1579 replies to this topic

[DJ MC]

https://twitter.com/...8440200192?s=19

[SportsGuy]

Have seen a lot of people saying this is a horrible trade for Boston.

I’m not so sure I agree with that.

David Price is still good but his WAR hasn’t been that good for years. He has struggled a little with the HR ball and hasn’t thrown more than 177 innings since 2016. He has also been a postseason liability for much of his career(2018 being an exception).

He is owed 96M..now, I know Boston is playing some of the salary and we will have to wait to see just how much but they are saving a lot just by dumping him.

The deal is really Betts for Verdugo and the prospect. Graterol is ML ready and turns 22 this year. He has performed well in the minors and is a top 100 guy.

Verdugo is the obvious prize. Good hit tool, solid defender. Turns 24 in May. Will be cheap for a number of years.

Betts is a FA after this year and wanted to go to free agency. He wants 400+M, which would be a huge no from
me regardless of anything else.

The bigger question I have is could you have dealt Betts for more and dumped Price elsewhere?

The Red Sox didn’t want to be in the luxury tax for the third straight year. I can’t imagine they are paying much of this contract but I suspect that they could have paid enough money to move Price elsewhere.

OTOH, I would think the Red Sox are smart enough to know this and that they tried to do it.

But the Padres wanted Betts too and they have a ton of talent to trade.

I don’t know...I think this deal is fine assuming they aren’t paying a ton of money on this deal.

I just wonder if they could have done more in multiple deals.

[Mike in STL]

Teams love bailing the Red Sox out of bad contracts. Or maybe it’s just the Dodgers.

Envious of how the Red Sox front office operates. Proactive. Top-3 player in the game, know they won’t pay him, moving on instead of waiting and waiting. They usually start the in-season wheeling and dealing well before the deadline.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

To me its  a good example of what a team should do when its apparent a star is headed to FA. Trade him early enough to get some good return.

[DJ MC]

...know they won’t pay him...

 

This is why baseball is broken.

[Mike in STL]

This is why baseball is broken.

Because the Red Sox don’t want to be over the luxury tax by paying a guy $400M? I don’t follow?.

[Nigel Tufnel]

 

 

Ken Rosenthal@Ken_Rosenthal·9m

 

Two AL execs tell me criticism of #RedSox is misplaced. Sox get:

 

*Two talented youngsters with greater value than draft pick if Betts had left as FA.

*Ability to get under threshold and re-set penalty rate to minimum.

*$40M-$50M in payroll flexibility in coming seasons.

[Mike B]

Have seen a lot of people saying this is a horrible trade for Boston.

I’m not so sure I agree with that.

David Price is still good but his WAR hasn’t been that good for years. He has struggled a little with the HR ball and hasn’t thrown more than 177 innings since 2016. He has also been a postseason liability for much of his career(2018 being an exception).

He is owed 96M..now, I know Boston is playing some of the salary and we will have to wait to see just how much but they are saving a lot just by dumping him.

The deal is really Betts for Verdugo and the prospect. Graterol is ML ready and turns 22 this year. He has performed well in the minors and is a top 100 guy.

Verdugo is the obvious prize. Good hit tool, solid defender. Turns 24 in May. Will be cheap for a number of years.

Betts is a FA after this year and wanted to go to free agency. He wants 400+M, which would be a huge no from
me regardless of anything else.

The bigger question I have is could you have dealt Betts for more and dumped Price elsewhere?

The Red Sox didn’t want to be in the luxury tax for the third straight year. I can’t imagine they are paying much of this contract but I suspect that they could have paid enough money to move Price elsewhere.

OTOH, I would think the Red Sox are smart enough to know this and that they tried to do it.

But the Padres wanted Betts too and they have a ton of talent to trade.

I don’t know...I think this deal is fine assuming they aren’t paying a ton of money on this deal.

I just wonder if they could have done more in multiple deals.

Supposedly the Red Sox are eating 48 million of the price contract.

 

The San Diego deal broke down because the Padres did not want Price or if they took Price, they wanted the Red Sox to take Wil Myers.

I don't like the deal for the Red Sox, but I guess if Verdugo develops, that makes it look a lot better.

I do think Verdugo trends up, playing in Fenway.

 

The Red Sox fans are pissed because Mookie was their guy.

[Mike in STL]

Supposedly the Red Sox are eating 48 million of the price contract.

The San Diego deal broke down because the Padres did not want Price or if they took Price, they wanted the Red Sox to take Wil Myers.
I don't like the deal for the Red Sox, but I guess if Verdugo develops, that makes it look a lot better.
I do think Verdugo trends up, playing in Fenway.

The Red Sox fans are pissed because Mookie was their guy.

I saw a headline from the Ringer on it. Calling it a disgrace. Lol. I get it, he’s a guy you want to write a blank check for.

But if he’s already said he’s gonna test the market...that screams a very small number of teams offering the money necessary and one being the Yankees. Which would be even more haunting.

The Sox got to control who they deal with, get some high upside replacements, and get under the lux tax. And get to dump Price who is a little overrated, very much so come October.

[BSLChrisStoner]

It's a fantastic trade for Boston. 

[Mackus]

Watch the Red Sox resign him in December...

[Slidemaster]

It's a fantastic trade for Boston.

I think it feels underwhelming because most of the value is in ridding themselves of a contract they never should have given to start with.

Verdugo is going to be a solid major leaguer. I'd be surprised if he's a star.

[BSLChrisStoner]

I think it feels underwhelming because most of the value is in ridding themselves of a contract they never should have given to start with.

Verdugo is going to be a solid major leaguer. I'd be surprised if he's a star.

He doesn't need to be a star.  Productive, and cheap.... and doesn't really matter if they should have / should not have given the contract to start with... what matters is they did.  And this addresses that. 

[DJ MC]

Because the Red Sox don’t want to be over the luxury tax by paying a guy $400M? I don’t follow?.

 

The luxury tax they would have paid is something like $12.4 million.

[mdrunning]

I understand Boston moving Betts because, a) they wanted to reset their luxury tax obligation, and b) they obviously weren't able/did not want to try and re-sign Betts for the type of money he was going to cost. 

 

Still, baseball's luxury tax is only for the luxurious. Boston's bill for 2019 was $13.4 million, which today is about the cost of an average MLB player. 

[DJ MC]

I saw a headline from the Ringer on it. Calling it a disgrace. Lol. I get it, he’s a guy you want to write a blank check for.

But if he’s already said he’s gonna test the market...that screams a very small number of teams offering the money necessary and one being the Yankees. Which would be even more haunting.

The Sox got to control who they deal with, get some high upside replacements, and get under the lux tax. And get to dump Price who is a little overrated, very much so come October.

 

Stephan Strasburg also wanted to, and did, test the market. Everyone thought that meant he wanted to go back west. He re-signed with the Nationals.

 

Treat a guy well, offer him what he's worth, and he may well re-sign. If they didn't want to spend the money, that's their right, but they shouldn't expect people to pat them on the back for trading away a 27-year-old superstar from a contending club.

[mdrunning]

Stephan Strasburg also wanted to, and did, test the market. Everyone thought that meant he wanted to go back west. He re-signed with the Nationals.

 

Treat a guy well, offer him what he's worth, and he may well re-sign. If they didn't want to spend the money, that's their right, but they shouldn't expect people to pat them on the back for trading away a 27-year-old superstar from a contending club.

It may have been more the length of the prospective contract than the actual dollars. Betts was reportedly looking for Mike Trout type money, which is 12 years and just over $425 million. Maybe the Red Sox didn't want to be paying someone $35 to $40 million per annum until he was almost 40.

[DJ MC]

https://twitter.com/...092226876891139

[DJ MC]

It may have been more the length of the prospective contract than the actual dollars. Betts was reportedly looking for Mike Trout type money, which is 12 years and just over $425 million. Maybe the Red Sox didn't want to be paying someone $35 to $40 million per annum until he was almost 40.

 

That report was from Noted Journalist Lou Merloni.

 

Until I see independent verification, I'm comfortable in assuming it was another Red Sox leak/hit job, like that organization loves to do.

[mdrunning]

The Red Sox got themselves into this predicament with some very short-sighted (and costly) and costly contracts before Betts reached his walk year.

 

They signed Nathan Eovaldi to an inflated contract, then extended Chris Sale. Once J.D. Martinez opted in for the final years of his deal, the writing was more or less on the wall. Still, by re-setting their luxury tax now, it would cost the Red Sox less to offer Betts a mega-deal then than it would now.

 

The bigger problem for the Red Sox right now is their farm system is more or less cleaned out. They don't have the stream of cheap labor to help offset any huge contracts they might eventually take on.