2014 Roster Projections

[marklmw]

Jay Z is not going to allow his client Cano to leave NY. If they did increase the asking price by 10M they were never serious about leaving to begin with. For those of you who are putting Baltimore and Tampa Bay in the same sentence as the Yankees ... you have to be joking ... why did you leave out Toronto? Yeah those Sox - Baltimore games are one of the toughest tickets in all of sports ... of course when you watch the Sox play Tampa in Tampa and there are more Sox fans in the seats ... it shows what a rivalry the two teams have now. Where did the Sox trade Babe Ruth to? ... Toronto right. I would imagine that Tampa is going to deal Price. NYY will sign Cano and probably sign Tanaka even if they have to kidnap him and give him cosmetic surgery in Cuba. And knowing MLB ... Arods suspension will go from 220 games to 450 games because it will allow the Yankees to take his contract off the books. If you are the Boston Red Sox and you are not building your team to compete with the Yankees then why sign any free agents at all. Carp can play 1B next year. Nava and Gomes can take LF. If JBJ or Victorino get injured we can get by with Berry on a short term basis. Damon, Boggs, Clemens, Ruth, Ellsbury .... Lester? Edited December 6, 2013 by marklmw

[mvp 78]

For the past few years, the rivalry with the Rays has been very interesting. It started back during the Pedro one-hitter fiasco, but took off in 2008. At this point, I'm more excited for a series vs the Rays than the Yanks.

[marklmw]

For the past few years, the rivalry with the Rays has been very interesting. It started back during the Pedro one-hitter fiasco, but took off in 2008. At this point, I'm more excited for a series vs the Rays than the Yanks.

You are lying to us and yourself then

[Bellhorn04]

If you are the Boston Red Sox and you are not building your team to compete with the Yankees then why sign any free agents at all.

 

Easy to answer that one, mark - to win the World Series, like we just did.

[mvp 78]

You are lying to us and yourself then

 

Maybe I just think for myself and don't let ESPN tell me what the narrative should be?

 

I honestly don't really care about the Yankees anymore. You can belittle my reasoning for thinking the Rays are a bigger rival right now, but that doesn't mean I'm lying.

[mvp 78]

Easy to answer that one, mark - to win the World Series, like we just did.

 

You're lying to yourself Bellhorn!!! We play the Yanks 19 times!!! Rabble rabble!!!

[marklmw]

Easy to answer that one, mark - to win the World Series, like we just did.

 

I am overjoyed that we won the WS ... truly I am. You must agree however that Ellsbury was a key ingredient to our championship as was Napoli. Both are two top FA's for 2014. He have yet to sign 1 FA of comparable value. What we did last year is not some secret formula to be followed at all costs. Get us Hart or Napoli today!

Edited December 6, 2013 by marklmw

[marklmw]

Maybe I just think for myself and don't let ESPN tell me what the narrative should be?

 

I honestly don't really care about the Yankees anymore. You can belittle my reasoning for thinking the Rays are a bigger rival right now, but that doesn't mean I'm lying.

 

I am not inside your head MVP ... you are entitled to think however you wish to think. If you want to have an imaginary rivalry between the Sox and Rays no one including myself can take that away from you.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Um, that's not an imaginary rivalry..

[Bellhorn04]

The Rays have been the biggest rival for us since 2008. Met them twice in the playoffs, and in 2011 they finished ahead of us by a game.

[marklmw]

Um, that's not an imaginary rivalry..

 

My biggest rivalry is the Sox - Pirates. It goes back to 1903. The Sox were called the Boston Americans back then.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_Boston_Americans_season

Edited December 6, 2013 by marklmw

[Hitch]

Mark, don't you think it is better to produce a team that competes against the whole MLB rather than just the Yankees?

 

Building a team that competes against everyone, builds a team that competes against the Yankees by association if nothing else.

 

Also, I think you can look too singular at next season when you're a fan(of any club in any sport). Like I mentioned the other day, the Sox will likely be a bit weaker in CF next year by giving the spot to JBJ with the exit of Jacoby, but from 2015 onwards, after a years experience for JBJ theres every chance they will be looking very strong in that postion for years to come.

 

I'm sure 1st base is being looked at in depth and they will make a move when they get what they want. What does it matter if it is today or next Thursday? Patience my man.

[sk7326]

I am not inside your head MVP ... you are entitled to think however you wish to think. If you want to have an imaginary rivalry between the Sox and Rays no one including myself can take that away from you.

 

I think for the players it is easily the most personal rivalry. The fans will always have the Yankees more.

 

Rivalries are about the games ... it's why I considered the Colts the Pats as a bigger rival than the Jets. It's about the meetings. We've met the Rays a lot with a lot on the line - and (key to rivalries), the Rays have won quite a few of them. It can't be a rivalry unless the other guy wins some.

[marklmw]

The Rays have been the biggest rival for us since 2008. Met them twice in the playoffs, and in 2011 they finished ahead of us by a game.

 

Look, If you want to replace the Rays with the Yankees as our biggest rivalry then go ahead ... it's still a free country ... at least for another 2-3 years anyway.

The Rays do not have a history of pilfering our best players. The Yankees are bullies because they have more money then anyone else. Money = power and I for one have had enough of it. I say triple the luxury tax.

[sk7326]

Look, If you want to replace the Rays with the Yankees as our biggest rivalry then go ahead ... it's still a free country ... at least for another 2-3 years anyway.

The Rays do not have a history of pilfering our best players. The Yankees are bullies because they have more money then anyone else. Money = power and I for one have had enough of it. I say triple the luxury tax.

 

It sounds better than it is. Anything that becomes a hard cap can make it harder for the little guy to compete paradoxically. One of the ironies of the current CBA is how it hurt Tampa and Kansas City despite the more punitive luxury tax.

[marklmw]

Mark, don't you think it is better to produce a team that competes against the whole MLB rather than just the Yankees?

 

Building a team that competes against everyone, builds a team that competes against the Yankees by association if nothing else.

 

Also, I think you can look too singular at next season when you're a fan(of any club in any sport). Like I mentioned the other day, the Sox will likely be a bit weaker in CF next year by giving the spot to JBJ with the exit of Jacoby, but from 2015 onwards, after a years experience for JBJ theres every chance they will be looking very strong in that postion for years to come.

 

I'm sure 1st base is being looked at in depth and they will make a move when they get what they want. What does it matter if it is today or next Thursday? Patience my man.

 

It is a nice thought Hitch but unfortunately it does not work this way. To have a good chance at a World Series Championship it helps to win your division. If you get in as a wild card team with the new 1 game playoff it becomes even more of a crap shot. The way games are scheduled a team plays 19 games each season against the teams in their own division. So when you win or loose a game against the Yankees it is a big swing. If you come out ahead in each series against the teams in your division you increase your changes of winning the division outright. For example. Boston 11 wins - NYY 8 wins, Boston 10 wins - Tampa 9 wins, Boston 13 wins - Toronto 6 wins. etc. Also the American League East has been the toughest division in Baseball for a long long time. It is not uncommon for the Teams in the Eastern Division to have winning records against the Central or Western Divisions. The American League teams also play the National League teams during the season now ... (this was not always the case) ... I think that the American League has bettered the National League overall. Anyway ... over time the Red Sox have tried to keep up with the Yankees with respect to payroll but it really is not practical to do so. The Yankees always pay the most for the best available players because they can. If the Sox were placed in the AL Central Division they would be able to compete with a much lessor payroll.

Also to your point ... when you create a team that competes against the Yankees you are creating a team that competes against all MLB teams. One is not exclusive of the other.

Edited December 6, 2013 by marklmw

[marklmw]

It sounds better than it is. Anything that becomes a hard cap can make it harder for the little guy to compete paradoxically. One of the ironies of the current CBA is how it hurt Tampa and Kansas City despite the more punitive luxury tax.

^How so?

[User Name]

Jay Z is not going to allow his client Cano to leave NY. If they did increase the asking price by 10M they were never serious about leaving to begin with. For those of you who are putting Baltimore and Tampa Bay in the same sentence as the Yankees ... you have to be joking ... why did you leave out Toronto? Yeah those Sox - Baltimore games are one of the toughest tickets in all of sports ... of course when you watch the Sox play Tampa in Tampa and there are more Sox fans in the seats ... it shows what a rivalry the two teams have now. Where did the Sox trade Babe Ruth to? ... Toronto right. I would imagine that Tampa is going to deal Price. NYY will sign Cano and probably sign Tanaka even if they have to kidnap him and give him cosmetic surgery in Cuba. And knowing MLB ... Arods suspension will go from 220 games to 450 games because it will allow the Yankees to take his contract off the books. If you are the Boston Red Sox and you are not building your team to compete with the Yankees then why sign any free agents at all. Carp can play 1B next year. Nava and Gomes can take LF. If JBJ or Victorino get injured we can get by with Berry on a short term basis. Damon, Boggs, Clemens, Ruth, Ellsbury .... Lester?

 

Riiiight.

[User Name]

It is a nice thought Hitch but unfortunately it does not work this way. To have a good chance at a World Series Championship it helps to win your division. If you get in as a wild card team with the new 1 game playoff it becomes even more of a crap shot. The way games are scheduled a team plays 19 games each season against the teams in their own division. So when you win or loose a game against the Yankees it is a big swing. If you come out ahead in each series against the teams in your division you increase your changes of winning the division outright. For example. Boston 11 wins - NYY 8 wins, Boston 10 wins - Tampa 9 wins, Boston 13 wins - Toronto 6 wins. etc. Also the American League East has been the toughest division in Baseball for a long long time. It is not uncommon for the Teams in the Eastern Division to have winning records against the Central or Western Divisions. The American League teams also play the National League teams during the season now ... (this was not always the case) ... I think that the American League has bettered the National League overall. Anyway ... over time the Red Sox have tried to keep up with the Yankees with respect to payroll but it really is not practical to do so. The Yankees always pay the most for the best available players because they can. If the Sox were placed in the AL Central Division they would be able to compete with a much lessor payroll.

Also to your point ... when you create a team that competes against the Yankees you are creating a team that competes against all MLB teams. One is not exclusive of the other.

 

Red Sox when they tried to follow the Yankee model: 0 championships in 86 years.

 

Red Sox when they stuck to a strategy and stopped playing "gotcha" with the Yankees: 3 championships with 10 years.

 

What you present is an exercise in poor logical thinking mark, specially at the current juncture, when the Red Sox are CLEARLY the better team and are coming off a WS

[sk7326]

^How so?

 

The Yankees local revenue function is just MUCH higher than anyone else's, combined with their own native resources. (this is one of the reasons that I hate discussing salary numbers without context) Whatever you put the luxury tax at, in general, the revenue per win that the Yankees face can close a business case for them. Now the Steinbrenner's might now WANT to put that sort of money into the payroll - like every owner, that is their prerogative. But the marginal wins that the Yankees can get by going from "mid 80-win contender" to "solid postseason contender" is well worth it to them in terms of the revenue streams and such. The Red Sox face the same sort of bonanza from adding wins, but have somewhat more limited resources. Increasing the luxury tax hurts the teams like Boston or Detroit or whomever that might be able to play in the deep end but can't.

 

For the Tampa's and Kansas City's ... they still can't afford what the Yankees can afford - but with the new CBA a lot of the tools they had to offset it (draft pick signing bonuses, international free agents) have been taken away from them. So the revenue sharing helps them somewhat, but it doesn't help them getting quality controllable talent.

[User Name]

MLBTR reports that Napoli has received an offer from a team that the Sox need to match or exceed, otherwise he will sign with said team.

[sk7326]

MLBTR reports that Napoli has received an offer from a team that the Sox need to match or exceed, otherwise he will sign with said team.

 

Sox should look to match here. Not because he is not replaceable, but it does run into matters of roster limits. In the land of 12 man pitching staffs and with Boston already sort of committed to some sort of platoon in LF, signing Napoli could help keep the lineup puzzle a little less complicated.

[DirtDog]

Anyone know if there are any good 1B on the market in 2015? Our system is bare at that position... I'd be willing to go with Carp/Nava stopgap for a year over committing to Napoli for 3 or 4

[mvp 78]

Riiiight.

 

So many lost steak dinners.

[Hitch]

It is a nice thought Hitch but unfortunately it does not work this way. To have a good chance at a World Series Championship it helps to win your division. If you get in as a wild card team with the new 1 game playoff it becomes even more of a crap shot. The way games are scheduled a team plays 19 games each season against the teams in their own division. So when you win or loose a game against the Yankees it is a big swing. If you come out ahead in each series against the teams in your division you increase your changes of winning the division outright. For example. Boston 11 wins - NYY 8 wins, Boston 10 wins - Tampa 9 wins, Boston 13 wins - Toronto 6 wins. etc. Also the American League East has been the toughest division in Baseball for a long long time. It is not uncommon for the Teams in the Eastern Division to have winning records against the Central or Western Divisions. The American League teams also play the National League teams during the season now ... (this was not always the case) ... I think that the American League has bettered the National League overall. Anyway ... over time the Red Sox have tried to keep up with the Yankees with respect to payroll but it really is not practical to do so. The Yankees always pay the most for the best available players because they can. If the Sox were placed in the AL Central Division they would be able to compete with a much lessor payroll.

Also to your point ... when you create a team that competes against the Yankees you are creating a team that competes against all MLB teams. One is not exclusive of the other.

 

You've missed my point there.

 

What I'm saying is, if the Sox try to set their team up as well as they can, and make it competitive to whole MLB, then by extension they have set it up to try and be better than the Yankees, and the division rivals.

 

Setting a team up to just be better than the Yankees would be crazy.

 

edit: Just seen your last line. That's not true really is it? If the Sox had put a team together that could have just beat the Yankees last year, they'd have finished with 3rd with 85 wins.

 

Yankees are not the benchmark.

Edited December 6, 2013 by Hitch

[SoxSport]

I think it's pretty well established by now that, in order to get a major FA, you have to blow his agent out of the water with a bad offer--I mean bad in terms of business bad. You have to go beyond what rational people are willing to go. Waste money (it's tax deductible).

 

The Yankees did that with Ells. The Mariners just did that with Cano. You have to overpay.

 

I think the Red Sox have to realize they will have to overpay for any of those major guys out there. That includes Napoli--who will be paid for his Fenway stats. He hopes.

Edited December 6, 2013 by SoxSport

[cbbosox]

Haven't thought of full roster but the lineup i have here offensively should equal last years(even with JBJ in CF with WMB and Xander all year at ss/3b i think that should = Ells,Drew and 3rd base last year.

Slight downgrade at ss defensively but OF should be at least same and catching should be better

Vs righties

1.Victorino

2.Pedroia

3.Ortiz

4.Napoli

5.Nava

6.Xander

7.Pierzynski

8.WMB

9.JBJ

 

Vs lefties

1.Victorino

2.Pedroia

3.Ortiz

4.Napoli

5.Gomes

6.Xander

7.WMB

8.Ross

9.JBJ

 

I would say maybe resign Carp and get a solid utility infielder and as long as the pitching holds holds up it's playoffs again. Need Napoli big time though.

[User Name]

Carp is arbitration eligible.

[marklmw]

Haven't thought of full roster but the lineup i have here offensively should equal last years(even with JBJ in CF with WMB and Xander all year at ss/3b i think that should = Ells,Drew and 3rd base last year.

Slight downgrade at ss defensively but OF should be at least same and catching should be better

Vs righties

1.Victorino

2.Pedroia

3.Ortiz

4.Napoli

5.Nava

6.Xander

7.Pierzynski

8.WMB

9.JBJ

 

Vs lefties

1.Victorino

2.Pedroia

3.Ortiz

4.Napoli

5.Gomes

6.Xander

7.WMB

8.Ross

9.JBJ

 

I would say maybe resign Carp and get a solid utility infielder and as long as the pitching holds holds up it's playoffs again. Need Napoli big time though.

 

Agree ... we do need Nap's

[marklmw]

You've missed my point there.

 

What I'm saying is, if the Sox try to set their team up as well as they can, and make it competitive to whole MLB, then by extension they have set it up to try and be better than the Yankees, and the division rivals.

 

Setting a team up to just be better than the Yankees would be crazy.

 

edit: Just seen your last line. That's not true really is it? If the Sox had put a team together that could have just beat the Yankees last year, they'd have finished with 3rd with 85 wins.

 

Yankees are not the benchmark.

 

You are almost logical ... Being better than the Yankees does not put a limit the Sox on how much better they can be. When you look at the history for winning the AL East the Yankees have set the standard have they not?