitcher or the lineup that aided in a loss? We could go back and scrub the game threads and see how many times we types something about Grifol doing something stupid. Spoiler alert - many times, including those in here saying the manager doesn't matter.

This hire makes me think (hope) that they are serious about improving and getting back to being a competitive ballclub. I don't think any of us are under the illusion that it will happen overnight or even in 2025 or 2026. But this is the first step in a new and potentially exciting direction. Time will tell, of course, but the fact that they didn't hire TLR's guy or stick with Grady or grab an ex-Royal no one wanted is encouraging.

Pleasantly surprised by this news this morning. I really thought they'd end up with Nevin (who I didn't have as much disdain towards as others) or Sizemore. Hiring Grady would have been the easy route, essentially saying it doesn't matter who the manager is when the team will suck for a few years. Nevin would have been a Tony-influenced hire for sure. Venable is a solid hire and lends some hope that they will be serious about trying to build a team. Hiring a guy like this to manage a bunch of scrubs for three years wouldn't make much sense.

If Grady is indeed out, I wonder if the Sox would want to keep him on the staff in some capacity.

I don't know about an old school approach, but Bruce Chen always handed the Sox their own ass.

The Bananas are better.

You have to enter your name into a lottery for the chance to buy tickets. I already entered and am having the whole family enter, since you can only enter once. They sold out multiple MLB stadiums this year, so tickets must be in high demand.

Right. If they do tender Vaughn, they'd be doing it for the wrong reasons. Just because they like his leadership is no reason to give him $6.4M to be bad at baseball. Just bring back Jose for his leadership and pay him league minimum.

The Sox probably don't care too much about who they plug in at 1B, especially if they don't go after one of the guys you mentioned. There are a few options that would likely cost less than $6.4M, but I'm not sure they'd be much better than Vaughn: Rowdy Tellez Carlos Santana Joey Gallo Anthony Rizzo (club option) Mark Canha Dom Smith Jose Abreu (league minimum) Aside from Rizzo, who will probably be signed by someone for more than $6M, none of these guys would likely be any better than Vaughn. He's a known player, and the Sox apparently like what he does outside of hitting and scrapping around first base.