2018 Red Sox roster building

Reed is a good pitcher and adding him makes the Sox better for sure, not sure how much better though, as far as wins go. I will not debate money per your request, but if signing Reed prohibits Boston from signing a hitter, IMO, the Sox will be worse off than they'd be getting said hitter. I'd love to bring him back and if they can add JD and Reed, I'd take it, but salary would inevitably come into play.

His source said Groome plus either Bogaerts or Bradley? Or is it Groome and a position player who he speculates is Bogaerts or Bradley?

Reports keep saying nothing is close but you then hear this.  Also the Cubs offering Russell plus two other players. Yet nothing is close?  Those are great starting points for a deal, way better than I would have guessed.  Either Baltimore is stupid or the reports aren't totally correct.

I believe having Addison Reed on the 2018 RS team accomplishes two things (possibly three).
First it makes for a better bullpen, not much argument on this issue.
Secondly it provides an insurance policy for Kimbrel. IMO there are precious few bullpens that can substitute a former 40 save relief pitcher with play off experience should their closer be unavailable. How much that insurance policy is worth is up to debate. Given the current available options on the 2018 roster I'm inclined to bite the bullet for this particular insurance policy.
I'll include my third contingency that is soley based on personal observation. Reed reminds me of Mike Timlin. Not so much with his stuff (IMO Reed's stuff is slightly better), but in his demeanor and in his ability to be abused. I wouldn't go so far as to say Reed (or Timlin) is "rubber
armed", but that, given their demeanors, they can still get the job done under duress. Obviously this attribute has limitations (see Robert's use of Jansen and Hinch's use of Giles). This ability, or skill is not common. Whether it be the decline in "stuff" as exhibited by a taxed Kelly or a loss of "demeanor" as seen by an extended Hembree or Barnes, my perception of Reed's ability to get the job done sans his stuff was unique among the cast of characters in the 2017 RS bullpen. Whilst I think this aptitude is not necessary to explore during the regular season (except Yankee games). I do think it comes into play during the post season. This applies in particular to the last two playoff appearances by this team.

Buy a bat. Fine by me.
Somehow I think building a beast with pitching (and defense) will take this team further into the post season.

Dealing for Machado, without assurance that he'll re-sign, seems like a desperate move, just to hopefully improve the roster next year only. Seemed like DD already mortgaged the future for a two - four year window to win it all, after all the moves he made a couple of years ago. When is enough, enough? Essentially going 'all-in' for 2018, with a Machado type of move, is an extremely reckless bet for DD at this point. Maybe when the Sox had a really strong farm system, but if the Machado move didn't work out, then the team will be really bereft at the minor league level, in regards to future Sox teams. At some point, it has to be considered reckless to keep giving the future away, for a chance at immediate gratification.

Hopefully JDM is signed in the next few days, cause the Machado rumors are worrisome to me. Interestingly enough, if the Sox did sign JDM, it would kind of make more sense to deal someone like Chavis, who's scouting report says his defensive skills at 3b lag behind Devers', and so Chavis' best hope for making the big-league roster with the Sox, would be if he could become proficient at 1b. Even if he is deemed as being blocked, the two main areas of weakness for the Sox, imo., is a clean-up hitter, and the farm system. If the Sox signed JDM, then it would make no sense to deal him, or Groome, when the farm system is so barren. I just hope that neither he, nor Groome, is traded for 2018 help in the form of Machado, especially as Machado can be signed as a free agent next year.

I believe the real lip service here is the Sox attempts in general to develop starting pitching in the minors for Boston. It's been that way for several years now. Groome as part of a package would be no shocker.

Unfortunately trading Rusney is not an option at the moment as it would require the Red Sox to add his salary to the luxury tax allocation and with a JDM signing they would be well over the 237mil threshold.

Rusney isn't worth anywhere close to his contract on the open market, so the Red Sox would have to eat most of it if they wanted to trade him, and that amount would also count toward the luxury tax numbers.

I think the only option to get Rusney into the big leagues is to trade JBJ AND cut costs elsewhere - assuming they still want JDM. Otherwise they can wait until mid year, call him up for a couple of weeks and if he hits well try and trade him without eating salary. It's a sad list of options unfortunately.

Or Castillo kills the ball for 2 months in Pawtucket and builds his value back. Unlikely.

Nope, he heard it was a player from off the roster. Presumably Xander or JBJ (again starting caliber player)

"Very aggressive offer" he termed it.

People might not believe me or these sources from Bowden, but that would be a mistake imo.

forum.soxprospects.com/thread/4239/2018-red-sox-roster-building?page=35

Scroll 5-7 posts down where I posted about what Bowden was hearing through his sources. He was one of the first to hear about Stanton to the Yankees, he was dead on about Ozuna getting definitely traded when the Stanton deal was done, he has been right about San Diego's aggressiveness on Hosmer.

Now his speculation is wrong A LOT (as it was in the post I made about him), but what he hears is usually gold, because he has a lot of connections in the front offices.

My guess is that the Orioles want the best package available and are leaking all these packages by the Cubs and Sox to try and get the best offer for Machado. I'm sure they'll make a decision once final offers are in. I'm also guessing that they want more clubs to join in on the bidding action. They have to trade him. No way around that, whether it's now or at the trade deadline. They may just put off a deal until July if they don't make a final decision this winter.

I think people also making the mistake of thinking J.D. Martinez and Machado are connected. They could both be targeted by the Sox right now in hopes of landing one or both of them.

I wouldn't put that past Dombrowski. Dombrowski maximizes, he doesn't try and find value in trades.

Trade JBJ to get Machado, sign J.D. Martinez to play LF.

Or

Trade Xander to get Machado, sign J.D. Martinez to play DH and outfield.

Both scenarios are plausible if the Sox wanted to push the 237 tax limit for a world series run this year.

After rehearing what Bowden and his partner Jim were talking about, they mentioned a player off the roster plus Groome.

Maybe that could of included pitchers too. Porcello maybe?

m.facebook.com/gale.fredrickson

Anyways I posted the whole conversation on a fake account on Facebook. They talk about the Manny Machado rumors by the end at 7 minutes 30 seconds in. They talked about the Sox for the most part in this segment if people want to listen. Sorry about the poor sound quality.

I would believe the signing of Moreland was a strong indication that the front office has eliminated first baseman signing so Hosmer doesn't seem to be on the radar. My main concerns are the overloaded portside rotation and the signing of the 3 B's (Benintendi is a baby B and not included in original). I don't feel there is any way to resign all three especially with Boras being the agent for both Bogaerts and Bradley. As for the portside heaviness, I was hoping we could have made a deal with one or more of the Bs along with a lefty to acquire a top end righty. The Yankees are going to match up rather well with our rotation, although Rodriguez has shown a high degree of success against them.

I just feel that if we have only Porcello and Wright, if Wright makes the rotation, the team is vulnerable to strong right handed lineups. Of course having Rodriguez on the DL would make such a trade more difficult.