he gone.

while true he's got to compete, there's little chance he's cut out of ST. However if his numbers are poor through Memorial day? I can see the sox biting the bullet. Leury outside of last year has more value than Sosa or Romy have in the short-term. But that changes with every at-bat. it's getting closer and closer to one of those guys being a better player.

Oh i was joking. sorry. We couldn't even pay Conforto on a two year contract with a clear need and a fully ready to go roster this year. We're more of a Jonathan Villar team than a Manny Machado team. There's not a shot in hell the Sox sign machado.

It's not like franchises were blindsided here ... moves like this just don't happen out of the blue and there were whispers around Bally's for some time. I see very little in the way of changes on the financial end. Also, as you evidenced by Apple and Peacock getting involved for rights sports still is a draw. As Manfred says, in the short term, maybe it's a blip, but all these franchises will be fine.

with Yoan's $24mm coming off the books after next year maybe we can use that money on machado. at the very least hopefully we have a seat at the table!

I've had MLBtv through t-mobile for the last 4-5 years and I'm not going to lie, I watch probably 50/50 Sox vs. other MLB games. Last year it was probably 25/75 Sox vs. MLB. I love finding a great pitching matchup and watching that over a Tigers/Sox game or the likes. Give me a Nick Lodolo v. Corbin Burnes game or a George Kirby v. Framber Valdez. I'll be watching a lot of Astros, Mariners, Rays, Marlins, Padres this year.

This. haha. at a certain point if it's not fun, then why am i doing it? But that's every offseason. And then a 72 degree night comes along and the grill is going and i have a beer in hand and the snap of catchers glove and a crack of a bat hits and I am back to being happy. It'd be fun to watch a winning team with WS aspirations. Hell I'd even settle for a team with a path and plan, but i'll just enjoy the game itself. Just play the game the right way and I'll be happy. That didn't happen last year which i think was the frustrating part. Hopefully with new manager we play hard, run out bases, and don't constantly give excsuses.

Saw that the MLB is enforcing new rules in regards to balks and wind-up routines. They specifically noted how Clevinger is going to have to change his pre pitch wind up. I'd love if the Sox ever considered any of this stuff. I know he's a professional and pitchers change their routines all the time, but this seems pretty significant. In regards to him reporting to ST, i think it was rabbit who had a post about it that made sense about the process from a MLBPA view, the Sox view, the MLB view, etc. Is what it is. I basically have come to grips that he's likely to be pitching for the Sox this year. I don't have to support Clevinger and can still enjoy baseball. The venn diagram is big enough where I can separate it in my brain. Clevinger just goes into the side with Reinsdorf, Tim Anderson, Hahn, etc. Just at a point that circle gets too crowded and I am going to choose to spend my money & time on other baseball teams.

Ya, i was going to say that was from last off-season. And technically he's not wrong ... but as mr. hahn lawyer speak should know ... don't say stupid s%*# if you can't back it up. The money will be spent and was spent ... he just failed to say that buying out arb years for our own players was going to count as money spent ... It's some bahama FTX accounting to say money that was going to be paid no matter what to Eloy and Robert, Moncada, etc. should count in his theoretical world. You telling me a team would decline Robert option at $5mm? It's just silly. Not to mention, for every Anderson that worked out there's a Moncada where we'll pay like $24mm for zero return. It's a wash in the end. But again, the sox can't be honest, they spin doctor s%*# and try to blame fans or gaslight them how we interpreted that wrong. I went from a Hahn fan to I think Hahn is a scumbag.. shoot me straight or just shut up and be thankful you got in Jerry's circle of trust.

There was more excitement about the 2018 sox than this team. To be the contrarian, this could be a good thing. Our expectations are so low with the exact same roster that our expectations were so high with last year (obviously sans Abreu). As much as Jerry and offseason leave a terrible taste in my mouth, i suspect many of us will be hook line and sinker by late May in a good way.

The seats that seem to hold the best value relative to their ticket price are the outfield seats. The casual fan whos attending a game seems to gravitate out there. They're cheap enough, are lower bowl access, have the fundamentals deck, room to roam around, things to do, etc. They seem to keep that value in the $25-35 range which is about the cost of the seats. I was getting about 40-50% of my cost on the 1st base line. I was just flushing money down the drain. A corporation can eat that cost, individuals cannot.

This. I lost my shirt on tickets last year. End of the day, the only tickets that hold value seem to be weekend games.

I definitely see your point of view and was one I did for a handful of seasons. I also tend to disagree with it after those handful of years. The carrot definitely were/are the Opening Day access, same seats, playoff options, etc. That said, where I disagree is that you can go online today and get seats 20 rows behind the 1st base dugout for Opening Day. As mentioned by people above, more and more people can wait to see how the season is going and then lock in playoff tickets if they're doing well. I also was apart of a group that had incredible seats, but I only took about a dozen of the 81 games, so when it came to playoff access, although they had every game I was only guaranteed on Divisional game. I went online and was able to get all possible games for the ALCS And ALDS (in 2021) and most of my seat locations were in that same range of 15-20 rows behind the 1st base or 3rd base dugouts. After i saw that, I just said to myself, why am I locking into random dates of games months ahead of time, forking over thousands of dollars? I was generally unhappy with the situation. The carrot isn't as sexy when you have access regardless of your season tickets. The way I look at it is I can apply the money saved on a 10, 15, 20 game plan and just apply it to great seats a few regular season games and then just spend it on playoff games. Also, from a business angle, I couldn't find anybody who wanted to go in 2022. I was eating like $400 of seats a game cause I couldn't find anybody who had interest. 2021 was great, 2022 was a disaster and i suspect 2023 will be even tougher to get clients to a game.

Generally the reps I've talked to are pretty nice/respectful. They're doing their job at the end of the day. Just sucks they're basically Comcast door to door salesman at this point. Nobody wants the product and have a bad taste in their mouth at the outset of the convo.

I would say that's the base case. 100% the partial season tickets will drop. I can see that number halving. The full season base sometimes are locked up as corporate expenses + are generally less up & down. But even if that number drops 10% you're going to see single digits. If this year doesn't go well? Then you're likely headed for a "retooling" of the roster. Guys like Giolito will be gone. Hendriks, Lynn, Anderson, etc. etc will all be dealt and then you'll see that number really be tested. It's a dark road ahead if we have a poor season this year. If we win? Maybe Jerry & fans decide to rededicate themselves to the process for a year or two more.

The other part of that is increased attendance. Parking volume, t-shirt sales, etc. etc. If you reduce the pain point of food & beverage and the experience is more obtainable how many more customers do you get in the gates and you now have a captured audience for 3-4 hours who are happier and maybe willing to buy that overpriced T-shirt or come back for another game. Or you can like, do a tiered pricing structure for the corner sections by the foul poles. That way row 4 there costs more than row 6 and row 6 more than row 12. haha.

https://mercedesbenzstadium.com/mercedes-benz-stadium-cuts-food-prices-second-time/ Here's an older article on it. Basically the fans spend more if you lower prices so although the margins are cut, the profits are similar. Think $20mm revenues at 50% profit = 10mm gross profit $40mm revenues at 25% profit = 10mm gross profit. Those aren't the figures obviously, but the line of thinking behind it. You don't lose a whole ton of money and you build goodwill with your fan base. A novel idea that JR would never consider ... caring about your fans. One would think in a city where you're competing for a fan base he'd put in some effort, but yet, they seem to try and repel fans.

This thread hahahaha. Lowest last year was 11,200 during week Lowest last year during weekend as 17,800 Your answer is about 10k or so for full season. Probably another 5-10k or so partial season/weekend plans etc. etc.

And you know this how? He has a good arm, doesn't mean he's going to be a gazelle out there. He's got bad sprint speed and isn't an option for CF in a pinch ... so it's not like he's early day Engel out there.

Merkin is a mouthpiece. He writes what he's told to and Colas has obviously been that focus from Sox brass. I'd love Colas to succeed. Based on his plate discipline + lack of time stateside/time in minors i fear he'll be severely overmatched. I think best case scenario is you see a Yermin type of output which then crashes to zero before optioning him back to AAA. I think a realistic scenario is a meh showing in Arizona, followed by the Sox almost being forced to play him out of the gate. Cold start, back to Charlotte by end of April & a late June call-up. I don't expect him to be very impressive or any better than what Sheets offers. A .240/.291/.625OPS is about my expectation. Maybe hits 9HR? Bats in the 7th or 8th spot in the lineup. The type of production you LOVE to see out of your RF for a contender!

But for real. I don't know if they're with Levy or Aramark or whoever right now, but every single model the Sox do is run like an Excel spreadsheet. It's embarrassing. Sports are irrational. Fans want to be fans. They want to be in a community. They want to be irrational. They want to spend money. They come looking to release and have a good time. It's the most captured audience in the world. It's why you see corporations throw insane money for commercials, ads, etc. just to be associated with the sports. That's why you see grown men have guy crushes on 25 year old pitchers. It's a break from the real world. Yet the Sox take all of that goodwill and just push it to the limit. It's really just dirty and asinine behavior. Give back to the fans and community and you will receive it back in spades. You see it more and more in parks and airports, but you need to pair with the community and be reasonable. Portland airport has a rule that you can't charge more than you would at the restaurant outside the airport. I'm not saying we need to do that, but something within reason where they cap it at reasonable prices would be awesome. Houston was starting to do this when i was leaving, but they have paired with a local Mexican restaurant (El Tiempo), Killen's BBQ (famous bbq joint), Torchy's tacos, local beer companies, etc. to improve the concessions. Ditch Levy and bring in more local places. Give them actual kitchens to work in ... Now, I'm not sure how that works in terms of like Beggars ... think they par bake their pies due to demand/timing + i couldn't imagine buying all those ovens for 80 days a year makes sense either ... but there has to be a middle ground where we can get Maria's Packaged goods in there with that korean/polish duo, get a bunch of pilsen taco joints in, pair with a few bbq joints. harolds chicken, Hell find a cocktail bar on the southside. Let's team with Southside places and push the damn southside. home run inn is from little village, there's got to be good polish joints around the little village still or if just go to Kasia's and work with them. LIke its such an easy fix and builds community and pride. Be uniquely southside. embrace that bridgeport is cops/firefighters. Embrace the grit.

I'm not lying when I am 100% confident that if you took a group of 20 of us on Sox Talk and we split the pay/duties of Hahn & Marketing that we could build a much more successful franchise. I'm sure we have a few lawyers tip toeing on this site. Probably a few marketers. We have enough common sense on the board, we also have the crazy out there thinkers that could throw in out there ideas. Give us $180mm payroll and I'm pretty certain we'd have this at a 95 win team with a future too. Idea 1: Let's not make the fans hate their experience before they even get out of their car to go into the game. Idea 2: Let's shorten the security lines so the fans don't double hate their experience before they get into the gates Idea 3: Let's follow more of the Atlanta Falcons model so the fans don't want to shoot themselves for spending $14 on beer and $8 stale hot dogs/buns before they even sit in their seats You know, simple things. Idea 4: Have grilled onion stations and fans in each section to waft that beautiful smell into my nostrils continuously.

Wait, is the $30 parking real? Not that I don't trust CWS Piss Missiles ... just wondering if that's real? It's not a huge leap to raise it by 10%, but it's just so tone deaf. The cost of running a parking lot is not high... repaving/striping + minimal crew on game days to wave you in and out.

Jason is akin to Cease or any other talented pitcher the Sox have ever really employed. A rising star under control. The Sox will not retain when they have to pay market value. If I was Jason I wouldn't stick around either. He has an opportunity to become the voice of many big, big games across many, many sports. It is what it is, but he's as good as gone, and even if we were a top notch organization he'd be gone eventually still. I've said it way too many times, but I do believe the Sox need to go to a 3 man booth, especially with the handwriting on the wall ... you have two years. Might as well start getting AJ in the booth or the likes. If there's any chance of retaining Jason it's going to be on a modified schedule ... aka NFL ends by February. College bball is over right into MLB season. College football doesn't begin until September. So you get him for a pretty nice chunk, but maybe only like 80-100 games a year. It's important to start normalizing another guy in the booth so that when Jason is out, we have a guy we can work right in. Beckham has greatly improved... a ton ... starting to get much more comfortable. But he's still not it. Maybe one day. I would love an Ozzie or AJ.

"we know you're full of it and will still buy tix and beer you peasants"

They totally are, but oddly enough, all would be great signings for them and fill holes they have. Oddly enough all three would be considered great signings for the Sox at this point too. I know it won't happen, but the guys I'd like the Sox to consider: Andrelton Simmons - We've signed a trash heap already, why not add Simmons? He hasn't been good for a few years, however you're talking a premier defender - or at least above average still. With our pitching staff I'd love to see us have a middle that is amongst the top in the league. Simmons would help in that endeavor. There's probably very little cost/risk to giving him a ST shot. Andrus - no need to expand, we've done that a lot this offseason on him Robbie Grossman - I've discussed this one before, but he totally makes sense Chris Archer - if you're looking for 100ip of 4.50ERA ball? He can do it. At least has SOME upside. I doubt it, as even the Rays couldnt fix him again in 2021, but it's an arm. And we need an arm. Also i wonder how he'd perform in the bullpen if not. I don't want to take this thread off the rails ... Bauer. someone will sign him. I don't know when, but someone will and 3 years from now he'll go from the most hated guy, to just a villain. If there was a guy to put us in actual contention for a WS ... and it only cost league min? Again, don't quote select this one ... the thread then falls apart. I get all the downside & the points made ad nauseum. Strictly from a cost perspective and a winning perspective and a need perspective he does make sense. Luke Voit - He clearly doesn't really fit. HOWEVER, before you stop reading and just say no. If Eloy plays some OF (either LF or RF) or if there's an injury in the OF that leads to Eloy playing more OF you then have Voit to play the role of Sheets. As much as I'd like to say this wont happen, i can totally see a situation where Colas sucks out of the gate ... and then somehow Benny ends up in RF and Eloy in LF .. or vice versa and then you have an open DH slot. Otherwise he's a just a Backup DH, 1B. If Eloy is getting 2 games a week in OF and Vaughn is getting 1 day a rest a week, that gives you at least 3 games a week during a healthy stretch, and maybe 4-5 with IL stints. The downside is no real position and Sheets can* play OF. Either way, he's probably almost free and brings power and OBP (if he plays to potential)