Hold 'em or fold 'em - A Mookie free zone.

Wallball Tingle

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Jul 16, 2005
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Just to bring it up because most of the big ones are off the board: Jed Lowrie. He could have provided slightly or significantly better value in these years as long as you were willing to move him around the infield a little:

2012: Mike Aviles (however, Aviles played 136 games to Lowrie's 97...evens out a bit given Aviles's OPS/OPS+ were .663/77 that year and Lowrie's were .769/107)

2013: Middlebrooks (.696/87 in 94 games vs. Lowrie's .791/119 in 154 games)--but we probably don't want to mess with that year...Middlebrooks' signature moments that season as I remember them were a bases-clearing, go-ahead double with 2 out in the 9th at the Trop early in the season, and a ringing double that was part of the rally in ALCS2 that culminated in the Ortiz slam.

2014: Middlebrooks (it got uuuuuuugly: .522/46 in 63 games, Lowrie: .676/94 in 136 games--obviously not great, but close to league average at 3B would have been amazing by comparison))

I think after that it gets a little unclear where you'd put him, and he was injured and mediocre for a couple years after anyway (though he's had a nice renaissance with OAK a couple times over!).
 
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Pandemonium67

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Apr 17, 2003
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Lesterland
This thread raises one of the great unknowable Sox questions: would Clemens been as motivated/gotten on the juice if the Sox had signed him to a long-term deal rather than letting him ride off to Toronto into the "twilight of his career?"
The Sox were never going to be able to re-sign Roger. He wanted to be closer to Texas.
 

TFisNEXT

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Jul 21, 2005
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The 2010-11 offseason, Beltre was on the market seemingly for forever, despite having put up great numbers on a “prove it” one year $8M deal with the Sox..Even at the time, it seemed like that deal for Adrian Gonzalez was somewhat unnecessary. Youk was in his prime, an exceptional fielder by that point and a perennial MVP vote getter. As noted, the problem with 2010 was other guys got injured.

As an aside, I’ve always been salty that Theo barfed Rizzo up in the Gonzalez deal and then found a way to get him back from the Padres just a few years later with the Cubs and Hoyer where he turned into a stud. I know there was nothing officially shady but it seemed kind of wrong.
Beltre was crazy good in 2010. It was his best season in years and I think at the time people were thinking “this is kind of a last hurrah resurgence before he ages” which of course turned out to be incorrect. He was stellar for another 5 or 6 seasons. Hard to totally fault the Red Sox if he was looking for 5 years going into his age 32 season. But man, he would’ve fit perfectly into the team for those next 5 years as 3rd base was mostly a disaster through the mid-2010s which culminated in the Pablo Sandoval debacle in 2015.
 

chrisfont9

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One of the big issues for Hurst was the Red Sox insistence on using the least favorable lockout language in their agreements, as an extended lockout was expected in 1990 due to the collusion fiasco. There was a lockout that cancelled most of spring training in 1990, but it was resolved in time to allow for a slightly delayed start to the regular season.

Apparently the Sox were holding the hardest line among all MLB teams in terms of language that would basically mean the player does not get paid in the event of a lockout with no CBA in place.
Curse of the Yawkeys strikes again
 

Marbleheader

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Sep 27, 2004
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I was pretty pissed they drafted Trey Ball over Austin Meadows if that counts.
 

RIFan

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Jul 19, 2005
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I don't recall it that way at all. I know that's how he frames it in the link you provided, but I distinctly recall him wanting to be closer to Utah and in an environment more in line with his Mormon values than the Sox clubhouse (lots of booze, the infamous "Can's Film Festival", etc.).
I think this article from 1989 helps explain both perceptions of leaving to be closer to family, while also saying he would have stayed. https://www.deseret.com/1989/5/16/18807253/hurst-is-happy-with-his-decision-to-leave-boston
"I got a real funny letter from a lady who said I was too sanctimonious, that I put myself above people," Hurst said. "I never did that. I never set myself up to be judge and jury."So, no, Bruce Hurst, a devoutly religious man, did not bolt by way of free agency, as is somewhat commonly believed, because he felt Boston had become a modern version of Sodom and Gomorrah in the wake of the Wade Boggs-Margo Adams scandal.

"I'm not going to move my family and make a decision based on someone else's lifestyle," Hurst said with an incredulous smile. "Besides, I know things go on in this world and that there's not a perfect place on this earth, anyway."
 

jaytftwofive

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Jan 20, 2013
1,182
Drexel Hill Pa.
Ellis Burks for me. Can't blame the Sox, but my first baseball crush.
Forgot that one. Of course that was bad. Look how well he did for the ChiSox and Rockies. Holy Shit!! I knew in Denver he would have power in Coors field but he had some near monster years with Giants and Tribe. Didn't realize he did that well in his later years.
 
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