Free Agency this off-season

[elktonnick]

Actually from a business sense it makes a lot of sense.  There is no significant growth in the value of the Red Sox as a franchise per se.  The growth is in increasing the value of the area around Fenway Park.  Maintain the Red Sox team as a competitive  team at a minimum  level using excess funds to develop the real estate in the immediate vicinity.  Once the development is funded then rebuild the team.

I think that is what they are doing

[Sea Dog 23]

From what I’ve seen on social media, the natives are restless and Winter Weekend could turn out ugly.  No wonder the owner won’t attend because he’s a chicken Sh!t.  Mismanagement on and off the field.

I read that the Winter Weekend has been cancelled this year.  Maybe there is some other entertainment offered at that time, but it seems the MGT team is ducking out this year.  They really can't take the emotional abuse, really.

[Sea Dog 23]

For free-agent pitchers, one guy reported that it was down to Cubs and Sox for getting Imanaga.  Giants and Angels pulled out.  That Sox had actually doubled their offer to get him,  BUT Imanaga wanted the Cubs, and he kept taking the Sox latest offer to Cubs to get the deal he wanted.

There's an interesting podcast on Redacted featuring an interview with Giolito.  Of course he is coming off a down year, but Lucas describes how he was drawn to the Breslow-Bailey approach to producing the best possible mechanics/metrics/analytics, which he thought was very in depth. 

For example, Bailey asked him to picture pitching as being on a tightrope 1,000feet in the air.  If you fall off (like going into a 8- game tailspin), how do you correct.  Bailey wants to develop for each pitcher a fail-safe, if they fall off the tightrope, it's only 10 feet down and Bailey has a fix to get out of the funk by the next start. Giolito is working on the effects of his slider, he knows his 4-seamer and change-up are dependable.  His goal is throwing 200 innings like James Shields used to do, and he prides himself as being a workhorse.  He admits 200 innings is a good metric, because if his ERA is high, he is not going to even approach 200.

[MongoLikeSox]

Imanaga get 4 years, 54M with a 5th year option from the Cubs. Strohman gets two years, $38M with a 3rd year vesting option from the Yanks.

So, one has really got to wonder what kind of intel Imanaga got from Yoshida about the prospects of playing in Boston. I could not have been all that positive, that's for sure. I wonder if Yoshida wants and asked to be traded?

Cora? Organization? Organization vs Cora? Fan/media fish bowl? Some sort of strange combo. It's been a mess for a long time.

[Sea Dog 23]

For Sox it seems to be down to Montgomery or (gulp) Clevenger or an equal talent.  The Yankees bid on Blake Snell was rejected, it was said, as the terms were short in years.  No way Sox will get involved as they're looking at one and two year deals.

Source familiar with the situation just told me the Yankees offer was $30M a year, 5 years deal $150M Total money. But Snell rejected because he want more money or one more year. #Yankees #BlakeSnell

[MongoLikeSox]

The Yanks are in a big payroll push these days. $277M before taxes & benefits. They're still trying to sign guys like Snell? Part of me thinks that Strohman was the plan-D prize. Not a bad one, of course.

There was a rank the MLB Minor League organizations article on MLB.com yesterday. The Red Sox ranked decently overall, meaning some executive voted them highly as a Minor League organization ahead of Baltimore. Baltimore got 79% of the votes. The Red Sox did get voted as having the best under-rated system.

Huh???  Roll another and pass it down!

We didn't place in the rest of the questions. Not even once.
https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/front-office-executives-choose-best-farm-systems-2024?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

[longgame]

Imanaga get 4 years, 54M with a 5th year option from the Cubs. Strohman gets two years, $38M with a 3rd year vesting option from the Yanks.

So, one has really got to wonder what kind of intel Imanaga got from Yoshida about the prospects of playing in Boston. I could not have been all that positive, that's for sure. I wonder if Yoshida wants and asked to be traded?

Cora? Organization? Organization vs Cora? Fan/media fish bowl? Some sort of strange combo. It's been a mess for a long time.

From what I saw the Sox offered 2 years with 2 years vesting options.  Initial dollars were higher than the Cubs but he got longevity which is smart for a guy new to the league.

[longgame]

Actually from a business sense it makes a lot of sense.  There is no significant growth in the value of the Red Sox as a franchise per se.  The growth is in increasing the value of the area around Fenway Park.  Maintain the Red Sox team as a competitive  team at a minimum  level using excess funds to develop the real estate in the immediate vicinity.  Once the development is funded then rebuild the team.

I think that is what they are doing

The Atlanta one was fun and as someone who used to live in CT we always made sure we got to the ballpark early enough to maybe eat and have a few beers before the game.  It's a good idea except for the idea that it's another shiny new toy for Henry who got tired of his old toys.

[elktonnick]

Actually from a business sense it makes a lot of sense.  There is no significant growth in the value of the Red Sox as a franchise per se.  The growth is in increasing the value of the area around Fenway Park.  Maintain the Red Sox team as a competitive  team at a minimum  level using excess funds to develop the real estate in the immediate vicinity.  Once the development is funded then rebuild the team.

I think that is what they are doing

The Atlanta one was fun and as someone who used to live in CT we always made sure we got to the ballpark early enough to maybe eat and have a few beers before the game.  It's a good idea except for the idea that it's another shiny new toy for Henry who got tired of his old toys.

I think we have to resist the temptation to think of Henry as an individual but rather as the head of a multi investor corporation known as FSG.  FSG as an entity is interested in growth across several sports enterprises not just the Red Sox.  It should be fairly obvious to all that Henry's  top priority is to FSG not just the Red Sox.
Not that it matters but the Boston Red Sox may not be the FSGs most valuable asset.  That may go to Liverpool which competes on bigger stage which is worldwide.

[longgame]

Sox and Angels fighting over Duvall.  Sox can’t even sign guys who played for them last year.

[SeaBeachFred]

Sox and Angels fighting over Duvall.  Sox can’t even sign guys who played for them last year.

How cheap can they get Ted????  This is beyond ridiculous!!!!  The ownership has told us to gut it out because we are not going to be competing this season for anything but fourth place in the AL East, and we most likely won't win that battle either.  Very sad indeed.

[longgame]

Werner said they’re cutting payroll and that they are selling “the Fenway experience” and have deals for students.  When I was a student you could still show up and buy tickets and as students we could afford them.  The stadium wasn’t very full and won’t be this year.

[longgame]

Latest rumor is the Dodgers are interested in Paxton.  I'm going to catch a Dodgers ST game in March.  It will be good to see all the former Sox.

[Sea Dog 23]

Latest rumor is the Dodgers are interested in Paxton.  I'm going to catch a Dodgers ST game in March.  It will be good to see all the former Sox.

You can strike Paxton off the list as well as Collin McHugh, who just announced his retirement.  You may think I'm looney for putting his name on there, but he was signed by the Sox (never pitched), and would seem to be another reclamation project for this Breslow team.

I could see the Sox checking in on Brandon Woodruff to be their second FA pitcher.  The Mets had talked to him when they didn't get close to the Yamamota sweepstakes.  Woodruff could be had for 2/$20m.  That addition is not going to get them a wildcard, but it will keep them low budget, which is where they want to be heading this year.