A Realistic View at 2019: Part II

[jung]

Oh and before I forget, the current CBA expires at the end of the 2021 season which is both too close and too far away for everybody with an actual dog in the fight. So close you can smell the possibility of another work stoppage which this bunch is just stupid enough to let happen. So far away that given the mess MLB has gotten itself into you have to wonder if the dikes won't start to give way before they get there.

[jung]

John Henry and fellow owners can sell the team right now for a profit of about 2.5 billion on their original investment.

I don't think he's freaking out about a few million in payroll luxury tax.

And sell it he might.

Freaking out is not a relevant term for a businessman who wants a business to run like a business. Anybody that thinks printing money into a fan feeding a furnace raises a concern for a businessman at a level far below "freaking out" but far above just taking it needs to think again.

[moonslav59]

Tomase's point is that Henry might what to get out from under the financial penalty scenario. I can have some empathy for that view. A business that accepts financial penalties on an ongoing basis is like a business that produces a product accepting unreasonable levels of waste and thinking that is just fine. Its not just fine. Its bad business. We are being beaten senseless by teams with half or less our budgets and without the "potential" revenue streams that we have. How do you think that tastes to a businessman?

Waste is death to a business and right now the unusual business asset that Fenway Park, NESN , the value of Fenway Group as an asset and that the legendary Sox fanbase represent are being wasted.

I'd like to see a reset, myself.

1) It will lessen any future penalties for going over the limit in future years.
2) It helps keep other fans from saying we outspend everyone else and should win (or "we bought a ring.")
3) We need to get some better draft picks AND do well with them.

[dgalehouse]

Any well constructed team at or near the max no penalty spending limit should cake walk to the best 5 teams in one of the two leagues AND have a farm system given the crap that passes for MLB teams these days. That is not a championship run however. Its a shot at a championship run. I doubt we can expect that of this franchise until they have reassembled some semblance of a complete organization with at least a reasonable farm system. It does not help that the Sox have stuck themselves behind the exact eight ball they were stuck behind with the Crawford contract which John Henry extricated the franchise from, not Cherries who just did the paperwork.

Also not helpful, MLB has made a complete shambles of MLB pitching which is now from a planning perspective, utter chaos. Good luck planning your way around that. Now we not only have Openers, but "Featured" pitchers which is wholly disappointing as it suggests a continuation of a FAILED business approach to baseball generally and pitching in particular.

The NESN talent team is in turmoil as there is no real replacement for Jerry and their ratings are taking a beating even WITH Jerry. I have no idea where the production team is as this IS the production team that thought Dan Orsillo had gotten too big for his bridges and decided he was not toeing the Fenway Group messaging mantras to their satisfaction giving us OB. The more I see, the more I am convinced they are actually lucky OB was there to bring in.

We don't at this particular instant have a Pres of Baseball Ops and won't have a clue where Henry wants to go until one is named. That is such a jumbled mess that we have the "four horseman of the acropolis" now in charge. We thought Closer by committee was a bad idea.

Two guys that have known each other for decades could not leave an exec level meeting on good enough terms to plan out a more sensible, sane way out of the particular mess they were in. Question for John Henry. Were you not prepared for what DD had in mind on that fateful night? Frankly JOHN, if you did not know that you could be left in the spot you were in that night, that is as bad is DD not knowing that his baseball team would quit on him when publicly challenged at the Trade Deadline. If you were not prepared for that meeting, avoid the guy for a day. What is this, Romper Room for business execs? My God I have grown to expect Romper Room in the clubhouse.

If you DID know what was afoot then take it head on JOHN....not muddling around looking like you are in the dark with your dick in your hand or in a bedmate's ass more likely.

But this is supposed to be the age of real business management in baseball, spreadsheets and all that crap with an owner who is .......a successful Financial Wealth Manager and we get Romper Room???? Yawkey could have given us Romper Room. Harrington could have given us Romper Room. I thought we could do at least a little better than that in 2019 with John Henry.....but NOOOOOO! Maybe John is just tired of the whole damned thing. That would not surprise me either.

I have heard most of the announcers in MLB . To me , Dave O'Brien is one of the worst . He is incredibly boring and repetitive . We all love Jerry , but he is kind of like the pitcher who has lost something off the fastball and is trying to get by without it . Even the uninhibited Eck looks like he has been told to be careful what he says . Having said that , I don't think the NESN ratings depend all that much on the announcers . When the team plays poorly , there will be fewer people tuning in and more empty seats at Fenway .

[Slasher9]

bring back Don!!!!
(i cant stand D obrien).

[Bellhorn04]

Everybody wants to get rid of somebody LOL

[Slasher9]

Everybody wants to get rid of somebody LOL

Fire Dave Obrien!

[notin]

Fire Dave Obrien!

Fire Notin!!

[cp176]

Fire Notin!!

!!!...!!!

Just kidding notin...

[notin]

!!!...!!!

Just kidding notin...

Maybe I wasn’t

[notin]

So Bogaerts and Devers are the first Sox teammates with 50 doubles.

If Benintendi hits one more double, will the Sox be the first team ever with 4 players with 40 doubles?

[moonslav59]

So Bogaerts and Devers are the first Sox teammates with 50 doubles.

If Benintendi hits one more double, will the Sox be the first team ever with 4 players with 40 doubles?

How about 2B+3B?

54 Devers
50 Bogey
45 Betts
44 Beni
35 JD

[oldtimer]

How about 2B+3B?

54 Devers
50 Bogey
45 Betts
44 Beni
35 JD

Beni had a lot but got himself into another slump

[notin]

How about 2B+3B?

54 Devers
50 Bogey
45 Betts
44 Beni
35 JD

No idea. Just wondering if any team has had 4 players with 40 doubles...

[moonslav59]

How about 2B+3B?

54 Devers
50 Bogey
45 Betts
44 Beni
35 JD

How about XBHs:
83 Devers
81 Bogey
73 Betts
70 JD
57 Beni

TBs
328 Devers
313 Bogey
304 JD
302 Betts

226 Beni
202 Vaz

181 JBJ
154 Chavis (382 PAs)
123 Moreland (286 PAs)