The Boston news media must have some garbage to carry out, as about three writers are carrying a story that Cora has about several teams that want him for manager. Will make many here happy to hear that.
Cora’s contract will expire at the end of the 2024 season, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported on Sunday that many teams are interested in giving him his next contract.
“Several teams have already expressed strong interest in Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who’s a free agent after the season,” Nightengale wrote.
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2023/12/11/boston-red-sox-alex-cora-interest/
The team isn’t doing anything, they need to write about something.
To all Major League teams-------PLEASE TAKE THIS DUFUS OFF OUR HANDS. HE HAS DETERIORATED INTO A BUFFOON WHO PLAYS FAVORITES AND KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT PITCHING OR HOW TO RUN A GAME ANYMORE. Get this guy out of town.
Some talk that Sox are pivoting from pitcher to a bat. Evidently as a backup to O'Neil's past injury record, Boston is looking into Teoscar Hernandez. He is 31, coming off a down season at the plate during which he slashed just .258/.305/.435 (105 wRC+) as a member of the Mariners.
With that being said, the slugger still managed to crush 26 home runs last season and entered 2023 with a whopping .283/.333/.519 slash line since the start of the 2020 campaign. That slash line is good for a 133 wRC+, tied with Austin Riley for the 20th best figure in the majors across the 2020-22 seasons. With a stable, above-average offensive floor and a tantalizing, All Star-caliber ceiling, Hernandez ranked 12th on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, where we projected him for a four-year, $80MM contract.
/Pete Thamel https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/red-sox-angels-reportedly-interested-in-teoscar-hernandez.html
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on December 23, 2023, 08:02:43 AM
Some talk that Sox are pivoting from pitcher to a bat. Evidently as a backup to O'Neil's past injury record, Boston is looking into Teoscar Hernandez. He is 31, coming off a down season at the plate during which he slashed just .258/.305/.435 (105 wRC+) as a member of the Mariners.
With that being said, the slugger still managed to crush 26 home runs last season and entered 2023 with a whopping .283/.333/.519 slash line since the start of the 2020 campaign. That slash line is good for a 133 wRC+, tied with Austin Riley for the 20th best figure in the majors across the 2020-22 seasons. With a stable, above-average offensive floor and a tantalizing, All Star-caliber ceiling, Hernandez ranked 12th on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, where we projected him for a four-year, $80MM contract.
/Pete Thamel https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/red-sox-angels-reportedly-interested-in-teoscar-hernandez.html
A25-30 home run bat and not a decent new pitcher. Gee, that sounds like a plan---a plan for us to have SEVEN LAST PLACE FINISHES IN 13 YEARS. I'm becoming more convinced by the day that Craig Breslow has no real power and has become an empty suit trying to portray himself as a director of baseball operations for a sinking franchise. Do yourself a favor Bres and go back to Chicago.....if they will have you. Already you have loser writren all over you. Very sad!!!!!
I'm not in favor of another strike out guy in the lineup. We already have Story.
??
Sorry, I was referring to their chasing of Teoscar Hernandez and his 211 K's last year.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on December 24, 2023, 04:58:24 PM
??
Sorry, I was searching for the various sections, there is a new one somewhere called "Hot Stove"
It's looking more and more like Boston will not compete in the bigger FA market. Yamamoto and now Montgomery have no interest to the Sox. Top of rotation pitching will be accomplished by trade as it is looking. Dylan Cease and Burnes are interesting to Breslow. The price for one of those will likely be Mayer and/ or Yorke ane a A ball pitcher. Pitching demands you pay the price. I don't think we give them Anthony. He is the future Betts/Bogaerts.
They are fighting to stay under the tax line. To heck with fan interest or even selling tickets.
More and more media are criticizing Henry for his lack of interest in improving the Red Sox
Quote from: elktonnick on December 26, 2023, 09:07:27 AM
More and more media are criticizing Henry for his lack of interest in improving the Red Sox
Yes Elk but are those media from the Boston Globe where their boss is the pathetic Prune Face who has no interest in making the team a winner again. He wants to spend good prospects to get a pitcher or two who will be free agents in a year or so---which we will lose eventually since that cheap bastard doesn't want to spend any of his rotten money. And it will cost us Mayer and Yorke, two of our best prospects. What a @#$%&? up team this has turned out to be, and you won't find me going to see them play when they come to Anaheim or spend my hard earned money for a trip to Boston to watch another shit show next season.
These days the Globe is a small part of the media, safely tucked behind a pay wall to ensure that nobody actually reads it. It really doesn't matter what they say anymore. There is a much larger media base than there used to be and it's not limited to shock jocks and a company-owned paper. I mean even NESN guys, which Henry also owns, were down on the Sox at the end of last year. But there are tons of people that cover the Sox for all sorts of outlets with national audiences and people seem to be fed up.
Maybe they blow me away and somehow sign at least one or two of the 5 or 6 players they need. Yeah, right.
Quote from: longgame on December 27, 2023, 11:35:52 AM
These days the Globe is a small part of the media, safely tucked behind a pay wall to ensure that nobody actually reads it. It really doesn't matter what they say anymore. There is a much larger media base than there used to be and it's not limited to shock jocks and a company-owned paper. I mean even NESN guys, which Henry also owns, were down on the Sox at the end of last year. But there are tons of people that cover the Sox for all sorts of outlets with national audiences and people seem to be fed up.
Maybe they blow me away and somehow sign at least one or two of the 5 or 6 players they need. Yeah, right.
What is totally irritating and beyond the pale is that before the Winter Meetings began some of the lesser lights in the front office said that the team was "ALL IN" in the race to upgrade the team and get us back in pennant contention as soon as possible. Correct me if I'm wrong or in a daze but I don't think they've done damn thing up to now to strengthen the ball club, It could be Pruney told his flunkies in no uncertain terms to cool the rhetoric and that perhaps is why we are hearing nothing while the team is doing nothing. Even a critic like me even believed they would have done something substantially by now but NOTHING!!!!!!!!
It seems Breslow has become the brilliant Ivy Leaguer --- or the mad scientist. He traded Verdugo for minor leaguers and a lottery pick, then blew up the rotation and traded Sale. What is coming?
Some analysts say he is ready to blow up the bullpen. Trading Jansen or Martin or Schreiber for a grab bag? A free agent for the bull pen plug-in might be Robert Stephenson, who was pretty sharp for Tampa last year. And there's Yariel Rodriguez, a FA Cuban pitcher who projects as a starter.
Spotrac does tabulations on team salaries. Henry seems to be all about the tax line.
With the Sale deal they are at $185 mil. Monty, Imanaga, Bader, Duval, Stephenson (minus Jansen) is $66mil. I think the magic number this year is $250 m
Maybe some more house cleaning. Time will tell. but I got this from a Mets blogger, that on MLBTR the Sox are looking to cleanse more bad salary. The list includes Jansen and now the $95 mil on the books for Trevor Story, which admittedly was an awful contract by Bloom, as every GM knew he was damaged goods. Those couple of contracts total $111 mil which could go toward a trade for a pitcher or pitchers under team control. A Mets source said they would trade one of their catchers for Jansen. And of course don't forget the tax line!
All of this leads to believing that this is a reset year awaiting for the bonus babies, and NOT improving the team for a post-season run this year.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on January 02, 2024, 11:35:08 AM
Maybe some more house cleaning. Time will tell. but I got this from a Mets blogger, that on MLBTR the Sox are looking to cleanse more bad salary. The list includes Jansen and now the $95 mil on the books for Trevor Story, which admittedly was an awful contract by Bloom, as every GM knew he was damaged goods. Those couple of contracts total $111 mil which could go toward a trade for a pitcher or pitchers under team control. A Mets source said they would trade one of their catchers for Jansen. And of course don't forget the tax line!
All of this leads to believing that this is a reset year awaiting for the bonus babies, and NOT improving the team for a post-season run this year.
I'd be happy with them moving Story but hopefully not still paying him too. The middle infield is dreadful and I've talked before how it hurts the corners with such weakness in the middle. So move him but there better be some reasonable answers for SS and 2B.
I've never been a big Jansen fan, but at this point they'd be creating another problem which didn't need fixing. They have so many holes and are running out of time to fix them.
I agree. Plug up one hole by creating another one. It's too soon. Someone is gonna need Jansen if it is not us, and Story's deal will be a a less-worse deal if he regains anything close to his expected production levels.
Starting Pitchers ain't gonna do us any good if we can't field the ball nor close a game out. That's a lot of moves and risk to improve the rotation by 2-4 innings per week.
I can't believe Big Maple hasn't been snatched up by anyone yet.
Grissom was slated to start in the PR Winter League but will instead be attending Trevor Story’s infield camp (who knew?)
Why spend more money? John Henry says.
With six weeks to go until pitchers report, Sox still do not have a top of rotation guy. A ChicagoSoxer is being looked at again. This time Dylan Cease. The Dodgers, Orioles and Cards are also of interest.
Cease would be a massive pickup for the Red Sox. Boston's farm system is strong and the club likely could get a deal done if it wanted. It just depends on whether or not the Red Sox are willing to part with either Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, or Kyle Teel.
The 28-year-old star is under contract for the next two seasons and immediately would give the Red Sox the top-of-the-rotation ace that they need. Boston clearly has competition for the young hurler, but it sounds like it is showing interest in a move at least.
I have learned to distrust any published report that the Red Sox are in any particular player. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on January 05, 2024, 02:57:32 PM
Why spend more money? John Henry says.
With six weeks to go until pitchers report, Sox still do not have a top of rotation guy. A ChicagoSoxer is being looked at again. This time Dylan Cease. The Dodgers, Orioles and Cards are also of interest.
Cease would be a massive pickup for the Red Sox. Boston's farm system is strong and the club likely could get a deal done if it wanted. It just depends on whether or not the Red Sox are willing to part with either Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, or Kyle Teel.
The 28-year-old star is under contract for the next two seasons and immediately would give the Red Sox the top-of-the-rotation ace that they need. Boston clearly has competition for the young hurler, but it sounds like it is showing interest in a move at least.
The problem for the Red Sox is that they are all left handed hitters and you cannot be too lefthanded especially when so many southpaw swingers have trouble with portsiders. Besides, those three are supposed to be among our best prospects. Teel and Mayer are musts for us......a catcher and shortstop who project as solid hitters and defensive players. I don't know much about Anthony save that he has power. The p roblem is Prune Face does NOT want to spend money; he'd rather trade players and hold onto his own, the worthless cheap no good @#$%&?:
Another lefty bat may be on the trade block. The first time I've heard the name Yoshida come up. Breslow apparently has a glut of lefty swingers in the OF with Yoshi, Duran and Abreu added to the mix. They are looking at picking up Teoscar Hernandez for a power stroke in front of the Monster. His market price has been driven up by a couple newcomers to the dealing.
Breslow will probably get something done that will surprise --- Story? Surely not. Teoscar looks like a FA signing real soon. The other rumors are likely smoke to keep the agents busy. This is not a very enjoyable hot stove. It is more like a long winters nap.
Just imagine how much the Sox would end up paying to have Yoshida to play somewhere else. Maybe the Dodgers can get him as part of their exploitation of the Japan market. They've probably become the entire country's favorite team this year. Smart move on their part and it's a big enough city and on the Pacific Coast that they are perfectly suited to make it work.
Also, what an admission of "guilt" if you will but also good that they would admit a mistake and move on. But even if they don't move him they need to get a RH bat in the OF (a la Hernandez).
It's been just over two months since the season ended. "Truck Day" is a month away and pitchers and catchers report in 6 weeks. It looks like the Red Sox are done with the IF. Grissom is projected to be the 2B so that gives us Casas, Grissom, Story and Devers. I'll take it but it doesn't address defense, just warm bodies who can hit too. OF is a mess, as noted before. They don't now what to do with their most expensive OF who they signed last year. They have O'Neill who may be good if he's on the field. If they sign Hernandez then we'll have lefty and righty power between those two, but give up a lot of strikeouts. Bottom line is they need a RH slugger in the OF. Duran and Abreu seem likely to be on the team too, so there's really just that RH power slot to fill there.
Pitching is the same story it's been all season. They need a top of the rotation starter. As it is Bello project as a #2 which I hope he can step up to. Giolito at 3, Pivetta (if he can start games again) and then Houck and Whitlock. I'm not sure which of those two is more suited but it's the number 5 role (assuming the get the #1 mentioned above) and they've got whoever is the odd man out and Crawford for long relief and starter depth. So again, clear need in this area and their dithering will cost them, get a top of the rotation guy.
Bullpen is probably okay, I'd always take a live arm but they did pretty well and would do even better if they had better starters.
Finally catcher. I'm not impressed with the current guys. There's no need to rush Teel or any catcher, let him learn the art of catching as well as the physical part. Not sure what the market is but they'd benefit greatly from a veteran catcher for a couple of years.
So the needs are clear and haven't changed. The two top needs remain the same as they were 2 months ago. Will they get addressed before 6 weeks?
This team is better than people think and is poised for much better in a short amount of time. For 2024.....
Defense should be improved by having Story up the whole season instead of that ridiculous experiment with Kike. His horrid play sent others into a defensive funk. Story is a weapon at SS. The other three IF'ers are not, though Devers will make great play now and then in between his wild throws. Casas was better as the year went on.
I'm not as down on the OF as most. Abreu's good out there. Nice arm, decent enough speed and can get under a fly ball to catch it. I've got him at RF, and he might even be equal or even a defensive upgrade from Verdugo. The rest is somewhat up in the air, but gets going when Rafaela improves at the plate and comes up for good. LF us covered if O'Neil can still play it at a GG caliber left field and is not injured. We're not far from an O'Neil, Rafaela and Abreu OF. That's a good thing. We do have a glut with Duran and Yoshida needing DH and OF reps. One would hope a renewed interest in coaching would help at least one of them play better defense. If we're looking at 2025 for Roman Anthony like we are for Rafaela this year, that replaces O'Neil should he jetison Fenway in favor of free agency.
We should be better behind the plate by virtue of Wong having a year under his belt. Not great, but better. What would be nice is if he could make some more contact. 36% K-Rate is pretty awful.
Giolito, Bello, Pivetta, Houck and Crawford as it stands now. Bello got 15 Quality Starts (QS's) in his first full season. Giolito still got 15 Quality Starts last year despite his woes. Going through his game log the last couple of seasons, it looked like Pivetta's consistency. Ace one day, awful the next. Pivetta's an inning eater who got 12 QS's in 2022. Possible improvement if he's anything like how he ended 2023. Houck and Crawford got a total of 9 QS's. That alone should bump them from 24th to 15th or so. The real potential for improvement is with Crawford and Houck. Seems to me they were screwed with more then they were supported in their quest to pitch 6 or more inning starts. I can see one of the two getting a real boost this coming year. Maybe both.
Bullpen is looking OK if we don't screw it up. Whitlock is a 7th inning relief pitcher in my mind. He's not handled the rigors of starting. His best season was his coddled Rookie year. Maybe the new pitching brain trust can fix? Hopefully Jansen, Martin, Wincowski and Bernardino come back close to last year's form. A few new arms in the mix, too. Potential for seeing Mata out of ST, but who knows in what capacity? He'll either make the team, get injured or released as he's out of options, IIRC.
All this adds up to the need for patience. Sign another SP to help keep up relevant. I'd be fine with Paxton if Montgomery doesn't sign. Not sure where a few of the pieces fit in 2025, but I'd rather have the choices and the MLB ready talent after this coming season. For example, if Yorke becomes ready AND if Grissom has a decent year, we could get much more for either of them than we could now, and we'll give ourselves the option of best-in-breed. Same could be said for CF and even SS(if we trade Story). We're close.
Oh, and signing a 180-200 K-victom guy to play league average RF for the sake of 30 dingers gets us nowhere. Post season pitching tears these guys up. See Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners and 2017-2019 Cubs. It doesn't work, and we already have that guy playing SS. We'll be looking to spit that contract out next Winter.
Mongo, I think the Sox pass on Montgomery (over the budget) and on Paxton (some feedback that he is overpriced). I'm guessing they sign Imanoga and trade for Marlins Lazardo, offering maybe Yorke and Wickleman Gonzales, along with an A baller. It will send the fans into the pitchfork pile.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on January 07, 2024, 07:59:16 AM
This team is better than people think and is poised for much better in a short amount of time. For 2024.....
Defense should be improved by having Story up the whole season instead of that ridiculous experiment with Kike. His horrid play sent others into a defensive funk. Story is a weapon at SS. The other three IF'ers are not, though Devers will make great play now and then in between his wild throws. Casas was better as the year went on.
I'm not as down on the OF as most. Abreu's good out there. Nice arm, decent enough speed and can get under a fly ball to catch it. I've got him at RF, and he might even be equal or even a defensive upgrade from Verdugo. The rest is somewhat up in the air, but gets going when Rafaela improves at the plate and comes up for good. LF us covered if O'Neil can still play it at a GG caliber left field and is not injured. We're not far from an O'Neil, Rafaela and Abreu OF. That's a good thing. We do have a glut with Duran and Yoshida needing DH and OF reps. One would hope a renewed interest in coaching would help at least one of them play better defense. If we're looking at 2025 for Roman Anthony like we are for Rafaela this year, that replaces O'Neil should he jetison Fenway in favor of free agency.
We should be better behind the plate by virtue of Wong having a year under his belt. Not great, but better. What would be nice is if he could make some more contact. 36% K-Rate is pretty awful.
Giolito, Bello, Pivetta, Houck and Crawford as it stands now. Bello got 15 Quality Starts (QS's) in his first full season. Giolito still got 15 Quality Starts last year despite his woes. Going through his game log the last couple of seasons, it looked like Pivetta's consistency. Ace one day, awful the next. Pivetta's an inning eater who got 12 QS's in 2022. Possible improvement if he's anything like how he ended 2023. Houck and Crawford got a total of 9 QS's. That alone should bump them from 24th to 15th or so. The real potential for improvement is with Crawford and Houck. Seems to me they were screwed with more then they were supported in their quest to pitch 6 or more inning starts. I can see one of the two getting a real boost this coming year. Maybe both.
Bullpen is looking OK if we don't screw it up. Whitlock is a 7th inning relief pitcher in my mind. He's not handled the rigors of starting. His best season was his coddled Rookie year. Maybe the new pitching brain trust can fix? Hopefully Jansen, Martin, Wincowski and Bernardino come back close to last year's form. A few new arms in the mix, too. Potential for seeing Mata out of ST, but who knows in what capacity? He'll either make the team, get injured or released as he's out of options, IIRC.
All this adds up to the need for patience. Sign another SP to help keep up relevant. I'd be fine with Paxton if Montgomery doesn't sign. Not sure where a few of the pieces fit in 2025, but I'd rather have the choices and the MLB ready talent after this coming season. For example, if Yorke becomes ready AND if Grissom has a decent year, we could get much more for either of them than we could now, and we'll give ourselves the option of best-in-breed. Same could be said for CF and even SS(if we trade Story). We're close.
Oh, and signing a 180-200 K-victom guy to play league average RF for the sake of 30 dingers gets us nowhere. Post season pitching tears these guys up. See Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners and 2017-2019 Cubs. It doesn't work, and we already have that guy playing SS. We'll be looking to spit that contract out next Winter.
Mongo, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry reading your lengthymissive today. I like your positive attitude but it should be used for some other team in our division or the other league. We have a brutal rotation without a lefthanded starter in the rotation. Our infield defense is still poor and our outfield is loaded with questionamrks and once again it looks like from your post that the team is ready to cast Duran to the wolves. That would be a total disaster since the young man can steal 50-60 bases, has enough power to earn respect from the opposition, if not from the bungling Cora who specializes in playing his favorites much of the time. We don't know about O'Niel or Abreu and their health and ability to hit big league pitching, their toughness and their ability to over come small injuries which our team has become a poster boy for hangnail-type injuries that keep them out of the lineup for weeks instead of days.
I wish you are right but this team is a fifth place club right now and your belief in them will draw praises from Henry who would love nothing better than to go with this sad bunch to open the season. To me this is a fifth place team and one headed for their seventh last place finishes in 13 years. But I will hope you're right good friend and I be the one to eat my words.
The owners seem to have made it their purpose to expose John Henry since 2019.
I thought he’d be a good fit, but won’t lose any sleep over this but just another symptom of a team that can’t close a deal.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting this year as being the year we climb into contention for a WS title. A couple of top starters might have pushed us over the top and into a 500+ team, but not a WS team. Not yet.
I'm simply saying I want it all. I want that great core of homegrown talent in place. We can see the tip of that iceberg starting to happen. This might just be the next great core that we'll be talking about and comparing to the mid-70's and late 2015's cores that we're still mad at Sullivan and Henry for letting go. We are close to this. We've endured a 78 win season. We do it again in 2024, we do it with a bright light at the end of the tunnel. We make this 2024 edition a winning team only at the expense of 2025 and beyond at this point.
A member of the White Sox press are scoffing at the notion of a trade scenario that a member of the Red Sox press suggested. Anthony, Yorke, Wikelman and Dalbec for Cease. Me? I say "screw that!!!" Not until a pitcher like Cease is the difference maker to a WS team.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on January 08, 2024, 09:53:10 AM
To be clear, I'm not suggesting this year as being the year we climb into contention for a WS title. A couple of top starters might have pushed us over the top and into a 500+ team, but not a WS team. Not yet.
I'm simply saying I want it all. I want that great core of homegrown talent in place. We can see the tip of that iceberg starting to happen. This might just be the next great core that we'll be talking about and comparing to the mid-70's and late 2015's cores that we're still mad at Sullivan and Henry for letting go. We are close to this. We've endured a 78 win season. We do it again in 2024, we do it with a bright light at the end of the tunnel. We make this 2024 edition a winning team only at the expense of 2025 and beyond at this point.
A member of the White Sox press are scoffing at the notion of a trade scenario that a member of the Red Sox press suggested. Anthony, Yorke, Wikelman and Dalbec for Cease. Me? I say "screw that!!!" Not until a pitcher like Cease is the difference maker to a WS team.
25 years ago the Sox had Pedro to bring them to competitiveness. They only added Schilling to get over that last hump. But the point is they had something to build on. The two leading veterans on this team are Devers and Story and neither strikes me as a complete veteran leader. You need some bones to build on top of. I like the young talent they have but they're going to get tired of losing too.
Quote from: MongoLikeSox on January 08, 2024, 09:53:10 AM
To be clear, I'm not suggesting this year as being the year we climb into contention for a WS title. A couple of top starters might have pushed us over the top and into a 500+ team, but not a WS team. Not yet.
I'm simply saying I want it all. I want that great core of homegrown talent in place. We can see the tip of that iceberg starting to happen. This might just be the next great core that we'll be talking about and comparing to the mid-70's and late 2015's cores that we're still mad at Sullivan and Henry for letting go. We are close to this. We've endured a 78 win season. We do it again in 2024, we do it with a bright light at the end of the tunnel. We make this 2024 edition a winning team only at the expense of 2025 and beyond at this point.
A member of the White Sox press are scoffing at the notion of a trade scenario that a member of the Red Sox press suggested. Anthony, Yorke, Wikelman and Dalbec for Cease. Me? I say "screw that!!!" Not until a pitcher like Cease is the difference maker to a WS team.
The idea of trading good prospects like Yorke, Mayer, Anthony and others for a guy like Cease is ridiculous, especially since the guy is coming off a miserable year and might be on his way down. You trade nothing like our prospects and instead get that cheap bastard to put up some of his money and sign Montgomery or Snell off the FA market. In fact, you want to move our progress farther and faster, you sign both. We have the money and Henry must be pressured into procuring the talent needed so we cease being a laughing stock and become what we are intended to be, one of the best teams in baseball. When will the Boston press grow some balls and challenge the miserable owner to stop his parsimonious ways. Either that and apply enough pressure on the bastard to get him to throw in the towel and sell the team. The last five seasons have been hell and he is mainly responsible for what has happened to the Red Sox.
Quote from: longgame on January 08, 2024, 02:30:24 PM
25 years ago the Sox had Pedro to bring them to competitiveness. They only added Schilling to get over that last hump. But the point is they had something to build on. The two leading veterans on this team are Devers and Story and neither strikes me as a complete veteran leader. You need some bones to build on top of. I like the young talent they have but they're going to get tired of losing too.
I went back and looked at those years. We also got the famous Varitek/Lowe for Slocumb deal at the trade deadline before the off season we got Pedro. Interestingly enough, we went from 78 wins to 92 wins. Mo Vaughn and Nomar surrounded by Valentin, Hatteburg/'Tek, Troy O'Leary and a good defensive CF'er who could at least hit his weight.
Our trade deadline ineptitude the past few years was just plain awful, not matter which direction one might have supported.
The off-season has truly reached a bottleneck. The Sox, about the only big market team unwilling to get into free agency and agent madman, Scott Boras, who is controlling about all the available free agents remaining. Of the 17 top FA pitchers available this winter, all of them have signed except for Montgomery, Snell, Ryu and Paxton. Those are all Boras clients. In addition Boras is the agent for the only top non-pitchers still available, Chapman and Bellinger. With the slow crawl going on, a couple of the pitchers may not be fit to start the regular season.
What is noteworthy, Boston's budget only gives them interest in Ryu and Paxton. The mind game from Boras will be ushering the low budget guys to a mid-major, while driving up Boston's bid for the two high demand pitchers. Boston is not likely to do a trade and give up their prospects for a pitcher. A fine mess it is.
This search for starting pitching is getting desperate. The Giants just signed Jordan Hicks to a 4-year, $40M deal that includes some incentives each year for plateaus like Innings Pitched. He's been a reliever his whole MLB career and had a somewhat high ERA and low K-Rate in 21 & 22 for a guy throwing 99MPH. He got back to a decent ERA last season.
Their idea is to turn him into a starting. He did start some in the Minors in 2016-2017. This isn't the first team to sign a reliever with eyes on starting this off season. The Braves, maybe?
This all shines a big light on the whole need to develop pitching thing. 7 of the top 21-30 prospects on SoxProspects.com are pitchers. 4 of the top 20 are pitchers. Two of those are guys who have to make the team out of ST. Rule-5 guy(via Mets) and Bryan Mata. Out of the 11, only 4 were obtained in between the Dombrowski an Breslow regimes.