Sox trade Benintendi

[PhoSita]

Mookie was not resigning with Boston. What the Sox received was more than "very little."

Not resigning because they wouldn't pay to keep him? 

Why else?  He won a WS as one of the faces of the team.


Look, you can spin prospects however you want, but if you have a young star who's in the conversation for MVP of his league on a regular basis, who is a key piece of a World Series team, and you let him go / trade him for future consideration because of $$, you're not a serious team.  Especially egregious when you're one of the top grossing franchises in the sport with a fanbase that has historically continued to pour money into the team's coffers even when they were famous for repeated playoff disappointment rather than excellence.

[hwangjini_1]

Mookie was not resigning with Boston. What the Sox received was more than "very little."

Not resigning because they wouldn't pay to keep him? 

Why else?  He won a WS as one of the faces of the team.


Look, you can spin prospects however you want, but if you have a young star who's in the conversation for MVP of his league on a regular basis, who is a key piece of a World Series team, and you let him go / trade him for future consideration because of $$, you're not a serious team.  Especially egregious when you're one of the top grossing franchises in the sport with a fanbase that has historically continued to pour money into the team's coffers even when they were famous for repeated playoff disappointment rather than excellence.

this debate over on SoSH was long ago, so i may be wrong on a few details.

but the package offered by the Sox was NOT far off from that of LA. Mookie had turned down an earlier offer from the Sox that was quite comparable....if my sad excuse of a memory serves me correctly.

the point is that money was not the sole deciding factor in mookie's decision.

but that is a "moving the goal posts" argument.

the point i was responding to was whether verdugo, downs, and wong were as you described. that is, a "very little" return for mookie.

i pointed out that they seemed to more than that.

[nickagneta]

He helped bring home a WS - for that I am forever thankful, but he basically didn't play last year and was pretty mediocre the year before. On top of that, he is set to be a FA soon, so I guess the writing is on the wall that the Sox don't consider him part of their future.

I get it with Red Sox management, but I said after 2018 that I wasn't going to be upset for a few years no matter what happened. I guess we are in the worst case scenario of 'no matter what' at this point, but it is what it is. If in a couple of years, we re-tool and are ready to contend again, then great; but 4 WS since 2004 is awesome so I will stand by my word and not complain for at least a couple of more years.

TP for having some perspective on how hard it is to actually win a WS.

The Sox went 86 YEARS without one, and have been the best team of the 21st century, and yet people are enraged at ownership?

These are the same fans who cheered on Dombrowski as he emptied are farm, and now they are ticked because we actually need to restock the farm.

This club wasn't going anywhere. The luxury tax problem was real and was going to hamstring the team for the next decade if it wasn't resolved. The team wasn't good enough to win, and we didn't have any flexibility left. This is what happens when you spend money like a drunken sailor in pursuit or championships. And that's not an entirely bad thing. The high-priced mercenaries helped to push us over the top. But there is a long-term cost to being rich, as the taxes do eventually come due.

In a 2-3 years the team will be contending again with a bunch of exciting, homegrown players, and all of this will be forgotten.

They had one of the best players under 30 in the league and traded him for very little because of $$, then we all got to watch that guy help the Dodgers win a WS the next year.

This ownership group is never earning back my trust after that. Plain and simple.

let me quibble.

in that trade, the Red Sox got: Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong from the Dodgers.

• Verdugo is a very good outfielder and very young.
  Downs is ranked the SECOND BEST prospect in the Red Sox system right now.
  Wong is considered the BEST catching prospect in the minor league system.
  

Mookie was not resigning with Boston. What the Sox received was more than "very little."

Being the 2nd best Sox prospect isn't saying much. I think espn+ did their MLB prospects top 100 and I think Downs was somewhere in the 50's. Not exactly encouraging.

[johnnygreen]

Mookie was not resigning with Boston. What the Sox received was more than "very little."

Not resigning because they wouldn't pay to keep him? 

Why else?  He won a WS as one of the faces of the team.


Look, you can spin prospects however you want, but if you have a young star who's in the conversation for MVP of his league on a regular basis, who is a key piece of a World Series team, and you let him go / trade him for future consideration because of $$, you're not a serious team.  Especially egregious when you're one of the top grossing franchises in the sport with a fanbase that has historically continued to pour money into the team's coffers even when they were famous for repeated playoff disappointment rather than excellence.

I would never call this ownership cheap, so I don't believe they never offered Betts a market value deal. Betts repeatedly said he wouldn't sign an extension without hitting free agency. Yet, almost immediately after being traded to LA, he signs an extension. I think Red Sox ownership knew he was leaving and wanted something in return, other than a compensatory draft pick. I have no issue with trading Betts because of this.

I know Benintendi is no Betts, but this trade p---es me off, as it makes no sense. He has too much talent to just trade him at his lowest market value.

At least this takes the sting out of not having NESN now. I have YouTube TV, and they no longer provide the channel.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Beni had been going downhill for a couple years, with no signs that he'd right the ship, so no surprise they sent him off.

Besides, the Sox are likely to be mediocre at best this season, and maybe next, so who really cares whether it's Beni or Cordero or Kike or any of their other mediocre outfield options. Right now the Sox are largely tied to an oft-injured Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi, and an aging JD Martinez, and whatever lineup they trot out will have too many weak offensive players to go with weak starting pitchers. Meanwhile Mookie and L.A. continue to stockpile talent and gear up for numerous titles.

[kraidstar]

He helped bring home a WS - for that I am forever thankful, but he basically didn't play last year and was pretty mediocre the year before. On top of that, he is set to be a FA soon, so I guess the writing is on the wall that the Sox don't consider him part of their future.

I get it with Red Sox management, but I said after 2018 that I wasn't going to be upset for a few years no matter what happened. I guess we are in the worst case scenario of 'no matter what' at this point, but it is what it is. If in a couple of years, we re-tool and are ready to contend again, then great; but 4 WS since 2004 is awesome so I will stand by my word and not complain for at least a couple of more years.

TP for having some perspective on how hard it is to actually win a WS.

The Sox went 86 YEARS without one, and have been the best team of the 21st century, and yet people are enraged at ownership?

These are the same fans who cheered on Dombrowski as he emptied are farm, and now they are ticked because we actually need to restock the farm.

This club wasn't going anywhere. The luxury tax problem was real and was going to hamstring the team for the next decade if it wasn't resolved. The team wasn't good enough to win, and we didn't have any flexibility left. This is what happens when you spend money like a drunken sailor in pursuit or championships. And that's not an entirely bad thing. The high-priced mercenaries helped to push us over the top. But there is a long-term cost to being rich, as the taxes do eventually come due.

In a 2-3 years the team will be contending again with a bunch of exciting, homegrown players, and all of this will be forgotten.

They had one of the best players under 30 in the league and traded him for very little because of $$, then we all got to watch that guy help the Dodgers win a WS the next year.

This ownership group is never earning back my trust after that. Plain and simple.

The Dodgers had a better roster than the Sox by far. And they were desperate to get over the hump. That is relevant.

The Sox tanked in a season in which there was no fan attendance revenue to collect. Not a bad time to do that. It will pay dividends.

And honestly Betts wasn't the reason the Dodgers won. They won because they finally got to play the playoffs in an empty stadium where their mentally fragile pitchers wouldn't choke. So yeah, they have their World Series*, and they also have to pay a speed player $30M for 12 (!!!) more years.

Sox were not in true contention, due to Chris Sale's injury and other factors. Hence he made a lot more sense for the Dodgers. By the time the Sox fixed their roster, Betts might well have already been on the decline. It happens quickly with the speed guys in baseball.

[hwangjini_1]

He helped bring home a WS - for that I am forever thankful, but he basically didn't play last year and was pretty mediocre the year before. On top of that, he is set to be a FA soon, so I guess the writing is on the wall that the Sox don't consider him part of their future.

I get it with Red Sox management, but I said after 2018 that I wasn't going to be upset for a few years no matter what happened. I guess we are in the worst case scenario of 'no matter what' at this point, but it is what it is. If in a couple of years, we re-tool and are ready to contend again, then great; but 4 WS since 2004 is awesome so I will stand by my word and not complain for at least a couple of more years.

TP for having some perspective on how hard it is to actually win a WS.

The Sox went 86 YEARS without one, and have been the best team of the 21st century, and yet people are enraged at ownership?

These are the same fans who cheered on Dombrowski as he emptied are farm, and now they are ticked because we actually need to restock the farm.

This club wasn't going anywhere. The luxury tax problem was real and was going to hamstring the team for the next decade if it wasn't resolved. The team wasn't good enough to win, and we didn't have any flexibility left. This is what happens when you spend money like a drunken sailor in pursuit or championships. And that's not an entirely bad thing. The high-priced mercenaries helped to push us over the top. But there is a long-term cost to being rich, as the taxes do eventually come due.

In a 2-3 years the team will be contending again with a bunch of exciting, homegrown players, and all of this will be forgotten.

They had one of the best players under 30 in the league and traded him for very little because of $$, then we all got to watch that guy help the Dodgers win a WS the next year.

This ownership group is never earning back my trust after that. Plain and simple.

let me quibble.

in that trade, the Red Sox got: Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong from the Dodgers.

• Verdugo is a very good outfielder and very young.
  Downs is ranked the SECOND BEST prospect in the Red Sox system right now.
  Wong is considered the BEST catching prospect in the minor league system.
  

Mookie was not resigning with Boston. What the Sox received was more than "very little."

Being the 2nd best Sox prospect isn't saying much. I think espn+ did their MLB prospects top 100 and I think Downs was somewhere in the 50's. Not exactly encouraging.

perhaps our disagreement is simply subjective, which is fine.

my understanding of baseball prospects is that being in the top 100 is really good. there are 30 teams. so if you have 4 players in the top 100 you are doing better than most teams.

being ranked in the 50s of ALL prospects means you are a viewed as being good.