2016 Red Sox Hot Stove Discussion Thread

[Spudboy]

I think that Price could put up with the scrutiny. He seems to like the attention. He's no wall flower.

[Elktonnick]

All things being equal money and years wise, Price will be playing in Chicago. According to MLB radio, Price indicated that he wants to play for Maddon next year. I thing the intangibles favor the Cubbies over any team in Price's case.

[Kimmi]

A lot depends on the individual. Last year Lester was down to 3 teams - Cubs, Sox and Giants. He eliminated the Giants, much to their surprise, even though they were reportedly offering more than the Sox and were prepared to keep swinging with the Cubs.

 

Lester handled the situation like a rational human being. He knew he wanted to play for either the Cubs or the Sox for the next 6 years and he knew he was going to be paid an absurd amount of money in either case.

 

Price could easily end up in the same situation.

 

Price will be paid an absurd amount of money no matter which team he chooses, so if he has a preferred team in mind, I think it will take quite a significant amount, like $20 - $30 mil or an additional year, over that team's bid to lure him away.

 

Sure, the Sox can make that bid if they really want to. I'm not sure how prudent that will be though.

[Kimmi]

His history with DD will play to our advantage.

 

His history with Maddon will play to the Cubs' advantage, not to mention the overall allure of the Cubs.

[Kimmi]

All things being equal money and years wise, Price will be playing in Chicago. According to MLB radio, Price indicated that he wants to play for Maddon next year. I thing the intangibles favor the Cubbies over any team in Price's case.

 

On this, we agree.

[a700hitter]

The SF Giants extend Brandon Crawford for 6 years/$75 million.

[SoxFanForsyth]

His history with Maddon will play to the Cubs' advantage, not to mention the overall allure of the Cubs.

 

Cubs ain't ponying up for Price. Already have Lester and Arrieta, two aces, with Arrieta hitting arbitration. If they're spending 200mm, it's gonna be on Heyward in RF, not on another SP.

[vjcsmoke]

If we are signing an Ace we need to shed salary.

 

Our biggest weights are Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval.

 

Honestly, Sandoval is probably the easier guy to move. It's hard to find good to above-average 3rd basemen.

 

So in this scenario, we would trade Sandoval, and sign our Ace, whether that's Price or someone else in the top tier.

 

And here is how we replace Sandoval...

 

Trade for Miguel Sano. Normally Sano wouldn't be available. But the Twins just won the bid for Byung Ho Park. Mauer is at 1st base, and Plouffe at 3rd.

Sano is basically splitting time at DH where he is wasting his full potential.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/twins-win-byung-ho-park-bid.html

 

We could trade some high caliber prospects for Sano, upgrading our pitching staff, shedding Sandoval's salary, and upgrading the upside of our 3rd base position at the same time.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/expect-miguel-sano/

[a700hitter]

Athletics To Sign Rich Hill

 

By Steve Adams | November 17, 2015 at 8:33pm CST

 

The Athletics have agreed to terms with free agent left-hander Rich Hill, reports Robert Murray of Baseball Essential. The deal is pending a physical. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that it’s a one-year deal with a $6MM guarantee.

 

Yesterday, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reported that Hill was likely to sign a contract this week. Earlier tonight, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo listed the A’s as one of the teams in the mix for hill, noting that one official involved in the bidding considered Oakland one of the favorites (links to Twitter). Passan notes (Twitter link) that Hill turned down a more lucrative offer from another club due to the promise of a spot in the club’s rotation.

 

Few would’ve believed prior to — or even 75 percent of the way through — the 2015 season that a payday like this was in the cards for Hill, who at 35 years of age had spent the past several seasons bouncing around the league as a lefty reliever. Hill’s claim to fame dated all the way back to 2007, when he punched out 183 batters in 195 innings of 3.92 ERA ball for the Cubs as a 27-year-old. Hill didn’t replicate that success in 2008, though, and injuries and poor performance limited his role around the league for the next eight seasons.

 

Released from the Nationals’ Triple-A club this summer, Hill latched on with the Red Sox — the same organization with which he spent the 2010-12 seasons. Despite three years in the organization, Hill logged just 31 2/3 big league innings in that stretch, but a strong season at Triple-A led the 2015 Sox to give him a few starts at season’s end, and Hill capitalized in more emphatic fashion than most could’ve imagined.

 

In 29 innings (four starts) with the Sox, Hill allowed a grand total of five earned runs, striking out 36 batters against just five walks to complement a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate. Hill ditched his two-seam fastball and reduced the usage of his four-seamer in 2015 as well, trading in some of his 90 mph for a dramatic increase in curveballs. The results were outstanding, and the endgame will be a guaranteed payday that is six times greater than Hill’s previous career-high single-season salary of $1MM.

 

Hill joins a rotation picture led by ace Sonny Gray but also featuring veteran righty Jesse Chavez and a slew of younger arms including Jesse Hahn, Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin and Aaron Brooks. Former mainstays Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin will hope to return to the fold after missing each of the past two seasons due to arm surgery, and lefty Drew Pomeranz is also an option for Oakland manager Bob Melvin (though he had greater success working out of the bullpen).

 

For the Athletics, it’s a risk to give $6MM to a pitcher with such a limited track record and a wide-ranging history of injuries, but the team has quite a bit of pitching depth and can reasonably absorb the blow if Hill misses a significant portion of the season on the disabled list. And, if Hill is able to deliver even a handful of starts resembling his September work in 2015, he could turn out to be one of the biggest free-agent bargains of the offseason.

 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Congratulations to Rich Hill in landing a multi-million dollar major league 1 year deal to be in the A's starting rotation. I felt there was almost no chance of him staying with the Red Sox, because he was not going to accept a minor league contract unless there was nothing else available. He's 34 and running out of chances.

[jung]

Given the immense fortune Price is going to get, He might even give the Cubs a bit of a break to get back with Maddon. Cubs would be a nice place for Price to land even if Maddon were not there. Considering Maddon, signing Price here might be more than just difficult.

[User Name]

If we are signing an Ace we need to shed salary.

 

Our biggest weights are Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval.

 

Honestly, Sandoval is probably the easier guy to move. It's hard to find good to above-average 3rd basemen.

 

So in this scenario, we would trade Sandoval, and sign our Ace, whether that's Price or someone else in the top tier.

 

And here is how we replace Sandoval...

 

Trade for Miguel Sano. Normally Sano wouldn't be available. But the Twins just won the bid for Byung Ho Park. Mauer is at 1st base, and Plouffe at 3rd.

Sano is basically splitting time at DH where he is wasting his full potential.

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/twins-win-byung-ho-park-bid.html

 

We could trade some high caliber prospects for Sano, upgrading our pitching staff, shedding Sandoval's salary, and upgrading the upside of our 3rd base position at the same time.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/expect-miguel-sano/

 

Yeah the Twins aren't trading Sano.

[Dojji]

Agreed. I have little doubt that he can pitch well in Boston. The only question is whether he would want to put up with the crap.

 

I would be very happy to see him pitch here. In my mind he's not the best SP on the market but he's the SP with the best combination of health, durability, skill and lack of quesiton marks.

[User Name]

I would be very happy to see him pitch here. In my mind he's not the best SP on the market but he's the SP with the best combination of health, durability, skill and lack of quesiton marks.

 

That makes no sense, as the very next sentence in this post essentially labels him the best pitcher in the market. Who's better, and based on what?

[Dojji]

I thought my statement was clear. Qualitatively either Cueto or Price are possibly better, but Greinke has been more consistent, is as durable as either of the others, and has fewer current question marks regarding his physical ability to pitch.

[sk7326]

I thought my statement was clear. Qualitatively either Cueto or Price are possibly better, but Greinke has been more consistent, is as durable as either of the others, and has fewer current question marks regarding his physical ability to pitch.

 

Are you sure? Price is plenty durable. He also has a solid history in the division. I also think it is a moot point about Greinke since the Dodgers will back up the truck and Greinke likes it there.

[User Name]

I thought my statement was clear. Qualitatively either Cueto or Price are possibly better, but Greinke has been more consistent, is as durable as either of the others, and has fewer current question marks regarding his physical ability to pitch.

 

Greinke and Price have similar ERA+ indicators (Price edges out Greinke 126 to 123), but Price is younger, and has put up better IP numbers. It's not a landslide, but Price is the better long-term investment.

[reYoukilis]

Dont see much talk of Prices postseason failures. I think thats relevant. As much talk as there is about Greinkes mental problems he seems cool as a cucumber on the mound.

[Kimmi]

Cubs ain't ponying up for Price. Already have Lester and Arrieta, two aces, with Arrieta hitting arbitration. If they're spending 200mm, it's gonna be on Heyward in RF, not on another SP.

 

That's possible, but the impression I got early in the offseason was that the Cubs were looking for more pitching and that they had Price on their radar.

[example1]

I guess I should have been clearer in my earlier post. Getting Price is a pipe dream because the Sox aren't dumb enough to blow him out of the water enough to get him. I mean, sure, if they offered $300m they would get him. But they wouldn't and shouldn't do that. He's a good pitcher, but he's not that much better than the other options out there. There's a point at which the asset simply isn't worth the overpay it would take to get him.

 

And yes, money talks, but does money talk that much for everyone here? Imagine the job you're in now. If you like the job do you go to some other job for $1 more? $1000 more a year? If it's a bigger hassle, or has worse weather, or a bad commute or higher taxes? I mean, there's a lot of options here and, no matter which he chooses, he and his kids and grandkids will all be just fine. I really think there's an equation here that's more than X>Y. Yes, the money speaks and everyone has a 'blow me away' amount, but if another team/job is willing to offer virtually the same thing you would weigh the two. I don't actually know where Boston fits on Price's list. I just have a hard time believing it's at the very top, if he could play anywhere.

 

You're right UN, they're not the Pirates. Neither are the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, etc., who might also be bidding for his services.

 

EDIT: I'm a bit off my posting/opinion game. It should be clear that I'd be thrilled to be wrong about this. Seriously, please Price, prove me wrong.

Edited November 19, 2015 by example1

[a700hitter]

I think DD is going to land Price.

[Elktonnick]

I think DD is going to land Price.

 

If Theo matches Boston's money and years he goes to the Cubs. They have the inside track because of Maddon,IMHO

[a700hitter]

If Theo matches Boston's money and years he goes to the Cubs. They have the inside track because of Maddon,IMHO

They have a big ticket pitcher in Lester and Boros is Arrieta's agent. Soon they will have to pony up big bucks for Rizzo. The fit with the Cubs finances might not be there.

[sk7326]

Dont see much talk of Prices postseason failures. I think thats relevant. As much talk as there is about Greinkes mental problems he seems cool as a cucumber on the mound.

 

Price has not been amazing in the postseason - but then he also had a save in the biggest spot of his life up to that point ... clutch is how you see it.

[Dojji]

Clutch is irrelevant. Especially when you're only measuring clutch from one relief appearance by a starter

[Elktonnick]

They have a big ticket pitcher in Lester and Boros is Arrieta's agent. Soon they will have to pony up big bucks for Rizzo. The fit with the Cubs finances might not be there.

 

The Cubs aren't the Red Sox. They haven't won a title in over a hundred years. Theo wants to make history. I don't think they are thinking long term.

[a700hitter]

The Cubs aren't the Red Sox. They haven't won a title in over a hundred years. Theo wants to make history. I don't think they are thinking long term.

i get it, but I am hoping

[sk7326]

The Cubs aren't the Red Sox. They haven't won a title in over a hundred years. Theo wants to make history. I don't think they are thinking long term.

 

They are thinking both - they are loaded with young position talent - they know that a key pitcher could make things really pop. There are no serious needs in terms of positions.

[Dojji]

I think there's a very real emotion in the Cubs FO that This Is The Time. They had a great finish behind their youngsters last year and I think the Cubs FO sees its contending window as being the next 4-5 years or so -- that's Theo's time window to win at least one World Series with the team they've assembled. I think they'd be very willing to go beyond their budget to build the roster they have now into a surefire contender and Price would be a big part of making that happen. It's not like Theo didn't do the same thing several times when he was our GM.

 

The Cubs fanbase is just as rabid a fanbase as we have and desperate for a bit of glory, that fanbase would go nuts all year long for a team that they thought was primed to get over the top. Even financially it might make sense to go over budget to bring in the pieces that make the fans excited, especially if such a move does also help the baseball side. Price does both for them.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Dojji

[sk7326]

Greinke and Price have similar ERA+ indicators (Price edges out Greinke 126 to 123), but Price is younger, and has put up better IP numbers. It's not a landslide, but Price is the better long-term investment.

 

Price being a little younger gives him a slight edge, although Greinke's style will require less adjustment over time. (He's basically a right-handed Tom Glavine right now) That said, I think it is a moot point - I'd be stunned if he left the Dodgers.

[Dojji]

SK he already HAS left the Dodgers. He's a free agent.