As the calendar flipped from June to July, the Red Sox were sitting on a record of 43-33 and holding onto an American League Wild Card spot. However, this has been a disastrous month for them, in which they went 8-19. Now their record is 51-52, placing them 3 1/2 games behind the Rays for the final playoff spot, with three teams in between.
Due to that slide, there’s been recent chatter about the club giving consideration to trading impending free agents such as J.D. Martinez, Christian Vazquez and Nathan Eovaldi. With less than 48 hours remaining until the trade deadline, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports that financial considerations will be a factor in discussions between the Red Sox and other teams. According to Speier, the front office will think about ducking under the luxury tax but will not be required to do so. It’s even possible that they could take on additional salary commitments if it meant adding more prospect talent to the system.
The Red Sox have paid the luxury tax in the past but have been trying to run lower payrolls in recent years. Most famously, or infamously, Boston traded away Mookie Betts and David Price as a means of shedding salary. However, they did some aggressive spending this past winter, most notably the six-year, $140MM contract given to Trevor Story, putting them back over the CBT line for this year. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates their current CBT number is just over $238MM, placing them $8MM beyond the lowest $230MM threshold. (Speier says they are about $7MM over the line.) Since luxury tax status isn’t determined until the offseason, the Sox could still lower their CBT number and avoid all penalties.
Trading Martinez alone would go most of the way, or perhaps all of the way, to getting Boston back under the line. He’s making a salary of just over $19MM this year, but a player’s contribution to the luxury tax calculation is based on the average annual value of the player’s entire contract. Since his deal was for $110MM over five years, it comes with an AAV and CBT hit of $22MM this year. At the time of the trade deadline, there will be just over a third of the season remaining, meaning the Red Sox can chop about $7.5MM off of their luxury tax calculation if they find another team to take on the entirety of the remainder of the Martinez contract. Eovaldi and Vazquez have lower AAVs of $17MM and $7MM, respectively. That means an Eovaldi trade could subtract about $5.8MM from the ledger and about $2.4MM in the case of Vazquez. If the Boston brass decide they need to get under the line, it’s certainly something they can achieve by moving some combination of this trio.
This approach will appeal to certain teams but not others, of course. Teams with lower payrolls could potentially prefer to pay a higher prospect cost in order to take on less salary, but there are also teams in the opposite camp. For example, the Mets are reportedly looking to buy at the deadline but would rather take on money than give up prospects.
However, the Red Sox are also apparently willing to go in another direction, giving thought to using some financial heft to absorb some salary as a means of bolstering their system. The Red Sox have a large number of contracts coming off the books this year, in addition to those already mentioned. Enrique Hernandez, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, Matt Strahm and Kevin Plawecki are set to reach the open market as well. Furthermore, option decisions could subtract even more money from the 2023 payroll, most notably that owed to Xander Bogaerts, who is widely expected to opt out of his contract in a few months. That gives the Red Sox a CBT number of just under $108MM for next season, according to Jason Martinez. That doesn’t include raises for arbitration eligible players, including Rafael Devers, but it does include Bogaerts. If Bogaerts is indeed subtracted from the ledger, the arbitration players won’t raise that number by much. If Boston is willing to inflate their luxury tax payment this year, they could be in good position to “reset” their CBT status next year. (There are escalating penalties for paying the luxury tax in consecutive seasons, meaning that even the teams with the highest payrolls often find ways to periodically avoid the tax in order to avoid such a scenario.)
All in all, the Red Sox are shaping up to be one of the most interesting teams to watch as we approach the trade deadline, which is at 5pm on August 2. Since they are on a precipice between the contenders and the rebuilders, they might try to walk a line between the two customary “buying” and “selling” strategies. One thing that seems to be off the table, however, is a full-scale rebuild that sees the team strip things down in a serious way. Bogaerts recently said that he was told that he will not be traded, and now Devers has said the same, per Rob Bradford of WEEI. Bradford also relays, however, that there have been no recent contract talks with Bogaerts and the club, meaning it’s still quite possible he opts out at the end of the year, with the club sure to extend him a qualifying offer at that time. Speier also relays word from Vazquez, who also has not had any recent talks about a new contract. Though there are still many possible permutations, it seems that Boston’s roster is headed for a significant shakeup, either this week or in the offseason or both.
I see a trade with the Mets if the Mets can’t swing a trade with the Cubs.
Agree, as long as the cost is B level and lottery type prospects. Prefer to promote Vientos than trade him. Believe the Mets brass does as well
I agree. I don’t see them trading Vientos for 2 months of Christian Vazquez, even considering how good Vazquez has been this year (especially relative to Mets catchers).
Funny thing is all the Dombrowski-haters and Bloom-lovers will point next year to the prospects Boston receives and say “Look at how good Bloom was building the farm system” when in fact most of the incoming prospects were acquired only because of the trading of players that Dombrowski had acquired. Bloom inherited a very talented team, let’s hope he doesn’t continue to get pennies on the dollar with more bad trades for prospects.
Vientos for Vasquez? whoa whoa hold on there. That ain’t happening. The Mets are not desperate for a catcher, They may do nothing. Their catchers are very good defensively. .
Evoladi/Vazquez would require Vientos
I’m not sure the Mets are looking at Eovaldi. Scherzer, Carrasco, Walker, Bassitt, along with deGrom, Megill (coming back soon), and Peterson (pitched very well as a starter) gives the Mets potentially seven starters that they have available.
Just please not Dom Smith going to Boston. He adds nothing. He’s not John Olerud not certainly not Keith Hernandez. While no one is expecting that kind of a return for Vasquez and/or JDM,a first baseman is a power bat position and Smith’s glove alone is not sufficient. His bat? What bat? His best numbers were when the ball was loaded and in a short 60 game season.
@bryan
Vientos is a B-level prospect.
He’s a future DH, drafted 5 years ago, who strikes out too much. With power as his 1 plus tool.
A-level would be Alvarez, Baty, and maybe Mauricio if he sticks at SS.
Casas is the same age as Vientos and producing much worse in AAA in nearly every hitting category
Except he’s walking more and striking out less…
While I agree that Vientos is B-level (5th best Mets prospect, doesn’t crack the top 100), I still don’t see him going for Vazquez straight up. I personally would not mind it too much, but imo, the Mets see him as more valuable than 2 months of Vazquez.
Casas .342 on base and Vientos .345
@michael. Absolutely he is not. .265 average and 19 AAA bombs and a fringed top 100 prospect in baseball is far from a the B level I mean. We have differing opinions on what B meant I believe. B to me is a projected decent ceiling middling floor type like Butto or Schwartz. Vientos is 21/22 years old. With a universal DH he projects to be quite valuable. No freaking way you trade that for 34 year old that will cost $7.5 million for 60 games.
@bryan
I never suggested a Vazquez for Vientos swap.
I was simply pointing out that Vientos isn’t an A tier prospect.
By the way, .265 BA in AAA isn’t as impressive as you make it out to be. I wouldn’t use that as a selling point when Dominic Smith hit .266 in the same league this year. Average is like .251 in the IL this year so Vientos is slightly above average in BA
@ king beas
I’m not high on Triston either. I wouldn’t label him the top tier of prospects. A-level should be reserved for the best young prospects
@Michael. Ok. On base .350 slugging .524. OPS . 874. Walks up every year. Even with a drop in average he is looking like a full time DH with 30+ pop at age 22.
Hes been hurt most of the year though
Vazquez is a better fit then Contreras but Robertson is needed the most by the Mets.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Boston trade Vasquez for a decent prospect and then sign Contreras in the offseason with their extra cap space. I wonder if Boston would consider getting into the Judge sweepstakes this offseason too. That would be a huge shake up to the rivalry for sure!
I think many Sox fans are being unrealistic about what they have to offer in trade, what they can expect to back, and what FA’s they can sign before the 2023 season starts.
I feel like all fans overvalue their guys and undervalue the other teams’ guys.
Depends on Bogey. The return for Eovaldi should be good with Hill and Wacha getting ‘you gotta be lucky” returns. Packaging a pitcher with either JDM or Vasquez should get you a really nice return.
The Sox have one piece that every contender should be in on and that’s John Schreiber. Dude has been elite all year in high leverage situations.
Did you see the Benintendi return for a younger more productive player who costs less $?
Dotty – ESPN did an article a month or so ago, in which it stated the Mets and Red Sox could be in on Judge … especially if the Yanks go after Ohtani or Soto. They even showed him in a Red Sox hat and jersey. I think it depends on whether there’s competition for him.
Ohtani is not a free agent until after 2023 season. So how can the Yankees go after him now?
Offer up prospects just like everyone is trying to get Soto….Are you new to baseball? Teams generally trade or extend players before they get to their final year. If they get to their last year the player usually doesn’t sign any extension they will test free agency the following season. An example is Boston didn’t take care of Bogaerts last season so now he’s going to be a free agent after this season. Teams usually don’t let players they want to keep become free agents it gets more expensive.
“I think Sox fans are being unrealistic about . . . what they can expect back”
The poster youre responding to only said “a decent prospect”. Which is not an overvalue in any way. I think theres too many people here exaggerating what is being said.
Mlb should have put in a rule where you get docked more picks if you spend over the tax line and still finish out of the playoffs, call it embarrassment tax.
Of course the spending equals winning goofs won’t remember this colossal failure.
Duck under the tax and add to the system. They have so many trade chips it makes sense even though they could still make playoffs if they add.
Jays fan enjoying Bosox purgatory
BoSox enjoyed 04,07,13,18 while the BlewJays continue to hope for the best! At least the MapleLeafless are playing well!
Well aware. Enjoying hear Beantown rage. What a bunch of loud mouth soups.
tissue?
Leafs blow. Not doing well.
That would be a great pickup for DBlu as Eovaldi brings it on in playoffs!!
I think trading David Price was more about shedding a bad attitude than it was money. It’s common knowledge that he was a pretty big mouth in the clubhouse and that the players were split as to how they felt about him. His antics on a plane ride concerning Dennis Eckersley are quite infamous.
I remember reading that the team applauded Price for sticking up for E-Rod. Usually players don’t like it when the broadcast booth talks badly about their teammates performance. Especially when it was a rehab assignment.
He wasn’t talking badly. It was more disappointment. Everyone was hoping he would do well in the rehab start and be back, but it didn’t go well. Tired of that narrative. I heard the comments as they were said. The entire segment.
Sorry. The media must have thrown their fellow member under the bus then. It was reported as Dennis saying yuck when they flashed E-rod rehab stats or something. Seems unlikely that the media would stick up for Price who had refused to talk to them at the time. Doesn’t Eck have a reputation as a loose cannon too?
If what you’re saying is true, it seems odd that the team couldn’t explain the misunderstanding to David and mend those fences.
He did say yuck. It was yuck. As I said the disappointment was that he would need to work out the kinks and have another rehab start when he was desperately needed on the team. They did try to mend fences between them numerous times. The media I followed thought Eck was fine. It was ridiculous and immature of Price not to work it out. In addition It wasn’t his battle to fight.
If you do it enough you lose bonus pool money and draft picks. It’s not the money. Why not get under if you can, and the deals are good for the team?
lucky – Right you are. Anybody who defends Price clearly has no knowledge of his history, or even the fact that Papi couldn’t stand him before they became teammates.
If Eck was in the wrong, he would have been relieved of his duties immediately. Price is a thin-skinned oversensitive virtue-signaling headcase, always has been. He also made a stupid and completely false assumption that none of Eck’s former teammates wanted to be part of a documentary about him.
I’ll take the Sox for the past 2 decades. You can have the last two months. I am happy for the non obnoxious O’s fans though. It’s been a rough ride.
There aren’t any Os fans. It’s a true oxymoron
Why not trade Vazquez and re-sign him in the off-season? Contreras will also be an option at that time too.
Maybe Vazquez doesn’t want to resign? Its not Boston’s choice. Its his.
It’s both sides who have to choose
If there was ever a player who did resign after being traded I’d think it was Vazquez. He honestly seems to love playing in Boston and for Cora.
One of the Best moves you ever made. One of the worst performances as a pitcher for the money, since he was traded! Yes, due to an injury partially, but that is what you get for signing over the hill players to big contracts.
I was talking about David Price above!
BTW,,how is Chris Sale doing these days.? Sorry, he is injured. ,but he looks Everday like David Price #2 in performance and Salary.
Moving J.D.’s remaining contract and Eovaldi’s remaining contract would get them under the tax. Can you get fair enough trade returns to justify the move, that is the question. The $ owed on each contract should devalue the prospect return.
If the return isn’t worth it prospect wise, then might go with the ol’ hope and prayer that you tear it up over the last 1/3rd of the season – go with what you got scenario.
Assuming that one or both of those players radially increase a teams chances of going to the playoffs and beyond, is it realistic to think that the Sox will get back even one quality major league ready player that can produce at an above average level in 2023 or 2024?
I don’t see it, but maybe there’s a desperate team out there. Seems to be a big price to pay for a 2 month rental.
SELL
Starting tonight just so Olney has something to report why Game is going on,
Red Sox Payroll – 238 MM
Orioles Payroll – 43 MM
Who is ahead of who? Get all of these bums out of town !!
X Man start packing your bags as well.
Lol. This isn’t the first time the O’s were ahead of Boston in the standings during a season. Four world series in my lifetime, though, and 2023 is a huge year.
Who gets to the next four first, Boston or Baltimore? I’m not convinced it’s Boston.
Depends on who buys the Orioles, gotta spend more than 43M on payroll even the Rays spend more you want to win regularly and not be Miami. Miami gets one WS then it’s a immediate tear down, and you aren’t relevant for like 5 or 10 years then all the sudden you get a title because you were a basement dweller that drafted good. I’m good with 4 every 20 years….
Popcorntub – let’s see how huge 2023 will be. Keep the faith !
Okay, let’s wait till 2023. Good luck!
TO Johnnie K:Bums only play for what the management pays them! I have never turned down a raise when I worked!
UWPS – straight up, take all the salary you can but eventually no one will hire you.
Sox need to straddle the fence and both buy and sell. Devers will be back soon so the offense should pick up. Hopefully, they will bring Casas up soon. They could use another OF and some more pitching. They also need to thin out their lousy bullpen. See if they can find takers for Strahm, Diekman, Sawamura, etc.. and maybe trade Nate too if they feel like they can’t get back in the race.
Casas can’t hit minor league lefties. MLB caliber will just destroy him.
That’s when you bring in Bobby D to play first instead.
Casas is overrated, Lars Anderson 2.0.
Trading away enough pieces to get under the first lux tax level really shouldn’t be an issue for this team. They are going way under that level in the off-season with all the FA departures and, even with a decent amount of spending, they won’t have any problem being under the first level for 2023. So they’ll go over one time in 2022 and re-set immediately. The standard should be dealing away players whose contracts are expiring who can bring back someone(s) significant in return. That still points to JD and Eovaldi. It leaves out the recently (or still) injured Enrique Hernandez, Rich Hill, Matt Strahm, etc. No one should seriously be discussing moving Christian Vasquez at this time.
Yes, but with the money owed JD and Eovaldi – is the return going to be even enough to trump the comp picks if you keep them and offer them a QO? Sox might have to pay down part of their remaining salary to boost a prospect return.
The QO amount will be 18MM, give or take a little. I don’t know if the Sox can offer that to either JD or Eovaldi–both of their markets might be soft enough that they would each find taking another year at that amount with the Sox preferable to, say, 2/24 for Eovaldi, or 2/20 for JD. They are not having great years, and they have injury flags waving around them, and they are getting to the point in their 30s where any drop-off in performance might actually be genuine decline with age.
Let’s be real the luxury tax is a MLB thing and is written off on corporate taxes as a cost of doing business. Less tax to pay state or federal
NBA has something similar, Joe Lacob the owner of the Golden State Warriors actually pays more in fees than he does in payroll because his team is so far pass the tax threshold. Joe Lacob does not give a damn though just like you have the Dodgers and now the Mets who really don’t care.
What would it take for the Dodgers to pry Eovoldi from the Sox?
We’ll take… let’s see… how about Cartaya and Miller? Lol. Realistically I’m hoping we can get one of a team’s top 10 prospects, I don’t think that’s too unrealistic because of the Castillo trade
Let’s be honest luxury tax is a MLB thing
Fenway Group writes it off as a cost of doing business
Let’s be honest
The luxury tax is a a mlb thing
Fenway Sports Group can write it off on corporate taxes as cost of doing business
The Luxury Tax is not a big deal. The penalties that can accumulate are.
Really thought there’d be a couple trades today. Everybody’s holding out, huh…
Still have about 4 hours intill tomorrow and Passan coming up to Talk Trades on Gane.
Trading Betts was one of the smartest moves Boston has made in recent years. Betts is 29 and still has 10 years and approximately $325 million left on his contract. Guy has 23 HRs and 52 RBI while hitting .267 w/a .344 OBP. Dodgers are going to regret that contract in a few years, if they don’t already.
Agree
100% & it never gets discussed this way. He’s also incredibly fragile physically & prone to insane hot & cold streaks…
Hey Neon Cop, remember a couple months ago when you said the Dodgers were overrated and wouldn’t keep winning?
You looked pretty silly then but your comments have aged even worse now that LA has the best record and 2nd best run differential in baseball.
I’m surprised you continue to comment about them after your track record of being wrong
Hey Mike!
First off: why are you obsessed with my posts? Feel free to ignore going forward.
Secondly, did I actually say they “wouldn’t keep winning”? They’re a good team, but they’ve *also* had the easiest schedule of *any* team so far, including 20 of 26 July games against sub500 teams. You think maybe that has something to do with it, genius? They were barely 500 inside the month of June.
The Yankees, by contrast, are in a much better division, have played 2x the number of 500+ teams as LA, & are *still* basically tied with LA, despite a much tougher road.
This is all painfully obvious. Give mommy a hug.
Yankees are a great team too. I never said they were overrated.
You’re a baby who can talk trash but cry when I point out how wrong you are. If you can’t handle it, hit the mute button chump
Hey Mike, hate to break it to you, but you haven’t “pointed out” anything. How am I “crying” by mentioning basic stats? You’re the one following me around on various posts with these whiny childish complaints…
No one is following you Mr Cop. Just mute him if you don’t want him to reply. How dense are you?
Betts is top 10 in the NL in many offensive categories including 5th in HR. Dodgers have the best record in baseball. I think LA is fine with the outcome. How’s Verdugo and Downs doing this year.
Also spending money doesn’t mean as much to the Dodger owners compared to Red Sox
They should be happy the first few years, it’s the ones after that you have to worry about. Hopefully he can stay healthy and not fight through nagging injuries for his mid to late 30s.
That’s fair. It still doesn’t take into account that Verdugo and Downs haven’t really lit the world on fire in Boston. I think the Betts contract is too long for the AAV but the dodgers do that trade 100 out of 100 times.
The Dodgers say “thank you” to the Red Sox.
I think I read where LA gets about $200 million a year just from their media deal.
I don’t think paying Mookie for the next 10 years will be a problem.
He’s been 43% above average with the bat and is 14th in fWAR among batters this season but sure.
And it’s totally his fault he bats lead off meaning he has the least RBI chances on the team. I remember this Rickey Henderson fellow who was also a terrible hitter. Never had more than 72 RBIs in a season and he played for over twenty years.
Dombrowski wants a pitcher that can start a playoff game. Eovaldi is your man.
Anyone else on the staff?
Eovaldi is one of the top possibilities for the Phillies. He would be a terrific #3, behind Wheeler and Nola. Mahle, would be more expensive, but has control for 2023. Eovaldi starts tomorrow in Houston. It will be interesting to see what develops.
I don’t care about the luxury tax. This team is, for the most part unwatchable this season. The injuries haven’t helped but the offense has suffered and the bullpen is an embarrassment. If you don’t want a complete rebuild, fine. Trade any of the assets that bring back talent that can help next year – maybe a trainer that can cure injuries faster.
the deadline is at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday not 5:00 p.m. you guys never proofread anything
Thanks and Wavier Trade Deadline was at Midnight and Greg Amsinger was always waiting to see if any deals were to come in on MLB Tonight and if we’re at midnight he would be waiting to see if any deals trickle in after midnight.
6:00 Eastern is 5:00 Central…
the deadline is at 6 pm EST / 5 pm CST which is exactly what they have written (MLBTR operates on CST).
This website is published on Central Time.
Sox are smelling in their drawers.
Let’s be honest
The luxury tax is a MLB thing and the Fenway Sports Group can write it off as cost of doing business
sdono2525 mins ago
Let’s be honest
=============================
Why do you keep typing that over and over?
I thought it was one of those weird glitches where sometimes it posts stuff 3,4 5 times but the guy wrote it differently each time lol.
He clearly doesn’t have a clue as to how it works or how it affects teams negatively either. No non playoff team should ever be in the tax if they want sustainable success.
It’s not Boston’s record that’s the issue, it’s the 5th place in the East stat. They have the talent to get to ~90 wins, even now, but that woln’t be easy and probably woln’t be enough anyways.
Sox know what they are doing
Maybe mention how the luxury tax is the cost of doing business again? We all love reading that over and over.
First deals for one of the highest profile pure rental will set the price. Strap in!
If you had your players back from injury, you could still make a run. But you currently do not have enough talent to make a playoff run. Your pitching looks terrible! I am sorry, but you guys look like a trader. It was fun watching 3 brewer games from the PAK!
Sox are in the same situation the Yanks were in when they traded Chapman. They need to move the players that are not their core. I would build around Devers, Boegerts, and Story. All the others players should be in play now.
Trade Devera move Boegy to third
Who and who?
I’m interested to see how Z and Bloom navigate these next 44 hrs
Both have it in their blood to sell today but the new {larger/rabid} fanbases produce far greater venom in their fangs
*JD would look really really good on a bunch of teams as a rental if the monies buys 50% of the prospect capital. Love to see a small market team like the Rays Cle Minny Mil take a swing here for what could lead to a magical postseason. Eovaldi kinda falls right into that same boat
Who really needs multi-millions of dollars just to play baseball?
US apparently as WE drive the market.
Just your MLB web browses today from your couch probably kicked in 0.0001 cents to the pot
This is not the latest. It’s a recap. Latest implies new information.
I also have the latest information… On Covid. It can still get you sick, or not. Pass the word.
The Mets are 64-37 and played the harder part of their schedule already without deGrom and mostly without Scherzer. Trading from their top 8 prospects for 60 games of a decent catcher or an aging and expensive DH to platoon is not worth it. The fact deGrom continues to state his intention to opt out you ride him and Max right into the playoffs. Grab a BP arm or two and call up Vientos. Bench becomes Guillorme, Naquin, Nido while Vogey and Vientos platoon at DH. McCann back this week. No reason to overpay.
Boston can lose these guys in free agency without comp because neither is getting a QO. We don’t need to help them.
Cubs can have their QO comp pick. This team is more than fine
yankees fan here who believes the mets should go for it. they have a perfect storm brewing with a rested degrom and scherzer heading into the playoffs. just because cohen has money don’t assume an endless window. any upgrade you can make, pull the trigger
Hoping for a Vázquez to Guardians trade…. should be a cheap enough upgrade….. even for Cleveland, and dude is a winner
There has been some noise about LA increasing their interest in JD Martinez. With Turner injury lingering, this makes sense. I just hope they don’t give up too much. What do you guys think it will take for LA to acquire Martinez (rental)? Busch?
Red Sox really should seek to trade their veteran players on expiring contracts for established major league players with more team control.
For instance, some hypothetical trades that I think make sense:
1. JD Martinez and Christian Vazquez to the NYM for J.D. Davis and Mark Viento.
2. Xander Bogaerts to San Diego for Jake Crowenworth.
3. Nathan Eovaldi to St. Louis for Michael McGreevy and and Delvin Perez.
Eovaldi‘s velocity has been down his past few outings. Check out his numbers. I think that really hurts his trade value.
JD Martinez is a rental. Looks what the Tigers got for him. Nothing!!
I don’t think the Red Sox get the prospects they are hoping for. I believe they keep what they have and go for a wild card spot.
as a Yankee fan who loves to troll Red Sox fans, this is an awful situation.
What could I possibly say that could sting any worse than Sox fans watching their team floundering in last place?
How do you from the exhilaration of beating the Yankees in the WC game to wanting to build a 40 ft green monster wall outside the stadium to hide that pitiful team and their fall from grace?!
The Sox are trolling their own fans, now how can I compete with that?!
Let’s review: Down 3 games to none in 2004 – World Champions. 2006 – 3rd place finish. 2007 – World Champions. 2012 – Last place. 2013 – World Champions. 2015 – Last Place. 2016 to 2018 – 1st Place, 2018 – World Champions.
We are not worried about it. Been there done that. There’s more joy when it follows failure. Maybe the Yankees need to suck for awhile instead of constantly trying to build a team that’s not quite good enough.. Develop some talent, let it blossom. It’s a wonderful thing being a fan of the most successful team over the entire millennium.
Boston Red Sox as “world champions”? Murica, F@#K Yeah!
At least the Yankees have been competitive year in and year out, contrary to what the peanut gallery thinks.
I just want Judge to keep pounding HR’s so the yanks have to pony up the dough and years to keep him. That long term deal will get old fast with his body type. Then Yankee fans can say see you keep your super stars. Then we wait, not long, to see it go south. They were all puffing about Ells and Sox fans knew how that would turn out. I don’t wish a guy injury, but judge doesn’t look like a guy with longevity. Just too big.
today was the first win by a red sox starter in july and it was the last day of the month. only twice since 1900 has a team gone a calendar month without a starter getting a win.
That’s what happens when you promote your AAA rotation. Maybe it doesn’t work out, or maybe Crawford, Bello and Winckowski pitch well as part of 2023 rotation.
To be honest, I am more concerned about our hitting. This is just like earlier in the season, when the writers were questioning our pitching, when it was the hitting that was letting us down. We have more of an excuse now, with a few guys injured, but the 3.81 rpg over the past 26 games won’t cut it.
Or from the perspective I used earlier this year, if we scored exactly 4.5 rpg, we’d be 11-15 instead of 8-18, and 0.5 games out of the WC.
MLB Trade Rumors, my first time on this webpage. So nice to see a comment section where everyone is fairly polite to each other. It’s nice not having someone tell you to fu off constantly. Keep up the marvelous comments and polite manners !!
“Latest On Red Sox’ Deadline Plans”
I want to give Darragh McDonald due credit for his writing ability.
I noted before that when Chris Sale’s finger was broken by a line drive off the bat of Aaron Hicks, Darragh wrote “Chris Sale Suffers Broken Finger” instead of “Chris Sale Breaks Finger,” the way it’s usually and inaccurately phrased.
Now he correctly writes the possessive Sox’ with an apostrophe after the X instead of “Sox’s,” as it’s been incorrectly written now for several years by baseball writers, including those on the official MLB site.
Here’s how it works, according to the Merriam-Webster Guide to Punctuation and Style:
The possessive of plural proper names, and of some singular proper names ending in an “s” or “z” sound, is made by adding just an apostrophe.
the Stevenses’ reception
the Browns’ driveway
Massachusetts’ capital
New Orleans’ annual festival
the United States’ trade deficit
Protosystems’ president
Capisce? “Sox” is a plural proper name ending in an “s” sound, like Yankees or Cardinals. Do you say “Yankees’s” (pronounced “Yankeeses”) or “Cardinals’s” (pronounced “Cardinalses”)? Do you say “the United States’s” (pronounced “Stateses”)? No, you don’t. So why would you say “Sox’s” (pronounced “Soxes”)?
Will the rest of the baseball writers start getting it right? Probably not. It seems that they just imitate each other instead of consulting the rules. But at least Mr. McDonald isn’t mangling the written language. And the staff at NBC Chicago got it right too, so maybe there’s hope:
“White Sox’ Dylan Cease One of Two MLB Pitchers Since 1920 to Be This Dominant”
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/white-sox-dylan-cease-one-of-two-mlb-pitchers-since-1920-to-be-this-dominant/2902784/
I realize the written language is in a state of decay, with many purveyors of the written word being too cheap to hire proofreaders anymore; but God bless the few, the proud, who hold the line against the degradation of our great, crazy language. Darragh McDonald, you rock, sir.
P.S.
This does NOT apply to comments in the comments section. If your meaning is comprehensible, that’s good enough. We don’t need grammar cops for informal posts in a message thread. It’s a conversation, not an English class. But it does apply to professional writers — or at least it should. Kudos to Mr. McDonald for having the pride in his craft to get it right.
Back when they had cartoons in the newspapers, there was one about a black family. It was okay, but the one thing I remember was that the father’s mother or grandmother was an English teacher, and every 2-3 episodes, she’d correct his grammar, in a very entertaining and enlightening episode. I very much looked forward to those episodes. I was raised with the King’s English, but often use my Bronx vernacular.
So I very much appreciate your post, but with one nit.
Is the word “Sox” really plural? There is, after all, only one Red Sox team. Even if you are referring to multiple RS players, I believe it would be singular possessive.
“The Red Sox” is plural, denoting the name of a group — i.e., a team — the same as “the Yankees.” There is likewise only one Yankees team.
Additionally, if you look up “sox” in the dictionary, you’ll find it’s the plural of “sock.”
“The Red Sox is…”
“The Red Sox are…”
“The Yankees is…”
“The Yankees are…”
Your answer’s right there. It’s a plural.
This team has a lot of holes to fill next year not to mention now. They have to replace Wacha, Hill, Paxton(who was a complete waste of 11 million dollars this year) They have to rebuild the bullpen and for God’s sake get a closer. If they let Vazquez go, they need a catcher and a DH to replace JD Martinez. Wong is not going to cut it. They need a first baseman, need to sign Boggarts and Devers. I do not have any confidence in Bloom to fix any of the above needs. This team could be in the doldrums for years with Mr Tampa Bay Red Sox as President of Baseball Operations or whatever his title is. I am tired of his quick cheap (Rube Goldberg type) fixes with this guy. I think he is in way over his head. In a small market like Tampa this may cut it but not Boston. I hope he did not sell a Bill of Goods to Henry.