I was gifted this ball by a friend for Christmas and neither of us know who this is. He says he has had it for around 20 years. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

https://open.substack.com/pub/austinscholar/p/austin-scholar-36-the-four-skills?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=jhq1b

According to Robert Murray of Fansided, we have traded Cam Booser to the White Sox. I don’t know Murray’s track record, but it seems kinda odd that we trade one of our better relievers last year.

EDIT: Complete trade is Cam Booser for minor league pitcher RHP Yhoiker Fajardo. Fajardo recorded a 3.91 ERA in 13 starts in the dominican summer league this past season. Struck out 64 batters while walking just 8 in 50 2/3 innings. 18 years old.

Original return was thought to have been Tyler Schweitzer. That's since been proven false.

Curious to hear people’s opinions, which “distressed asset” currently on the MLB roster do you see being the biggest 2025 surprise and regaining either trade value or security in their role? Can be anyone but will list a few to get the discussion kicked off:

Trevor Story/Yoshida/Grissom/Giolito

Can even make a case for a more solid player with some question marks like Casas (durability), Rafaela (MLB caliber bat), Bello (fulfilling the hype), or Kutter (limiting the HRs) although these arguments are admittedly much less interesting and easier to see happening

Looking to buy tickets for a game at Feneay for next season. I’ve never been to Fenway (and the last time I went to see a ball game was when I was a kid, at the end of the Expos).

Any recommendations/advice?

Thanks!

It seems like there might be a competition for second base in spring training this year. I’m just wondering who everyone thinks will end up at the position and who they want. As far as I know the current options are:

Vaughn Grissom, David Hamilton, Kristian Campbell, Romy Gonzalez, and I guess throw Mickey Gasper in there too.

That’s assuming we don’t sign/trade for a second baseman during the offseason.

Let me know what you think!

When it comes to money, forget arbitrary "caps" and "floors" based on fixed dollar amounts, which are an endless source of argument and re-negotiation. Instead, design contracts around a percentage of the team's revenue.

For example, owing a player 1% of team revenue means they'd get paid approximately 5 million dollars per year. Signing baseball's best player for 10% of revenue would give them ~50 million yearly.

Over time, as inflation weakens the dollar more and more, those contracts will automatically grow in proportion to the team's income.

It would also put salaries into perspective and expose how greedy some players are. Every percentage a player gets is a percentage that their teammates can't get. So if a player asks for an unreasonably large share of the team's money, they would appear selfish, trying to hog more resources for themself at the expense of their teammates, and also hamstringing the team's ability to sign more talent to compete for championships.

But most importantly, revenue-sharing would bring players and owners closer to aligning their goals. Both sides want money, so it only makes sense to incentivize that which makes the most money for the entire organization: winning.

Right now we have a lot of starters Brayan Bello Kutter Crawford Garrett Crochet Richard Fitts Tanner Houck Quinn Priester(Maybe) Garrett Whitlock Lucas Giolito Patrick Sandoval(TJ till summer)

I think the Red Sox will skip on Corbin Burns and look to trade for another high end starter. Who of the pitchers is the most likely to get traded because we can’t keep all of these guys? Some may go to the pen.

Hi - I’m visiting Boston next summer and think experiencing a game at Fenway Park would be an incredible thing to do. Happy to pay up to $300 for a seat but pretty clueless about where to sit for the best atmosphere/view. Any advice would be much appreciated.

It was a minor point in an article saying that "yes, the owners are going to lockout the players over the 2026-27 offseason in an attempt to force through a salary cap, but I came across a section that explained why Henry talked a big game, but has come up short.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6005721/2024/12/19/mlb-lockout-2026-salary-cap/

But well before this winter, it seemed MLB could newly push for a cap. Shortly after the last CBA negotiations, Manfred created an “economic reform committee,” a group of six owners dedicated to reviewing two issues: the future of local television, and club revenue disparities.

By the end of 2025, likely about two-thirds of the league will have taken a pay cut in rights fees at some point in the last three seasons. In response, Manfred wants to radically change how teams share their revenues, pooling all the local TV money together while reducing or eliminating what teams share from other streams.

A cap could be a unifier amongst his owners, something that all 30 could gather behind even if they wouldn’t like the changes otherwise — a potential means to an end. The large-market teams, in particular, don’t want to share more of their valuable TV revenues, but could greatly benefit from a cap.

For owners, a cap has also always been an end of its own. Perhaps the end. They have long sought an upper limit on player spending, while the players have only wanted a minimum or floor to be installed, but the sides will never achieve one without the other.

The union declined comment for this story. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in spring 2023, “We’re never going to agree to a cap.”

This is why he doesn't want to spend.. because he fears the other owners will take away his advantage in having NESN. It was never about spending this money . It was getting "cost certainty", even if means throwing away the advantages Boston has over other teams.

2023 Teoscar Hernandez: 106 wrc+ 2023 Adam Duvall: 116 wrc+

2024 Teoscar Hernandez: 134 wrc+ 2024 Tyler O'Neill: 131 wrc+

When we sign Randal Grichuk (who had a 139 wrc+ last year) for $55 million less than Teoscar, people will be really upset, but this is a spot where they genuinely have earned the benefit of the doubt.

The hype for the Red Sox to sign Teoscar Hernandez is understandably high. There is also a lot of smart folks on here and curious to hear various perspectives. My concerns:

• 2022&2023 were pretty rough years for him, slight pass with the Seattle park in 2023 but damn that .305 OBP is low and 211 Ks is rough.
• Best contract to have signed him to was the one the Dodgers got (and we should have done), and seems like all their free agent signings work out well for them lately, our luck is pretty opposite.
• 2021 season he performed well, also the year Toronto played in minor league parks
• The 3 year term feels reasonable as it takes him to 35, had heard rumors he would want an option for a 4th year but unclear. Does feel like the AAV however is based off last year exclusively while the relatively short term is more reflective of his entire track record.

I like the player and well aware they can afford the contract, just also feel we may be getting too invested in that pursuit and acting like it is such a no-brainer when there are reasons to have some hesitation here. Productive dialogue only, would be stoked if they made the add personally

Prepared to get down-voted through the Earth’s core for this and maybe deservedly so but…

There’s just something nice about Brian Cashman that as any baseball fan we can just acknowledge we want more of. Baseball’s offseason is and has always been painfully slow. Yet here we are almost a week before Christmas and Cashman is basically done with building the team the Yankees will start the year with (hopefully anyways). After losing Soto the team didn’t wait around to let the market play out and see who was willing to take their terms. He looked at the roster, saw the holes and just made some moves he felt made the most sense to go out and fill them. Most teams have done maybe 1 move while they have added a front-end starter/elite closer/veteran productive bat. Do I personally like the roster they are deciding to go with? No, I think its old and super overpriced and much more likely to be throttled with injuries than it is to compete for a WS, but respect the aggressiveness regardless.

For clarity, I am also not someone who screams from the rooftops about how cheap our ownership group is. I think its definitely a bad look to not be in the top 5 in payroll given the market and passion of the fanbase, but they have also spent an absurd amount of terrible money in their time and part of why the payroll is currently low is due to the amount of young cost-controlled talent we have in the lineup. That being said, given the makeup of our roster it is reasonable to expect we will make another trade (too many lefties) and likely a FA signing of some sort before all is said and done. As a fan, the frustration for me isn’t even a lack of spending as much as it is the lack of aggression to make these moves. Yankees can spend as much as they want and I could really care less as I think the roster is mid and for the money they should be in a much better spot than they are, but if I have to give them credit for something it is that the moves we will eventually make before spring training to plug holes and balance our offense, they would have already made. Looking at all the bad money the Red Sox have spent, it should really come as little surprise that players we spend months nickel and dimeing until they settle on what we are offering will sometimes come in with not the highest of morale.

End rant

TLDR: Baseball offseason is too damn long and credit where it’s due to Brian Cashman for not being part of the problem

Hey all! Mets fan coming in peace. I am getting married and my soon to be wife’s brother is a huge Red Sox fan. I’d love to get him something Red Sox related as a gift. Taking any and all ideas that you might have given someone or received. Thanks so much! And F*ck the Yankees!