ChiSox59

Cueto can't either. He hasn't done that since 2016. In hindsight, of course Cueto looks pretty good right now. BUt moving on from Cueto, who frankly was pretty bad since that 2016 season and is 37 years old, made a ton of sense. Cueto was great for the Sox - legitimately like finding a $100 bill on the ground. There is next to 0% chance he repeats his 2022 season.

As would Ramos, if you care to include him in the equation. He's probably a 3B or OF though, so I get not including him. Romy and Yolbert are in fact dime a dozen types. I do think Romy has a chance to be a useful super sub, though.

Got it. So basically, as example, let's say that Clevinger gets placed on administrative leave and then the league hands down an 81 game suspension mid-season, Sox would owe him $4M for 50% of 2023, + the $4M buyout if htey released him at that time. Wonder how that buy out is going to be treated. Probably would need to get suspended for over 162 for that to be be void.

Martin is a perfectly acceptable #6...first guy up type of deal. As someone we are actually relying on for 25+ starts...big yikes.

I....disagree on the $ part. Trevor Bauer didn't get paid a dime while he was on administrative leave. If MLB places Clevinger on administrative leave while they determine his suspension, and then he is ultimately suspended he almost certainly will not get paid his entire contract. Only way he's getting paid the entire contract is if it turns out this situation was largely exaggerated by a jilted ex and Clevinger is cleared. I don't see that happening. Releasing him now guarantees him the $. That would be a stupid decision regardless of if the Sox intend for him to ever suit up for them. If he's never part of the clubhouse - which he certainly will not be if he's suspended or on administrative leave - not sure how it can be much of distraction to the team.

Yes, great idea. Let's reward this twat with the $12 million when its extremely likely he will lose a good chunk, if not all of it, and the team we all root for will get the $ back to invest elsewhere. Brilliant idea, I tell ya. That'll really show Clevinger!

I keep seeing people say this here and even more on twitter, but beyond Clevinger just sort of having a rep for a being a bit of a dirtbag, how were the Sox supposed to know about this? There is no police report. Extremely likely that even if they pulled a detailed background check, nothing about this would have come up. The MLB doesn't report to local police departments. The league is quite literally bound by confidentiality on issues like this prior to the player having their day in court and they cannot essentially blackball a guy from the league for allegations. I understand why folks have a hard time wrapping their head around that, but that is quite literally what the legal document says. Go look at @Y2Jimmytwitter page. Are you expecting someone in the MLB offices to break those rules and call up the Sox when the caught wind of the signing? I mean, that is literally what people are insinuating should have happened. That would open up the MLB to all sorts of risk. Now, I can get people saying that Clevinger has always appeared to be a dirt bag and just steering clear of that type of character in general. I don't necessarily agree with that because I think alot of professional athletes are dirtbags and you're just putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage by avoiding all adulterous athletes, but I can at least see it. But to insinuate the Sox knew about this is advance, lied about it in their released statement, and just chose to sign this guy anyway is beyond silly.

That's fair. I too would like to do better, but trying to be realistic. I'd be happy to trade one of JRod or Ramos as the headliner for player that can give a bigger impact with less control.

Is it? Sox #8, #20 and #22 prospects per Fangraphs latest list, in what is a bottom tier and top heavy farm. Royals aren't going to hand over 5 years of control on Lynch and 3 years of Lopez for trash. Gotta give up something. But yah, also realize Lynch and Lopez aren't exactly game changing players, but assuming Clevinger never pitches for the Sox, we really need a guy who can give us decent innings.

Spitball trade just for fun: Daniel Lynch + Nicky Lopez for Christian Mena + Wes Kath + Luis Mieses. Mena R5 eligible in December, Mieses already was. Is that enough for the Royals to part with 5 years of Lynch? He wasn't exactly great in 2022, but I love the arm. Might have to include one of JRod/Ramos/Sosa instead of Kath to make that work, and if that's the case, I'd probably rather aim for a better arm with a little less control.

You can still go with Sosa tho. Again, I am not really a proponent of acquiring Nicky Lopez, but doing so doesn’t mean that Sosa can’t still get the majority of the at bats at second base in 2023 and onward.

I just don’t really get the no prospects to trade. Every team would be interested in Montgomery. Most teams would be interested in Ramos, Jrod, Sosa, Vera and Mena. They have a limited number of guys to trade with value, they just chose not to move them. That doesn’t even mention guys like Colas and Burke who also have value but should impact the Sox 2023 roster.

It did, but he was placed on unpaid administrative leave pretty quickly.

Lol. If the Sox knew about it they wouldn’t have outwardly lied about that in their released statement. They just would have been silent on knowing about it. There is very little chance the Sox knew. There does not appear to be a police report. The ex gf appears to have reported it to the Padres and to MLB, the latter of which is bound by confidentiality and the former of which had no reason to inform the Sox. Let’s at least be logical about the situation.

Sosa being plan A isn’t a good plan. Even if they don’t bring anybody else in, Sosa is very unlikely to get the job right away.

Yah, this isn't a move that would excite me. I'd rather have Massey.

Except he hits left handed and actually fields his position exceptionally well.

Nah, not really.

Eh. Hiring Tony was.

Yah. Its pretty hard to wrap one's head around.

What was the Nightengale hint? Must've missed it.

Cueto is far more likely to be the gas can he was from 2017-2021, or injured, than recreating his 2022 magic and luck at age 37.There is a reason he was available for a minor league deal in 2022 - that is because he isn't very good anymore. Sox were right to try to improve on Cueto. Problem is, they picked the wrong guy apparently.

Ehhh. I am not exactly a believer in a 78 win Twins team that hasn't really improved and could argue got worse 80% of the days they play, and I don't see the Guardians recreating their late season magic. But I understand the skepticism on the Sox.

From a baseball perspective, Sox have some serious work to do on the SP side. We only had 6 realistic SP to begin with, and #6 wasn't someone you really wanted to rely on. Going to need to find a new 5th SP, a couple other depth options in a hurry.

Well there is about 12 million reasons why you're going to see inaction in the short term.