bighurt574

Seems like a reasonable deal for both sides. There’s obviously injury risk but BOS is getting an ace level pitcher in his prime years for around $30M/year on the extension. We’re going to have to give out similar contracts at some point here (after Jerry is gone) if we ever want to compete.

They can also just wait until the trade deadline and pick up a rental or whatever for a playoff run then. It’s not like they need to pay for April-July.

Feels like a good time to strike a deal if it's going to happen any time soon.

We're eventually going to need to land a big FA to anchor the lineup IMO but I'm not entirely sold on Vlad or Tucker and next year is probably too early anyway. If we're actually willing to spend again, probably target a couple second tier position players and maybe Gallen or Valdez to anchor an otherwise young rotation.

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Aside from opening day I’d be shocked if you couldn’t sit just about anywhere you want. Maybe they check if you try to get too close but then just move somewhere else.

5 in the top 50ish isn't bad.

I’m holding out for pitch a garbage-time inning.

And even if we get lucky and draft a star, they probably leave in FA anyway unless we manage to lock them up early.

These mega deals for stars in their prime are steals, IMO, especially if you can lock in their salary for a decade-plus while salaries just continue to go up. Machado, Harper, Ohtani, even Soto. Would sure be nice to add one at some point to anchor a rebuilt lineup but JR would have to die first.

I can’t see how we get offered anything that would warrant pulling the trigger now. The best move is really just to roll the dice and hope he gets off to a decent start.

Weak draft class but it’s a bit mind boggling that Madrigal was pretty much a consensus top 5 pick (it’s not like the Sox reached) given his limitations. Everything would have had to go really right for him to live up to that draft slot.

So am I but I'm still going to call out the stupidity. The market is the market.

He said mega superstar.

They'll undoubtedly take a hit at the end but that's the price of landing a future HOFer at age 26. Should deliver plenty of surplus-value seasons in the meantime. And who knows, maybe he makes a run at some records at the end.

Yep. If he stays reasonably healthy and produces this price isn't going to look all that crazy in 5-10 years. I wish we were a year or two further along in the rebuild and had a serious owner to get involved here.

So you're giving your best player(s) an extra 100+ high leverage AB's over the course of the year? That will just inflate superstar contracts even more, I'd think, which wouldn't be good for the franchise who has never given out a $100M contract...

If you’re taking Bohm you’d need another solid prospect besides Crawford.

I’m not expecting more than 2 top 100 players for Crochet, but every pitcher has injury risk these days. I’m far from convinced Crochet is a bigger risk than anybody else with the low mileage on his arm.

I'd probably just keep Vaughn another year to give you 70-80 RBIs on a bad team again, and maybe you get lucky and he improves a bit. They're not going to spend in FA and they don't have anybody in the system to take his spot.

Re: your first question, because the Sox still present one of the easier paths to the majors.

If it were me I'd extend Crochet to anchor a potentially really good future rotation involving Schultz, Smith, Thorpe, etc., but we all know that isn't happening so it's sort of pointless to even argue about. There's enough interest in Crochet where even Getz should get a nice haul on paper. The key is obviously landing a couple guys who actually pan out.

its like assistant to the regional manager

Glad to see they did a legit search and hired outside the org but the manager isn’t really going to matter unless they can get him a competitive roster.

If it’s serious, look for evidence that other bidders are getting involved. There’s zero friggin chance a group led by Dave Stewart would really be the top bidder, or would make such a strong offer to preempt getting shopped around.