SHOCKER: RED SOX SIGN RANGER SUAREZ!

0:00The Baskards of Boston Baseball Podcasts. Back to folk. Red Sox fans have won to hear it. The Boston Red Sox are World Champion. Game over, series over, and the Red Sox are World Champs again. Yes indeed. Here it comes. Another addition of the Baskards of Boston Baseball. The Boston Red Sox break the fast after a long off season without a single free agent they make a huge splash. In the wake of the disastrous Alex Breggman to Chicago news breaking, the Red Sox just come out and sign Ranger Suarez doubling down on pitching to a five year 130 million dollar

1:05deal. Absolutely electric. I'm Nick the Voice joined by Terry Cushman Jr. We are the Baskards of Boston. Terry Ranger was one of those guys that I was eyeing back in the mid season. I knew that he was going to be a free agent. I saw that class. I mentioned him alongside guys like Framber Valdes, guys like Michael King, guys like Dylan Seas. And out of the four of those names Ranger Suarez was foreign away my favorite option really. The other guys had some red flags Ranger. I mean I just love this dude. What is your reaction? Obviously this comes as a pivot to the very shocking Alex Breggman debacle and a very unexpected one at that. What was your reaction seeing the news and what are your thoughts? Well the disclaimer here is I do like the move. But the reason why I'm disclaiming it is it's more complicated now than it would have been in October had you just went that route instead of the sunny gray route.

2:07And some people might say well you know in November you know his market wasn't settled and you know it just couldn't have happened. And my response to that is nobody was trading for sunny gray anyway. So you didn't have to sign sunny well trade for sunny gray take on 20 million dollars that you desperately need to allocate somewhere else. And Suarez got what I think it's 26 million is that what I believe so yeah 130 divided by five. So I think that's about 26 million you know I mean he's an extra 6 million over gray or 5 million actually I think gray is getting 21 million so it would have been a similar move you would have had him for five years. And you know I would have liked it better but and like you said I don't know if he was my top guy in October or September let's say but you know after you spoke about him you

3:10know he went from towards the top of my list to the very top of the list. And the thing that I've always noticed about him is the dude is nails in the month of October. That's what we needed so bad. And I think I said once or twice go get you a John Lackie type guy. You know maybe his regular season numbers won't blow you away but he'll lock it down in October and you know help you win a championship. So that was you know that that's kind of why I wanted him. His fastball isn't great you know similar to sunny grays but every single other area of his savant chart is elite only gives up soft contact keeps the ball in the park. His pitch mix is wide I mean he can throw a sinker he's got a slider he's got to change up his fastball so far has been enough to keep hitter's honest but he just throws such

4:13a wide range of pitches really well you know you look at Bayo he was a fastball slider type guy well and a change up guy until late in the season then that got away from him and it just didn't end well for him but so there's a lot to like there and but you know we've got some housekeeping to do if we're going to get a hitter so anyway what were your thoughts? Well you're absolutely right pointing out the similarities funnily enough between Rangers profile along with sunny grays it's like Brezlo really does have a type you know you have this low velocity type of dude with just an absolutely massive repertoire of pitches that he uses to just attack the zone the thing is is that you know maybe sunny gray k's a little bit more than Ranger Ranger is sitting a little bit under nine k's per nine I think about 8.6 if I recall correctly last season but still good strikeout numbers but like you said just tons of weak contact and I love to see that.

5:17It is an interesting move because this is a guy who is without a question you know the number two that we were initially looking for early in the off season and it's strange to come at this time especially like you said after the sunny gray move where everyone not not wrongly I wouldn't say presumed that sunny gray was the budget number two that the Red Sox had found. We don't know how long the Red Sox were speaking with Suarez's team obviously they probably had a feel for him for a little while now but it is so funny the timing of this move with Red Sox nation being up in arms over the news of the Breggman signing this seems like a strong pivot in a completely different direction. Now the bad news is that this probably means boba shit is completely off the table I would even guess that the other Suarez you and you is also off the table I have a hard time believing that the Red Sox are going to add anyone else in free agency until they move some money

6:18and that's going to be something that you know the Sox are going to speculate on that we're going to speculate on and really the whole fan base is going to speculate on until it happens. We heard it all season long right about the competitive balance tax and not going above that certain threshold and I believe with Rangers payroll being added to the rest of the teams this does put us about four or five million over. It just to me seems like this is the beginning of what will inevitably be a Durán end or Bayo trade that seems to make the most sense to me rather than an earlier toly since you know those guys are not only in my opinion more talented carry more upside but are also dirt cheap. Yeah I've got some thoughts on that let me just say one other thing just reacting to it all morning long I was actually up earlier than normal this morning and there were some

7:20tweets coming out I know Rob Bradford was one of them and said the Red Sox are exploring a number one or number two but it seemed like it was via trade Freddie Peralta was the big name this morning and there may have been another pitcher as well so I'm like instantly I'm like well I mean you don't really have it short of blowing up the farm you don't really have the assets anymore to do it you know you got Wilson Contreras which I liked I did like that one you know you gave up some for Sonny Gray you gave up you're arguably your best right-handed hitting prospect for Oviato which I still hate by the way. So I'm like a trade just doesn't make sense and then and then the Ranger Suarez tweet storm happened and I'm like I and I missed it I was like five minutes late even though my phone

8:20was near me I'm like I was Facebook messenger posts were popping up telling me about it before I got to Twitter and the war room was off to the races too and you know I was surprised and this is the most significant starting pitching acquisition via free agency since Nathan of Aldi eight years ago so he got to excuse me four years seven sixty eight million dollar deal he was paid 17 million per year wasn't a great contract 2021 kind of saved it from being a complete dud you know and he helped pitch us into the postseason that year so this you know this is not a consequential type deal this is what I've wanted the Red Sox to do all along in the post on Browsky era you know when the Terrick Scoobal deals come out and they hit free agency

9:24and we don't want to spend four hundred million I'm okay with that as long as you're operating in this part of the market with a proven pitcher who's barely thirty I think on a five year inconsequential deal I think starting pitchers tend to have longer careers than then hitters do or at least I think their primes last a little longer let me just say that and you know like Kevin Gosman was a guy I wanted so bad in the 2021 or 2022 offseason and he got a very similar contract I think it was a little less than this one but that's what I've wanted and I don't think I've been unreasonable to to expect those types of deals and and that's what we got so but again I just that sunny grade deal it's just it sucks because you need that money to go get your bat you know

10:27and and we'll get into some trade possibilities here but but you know if if you had that extra 20 million you you had free agent possibilities it you know so getting to it yeah you've got to free up some payroll you're four million over the threshold 264 is the second threshold we're at 268 right now and 244 was the first one so this one I think we're just under it so now it leap frogs us over this one the second one into the third tier there's a lot of different guys you can trade here and I'm not saying I want to trade some of these guys but if you're looking to free up 8 to 16 million you've got a ton of options you've got Durin you've got Christian Campbell you've got Patrick Sandivall you've got Brian Beo which seems to be the most popular name right now you got St. on Raphaelah there's there's a lot of ways to do it here and you know Bob

11:34Nightingale tweeted out that maybe maybe the Diamondbacks are open to trading to tell Marta I don't believe that I hope they are I would love to we're seeing that in the stream right now um some people falling along still want Marta I mean I would support it but you know if I'm the Diamondbacks I just whiffed on Breggman I got Aaron Otto who might be a net zero positive offensively he'll if defense is important in Arizona he still has a very good glove and he'll he'll help you a lot in that aspect but I just I'm just not sold that they're going to want to trade him it would have to be a big trade Durin would have to be in it or a brave I really don't care which one gets moved but you know one of them has to to get a player of that caliber um Bayo has to be in it I would love it if we could get rid of Patrick sand of all that's

12:3412 million off the books if you can do it I don't think it's like an automatic no like if you're trying to move your sheet I nobody's touching him with a 10-foot pull but you know sand of all could be a sneaky good acquisition and before I kick it back to you there's one team that is a perfect dance partner with the Red Sox not name the Diamondbacks not name the Astros they're in our division and it's the Baltimore Orioles they could use one or two starting pictures and you know they say oh you never trade within your division I don't think that's a thing anymore I think if a move makes perfect sense for both sides I think it could happen and they've got a ton of infielders that you could pick from the one I like the most is Westberg but you have that young kid I think he came up last year I forget his name I can figure it out

13:35in a second but but anyway yeah you're you're gonna get a bat and it's gonna come be a trade at this point most definitely and I agree with with what you said there's a lot of options on how to shed salary right now um you're absolutely right I think that Hicks and Yoshida those are both guys that would be a pure salary dump no one is clamoring for them but I do think that Patrick Sandball does have value especially because it is only a one-year deal it's really no downside I think that he's gonna have a decent year I liked what I saw from him in the past I understood why we signed him obviously wasn't too thrilled with him missing that entire first year but I agree I don't think that that's necessarily dead money especially to a team like the Orioles you're right and I agree you know the whole inter-divisional thing it's just about finding the right piece at the end of the day everyone realizes especially in the wild card era you have to go through the best teams in the league if you can't beat them you can't beat them you know what difference doesn't make if it's the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees really you know especially as you see the

14:40schedule expanding a little bit to playing outside of your division more and more you know um it's it's interesting you know one thing that I think everyone has been focused on myself included is the idea of keeping our best prospects right no one really wants to give up early no one wants to give up toly and so ideally you would find a Durand Bayo trade partner and and maybe get a catelle marty like you said who's easily the best option the red socks could possibly be looking for one option that I'd like to float that you know obviously is a little a little more roundabout I guess is the way I would put it is could we trade a sand of all Durand Bayo type of situation for prospects shed the money and then trade other prospects for a bat that's not entirely that far fetched and as much as I don't want to give up on early don't want to give up

15:43toly there are a lot of other really good prospects out there that if a team is willing to give you the right pieces for a Durand for a Bayo that gives you the depth available to then go out and trade for a guy who maybe is an imperfect fit I looked into quite a few players that could potentially fit our need for an infield specifically looking at names that have been floated as trade candidates for their respective teams at the top of it one that we've heard over the past couple of days in light of the Braggman signing is Nico Horner this is a guy who is making $12 million this year but he's a free agent next year doesn't really have the power but overall a very good defender and a very good bat not a guy that I would necessarily want to give up Durand for being that it's only one year you're going to have to sign me to a big deal not necessarily a guy that I would give up Bayo for but maybe if you do a little dance get prospects for those guys send prospects not

16:46named early to Chicago maybe you wind up with not to tell Marta but a pretty darn good second choice I wouldn't say Horner's quite at the top of my list he's probably not my top three but he is serviceable he's a high average guy a high on base guy a great defender so I would do it you know but I wouldn't want to give up a major haul for a guy who's a one year rental I guess that's what I'm getting at I haven't looked up the Cubs rotation I know Justin Steele's probably going to miss a good part of the season coming back from Tommy John but I don't know I mean if you know if they if they're I wouldn't even trade Bayo for him let me make that clear and maybe that's not a popular take maybe a lot of people disagree with me on that and that's fair

17:50but I mean I would be uncomfortable trading Bayo for a guy with one year control you've got a guy like Marta out there with four or five years left on a very team friendly deal I would do it for the him but yeah I you know you've got tons of depth I would flip a guy like Oviato if the Cubs were interested if they want Cutter Crawford Patrick Santa Ball I might even flip two of those three for a guy like Horner but but I wouldn't give up you know a major haul by any means yeah most definitely I'm I'm in the same ballpark and that's kind of the unfortunate thing when you look at a lot of the options that were left with you know there's no perfect fit like we've said Bichette Suarez probably not going to be the answer just because we need to shed payroll and you know other names that come up we've heard Brendan Donovan a million times we've heard Isaac Paradise a million times both of whom have upside but again you know I think two years of

18:55control on each of those 26 and 27 arbitration I also looked around there's a few other names that you know I would I would throw out just for speculation sake this is like probably the third tier for me but you could go out and get an Aussie Albi's type of guy who I believe is making seven million and 26 with a seven million dollar team option and 27 you would have Alec Bohm for one year Josh Young is just entering arbitration now these are guys who you're obviously sacrificing the bigger picture maybe you know you you have to choose between defense power on base type of thing between those guys these are you know not the impact players that any Red Sox fans want to see but they are guys who I think could maybe plug the gap and just give us another infielder that we need so badly and then the last name I would throw out is Mark Vientos which I saw a little speculation on especially because he I believe is still in team control right now and enters arbitration

19:58next year I don't like Vientos I've looked at him a couple of times just because you're desperate and you got to take second and third looks and every time I go back I'm like he's he's not a good hitter it's not a good defender I just don't see any upside he did have one really good season I think that might have been 2024 but I just I don't want him you're only making the meds better if you ship off a I don't know who you would give up in that whether it's a Bayo or Durant type guy but yeah Kobe Mayo was the one guy from Baltimore but maybe that's not realistic because he may not even make the big club out of camp but Jordan Westberg's the guy really like and he's got tons of control left so I'm wondering if that's just not even realistic you know what if you give up a Durant and a and a Meyer type guy for him like would that would that do it I don't know but

20:59but yeah so another thing I want to get to here I'm wondering if someone kind of stepped in and helped Bresla with this if someone kind of took the phone away and said let me talk to whoever this player's agent is you know I just I'd be shocked if he comes up with all these solutions by himself I mean trading Durant that should have happened you could have got something awesome for him and in the winter meetings and it didn't happen and and part of me hopes they they call up the Padres and and see I would give up a major haul for Tatis oh yeah I would put bail in it I put Durant in it maybe totally I don't know especially now that you have Suarez but it's just these next few weeks are going to be fascinating

22:04they are they really are you know it is funny just with the timing because you know we have a reputation obviously in the Red Sox fan base right and you know a lot of people look at the bastards of Boston as being very negative which we can be certainly but it is very funny because in light of that Breggman thing didn't it kind of seem like the entire internet for a time being turned into us you saw even the most positive Red Sox fans we're going for the pitchforks going for the torches the reporters were asking the hard questions we were talking about you know John Henry is going to hear this you know like you can't you can't live this down dude uh Brezlo what are you doing all this and you saw even some of the most positive Sox fans on Twitter and and some of the most Sox friendly media personalities being like okay this is a disaster what the heck are we doing and it's it's funny it was a weird space to live in for just those 48 hours

23:07until this news broke and everything sort of returned to normal I mean like you said it's like welcome to our world I mean we've been living in this world for a long time now and before the the Breggman Doomsday move happened I was kind of attacking the Brezbians on Twitter you know I was like or maybe it was just after I can't remember but I said something to the effect of you know we've had one good winter since 2018 but all them people that are finally jumping on board they're acting like this is the first bad one I'm like no we've had tons of bad ones you know I said it earlier this is the first long term deal in the starting rotation via free agency since Nathan of Aldi okay so that that trend is finally bucked it took all the way to 2026 to do it but I don't know but last night I was destroying the team as bad as

24:21I ever have I didn't get to do the Breggman show with you guys so I did the you know the follow-up show and you know I pointed out I'm like if sunny graze a complete bust everything drops off quick after that suddenly you need Bayo to be the guy again to be that number two and then there's the back into that rotation is just so unsettled but so now you've got you've got Suarez in there behind crochet so you've got a great one and two I'm just I'm willing to hope for the best now for sunny gray now that you know we've we've made a competent move here so we'll see I mean I he could be the number three maybe he's the number five he's just a raging head case so my expectations are still pretty low maybe maybe Oviato maybe they unlocked something there maybe he ends up being a big guy maybe early makes the team out of camp maybe he just mows everyone down and you have to put him in there I I don't know but I was destroying the team as bad as I I had all winter

25:29last night and you know it's been an interesting 24 hours and and I said last night I said you're 76 to 78 wins that's what this is but so with Suarez in there I'm willing to go as high as 85 right now you give me you give me a you give me a good bat a good corner infielder or just go get an unforeseen stud outfielder like a tatties type guy that would probably put Rafalella defensively at second base go do something like that and I'll I'll put us at 90 or above I'm not gonna there's no scenario where I pick us to win the division I'm not doing that again I did that last year but suddenly it's it's not as dark out today most definitely I mean the Red Sox right now no exaggeration you know I think to call us a top five rotation in baseball is not unfair in the

26:33least you know Ranger Suarez is a nasty nasty addition and like you said behind crochet I like gray I you know I'm I'm ready to root for him this year and with that I mean you just look at the depth you have so many guys who can fit into that four or five spot that you just hope all right certainly two of them you know can figure something out whether that's Kyle Harrison and Cutter Crawford whether that's Bayo and sand of all whether that's early and Toli whoever it happens to be you've got to enjoy you know just the depth that we're operating from and I think especially if you add an infielder which we need to obviously we we simply don't have enough on the roster but when you add an infielder if you add a really good defensive player with just a good bat you know not a great bat just a good bat I mean I said it before on Twitter I'm not looking for an all-star I'm not looking for a guy who's gonna get MVP votes just give me like an above average

27:34player you know what I mean get me 2.5 war at second base a guy who can play every day versus both hands and give you decent defense and that'll go a long way and whether that's a rental you know in a in the form of a Horner or a Brandon Donovan whether that's in a huge surprise like you mentioned Jordan Westberg great idea one that I never thought of regardless there are a couple of paths forward to at least make sure that we are competitive in 2026 if not long-term I think so and one thing I put in the in the war room it's stream long shot but if you got a smooth general manager in their smooth chief baseball officer and you still want Boba Shatt Dangle Trevor story out there just be like hey you know you had a good year it's a short-term thing you're you're not looking at getting burnt long-term here might only be a one-year deal

28:38there's a strike and you know you can free up 23 24 million that way and and even if you don't necessarily allocate it to but Shatt it still it still opens up a lot of avenues um you know you'd have to get two bats at that point but you know I I don't see why you couldn't and um you'd still have to you know do some housekeeping I still don't know where Christian Campbell's gonna play I I asked that all the time I'm like you've got Anthony Duran Rafael and Abreu in the outfield supposedly Abreu is gonna play every day that's the plan he's gonna he finally will face lefties this year so at that point I mean you've got you've got too many outfielders you've got too many so make a move there and like I said I don't care if it's

29:41Abreu or Duran I kind of like Abreu because he's not as temper temperamental but um there's tons of you you've got so much surplus to to address this need and to to go get your guy whoever it is I like the contraire assigning I wanted him last trade deadline we needed a pitcher more than anything anyway but um this is why I wish we had a a professional experience executive in there yeah I it does feel like the door opens a bit you know this gives me a little more confidence not a crazy amount certainly but makes me go okay there is a not just one but multiple paths forward for the Red Sox right now to improve this team and like you said I mean you you feel like someone else someone you know maybe a Dumbarowski or something like that

30:47you would have more faith in navigating something like this but you know that there are paths and that's the important part for right now I just really hope that Bresla in this organization can figure them out because the roster is lopsided it really is there are too many holes on a team that is paying this much money you know to be so high and payroll and constantly feel like oh man we could really use another 50 million you know what I mean the team it's not even just about an lack of willingness of spending money that we were criticizing leading up to this it was a misallocation of the money that you did spend this finally appears to be a really good free agent it's the first free agent signing that I felt excited about Red Sox history going back I'm genuinely not sure how long because I wasn't a Trevor story guy personally so I mean it's just I don't know it's shocking and I remember you know just a loop around where we were in you know at the

31:48start of the show is I was just about to leave the house funnily enough I was just going to run a couple of errands and before I I did I felt my phone buzz I go what's what's going on you know no way hold on hold on like 30 seconds ago are you kidding me it's just unbelievable it was one of those things where I had to refresh to get a couple sources because I thought well maybe there's some some bad reporting going on here but no it's it's really here Ranger Sores is really on the Red Sox and as unsure as I am about this offense next year the rotation is going to be filthy yeah it absolutely should be filthy and I mean just think if if they do unlock something with Johann obato and early just even if he doesn't make the team out of camp and shows up later in the spring and just kind of continues what he gave you last year I mean you could I'm not sold

32:49where a top five rotation but I mean you certainly could be if if one or two of those guys really you know comes through for you and takes a big step so we'll see I just I just hope we can get this team more streamlined I don't know how they're going to do it but um but you know they are they're not going to be 268 million dollars going into camp I don't think and I just I just hope we get some moves that we're comfortable with moves that balance us I want to see on a daily basis more righties in that lineup than lefties yeah I want I don't want to see Anthony has reverse split so he's he's gonna you know I don't look at him like a conventional lefty but

33:51I don't I don't want to see more than two or three other lefties not named him in that lineup every day and I don't want to see the platoon dynasties you some one of you mentioned earlier might have been Johnny that you know if you get that I think he was using the um the third baseman for Houston parades if you get him that kind of ends the platoon dicey but you know Alex core is gonna still do it you know he's running a a kinder camp and everybody gets a ribbon and everybody gets the play but I just I you know and you spoke about how everyone says we're the most negative podcasts and I point out like once a month we don't root for it I know it makes it seem like we're rooting for it but when the team does bad we do bad when the teams doing good and they're

34:51interesting our numbers our number of downloads go through the roof and we are coming off of a record year we didn't blow the previous record out of the water but we beat it by about 25,000 downloads a longer October would have blown it out of the water but you know we only won one game and got tossed so fast but you know we all want the team to be good every single one of us you know we want a deep October and I hope I hope this roster by the end of training camp can can give us a strong case for that yeah and at least on the pitching side of things it is right now we definitely have more first base depth than we did last season obviously causes went down and there was no one else now costs is funnily enough is the depth which I like for him takes the pressure off and you know we don't need to count on anything too crazy happening but now we do have

35:53a very simple equation which is too many outfielders not enough infielders so you need to magic something up you know you need to get your floss for a stone out you need to practice some alchemy and you need to figure out how to turn jaren doran into catelle marty or maybe him a bra you maybe someone else who knows into just someone you need to figure something out because as it stands unfortunately unless you want to completely eat the money on most talk you shita and say this guy is going to be an eighteen million dollar guy to dh every now and again you know and give up on that which I don't think the organization wants to you need to figure out how to give doran a bra you anthony raffaiella and apparently you shita a lot of playing time when there is only four spots for them to play you know we didn't really touch on cautious but I don't see why he couldn't be in a trade and be like the third piece to to really slam dunk the guy you want so it's probably

36:57I don't know who would line up you know I'm looking at baltimore as a team with with a lot of surplus and I think we're really a good dance partner even if it's not a westberg type guy but we'll see there's a million different scenarios that can play out in the next few weeks with a bunch of different players I'd love to see raffaiella get dealt that if he sucks this year offensively there's never going to be a player whose glove is so good that I think it justifies one of the worst bats in major league baseball I'm just not that I'd rather have an average defender in a big bat in that lineup just give me not below average we've had a lot of that but give me an average one and I would just love to get out of that deal so so bad and um you know and then

37:59tosses would it be nice to get the circus out of the clubhouse yeah we'll see yeah you'd love to get a temperature read on some of these guys because you have to imagine that there is a market for a guy like to ram not so much for cost is potentially but I mean he has upside I mean I'm not going to say that you know costs is a worthless player or anything there's a chance of him being a very productive first baseman you know it's just not necessarily something you want to put all your cards on you know but um we know that there's a market for Durand it's just a matter of meeting Brezlo on on where he is on that and for me I mean Durand is not the seven-war player that Brezlo seems to like to think he is I don't think he's ever going to have another seven-war season I really don't uh if you have to package him and maybe maybe you do lose quote-unquote and you have to be ready to do that you know maybe if you add up all the war and and run all the numbers you

39:02know Beyo and Durand and maybe some other prospect maybe they aren't as beneficial to the team as can tell Marta but at the end of the day you can only play nine guys every day you know you can only have 26 guys on your rotation uh or excuse me on your roster five guys in the rotation you know eight guys in the bullpen nine guys as your starters every day getting at bats so you really do have to unfortunately take the loss sometimes and we'll see if Brezlo is able to do that just imagine if you do get that bat whoever it is and then let's just say Marcello Meyer takes a huge leap this year in terms of health and performance and then all the guys are who they are the rest of them man what a what a surprise team and and I know I said I'm not willing there's not going to be a point where I'm willing to say

40:02the Red Sox are going to win the division but crazier things have happened you know there every year there's always that one team that you know maybe you don't have a ton of expectations but you know or bad expectations I should say and then they just round off 100 wins you know that Tigers team I know they fell apart last year but they they were better than the Dodgers in mid to late June on paper that a better record and so you know things can materialize right now but the one thing they're not doing they're not putting all their eggs in that basket this year they're not putting them the big three that we spoke about every episode last winter you know the eggs are clearly no longer all in their basket so so we'll see you know it's going to be a more interesting January than years passed

41:04because the team's very unsettled we've got all the surplus in the world to address those needs and the one last thing I'll say Durant alone gets us under that that next threshold we're back on the first luxury tax tier because he's getting paid seven million this year and you're four over and you still you probably have to add a bullpen piece or two so so you got to you got to trade more than just him but I think the increased urgency now to get that payroll down I think the more likely it is he gets traded I don't think he's necessarily going to be valued as that seven war guy anymore yeah and it's it's it's a good thing ultimately you know because the you know there's this concept I think Stephen King talked about it you know the idea of kill your

42:06darlings you know the idea that when you hold on to this beloved thing right this idea that you have or whatever it is in whatever context it can be applied to when you're holding on to the idea of something so much you need to be ready to let go of it you know and sometimes you need to viciously let go of it uh I would say that Jaren Durant was perhaps Craig Braslow's darling just get this dude into a trade it's gonna sting I like the guy's bat I like the player but you know you just have to do it sometimes to feel the best baseball team uh hopefully signing Suarez and putting ourselves over that threshold hopefully that is the band-aid being ripped off you know hopefully that is us sort of forcing ourselves into an uncomfortable situation to then get out of it you know so fingers crossed I agree with you very interesting January and obviously uh we're not done clearly but how does this move change your temperature read you know you're you're grading

43:07on the offseason thus far well I mean I'd like to move so far contraris and now Suarez if we get the that one last piece for the lineup I'll probably lean towards it it was a pleasantly surprising successful winter which feels good to say you know because I'd agree with you it feels good that that's even a possibility again because I think so many of us were locked into disappointment you know we're felt locked in rather um that suddenly being in a position where oh wow you know there are ways that we can we can get not just better but really good that is just very reassuring and

44:12Breslow has a shot at really recovering from the mess that we found ourselves in he got a quick reprieve here from the pregnant thing and in full disclosure I I did cover last night I was happy we didn't get him but I was furious to see the clown show he turned it into you know because eventually you're going to come close on a guy you really want and he's going to botch it the same exact way you know he's going to find or just find a reason to botch it and I want to know that I have a guy in that front office that is competent that can get it done and can address needs and even though I'm willing to say if we do get that next piece we've had a good winter like this would be our probably our second best off season in the post-Dombrowski era I'm sick of saying post-Dombrowski era by the way but you know this would be our second best off season but he's never

45:14had a good regular season he's never addressed the needs during the season so we're still going to need to see that as well that's why it's so scary that he's he's our top executive in there that's a great point you know he was asked pretty much point blank about the you know the Debra's Bregman controversy one more time you know with Bregman now certifiably gone how did he reflect upon the you know the Debra's fiasco and he said something which frustrated a lot of people myself included which was that he was pretty much using it as a learning experience you know and well I agree with the sentiment of that there's nothing else you can do at this point but to learn from your mistakes it's so frustrating to be like oh yeah that's that's why we messed up that badly you know so you could learn you know that's not necessarily the answer you want to hear if he does learn from it though we'll certainly see and I agree with you a lot of eyes are going to be on this team when it does perform well because I think it will how do we add mid-season

46:20how do we bounce back from injuries you know are there going to be any interesting little moves leading up to the deadline and then at the deadline which will certainly be just as pivotal as it has been in past years only one way to find out unfortunately and that's to just march forward and see what happens well I think you know assuming we don't trade totally in early which I don't think is a safe assumption and I am slightly more open to it with a guy that we just added that's controllable for five years in suarez but you know those two can come up I'm not as worried about the trade deadline this year as I as I was last year because those two have been cooking in the minors and you're you're still going to have tons of depth either way and then I don't know you know could Mikey Romero come up and and be a you know and be a viable option or Franklin

47:23Areas I think he's a little bit more further behind Romero but you've got some guys that are closer so maybe those could be some potential solutions for sure and you know it's too far out to tell you have no idea what to expect from a Christian Campbell you know this year it's very possible he finds some magic puts it together and suddenly you know he becomes a viable option to be a sort of super utility out there playing left field playing first base playing second base it really does feel good though because you're right about the deadline not necessarily being as big of an issue just because I think the biggest concern every year for every team which is starting pitching that seems to be very much locked in at this point yeah I'm I'm comfortable with the rotation at this point barring a an injury to Suarez or crochet I'm comfortable I

48:27think I think we have the the solutions so yeah we'll see right now you need one or two arms in the pen I don't know who that would be it's not going to be a free agent or a higher end free agent I think a lot of them have signed anyway but I don't know Justin Wilson comes back for instance I'm surprised he's still out there honestly he he was very good last year I know he's going to be 38 39 but so you need to add there the you know maybe some of that depth we just spoke of will go to the bullpen I don't know it's cutter Crawford should probably go to the bullpen honestly after not pitching for a couple of years just let him build up so that that is a solution I think but um yeah it's it's the lineup right now that's what we have to focus on and I love the idea of Christian Campbell I just hope that one year in the minors wasn't a flash in the pen because it

49:31might have been they totally rebuilt his swing and that makes me nervous that makes me really nervous and he didn't light it up playing Winterball and I'm glad he was willing to do it I mean I remember that year I think it was middle Brooks wasn't willing to do it and they they shipped him or something the f8 I don't remember how he left but um but yeah like so but you did pay him 68 million dollars so you you need to figure it out and I think he's going to be a high on base guy regardless of whether or not he comes back as a 3100 guy like we thought he would be but we'll see maybe Duran gets traded in in May or June like Euclis did because somebody emerged you know because a guy like Campbell's tearing the cover off the ball and you have to get him into that lineup so I don't

50:34I don't know which way it's gonna go it's gonna be it's gonna be an interesting year to be a podcaster and what more could we ask for most definitely you know at the start of the 2025 season it kind of felt like everyone was on team Red Sox right we are going to go and win the division we're almost win the division uh this year it doesn't necessarily feel like a division winner I agree with that but you know you pointed out how some teams do come out of nowhere I mean certainly no one counted on Toronto going all the way to the world series last year and yet they emerged and they played great baseball and they earned a spot there they shut a lot of people up myself included I didn't believe in Toronto early on either during their entire rise you know so you never know hopefully we're on the positive but I agree this is like one of those years where you're counting on so many variables uh to go one of two ways you know and maybe Christian Campbell's great maybe he's a bust maybe Tristan Cossus finds it himself to return to form maybe he

51:40gets traded or or remains just a AAA depth piece uh maybe Durand gets traded tomorrow maybe he gets traded in in May or June like you said or maybe I don't know it would be weird to make it all the way to October with this same outfield log jam that we had been talking about for a year and a half that would be pretty funny um but somehow I'm I also wouldn't be entirely surprised if that is the case I mean Alex Cora said I think last week I don't think the brez Breggman verdict had happened yet but he said normally this time of year he has a good idea of what the lineup will look like but this year he has no idea and that's I mean that makes two of us Alex haha I've been trying to rack my brain you know right in my own lineup cards like okay maybe maybe this this and every time I go no what about this guy you know where does he play you know so I don't envy Alex Cora this season it's going to be a really weird year to manage I feel

52:46yeah you know like I said I just hope it's not a platoon dynasty situation again but he might find a way to make it that way but I don't know we'll see just give me another bat and you know make a make a trade that's unforeseen that's amazing you know a Dom Browski S or Thio Epstein S trade I even thought Ben Sherrington you know made some good ones so we'll see but I don't know what else to say yeah as for my closing thoughts on the whole you know topic and the whole day it's it's interesting because this is the second time this winter that Brezlow and the Red Sox have gone and done a move that I had absolutely like wasn't even remotely on my radar you know the first one was that sunny gray move where no one was talking about sunny

53:48gray it seemed no one was was speculating gray to the Red Sox and then it came out of nowhere and as soon as it came out I was like okay well that means Ranger Swarris is completely off the board I'll give up on that dream I guess and now he has surprised me once more so at this point I I spent tonight reading about all of these oh maybe maybe there were you know there's some short term in-fielder we can add maybe if the lockouts next year maybe we'll just get a guy for a year and it's very likely that whatever in-fielder we do grab I probably didn't mention tonight he's not in my notes you know that's what I'm fully prepared for so that's my closing thoughts anything to add well a good executive makes that exact move so yeah most definitely all right thank you everyone for listening and watching we do appreciate it this will be a very interesting

54:49remainder of the offseason I went from being a bit doom and gloom and resigned to now thinking uh-oh maybe there's hope again the Red Sox love to do that to us don't they I've been Nick joined by Terry we have been the bastards of Boston take care everyone