2014 Roster Projections

[mvp 78]

Ross probably isn't an everyday catcher at this stage in his career.

 

He can probably only go 70 games at this point. The question is do they think Lavarnway should be given a shot, maybe Butler? Under Ross' tutelage, both could see defensive improvements in the coming season. Not sure Vasquez is ready to catch 100 games at the MLB level.

[sk7326]

Overall I take a relatively indifferent view of Tanaka - would be an interesting sign, and he could fit into the Red Sox economic analysis calculations. But if they decided to address any starting pitching depth by throwing a 1-year deal at a Tim Hudson or Dan Haren ... or seeing if there is a buy low opportunity with Brett Anderson, that would work just as well.

[Orange Juiced]

I'd love a 1-year deal for Hudson. I think he's terrific. Clearly they'd have to deal away either Peavy or Dempster, or both. Which I'd be fine with. Hudson is better than either of them.

[User Name]

I'd love a 1-year deal for Hudson. I think he's terrific. Clearly they'd have to deal away either Peavy or Dempster, or both. Which I'd be fine with. Hudson is better than either of them.

 

Dempster, maybe. Peavy? Not so much. Let's be realistic here, the AL and the NL are not the same thing, as evidenced by Dempster. It's unlikely he comes over and posts a 2013 Peavy season given his age and the league change.

[sk7326]

Dempster, maybe. Peavy? Not so much. Let's be realistic here, the AL and the NL are not the same thing, as evidenced by Dempster. It's unlikely he comes over and posts a 2013 Peavy season given his age and the league change.

 

I think it'd be for Dempster clearly. Hudson or Haren would make sense in both cases. Anderson is intriguing to kick the tires on ... legit #1 ability, but had trouble making starts. There is a lot of upside to be had there, but clearly don't want to lay out too too much.

[redsoxfan3]

As long as Ben doesn't get rid of Ortiz or Pedroia, I'll have no complaints with his offseason plan. Three championships in ten years-- O am still pinching myself. I'd like to see Ells stay, but if Cherries let's him walk that's okay too.

 

BTW, this off season will fly by. Last year, our hot stove discussions started in August. The off season seemed to take forever. We are already in November and our season finished one week ago.

 

We all know Papi and Pedey are here to stay. I want Ells to stay, but I am in the same boat as you. It just goes to show the difference between a franchise player and a player that wants to make a big payday. Pedroia is a franchise player and took a discount to stay in Boston. Ellsbury, with Boras as his agent, is ready to make a big payday, which it is not fair for anyone to be upset with him because this is a business.

 

I agree with you about the off-season. It will definitely fly by. Spring Training will be here before we know it.

 

There are five areas that I think we need to focus on this off-season (in no particular order):

1) C- McCann is an option and so is bringing back Salty. Pierzynski is an option on a one year contract. Obviously there are other options.

2) 1B- Napoli is the guy I want back. James Loney, Justin Morneau, and Kendrys Morales are also options. We would be taking a big risk on Corey Hart, but he is another option. There are other options as well.

3) CF- Do we resign Ellsbury? BC recently said that it would take A LOT to move Victorino out of RF. Is Bradley ready to take over CF? Choo might be an option that would put Victorino in CF. Rajai Davis is an option for CF with a lot of speed. He only played in 108 games last year and 95 in 2011. His career OBP is only .316, which is a long way away from Ellsbury's .350 career OBP. There are other options as well, I just wanted to throw Davis in there because of his ability to steal bases.

4) Bullpen- Uehara is our closer. Bailey is arbitration eligible again. Hanrahan is a FA that I am willing to take a pass on, unless he comes cheap on a one year contract to rebuild his value. Brian Wilson and Joe Nathan are free agents. I would be all for signing another guy to be in the set-up role. Tazawa, Breslow, and Workman will all be back. Hopefully Andrew Miller can bounce back. Morales is arbitration eligible. We do not need a lot to complete our bullpen, but signing a veteran like Nathan or Wilson could really help.

5) Utility IF- If we do not resign Drew, Bogaerts starts at SS and Middlebrooks starts at 3B. If we can find a solid utility infielder who has a decent stick, then we will be a good position. The problem here is finding that. A lot of the utility infielders are good defensively, but are not so good offensively. Is a Nick Punto or John McDonald reunion possible? McDonald is a long shot. Punto would be a better option.

[sk7326]

We all know Papi and Pedey are here to stay. I want Ells to stay, but I am in the same boat as you. It just goes to show the difference between a franchise player and a player that wants to make a big payday. Pedroia is a franchise player and took a discount to stay in Boston. Ellsbury, with Boras as his agent, is ready to make a big payday, which it is not fair for anyone to be upset with him because this is a business.

 

I agree with you about the off-season. It will definitely fly by. Spring Training will be here before we know it.

 

There are five areas that I think we need to focus on this off-season (in no particular order):

1) C- McCann is an option and so is bringing back Salty. Pierzynski is an option on a one year contract. Obviously there are other options.

2) 1B- Napoli is the guy I want back. James Loney, Justin Morneau, and Kendrys Morales are also options. We would be taking a big risk on Corey Hart, but he is another option. There are other options as well.

3) CF- Do we resign Ellsbury? BC recently said that it would take A LOT to move Victorino out of RF. Is Bradley ready to take over CF? Choo might be an option that would put Victorino in CF. Rajai Davis is an option for CF with a lot of speed. He only played in 108 games last year and 95 in 2011. His career OBP is only .316, which is a long way away from Ellsbury's .350 career OBP. There are other options as well, I just wanted to throw Davis in there because of his ability to steal bases.

4) Bullpen- Uehara is our closer. Bailey is arbitration eligible again. Hanrahan is a FA that I am willing to take a pass on, unless he comes cheap on a one year contract to rebuild his value. Brian Wilson and Joe Nathan are free agents. I would be all for signing another guy to be in the set-up role. Tazawa, Breslow, and Workman will all be back. Hopefully Andrew Miller can bounce back. Morales is arbitration eligible. We do not need a lot to complete our bullpen, but signing a veteran like Nathan or Wilson could really help.

5) Utility IF- If we do not resign Drew, Bogaerts starts at SS and Middlebrooks starts at 3B. If we can find a solid utility infielder who has a decent stick, then we will be a good position. The problem here is finding that. A lot of the utility infielders are good defensively, but are not so good offensively. Is a Nick Punto or John McDonald reunion possible? McDonald is a long shot. Punto would be a better option.

 

#2 - Morales is a QO guy - non starter for a guy as disposable as he is. Corey Hart is a good buy low opportunity.

 

#3 - Rajai Davis is OK. I'd actually take a flyer on Chris Young. Plus defender, has power and speed. Strikeout machine and OBP has been a problem in the past. But gives Bradley some platoon help as needed, and could possibly be a lot better than that.

 

#4 - Wilson, Nathan are interesting. I'd keep a finger on the market for Phil Hughes - he is a prime conversion candidate. That said, we can also look at other arms internally - De La Rosa, Webster, Ranaudo are all interesting names. As 2013 showed with all four LCS teams using closers they did not enter the season with, it shows that we should be ready to expect Uehara to not be the answer in 2014. It is just good planning.

[rjortiz]

McCann, Napoli, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Middlebrooks, Nava, Victorino,.Gonzalez, Ortiz would be my moves.

[redsoxfan3]

#2 - Morales is a QO guy - non starter for a guy as disposable as he is. Corey Hart is a good buy low opportunity.

 

#3 - Rajai Davis is OK. I'd actually take a flyer on Chris Young. Plus defender, has power and speed. Strikeout machine and OBP has been a problem in the past. But gives Bradley some platoon help as needed, and could possibly be a lot better than that.

 

#4 - Wilson, Nathan are interesting. I'd keep a finger on the market for Phil Hughes - he is a prime conversion candidate. That said, we can also look at other arms internally - De La Rosa, Webster, Ranaudo are all interesting names. As 2013 showed with all four LCS teams using closers they did not enter the season with, it shows that we should be ready to expect Uehara to not be the answer in 2014. It is just good planning.

 

BTW, let me start off by saying I do not necessarily think that the guys I mentioned in my post above are the right guys or best guys for this team to sign. I was just throwing options out there.

 

Young played 24 games in LF, 26 games in RF, and the rest in CF last year for Oakland. He does have the flexibility to play all three OF positions, which is a plus. He could start against lefties in CF and Bradley could start against righties. That might not be a bad platoon. It is definitely interesting, not to mention that Young is capable of playing LF or RF if need be. If we have Carp, Gomes, Nava, Bradley, Victorino, and Young all on the roster, odds are Carp is the odd man out. I know it is nice to have him play at 1B if we need him to, but with Nava capable of playing 1B (assuming we sign Napoli or another 1B, then I don't really see a fit for Carp on the team if they were to carry him as a 6th OF or backup 1B).

 

Also, I do not know how realistic it is to sign Beltran, especially after having interest in the Yankees, but I could see Victorino moving to CF if we sign Beltran to play in RF. We would lose a lot of speed in RF, so I know BC is probably trying to avoid that. The bat would be the main reason to sign Beltran. It is just something interesting to think about.

[jung]

Reports are that the Sox called Salty today which makes some sense. He will cost much less than McCann and both are bridges to future at this point. You will end up overpaying for either but will pay much less for Salty than McCann. I expect them to try to sign Salty and maybe try hard enough to avoid McCann.

 

Clearly the Sox believe the number for Salty will end up far south of $14.1M per. They are likely right about it being south of there. How far south is the question. I would bet it will be hard to pay Salty less than $10-11 per on a 3 year deal and sign the player. Sox are probably going to try to hit that number for 2 years and an option year would be my bet.

[sk7326]

Reports are that the Sox called Salty today which makes some sense. He will cost much less than McCann and both are bridges to future at this point. You will end up overpaying for either but will pay much less for Salty than McCann. I expect them to try to sign Salty and maybe try hard enough to avoid McCann.

 

Clearly the Sox believe the number for Salty will end up far south of $14.1M per. They are likely right about it being south of there. How far south is the question. I would bet it will be hard to pay Salty less than $10-11 per on a 3 year deal and sign the player. Sox are probably going to try to hit that number for 2 years and an option year would be my bet.

 

I have to assume when they non-QO'd him that both sides were at least in the ballpark. A 2-3 year deal makes sense, although I do not discount the possibility of position scarcity causing a team to do something crazy with him.

[rjortiz]

Salty at 3/24 is pretty reasonable.

[sk7326]

Was actually chatting on the twitter with @keithlaw, @overthemonster on some of the QO stuff. From what could be ascertained, a player who accepts a QO has to consent to be dealt before June 15 ... but that is usually not a deal breaker. So it is possible that someone like Drew could take the QO, knowing that he could have a wider market via a de facto sign and trade than as a free agent with compensation tied to him.

[mvp 78]

Salty has to be getting 3/27 at the least, ot he's either giving a massive hometown discount, or has a s***** agent. Reports were that he was upset with the FO over a lack of communication regarding his contract. As long as there is room to slide in one of the kids in 2015, I'm ok with resigning Salty for 3 years. 100 games in 2014, 100 games in 2015, 60 games and time at 1b in 2016?

[redsoxrules]

Salty has to be getting 3/27 at the least, ot he's either giving a massive hometown discount, or has a s***** agent. Reports were that he was upset with the FO over a lack of communication regarding his contract. As long as there is room to slide in one of the kids in 2015, I'm ok with resigning Salty for 3 years. 100 games in 2014, 100 games in 2015, 60 games and time at 1b in 2016?

 

Salty said he would take a home town discount to stay here.

[Dojji]

I think people are vastl underestimating Salty's value on the market. Catchers that can hit are really prized unless they're defensive nightmares.

[jung]

3/27 would "be" Salty taking a hometown discount I think. I cannot see anything south of $9M per year realistically given the scarcity of catchers out there. The Sox would be doing really really well I think to sign him for that or a couple mill per north of that on a 2 year deal with an option year.

 

The other thing to factor in is that I really do not think leaving here is in Salty's best interest at this stage of his career and I think he knows that. Part of Salty's value is tied to his knowledge of this system and this pitching staff. I do not think Salty has matured enough to cut himself away from the Sox and have anything but a very rocky road for at least a year. If a team is looking to sign him for 3 years, what kind of value are they going to attach to that rocky first year.

 

I definitely think a deal can be done here and I think a deal should be done as opposed to paying McCann some totally ridiculous premium based on his being the best catcher available in this year's FA market. Look for the Sox to try to get Salty done quickly and look for Salty and his team to try to drag their feet a little.

[sk7326]

A deal is there with Salty I think - personally I'd demand that he stop switch hitting as a condition therein.

[Palodios]

The Dodgers

 

I don't think the Dodgers are nearly as desperate for starting pitching, and they certainly aren't concerned about the luxury tax at all.

[redsoxrules]

As much as I don't like Salty's defense, I'd prefer him at 3-4 years at around 9 Mil a year than Mcann who will cost close to 20M a year.

[User Name]

As much as I don't like Salty's defense, I'd prefer him at 3-4 years at around 9 Mil a year than Mcann who will cost close to 20M a year.

 

McCann is not going to get "close to 20M a year". You can expect him to sign for no more than 15 mill per. He has his issues.

[Bellhorn04]

I think people are vastl underestimating Salty's value on the market. Catchers that can hit are really prized unless they're defensive nightmares.

 

Not vastly underestimating, I don't think. Compare to Russell Martin's 2 years/$17 million. Martin is better defensively and not hugely worse offensively. Especially when Salty's OPS this year partially resulted from a high BABip.

[jung]

$20 sounds too high for McCann even with the best in FA market premium. I would say that just the negotiation and bidding process pushes him over $15 but not by much....

[marklmw]

As much as I don't like Salty's defense, I'd prefer him at 3-4 years at around 9 Mil a year than Mcann who will cost close to 20M a year.

Were in the world are you coming up with 20M per for McCann? That is Ellsbury type of money.

[mvp 78]

Salty represents better value than McCan. I haven't seen anywhere that says Salty would take a hometown discount, but it would be nice.

[User Name]

Salty represents better value than McCan. I haven't seen anywhere that says Salty would take a hometown discount, but it would be nice.

 

5:09pm: Jarrod Saltalamacchia has received calls from multiple teams, he tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, but he's surprised that there have yet to be any talks with the Red Sox:

 

"I’m a little surprised with not more conversation going on just because I thought we had a common idea of where we wanted to be. I put so much time and effort into the team and into the organization and they’ve done the same for me. But like I said, I may be premature and they might call out of nowhere, or might have already called and I just don’t know yet."

 

Saltalamacchia, who is represented by agent Jim Munsey, was the only of Boston's major free agents not to receive a qualifying offer from the team; Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Napoli and Stephen Drew all received the offer. Saltalamacchia went on to say that he felt lucky to be able to go to Fenway Park for work each day for the four years he spent in Boston, and that his preference is to remain with the Red Sox. Saltalamacchia went so far as to say that as long as the offers were close, he'd turn down a larger offer from another team to stay in Boston.

 

From MLBTR.

[mvp 78]

What's his definition of "close?"

[redsoxrules]

What's his definition of "close?"

 

Doesn't matter. It bassicaly says he would take less money to stay here

[iortiz]

I don't see Salty posting the same O-numbers and since I'm tired of his D, let him walk. Sign McCan!

[marklmw]

24 / 3 for Salty. No need to pay more. Sox score plenty of runs and can absorb any drop off due to letting Salty go.