Red Sox 2012/2013 Offseason Thread

[Station 13]

Dodgers rumored to be chasing Hunter hard and trying to land either Sanchez, Greinke or Kuroda.

 

I suspect they will outbid anybody for any player they actually want as they are in that kinda' mood at the moment.

 

Where would Hunter play? They have $100M on Crawford, $140M on Kemp, $80M on Ethier for the OF.

[jung]

I read something that I just glanced at without really taking the time to absorb that appeared to be saying that Kemp has got some sort of injury thing goin' on and the Dodgers are lookin' for some protection for Kemp.

[rjortiz]

We could sign Drew, Hunter, and Swisher for the same AAV as the proposed Hamilton deal. It makes more sense to spread our money around. We have too many holes.

[jung]

We have lots of holes to fill. We should have little interest in spending a bunch of cash on one potentially problematic bat when the pitching is kinda' iffy. Our owner may well be looking for ways to avoid large long term commitments going into a potential sales process.

[SoxFanForsyth]

6 million for an aging backup catcher? I have mixed feelings about that. It feels like a NickPuntoian signing to me. He's a bench player getting paid more than Cody Ross last year -- the Red Sox paid him what they did in order to get him away from the Braves.

 

This makes me think that the Red Sox may be out of the running for Mike Napoli. If three catchers felt like a lot, four seems unmanageable. I don't think stashing Lavarnway in Pawtucket will help this team much-- maybe he's more suited for first base?

 

Ross is a very underrated backup catcher. Very good defensively, and over the past 3 years (173 games), he's hit .267/.345/.450, and thrown out 31%, 33%, and 44% of attempted stolen bases.

 

And I know you love your CERA, so I'll give you those too. Over the past 3 years: 3.11, 3.15, 3.59.

 

I love the signing. Short term deal, $3.1mm/year is hardly going to break the bank for this team, gets on base at a solid clip. It's a good signing.

[Behindenemylines]

Ross is a very underrated backup catcher. Very good defensively, and over the past 3 years (173 games), he's hit .267/.345/.450, and thrown out 31%, 33%, and 44% of attempted stolen bases.

 

And I know you love your CERA, so I'll give you those too. Over the past 3 years: 3.11, 3.15, 3.59.

 

I love the signing. Short term deal, $3.1mm/year is hardly going to break the bank for this team, gets on base at a solid clip. It's a good signing.

 

I agree that the Ross signing is a positive. Quality backup catcher, and is a positive influence in the club house. Good character guy. Plus, now the Sox have another trading chip with the surplus of catchers. There are several teams in need of a catcher and could be potential trading partners for the Sox.

[Plumpamania]

Salty has been overrated all last season. He can hit some HR's but his OBP is paltry. Trade chip city.

[SoxSport]

Where would Hunter play? They have $100M on Crawford, $140M on Kemp, $80M on Ethier for the OF.

 

 

They keep putting their dough in the wrong places. It's the pitching they need to spend on.

A lineup full of stars doesn't help much without good pitching. They need another stud to go with Kershaw. Remember Koufax-Drysdale?

[SCM33]

Salty has been overrated all last season. He can hit some HR's but his OBP is paltry. Trade chip city.

 

He was overrated? He sucks....

[Plumpamania]

Okay Captain Smart Fan, how about by the general public, media and "the casual front office person".

[redsoxfan3]

We are still strongly pursuing Napoli. Hunter said that he plans to make a decision fairly soon. I know that we need OF help and some help at 1B, but let's work on signing or trading for some damn SP's.

 

Napoli is said to still want to primarily catch, so my guess is if we sign him, he is our starting catcher in a platoon role with David Ross who also sees some time at 1B when Ross catches. I am completely fine with that. It would allow us to put Salty and Lavarnway on the block. I would prefer to let Lavarnway develop more in AAA, especially since Ross is only here for two years. We would for sure need to trade Salty if we sign Napoli. There would be no use for him.

 

I heard someone complaining about 1B on Twitter, saying that we have too many 1B as it is. We only have Sands and Gomez. We need to go after LaRoche or Swisher. Sands could be a nice surprise at 1B, but I think we should definitely pursue LaRoche or Swisher. If we cannot sign either and we do sign Napoli, then I might be okay with Sands starting at 1B with Napoli getting some playing time there as well. Sands has not proven anything yet.

 

I am hoping we can sign Hunter. He is a guy we can sign on a short-term contract who will be a huge improvement over who we currently have. The only problem is there are a few teams interested in him.

[Station 13]

I would bring Ross back, even missing a month he was productive. Almost 25/100 at a bargain $3M last season. His price will start at around 7M. 3 Year of that is a drop in the bucket for this team. Plus he could be move quite easily in trades when Brentz get promoted.

[bubbakeg52]

Ya trading for some damn SP's sounds smart

[bubbakeg52]

How about sign Napoli and Pyrzynski.

Leave Lavarnway in the minors.

Worry about OF's and SP.. Sign the Japanese closer.

Catching spot will be improved.

[rjortiz]

"Pyrzynski" is an old catcher, who is going to want a multi-year contract. Playing half of his games in Fenway Park is likely going to drain his HR power. It's not a great move.

[rjortiz]

I've read that Swisher could go for as low as $33 million over 3 years. The Red Sox should be all over him at that price. Sign him for RF, and play Hunter in left.

[bubbakeg52]

How is that going to hurt his numbers if he plays in Fenway. Ross is the same age and hits worse career wise. Pyrzynksi would catch 2 years option for a 3rd. Ross backs up 2 years. Lavarnway waits 2 years. Napoli plays first. Salty/prospect gets traded for a SP. Pyrzynksi is a career .280 hitter and hit 25 hr's last year. Rebuilding doesn't hurt if quality players are comming in for 2-3 years to plug a gap until the young guys are ready to out perform them. It's not a problem to trade or eat salary for 1 year as a big market team.

[bubbakeg52]

They have 100 mil to spend this year and they would be under the 2014 cap and have salary comming off the books that year.

[Palodios]

Ross is a very underrated backup catcher. Very good defensively, and over the past 3 years (173 games), he's hit .267/.345/.450, and thrown out 31%, 33%, and 44% of attempted stolen bases.

 

And I know you love your CERA, so I'll give you those too. Over the past 3 years: 3.11, 3.15, 3.59.

 

I love the signing. Short term deal, $3.1mm/year is hardly going to break the bank for this team, gets on base at a solid clip. It's a good signing.

 

By all means, I love the defense. It just seems like a crazy contract for a guy who averages 55 games per year.If it means getting rid of Salty, I'd pay him 10 mill per year:lol:

 

In all reality he's probably just the hired help until Swihart gets here.

[bubbakeg52]

It wouldn't suprise me to see Napoli, Neise, and Victorino acquired. That would basically wrap up the offseason.

[rjortiz]

How is that going to hurt his numbers if he plays in Fenway. Ross is the same age and hits worse career wise. Pyrzynksi would catch 2 years option for a 3rd. Ross backs up 2 years. Lavarnway waits 2 years. Napoli plays first. Salty/prospect gets traded for a SP. Pyrzynksi is a career .280 hitter and hit 25 hr's last year. Rebuilding doesn't hurt if quality players are comming in for 2-3 years to plug a gap until the young guys are ready to out perform them. It's not a problem to trade or eat salary for 1 year as a big market team.

 

Pierzynski played in a bandbox last year. Left-handed power hitters usually struggle at Fenway Park, due to the deep dimensions. I'm skeptical that Pierzynski has developed 25 HR+ power this late in his career. If he starts hitting 10+ out again, he's suddenly an average catcher with .700 OPS numbers. I don't think a rebuilding team should be handing out multi-year contracts to players like that.

[Station 13]

Pierzynski played in a bandbox last year. Left-handed power hitters usually struggle at Fenway Park, due to the deep dimensions. I'm skeptical that Pierzynski has developed 25 HR+ power this late in his career. If he starts hitting 10+ out again, he's suddenly an average catcher with .700 OPS numbers. I don't think a rebuilding team should be handing out multi-year contracts to players like that.

 

Here's AJ's HR overlay to Fenway. (No I do not want AJ)

 

http://hittrackeronline.com/overlay/overlay_1352761421_285785498.jpg

[a700hitter]

It wouldn't suprise me to see Napoli, Neise, and Victorino acquired. That would basically wrap up the offseason.

I don't think that Niese will be enough to fix our pitching.

[BSN07]

I'm not sold on Niese transitioning well to the AL.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I don't think that Niese will be enough to fix our pitching.

 

The Red Sox pitching is going to live or die on Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

 

A scary thought, to be sure. But I think that's where this team is heading. They'll make an acquisition this year, likely a guy like Garza or Niese or Sanchez, but I really think Cherrington is going to go into next season with a rotation of Lester - Buchholz - Niese - Doubront - Lackey.

 

And that's almost certainly not going to be enough to compete for a WS title. A weak AL East title? Sure. WS? Almost certainly not.

 

But I think Cherrington is going to be focused on keeping the kids and not sacrificing the future for the current team. And I think that's a good, disciplined approach. Guys like Upton are tempting, but cooler heads prevail and I'm glad they didn't dish De La Rosa or any of the B's for him.

[NativeBostonian]

What do you guys and gals think about J-Bay back in Boston? I know he hasn't been doing well, but can that just be due to a bad fit in New York? He did do very well when he was in Boston and they can get him cheap.

[SoxFanForsyth]

What do you guys and gals think about J-Bay back in Boston? I know he hasn't been doing well, but can that just be due to a bad fit in New York? He did do very well when he was in Boston and they can get him cheap.

 

I think they should absolutely take a flier on him. They can't possibly count on him to produce, but to take a flier on him and let him earn a starting spot in ST, I'm all for that.

 

Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to going into 2013 with Kalish and Bay as our options for LF.

[User Name]

I'm not sold on Niese transitioning well to the AL.

 

Or even worse, Fenway. It's murderland for homer-prone lefties.

[rjortiz]

What do you guys and gals think about J-Bay back in Boston? I know he hasn't been doing well, but can that just be due to a bad fit in New York? He did do very well when he was in Boston and they can get him cheap.

 

Jason Bay is a corpse. Maybe a minor league contract at best.

[mvp 78]

It wouldn't suprise me to see Napoli, Neise, and Victorino acquired. That would basically wrap up the offseason.

 

.500 baseball, here we come!