The Official 2010 Hot Stove Thread.

[Will617]

how about a 1/20 deal where Beltre tries to increase his value by showing the major leagues that he can do it more than once every six years? He makes more money now' date=' the Sox aren't locked up long term, and next year if he actually performs to that level again, teams will give him a much bigger contract without the inconsistency doubts.[/quote']

 

I feel like Beltre would prefer the security of a multiyear deal. Injuries, a fall-off in production, etc could derail him, while he has proven that he can produce in stadiums not named Safeco.

However, I'm not sure whether GMs put a lot of stock/don't put a lot of stock in "contract year" arguments. $20 million would also be a lot of money, and something that the Sox could afford. So if they could swing it, and the ownership group doesn't mind overpaying by about $5-7 million for the security of a one-year deal (think Ortiz), it could be appealing from the Sox point of view.

[CoachC.]

ESPN.com is reporting Hideki Okajima will be non-tendered today.

[BSN07]

how about a 1/20 deal where Beltre tries to increase his value by showing the major leagues that he can do it more than once every six years? He makes more money now' date=' the Sox aren't locked up long term, and next year if he actually performs to that level again, teams will give him a much bigger contract without the inconsistency doubts.[/quote']

 

He's already getting 5 year offers in the 13M AAV range. I'm not sure how much more his value could go up. Maybe a few million, but that be a risky move after he has re-established his value so well.

 

 

And I have been doing some thinking lately, and I'm starting to realize there is a very good chance the Sox are going to get screwed on a 1st rounder this off season. Detroit has interest in Crawford and Werth, both higher ranking then V-Mart. LAA has extreme interest in Crawford, Soriano(both rank higher then Beltre I believe) and Beltre. Not saying it be the end of the world. But it would suck non the less if the Sox were unable to get 1st round compensation for one or both players.

[BSN07]

ESPN.com is reporting Hideki Okajima will be non-tendered today.

 

Won't be surprised if he comes back on a cheaper deal.

[The Celtbot]

Won't be surprised if he comes back on a cheaper deal.

 

Part of me thinks he just had a bad year last year and can turn it around. Then the other says that he has lost what made him so good and he is starting to get a bit old, who knows how much he has left in him.

[Dojji]

He's worth another one year low money flier. He's a soft-tosser, those are a little volatile, I'd give him one more chance to bounce back before cutting the cord for good.

[Dojji]

Royals are talking about dangling Robinson Tejeda. He's been effective in a couple different roles. Do you look to add him to our power-starved pen? And at what price?

 

A quick scan through the Royals team and system suggests that the best trading chip would probably be a young shortstop to provide some redundancy in case Christian Colon is actually a second baseman in the bigs. We have a few of those. We could probably get something done with one of the more redundant ones.

[italstallianion]

What happened the last time we got a seemingly good RH Dominican middle reliever from the Royals?

[BSN07]

What happened the last time we got a seemingly good RH Dominican middle reliever from the Royals?

 

He worked well for a 1.5 season and kind of flamed out at the end, was traded again and became a solid piece of a WS winning BP. I would happily take RR back and give him another shot. I wouldn't even be opposed to them getting MDC back if it was a minor league or league minimum deal.

[Dojji]

What happened the last time we got a seemingly good RH Dominican middle reliever from the Royals?

 

We got a really good year out of him?

[BSN07]

We got a really good year out of him?

 

What did they give up for RR again?

[Dojji]

What did they give up for RR again?

 

Covelli. Who was gone anyway from our perspective and wound up out for the year by June with shoulder issues. Anything we got from Ramram was more than a win.

[BSN07]

The Red Sox have long admired Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, notes Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. With tonight's non-tender deadline less than eleven hours away, there appear to be three possibilities for Martin:

 

* The Dodgers could re-sign him at a minimum of $4.04MM.

* The Dodgers could trade him.

* The Dodgers could non-tender him and get no return.

 

This was brought up at MLBTR. I still think he could be a very good pick up. I know there is a question with his hip. But if he's splitting time with Salty, the strain on his hip should be less.

[BSN07]

Covelli. Who was gone anyway from our perspective and wound up out for the year by June with shoulder issues. Anything we got from Ramram was more than a win.

 

Yup I do that deal 10/10

[Dojji]

This was brought up at MLBTR. I still think he could be a very good pick up. I know there is a question with his hip. But if he's splitting time with Salty' date=' the strain on his hip should be less.[/quote']

 

I'd offer Che-Hsuan Lin to the Dodgers for Martin. See what they say. Lin is a great defender but I don't think he has the stick to ever be more than a 4th OF here, but in the NL, especially in a big park, he could play a much bigger role for a team. Nice OB hitter, blazing speed and incredible D, but we demand more power from our outfielders than Lin will likely ever provide, and out in the cavernous stadiums of the two Western divisions and in a league with lower offensive standards I think he'd thrive a lot better.

 

As for Robinson Tejeda, I'd offer Yamaico Navarro. He's an underrated shortstop/infield prospect who isn't taken more seriously largely because he's blocked making him a good target from the perspective of another GM looking to loot our system for undervalued players. He's playing at an advanced level for his age and he hit well in Portland and Pawtucket this year, especially for a shortstop, making him better real estate than most of the denizens here are prepared to admit.

 

That said, he is in fact blocked and on that basis, he's more valuable to another team in need of a young SS than he is to us, and the Royals match that description. In fact they'd probably be glad to have Navarro, who is more of a true SS than their current top SS prospect and would offer redundancy in a critical position for them. It might allow them to cut bait on the failed Yuniesky Betancourt experiment a little earlier. And his downside is a still fairly decent utility infielder, keeping the risk down from KC's perspective, especially considering Tejeda came to them as a waiver pickup. There's a lot of plusses for them for a deal like that and for us, we add a power arm to our mix with rather little lost in terms of organizational strength at short going forward over the next 5 years or so. Sounds like a good match.

[Will617]

If Russell Martin is perceived as a potential non-tender, I doubt it will even cost Lin. Being labelled unnecessary (and a potential cut) spikes your value down a lot, and the risk of bringing him back for $4 million (which is a lot more than he's worth to the Dodgers) is probably something they wouldn't want to deal with. At most, I think he'd cost a high-upside guy who's struggled in the minors and likely won't pan out.

[Dojji]

Jason Place, then?

[example1]

Didn't see this article from a few days ago:

 

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/alex-speier/2010/11/29/earning-his-werth-dwight-evans-thinks-so

 

Sorry if it is already posted elsewhere.

 

Dwight Evans and Werth are interesting comps, in terms of the type of player they are and the type of personality they bring to a team. Werth is a much more exciting player than people give him credit for. I think the bias toward recent experience unfairly lumps the prospect of Werth in with JD Drew who, despite all the value he brings, just comes across to fans as over paid and boring.

 

I like JD Drew and haven't argued against his contract. However, I have to say that the experience of watching him is a bit frustrating and I find myself feeling underwhelmed (again, not relevant to whether he helps the team win or not). Werth is a player with similar tools, but watching him I see a guy who is not any of the above descriptions. He is a more aggressive player than Drew and he shows passion in ways that Drew doesn't.

 

To the degree that people are frustrated with JD Drew the person, I don't think those same concerns will apply to Werth. In Werth I see more of a grizzled, Johnny Damon/Paul O'Neil/Dwight Evans type player who becomes part of the core of the team and who Boston fans could really like.

 

He won't be the centerpiece of the team, but he could be a really valuable component for a multi-year run at the World Series.

[example1]

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=5875844

 

Description of Sox meeting with Werth today.

[Station 13]

roll out the red carpet, tek is back.

[SoxSport]

Sounds like Boras is going to let everybody hang in the breeze until the last minute, to squeeze every last dollar out of the lucky team that gets Werth. After all, isn't every FA a lottery to Boras? What a loveable guy.

[BSN07]

I'd offer Che-Hsuan Lin to the Dodgers for Martin. See what they say. Lin is a great defender but I don't think he has the stick to ever be more than a 4th OF here, but in the NL, especially in a big park, he could play a much bigger role for a team. Nice OB hitter, blazing speed and incredible D, but we demand more power from our outfielders than Lin will likely ever provide, and out in the cavernous stadiums of the two Western divisions and in a league with lower offensive standards I think he'd thrive a lot better.

 

As for Robinson Tejeda, I'd offer Yamaico Navarro. He's an underrated shortstop/infield prospect who isn't taken more seriously largely because he's blocked making him a good target from the perspective of another GM looking to loot our system for undervalued players. He's playing at an advanced level for his age and he hit well in Portland and Pawtucket this year, especially for a shortstop, making him better real estate than most of the denizens here are prepared to admit.

 

That said, he is in fact blocked and on that basis, he's more valuable to another team in need of a young SS than he is to us, and the Royals match that description. In fact they'd probably be glad to have Navarro, who is more of a true SS than their current top SS prospect and would offer redundancy in a critical position for them. It might allow them to cut bait on the failed Yuniesky Betancourt experiment a little earlier. And his downside is a still fairly decent utility infielder, keeping the risk down from KC's perspective, especially considering Tejeda came to them as a waiver pickup. There's a lot of plusses for them for a deal like that and for us, we add a power arm to our mix with rather little lost in terms of organizational strength at short going forward over the next 5 years or so. Sounds like a good match.

 

Nice post. I think those may be reasonable offers.

[SoxSport]

Saltek to catch. Well, they can always get somebody else mid-season to patch up any holes which are likely to develop.

[example1]

Is Tek back? I haven't seen anything about that.

[BSN07]

roll out the red carpet' date=' tek is back.[/quote']

 

The Red Sox re-signed catcher Jason Varitek to a one-year, $2MM deal, tweets SI's Jon Heyman. MLB.com's Peter Gammons adds that the deal has $300K in incentives.

 

I mentioned back after V-Mart signed, if they where looking for a platoon catcher instead of a starter, I wasn't sure why they wouldn't just bring Tek back on a one year deal. Well now they have. I'm ok with Salty/Tek platoon next season.

 

 

I wonder if this is the kind of move a700 was hoping for to calm his nerves?

[example1]

I'm okay with that too. We're going to have to deal with mediocre throwing, but if we can sign Carl Crawford the negative impact of opponent baserunners would be reduced by like 75%.

[italstallianion]

Yeah if we sign Crawford, we won't have to worry about him stealing 6-7 bases a game against us.

[BSN07]

The White Sox non-tendered reliever Bobby Jenks, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.

 

Set up candidate?

[Station 13]

Set up candidate?

 

That's Papelbon.

[BSN07]

That's Papelbon.

 

LOL not making 11M. Papelbon will be the CL while he's in a Red Sox uniform. If he's not closing for the Sox, he's pitching on another team. NWIH he settles for being the Closer