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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2020 10:03:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2020 20:32:04 GMT -5
Happy Truck Day 2020!
Sox equipment truck packed up and left for Florida today, the first sign spring is on the horizon!
-M
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2020 23:26:10 GMT -5
Welp, it finally happened. News broke as I was leaving work that the Sox dealt Mookie Betts and David Price to the LA Dodgers for OF Alex Verdugo and a hard throwing pitching prospect (Brusdar Graterol) from the Twins, who get Maeda from the Dodgers in the deal. Dodgers then traded Joc Pedersen to the Angels for a utility infielder.
The move gets the Sox under the tax threshold, and recoups some young talent, but they will be significantly less competitive next season.
I get the necessity of it in the current market, but I don't like it. But Betts was adamant about not signing an extension, and someone is going to give him upwards of $300 million (possibly close to $400 million) in free agency next year, so it was bound to happen.
-M
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Post by The Captain on Feb 5, 2020 10:23:25 GMT -5
Welp, it finally happened. News broke as I was leaving work that the Sox dealt Mookie Betts and David Price to the LA Dodgers for OF Alex Verdugo and a hard throwing pitching prospect (Brusdar Graterol) from the Twins, who get Maeda from the Dodgers in the deal. Dodgers then traded Joc Pedersen to the Angels for a utility infielder. The move gets the Sox under the tax threshold, and recoups some young talent, but they will be significantly less competitive next season. I get the necessity of it in the current market, but I don't like it. But Betts was adamant about not signing an extension, and someone is going to give him upwards of $300 million (possibly close to $400 million) in gree agency next year, so it was bound to happen. -M Did it have to happen, though? Fenway Sports Group is valued at $6.6B. The Red Sox made $518MM in 2018, so it can be reasonably assumed they made a figure in that ballpark in 2019 as well. They co-own NESN, which likely keeps its revenues from being comingled with the Red Sox revenues, meaning the $518MM figure may be understated. They could have offered Betts, arguably the second-best position player in the game, any dollar figure on any length contract to keep him, but they low-balled him with their initial offer and all but guaranteed he would be gone one way or another. The return is middling. Alex Verdugo is a good player, but they couldn't have gotten any of the Dodgers' top ten prospects (from a DEEP system)? The pitcher from the Twins projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter or reliever, neither of which are particularly exciting. This deal was all about getting rid of David Price's ill-conceived contract (why anyone would give a 30-year old pitcher a seven-year deal worth $31MM is beyond me) and saving $10MM in luxury taxes, both of which are ridiculous considering the amount of money that a good Red Sox team could make, a team that would have been possible for years to come with Betts onboard had they made him a reasonable offer.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 5, 2020 12:07:04 GMT -5
Mookie's asking price had gone to $420 million and 12 years. Twelve years is a long time, even for a young outfielder. Who knows? Maybe the Sox will pursue him next year, as the Yanks did the year after they traded Chapman to the Cubs. Not counting on that, though. Sox got themselves in this bind, though, thanks to Dombrowski's charge from ownership to win yesterday after two straight last place finishes in '14 and '15 and two very quick exits from the playoffs after those. We all knew we'd be paying the piper for the 2018 season, when it all seemed too easy. (And, no, it wasn't about garbage cans.) Only alternatives would have been to see what they could get in late July or just hang on and hope for an MVP-calibre season from Markus as he went into free agency. Chaim Bloom had his hands tied; he's fortunate to have had his friend and foremr boss Andrew Friedman as a trading partner. At least the Sox aren't raising ticket pr - Oh, scratch that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2020 14:23:14 GMT -5
Welp, it finally happened. News broke as I was leaving work that the Sox dealt Mookie Betts and David Price to the LA Dodgers for OF Alex Verdugo and a hard throwing pitching prospect (Brusdar Graterol) from the Twins, who get Maeda from the Dodgers in the deal. Dodgers then traded Joc Pedersen to the Angels for a utility infielder. The move gets the Sox under the tax threshold, and recoups some young talent, but they will be significantly less competitive next season. I get the necessity of it in the current market, but I don't like it. But Betts was adamant about not signing an extension, and someone is going to give him upwards of $300 million (possibly close to $400 million) in gree agency next year, so it was bound to happen. -M Did it have to happen, though? Fenway Sports Group is valued at $6.6B. The Red Sox made $518MM in 2018, so it can be reasonably assumed they made a figure in that ballpark in 2019 as well. They co-own NESN, which likely keeps its revenues from being comingled with the Red Sox revenues, meaning the $518MM figure may be understated. They could have offered Betts, arguably the second-best position player in the game, any dollar figure on any length contract to keep him, but they low-balled him with their initial offer and all but guaranteed he would be gone one way or another. The return is middling. Alex Verdugo is a good player, but they couldn't have gotten any of the Dodgers' top ten prospects (from a DEEP system)? The pitcher from the Twins projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter or reliever, neither of which are particularly exciting. This deal was all about getting rid of David Price's ill-conceived contract (why anyone would give a 30-year old pitcher a seven-year deal worth $31MM is beyond me) and saving $10MM in luxury taxes, both of which are ridiculous considering the amount of money that a good Red Sox team could make, a team that would have been possible for years to come with Betts onboard had they made him a reasonable offer. If they wanted to remain competitive in the long term, yes. It's not about being able to afford the dollars-it is the continued winnowing away of draft picks and international slot money that are part of the penalties for being over the luxury tax repeatedly, penalties that get steeper and make it harder to replenish your farm system by depleting the resources you use to stock it. You cannot sustain success long term without beingable to develop at least some of your own roster from your minor league system. You can't fill every hole by massively spending in free agency on major league veterans. All teams, whether small market or big, need the resources of their draft picks and international slot money to build teams. The luxury tax penalties include pushing draft picks down and reducing slot money. It doesn't matter how much the owner's portfolio is worth, no amount of money is going to replace those resources. The Sox needed to reset the luxury tax at some point-the Yankees did it in 2016, trading away several high contract players for borderline prospects and contributing players who weren't supposed to be superstars. We see them now reaping the rewards of it having full slot money and draft picks and now being able to bring their massive financial resources to bear to sign players like Gerritt Cole. If they hadn't reset, they would be doing that. I would have preferred the Sox go about it another way and retain Mookie (I wanted JD Martinez to opt out for starters), but Dombrowski's spending spree painted them into a corner of sorts. They offered Betts upwards of $300 million in their extension offers, Mookie wasn't interested in talking extensions until he saw what his full market value is. If they didn't get under the luxury tax, it is estimated it would cost the team an additional $100 million over the next three seasons (factoring in all additional costs not just the penalties themselves), and even if they gave Mookie a qualifying offer and got a draft pick if he left, the value of the pick would be reduced because it would be a lower pick because of the tax penalties. And there was no guarantee he would be more than a 1 season rental for them because of his desire to hit the open market. So sure, it didn't have to happen, the Sox could have afforded to keep him, but the cost to the long term ability to remain competitive would have been huge making it foolish money in every aspect except PR t supplicate a portion of the fanbase that is angry about the move. And as good as Betts is, no one was going to give up top prospects commensurate with his talent level because he was a 1 year $27 million dollar rental. That limited the number of teams they could deal with-it had to be a big market team in a position to compete in 2020 without a set outfield of talent, and willing to go over the luxury tax threshold, which eliminated over 25 potential trade partners (more like 29). The severely limits what you can get back. I still don't like it, but I understand why they felt the need to do it to keep the Sox viable beyond 2020. -M
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 7, 2020 17:29:10 GMT -5
WHOOP!!! Montreal made the series!!! Against the Penguins, I didn't see that happening, if truth be told!
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Post by The Captain on Aug 7, 2020 18:01:24 GMT -5
WHOOP!!! Montreal made the series!!! Against the Penguins, I didn't see that happening, if truth be told! I'm not surprised. The Penguins are an aging team with poor defense and average goaltending in the process of decline due to trying to prop open "the window" for one more Cup run for Crosby, Malkin, and Letang, so they've traded their prospects and draft picks year after year for guys like Patrick Marleau (although the Jason Zucker trade should work out) Also, the best of 5 format meant that a goalie like Carey Price could get hot for a few games and take a series. Best of luck, Habs. I'm hoping the ping pong balls fall right and the Pens get the first pick in the draft.
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Post by berkley on Aug 7, 2020 23:57:58 GMT -5
WHOOP!!! Montreal made the series!!! Against the Penguins, I didn't see that happening, if truth be told! I'm not surprised. The Penguins are an aging team with poor defense and average goaltending in the process of decline due to trying to prop open "the window" for one more Cup run for Crosby, Malkin, and Letang, so they've traded their prospects and draft picks year after year for guys like Patrick Marleau (although the Jason Zucker trade should work out) Also, the best of 5 format meant that a goalie like Carey Price could get hot for a few games and take a series. Best of luck, Habs. I'm hoping the ping pong balls fall right and the Pens get the first pick in the draft. I see it the same way, more as a sign of the Penguins' decline than of any great step forward for the Habs. Crosby actually looked great, I thought, but Malkin didn't seem himself and I suspect some kind of minor injury or health problem that held him back just enough to prevent him from being an important factor in the series - because he wasn't really bad, just not the dominant force he can be.
All congratulations to the Canadiens players and coaches but for me, the business organisation Mtl Canadiens, Inc. has nothing to congratulate itself for, apart from continuing to make lots of money: for decades they've been milking the near mythic status the Montreal Canadiens (minus the "Inc.") had deservedly built up from their origin until the end of the 70s by their commitment to excellence, to a certain style of play, and to a source of players from which that style and that excellence emerged. Since the early 90s, they've done nothing as an organisation to maintain or develop or renew that tradition, but they've done everything in their power to exploit it and make money from it.
So this might be the first time in my life that I'm almost more depressed than gladdened by a Canadiens victory: because I know the business will proclaim it as proof that they are continuing the tradition. But they aren't, they're just opportunistically using this minor, unexpected success to carry on their con-game.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2020 8:01:44 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 13:49:16 GMT -5
One of my old college friends wanted to include me in this but I am not on FB myself (my wife is but she could care less about sports). The idea is to present 10 athletes you have most enjoyed watching, No explanation or comments, just present the athletes. It's supposed to be one per day, but I am just going to give my 10 here. These are not in any particular order. 1. Pele 2. Gordie Howe 3. Tony Dorsett 4. Mike Liut 5. Jim Craig 6. Ken Griffey Jr. 7. Bo Jackson 8. Emmitt Smith 9. Carlton Fisk 10. Muhammad Ali As part of this, you are supposed to nominate someone else to do the challenge, so I nominate Prince Hal-M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 18, 2020 14:19:20 GMT -5
One of my old college friends wanted to include me in this but I am not on FB myself (my wife is but she could care less about sports). The idea is to present 10 athletes you have most enjoyed watching, No explanation or comments, just present the athletes. It's supposed to be one per day, but I am just going to give my 10 here. These are not in any particular order. 7. Bo Jackson I tend to forget until I pull up some YouTube videos how absolutely electric Bo Jackson was. Barring injury he would have absolutely been a Hall-of-Fame football player.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 14:42:56 GMT -5
One of my old college friends wanted to include me in this but I am not on FB myself (my wife is but she could care less about sports). The idea is to present 10 athletes you have most enjoyed watching, No explanation or comments, just present the athletes. It's supposed to be one per day, but I am just going to give my 10 here. These are not in any particular order. 7. Bo Jackson I tend to forget until I pull up some YouTube videos how absolutely electric Bo Jackson was. Barring injury he would have absolutely been a Hall-of-Fame football player. I never got to see him play football in person, but when I was at university in Boston, I would go see him play every time the Royals were in town to play the Sox. Almost every series included some kind of jaw-dropping play by Bo, either in the field, at the plate, or on the base paths. -M
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 18, 2020 15:15:23 GMT -5
Thanks, @mrp , for this impossible task. No explanation here except to say that I've limited it to athletes I saw/ have seen a lot of so that I could narrow my list to 10. (There were a couple of score on my first list!) In alphabetical order: Muhammad Ali Larry Bird Tom Brady Dwight Evans Sandy Koufax Pedro Martinez Joe Montana Tom Seaver Carl Yastrzemski Roger Staubach And now I'm tossing it to Slam_Bradley...
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 18, 2020 16:44:14 GMT -5
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