Kristian Campbell Agrees To Eight-Year Extension With Red Sox

[moonslav59]

Just now, Nick said:

Not to nitpick, I said position players. But this is a good list Moon.

Yes, sorry. I thought of that right after I clicked enter, but figured it was still useful info.

[Nick]

Tom Carroll, WEEI

“While he hasn’t been perfect at second base, Campbell’s positional versatility is an added bonus to what the 22-year-old has shown to be capable of at the plate in an extremely small sample size. He’s played four games at second and one in left, making him that much more valuable to the big league club moving forward.”

Wow, he's only played 4 games and already critiquing his defense at 2B?

[moonslav59]

That catch he almost made in LF showed me that maybe he could maybe be a plus defender in the OF, if we need or want him there. (Yes, a one play sample size! LOL)

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, Nick said:

Tom Carroll, WEEI

“While he hasn’t been perfect at second base, Campbell’s positional versatility is an added bonus to what the 22-year-old has shown to be capable of at the plate in an extremely small sample size. He’s played four games at second and one in left, making him that much more valuable to the big league club moving forward.”

Wow, he's only played 4 games and already critiquing his defense at 2B?

45 G in college

51 G in MiLB

4 G in MLB

Only 100 games in his lifetime. That's not a lot for what he's been showing TBH. His defense is good enough and better than we've had over there the previous few years (aside from Hamilton).

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Rafaela is still much more of an overpay.

You think that Rafaela is an overpay?

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I think the view of the Sox front office has improved by leaps and bounds, this winter!

Once upon a time, I was against the idea of locking up young players when they were still in their cost-controlled years.  Now, with the way the free agent contracts have become so outrageous, I think you almost have to lock them up early.  The FO has done a good job with that.

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, Jasonbay44 said:

8 years $60 million. Seems great for Sox 

Of course there's always some risk on both sides, but it's a win-win IMO.  For a young guy like Campbell, I'm guessing $60M is a LOT of money.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Campbell moved so fast through the minors last year, he didn't have time to earn the entire minimum salaries at each level: $27,300 High A, $30,250 Double A, $35,800 Triple A.

Say what you want about his agent, but $35 grand has three zeros, and $60 mil has SEVEN zeros...

[Nick]

10 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

Of course there's always some risk on both sides, but it's a win-win IMO.  For a young guy like Campbell, I'm guessing $60M is a LOT of money.

His girl friend is doing back flips....it's lot of money for 99% of the population.

[Hitch]

Absolutely love this deal. Great work by the FO.

[moonslav59]

KC is an athlete, so there is hope he can get better at whatever position(s) he ends up playing.

[Larry Cook]

Great deal for both sides. Congrats to Campbell and bres-slow!!!

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

Great deal for both sides. Congrats to Campbell and bres-slow!!!

Just like that: Crochet & Campbell locked up. Devers was smiling on the field. Storytime is not a snoozer. Mayer is pushing against the door. Abreu is saying, "trade me, why????"

I'm not sure I ever felt so good watching a 2 and 4 team. Has the Sox upper brass really set the bar this low? (LOL)

[Nick]

16 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Just like that: Crochet & Campbell locked up. Devers was smiling on the field. Storytime is not a snoozer. Mayer is pushing against the door. Abreu is saying, "trade me, why????"

I'm not sure I ever felt so good watching a 2 and 4 team. Has the Sox upper brass really set the bar this low? (LOL)

Story just makes me nervous every time he steals second base. I actually wince, hoping he doesn't do something to his ankle. And I am not criticizing him when he hustles but to me it boarders on being out of control. Injury just waiting to happen.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, Nick said:

Story just makes me nervous every time he steals second base. I actually wince, hoping he doesn't do something to his ankle. And I am not criticizing him when he hustles but to me it boarders on being out of control. Injury just waiting to happen.

Having Mayer makes me less nervous.

We also have Rafaela, who can play SS, and we could call up Anthony.

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

Story just makes me nervous every time he steals second base. I actually wince, hoping he doesn't do something to his ankle. And I am not criticizing him when he hustles but to me it boarders on being out of control. Injury just waiting to happen.

I think bres-slow and company made it a point to increase depth this season! With a 162 game season, you know injuries are inevitable!!!  Last year, we lacked depth, this year. I feel a lot better about our ability to survive injuries. Especially in the rotation and bullpen. 

[Kimmi]

On 4/2/2025 at 4:29 PM, Nick said:

His girl friend is doing back flips....it's lot of money for 99% of the population.

Yes, absolutely.  I think that's what aggravates me so much about players who turn down $300M contracts.

[Nick]

21 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

Yes, absolutely.  I think that's what aggravates me so much about players who turn down $300M contracts.

Welcome back.

[Kimmi]

11 minutes ago, Nick said:

Welcome back.

Thank you.  It's good to be back and good to see you.  :)

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

I think bres-slow and company made it a point to increase depth this season! With a 162 game season, you know injuries are inevitable!!!  Last year, we lacked depth, this year. I feel a lot better about our ability to survive injuries. Especially in the rotation and bullpen. 

I think we had pretty good depth, last year, and in some way, they kept us in it longer than the previous 2 seasons.

Even after the Gio injury, there was still talk about Houck or Crawford being in the rotation. Criswell, ended up putting up better numbers than most of our initial, all healthy starting 5, and we barely heard of him. He got his shot after Whitlock was lost for the season.

While deciding who was "pen depth" to start the season might be impossible to determine, Slaten was not supposed to pitch that many high leverage innings. These were our top high leverage pitchers by PA, among nonstarters. How many were supposed to be ranked this highly in PAs against, and some did pretty well:

123 Jansen, 79 Bernardino, 75 Kelly & Martin, 69 Weissert, 63 Slaten

On the offensive side, we lost Story for almost the whole year, and ended up using Rafaela at SS more than anyone else. He actually did better than past subs, need I mention Kike? There was a psoter wondering why we ended up needing to see Abreu "kicking the ball around RF." That "depth" turned into a gold mine. Refsnyder was money. It took DHam a second call-up to find a groove, but he and Romy stabilized 2B, and they were maybe the 4th and 5th stringers after EValdez, Grissom & Reyes on the 2B winter depth chart.

That being said, our depth is better this year, especially with the pitching. I'm curious to see how many IP we see from any pitcher not in our system on March 20th, 2024. Last year, we saw this.... (IP)

52 Chase Anderson

25 Brad Keller

18 Bailey Horn, 15 Luis Garcia, 14 Lucas Sims

11 Paxton,  5 Priester and 1-4 IP by some others

Having the 3 top prospects improved our depth, a lot, some even beyond the 40. Adding so many pitchers over last season and this winter, as well as some returning pitchers from injury in '24 gives us some great depth, and we've already seen Newcomb jump the depth charts to land a rotation slot.

 

[vjcsmoke]

Campbell has really come on lately. Maybe his new contract motivated him! Maybe his girlfriend is treating him extra nice now, who knows. But certainly seems like he is validating the deal.

Very small sample size but an opening season slash line of .400 avg, .500 obp, .750 slg, and 1.25 OPS is extremely encouraging!

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, vjcsmoke said:

Campbell has really come on lately. Maybe his new contract motivated him! Maybe his girlfriend is treating him extra nice now, who knows. But certainly seems like he is validating the deal.

Very small sample size but an opening season slash line of .400 avg, .500 obp, .750 slg, and 1.25 OPS is extremely encouraging!

It looks that way.

And to think a week ago, he was just a "suspect."

[Bellhorn04]

13 hours ago, Kimmi said:

Yes, absolutely.  I think that's what aggravates me so much about players who turn down $300M contracts.

Mookie is the classic case of betting on himself IMHO.  He turned down two earlier offers as well.  Don't forget that by doing this, he also took the risk that he might get injured or otherwise see his value go down and might end up losing most or all of it.

 

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Mookie is the classic case of betting on himself IMHO.  He turned down two earlier offers as well.  Don't forget that by doing this, he also took the risk that he might get injured or otherwise see his value go down and might end up losing most or all of it.

Yeah, kudos to all these players that are earning these contracts. Mookie ended up kind of underselling himself in the end, but he really set the market for future players. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Yeah, kudos to all these players that are earning these contracts. Mookie ended up kind of underselling himself in the end, but he really set the market for future players. 

I still think the uncertainty over COVID lowered the price some.

[Bellhorn04]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I still think the uncertainty over COVID lowered the price some.

$365 million was still a lot of money.  It was the second-largest total contract after Trout's.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

44 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

$365 million was still a lot of money.  It was the second-largest total contract after Trout's.

And ever since Mookie signed that contract, he's outperformed Trout -- and everyone else on the WARometer (that hasn't dropped a fly ball in a World Series-losing inning).

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

$365 million was still a lot of money.  It was the second-largest total contract after Trout's.

Yup. The 12 years brings down the AAV a bit ($30M) which was ballpark to our 10 year offer AAV.

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

And ever since Mookie signed that contract, he's outperformed Trout -- and everyone else on the WARometer (that hasn't dropped a fly ball in a World Series-losing inning).

I never understood those who said his skills do not traditionally age well.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I never understood those who said his skills do not traditionally age well.

There are plenty of players who move to easier positions as they age.

Mookie moved from right field to shortstop.