How about those RED SOX! Part Deux

[pantherphan96]

Got Washington over Cleveland. Heart thinks the Sox win in 5 but my brain says this won't last more than 4 games. Hoping for good starts from Pom and Fister.

[pantherphan96]

Rough way to end the year. Glad Farrell is gone but we really missed our opportunity with Lovullo going to Arizona.

[Goondal]

Glad to see Farrell is gone.  Dombrowski no longer has Farrell as the scapegoat either.

[cookinwithgas]

 

[Goondal]

Evidently J.D. Martinez is now “fed up” with the Sox and might “prefer to play elsewhere.”

My question is, who is stopping you?  The Sox have no control over him.  He can go negotiate with any club if the Sox $100 million offer is not enough.  It is not the Sox problem that nobody will offer more.  If he wants a better offer then get one from another team to use as leverage.  Otherwise the Sox have no incentive to raise their offer.

I am normally pro player but the way this FA class is acting is really annoying.

I am all on board with no making any signing, betting on pitching, and attacking next year’s loaded market.

[pantherphan96]

On 2/8/2018 at 5:54 AM, Goondal said:

Evidently J.D. Martinez is now “fed up” with the Sox and might “prefer to play elsewhere.”

My question is, who is stopping you?  The Sox have no control over him.  He can go negotiate with any club if the Sox $100 million offer is not enough.  It is not the Sox problem that nobody will offer more.  If he wants a better offer then get one from another team to use as leverage.  Otherwise the Sox have no incentive to raise their offer.

I am normally pro player but the way this FA class is acting is really annoying.

I am all on board with no making any signing, betting on pitching, and attacking next year’s loaded market.

I still hope we get JD as he'd be an upgrade over Hanley at DH but I'm fine with the Sox refusing to budge from their offer. If he wants more money, he'll likely get it from Arizona or a team thats less likely to make the playoffs. If he doesnt sign that money can go towards Betts, Benintendi, Kimbrel etc in the future.

[Goondal]

Saw Price was out taking responsibility for his actions and attitude last season.  This could be all talk but it I definitely good to see.  If he can see a Lackey-esque revival then it could go a long way to improving our chances of three-peating in the division and competing in the playoffs.

[pantherphan96]

17 hours ago, Goondal said:

Saw Price was out taking responsibility for his actions and attitude last season.  This could be all talk but it I definitely good to see.  If he can see a Lackey-esque revival then it could go a long way to improving our chances of three-peating in the division and competing in the playoffs.

Definitely hoping he starts out strong and gets the fans behind him early. I feel like his playoff performance against Houston was enough for most fans to give him another chance-- hope he can capitalize on it.

Not a splashy move but I'm glad we've brought back Moreland and Nunez-- if there is some positive regression to the mean for guys who underperformed last season (Betts, Bogey, Bradley, Hanley, Porcello) I feel good about our chances to win the division for a third straight year.

[Goondal]

On 2/15/2018 at 9:37 PM, pantherphan96 said:

Definitely hoping he starts out strong and gets the fans behind him early. I feel like his playoff performance against Houston was enough for most fans to give him another chance-- hope he can capitalize on it.

Not a splashy move but I'm glad we've brought back Moreland and Nunez-- if there is some positive regression to the mean for guys who underperformed last season (Betts, Bogey, Bradley, Hanley, Porcello) I feel good about our chances to win the division for a third straight year.

I love Nunez.  There was talk of him being a Yankee target, which has me worried.

Betts and Bogaerts definitely need to step it way back up this year.  They have the ability to be the centerpieces, they just need to do it.  Bradley and Porcello will be interesting because we need to find out who they really are.  I hope Porcello is not another Buchholz where he alternates good and terrible years, but if so at least we are in for a good one.  Worst case on Bradley is we have an elite defensive CF.

I am to the point with Hanley that anything we get from him will be a welcomed surprise.  Maybe my opinion is somewhat tarnished since we got him the same winter as Sandoval.  I cannot wait for those contracts to go away over the next two years.

The guy I am most excited for is Devers.

[Goondal]

Well, we finally got JD.  5 yrs, 110.  It is basically a 2 yr/50 million contract where JD has the option to opt into a 3 yr/60 million contract.  As a Boras client I think we can all assume he will opt out.  He also has the incentive not to go all fat and happy like another former FA.

I am often critical of him but it seems like Dombroski did really well here.  By the time he opts out in 2020 Sandoval, Hanley, and Castillo will all be off the books and we will have money to spend on the youngsters we want to be in our core.

[Goondal]

Roenis Road, who I forgot was on the team, has looked good so far this spring.  Hopefully he can be the guy we traded for, need a lefty out of the bullpen

[Goondal]

Things are definitely going about as good as can be expected so far.  Sox previous record was three games to start the season with 1ER or less from the rotation.  They went seven games this year before the streak broke today.  Xander has been amazing so far and it seems Hanley wants to earn that PA bonus.

I actually got to go to the first three games this year.  Sadly saw the Kelly blowup but the way I see it we got that one back on Thursday

[pantherphan96]

Big series against the Yanks in NY starting tonight... pitching matchups definitely not in our favor.

Mook is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball, just worries me he seems to get dinged up a little every couple of games.

Price doesn't look good at all-- at this point I'll accept 200+ innings and a low 4s ERA. Luckily it looks like Porcello is a solid #2 right now behind Sale who has been as good as ever. ERod's K #s look good but the long ball is hurting him and Pomeranz hopefully can provide what he did for us last year as the 3-4 starter.

[Goondal]

Yeah, at this point Price is an average #4 or a good #5, simply because he can eat innings.  The lineup is terrifying though.  I really wish Swihart would get more opportunities and they would just dump Leon already.  They should have traded him two years ago when he had value.  Give the kid a shot!

I still believe the Houston will prove to be the best team in baseball but it sure does seem right to see the Sox face the Yanks as the top two teams in baseball.