Post by orcoaster on Oct 10, 2022 10:09:51 GMT -5
My premise is that the Red Sox as constructed right now are not that far away from a championship team. They need to do four things.
1) Sign Xander Bogaerts. Duh, goes without saying.
2) Empty the farm for an ace.
My first call would be to Miami for Sandy Alcantara. I would rather not trade Mayer, Bello, Casas, Bleis, or Whitlock, but I would use any one of them as the headliner if I had to. (Think Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett.) Miami has said they would not trade Alcantara, but he's starting to get old and expensive for them and they don't appear to be going anywhere soon. It could be a Pedro Martinez type of opportunity. Maybe a pile of prospects including Rafaela, Gonzalez, Mata, and Yorke pique their interest.
Other targets could include Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Aaron Nola, or even Justin Verlander. But Alcantara is the guy. The cost is high, but we need an ace.
3) Sign a starting pitcher.
Sign the best one you can get. To me, that is Carlos Rodon. Would he bite at a short term/high AAV like 3/110? 4/120? Pickings are thin for starting pitching so the price will be steep, but Rodon is worth it.
4) Sign a right fielder.
Aaron Judge. The price will be astronomical but you couldn't ask for a better fit for the Red Sox hole in RF and in the middle of the line up. Judges talks like a guy who would come here if the price was right. He would thrive playing 80 games a year in Fenway. This will be Judge's last contract so the Red Sox would have to go long -- 8 years at least. Mike Trout money puts it at around $280M. No better way to go all in than that.
Line up
CF Hernandez
3B Devers
SS Bogaerts
RF Judge
LF Verdugo
2B Story
1B Casas
DH rotator/bench
C Wong/McGuire
Rotation
Alcantara
Rodon
Sale
Whitlock
Bello
Pivetta/Crawford/AAAA
Bullpen
Pivetta
Houck
Schreiber
Barnes
Kelley
Crawford/Winckowski/Seabold
AAAA
Some may say, the Sox still need a Closer. I think the bullpen fills out nicely with the arms they already have. Houck showed he can handle close and late situations, and Pivetta was nails out of the bullpen in the 2021 playoffs. Pivetta profiles as a good/average starter and a good/great reliever. Filling the rotation at the top moves everyone down a rung which bolsters the bullpen options. AAAA arms are very deep and attractive too. No need to bring in high priced help, at least not right away.
Of course the downside of going All In is the salary cost. They would definitely be over the cap, but maybe not by as much as you might think. Making these moves puts them right at about $200M, considering that Eovaldi, Wacha, Martinez, Bradley, Vasquez, Hill, Paxton, Strahm, Plawecki, Brasier, and Sawamura all come off the books. That's a lot of payroll.
Would Bloom do this? Probably not. It is probably too early. But I do think he will do something like this in the future. He's following the Dodger model, not the Tampa model. Bloom has been collecting assets and controlling payroll since he got here. To go All In, a franchise must have quality depth (Deep depth, Theo says) and a reasonable payroll. The Red Sox are almost there. They couldn't go All In last year or in 2021 because the bench was not deep and the payroll was too high. There is a window of opportunity this off season though. I think Bloom has job security so will react to public pressure. I don't think this is his "must make a big splash" off season. I think Bloom will continue to do what he has done: acquire assets and reduce payroll -- and wait until the time is right.
Maybe Alcantara is unobtainable. Perhaps Judge loves being a Yankee. Or someone else gives Rodon six years. That's OK. Maybe the timing is not right. However, if Bloom does decide to push his chips in, this could be how he does it. If not, that's fine. The time is coming.
1) Sign Xander Bogaerts. Duh, goes without saying.
2) Empty the farm for an ace.
My first call would be to Miami for Sandy Alcantara. I would rather not trade Mayer, Bello, Casas, Bleis, or Whitlock, but I would use any one of them as the headliner if I had to. (Think Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett.) Miami has said they would not trade Alcantara, but he's starting to get old and expensive for them and they don't appear to be going anywhere soon. It could be a Pedro Martinez type of opportunity. Maybe a pile of prospects including Rafaela, Gonzalez, Mata, and Yorke pique their interest.
Other targets could include Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Aaron Nola, or even Justin Verlander. But Alcantara is the guy. The cost is high, but we need an ace.
3) Sign a starting pitcher.
Sign the best one you can get. To me, that is Carlos Rodon. Would he bite at a short term/high AAV like 3/110? 4/120? Pickings are thin for starting pitching so the price will be steep, but Rodon is worth it.
4) Sign a right fielder.
Aaron Judge. The price will be astronomical but you couldn't ask for a better fit for the Red Sox hole in RF and in the middle of the line up. Judges talks like a guy who would come here if the price was right. He would thrive playing 80 games a year in Fenway. This will be Judge's last contract so the Red Sox would have to go long -- 8 years at least. Mike Trout money puts it at around $280M. No better way to go all in than that.
Line up
CF Hernandez
3B Devers
SS Bogaerts
RF Judge
LF Verdugo
2B Story
1B Casas
DH rotator/bench
C Wong/McGuire
Rotation
Alcantara
Rodon
Sale
Whitlock
Bello
Pivetta/Crawford/AAAA
Bullpen
Pivetta
Houck
Schreiber
Barnes
Kelley
Crawford/Winckowski/Seabold
AAAA
Some may say, the Sox still need a Closer. I think the bullpen fills out nicely with the arms they already have. Houck showed he can handle close and late situations, and Pivetta was nails out of the bullpen in the 2021 playoffs. Pivetta profiles as a good/average starter and a good/great reliever. Filling the rotation at the top moves everyone down a rung which bolsters the bullpen options. AAAA arms are very deep and attractive too. No need to bring in high priced help, at least not right away.
Of course the downside of going All In is the salary cost. They would definitely be over the cap, but maybe not by as much as you might think. Making these moves puts them right at about $200M, considering that Eovaldi, Wacha, Martinez, Bradley, Vasquez, Hill, Paxton, Strahm, Plawecki, Brasier, and Sawamura all come off the books. That's a lot of payroll.
Would Bloom do this? Probably not. It is probably too early. But I do think he will do something like this in the future. He's following the Dodger model, not the Tampa model. Bloom has been collecting assets and controlling payroll since he got here. To go All In, a franchise must have quality depth (Deep depth, Theo says) and a reasonable payroll. The Red Sox are almost there. They couldn't go All In last year or in 2021 because the bench was not deep and the payroll was too high. There is a window of opportunity this off season though. I think Bloom has job security so will react to public pressure. I don't think this is his "must make a big splash" off season. I think Bloom will continue to do what he has done: acquire assets and reduce payroll -- and wait until the time is right.
Maybe Alcantara is unobtainable. Perhaps Judge loves being a Yankee. Or someone else gives Rodon six years. That's OK. Maybe the timing is not right. However, if Bloom does decide to push his chips in, this could be how he does it. If not, that's fine. The time is coming.