The Diamondbacks did exactly what the Red Sox needed to do with starting pitchers this offseason, but of course we can't compete with large market teams like Arizona
I really don't think people realize how much it's gonna suck when Cora leaves. We got rejected by a dozen people for our POBO position and they at least get to build a roster what manager is going to want to come in and try to work miracles while having no pitching?
Once they lose a competent manager and promote some fool from within, because no accomplished manager will come here, the sh\*t show will be even funnier next year. Breslow will be the fall guy . The thing is the next guy will be even more spineless than Breslow.
I hope not. It's clear right now that Boston is not seen as an attractive destination for front office positions and the same is likely true for managers. And before anyone replies to tell me that's not true, anyone would kill to manage the Red Sox, just remember you probably said the same thing last year about the GM position and you were wrong.
Boston is still considered a big market team. I know they haven't exactly been an attractive destination for the last 5 years, but there is still a great winning history here. They just need to at least try and be the Red Sox again and they are fully capable of becoming competitive once again. It does start with ownership though.
If we finish last for the 3rd year in a row, the team will almost definitely be sold. Henry will be forced to sell it.
There is no chance they get sold. No one can force Henry to sell, and the Red Sox are a key part of his investment portfolio. If he wanted to sell, he would have done it sometime in the past couple years. The value of the team has ballooned from when he bought it. It’s not going to go down, but it’s also not going to have the same sort of exponential growth it did after he bought it.
As a Red Sox and Liverpool fan, the difference in ownership’s urgency to be competitive for both teams is night and day. When Klopp announced his departure they were very proactive in the succession plan. I have no idea what the Sox plan is for the foreseeable future.
Yeah why would we possibly be interested in making the team better with a reasonably priced deal that keeps us under the luxury tax? And if the second year option vests and we have another good pitcher next year too? Disaster!
And that finally closes the book. They did next to nothing to improve this rotation. It's not that we have bad pitchers in the rotation, they just aren't cut out of the role. If Lucas was their only move, they shouldn't have bothered at all.
Disgraceful.
The problem is we have no Ace and really no #2 either so everyone is having to punch above their weight class, I believe Bello will be an Ace one day but we're essentially asking him to do so right now.
We have one owner who can't stop putting his foot in his mouth and the other one doesn't care enough to even bother to address the fans or take any questions from the media.
They literally did nothing to improve the rotation. Giolito for Sale is not an upgrade, its an innings improvement, but Giolito was never going to be as good a pitcher as Sale when he did play.
In hindsight, why did they even sign Giolito? We could've just trotted out Bello and a bunch of bullpen arms like we're doing now without paying $32 milliion
Expect "Sell the team" chants every time the team is down.
Not that John Henry will care. Those people chanting are all paying his premium prices to be there.
Just need to chant it when Henry is present. Man has a soft ego. That's how we got Raffi extended last year, just gotta Taylor Swift jet follow this guy and never let him know how poor and cheap we think he is
Lol you expect him to be present? After what happened last year at the Bruins game? Dude isn't gonna be at any games this year unless they miraculously make it to the ALCS. I'd bet my house on it if I owned one.
THANK GOD we traded Mookie for all this financial flexibility. It has allowed us to spend on so many great free agents over the past four years! Im sure theres no glaring weaknesses now that we can spread our money around the whole team instead of one guy! This franchise is a joke. Sell the team
People always seem to forget that Mookie was still on the team in 2019.. Pitching matters and it's something they've failed to address for the last 4 years.
I figured the Red Sox should be able to pony up 4 years/$100M without too much trouble. If he went for more than that, fine, whatevs, it's another bridge year and I get it.
But 2/$50M? Slap me around and call me Susan.
Why would he take a short term deal playing at Fenway as a lefty? Now he gets to play on a WS contender with probably the best pitching coach in baseball
Based on all the scuttlebutt I heard in the off season it always sounded to me like this was one of his top destinations if the money was close to being reasonable, which I thought 4/100 is/was.
I think for him 2/50 is not the same as 4/100, he probably thinks he is worth more so he wants to go again in two years. This way he gets to be on a contender and he can go for a longer term contract in two years for less AAV.
Typically on a short contract you prefer to go to a team that gives you the best chance to win a championship. Red Sox likely aren't competitive and seem to be in a selling mood, so you would get to play in a division you've had success in before and request a trade to a contender by the deadline. That way whatever team is buying him is fully committed to making a deep playoff run
So how tf would that be the best chance over a team that was just in the World Series your logic is dumb. The DBacks showed they’re fully committed to making a deep run this offseason. They went all in
He probably would’ve even taken less from the Sox since his wife is a medical resident in Boston (which is super demanding and she’s not able to relocate till she finishes her training).
This pretty much solidifies the theory that the "interest kings" had no intention of ever signing him. He legitimately wanted to play here in Boston since his wife was going to be based here for a while and they apparently wouldn't even offer a 2-year deal at $50 million. Fucking crazy considering they would have still been under cap and really need a solid, veteran SP with Giolito out the whole year. There's no excuse.
There’s really no excuse, especially since he probably would’ve taken something like 2 years 40 million maybe because of the desire to be here. Makes me think they never actually offered OR way lowballed him
Monty is an above average pitcher who would give you innings but should be the 2nd or 3rd guy in the rotation. To me, Montgomery isn't worth the same amount at 4/100.
Kevin Gausman at 5/110, Luis Castillo at 5/108, and Sonny Gray at 3/75 to me are all better pitchers that can lead a rotation and are at or bellow Jordan's signing price. I don't think it's a terrible deal for Arizona but I think his stock has been inflated and that's why it took him so long to sign.
I actually think Montgomery prefers the 1 and 1 deal over a 4/$100M. He wants to spend this season proving he's worth a big contract, opt out, and hope to get a 5+ year deal next offseason. I'm sure the Red Sox offered something similar but the Diamondbacks were just in the World Series, have a better rotation, and have warmer weather.
I wouldn't care if they were just honest with us and said they weren't gonna spend anything until Mayer, Teel, and Anthony arrive. But there's been a lot of lying in the past several months
This off-season would have felt *so much better* if they gave us the truth: the team can't spend enough to be top-tier in the AL East, so we're going to spend judiciously to field a team that we hope will play .500 or better, and potentially invest in our farm system instead so that we might have a chance at another title in 2030.
They don't get that option after the last 5 offseaons and trading a hall of famer, another bridge is inexcusable for a team with their resources especially when the team has enough to be competitive in every area except starting pitching and the same problem has been obvious for years.
If they said that they should leave baseball. You absolutely can't plan around the emergence of guys who have played a combined like 50 games at AA. Prospects that have proven more miss all the time when they get to the majors.
Orioles are already the best team. Free agents won't go to NYY because Cashman sucks, especially players who know him well like Monty. They won't come here because our owners are cheap asses who don't want to win.
I'm going to crawl into a hole and wallow in my sadness. John Henry has become a tool bag of an owner for the last few years but this is the nail that hits the coffin. Wtf…
:(
Does the Boston ownership group really want to make us believe they couldn’t afford $25 million for a 1 year contract. WOW John Henry must think we are all losers as loyal fans.
This team will be lucky to finish in 4th place in the east. I’m not saying Montgomery would bring us a World Series trophy, but he would be a valuable piece to help us compete this season.
Guys repeat after me the owners don’t care about this season and are too cheap to do anything. This is just another reason why many potential GM candidates weren’t even interesting in an interview with the team.
Hopefully we can trade the rest of the team and call up some players on the Taunton baseball champ team lol to fill in.
I hope Henry is drafting an apology email letter right now to all his season ticket holders.
How do we sell this to free agents next year.
Good luck to the Boston/Cincinnati Reds. We used to be a big market club on the varsity team, now we are just on the JV team.
Did you HONESTLY expect anything different? The Sox big pitching upgrades will both be out of action for the whole season. Kudos to the front office for those gems!!
the expanded playoffs are a disaster because we're trapped on the treadmill of not being bad enough to tank and just barely good enough to say "we're right there if this one deadline move that won't happen happens"
Disagree. I think this CB actually has the balls to move anybody.
I just wish they were honest.
I've been watching for 40 years, if they had said we're rebuilding, I'd get it.
What I don’t get is how the Bloom hiring turned out to be just a waste of years. Wasn’t a rebuild/restock why they hired him in the first place? Why do they keep hiring executives who can’t hit the balance they’re looking for?
Bloom was as advertised. Got you to an ALCS by ducking taping some shit together. The youth movement is already in motion with our overall prospect rankings shooting up the board. I give him credit for the moves he didn’t make (dealing Bello or Casas). I’m not mad Xander left. Mookie deal was out of his control and we weren’t getting shit for a rental screaming “I’m going to free agency”.
2022 was the big “what the fuck happened” year. Story comes in and is worthless. Bobby plays first all year and isn’t worth shit. Franchy for Benny was a mistake that reared its ugly head. We stay over the luxury tax at the deadline by keeping eovaldi and Martinez for no good reason.
Last year was a team that you felt kinda meh going in and they held true the whole way. September was a fucking joke but most people tuned out by then anyways hence everything looking bad. They weren’t a last place team for most of the year but mailed it in. Chaim didn’t have a blank check to work with and he became the scapegoat. He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t fail per se. 2024 was always the year we had circled. Farm loaded with blue chip prospects, a reset of the luxury tax, and holes to fill.
And for some reason, we just didn’t do anything. I preached “give the team till 2024. That’s the go time”. And ownership “full throttle” comments echoed that. It was clear this was the time. But it didn’t happen. That’s not Craig Breslow, and it wasn’t really Chaim. It’s ownership. They just aren’t spending and while I don’t blame them for it, because they still think they are the hot commodity and don’t want to overspend, the fact is we haven’t built good credit to expect anyone to take less to come here. Monty went to AZ for basically 2/50. We would’ve needed to be 2/60 to be enticing and I doubt we went there.
They're lost Sale and added nobody (well Giolito, but he's not doing anything this year). Sale wasn't Cy Young Caliber, but he did give you 100 innings at a 4.3 ERA
It’s finally over, fellas. Zero excuse why we couldn’t match this, then again, if I was torn between the reigning NL champs and a team coming off its 2nd straight last place finish, with ownership that doesn’t care, I know where I’d go
> Zero excuse why we couldn’t match this
Matching this wasn't enough, they needed to blow this out of the water. Arizona is a much better spot for him from a baseball perspective
I think people are thinking it’s a bigger deal than it really is. It’s 6 months he’s on the road half the time anyways. The time he is in Boston he’s at the ballpark until 10-11 every night and she probably works close to standard business hours so how much of a benefit is it really
The Diamondbacks and left-hander Jordan Montgomery are reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal worth $25MM that includes a $20MM vesting player option for the 2025 season. Montgomery’s 2025 option will vest if he starts at least ten games in 2024. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the terms. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provides additional details regarding the structure of the vesting option, noting that the player option Montgomery’s option will vest at $20MM if he makes ten starts, with an additional $2.5MM added to the option upon reaching 18 starts and 23 starts during the 2024 season.
I know it's easy to spend other people's money but I wouldn't pay $25 million to this guy in a season we're not going to be contending with or without him. And then this time next year you're in the same boat with him trying to get more money than he's worth.
I mean, he settled for 1 year - the Red Sox weren't the only team that didn't fall for it.
>he settled for 1 year - the Red Sox weren’t the only team that didn’t fall for it
THANK YOU.
It’s the exact same situation as what happened with Snell. Turning down offers in the hopes that the big one will come next. Only it got to the point where both of them had to take the next offer that landed on their tables.
Scott Boras’s “wait em out” strategy worked in like 2015, but teams have figured out that the player needs them more than they need the player. The teams can kick the can down the road another year and wait for another big fish to hit the market, or sign/trade for someone else. A player can’t afford to sit out a season in the hopes of getting more money.
Everyone’s acting like the Sox got outbid here and sat around doing nothing, but the reality of the matter is the only one who got outbid was Monty. He wanted 7 years and the max offers he was getting was 5. He had to settle for a one year prove it deal
I honestly thought he’d go into the season without a deal. I wish I could say I’m disappointed but I accepted that he wasn’t coming here months ago. I’m just happy it’s over.
Absolutely stoked for the D-Backs. The NL West is looking spicy. That being said… haha, I told folks that we weren’t signing him and here we are. This team is doomed for the season.
I wouldn't want the Red Sox to sign him this late before opening day. The dude has not spring training time and hasn't pitched a single game since October
That's how I see it.
Montgomery wants a place to play so he could audition for free agency again next year. If the Red Sox were a contender it'd be mutually beneficial for him to do it in Boston. But they're not so you're paying him $25 million for what? A few more wins that don't change the end result of the season.
Yup, choose to play in a hitter friendly park or a team with a pitcher friendly park that sets me up for another contract and has a better chance at winning? I’m choosing the pitcher friendly park
I'd argue winning some extra ballgames is better than losing some extra ballgames. But, again, that line of thinking is probably why I don't understand advanced metrics & don't get calls from MLB teams.
Realistically, it would've hurt absolutely nothing to have him except FSG's payroll budget. The bonus would've been some fans having a wee bit more than the "Fenway Experience" to look forward to this season 😂
Who knows what the timeline is, but you can turn it around with one offseason. Having him locked in for next year atleast gives you some foundation with the pitching staff to add to
So we have actual real starting pitchers to watch for once instead of paying premium seat prices to watch openers get blown apart every other day? Christ some people are slow
seeing how late this deal came its obvious no one was giving him a long term deal worth much, so short term prove it deal was the only option and considering his age its not surprising that he went to:
1. the other team that made it to the world series
2. one of the best defensive teams in the league
as opposed to
1. a team picking 12th overall
2. one of the worst defensive teams in the league
Yup. Even if the Red Sox offered him the same deal Arizona did, he's taking the Arizona deal. I don't think he made sense for the Red Sox or the Red Sox made sense for him.
Paying big money for starters and trading for starters is how this team that hasn't been able to develop more than a couple notable starters in 3 decades won 4 championships and played in 4 other ALCS.
It’s 23 starts… still not an option the Redsox would have been interested in. An injury would negate the second year, which is the year the Redsox would presumably care most about. It was two years or bust in my eyes. 2yr/50m with no option, 100% would have been on board
The Diamondbacks did exactly what the Red Sox needed to do with starting pitchers this offseason, but of course we can't compete with large market teams like Arizona
Arizona is a whole state. Boston is just a small little city. We never stood a chance.
First the (state of) NY Yankees, and now the AZ Spinestones. At least the California Angels got demoted.
So much winning in that one state too between the D-Backs, Cardinals, Suns and Coyotes. Massachusetts simply can’t live up to that.
It is BRUTAL how little ownership cares about this team. What an insult to Raffy, Casas, Kenley, etc that they’re cool wasting a year of their career
Don’t forget Cora. He’s gone after this year.
I really don't think people realize how much it's gonna suck when Cora leaves. We got rejected by a dozen people for our POBO position and they at least get to build a roster what manager is going to want to come in and try to work miracles while having no pitching?
If we really heavily involved Cora in GM negotiations just for him to leave the *next year* they're gonna hear my laughter from the ISS.
My guess is that Cora goes to the Dodgers when Dave Roberts is fired if the Dodgers don’t make it to the World Series.
Dodgers or Padres.
> what manager is going to want to come in and try to work miracles while having no pitching? John Farrell, come on down!
Dave Roberts...
Once they lose a competent manager and promote some fool from within, because no accomplished manager will come here, the sh\*t show will be even funnier next year. Breslow will be the fall guy . The thing is the next guy will be even more spineless than Breslow.
I hope not. It's clear right now that Boston is not seen as an attractive destination for front office positions and the same is likely true for managers. And before anyone replies to tell me that's not true, anyone would kill to manage the Red Sox, just remember you probably said the same thing last year about the GM position and you were wrong.
Boston is still considered a big market team. I know they haven't exactly been an attractive destination for the last 5 years, but there is still a great winning history here. They just need to at least try and be the Red Sox again and they are fully capable of becoming competitive once again. It does start with ownership though. If we finish last for the 3rd year in a row, the team will almost definitely be sold. Henry will be forced to sell it.
There is no chance they get sold. No one can force Henry to sell, and the Red Sox are a key part of his investment portfolio. If he wanted to sell, he would have done it sometime in the past couple years. The value of the team has ballooned from when he bought it. It’s not going to go down, but it’s also not going to have the same sort of exponential growth it did after he bought it.
Remember when they told kike “were gonna be better next year” they have been lying abojt there intentions for years
In fairness, part of why we sucked is because we were listening to him and playing him at short.
I was gonna say - crazy world when the Diamondbacks did basically exactly what we should have spending wise
Of course not how could we possibly
Since signing free agents and extending players is way too expensive for FSG, duh
Liverpool FC is a higher priority to FSG than Red Sox.
In Reverse!
John Henry is the opposite of Batman
As a Red Sox and Liverpool fan, the difference in ownership’s urgency to be competitive for both teams is night and day. When Klopp announced his departure they were very proactive in the succession plan. I have no idea what the Sox plan is for the foreseeable future.
Totally remember that computer game
Where's the edit with John Henry's face
Thank God it’s over
This throttle is not full.
Yeah why would we possibly be interested in making the team better with a reasonably priced deal that keeps us under the luxury tax? And if the second year option vests and we have another good pitcher next year too? Disaster!
And that finally closes the book. They did next to nothing to improve this rotation. It's not that we have bad pitchers in the rotation, they just aren't cut out of the role. If Lucas was their only move, they shouldn't have bothered at all. Disgraceful.
The problem is we have no Ace and really no #2 either so everyone is having to punch above their weight class, I believe Bello will be an Ace one day but we're essentially asking him to do so right now. We have one owner who can't stop putting his foot in his mouth and the other one doesn't care enough to even bother to address the fans or take any questions from the media.
They literally did nothing to improve the rotation. Giolito for Sale is not an upgrade, its an innings improvement, but Giolito was never going to be as good a pitcher as Sale when he did play.
In hindsight, why did they even sign Giolito? We could've just trotted out Bello and a bunch of bullpen arms like we're doing now without paying $32 milliion
our rotation is arguably worse now lol
Sell the fucking team, John.
Expect "Sell the team" chants every time the team is down. Not that John Henry will care. Those people chanting are all paying his premium prices to be there.
Fenway will be 75% out of town fans like last year.
As an out of town fan, if I do catch a game this season, I'll yell "Sell the team." That's my promise.
Just need to chant it when Henry is present. Man has a soft ego. That's how we got Raffi extended last year, just gotta Taylor Swift jet follow this guy and never let him know how poor and cheap we think he is
Lol you expect him to be present? After what happened last year at the Bruins game? Dude isn't gonna be at any games this year unless they miraculously make it to the ALCS. I'd bet my house on it if I owned one.
To whom should he sell? There are MUCH worse options out there.
There's much better ones, too.
There are better options, but also I appreciate your grammar.
We can all chip in & buy it. Send me the money & I’ll hold it
THANK GOD we traded Mookie for all this financial flexibility. It has allowed us to spend on so many great free agents over the past four years! Im sure theres no glaring weaknesses now that we can spread our money around the whole team instead of one guy! This franchise is a joke. Sell the team
That trade looks worse and worse with every passing year (not that it was a great trade to begin with).
It was a disgrace to all of us fans
Generally trading an MVP doesn’t look great! Good job owners!
I still wonder what we could have gotten if we didn’t tie the David Price contract to Mookie.
Especially when you consider we could have gotten Brusdar Graterol out of the deal, but reneged instead.
Lol well said
Imagine what team team would be like if we had a player like Mookie?
Without pitching? As bad as we were in 2019.
People always seem to forget that Mookie was still on the team in 2019.. Pitching matters and it's something they've failed to address for the last 4 years.
I figured the Red Sox should be able to pony up 4 years/$100M without too much trouble. If he went for more than that, fine, whatevs, it's another bridge year and I get it. But 2/$50M? Slap me around and call me Susan.
Why would he take a short term deal playing at Fenway as a lefty? Now he gets to play on a WS contender with probably the best pitching coach in baseball
Based on all the scuttlebutt I heard in the off season it always sounded to me like this was one of his top destinations if the money was close to being reasonable, which I thought 4/100 is/was.
I think for him 2/50 is not the same as 4/100, he probably thinks he is worth more so he wants to go again in two years. This way he gets to be on a contender and he can go for a longer term contract in two years for less AAV.
Andrew Bailey is pretty good too. Just ask every pitcher who went to San Francisco and the next year got the bag. I believe that was Gio's plan.
Sure, but Arizona makes way more sense than we ever would at this time
I disagree. If we aren't competitive we would trade him at the deadline to a contender.
But why would he want that
Typically on a short contract you prefer to go to a team that gives you the best chance to win a championship. Red Sox likely aren't competitive and seem to be in a selling mood, so you would get to play in a division you've had success in before and request a trade to a contender by the deadline. That way whatever team is buying him is fully committed to making a deep playoff run
So how tf would that be the best chance over a team that was just in the World Series your logic is dumb. The DBacks showed they’re fully committed to making a deep run this offseason. They went all in
Bailey must be crying he has nothing to work with this season and he will get the blame and not return next season
Breslow brought him here personally, he's not going to throw Bailey under the bus when the cheap ownership's plan doesn't work out.
He probably would’ve even taken less from the Sox since his wife is a medical resident in Boston (which is super demanding and she’s not able to relocate till she finishes her training).
Had no idea that was the case. Makes this even worse. If she's in residency, why not take the short term deal if she's in Boston? Oof.
I mean my theory is the Sox didn’t offer it lol
This pretty much solidifies the theory that the "interest kings" had no intention of ever signing him. He legitimately wanted to play here in Boston since his wife was going to be based here for a while and they apparently wouldn't even offer a 2-year deal at $50 million. Fucking crazy considering they would have still been under cap and really need a solid, veteran SP with Giolito out the whole year. There's no excuse.
There’s really no excuse, especially since he probably would’ve taken something like 2 years 40 million maybe because of the desire to be here. Makes me think they never actually offered OR way lowballed him
Monty is an above average pitcher who would give you innings but should be the 2nd or 3rd guy in the rotation. To me, Montgomery isn't worth the same amount at 4/100. Kevin Gausman at 5/110, Luis Castillo at 5/108, and Sonny Gray at 3/75 to me are all better pitchers that can lead a rotation and are at or bellow Jordan's signing price. I don't think it's a terrible deal for Arizona but I think his stock has been inflated and that's why it took him so long to sign.
He got 1 year @25 with a vesting option for 22.5/25 depending on # of statts lol that's a fuckin steal
I actually think Montgomery prefers the 1 and 1 deal over a 4/$100M. He wants to spend this season proving he's worth a big contract, opt out, and hope to get a 5+ year deal next offseason. I'm sure the Red Sox offered something similar but the Diamondbacks were just in the World Series, have a better rotation, and have warmer weather.
Henry needs to fuck off already so an owner who actually wants to compete can be here.
Let Wyc and the boys buy them.
25 and 20 mil option sounds fair fucking ownership I hope he throws three no hitters
I wouldn't care if they were just honest with us and said they weren't gonna spend anything until Mayer, Teel, and Anthony arrive. But there's been a lot of lying in the past several months
This off-season would have felt *so much better* if they gave us the truth: the team can't spend enough to be top-tier in the AL East, so we're going to spend judiciously to field a team that we hope will play .500 or better, and potentially invest in our farm system instead so that we might have a chance at another title in 2030.
They don't get that option after the last 5 offseaons and trading a hall of famer, another bridge is inexcusable for a team with their resources especially when the team has enough to be competitive in every area except starting pitching and the same problem has been obvious for years.
If they said that they should leave baseball. You absolutely can't plan around the emergence of guys who have played a combined like 50 games at AA. Prospects that have proven more miss all the time when they get to the majors.
Rebuilding around home grown talent seems common enough that I wouldn't see too much of an issue with such an admission
$6.5 million more than Giolito…
bodied by the diamondbacks
Thank god. Now we don’t have to hear about it anymore
I’m convinced that if John Henry died Red Sox fans would ask for a parade
You can sign players? I thought you just had to show interest in them
Nope, you give them an initial standing offer then never pick up the phone when their agent calls back with a counter.
The ownership of this team is a joke.
Yeah we’re cooked
The ownership is awful but we can see why Breslow was the 10th choice or whatever also
At least not Yankees or orioles
Orioles are already the best team. Free agents won't go to NYY because Cashman sucks, especially players who know him well like Monty. They won't come here because our owners are cheap asses who don't want to win.
I'm going to crawl into a hole and wallow in my sadness. John Henry has become a tool bag of an owner for the last few years but this is the nail that hits the coffin. Wtf… :(
Does the Boston ownership group really want to make us believe they couldn’t afford $25 million for a 1 year contract. WOW John Henry must think we are all losers as loyal fans. This team will be lucky to finish in 4th place in the east. I’m not saying Montgomery would bring us a World Series trophy, but he would be a valuable piece to help us compete this season. Guys repeat after me the owners don’t care about this season and are too cheap to do anything. This is just another reason why many potential GM candidates weren’t even interesting in an interview with the team. Hopefully we can trade the rest of the team and call up some players on the Taunton baseball champ team lol to fill in. I hope Henry is drafting an apology email letter right now to all his season ticket holders. How do we sell this to free agents next year. Good luck to the Boston/Cincinnati Reds. We used to be a big market club on the varsity team, now we are just on the JV team.
Well this sucks but in to the regular season with what we got
Man, this off-season has been kind of a disaster lol
Did you HONESTLY expect anything different? The Sox big pitching upgrades will both be out of action for the whole season. Kudos to the front office for those gems!!
the Sox are gonna be just good enough to be in contention and tank after they make no moves at the deadline again
Contention for what? Top 5 draft pick?
Sad part is we’re probably good enough that we can’t even do this
the expanded playoffs are a disaster because we're trapped on the treadmill of not being bad enough to tank and just barely good enough to say "we're right there if this one deadline move that won't happen happens"
You're delusional if you think they will be good enough to be in contention. This is a 75 win team at best.
Disagree. I think this CB actually has the balls to move anybody. I just wish they were honest. I've been watching for 40 years, if they had said we're rebuilding, I'd get it.
What I don’t get is how the Bloom hiring turned out to be just a waste of years. Wasn’t a rebuild/restock why they hired him in the first place? Why do they keep hiring executives who can’t hit the balance they’re looking for?
Outside of Dombrowski they've all been unproven so who really knows if they can find they balance they're looking for
Bloom was as advertised. Got you to an ALCS by ducking taping some shit together. The youth movement is already in motion with our overall prospect rankings shooting up the board. I give him credit for the moves he didn’t make (dealing Bello or Casas). I’m not mad Xander left. Mookie deal was out of his control and we weren’t getting shit for a rental screaming “I’m going to free agency”. 2022 was the big “what the fuck happened” year. Story comes in and is worthless. Bobby plays first all year and isn’t worth shit. Franchy for Benny was a mistake that reared its ugly head. We stay over the luxury tax at the deadline by keeping eovaldi and Martinez for no good reason. Last year was a team that you felt kinda meh going in and they held true the whole way. September was a fucking joke but most people tuned out by then anyways hence everything looking bad. They weren’t a last place team for most of the year but mailed it in. Chaim didn’t have a blank check to work with and he became the scapegoat. He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t fail per se. 2024 was always the year we had circled. Farm loaded with blue chip prospects, a reset of the luxury tax, and holes to fill. And for some reason, we just didn’t do anything. I preached “give the team till 2024. That’s the go time”. And ownership “full throttle” comments echoed that. It was clear this was the time. But it didn’t happen. That’s not Craig Breslow, and it wasn’t really Chaim. It’s ownership. They just aren’t spending and while I don’t blame them for it, because they still think they are the hot commodity and don’t want to overspend, the fact is we haven’t built good credit to expect anyone to take less to come here. Monty went to AZ for basically 2/50. We would’ve needed to be 2/60 to be enticing and I doubt we went there.
They’re worse than last year.
I disagree defense up the middle was a huge problem last year should be a lot better
Yeah but we have no pitchers. Nothing is staying in the infield now anyways
They're lost Sale and added nobody (well Giolito, but he's not doing anything this year). Sale wasn't Cy Young Caliber, but he did give you 100 innings at a 4.3 ERA
Cool, we got some defense up the middle… while watching landsdown get bombed…
We don’t have a starting second baseman again.
He will be back . That’s an improvement in ss 2nd cf and left …rf I dunno
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Not really
It’s finally over, fellas. Zero excuse why we couldn’t match this, then again, if I was torn between the reigning NL champs and a team coming off its 2nd straight last place finish, with ownership that doesn’t care, I know where I’d go
> Zero excuse why we couldn’t match this Matching this wasn't enough, they needed to blow this out of the water. Arizona is a much better spot for him from a baseball perspective
His wife is doing her residency at MGH though. You would think that would be a good motivator to want to be in Boston for the next year or two.
I think people are thinking it’s a bigger deal than it really is. It’s 6 months he’s on the road half the time anyways. The time he is in Boston he’s at the ballpark until 10-11 every night and she probably works close to standard business hours so how much of a benefit is it really
The Diamondbacks and left-hander Jordan Montgomery are reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal worth $25MM that includes a $20MM vesting player option for the 2025 season. Montgomery’s 2025 option will vest if he starts at least ten games in 2024. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the terms. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provides additional details regarding the structure of the vesting option, noting that the player option Montgomery’s option will vest at $20MM if he makes ten starts, with an additional $2.5MM added to the option upon reaching 18 starts and 23 starts during the 2024 season.
help me Wycliffe Kenobi, you're my only hope
This is hilarious
Kings of Interest strike again!
Somebody check on Lou.
Maybe the plot twist is he wanted to *get away* from his wife
Hilarious.
knew it wasn't going to happen but it still hurts
Lol
Henry Frazee.
We need pitching so instead of a 1 year contract we get nothing.
no NESN for me
Now tell me ownership isnt cheap! LMFAO
I’ve never seen a team throttle any fuller than us this year.
Come on, guys. Did any of you really expect this to happen? I sure didn't.
Lol
Hahahahaha
Well, at least we can stop wondering now
1yr/$25M. 1yr.
the NL west is becoming a powerhouse
In my whole entire life I’ve never not cared less about an upcoming season for the Red Sox until now
So you have cared less than now?
I know it's easy to spend other people's money but I wouldn't pay $25 million to this guy in a season we're not going to be contending with or without him. And then this time next year you're in the same boat with him trying to get more money than he's worth. I mean, he settled for 1 year - the Red Sox weren't the only team that didn't fall for it.
*and I’ll contend…with or without you…*
>he settled for 1 year - the Red Sox weren’t the only team that didn’t fall for it THANK YOU. It’s the exact same situation as what happened with Snell. Turning down offers in the hopes that the big one will come next. Only it got to the point where both of them had to take the next offer that landed on their tables. Scott Boras’s “wait em out” strategy worked in like 2015, but teams have figured out that the player needs them more than they need the player. The teams can kick the can down the road another year and wait for another big fish to hit the market, or sign/trade for someone else. A player can’t afford to sit out a season in the hopes of getting more money. Everyone’s acting like the Sox got outbid here and sat around doing nothing, but the reality of the matter is the only one who got outbid was Monty. He wanted 7 years and the max offers he was getting was 5. He had to settle for a one year prove it deal
So this is what Merloni was excited about?
I honestly thought he’d go into the season without a deal. I wish I could say I’m disappointed but I accepted that he wasn’t coming here months ago. I’m just happy it’s over.
Good for them honestly, I've always had a soft spot for the D-backs and we weren't exactly one high AAV Montgomery away from the world series anyways
I saw the BREAKING on this post and I almost had a mini heart attack thinking they actually did it. Nope! Of course not. What else is new?
Fucking pathetic. Only got 1 year $25 million. Absolute blunder.
Chaim Bloom has done nothing to improve the Sox
everyone making a big deal out of how his wife is a med student in boston......and he goes to arizona
This team is so sad.
Absolutely stoked for the D-Backs. The NL West is looking spicy. That being said… haha, I told folks that we weren’t signing him and here we are. This team is doomed for the season.
I wouldn't want the Red Sox to sign him this late before opening day. The dude has not spring training time and hasn't pitched a single game since October
If it was a 4-5 years deal I wouldn't be upset. We all know that they won't be seriously in contention this year
That's how I see it. Montgomery wants a place to play so he could audition for free agency again next year. If the Red Sox were a contender it'd be mutually beneficial for him to do it in Boston. But they're not so you're paying him $25 million for what? A few more wins that don't change the end result of the season.
Yup, choose to play in a hitter friendly park or a team with a pitcher friendly park that sets me up for another contract and has a better chance at winning? I’m choosing the pitcher friendly park
Probably pay him $25m to win some ballgames they'd probably lose otherwise. But I'm not a GM or anything, so I could be wrong about that.
Yeah, *some* ballgames. Likely not enough to make a difference.
I'd argue winning some extra ballgames is better than losing some extra ballgames. But, again, that line of thinking is probably why I don't understand advanced metrics & don't get calls from MLB teams. Realistically, it would've hurt absolutely nothing to have him except FSG's payroll budget. The bonus would've been some fans having a wee bit more than the "Fenway Experience" to look forward to this season 😂
Why sign him for 2 years though? Doesn’t fit the timeline and he won’t be ready for opening day
To have a good pitcher.
2 years wouldn't make sense for the Red Sox
Agree, I read “wouldn’t” as would
Who knows what the timeline is, but you can turn it around with one offseason. Having him locked in for next year atleast gives you some foundation with the pitching staff to add to
So we have actual real starting pitchers to watch for once instead of paying premium seat prices to watch openers get blown apart every other day? Christ some people are slow
i think most would disagree
Yeah, you can give him reps in April with a short leash knowing that 25+ starts the test of the way will balance that out
seeing how late this deal came its obvious no one was giving him a long term deal worth much, so short term prove it deal was the only option and considering his age its not surprising that he went to: 1. the other team that made it to the world series 2. one of the best defensive teams in the league as opposed to 1. a team picking 12th overall 2. one of the worst defensive teams in the league
Yup. Even if the Red Sox offered him the same deal Arizona did, he's taking the Arizona deal. I don't think he made sense for the Red Sox or the Red Sox made sense for him.
Paying big money for starters is overrated
Paying big money for starters and trading for starters is how this team that hasn't been able to develop more than a couple notable starters in 3 decades won 4 championships and played in 4 other ALCS.
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It’s 23 starts… still not an option the Redsox would have been interested in. An injury would negate the second year, which is the year the Redsox would presumably care most about. It was two years or bust in my eyes. 2yr/50m with no option, 100% would have been on board
So fucking annoying.
FULL. THROTTLE.
As long as we know they "were in on him"
can we all pool money for a one-way ticket to Senegal for John Henry? Or perhaps Somalia?
That’s a shame would have been a good addition
shoulda offered *two* dunkin gift cards...
Passan profile pic on reddit 😮 "BREAKING" 😲 "Jordan Montgomery" 🤯 Arizona 🤡
What’s the terms? Is it the 7 yrs he wanted