Sox land Pierzynski

[User Name]

Why are either of your surprised? They were clearly going to have to overpay in money in order to keep it to one-year. It's exactly what they did last offseason.

[dupree]

With A.J. signed and the non-tenders off thei books what do the Sox have to spend before they reach the cap?

[BornToRun]

I'm okay with this. He's a decent stop gap and even if he tries acting like a raging ******* in the clubhouse, our veterans and Farrell will surely put a stop to any ********.

 

I'm still kinda sad to see Salty go. I'm thankful for 2013 and wish him luck with the rest of his career.

[redsoxrules]

8 million ? Ew. I was hoping for 4.

 

4 Million gets you a back up catcher.

[mvp 78]

4 Million gets you a back up catcher.

Jose Molina - 2.25 per

Dioner Navarro - 4 per

Brayan Pena - 1.25 per

Geovany Soto - 3.05 per

 

Navarro at 4 per, is probably Toronto's starter, right?

[Bellhorn04]

With A.J. signed and the non-tenders off thei books what do the Sox have to spend before they reach the cap?

 

Roughly 24 million.

[redsoxrules]

Jose Molina - 2.25 per

Dioner Navarro - 4 per

Brayan Pena - 1.25 per

Geovany Soto - 3.05 per

 

Navarro at 4 per, is probably Toronto's starter, right?

 

From what I hear he's the back up

Also, the players you mentioned there all suck

[marklmw]

Jose Molina - 2.25 per

Dioner Navarro - 4 per

Brayan Pena - 1.25 per

Geovany Soto - 3.05 per

 

Navarro at 4 per, is probably Toronto's starter, right?

 

Yeah ... why would not the Sox outbid Toronto for Navarro ... he signed for 8M/2. Sox could have offered 9-10M/2

[Bellhorn04]

I'm still kinda sad to see Salty go. I'm thankful for 2013 and wish him luck with the rest of his career.

 

Your 'Magnificent Salty Bastard' was one of my favorite lines of the year.

[dupree]

Roughly 24 million.

Ok. Thank you.

 

Now what do you think the next move is?

 

I think the Sox dump one pitcher now via trade for some young arms. Make a run for Ells and resign Napoli. Move Workman into the rotation and Dempster into the bullpen/spot starting roll. Peavy is probably the odd man to move clearing payroll and if Ells moves on they make a deal with LA if they believe Kemp will be ready in 2014 with LA eating a small part of Kemp's contract. Say wow Ben great moves and call it a nice offseason and look to contend for another title in 2014.

[Dojji]

A common sense move, a lot more likely to happen than an acquisition of Hanigan. AJ may not be the most liked catcher out there but he's a good pro who hopefully helps us transition in some of the younger guys.

 

All I ask of the GM is to understand what he's thinking when he makes a move, and it's pretty easy to see that Pierzynski is a short term stopgap to give our young catchers a bit more time to develop. The biggest thing it signifies is that Dan Butler is NOT in the picture next year and the focus will be on Vazquez and Lavarnway splitting catching duties in AAA.

[wyo-sox]

I like this, ok... so so. Being a one year deal is great. I'd rather see Salty signed to two years, but he must have been wanting more years and more money than he was worth. I like our line up better with AJ hitting in it. I do not expect our pitchers to do any better.

[mvp 78]

@nickcafardo: pierzynski strongly recommended by pitch coach Juan Nieves who worked with him in Chicago

[wyo-sox]

@nickcafardo: pierzynski strongly recommended by pitch coach Juan Nieves who worked with him in Chicago

 

That should help make it a good fit.

[Dojji]

@nickcafardo: pierzynski strongly recommended by pitch coach Juan Nieves who worked with him in Chicago

 

Nice tidbit. Good find.

[User Name]

For the record, AJ refers to David Ortiz as "one of his best friends in all of baseball" in an interview about his opinions on the unwritten rules of baseball on mlb.com. It's a good listen.

[iortiz]

Well, we just got a guy who can hit and with power at times but who doesn't walk at all. In Fenway he has a .322/.328 /.424 /.751 line which is pretty decent. Yeah, we overpaid him but the good thing is that it is only a 1 Y contract. He has a 25% CS% career line which is kind of average but last year he posted 33%. It's an OK deal to me after all. Edited December 3, 2013 by iortiz

[mvp 78]

For the record, AJ refers to David Ortiz as "one of his best friends in all of baseball" in an interview about his opinions on the unwritten rules of baseball on mlb.com. It's a good listen.

 

The same guy who busted into FrancoMa's post game to complain about an RBI!!!

[DirtDog]

The same guy who busted into FrancoMa's post game to complain about an RBI!!!

 

some revisionist history here. ortiz was joking around about that RBI. Why the ortiz hate out of nowhere too?

[mvp 78]

some revisionist history here. ortiz was joking around about that RBI. Why the ortiz hate out of nowhere too?

 

It was a joke. That's why it is "out of nowhere." The give away is the extra exclamation points.

[Spitball]

I wonder about the timing of this trade. Had the Reds and Red Sox been in negotiations before the signing of Pierzynski ? The Reds received the D'backs 6th best prospect.

 

Rays Acquire Ryan Hanigan In Three-Team Deal With Reds, D-Backs

 

By Zach Links [December 3 at 1:54pm CST]

 

1:54pm: The Diamondbacks will receive minor league lefty Justin Choate from the Rays along with a PTBNL or cash in the deal, tweets MLB.com's Steve Gilbert.

 

1:48pm: Bell is headed to the Rays, he tells Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona (Twitter link).

 

1:44pm: Piecoro tweets that left-hander David Holmberg is part of the deal. Rosenthal tweets that the Reds will acquire Holmberg.

 

1:41pm: Piecoro adds that in order to shed the remainder of Bell's contract, the Diamondbacks are giving up something of value instead of taking on another bad contract (Twitter link).

 

1:32pm: Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets that Heath Bell appears to be involved in the trade, though he's not sure which team would be acquiring the right-hander.

 

1:11pm: The Diamondbacks are the third team in the trade, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, though he's not sure of the other players involved yet (Twitter link).

 

11:38am: The Reds are trading catcher Ryan Hanigan to the Rays, sources tell Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). The swap could be a three-way deal.

 

It was expected that Cincinnati would move Hanigan since they agreed to a two-year deal with Brayan Pena. The 33-year-old had the worst season of his career in 2013, batting just .198/.306/.261 and tying a career-low with two home runs. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Hanigan to earn $2.3MM through arbitration this offseason, which won't break the bank for the cost-conscious Rays.

 

Hanigan will give the Rays three catchers with Jose Lobaton and Jose Molina already in the fold. Molina is staying in Tampa Bay after agreeing to come back on a two-year, $4.5MM deal last month.

 

Hanigan has long been known as a patient hitter that is tough to strike out, as evidenced by a career 12 percent walk rate and 10.1 percent strikeout rate. He also has a reputation as a solid defensive backstop, having led the league in caught-stealing percentage in 2013 (45 percent) and 2012 (48 percent).

[DirtDog]

Seems like a domino effect. Like the deal for the Reds, Holmberg is a solid prospect. Don't really understand Bell going to the Rays too. Hasn't performed well at all and is owed money. I guess that sunk cost will go towards Hannigan.

[DirtDog]

It was a joke. That's why it is "out of nowhere." The give away is the extra exclamation points.

 

My online sarcasm detector malfunctions from time to time.

[DirtDog]

Rays already extending Hannigan... damn

 

2:06pm: Hanigan will get $2.75MM in 2014, $3.5MM in 2015, $3.7MM in 2016, and a club option worth $3.75MM in '17 with a $800K buyout, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter).1:37pm: USA Today's Bob Nightengale tweets that Hanigan's contract is worth $10.75MM and contains a fourth-year club option that could push the deal to $13.7MM in total value.

1:34pm: The Rays have agreed to a three-year extension with newly acquired catcher Ryan Hanigan, according to ESPN's Buster Olney (on Twitter). The Tom O'Connell client will be guaranteed $11MM over the life of the deal, per Olney.

[Mr Tibbs]

Purely based on his attitude with previous teams (White Sox in particular) I don't like this move. It almost feels like a step backwards towards 2012 with the attitude in the clubhouse. I hope they can keep his attitude and ego in check.

[BornToRun]

I think Hanigan big extension with Tampa points to a possible reason as to why BC lost interest and went with AJ.

 

Hanigan signed a 3 year extension with a 4th year option, if he was looking for a long term deal it wouldn't make sense for us to bring him in when all we want at catcher is a 1-2 year stop gap.

 

There is also the price we'd have to pay to acquire him. The Reds actually got a pretty good haul for him. What do we think would be the Red Sox equivalent of what they got?

Edited December 3, 2013 by BornToRun

[BornToRun]

Purely based on his attitude with previous teams (White Sox in particular) I don't like this move. It almost feels like a step backwards towards 2012 with the attitude in the clubhouse. I hope they can keep his attitude and ego in check.

Farrell as well as guys like Pedey and Papi aren't going to put up with any ********. He and Papi are pretty good friends as well from what I hear so I doubt it'll be that big of a problem if it's one at all.

[marklmw]

How in hell did the Sox loose out on Hanigan to the Rays of all teams. Hanigan's 3 year deal is far superior to the Sox 1 year deal with A.J.

[SoxFanForsyth]

How in hell did the Sox loose out on Hanigan to the Rays of all teams. Hanigan's 3 year deal is far superior to the Sox 1 year deal with A.J.

 

I would have loved to have Hanigan for 3 years, starting this year and then taking the young kids under his wing over the next couple years.

 

With David Ross gone after next season, it would have been a perfect fit. Hanigan would still be able to catch 90+ games in 2015 while Vazquez gets accustomed to the big league schedule.

 

Would have been a great fit.

[User Name]

Purely based on his attitude with previous teams (White Sox in particular) I don't like this move. It almost feels like a step backwards towards 2012 with the attitude in the clubhouse. I hope they can keep his attitude and ego in check.

 

No it doesn't. It takes five minutes to look up the heaps of praise former teammates pour upon AJ. He is hated by other teams, but he's loved by his teammates. He also came highly recommended by both David Ortiz and Juan Nieves.

 

It's not that i'm thrilled about the move, it's that saying "oh, we're taking a step backwards towards 2012" makes no sense. They know what they're doing.