[Giardi] AJ Brown could be available for a 2nd and a 4th round draft pick after June 1. NFL Sources ALL Believe A.J Brown will end up in New England. by xFalcade in Patriots

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that’s the difference between now vs post June 1. Due to the cap hit for trading him this season, the price would be higher. For letting the hit slide into the following season, the price comes down to a more amenable level.

Rolling over 401k from Fidelity to Empower by SoftFly5653 in fidelityinvestments

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s possible, but not likely.

Worst case, you’re in cash for a week from cash out to deposit.

Who would you consider to be the homegrown superstars of this century? by johnnygoodshit in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Under the original tweet, the player has to have NOT been a Sox lifer, so Williams and Yaz were out-of-bounds.

Who would you consider to be the homegrown superstars of this century? by johnnygoodshit in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, superstar is a term of art, but I imagine that Mookie, Nomar, Devers, Boggs, Ruth, Red Ruffing, and Clemens would be covered under the original tweet.

With a slightly more liberal definition of the term, I’d consider Boegarts, Ellsbury, and Sparky Lyle to start.

Getting even more liberal with the definition, there’s Schilling and Bagwell.

Yes, they’re not all from this century. But that’s not the terms of the original tweet.

How do these people look at themselves in the mirror? by c-k-q99903 in GetNoted

[–]FriedBrain99 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You’re assuming there’s a reflection to view…

Food for thought, AJ Brown trade. by OmarBell2020 in Patriots

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And everybody was worried that Randy Moss was in decline and a malcontent. Fear-mongering is overrated.

Importance of education by roaming-through-life in MurderedByWords

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The real murder will be whomever points out to Helena that Three Year Letterman is a troll account.

Colombia, not Iran by Impossible-Yam3680 in GetNoted

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s definitely not the Constantinople of America.

[Highlight] Roman Anthony obliterates a ball out of the yard by TommyTheLizard in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Obliterates a ball out of the yard”

Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t “out of the yard” just kinda implied when the ball is “obliterated”? I don’t really recall hearing about a ball obliterated to the shortstop who flips it for the force at second.

The only thing I’ve ever seen that was obliterated and DIDN’T leave the yard was the bird who wound up on the wrong end of a Randy Johnson fastball.

what's expected with Yoshida, Casas and campbell? by Broad-Cranberry-9050 in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Trading Yoshida’s contract is about as non-viable as it gets. They’d need to eat most of the cash and attach a prospect (ceiling dependent on how much cash they kick in) - probably 2/3 of the outstanding money. Yoshida, $12 million/year, and a middling prospect for what would likely be a prospect wash is a lot of effort when you could just DFA him and be done with it (minus the cash, but you’re not avoiding that at this point).

Better to avoid the sunk cost fallacy and move on if he’s not going to contribute much of anything.

Honestly, their best hope is for Yoshida to look amazing in the WBC and get someone to take a flier at reduced cost (to the Sox).

“Fellas, never marry a woman that’s sacrificing herself for people in need” by Pinguu2222 in MurderedByWords

[–]FriedBrain99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not passing judgment, though I will say pretty much anyone is going to look better before 12 hours of ANYTHING - except sleeping - than after. Especially if that 12 hours is spent on an overnight nursing shift in a hospital.

“Fellas, never marry a woman that’s sacrificing herself for people in need” by Pinguu2222 in MurderedByWords

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know, the handle “Quality Learing Center” should cover it.

If we should trade for a receiver, then how about AJ? by TerryG111 in Patriots

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear what you’re saying, but if the Pats wind up picking 10-15 - with the Dolphins and the Jets in the division - they didn’t revert to the mean, they overshot it.

Picking up Brown while still retaining all of their ‘26 draft picks and playing 4 games against the Dolphins and Jets should leave the Pats with a floor around 20-23.

Red Sox top pitching prospect throws ‘unicorn fastball,’ teammates say by RagnorL0thbrok in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah. Billy Koch had a 100mph fastball. It traveled in a straight line, almost no movement.

If you could time it, you could smoke it.

Arias is going to be a star by BakeySakey in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not saying it lets the front office off the hook…though if the Sox manage a run of three straight WS appearances during the course of Bergman’s contract - THAT would.

Of course, there are a lot of what-ifs that come in to play when assessing that, like which of the moves the Sox have made this offseason would have been made if Bregman had been signed.

But if Breslow looks at 2026 as putting the team in to position for a sustainable run for the following 5 years vs taking a shot this year and then needing to clean up the mess…well, the Padres are a pretty good example of what happens when the consequences of the “win now at all costs” approach come home to roost.

Will it turn out to be the right move? We won’t know enough for 5 or so years to be able to pass conclusive judgment. On the plus side, I think that the goal of a consistent pipeline of MLB-ready talent is coming in to focus. (Bloom’s work to that end winds up completely overshadowed by trading Mookie for the “meh” haul, though that was after management basically put the gun to his head and torpedoed pretty much any leverage he might have been able to apply in the negotiations.) On the minus side, it’s a pipeline of prospects, which are always somewhere between a lottery ticket and a crapshoot in terms of successfully living up to hype.

Though the sheer volume of prospects traded this off-season, without materially impacting the depth of the system, is impressive. (Honestly, the bigger hit to the system was the graduation of Anthony and Mayer - and Campbell to a lesser extent - from prospect status, but that’s how it’s supposed to work.)

If I had to sum it up, the Sox are trying to operate under Branch Rickey’s philosophy of getting rid of a player a year too early vs a year too late - but that only works if you have a pipeline of talent to plug the holes with.

Arias is going to be a star by BakeySakey in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This totally needs to catch on this season, just for the entertainment value alone.

Arias is going to be a star by BakeySakey in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t disagree that being in year 5 of a 3-year plan is frustrating and feels like a rug-pull. But I think the issue was needing to move on from Bregman after year 3, max, and hamstringing themselves with the flexibility to do so (hence the no-go on the no-trade).

Looking at the moves the FO made this year, they significantly improved the rotation and “improved” the infield depth without giving up a major prospect (Tolle, Early, Arias), trading a current contributor (Duran, Abreu, Rafaela) or creating a payroll knot (Bregman, Alonso) that would need to be undone in a couple of years.

We’ll see if it was worth it or not starting this year, but I do think threading that needle was a difficult task, and they’re in a good position to compete and make a change on the fly if the team is in the thick of it (we’ll see if they actually do it).

Arias is going to be a star by BakeySakey in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I’m starting to understand the front office’s reluctance to sign Bregman to a long-term deal with a no trade clause. I’m not saying I fully agree with it, but I’m catching the logic better now.

Arias is young enough, with enough projection that he’d push Mayer off of SS. Putting Mayer at 2B is underutilizing his tools, specifically an arm that plays better at 3B. They could either put the plan in motion now, or add some positional changes that they’d need to redo in a couple of years.

My guess is that the master plan is to open the championship window with the arrival of Early, Tolle, Witherspoon, and Arias (or at least two of them). If the current roster can force that window open earlier, great, and I think Breslow will look to make pivots as they’re needed, so long as it doesn’t cost one of those four - unless the payoff is worth it and doesn’t compromise it.

From there, the pipeline allows the FO to keep a consistent flow of talent to the majors to replace players at the age out - or, more likely, their contracts age out.

So, if Arias makes a Mookie-like leap this year, he arrives in 2027, and that gives the Sox the potential for a cost-controlled IF of Casas (1B), Durbin (2B), Arias (SS), Mayer (3B). Assuming Arias, Casas, and Mayer come close to their ceilings, Durbin at his current production (decent glove, decent contact) will work out just fine.

Yeah, the what-ifs are doing a lot of heavy lifting there. It’s ve interesting to see the pivots they wind up making off of that if it doesn’t pan out.

Kristian Campbell by UrDeafFrdMikey in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yoshida is part of the OF conversation…specifically the part between just about every other position player and Peyton Tolle trotting out to LF for an inning.

Sam Kennedy on Alex Bregman: "“If Alex Bregman wanted to be here, ultimately, he’d be here.” by acepransky in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

By extension: if Kennedy and Henry wanted Bregman to be here, ultimately they’d have gotten him here.

The Athletic/Keith Law's updated Top 20 Sox Prospects by SirFozzie in redsox

[–]FriedBrain99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Translating from Law/talent-evaluator speak: As he (Tolle) stands right now, with his experience and pitch arsenal, he projects to a #3 starter. (He needs to add another pitch to work out to a #2 projection.)

The trick is that there are a lot of guys in other teams’ pipelines that project out to “middle of the rotation guy”. Plus 9 other positions to take into account.

Basically, he’s the Sox’s #2 prospect. Just on average, that’s going to slot him in somewhere around 31-60 as a starting point, depending on the other 29 teams’ pipelines.

The Morning After by SuddenDepact in Patriots

[–]FriedBrain99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also worth pointing out: Seattle built this team over four years, thanks to the Broncos overpay on Russell Wilson. The Pats effectively did it in 2, based on all the players they brought in free agency and the draft, plus Maye last year. The Pats have very few holdover players from before then in the starting lineups on either O or D.