I don't really think that's true. 99 out of 100 times the guy just takes the money. Once in awhile some guy's old lady says we're gonna leave a couple mil on the table because I want to spend the summer near my parents in South Jersey.

But more importantly, I don't care about Jerry's money. If there were an unlimited budget I'd say sign all these guys. Unfortunately, there isn't. And sticking that much money in a guy who is really unknown like Wheeler is a dangerous thing. The Sox can't or won't spend over it if it's a mistake. It could destroy this team for years. I'd rather they pay Cole or Strasburg $40 million a year than pay Wheeler $25 million. It's money better spent. But they won't do that either. Now they'll blow the 25 on another mediocrity like Keuchel.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

They overpaid Abreu to mentor the Third Worlders. Now you want to overpay Bumgarner to mentor the pitchers. This is a fucking clown show.

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IF they overpay for MadBum, it would be to stabilize the rotation. They NEED a reliable SP, I don't care how much money they have to spend to get one.

This

Yup.

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Not a clown show. Just clown-ish. What can I tell you, they're my team, such that it is. They're like that 3rd kid you got, a total little weasel who'll amount to nothing. You put so much goddam work into him that he becomes your favorite.

Well stated.

Thanks pizza boy.

I don't know how long you'd have to go on Bumgarner, but if you could get him for two years, it would be fine. I'll bet anyone who wants to go that Bumgarner will have a higher WAR over the next two seasons than Zack Wheeler.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

This is what really gets me.

They wasted $30 million on shit last year.

They will waste it again this year.

It just isn't all tied into a long term contract of one player so it is easier to forget.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Right. If you took the money they wasted on Alonso and Jay, it surely would have been enough to sign Machado. Now, I'm glad that didn't happen, but it does show how inefficient they are with their spending.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The Jon Jay signing at least made a little bit of sense. He was a decent OF, the Sox needed an outfielder, and he was relatively cheap and here for only 1 year. He got hurt. Bad luck, it happens.

The Alonso signing made no sense. The Sox already had Abreu at 1B/DH, you figured Eloy was going to DH some as well, and he was just flat out awful and his numbers before he came here were nothing to write home about.

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They paid Abreu what he was worth as an RBI machine. What he did in the clubhouse was just icing on the cake. Bummer is a championship caliber pitcher who knows what it takes to win a World Series and shut down good teams. Not many of those guys are around like him. I would love to have him on the staff with the young pitchers that we have. One thing for sure, there wouldn't be any non response when our hitters got plunked(especially Abreu) by opposing pitchers with Bummer around like there was last year. It really pissed me off last season. Bummer's a bad ass.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I don't see the point of signing a regular season workhorse. If our talent progresses on a natural trajectory, we should get to the playoffs. If you don't think a starting pitcher is going to be a stud in the post season, don't sign him.

It's a good point. It's the reason Boston made the trade for Sale. Yanks are making a play for Cole. I'm not saying Bumgarner is one of those guys, but he could be with the mentality he has. Sox have money to burn and then some(even though it offends JR's sensibilties to go after a 30-35mil pitcher), so why not.

I agree, I would take a flyer on Bumgarner, but there's an equal chance of James Shields and John Lester with that signing.

You are not going to get Bummer for a two year deal. He's the best left hander in the market and is 30 years old and healthy. It will take 4 or maybe even 5 years. It probably come down to Bummer's ego. Will he want to go with more money in a shorter contract and bet he'll have another big contract after the deal expires or will he want a longer contract and the security that comes with it. I don't know.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

They do not get to the play-offs with the starting pitching that they have right now. That is a pipe dream. They need quite a bit of improvement in the pitching area, particularly starting pitching. What a "stud" is open to debate.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

You're probably right, but who knows? We can see the economics of the game have been radically altered in just a few years. The players want to blame collusion, but it's probably more accurate to blame algorithms and the McKinseyfication of front offices.

The shine seems to have come off Bumgarner really quickly. It seems like a lot of people think he's finished. I'm not sure if that's a consensus within the actual game, but here on this board he's been compared to James Shields.

I find that laughable. And perception is strange. He's considered old and Wheeler is considered young and they're only a year apart. Granted, Bumgarner has a lot more mileage on him, but that's because he's a stud and Wheeler is a pussy.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Bumgarner's home/road splits have been pretty drastically different.

You have to worry about him away from SF.

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They were talking about him on MLB radio last night. The concensus was that he was a low 2 or high 3 in the regular season at this point in his career, but his playoff history means he will probably get at least 4/90.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

The difference was very pronounced last season. For his career he's somewhat better at home, but I'm not sure that's atypical of most pitchers. Career 2.72 ERA at home, 3.53 on the road.

To me he looks sort of like Verlander did before he was traded to Houston. That was when certain teams thought Quintana was better than Verlander.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That's a good comp. Verlander at the end of his run in Detroit looked finished.

I

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He'd get walloped in Sox park.

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Hahn on at 10am on 670. I rewound. Same bullshit so far, excited for what we did, excited what we can do.

Keeps talking Leury and Mendick playing middle infield.

Said they aren't concerned about MLB time when talking prospects. Dont believe that one bit.

Pretty much saying they are getting the 1yr more option outta Kopech.

Rodon coming back post all star break.

Nothing really exciting.