It's funny that I am seeing this argument from the other side. There are some here that are criticizing signing a player for $7 mil for two years but would happily hand out a contract for $350+ mil for 12 years. Yes, I understand that Mookie is a much better player, but I don't get that thinking at all.
You don't get the thinking that we'd rather have good players than mediocre players, even though good players are more expensive? I get that people might not agree with that as a way to improving the team, but you can't really argue (unless Bloom is passing out Cool-Aid) that its not reasonable or that it's just too difficult to understand.
"Fans have become more entitled than anything. So they're starting to question our motives for the game, or how we approach the game. The ones that do question -- like who are you? Just shut up and watch the game tonight." --Kevin Durant on players' lack of effort in regular season games.
Not that $13M was enough to bring Kluber here, but how many think...
$13M Kluber > $10M Richards?
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Someone said he hits lefties well. That is a much needed “plus” if true.
Not me, and here's my warped it's-already-2021, only-three-weeks-from-Spring Training thoughts: Richards was throwing 95 mph last summer. Kluber maxed out at 90 in his showcase last week. If you had to wager, which guy coming back from injury was more apt to throw his arm out trying to impress scouts and land a contract -- and will maybe never throw harder than that in the coming season?
The conundrum is that good players can get so expensive, teams can only afford so many. A team with a good farm system can afford more of them as they would have more minimum wage players. But the Sox do not have that luxury. So have they reached their current limit of $20mill+ players? I think they have 3 in Bogaerts, Martinez and Sale...
So, a one year deal for Richards basically punts the pitching staff decision to next winter.
Maybe better pitchers will be available.
Maybe the economic outlook will look more stable.
Maybe we will decide to cross the lux line significantly.
Pedey's contract comes off the books while JD and Eovaldi's a winding down to their last seasons on the books.
I'm waiting for a trade now- maybe Beni for a CF'er or RP'er or both. Maybe Beni for prospects, and we sign Pillar.
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I do not like this move from a Sox fan perspective. His 2018 was a career year, but something broke in him after that. K rate jumped back up, but BB rate plummeted. He’s got good power for a 2b, but has consistently showed low BABIP even with a 20% K rate. He’s versatile and would be a reasonable pickup on a 1 year $3 mil deal, but $14 mil and a 2 year commitment is strange to me.
To be honest, I expected a $7M/2 deal- maybe $8 or $9M, and he got double. Maybe with budget constraints on so many teams, the competition for mid range deals has driven their prices up.
These mid range deals are often hard to judge. Last winter, I thought the Perez ($6M), Pillar ($4.5M), Moreland ($3M), Peraza ($3M) and Plawecki $900K) deals were very questionable, but I figured Bloom had a good track record at finding "diamonds in the rough," and I knew we were all about "the reset," so I wasn't critical.
As it turned out, 4 of the 5 did better than I expected- only Peraza was a clear dud, but at $3M, it was no biggie.
We ended up getting Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario (my sleeper prospect) and Jacob Wallace for Moreland and Pillar. We probably should have traded Perez, too.
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