Hanley DFA’d

[Bellhorn04]

That is true and I believe he is owed $5 million in 2020.

 

You're right. That 5 million doesn't count in the all-important luxury tax calculations though. For tax purposes Pablo is off the books after 2019.

[jad]

I didn't like Hanley's contract, but I liked him, I think he really did enjoy playing here, sucks to see him go. I completely understand why the move was made, and in terms of money it was the right move, but man it feels so weird to see a guy bat 3rd all season, then be DFA'd the next day. Crazy

 

Agree entirely. The first year was a disaster, but as a regular in the line-up playing first, he was fine. You can't blame the player for agreeing to an inflated contract.

[Bellhorn04]

I'll always think of Hanley as a very nice fellow who robbed us blind.

[oldtimer]

Agree entirely. The first year was a disaster, but as a regular in the line-up playing first, he was fine. You can't blame the player for agreeing to an inflated contract.

 

The contracts given during Cherington's tenure have bitten us and limited what we have been able to do. I beliieve that DD's handling of the Price contract has the potential to be the same level of disaster to the club, even if Price givess us a good year or two.

[Dalas21000]

I'll always think of Hanley as a very nice fellow who robbed us blind.

 

Really? I Beg to differ.....What about the walk off game winning hits he came through with???

[Bellhorn04]

Really? I Beg to differ.....What about the walk off game winning hits he came through with???

 

Pretty few and far between for 88 mill.

[Slasher9]

The contracts given during Cherington's tenure have bitten us and limited what we have been able to do. I beliieve that DD's handling of the Price contract has the potential to be the same level of disaster to the club, even if Price givess us a good year or two.

 

Great post. Hard to argue against these observations

[cp176]

The contracts given during Cherington's tenure have bitten us and limited what we have been able to do. I beliieve that DD's handling of the Price contract has the potential to be the same level of disaster to the club, even if Price givess us a good year or two.

 

I like it - unbiased and realistic thoughts. It is going to be interesting to see what Price can give us moving forward. Has the potential to be a bad signing for sure I guess but it might depend on who you ask and what their personal views are with respect to the amounts of money some of these guys sign for and what we can realistically expect form them. I am glad that we have Price for now though. What strikes me as somewhat odd is that in this forum there is a great deal made of the $ and the years involved with some of these contracts and what John Henry ultimately chooses to do. It just seems to me that if he was as concerned about how he spends his money as people want him to be, letting another 2o plus million walk out the door might concern him more. It doesn't seem that way at all. He is either so very wealthy that it just doesn't bother him very much or he must just have complete faith in the people he has put in place to make these suggestions and follow through on them.

[S5Dewey]

The thing I find the most curious about DFA'ing Hanley is that what started out to be a logjam at 1B has now turned into not having a safety net. Haley played a serviceable 1B but is gone and Sam Travis is struggling in AAA. Who's next in line if Moreland gets hurt or falters? Is it Swihart, who has all of TWO games at 1B? Do we try to convert JDM to 1B, a position he's played fewer games than Swihart has there?

 

Also, doesn't this have to impact on how much JDM gets to play in the OF? That seemed to be a commitment the Sox had made to him at the signing.

[OH FOY]

I like the idea of moving JDM to 1st Base. Work him in slowly.

[mvp 78]

I like the idea of moving JDM to 1st Base. Work him in slowly.

 

In the offseason.

[a700hitter]

DD supported Cora by giving him the team that he wants. Whether this is a good or bad move is on Cora. No one liked Hanley's contract, but I am far from confident that this move will make the team better.

[cp176]

DD supported Cora by giving him the team that he wants. Whether this is a good or bad move is on Cora. No one liked Hanley's contract, but I am far from confident that this move will make the team better.

 

We are going to have to wait and see I guess. I still can't get over the fact that ownership doesn't have much to say about another 20+ million walking out the door. I didn't expect it to happen but I did think that if he didn't hit and was forced to sit that problems very well might occur. He was a good teammate while here it seems but I'm not buying the the thought that he might have been above causing problems for Cora.

[Bellhorn04]

The thing I find the most curious about DFA'ing Hanley is that what started out to be a logjam at 1B has now turned into not having a safety net. Haley played a serviceable 1B but is gone and Sam Travis is struggling in AAA. Who's next in line if Moreland gets hurt or falters? Is it Swihart, who has all of TWO games at 1B? Do we try to convert JDM to 1B, a position he's played fewer games than Swihart has there?

 

Also, doesn't this have to impact on how much JDM gets to play in the OF? That seemed to be a commitment the Sox had made to him at the signing.

 

The way Hanley was going in May, just about anything would be better.

[Jack Flap]

I always felt that we should have traded Lester and Lackey for prospects in 2014, accepted the fact that 2015 was probably going to be a lost year, and acted accordingly that offseason. Instead, the idea that we could turn things around in a single offseason and launch ourselves right back into contention got us the Hanley and Pablo contracts. The end result was that we were still terrible in 2015, and those deals would continue to limit our spending power once we were truly ready to compete (2016-present). The amount of money still being paid to two guys who ended up providing negative value over the life of their contracts is staggering.

[cp176]

The thing I find the most curious about DFA'ing Hanley is that what started out to be a logjam at 1B has now turned into not having a safety net. Haley played a serviceable 1B but is gone and Sam Travis is struggling in AAA. Who's next in line if Moreland gets hurt or falters? Is it Swihart, who has all of TWO games at 1B? Do we try to convert JDM to 1B, a position he's played fewer games than Swihart has there?

 

Also, doesn't this have to impact on how much JDM gets to play in the OF? That seemed to be a commitment the Sox had made to him at the signing.

 

I just think that with respect to Hanley, it was becoming more and more apparent that he was going to have to be benched and not just rested. Moreland deserves to be out there we all probably see that. I don't think Hanley would have faired very well in a greatly diminished role. Just my opinion - nothing really against Hanley.

[Bellhorn04]

I just think that with respect to Hanley, it was becoming more and more apparent that he was going to have to be benched and not just rested. Moreland deserves to be out there we all probably see that. I don't think Hanley would have faired very well in a greatly diminished role. Just my opinion - nothing really against Hanley.

 

It had all the makings of quickly becoming an awkward situation for Hanley, Cora and the whole team.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think this was clearly the right move.

[cp176]

It had all the makings of quickly becoming an awkward situation for Hanley, Cora and the whole team.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think this was clearly the right move.

 

I'll bet that it was a really tough one to make for Alex Cora. I think that he was very sincere with wanting to truly see what Hanley had to offer. Hitting him third was no joke and hopefully showed that he had some confidence in him. Making this decision early will hopefully prove to be the best one for all parties.

[Jack Flap]

It had all the makings of quickly becoming an awkward situation for Hanley, Cora and the whole team.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think this was clearly the right move.

 

I agree. The fact that Cora was apparently the driving force behind the move really sealed it for me.

[Dalas21000]

Hanley’s money isn’t bringing back Kimbrel and Kelly but coupled with other monies and a down performance from JbJ, it isn’t out of the realm. Kelly continues to dominate and elite stuff setup men are getting $8-$9 mil a year. If a team thinks Kelly will close, he might see $10-$11 mil a year. Kimbrel is the best closer there is and will likely try to beat Chapman’s $18 mil AAV. Hanley’s money means the Sox get to keep one of them while also being able to absorb the insane raises Betts and Bogaerts are looking at. Now if Bradley continues on in his funk, he may not see an arbitration raise which could allow the Sox to potentially replace Pom with a back end guy on the cheap or get a reliever who isn’t top tier to bridge to Kimbrel. If they do re-sign Kelly, that taps out your season and may even put you over the cap all things considered.

 

Looking at the projected cash for 2019....

 

Losses

Hanley $22 mil

Pom $9 mil

Kimbrel $12 mil

Kelly $3 mil

 

That’s a total of $46 mil saved. You re-sign Kimbrel at $20 mil AAV. Betts will be looking at a $7 mil raise. Bogaerts will be looking at the same. Vasquez makes $3 mil per annum after this year. Other guys in the pen are arb eligible as I think ERod is too

 

Kimbrel is the best closer there is? Idk abt that

[Bellhorn04]

I agree. The fact that Cora was apparently the driving force behind the move really sealed it for me.

 

I don't know whether to believe that story or not. I think maybe they wanted to dress it up for the players union to avoid problems. But who knows?

[Bellhorn04]

Kimbrel is the best closer there is? Idk abt that

 

He is when he's at the top of his game like he was in 2017. This year he hasn't been quite that good. Kelly actually looks better right now.

[Dalas21000]

Kimbrel is the best closer there is? Idk abt that

 

I think if they were smart they could have tried to trade HanRam.....Why not try and trade HanRam and JBJ for a better hitting center fielder????????

[Bellhorn04]

I think if they were smart they could have tried to trade HanRam.....Why not try and trade HanRam and JBJ for a better hitting center fielder????????

 

They can trade HanRam within the next week. But any team trading for him would take on the vesting option so it seems unlikely.

[Dalas21000]

He is when he's at the top of his game like he was in 2017. This year he hasn't been quite that good. Kelly actually looks better right now.

 

From what I've seen, Kimbrel has blown quite a few saves since being in Boston

[jung]

Hanley always was an enormous talent.....mostly wasted by an overemphasis on showing us that talent on rare spurts, like he was pacing himself always. He is sort of an Albert Haynesworth of baseball.

 

But he miscalculated I think. He probably thought he could cruise through the season and stage a run of decent hitting later in the season as he has done before. But the Sox could not afford that even in trying to make a run to the post season. They simply could not afford to just throw that much money down a rat hole on the chance that they would even get that late run. IMO father time has finally caught up to Hanley at least to the extent of being able to turn it on and turn it off as he so often did or more likely Hanley just miscalculated.

 

More likely Hanley just miscalculated because he left the Sox so few options. They could not send him to the minors. They could not sit him for extended periods. They could not even really drop him in the order. Nothing made sense. But you have to credit them for seeing it. Hanley might have even made it easier for them. Do we really think Hanley would have reacted well to being told he was losing playing time?

[Bellhorn04]

From what I've seen, Kimbrel has blown quite a few saves since being in Boston

 

The numbers say otherwise.

[Dalas21000]

The numbers say otherwise.

 

What do the numbers say?

[Bellhorn04]

I'll say it again. These vesting options are the absolute worst thing you can put in a contract. Too much potential for exactly the kind of problems we've seen with this one.

[Dalas21000]

The numbers say otherwise.

 

He's not a bad closer, but he's not the best closer in baseball to those that think so