Screw the Sox. Cheaters and cheapskates.
I’m rooting for the Dodgers this year.
did you turn on the sox when nomar was sent packing?
i root for the sox, first, last, and forever. a sox team with mookie would be more fun to root for, but they are still the sox so i follow them. i will miss mookie, but at least the sox will still score a lot of runs and be in play for the wild card....which would have been their hope even with mookie on the team.
mookie was pretty much gone after next season. so, to get two young players with high upside is better than a mediocre draft pick. mookie would want close to trout money, which would really harm the ability to keep a good team around him because of cost.
and, there is no guarantee mookie would have come back to boston as other bidders would have entered the fray.
no mlb team constantly lives above the luxury tax. you can say a lot of things about Henry, but one thing he isn’t is cheap. he has invested in this team. every big market team that has gone above the tax limit has gone below it to reset and then spent again. i expect that the sox will as well.
graterol will probably immediately become the #1 pitching prospect in the sox minor league system. he throws around 99-100 mph and has a great sider. he is clearly one of the top 50 minor league prospects out there.
verdugo is very young as well and if his back injury is in the past you can expect something such as JBJ with a good batting average.
neither is mookie, even combined. but either and certainly both are better than a middling draft pick or a financially crippling contract.