2018 Red Sox roster building

You forgot the italics

You mean Hanley/Moreland, right? They re-signed Mitch Moreland already.

I think he wants a Hanley/Moreland platoon at first base and a Brentz/Duda platoon at DH.

You're probably trading salary to do both. Most likely Porcello, which could be counter productive, unless you think Cobb is better (I'm in this camp who thinks Cobb is better than Porcello).

Then you have to question the return for Porcello and question whether losing draft picks and international pool money is worth the slight upgrade over two years of Porcello.

It's a pretty complex scenario, to put it simply.

Their offenses can be comparable. Health will play a big role, too.

I liken the upgrade at 3b for the Red Sox to the upgrade at 1b for the Yankees with Bird healthy. I think the Yankees didn't get the greatest production out of 1b last season when Bird was injured. I think Bird will mitigate some of Judge's lesser year, although I don't think Judge is going to fall off a cliff. I do think Stanton is a legit threat to top 60 homers. I think Frazier can be a really good player if he gets a chance. I used to think Gregorius' offense was a fluke. I don't think that anymore. Sanchez might be better than he was last season. And I like Gleyber Torres a lot and think he might be comparable to Devers in some ways - don't know if he'll develop out of the gate as quickly as Devers has, but I think it's a possibility that by the 2nd half he could be a major boost to their offense.

3b is a question mark for the Yankees. Wouldn't be surprised to see them bring back Frazier to hold the fort until they go after Machado. He and Gardner are good supporting players.

With the Red Sox, it's the killer Bs being healthy and bouncing back along with Devers being the real deal and Benintendi being that young Freddy Lynn a lot of us think he can be. And the wild card is do they get Martinez and if so, what of Hanley? I honestly think he's capable of being quite good, but if it's Moreland - well he's a supporting cast member.

Where the yankees benefit more than Red Sox is that they 82 of their at yankee stadium. And I think a 14u little league team from Korea could hit it out of that litter box.

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Yes, the addition of JDM is a considerable asset. It would make for many slugfest games and one-sided wins over sub .500 teams. But no, it does not vault the RS above the NYY's or 'Stros. Both the Yanks and Astros will add pitching. The Yanks will have a full season from Gray and the 'Stros will have a full season from Verlander. JDM alone does not make the RS offense better than either team..... particularly with their improved pitching staffs. To beat Houston and New York in 2018 a top of the rotation pitcher is needed. Remember David Ortiz was released and signed by the RS for peanuts. Not saying we could get this lucky again, just pointing out that elite hitters are easier to come by.

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No, the addition of JDM doesn't vault the Red Sox ahead of the Yankees or Astros. What it does it narrow the gap in the offense between Boston and those teams. Think of it in 2016 terms. If JDM can give them 90 - 95% of the offense Ortiz gave the Sox in 2016 and you mix in comebacks by Betts, Bradley, and Bogaerts and continued maturation by Benintendi and Devers who is there for a full year, and perhaps between Hanley or Moreland they get better production at 1b - this could put the Red Sox back in 2016 offense territory when they actually led the league in offense.

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Reminds me of "your Fathers" Red Sox circa Williams, Yaz, Lynn & Rice, Burkes, Boggs and Vaughn. The RS are not going to lead the league in offense in 2018. Take that to the bank. JDM or no JDM.

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On paper the Red Sox already have front line pitching that the Yankee don't have. The Sox already have Sale, Price, and Pomeranz penciled in and Porcello is the 2016 Cy Young winner - they hope he can be somewhere between his performance of 2016 and 2017, and they have E-Rod who has a pretty high ceiling and Steven Wright who was an all-star before Farrell thought he'd make a good pinch-runner. That's 6 viable options. On paper that's quality and quantity.

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The Yankees will add a front line pitcher. Trust me. The Pedro enhanced Severino may get better. They will have Gray for a full season.The have a lefty, in Montgomery who can actually stay healthy, and a grizzled vet in Sabbathia. Tanaka may not make 32 starts, but the 25-27 he does give you will be quality. Sale and Price are quality. But that quality lasts for about 210IP or 3200 pitches. Beyond that, against playoff caliber offenses, much needs to be seen. Pomeranz is probably (maybe) good for 180 IP. E-Rod has much to prove, several chances to prove himself and has yet to remain healthy over a season, let alone the playoffs. Porcello is the "iron Man" of this staff.... and yet he may have the worst stuff. Wright may have made his Scott Cooper (or Brock Holt) All-star appearance. How many starts or IP he can give this team is anybodys' guess. On paper the Sox have a slight edge and far more questions. After the Yankees add the likes of a Darvish or Cobb the balance shifts to the Yankees... on paper.

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The bullpen is more iffier, but they do have the best closer in the league in Kimbrel. I know you want Reed back but the odds are he wants to close and that's not happening in Boston. The Sox are hoping that Carson Smith is what he was in Seattle. If he is then the Sox have a quality setup/high leverage guy. If Thornburg reproduces his 2016 season then the Sox have another quality/high leverage guy. I don't honestly think Thornburg will bounce back, but we'll see. We know Kelly has the stuff to be high leverage but we certainly can't count on that. Workman is capable of being a solid reliever. I'm sure the Sox hope that Barnes finally takes the leap forward that he's capable of, but again there's uncertainty there, too. The good news is that if they need an Addison Reed, they can always get a guy like (with an expiring contract) that on July 31st for a reasonable price.

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Again. A lot of "ifs" in the Boston pen. Too many for my liking. Not so many "ifs" in the Yankee pen. Boone will have a far easier time making late inning pitching changes than Cora.

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So if you look at what the team needs on paper, it's offense first and bullpen help second. My gut tells me the offense will be a lot better and the pitching will have unanticipated issues, but you can't solve issues based on a gut feeling - you have to look at what's in front of you, and the best way to solve that is JDM. His addition, I think, also takes the pressure off of the other guys who don't have to be "The guy". I think that messed with them without Ortiz around to be "That guy" in the lineup that pitchers dread pitching to. Without JDM then they have to rely on bouncebacks and good health and if that doesn't happen then their offense will be light years behind New York and Houston's. JDM closes that gap and gives them a chance to have the best offense in the league or at least be up there.[/quote]

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On paper this is a playoff team. My concern is not with playing October baseball, it is about how to beat the other teams most likely to be around. I have a high degree of confidence that those teams include the Astros, Indians, and Yankees. Those are the teams I want to beat. Of those 3 teams the only opponent that I think JDM will really help us beat is Cleveland. It may just be that we can beat the Tribe sans JDM. A Darvish or an Arrieta (or a Cobb) will do more to help this team beat Houston or New York. Heck, I'd take a flyer on Harvey if he came cheap enough. In October it's all about match ups. When your top 3 starters are all lefties and your going up against the likes of RH line ups of NY or Hstn I don't like the odds. I have nothing against JDM. I hope the relation he has with DD works in our favor. I just think we need a front line pitcher more than a DH.

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Duda and Hanley are projected at 116 wRC+ and 112 wRC+ respectively - which would equate to about a 1.5-2 war player for the year (taken up by 2 roster spots). That's not horrible but it certainly doesn't excite me.

The problem is that there is only one near-Ace pitcher available: Yu Darvish.

Addison Reed was the 8th inning guy. 

As for Velazquez/Wright/Johnson -- how much are the sox relying on them if you already have Sale/Price/Pomeranz/Porcello/ERod? That's why Sox don't need SP vs relief.  I realize ERod for example has been hurt and he's not coming back for a while- but he is going to give the SOx decent innings once he comes back. What is it that the Sox are expecting for a 5th starter? 

As for Maddox, I agree it's a small sample size. That's why I don't trust it. And if the Sox are going to "go for it" why settle on a guy that's "not all that bad" rather than minimize the innings of that guy and pick up a guy that is "very good?" 

And yeah- I would like to get Cobb.IMO there are more questions at the 8th inning spot than the sox part-time 5 starter/long reliever spot. ERod is a decent enough 5 starter once he comes back. 
 

They don’t need to trade salary to bring in both. This is a franchise that’s gone from having one of the top farm systems in the game to having one of the worst. They’ve tied their hands in trades. They made some boneheaded moves internationally that cost them prospects and earned them penalties. They’ve disappointed their fans since 2013 (i know we are spoiled) and they are clearly behind several teams in baseball right now. They are also sitting on a rotation that’s fragile; it’s as easy to see it falling apart (Price and Pomeranz injuries - Porcello being more like last year than 2016) as it is seeing them dominate. I’m not saying they do whatever it takes to sign the two of them but they certainly have the ability. They should have price tags on them that they think are reasonable (JDM) and a bargain (Cobb) and go for it.

This has been mentioned before, but our rotation is too lefty! I'm not in favor of extending Pomeranz and believe he will regress this year. I would love to see us pick up a solid righty to balance out the set of starters. The Yankees will love hitting against our rotation other than Sale (and hopefully a healthy Price). Pomeranz is a FA after this year. Do you all believe he will win 15 games this year? Do you think his ERA will be well below 4.00 this year?

Sign Martinez, move Pom, and sign someone like Lynn for reasonable dollars. I love Cobb and have seen him a lot, but I don't think we can afford both Cobb and JDM.

Lifetime .227/.316/.477, 0.9 bWAR in 348 plate appearances? Nah. Bird has power and has hit some important-seeming homers. And I agree that if he's healthy he'll be serviceable, which is a notable upgrade there for New York. But he's nowhere near Devers' class.