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jimoh
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Post by jimoh on Nov 11, 2013 14:16:11 GMT -5
Eric, and everyone else regarding Workman. The only way he's both starting depth and a possible bullpen piece is by starting the season as a starter. Once you put him on the major league roster in the bullpen, he needs to be erased from the starting pitcher depth. I disagree with this. There are plenty of players who are stretched out in Spring Training as a starter, start the season in the bullpen, but nonetheless make a significant number of starts later in the season. See, for instance, Justin Masterson in 2009, when he started the year with three short bullpen stints, then made a longer piggyback relief outing, then made six fill-in starts, and then went back to the bullpen. A search for "justin masterson" "rubber arm" returns 713 hits. A similar search for Workman gets mainly stories that apply the term to Acevez. Things that work for Justin Masterson don't always work for regular folks.
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Post by jmei on Nov 11, 2013 14:23:58 GMT -5
I disagree with this. There are plenty of players who are stretched out in Spring Training as a starter, start the season in the bullpen, but nonetheless make a significant number of starts later in the season. See, for instance, Justin Masterson in 2009, when he started the year with three short bullpen stints, then made a longer piggyback relief outing, then made six fill-in starts, and then went back to the bullpen. A search for "justin masterson" "rubber arm" returns 713 hits. A similar search for Workman gets mainly stories that apply the term to Acevez. Things that work for Justin Masterson don't always work for regular folks. Justin Masterson only got the "rubber arm" moniker because the Red Sox used him that way and he succeeded. "Michael Wacha" "rubber arm" doesn't get you anything either, but he made four starts to start his MLB career, then made five bullpen appearances, but finally was converted to starting full-time and became St. Louis' best starter in the playoffs.
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Post by James Dunne on Nov 11, 2013 14:36:10 GMT -5
The question I have is how much "Fandom Goodwill" did the team earn with this World Series win? Who cares? Build a winning team and the fans will be happy in the end. If last offseason is any guide, the Sox will spend up to their budget, which means at minimum a handful of mid-tier signings. Then the press can run with whatever narrative they want - again, who cares? Exactly. Fans want a winner, all the other narrative as to why is just noise. The only thing I'm sure of is that whatever the Red Sox do this offseason, Dan Shaughnessy will write a column saying it was wrong.
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Post by hammerhead on Nov 11, 2013 16:23:21 GMT -5
But that misses my point. My point was; would the fans be willing to put up with the growing pains of having rookies up the middle and a second year player at 3rd... That doesn't even take into account 3 or 4 young arms being broken in over the course of the season.
Does the FO go all out or do they say "we won last year, let's do our best to field a competitive team without sacrifices the future."
It really comes down to filling in the holes from within (which could be a competitive team, but a growing team) or going for broke trading the talent within and signing big name FA's.
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Post by pedey on Nov 11, 2013 16:38:27 GMT -5
My personal offseason plan: (Mods please feel free to delete/move/or burn) -Let Napoli and Drew walk with no real attempt to do otherwise. -Offer Ellsbury a 5 year / 110 million contract. Which he will probably refuse. At that point you let him sign his 7 year deal elsewhere. -Non-tender Bailey -Trade Jake Peavey (16.5 million) and Bryce Brentz ? to the Arizona Diamonbacks for Martin Prado (10 million). The DBacks have very little starting pitching, but a very solid second basemen in Hill and a better version of WMB in AAA (less pop more OBP) who is ready for the majors. Prado may not be necessary. We would need to sweeten the pot, I am just not quite sure with what. - Trade the Reds for Ryan Hannigan (Should come cheap) or sign Carlos Ruiz for 2/16. - Sign Curtis Granderson to play Left Field and platoon him with Jonny Gomes. 3/39 + loss of pick. -Dump Dempster for salary relief - let say we eat 4.4 million (savings - 9 million). - Trade Daniel Nava and Will Middlebrooks to the Kansas City Royals for Sam Selman and Jason Adam.-Post for and Sign Masahiro Tanaka (Post fee of 55 Million plus 6 year 90 million dollar contract)- Make RDLR a reliever and sign one of Balfour, Mujica, Valverde, Dotel, et all who ever is cheap. We would lose our first round pick, but gain the three from Drew, Ells, Napoli. While only adding 13.5 million in payroll (not including the relievers- to me that is secondary). And our 2014 Sox would look like this: Shane Victorino - RF Dustin Pedroia - 2B Matin Prado - 3B David Ortiz - DH Curtis Granderson - LF Xander - SS Mike Carp - 1B Jackie Bradley - CF Ryan Hannigan - Cather 1) Lester 2) Bucholz 3) Tanaka 4) Lackey 5) Doubrount (Webster and Ranaudo as depth) Koji Taz Mujica? Workman Morales Britton Miller 1) The D-backs are loaded with near-ready MLB starting pitching 2) The 33-year old Hanigan hit .198 last year 3) 13 million a year to a platoon player? 4) Why trade a .300 hitter and a guy with 30 HR power, who ARE IN the major leagues, for two A-ball starters who aren't in the Royals top-15 prospects? 5) Did we learn anything from the mistake with Dice-k? plus, we are already loaded with experienced and young pitching. I agree with needing to sign a set-up man, dumping Dempster, non-tendering Bailey, and letting Drew, Ells, and Napoli walk. As for the 5 points I brought out, I completely disagree with.
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Post by iakovos11 on Nov 11, 2013 16:41:41 GMT -5
But that misses my point. My point was; would the fans be willing to put up with the growing pains of having rookies up the middle and a second year player at 3rd... That doesn't even take into account 3 or 4 young arms being broken in over the course of the season. Does the FO go all out or do they say "we won last year, let's do our best to field a competitive team without sacrifices the future." It really comes down to filling in the holes from within (which could be a competitive team, but a growing team) or going for broke trading the talent within and signing big name FA's. No, there's another option - the middle road, so to speak, which they took last year. I see no reason they would change their approach after the success it had last season.
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Post by jmei on Nov 11, 2013 16:48:49 GMT -5
But that misses my point. My point was; would the fans be willing to put up with the growing pains of having rookies up the middle and a second year player at 3rd... That doesn't even take into account 3 or 4 young arms being broken in over the course of the season. Does the FO go all out or do they say "we won last year, let's do our best to field a competitive team without sacrifices the future." It really comes down to filling in the holes from within (which could be a competitive team, but a growing team) or going for broke trading the talent within and signing big name FA's. Those are both hopelessly two-dimensional caricatures. What is really comes down to is how much the individual options cost in terms of dollars or trade return. The front office will gauge the market and make the best decisions possible while balancing short- and long-term objectives. Fans love these broad-brush philosophical characterizations, but no sophisticated sports executive (or any executive, really) makes decisions that way. PS: Who cares what the fans are "willing to put up with?" What actually matters is the effect any given course of action has on wins and losses.
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Post by elguapo on Nov 11, 2013 17:01:24 GMT -5
5) Did we learn anything from the mistake with Dice-k? plus, we are already loaded with experienced and young pitching. What was the lesson, again - never sign a Japanese pitcher? When you have a chance to acquire a frontline starter, especially at zero cost in talent and a discounted luxury 'cap' hit, the last thing you do is worry about a surplus of back-end starters and prospects. No, there's no guarantee with Tanaka, but how many pitchers' results are guaranteed?
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Post by hammerhead on Nov 11, 2013 17:03:57 GMT -5
Ok I am wording it wrong, because I could careless what the fans/media think as well. My question is more how the Front Office is viewing the offseason. Of course they will do some mixture of signing veterans and playing some young guys. Yes, it's all noise and yes it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it has impacted more FO's in this town than you'd think. It even played a part in bringing down the last Front Office (the sexy player days).
Have they learned?
My point was that the political capitol of winning the World Series might allow them to do things differently than if they had fallen short. I think you can fill those holes in house, because of the fact that you are "playing with house money".
If they had lost like for example:2003 ... They may have felt pressure to go out and make a big splash , like the trade for Schilling sign Foulke etc. etc.
Now, I know the common answer will be that you approach this year just as hungry as any other and that's a fair point. But I think the WS win gives you patience that you wouldn't otherwise have. It isn't going to mean management their jobs if they don't win this year. They also can bolster an already very strong roster without needing to sign the top names.
Theoretically you could have an opening day line-up filling the 4 holes with Lavarnway, JBJ, Xander and Carp.
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Post by prangerx on Nov 11, 2013 20:54:04 GMT -5
Non Tender
Andrew Bailey
DFA
Ryan Kalish Dan Butler Brayan Villarrael
Trade Canidates
Franklin Morales Alex Hussan Alex Wilson Stephan Wright Alex Castellanos Andrew Miller
Add to 40 Man
Garen Cecchini Anthony Ranaudo Bryce Brentz
Sign
Mike Napoli 3 years 45 million Scott Kazmir 3 years 24 million Carlos Ruiz 2 years 24 million Jesse Crane 1 year 5 million Franklin Guteirrez 1 year 3 million Taylor Teagarden minor league contract
Extensions
John Lester 5 years 85 million John Lackey 2 years 20 million ( brings luxury tax down to 10 million the next two years) Felix Doubront 5 years 35 million
Line Up
Shane Victorino Dustin Pedoria David Ortiz Mike Napoli Johnny Gomes/Daniel Nava Xander Bogarts Will Middlebrooks Carlos Ruiz Jackie Bradley
Bench
Brock Holt Franklin Guteirrez Mike Carp Johnny Gomes/Daniel Nava David Ross
Starters
Jon Lester Clay Buchholz John Lackey Felix Doubront Scott Kazmir
Relievers
Jake Peavy Ryan Dempster Brandon Workman Craig Breslow Junichi Tazawa Jesse Crane Koji Uehara
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Nov 11, 2013 23:05:44 GMT -5
At this point maybe they should just go with Carp/Nava/Ortiz at first or maybe a RH sub like Youk in that mix. We've got to cut somewhere and if we are looking at Loney at this point, for a lot more money than Carp is getting, maybe we should just consider Carp/Nava. I'd rather spend the money elsewhere than bring in an Aramis Ramirez or other trade option or overspend on someone who could well regress the moment he gets here.
Promoting from within has some value. I think they should consider it more often.
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Post by sdiaz1 on Nov 12, 2013 0:28:20 GMT -5
My personal offseason plan: (Mods please feel free to delete/move/or burn) 1) The D-backs are loaded with near-ready MLB starting pitching 2) The 33-year old Hanigan hit .198 last year 3) 13 million a year to a platoon player? 4) Why trade a .300 hitter and a guy with 30 HR power, who ARE IN the major leagues, for two A-ball starters who aren't in the Royals top-15 prospects? 5) Did we learn anything from the mistake with Dice-k? plus, we are already loaded with experienced and young pitching. . 1) The Diamonbacks fancy themselves as contenders in the NL West. This past season they gave significant time to two guys who posted negative WAR (Ian Kennedy -1.5 and Brandon McCarthy -.02) and also had Randal Delgado (.1 WAR) and Trevor Cahill (.7WAR). Next season they will be entering the season with a rotation of Miley, Corbin, McCarthy, Cahill, and Delgado. Yes, they have Archie Bradley who will start the season in AAA who could be ready by mid-season to help and Tyler Skaggs who should be ready in the Spring to supplant Delgado/McCarthy, but Peavey is a superior pitcher than 3 of the five guys they have penciled in. Maybe they would not have any strong interest in Peavey, but lets not pretend that he is not an upgrade to McCarthy/Cahill/Delgado. (I just compared McCarthy's FWAR to the BWAR that I used, and it may be possible that the number I cited above is too harsh on him. Fangraphs had him pegged at 1.9 WAR last season with a league average FIP. Still Peavy has superior K and walk rates in the AL to McCarthy so I still stick to my over arching premise - also just to note that both he and McCarthy will be FA's after 2014, so Arizona will not be facing a possible logjam in the rotation in the event of the trade that I proposed as Archie Bradley is barley 21 and Skaggs is 22.) 2) Steamer Projects Hanigan to post .250/.340/.341 slash for next season. That is not great, but a decent defensive catcher who can get base at a .340 clip is valuable. I'll also not that my main goal here is to not spend big and risk losing big on a older FA catcher like McCaan and possibly Ruiz (there may be more of a market for him than we all assume) while also leaving a clear path for either Swihart or Vazquez to develop and become our future catcher. 3) This is 2013, adjust your expectations as to what 13 million on the FA market can buy you. It is not even that Granderson needs a platoon partner (career 86 WRC+ vs lhp is not pretty, but is far from crippling) it is just that to maximize his value you would want him to face mainly righties. 4) Uhm yeah, I am pretty sure Selman and Adam are top 15 prospects in the Royals system... Though I will concede that I was likely under-valuing Nava. However, who cares if WMB can theoretically hit 30 home runs in a full seasons worth of plate appearances. He may as well also strike out almost 200 times and get on base at a sub-Trumbo level. To label him a 30 HR guy and leave it at that is more than a tad disingenuous. 5) Did we not learn anything from Yu Darvish? I mean that is just a silly statement to make. Tanaka is not Dice K (nor is he Darvish for that matter) please try to evaluate players based on there talents and skills, not their place of birth. 5-B) You do realize that pitching prospects fail more times than not? I am super excited about Owens, Barnes, Ranaudo, Webster. But the reality is that we will be lucky if 2 of them become number 3 starters. Anything more than that and we would have hit a jackpot. Also, my plan would allow them opportunities to start in the near future as Buch will likely miss time, its possible we let Lester walk, and if they really push our hand either lackey or Doubie could be traded as well. Why would you want to limit the number of assets that the team controls?
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Post by joshv02 on Nov 12, 2013 7:55:24 GMT -5
I wouldn't consider his contract "huge" in the sense that it'd be a tough burden for us to take on. It'd simply be one year of a high AAV, but we don't need to make many high-cost additions (unless we're going to hand McCann a giant contract), and there's a good chance we unload a chunk of change by trading Dempster or Peavy. It's not even a high AAV-- Ramirez would only count $12m against the luxury tax next year, which is not much more than what Abreu would would have cost ($11.3m). But it is twenty million dollars in real money, absent deferrals or salary relief from the Brewers. My understanding is that the Sox actual cash-out-of-hand budget is not significantly different from their budget for calculating the luxury tax.
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Post by jmei on Nov 12, 2013 11:32:18 GMT -5
It's not even a high AAV-- Ramirez would only count $12m against the luxury tax next year, which is not much more than what Abreu would would have cost ($11.3m). But it is twenty million dollars in real money, absent deferrals or salary relief from the Brewers. My understanding is that the Sox actual cash-out-of-hand budget is not significantly different from their budget for calculating the luxury tax. Funny that you mention that. Ramirez is due $16m in 2014, but $4m of that is deferred money. He has a $4m buyout for 2015, but that only triggers if he picks up his end of the $14m mutual option while the Red Sox decline, which seems like an unlikely scenario at the present time (if he performs well, he'll probably decline his end of the mutual option and seek a multi-year deal; he'd have to perform pretty poorly in 2014 for the Red Sox to value him at less than $10m for one year). So really, Ramirez is probably only going to be due $12m in 2014, with $4m in deferred money and a small probability of being due $4m in 2015.
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ehaz
Rookie
Posts: 26
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Post by ehaz on Nov 13, 2013 13:49:01 GMT -5
Sign Rafael Furcal 2/$10 Sign Masahiro Tanaka to 6/$60 (post doesn't count for CBA) Sign Corey Hart to 1/$10 show-me deal (offer Napoli 2/29, assuming he gets 3 elsewhere...) Sign Franklin Gutierrez minor league deal or 1/$2 Sign Beltran 3/$39 Non tender then resign Bailey
Felix Doubront, Matt Barnes/Allen Webster, Mookie Betts, Daniel Nava, Swihart/Vazquez for Jason Castro Try to dump Dempster for salary relief
Pedroia 2B Victorino RF Ortiz DH Beltran LF Hart 1B Castro C Bogaerts SS WMB 3B JBJ CF
Gomes Ross Furcal Carp Gutierrez
Lester Buchholz Tanaka Lackey Peavy
Dempster Bailey Workman Breslow Uehara Miller Taz
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Post by ramireja on Nov 13, 2013 14:26:20 GMT -5
Sign Rafael Furcal 2/$10 Sign Masahiro Tanaka to 6/$60 (post doesn't count for CBA) Sign Corey Hart to 1/$10 show-me deal (offer Napoli 2/29, assuming he gets 3 elsewhere...) Sign Franklin Gutierrez minor league deal or 1/$2 Sign Beltran 3/$39 Non tender then resign Bailey Felix Doubront, Matt Barnes/Allen Webster, Mookie Betts, Daniel Nava, Swihart/Vazquez for Jason CastroTry to dump Dempster for salary relief Pedroia 2B Victorino RF Ortiz DH Beltran LF Hart 1B Castro C Bogaerts SS WMB 3B JBJ CF Gomes Ross Furcal Carp Gutierrez Lester Buchholz Tanaka Lackey Peavy Dempster Bailey Workman Breslow Uehara Miller Taz I know we should be ignoring trades and all.....but wow....
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Post by soxfan94 on Nov 13, 2013 16:54:58 GMT -5
If it was my team, I would go sign Robinson Cano for whatever he wants. For the sake of arguement lets say its 7/$175. Why? Because players like Cano do not hit free agency every year. He is a pure hitter The guy has only hit under .295 once. He is someone who I can see hitting above .280 with moderate power late into his 30's. Pure hitters have a track record of hitting at an above average clip deep into their careers. (Gwynn, Jeter, Manny, Brett, Schmidt, Boggs, etc) He's not a guy who relies on his pure strength to produce. He hits to all fields consistently and will be well worth he 25 million each year. Do you all agree? I would play Cano at 3b and move WMB to 1st to platoon/battle for the starting job with Carp.
Sign Salty. Offense outweighs defense through the regular season in my opinion. If you want to start your defensive catcher in the playoffs when the pitching you're facing is elite, that is what you do. 3/$36?? to much? He DH's in the final year they do not block Vazquez or Swihart.
I would also look into trading Lackey and Dempster to a contender for a promising prospect in the lower levels, someone like Mookie Betts or better and maybe a reliever.
c.Salty 1b.Middlebrooks 2b.Pedroia 3b.Cano ss.Bogarts lf.Nava cf.bradley rf.victorino d.ortiz
c.ross 1b.carp if.holt of.gomes
SP. Lester SP. Buchholz SP. Peavy SP. Doubront Sp. Workman/Webster/DelaRosa/Barnes/Ranaudo
RP. Wilson/outside signing RP. Britton RP. Miller RP. Morales RP. Breslow RP. Tazawa RP. Uehara
This would put the payroll at 170-175 million including arbitration, all of Dempster's and Lackey's contracts, and signings.
These moves give the Sox a competitive team with enough flexibility to give the opportunity to the young starters while also improving out future with a prospect. Also, if Cecchini plays his way to the majors by midseason, he can play corner outfield.
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Post by elguapo on Nov 13, 2013 17:03:08 GMT -5
If it was my team, I would go sign Robinson Cano for whatever he wants. For the sake of arguement lets say its 7/$175. Why? Because players like Cano do not hit free agency every year. Pursuing Cano is certainly defensible, even having to move him off second base, but realistically whatever I would feel comfortable offering the Yankees would offer +1, or +10 to keep him.
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Post by mainesox on Nov 13, 2013 17:10:54 GMT -5
If it was my team, I would go sign Robinson Cano for whatever he wants. For the sake of arguement lets say its 7/$175. Why? Because players like Cano do not hit free agency every year. Pursuing Cano is certainly defensible, even having to move him off second base, but realistically whatever I would feel comfortable offering the Yankees would offer +1, or +10 to keep him. Which could honestly be a reason in itself to pursue him.
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Post by soxfan94 on Nov 13, 2013 17:12:44 GMT -5
I would be willing to go 8 years for 28 million a year. How much would you all do?
Also what prospect would you go after/ do you think we can get for Lackey and Dempster
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Post by thedogg on Nov 13, 2013 19:08:42 GMT -5
Another thought on one way to do the off-season (which obviously will never happen): Red Sox sign Cano, trade away Peavy and Dempster for salary, resign Napoli, sign Tim Hudson, sign Carlos Ruiz, sign Jesse Crain. Maybe also sign Roy Halladay for rotation depth or trade Will Middlebrooks and some prospects possibly for a depth piece.
Lineup looks like:
S - Daniel Nava - LF L - Robinson Cano - 3B R - Dustin Pedroia - 2B L - David Ortiz - DH R - Mike Napoli - 1B R - Xander Bogaerts - SS S - Shane Victorino - RF L - Jackie Bradley Jr. - CF R - Carlos Ruiz - C
Bench:
David Ross - C Johnny Gomes - LF Will Middlebrooks - 3B Mike Carp - 1B
Rotation:
Jon Lester Clay Buchholz John Lackey Felix Doubront Tim Hudson
Bullpen:
CL - Koji Uehera RP - Junichi Tazawa RP - Brandon Workman RP - Craig Breslow RP - Andrew Miller RP - Jesse Crain RP - Alex Wilson
I think that team looks mighty fine, and as far as other rotation depth goes there's Workman and Webster, with Barnes and Ranaudo potentially going to be ready during the season, as well as De La Rosa, Wright, Hinojosa and Morales with starter potential. In my estimations, this still keeps us under the luxury tax threshold (although I could have screwed up there).
Obviously I know it will not happen like that, and I'm not even necessarily suggesting that this is the best way to do things, but I'm bored and wanted to see how signing Cano could work. Realistically, this probably comes too close or surpasses the tax threshold, the Yankees will get Cano back, and I doubt the Sox dish both Peavy and Dempster.
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Post by soxfan94 on Nov 13, 2013 19:52:31 GMT -5
I rather have WMB at first than Napoli
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Post by bigpapismangosalsa on Nov 14, 2013 14:13:42 GMT -5
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I wanted to wait until all of the qualifying offers had been decided upon before posting what I'd like to see the Red Sox do this off-season. Now that each of those have been declined, I'll tackle this topic. Just a couple of quick points to set the proverbial stage for my arguments: 1) Last year was phenomenal, and I loved that team the most of any once since the 2004 squad, easily surpassing 2007 and 2008, and a bit more than that 2003 team, mostly because of how damn likable these guys were; 2) As great as last year was, I don't want to go off the deep end and think we're in a "win now" mode by any stretch. Last year's team over-performed pretty drastically, even Cherington mentioned they only projected somewhere in the high 80s for wins, and that type of a run cannot be expected again; 3) The future is very bright. We don't have a lot of stupid money on the books, any really, and the farm system is both top heavy and very deep; 4) My goal is to build a team that can be very competitive again next year, without sacrificing the future, and as part of that, I want to break in the kids.
In this post, I'm mostly going to stay away from the "big trades" with multiple moving pieces, and focus again on short term signings and some smaller deals around the periphery. I don't see any realistic signing from this FA class that I would give up a draft pick for (Cano is obviously worth one, but I think if the Sox get in on the bidding, the Yankees will offer $1m per year more to, literally, any final offer the Sox have. Like others, I'd set the budget at 5yrs / $100m for Ellsbury, and I don't think that gets it done, so I'm assuming he's gone). Also, in using my contractual figures, I'm using a lot of what Heyman predicted (along with an unnamed agent and GM on CBS recently). For the Sox budget, I'm using the $32m that Speier came up with since he is much smarter than I am.
I would approach Lester about the parameters of a new extension, and assuming some reasonable middle ground can be found, he moves into my "untouchable" group along with Ortiz, Pedroia and Bogaerts, and wouldn't deal any of them short of some GM going Dodgers-level crazy (which I equate to somewhere between a 3rd world despot and the hot red headed chick in Wedding Crashers). Other than that, I'd listen intently on offers made for anyone else, but wouldn't exactly be looking to move them unless someone came up with a very attractive offer. Anyway, here goes...
First off, I would trade both Peavy and Dempster to whatever team offers a combination of both being willing to eat $10m of the salary and then gives up the best prospect. I think that there are plenty of teams, specifically in the NL, that would find either of these guys at 1yr / $10m to be exceptionally valuable. I'd target either OF prospects since there isn't much other than Bradley Jr and maybe Brentz, and the best "bats" available. I'll guess Dempster to the Brewers for Victor Roache and Peavy to the Pirates for Josh Bell. New spending budget becomes $52m.
Re-sign Mike Napoli to a 3yr/$39M contract. Of that deal, I'd write in protection for the Sox based on number of games played / missed in 2014 and 2015, due to the hip conditions obviously. The first $13M is of course guaranteed. This gives Napoli "in essence" a 4yr / $52m deal figuring in last year, and protects the Sox from the hip deterioration. Budget stands at $39m left.
Re-sign Jarrod Saltalamacchia to a 3yr / $27m contract. This is a huge raise for Saltalamacchia, but the Sox keep it to a 3yr deal. This allows Vazquez a full year in AAA and Swihart plenty of time starting in AA. It also would not be an onerous contract to move should one of those two force the issue during the deal. ($30m left).
Sign Chris Young to a 2yr / $15m contract. He becomes the outfield super-sub, and as a center-fielder by trade, is of course insurance for both Bradley Jr and the time that Victorino might miss. He also has destroyed RHP in his career to the line of .262/.363/.474/.837, and my guess is he gets somewhere around 400 plate appearances this season. ($22.5m left)
Sign Tim Hudson to a 2yr / 15m contract. He is now the 5th starter. That might be a slight over-pay, but is a worthwhile risk in my opinion for his upside. ($15m left).
Sign Yuniesky Betancourt to a 2yr / $8M contract. He backs up the left side of the infield, and still pretty much allows Middlebrooks to play every day, in my opinion. ($11m left).
Sign Brian Wilson to a 1yr / $4m contract. ($7m left).
I would use the remaining $7m to increase the prospect value in a Peavy or Dempster trade, and sign the best possible FA starters that would accept a minor league contract to start in Pawtucet for depth just guessing at names like Wang, Garland Harang, etc.
These moves give you the following line ups. Against RHP: Nava-lf; Victorino-rf; Pedroia-2b; Ortiz-dh; Napoli/Carp-1b; Bogaerts-ss; Saltalamacchia-c; Middlebrooks-3b; Bradley Jr-cf. Bench: Carp/Napoli, Gomes, Young, Betancourt, Ross. Against LHP: Victorino-rf; Young-cf; Pedroia-2b; Ortiz-dh; Napoli-1b; Bogaerts-ss; Gomes-lf; Middlebrooks-3b; Ross-c. Bench: Carp, Nava, Bradley, Betancourt, Saltalamacchia. For the record, I would not straight up platoon Bradley Jr, but use Young against some of the better LHP we will face.
Starters: Lester, Lackey, Buchholz, Doubront, Hudson. Relievers: Uehara (closer), Tazawa, Wilson, Breslow, Miller, Hinojosa (long man, spot starter). Pawtucket rotation: Workman, Ranaudo, Barnes, Harang-type and Garland-type.
I think this team would be well positioned to make another run should things break right, would have phenomenal depth in the line up and for the rotation, and would also hold on to all key prospects / young players, while adding two more "top 10ish" prospects to the system. By virtue of bringing back Napoli, not signing any "protected" free agents, and losing Ellsbury and Drew, there would also be three spots somewhere in the top 35 picks in a draft that is supposed to be rather good this year. That's a great position to be in financially, and SHOULD a player like Stanton / McCutcheon / Kershaw / Price become available, they have both the picks to acquire and the money to extend these players. All this and a great 2013 to look back upon fondly - its a good time to be a fan of the Boston Red Sox.
Look forward to anyone who wants to agree with or tear apart the plan that I've outlined, but it's what I'd look to do.
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Post by elguapo on Nov 14, 2013 14:29:52 GMT -5
Sign Tim Hudson to a 2yr / 15m contract. Sign Yuniesky Betancourt to a 2yr / $8M contract. Sign Brian Wilson to a 1yr / $4m contract. ($7m left). Hudson seems set to get more than that, despite Heyman's guess; Heyman & friends predict Wilson gets 2 years at $6-8M per; and the most optimistic predictions would have Yuniesky Betancourt project to be worth negative $8M over the next two seasons.
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Post by jmei on Nov 14, 2013 14:32:31 GMT -5
Yeah, you had me until I saw the words "Yuniesky Betancourt." It's also interesting to see a proposal with 11 pitchers and 5 bench players. Has any team in recent history used that roster configuration in the regular season for any sustained amount of time?
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