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The Sox had about 8 players last year who had good years, Cease, Hendriks, Abreu, Cueto, Graveman, Kopech, Lopez Lambert. I base that on a minimum of 24 Starts for a Starting pitcher, 40 IP for relievers and 350 ABs for position players The rest of them either were just outright bad or were injured too much to be counted among the good since being on the sidelines for 40% or more of the season is never good. They lost 2 of those guys. That leaves 6 guys. 6 ! And 4 of them are relievers who are usually inconsistent . Not a single one is a position player ! Hendriks has been a model of consistency but when you don't have a single solitary position player on the team who had a good year is that a reason to keep Hendriks ? Unless you truly believe in your heart of hearts, that the other 20 guys ,whoever they are, end up with the necessary results to make the team a lot better you are looking at a long shot. Bad teams with good closers always trade the closer. Here's the Sox plan. Keep running the same team out there and pray for better results for the next 2 or 3 years ? Pick up cheap aging vets to fill holes and watch them disintegrate, hold onto aging vets and get nothing back for them when they walk ? If the Sox are doing poorly by the trade deadline they have to be in sell mode. I hope Hendriks manages to have a good save percentage and pitch as effectively has he has been if he is still here. I can live with Lopez closing for a .500 team. At least he's one of the 6 good players left.

Teams like Tampa Bay do this all the time . They swap out aging expensive (for Them ) players and replace them with in house options who are ready to step up. This is how you keep an influx of talent coming in and compete year after year. It's just silly to say there's no guarantee Lopez or Graveman step up. There are no guarantees Bellinger , Gallo or any number of middling but expensive signings are going to go the Sox way. How did Kimbrel, Hernandez, Pollock, Kelly, Velasquez, Harrison work out. Sure spread the money around on a bunch of aging stiffs. That always seems to work out so well for Hahn. If you legitimately think Hendrik and the rest of the guys currently on the roster are an impact playoff team sure keep Hendriks. I'm putting the odds at that happening at right about 10%. God bless you if you think it's above a 50% chance. I look forward to seeing Vaughn, Tim, Eloy, Robert, Gio Moncada , Lynn, Hendriks and Kopech all at the All Star game and in the playoffs

He could have been an option based on what they spent on everyone else that off season. You decline Kimbrels option so you can spend his $16 M on fixing holes. They spent money but they got Kelly, Pollock, extended Leury and who else ? Graveman and Harrison and Cueto later after Lynn got injured. The facts are they spent the money poorly. Add up that $16M and subtract Pollock being forced on you because you couldnt get anyone else, subtract the 2 years $17M on the injured Kelly, Harrison, subtract 2 of the 3 years of money spent on Leury you're looking at somewhere around $45M dollars to play with. Then if Rodon had turned down the QO you add a draft pick. It was a terrible off season. Realistically speaking the Sox spent money and every decision they made including the realistic money that was available was spent poorly. Remember they also spent money on Graveman 3 years $24M so they spent plenty of money. They just put most of it into relievers and exchanged a relievers salary for more salary with Pollock. Only by Pollock turning down his own option that the Sox got some money that was already on the books back. If it wasn't for that maybe they don't even pick up Clevinger.

You're asking the wrong questions. The question always was and continues to be do winning organizations let a top pitcher in the league who had reinvented himself to make himself a sturdier pitcher who wasn't injured at the time walk for a measly 1 year contract when if he continued to be healthy could give you a similar season next year and into the playoffs without the endurance issues from the year before ? It would be reasonable to assume that if healthy he would pitch more inning in 2022. The issue was why should a one year $18.4 yer contract inhibit a team so much that was serious about winning ? Then that money and more was spent on Kelly and Pollock. Yeesh.

Because he continued to pitch in the 2nd half with extended rests between some starts and in the playoffs too. If xrays or MRI's had shown anything would he have been still pitching ? The dude gave it all he had that year while the Sox pitched him to death in the 1st half of the season to save the BP or whatever reason they had with no regards for his effectiveness and endurance in the 2nd half. As usual they reaped what they had sown. Its not a hindsight argument at all a lot of people were right about the decision at the time the qualifying offer wasn't made and others during the offseason after that thread was closed.

A bad net result ? It sounds like you are talking about just how the team does in the standings to me. I mean great if keeping Hendriks results in a .450 win percentage team and makes you a .500 team . How is that a good net result ? You do know the Sox not only still have major holes but will need so many positive results from so many guys that had negative results last year that playing any better than about .525 baseball will be extremely difficult now that the schedule is harder. Meanwhile Hendrix inches closer to age deterioration and his arm might implode and then you net nothing from him. Trade him and gets some prospect and some payroll relief that can be reinvested in another player .That's a net positive beyond box scores and standings. You just cannot end up getting nothing for guys his age when they are still good enough to help the franchise recover from the disastrous series of decisions that lead to the demise of the team from the start of 2021 til now. However if Hahn does as good a job peddling Hendriks as he did peddling Kimbrel where the Sox end up trading him for one player with a bigger contract I can understand your concern. The fact he couldn't trade Kimbrel early handicapped the whole off season.

Who was AAA depth last year? Payton, Haseley anyone else? Colas if they had called him up and given him a shot when it became abundantly clear that the OF defense and hitting was a major reason why the Sox were losing games and Colas had hit even better in AA than A+. Birmingham is usually the gauntlet that destroys Sox prospects. Sox haven't resigned Engel YET . So at this point I'd say the depth is worse given that Colas will probably be in the OF for the majority of 2022. But yes we agree the Sox OF depth at all levels is really bad.

In 2021 Rodon was not struggling with his health. He was struggling with the fact his arm wasn't conditioned for so many innings that year because of his workload the previous 2 years. I will always maintain that a tired arm is not a health issue but an endurance issue. You can't run a marathon without training for it. I give lot of credit to people in that thread about the qualifying offer who had no trust in the Sox to pursue better players and correctly linked keeping Kimbrel with not extending Rodon. The amount of trust in Sox management to ascertain both Rodon's and Kimbrel's value was appalling . And then also to trust them to replace them with players that would help the team and also to extend the payroll was equally appalling. Guys like @Balta1701 @Eminor3rd @caulfield12 @Look at Ray Ray Run Two Gun Pete and others were spot on and at many points ridiculed for their stances. Yet some of those same guys doing the ridiculing ,despite Fegan saying the Sox payroll was going to be the same or cut from last year, kept posting early this off season that they didn't trust Fegan was right and kept suggesting signings for potential comeback candidates in the OF for $10M + . Reasonable hope is one thing. Sticking to your guns despite all evidence to the contrary is just plain stubbornness and unwillingness to admit your prior stances in this regard were wrong. Just blame TLR and push that Grifol's presence will have a major impact while JR rubs his hands together with glee that the Sox could still finish 2nd and keep that carrot dangling.

A lot of people really didn't care about lineup balance . They think that as long as a player is good it doesn't matter if he if RH or LH . The Sox are the worst LH hitting team in the history of baseball. That's part of the reason why they have not won many World Series. The main reason though is having owners who either had no money so said they had no money.

I'm glad you said it. I would've got TLR emojis . Mostly it was just people defending the Sox brass because they had his medicals. Now they know better. Plus it was a safe play. If you count the number of times he was injured vs him pitching a full season the odds were in your favor. There were plenty of reasons to offer him the QO and plenty more to make an effort to resign him but the injuries and being labeled not a hard worker unless he was in danger of losing an MLB paycheck took precedent.

it's limited to 5 teams. No one knows what teams but I have a hard time believing St. Louis would be one of them.

Liam would look great in that uniform.

TBH he sounds like a Minn. Twin name.

Jays are looking for a closer which we knew already. According to a Blue Jays guy on Youtube, they had a trade lined up for Ryan Helsley or Lars Nootbaar using Jansen as bait . Probably just a fan not an insider. Keeps calling Helsley Hesley in the video. But yeah we don't match up well with them and Blue Jays might not want to spend any more on a closer IF there's any truth to them wanting to trade for a closer instead. From that perspective we are a match but not sure what can be solved unless you're interested in Jansen and Biggio. OF is still the bigger need like it is for a lot of clubs.

Until they actually have to play on the Sox . AAAA depth is good no doubt but better AAAA depth is better. Next thing you know the Sox will be resigning Engel to a minor league deal too.

I'd say it's a bit over 40% of the roster but point taken by the hyperbole.

Missing 2020 kind of screwed up rankings. It affected some guys more than others, mostly the college kids when a lost year can mean more since they are already older. A missed year for a 19 yr old may not mean as much to their ranking if they were ranked high to start. But if a 22 year old misses a year when he's still in A ball that's a long road ahead .

Basically its a bunch of people going by what they see in rankings without any special knowledge of a teams system, a players developmental path. A lot of guys missed 2020 lost a year of development. If they came back strong from that instead of all rusty and bad those prospects should be given a lot of credit for how they took advantage of the missed year and also how the parent teams may also have given the guidance necessary for the prospect to follow. How did Sox prospects do in 2021. The Sox minors may be bad but seems like some of the top guys did well coming back from the missed year. Maybe not some of the pitchers though.

Esteury rhymes with Leury. Nuff said ! Legend in the making.

Sure he would he's been pitching with it for14 years , but the question becomes as he ages will the damn break at some point ? Will he get more forearms strains leading to him being out longer periods of time ? We both don't trust Hahn to make good trades but it's either that or go into the season counting on a bunch of guys rebounding from last year and without 2 needed OF's, LH, good defensive OF's or you're going to see Eloy in LF and Sheets in RF again. Eloy's chances of remaining healthy and finally fulfilling his vast potential does not get better with him in the OF nor does the Sox OF defense.

Nope I'm saying that since Lopez pitched well last year he's the most likely guy to close over Graveman who had a bad 2nd half and doesn't seem to adjust well if his routine is messed with. Sox have 2 choices on who would close for them if Hendriks is traded I picked the younger guy who had the better year who has good control. If Lopez comes in a craps the bed at least they will have the players they got in trade and have money at the trade deadline or can use the money they saved to strengthen the BP behind Lopez. If Lopez fails then its Gravemans turn. We can always create obstacles in our minds. I can ask you what if questions too . What if those 11 guys keep getting injured and still suck. Then how does keeping Hendriks help the Sox ? What if Hendriks gets hurt ? June 15 2022 this was revealed : Hendriks revealed on Wednesday, a day after going on the injured list, that he has had a torn UCL since 2008. Forearm strains often raise red flags. They can be a precursor of more serious problems, including the need for Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL. But Hendriks said he is “not concerned with it long term at all.”

Brewers.

I think you have to remember Hendriks was a failed starting pitcher before he became an elite closer just like Lopez is a failed starter. That is what happens often and that's a good path for many guys in the BP these days. Just because Thornton couldn't close has nothing to do with how Lopez will pan out. Hardly anyone is drafted as solely a relief pitcher. If the Sox don't trade Hendriks then how do they climb out of the hole they are in ? They aren't spending money. That leaves trades. Hahn has said as much already . Hendriks on a .500 team is useless . If you think the Sox can contend then they need a lot of help from 11 players who were either hurt or performed poorly last year. Then Hendriks has to do what he always does in his age 34 season. If he gets injured the Sox lose a guy who a lot of teams want right now. To a contender he may be the difference between a playoff team and a World Championship. If he gets injured he loses a lot of value. There is no easy way out here. Just hanging onto aging good players until they lose effectiveness due to age or injury is not a good strategy.

There's going to be obstacles along the way to fixing the vast amount of problems the Sox have. You have to have your depth step up eventually if you're going to win. Trading Hendriks might be the only way the Sox can spend more money and get more players. Better now than when he losses his effectiveness or has a major injury. Lopez had an excellent season last year. He should be trusted to take a next level position. Plus if Lopez does well the Sox are creating a lot of value This is how teams climb out of a hole. Trade the good guy who costs a lot get players and lower payroll. Have the next guy step up and get similar value for a lot less money.

They are a year apart in age so Sosa would be considered more MLB ready but Rodriguez probably not that far behind him. Both RH, both about the same size, both primarily SS's so far in the minors but both have played 2nd base and some 3rd too. Internally they might be valued slightly differently, maybe one of them is viewed as a better fielder or better SS, Sosa more power ATM but that could be the difference between being 21 or 22 and having 1 more year of development. But a casual observation yields a lot of similarities. Who knows you keep them both and they could end of your keystone combination. But I do see that Montgomery's name is mentioned more often as a replacement for TA than either Sosa or Rodriguez. Whether that's due to hype or reality I don't know. It could be true if both Sosa and Rodriguez are both viewed as future 2nd basemen more than SS.