Choose Your Own Adventure: You're Dave Dombrowski!

Trades:
Trade JBJ, Wade Miley, trey ball to SEA for Tijaun Walker
Trade Manuel Margot, Joe kelly, Henry Owens to WAS for Stephen Strasburg
Trade Travis shaw to PIT for Tony Watson

Free agents:
Sign Darren O'Day 3/22
Sign Alex Gordon 4/80

Sign joakim Soria 2/11

Starting 9:
Betts
Pedroia
Ortiz
Bogaerts
Gordon
Ramirez
Swihart
Sandoval
Castillo

Rotation:
Strasburg
Buchholz
Porcello
Walker
Rodriguez

Bullpen:
Soria
O'Day
Barnes
Ross
Tarawa
Watson
Uehara

A rather difficult exercise given that it's nearly impossible to know how many subsidies, if any, other teams would want to take Ramirez (and/or Sandoval) off our hands. Given that, I'm sorely tempted to dump Ortiz and pencil Ramirez in at DH to keep it realistic.

Anyway, perhaps more later, but step one for me would be finding a manager who is willing and able to implement my pitching plan, which is that Steven Wright pitches to the first 9-18 (I would tend to 15 but would have to talk to him and the pitching coach to work out what workload is reasonable) batters each series, with the scheduled "starter" for that day closing out the game and the bullpen getting a day off. (The main difficulty for the manager, once he has accepted that this is what happens and that pitchers are never to be hooked for having a bad BABIP, is learning to use the bullpen properly in the other games, especially using the better relievers in more situations including at least down-by-1.)

If I was Dave I would like to improve my defense, don't give up my draft pick nor big cieling prospects, improve my bullpen and get rid of fat Pablo. So:
- Trade the fat guy to SD with Marrero for Shields.
- Sign Juan Uribe to a 1 year contract with a vesting option for a second year.
- Sign Darren O'Day.
- Sign Rich Hill.
- Sign Rajai Davis
- Lock Mookie Betts by buying 3 years of free agency (and try to do the same with Xander)

Rotation:
Buchholz
Shields
Porcello
Rodriguez
Miley
Starting 9:
C: Hannigan/Swihart (Vazquez starts the year in AAA where he can catch and DH till he's fully healthy)
1B: Hanley
2B: Pedroia
SS: Xander
3B: Uribe
LF: Rusney
CF: JBJ
RF: Mookie
DH: The Large Father

Bullpen:
Koji
Taz
O'Day
Kelly
Ross
Hill
Wright

Bench:
C: Hannigan/Swihart
CIF: Shaw
IF/OF: \O/
OF: Davis

With Felix losing a little bit of his shine, I think DD can finally acquire him because we match up so well with Seattle: JBJ/Vasquez/Devers to Seattle for Felix Hernandez

The contigency plan for TOR piece would be to sign Cueto so long as the medicals check out. I'm guessing he gets a deal slightly better than Porcello's in AAV and years. Something like 5/120-125

Work out a three way deal with Cincinnati to acquire Chapman: Find a small market team in need of an affordable starter.....send them Clay.....send Margot and prospects acquired to Cincy.

Sign a reliable reliever to slot behind Chapman and Koji; someone who can flip flop with Taz.

Sign an OF like Austin Jackson who isn't far removed from good seasons, but won't break the bank.

MAYYYYYYYYBE sign a 2nd tier SP.....Kazmir, Anderson, Iwakuma....Depends on the financial flexibility and market

My bad, should've checked before. I'll edit my post accordingly.

Sign Price or Greinke (depending on the contract outlooks of each), look to trade from prospect redundancy and possibly include Rusney or JBJ in a trade for another high quality starter, if either of them are traded, look to sign Alex Gordon or Jason Heyward (dependent on which makes more sense for the price). Improve the bullpen, adding high leverage relievers.

I'll play this game, although this kind of thing seems to devolve into fantasy land as it is so hard to determine the market and if the FA you target actually wants to play on the Sox or if the deal you like is what the GM of the other team would really want to do.

So, here's what I'd do. Not a heckuva lot.

I'd try to sign one of Price (7 years $217 million plus an 8th year for another $23 million incentive if he reaches a certain innings amount in years 6 and 7 of the contract), Cueto (6 years $150 million) or Greinke (5 years $150 million).

I don't want to trade the kids. I have no desire to see Swihart, Moncada, Espinoza, Benintendi, Devers, Travis, Kopech, or Margot traded away. I believe those kids will be core members of the Red Sox in the upcoming years. I believe this to be the strongest top talent crop of kids the Sox have had since the early to mid 1970s.

I'd rather spend $25 - $30 million/year on a starter. Obviously Price is the prize, but if LA goes after him and Greinke, odds are the Sox don't get Price or Greinke. Greinke is the only guy I'd be willing to surrender the 12th pick of the draft for. Cueto is a guy who makes alot of people nervous, but I still think he's a really good pitcher, and I'd take my chances on him at a lower rate and base salary per year than the Price and Greinke.

If the Sox can get Aroldis Chapman for Guerra and a secondary piece out of Marrero, Hernandez, Light (hope the Sox can keep him), Johnson, Hembree, Chavis, I'd make the deal for Chapman.

I'd still like to bolster the starting staff and still would look into Carrasco and would make JBJ, Buchholz (subsidized a little bit if need be) or Kelly, but it would require more - perhaps Owens, who I don't want to deal but would in this scenario (would prefer to deal Johnson). Or perhaps instead of Owens, the Sox would take on a portion of Chris Johnson's contract. I'd hope to get one of their middle relievers. I like Bryan Shaw.

If somehow this came to pass my rotation would be one of Price/Greinke/Cueto followed by Carrasco, Rodriguez, one of Buchholz/Kelly, and Porcello. I'd have Johnson and Wright as depth options and would probably need to pick up another depth starter to stash in Pawtucket. Perhaps Rich Hill would be an option (1 year $5 million base with incentives to bring the deal up to a max of $12 million if he pitches 200 innings.) if Buchholz was dealt and Kelly would begin the season in the bullpen.

If the Carrasco deal came off, then I'd probably deal Miley for a bullpen arm and a LH hitting rental corner OF, although signing Aoki could be an option, too.

I don't see any scenarios where the Sox can do anything but give Hanley away. I'd love to see the Sox dump Sandoval, but that's not going to happen, so I think they're stuck with him at 3b. In my mind, I could see a scenario where Travis Shaw winds up at 3b and Sam Travis winds up at 1b by the end of the year.

If the Carrasco deal doesn't come off, I'd be alright with Buchholz or Kelly still around and JBJ manning CF (with Betts in RF). I'd still see what Miley could fetch on the trade market. With an upgrade in quality (Price, Greinke, or Cueto) and Porcello a similar pitcher from the right side, Miley's quantity wouldn't be needed as much.

My goal would be not to add too much salary beyond the big free agent starting pitching, to give the team a legit shot to win, but most importantly, keep the farm system intact so that by 2018 the Sox have Swihart behind the plate, an infield of Travis/Pedroia/Bogaerts/Moncada, and an OF of Benintendi/Margot/Betts, with Devers replacing Ortiz at DH, and Kopech and Espinoza knocking on the rotation door, with plenty of money left over for improvements to the club.

As much as I am a fan of huge splashes and big moves, I feel that this team needs a few small gentle tweaks rather than huge free agent signings or big prospect trades. I feel that simply rebounding some luck on our offensive puts us in the playoff hunt. I also like our prospects enough that developing them may also upgrade our team the next few years.

1. Sign a 2-3 starter. Ideally a Mike Leake, Wei-Yin Chen, or a Hishashi Iwakuma type. I'm ok with losing the #12 pick if there is a savings in money, otherwise I'd throw money towards the best pitcher not attached to a draft pick. (Scott Kazmir?) A rotation like Buchholz/Rodriguez/Starter Mentioned Above/Porcello/Miley with Owens and Kelly as backups should be at least decent. We'd also have Brian Johnson and Matt Barnes.

2. Sign a reliever. I'd like Darren O'Day, but even a Madson or Soria lottery ticket could help.

3. Sign an international lottery ticket. With Maeda, Park (now with the Twins), Lee, Sierra, and Oh possibly being in the mix, I'd like to see Boston get one of them.

4. Sign a 5 starter on a 1 year deal. I'm hoping for a Masterson contract with better results. Someone like Rich Hill (will sacrifice more years for smaller AAV), or Tim Lincecum or Doug Fister. Kelly can definitely go to the bullpen and Rodriguez/Owens/Johnson/Barnes could be added to a trade if necessary.

Now, for expert mode, all of this talk about Braves trades and Freeman makes me want him. My goal would be to trade Hanley for either straight salary relief (anything over 50% salary offered I'd bite on), or some combination of money and prospects. If Boston is paying half or more of the salary, then I'd hope for a prospect that would be a position player equivalent to the rule 5 pitchers mentioned below and an A ball lottery ticket pitcher.

I'd then offer Manuel Margot + Sam Travis/Travis Shaw + a rule 5 type pitcher (Pat Light/Williams Jerez/Ty Buttrey) for Freeman and the OF contract that Atlanta wants to get rid of most (Bourn/Swisher/Maybin) That negative asset essentially becomes a 4th piece for Atlanta. I'd also offer Margot + Owens + Sam Travis/Travis Shaw if we do not pick up their OF contract.

We can also try to dump Castillo for savings, but I think his defense should at least make him somewhat valuable and not a complete black hole in our lineup or white elephant on our roster.

Don't mind me, I'm just rambling.

Reds are rebuilding.  The likelihood they want a pitcher on a 2/15.5 or 3/27.5 deal is sorta non-existant.  Marrero not enough to get it done, he has a .622 ops in what amounts to a full major league season at AAA (152 games).

Unsure why the Indians would trade both Carrasco and Bauer, not to mention in the same deal, not to mention for that return.

Also not sure why you trade for Trevor Bauer and then he's not slotted into your rotation.

Extensions can easily happen during the season.  Hopefully Dombrowski isn't wasting time on that right now.

I actually think Miley makes some sense for the Reds. They have a really young rotation at the moment and two things I think they need are a veteran presence and more importantly, a reliable innings eater. Miley would fill both of these roles at a fairly reasonable price and he should perform better back in the NL. I don't know if the Reds would take it, but I don't think Miley, Marrero and someone like Pat Light for Chapman is crazy offer.