2018 Red Sox roster building

Champs I am talking about something a little different than a 6 man rotation and guys missing starts. Sale would still get 32 starts but maybe only pitch 180 innings.

Also my idea would be to add a Johnson and Velazquez to the other 6 and they all pitch 150-180 innings based on health and productivity.

Jerry, you're awesome too as would anybody be who can incorporate Nomar and the Grateful Dead into his handle.

It's fine to disagree with my posts - that's cool. Just because I'm a diehard Red Sox fan that doesn't mean I automatically have to declare the Red Sox better. Hating the Yankees isn't a good enough reason to lose objectivity for what I really think. My thought process isn't I'm a Red Sox fan so therefore the Red Sox are automatically the better team. A lot of years they're not. Some years they totally are. If I honestly thought the Red Sox were better than NY, I'd tell you. I don't think they're THAT far off from the Yankees at the moment, but I do think they need to get better to right up there with them. I think with my head, not my heart. Doesn't always mean I'm right, though.

Besides, honest question here - if the Red Sox are going to win the division title in 2018, who do you think they really have to get past to win the division title?

Do you really think it's Toronto? They haven't improved themselves and they're not as good as the Red Sox are, so no. Is it Baltimore? No, they're the same Orioles they usually are. Is it Tampa Bay? No they're back in their dark ages.

It's the MFYs. They're every bit as good as the Sox if not better, and they have improved themselves this offseason which the Sox have not done yet - and yes, the same can be said about most teams thus far.

So how realistically do you improve last year's team? Getting a reliever to replace Reed won't move the meter much in the upward direction unless you're adding the second coming of Andrew Miller. You could bring back Nunez, but the Sox already had Nunez, so you're not really improving upon what you had last season.

So what really moves the meter here? You get a top notch starter or you get a big bat? So what are the options? You can sign Yu Darvish. Don't see where this really happens. I like Darvish but with him he's getting 6 or 7 years at $25 - $30 million/year.

Does Arrietta move the meter? I don't think he's as good as he was a few years back with the Cubs.

Besides in all honesty, if you have Sale, Price is deemed healthy as of now, Pomeranz, Porcello, and Wright are healthy and you have E-Rod coming back and you have decent depth, a top notch starter isn't necessarily something you need to have, but you can make the argument for it. I just think your impactful options are limited here.

With Martinez, he is the middle of the order bat you need. He's not some fluky hitter. He has a track record over the past four years and I see no reason why he should fall off a cliff over the next few years.

As far as his contract goes, I think it's a reasonable bet that 6 years will seal the deal.

I also think he has a much better chance of 6 years than he does of getting $30 million/year. He has a snowball's chance in hell of getting that kind of money. Boras is out of his freaking mind if he thinks ANY team is going to pay that annually for Martinez. If Donaldson is getting $23 million, then I think as a free agent Martinez can expect around $25 million/year.

Any NL team would be crazy to offer him 6 years because his defense, being bad now, should be downright scary horrendous by then. He has the safety of the DH in the AL.

If the Red Sox need to secure his services with that 6th year then so be it. The next year or two are very crucial for the Red Sox. Come 2020/2021 we have very little idea how good the Sox will be. They will have a lot of free agent defections by then with precious little impact coming up in the farm system. Martinez would be a very valuable player over those first two years of the deal and sometimes that's what matters most.

For example the Sox signed Keith Foulke to a 3 year deal. They only got true value out of 1 year's worth. Shane Victorino was 3 years $39 million. They only got true value out of 1 year's worth. Were those deals ultimately worth it? Hell, yeah they were. Flags fly forever and those two were huge contributors, so if Martinez isn't the greatest investment in years 5 or 6 and they got huge value when they needed it, it isn't the end of the world. I'm not trying to tell you that getting 2 good years and 4 bad ones is a good idea for a contract, but what I'm telling you is that anytime you sign a free agent, you're making a bad deal - you're not likely going to recoup your investment so the best thing you can do is get value when you need it, and these next two seasons are crucial for that, and with JDM I think they'd get four years or so of good value from him.

Otherwise what options are there? There's Abreu and Machado and both will empty out the farm system for a very short span of time. Totally empty out that farm system and you'll be guaranteed that you have practically no shot after 2020. This is why I think Martinez is the one way to really improve last year's team.

You take the 2016 Red Sox and you essentially replace Ortiz with Sale but they didn't improve. What if they had Ortiz AND Sale? Wouldn't the Sox have been better? Well they didn't replace Ortiz's bat. JDM is most likely to be the guy who can do most of that, so his presence in the lineup would be a huge upgrade.

Perhaps Cora will be an upgrade to Farrell. Who knows? I mean what was the attitude when Farrell came in? He couldn't be any worse than Bobby V, and as it turned out they won the Series in his first season - Cora should do as well?! We'll see re: Cora. He might wind up being the Belichick/Brad Stevens of the Red Sox, but we just don't know yet how good he is or what his impact will be.

 I was thinking the same thing. So who are Boras and JD down to, Sox and Zona?

Yeap maybe Toronto, but I highly doubt it when comes to that team. That team and front office is really stingy when it comes to long term contracts.

To move on from spending 180m on a 2 tool player (Martinez) and using it to sign complete athlete with 5 tools (Mookie Harper or Machado*) just makes more sense.

Not if you're trying to win a title right now, which is exactly what this team is trying to do in 2018. If Harper and Machado were free agents right now, you'd have a point.

The Sox biggest need is Martinez's best tools. They just need a quality hitter at this point.

Maybe Price opts out next year and then you can worry about Harper then, but it still is a long shot. The Phillies and Braves are locked and loaded in 2019 and are ready to spend next year. The Harper bidding war could get ridiculous.

The J.D. bidding war is non existent at the moment and is getting worse by the day with all these teams bowing out of the race already. Martinez isn't going to cost 180 million at this rate. Boras can leak all the stories he wants at this point with J.D. Martinez threatening to sit out spring training.

Does JDM help the Sox win the AL East?
Because if he doesn't we're looking at a wild card berth . That's a one game play off that anything can happen . I too hope Price opts out , Hanley's '19 contract doesn't vest and they have a ton of to spend next year. I can agree on almost everything you say but the one thing I don't is that this year is the Boston Red Sox last chance to win a title.

Like someone else said in another thread, unless J.D. is really that dead set on playing the outfield (doesn't seem to be the case) or another team comes out of no where to bid for J.D. Martinez (there is no fit anywhere else in baseball for Martinez at his price point), there really isn't any other place for Martinez to go.

Literally it just seems inevitable and we are waiting for the terms of the contract to be settled and to see what the final numbers are when it comes to Boston and Martinez.

With the Sox holding the line at 5 years and not much competition for JD it doesn't make a lot of sense to screw up the chance to get him for a reasonable deal now. The question now is what will the aav be. 5/125 wouldn't be a bad deal, IMO.

The simple answer is, yes, JD Martinez does help the Sox win the AL East. I cannot think of a scenario where adding him does anything but help to be honest.