What are your realistic expectations of Chris Sale for the 2021 season?

[mvp 78]

Have faith. My concern level is a 1 out of 10, although given my knack for being wrong, that might cause a rise in your concern level.

 

5.5 out of 10 today

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

It's more like middle-aged now...

 

There's still 7 months left before Spring Training in dog years.

[notin]

There's still 7 months left before Spring Training in dog years.

 

Pitchers and catchers report in a month. Shouldn’t be an issue for the Sox, as they have no pitchers...

[harmony]

As with any offseason, we are waiting for the tipping point ... which may come late this year, but it will come.

 

Free agents and front offices are in staredowns, knowing that numerous options remain on each side. As signings slowly come in, the market shrinks for both sides. The tipping point comes when the market shrinks to a point that the free agents and front offices worry about being left out. Then comes the flurry of signings.

 

Or not.

 

Be patient.

[TylerD]

There's still 7 months left before Spring Training in dog years.

 

Lol!

[moonslav59]

5.5 out of 10 today

 

I'm at 3.49

[Nick]

I'm at 3.49

 

Lining up the contracts is another component of assembling a championship team.

 

With Sale not coming back right away and not knowing what his return looks like, I can't imagine Sox being a playoff contender. Thus another year is 'spent' on everyone's contract.

 

My questions....

 

1) What to do with E Rod? Do we extend him (as we did with Sale) in April of 2021? Discounting 2020, has he not followed a trajectory of a say #2 starter since we've aquired him? Or do we wait and see what he does early in 2021? If he's pitching well, what incentive does he have to sign a long term contract? Do we simply trade him in July if we're completely out of race?

 

2) What about Devers? He's in his first year of arbitration. He's under team control for another 3 years. Do we let him go (get a major league pitcher under team control in return) and hope his presence is replaced by say Dalbec? I would keep him and maybe work on an extension to buy our couple of years of team control.

 

3) This is last year of Dustin's money and we have two more years ($32M) of Price's contract. With a possibility of luxury tax going up when the current labor contract expires, we seem to have ton of cap space. Will Bloom take the Price route (hoping for 4 out of 7 years of production and pay huge) on a major player or stick to his Tampa Bay upbringing? Always looking for 'value'.

 

4) Do we build a team around Xander, Sale, Verdugo, Dalbec, Houck, Matta, etc and get the best return for Vaz, Devers, E Rod? This would give us time to line up the contracts assuming 2021 becomes a throw away year.

 

5) Do we start Houck in the minors to gain another year of team control?

 

6) Can we count on influx new talent from the minors for 2022 season? Who are they?

 

What say you Moon?

Edited January 16, 2021 by Nick

[Kimmi]

5.5 out of 10 today

 

I am still at a 1, maybe even a 0.5.

[Kimmi]

I cannot imagine Henry being willing to have another season like 2020, when the Sox ended up being irrelevant. I just can't see Henry being okay with that. He wants the Red Sox to be relevant and competitive in 2021, and so they will be.

[a700hitter]

I cannot imagine Henry being willing to have another season like 2020, when the Sox ended up being irrelevant. I just can't see Henry being okay with that. He wants the Red Sox to be relevant and competitive in 2021, and so they will be.

I agree, but I am still in disbelief that he was willing to field a team in 2020 that wasn’t even major league caliber. They were worse than irrelevant. They didn’t belong in the league. I realize that it was an abbreviated season, but they killed interest in the team. People were housebound in the midst of a pandemic and they were so bad that still no one watched their games.

[notin]

I agree, but I am still in disbelief that he was willing to field a team in 2020 that wasn’t even major league caliber. They were worse than irrelevant. They didn’t belong in the league. I realize that it was an abbreviated season, but they killed interest in the team. People were housebound in the midst of a pandemic and they were so bad that still no one watched their games.

 

We've seen it before. Henry does not like paying luxury taxes and the goal was to reset. They did it in 2012. They did it in 2017. And they did it again after 2020. It's typically followed by a spending spree.

 

So far. we have seen no such spending spree. But despite the glacially paced offseason, we have still only seen two contracts break the previously held deal by James McCann for largest deal this offseason.

[moonslav59]

We've seen it before. Henry does not like paying luxury taxes and the goal was to reset. They did it in 2012. They did it in 2017. And they did it again after 2020. It's typically followed by a spending spree.

 

So far. we have seen no such spending spree. But despite the glacially paced offseason, we have still only seen two contracts break the previously held deal by James McCann for largest deal this offseason.

 

I'm thinking we may stay under the tax line, again, this year- just barely. We'll look to add a couple players for the longer term and maybe a couple one and done guys like Martin Perez not Kluber.

 

Maybe we spend very large, next winter.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I'm thinking we may stay under the tax line, again, this year- just barely. We'll look to add a couple players for the longer term and maybe a couple one and done guys like Martin Perez not Kluber.

 

Maybe we spend very large, next winter.

 

At least we know what we're getting in Perez: 5 innings per start, with a career 4.71 ERA. Kluber could be good, bad or injured...

 

In Perez starts, the Red Sox just need to score a run per inning to win.

[Kimmi]

I agree, but I am still in disbelief that he was willing to field a team in 2020 that wasn’t even major league caliber. They were worse than irrelevant. They didn’t belong in the league. I realize that it was an abbreviated season, but they killed interest in the team. People were housebound in the midst of a pandemic and they were so bad that still no one watched their games.

 

Bloom's hands were tied last year, both financially and in terms of prospects. There wasn't a whole lot that he could add given his restraints. The team should have been competitive, but after Sale and ERod were sidelined for the season, everything changed. There aren't many teams who could recover losing their #1 and #2 starting pitchers, even if they had more flexibility.

[jacksonianmarch]

At least we know what we're getting in Perez: 5 innings per start, with a career 4.71 ERA. Kluber could be good, bad or injured...

 

In Perez starts, the Red Sox just need to score a run per inning to win.

 

Kluber will either be good, diminished or hurt. If he’s either of the last two categories, he’s gone