I think you can pretty easily see the difference between the two teams, no? And why it would make more sense for both Houston and Abreu to be more likely to get a deal done than Boston and Abreu?
The Astros just won the World Series. The Red Sox just came in last place.
IF its true we will most likely know by the end of today..... thats not something that would/will stay unconfirmed for long
I think Abreu is the first of many Bloom Rorschach Tests this winter.
It's not hard to believe the Sox were interested, perhaps strongly, in Abreu. It's also not hard to believe that he was not their #1 target (Heyman being the lone source for that is enough to make it dubious) and it is certainly not hard to believe that their interest in him wasn't strong enough to go to 3 or more years and $20M or more per year in order to sign him. I don't think anyone saying it's not a big loss is saying Abreu isn't a good player and wouldn't bring something to the team. But is it worth (over?)paying for his age 38 season to get it? I think that's the prevailing argument.
Why does it have to be black and white? Why does it have to be in a window or not? Whatever the imagery you want to use, the Astros are clearly at a different stage in the process than the Sox. Does that mean the Sox can't contend or expect to contend? Of fucking course not. But they've got different things they need to do than the Astros to be a complete club. Carrying over from 2022, the Astros only had one glaring hole in their lineup and Abreu fits that perfectly. The Sox have three or four holes to fill/upgrade and 1B isn't really their highest priority. Nor is DH, really. Abreu isn't a difference maker for them. Signing or not signing him doesn't really make or break their ability to contend in 2023.
Agreed ... BUT, if you put today's two shortstop reports together, the Phillies (who were thought to be strong on Xander) signing Turner would leave a Bogaerts-sized hole in the Dodgers lineup
With expanded playoffs and diversified scheduling, I don't see how we wouldn't be contenders every single year. We may not always be top of the class, highest-projected WAR in the AL-type teams like the Astros are right now, but there's no reason we shouldn't enter the season as a Top 6 team in the A.L.
So what do you do with Casas if Abreu wants to sign here, but not as a DH? I am bringing up this point repeatedly because amongst all the hand wringing one way or another, the fact that a lot of players don't want to mostly DH is not being brought up. Perhaps it is easier to ignore this point because the narrative that Bloom is cheap or Abreu is a bad signing due to age is simpler for people to wrap their heads around.
I may have missed that, but did Abreu say that he didn't want to DH at all? Where did he say that?
Sad, if true. Hate to see him go, but hope he gets well paid by another team. 6/180 or 7/210 I've seen bandied about is too high, imho.
Then the question becomes, how much are you willing to sweeten the pot to get a player to give up playing a position. Some of these players take pride in playing their position and it might not be the best use of resources to splash money on them to give that up.
Come on man. You know what I mean by confirm... Also, why would Boras tell teams Xander cut ties with BOS and is not returning his calls? Thats going to HURT his negotiation leverage, since now teams wont have to worry about outbidding the Sox.... Which means his eventual contract would be less than if teams were bidding against Boston + others
I don't think Ganthem is saying that Abreu doesn't want to DH or has expressed that publicly. I think Ganthem is pointing out that it can't be dismissed as a factor in whatever negotiations took place. Given a choice between going to the reigning world champs to play 1B full time versus going to a rebuilding team to primarily DH because they have a young highly touted prospect at 1B, perhaps the money wouldn't be enough of a factor to matter to him.
Again, that's part of negotiation. Bloom has his idea of a high bid (and if this is the player he wants to make a splash with, maybe it's higher than normal). Abreu has his price for being a DH. They meet in the middle somewhere.
I mean, that makes sense, but it's not fact; is it? Are we now just sorta making stuff up to fit our POV?
And it reads to me like Ganthem knows something that I don't, ie Abreu doesn't want to DH and has made that clear. And if that's the case, that's fine. There's a shit load of things that I don't know, but he has to do a better of job of framing it as this is just his opinion.
Where's the link saying he wanted to DH?
None of those arguments are necessarily a rejection of Abreu so much as a number of reasons to draw a line. And obviously the Astros had a different line. And Abreu chose the Astros.
I honestly don’t know why Abreu would choose Boston (a last place club with a rabid fan base) over Houston (the defending world champions that play in a market without a ton of fan scrutiny when it comes to baseball, in a state with no state income tax) unless the Red Sox severely overpaid for him.
You make a lot of false arguments concerning my posts. Other posters on this board have called you out on this and now I will. There was a report that Abreu was a top target of the Sox. Posters started speculating that Bloom was being cheap or that signing Abreu was not smart given his age and where the sox were in the process of retooling/rebuilding. The point I was making was that it could also involve a desire not to switch positions which is plausible. I in no way shape or form indicated there was information I had or that there was a report that Abreu was not being willing to switch. That is your fevered imagination. If you honestly think position switching is not a big deal you have not been following baseball.
Why would his contract be less because Boston theoretically wouldn't be in the mix? There are plenty of deep-pocketed teams that are in the market for a SS so just because Boston isn't it does not mean the value of his deal would go down.
I was just looking at the state income tax stuff, too. Was going to do a breakdown of what it would look like to have to buy out any interest Abreu has in playing 1B regularly, state income tax, World Series champions, warm weather, etc. & it's like why?
What are you talking about that " make a lot of false arguments concerning my posts" and "Other posters on this board have called you out on this ..."?
I get that this is the rumors thread and all, but seriously? Is an anonymous twitter egg supposed to be a remotely acceptable source to post?
Yeah that guy overplayed his hand, he's posted like 50 juicy rumors in the past week.
FWIW, Rosenthal had mentioned a FO source had said that Abreu was "intrigued by the possibility of playing for one of the two Florida teams." That rumor fed suspicion that he wanted to play close to Miami, where he has a house. Since neither MIA nor TB were likely to shell out, maybe Houston fit the "close enough" bill.
Hey Buster, if you are going to take Potshots at the Sox at least be accurate with them... Lester did not go to FA after rejecting the offer, the Sox traded him prior to him becoming a FA...
He's not wrong. He rejected the offer, got traded, then took the Cubs offer. Olney never says he left the Red Sox to sign with the Cubs as a free agent
Or maybe guys say stuff like that all the time and in the end they take the best offer.
Come on, man, you’re a Dope. If a regular poster did this they’d hear about it.
Agreed. Rumor threads have always been understood to mean "rumors from credible sources."
Rumors are rumors, the level of this thread has been way below what I think should be on the main board from the start.
Heh, I'd like to see someone go back and check the accuracy of those 'credible sources' later on.
I thought Boras negotiating directly with an ownership was a result of the 4/80 offer from Bloom earlier in the year
Huh .. and here I thought you were trying to troll by posting a rando-tweet about them possibly trading DeversAnyway, I was mostly trying to kill the Abreu back and forth and I seem to have done that.
If you have price and stick to it, but some other team has a higher offer, is that losing? The money they would have spend on Xander in this scenario, they are allowed to allocate it elsewhere, right?
I never troll (in this way anyway), I have actually been holding back my opinions on what will happen here.
Theoretically, sure, but if you are focused on getting good value and short term deals, you are working with a much more limited pool of players. I think it’s also easier to avoid big money deals when you have an established core of high ceiling players under contract- the Red Sox just don’t, and they only have so many roster spots. It’s difficult to replace 5-6 win players.
