Red Sox Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[mvp 78]

37 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I agree, but why in RF?  He definitely needs more seasoning at Woo. I’ve heard interviews with one of the Woo’s broadcasters who says KC still has too many swings, and misses, and still has trouble getting jumps on the ball in the OF.

Because he's not a CFer IMO. I don't think he's good enough to really be wasting time there. I think he's athletic enough to figure out RF. 

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

You think if KC was a LHB, he'd have been promoted, instead of acquiring Jones?

I don't.

His bat isn't good enough, right now.

His D was never good enough.

We have enough DHs to fill a whole line-up card, already. (Hyperbole alert)

Jahmai Jones was a RHB. They needed a platoon guy. If he was a LHB, it makes no difference.

 

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, who is talking about DFAing him?  Us? McAdam?  Are the Sox actually considering it?  And if so, is it solely because of the 40 man roster spot?

Depending on what he was doing and what he was working on in AAA, his numbers might be meaningless.  I seriously doubt they demoted him and said “just do the same thing you were doing and we’ll judge you based solely on batting average.”  He was sent down to make some sort of change, and whatever that change was, it was absolutely going to impact his numbers negatively to some degree…

McAdam spoke about it and now people are still talking about it on here. He didn't say that the FO was considering it or that "sources" told him about it. He just said it was an idea they should consider.

[drewski6]

47 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

To me, keep KC in WOO. Put him in RF for every game this year. Let him earn his spot and fight his way back to BOS. Maybe year 2 of his revised swing will be better... 

It's clear to me that there are fans, podcasts, media, etc that still have expectations on KC that aren't in line with what he's done on the field since going back down to WOO in '25. Let him at least become a successful AAA player that is knocking down the door before talking about finding a spot for him. Also, there are enough guys in the org without a decent ceiling that the Sox could move on from before DFA'ing KC. I don't believe there is much of a 40 man roster crunch at the moment. 

Yeah, if he has options, then hes porbably a good body to have parked in minors who we may recall if needed.  Im not a fan of making waiver claims in August, even though it has sometimes worked out for us.  But generally, fielding a team off otehr teams scrap heap is not how you build championship level talent.  

So its good to have a few guys who can be that next man up like Siegler, Monasterio, KC, Gasper...

Regarding KC being a regular, one problem is that our positoin player group and offense group hasnt had a tremendous amount of success last 2-3 years, and despite that - there are not a plethora of spots open.  And while many see that as a good thing, I think having a lot of above average regulars can be a trap.  Stuck in the good , not great range.  Reminds me of like the atlanta hawks that literally spent 15 straight years as a middle of the road playoff team that couldnt win it all, and its not a great place to be stuck.

So if we want to take that next step and jump from playoff team to legit contender, well for one, its not an easy jump to make and 2) its even harder because people talk like we dont have many open spots...so if we do make one or 2 additions, they should be hig himpact, and thats just not KC or at least the version of him we've seen.

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

I think they considered it, but decided it was worth the risk.  One successful extension can more than cover two or three that don’t pan out.

If Anthony works out as anticipated , his $120mill extension could easily save more money than the team “lost” with extensions given to Campbell and Bello…

For two seasons? Nope. 3/80M in 32-34 spent on Roman doesn't give you the savings from the money wasted on the other extensions. Where's the 60M in savings coming from? Still a big IF with a guy that has missed substantial injury time in his short career. 

[moonslav59]

45 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Jahmai Jones was a RHB. They needed a platoon guy. If he was a LHB, it makes no difference.

 

LOL, right.

There you go. They don't trust him, now.

Maybe he can work his way back to the bigs, but he hasn't showed squat.

[moonslav59]

30 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

For two seasons? Nope. 3/80M in 32-34 spent on Roman doesn't give you the savings from the money wasted on the other extensions. Where's the 60M in savings coming from? Still a big IF with a guy that has missed substantial injury time in his short career. 

Have you changed your views on the Ceddanne extension, yet?

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Have you changed your views on the Ceddanne extension, yet?

No. I don't think what he is doing now would get him paid more in ARB than what his contract is earning him. He's had one season over 100 OPS+ and the metrics aren't kind to him. Guys that are glove first aren't paid highly on the open market or in arbitration. 

[drewski6]

11 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No. I don't think what he is doing now would get him paid more in ARB than what his contract is earning him. He's had one season over 100 OPS+ and the metrics aren't kind to him. Guys that are glove first aren't paid highly on the open market or in arbitration. 

Cmon.  YOu have to eat considerably less crow on this then I did, and I had my triple portion of whatever you have to choke down.

I was so wrong on Cedanne.  HE is a bargain at 30m / yr.

[drewski6]

And a lot of that is because he swings that bat.

[drewski6]

What , we dont pay em to not swing.  If they aint gonna swing, might as well just put an empty pair of shoes in the box. Eck taught me that.

[drewski6]

And I aint paying double digit millions for shoes.  Single digit millions = maybe.

[drewski6]

JK, most ive ever paid for shoes is like $400 for my Jaylen Brown custom color Adidas with the Neon green and the cyan blue like 3 years ago that he use to wear.

Might have spent more on a pair of prada shoes as a gift for a hookup, but dont think so.

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No. I don't think what he is doing now would get him paid more in ARB than what his contract is earning him. He's had one season over 100 OPS+ and the metrics aren't kind to him. Guys that are glove first aren't paid highly on the open market or in arbitration. 

I disagree and think his after arb savings (vs FA value) will make up for any slight overpays during arb years.

[moonslav59]

Arbs Smarbs.

fangraphs gave him a FA value of $33M this year and $31M last year.

Suddenly, we are to disregard fangraphs.

[mvp 78]

50 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Cmon.  YOu have to eat considerably less crow on this then I did, and I had my triple portion of whatever you have to choke down.

I was so wrong on Cedanne.  HE is a bargain at 30m / yr.

On the open market, he's not getting 30M a year. He's not. You think he's PCA? He's a GG CFer with a middling bat. We've all said that he needs to hit a the bottom of the lineup. That's not a guy getting 30M anywhere. 

[mvp 78]

51 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

And a lot of that is because he swings that bat.

And misses!

45.3% chase rate - 1st percentile

10th percentile EV

25th percentile barrel

16th percentile hard hit

Nothing he does with the bat is good. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Arbs Smarbs.

fangraphs gave him a FA value of $33M this year and $31M last year.

Suddenly, we are to disregard fangraphs.

PCA was worth 85M. Is he getting that on the open market in FA? 

FanGraphs value system isn't reflective on what the players are actually paid. Saying "well, he's worth 30M" is kind of meaningless if we're talking about "did signing him to an extension save them money." It's two different subjects that have nothing to do with each other.

[JoeBrady]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I think people think he's a bust because he debuted for two months, got a big extension and then got buried in AAA with mediocre stats for over a year and a half. 

25 799 OPS

26 763 OPS

His glove isn't his carrying tool and his stats aren't getting better. 

KC's numbers got better towards the end of the season.  The glove is an issue.  It's easier to wait on a guy if you know he is going to play a position.  Just a couple of other players to consider as a comp.

• Bauers-A former top-50ish prospect that had a -1.2 career bWAR coming into 2026, with a career 84 OPS+.  Seems like a lot of fans are interesting.
• Mead-A former top-50 prospect that had a -0.02 career bWAR coming into 2026, with a career 75 OPS+.

The point being that people might be giving up on KC a tad quick.

[JoeBrady]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

It makes more sense to me that they rushed him to prove to the doubters that their development infrastructure worked. D'oh. 

He had a good April. He had a bad May after his rib injury. I think ultimately his terrible defense is what got sent him back to AAA. 

They rushed him to the pros because they had no 2B.  It was a bit quick, but the mistake was the assumption that he could field his position.  Lots of prospects struggle with their hitting initially, but observation should've told them that the glove might be an issue.

[JoeBrady]

7 hours ago, JimEd said:

rushing him to the bigs is one thing, but the fact they gave him the BIG extension truly has me questioning the competency of this FO.

Lots of teams do that.  Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, KC, Seattle, Milwaukee, Cardinals, Atlanta, Cincy, Cubs, Nationals, Pirates, AZ, Colorado, Padres, have all extended young players.  It's not as unusual as some people think.

[JoeBrady]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Is it because they can't or don't want to? Should I really feel sorry for smol bean John Henry? 

It seems inconsistent to complain that we aren't extending our players and then complaining that we are extending our players.

[UtahSox]

5 hours ago, notin said:

If Anthony works out as anticipated , his $120mill extension could easily save more money than the team “lost” with extensions given to Campbell and Bello…

I can’t tell you how bad I hate these premature extensions…… this is something you do if you’re the Tampa Rays not the Red Sox. It makes the guy severely less valuable as trade piece , increases AAV, and the reward is insignificant. Extra 1-2 years. For a guy you can afford to extend anyway (revenue wise not }. Absolutely it’s performative bullsh*t from ownership to convince us they are spending right to their cap when they just aren’t. Thank goodness Casas got too smart for his own good. That would be another DFA disaster. 

[JimEd]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Lots of teams do that.  Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, KC, Seattle, Milwaukee, Cardinals, Atlanta, Cincy, Cubs, Nationals, Pirates, AZ, Colorado, Padres, have all extended young players.  It's not as unusual as some people think.

can you not read? i never said there was anything wrong or unusual with giving out pre-arb extensions. i said HIS extension was unwarranted. and idiotic. i think it's fine -in some cases.

[JimEd]

59 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

I can’t tell you how bad I hate these premature extensions…… this is something you do if you’re the Tampa Rays not the Red Sox. It makes the guy severely less valuable as trade piece , increases AAV, and the reward is insignificant. Extra 1-2 years. For a guy you can afford to extend anyway (revenue wise not }. Absolutely it’s performative bullsh*t from ownership to convince us they are spending right to their cap when they just aren’t. Thank goodness Casas got too smart for his own good. That would be another DFA disaster. 

exactly. 

[JoeBrady]

9 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

There were enough mixed reviews on Campbell during his ascent to warrant skepticism. This wasn't just a one off Ichiro won't work out type thing. And ultimately, they were right!!!

• BA #4
• BP #3
• MLB #7
• FG 60 FV

Which organizations questioned him?

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Yeah, if he has options, then hes porbably a good body to have parked in minors who we may recall if needed.  Im not a fan of making waiver claims in August, even though it has sometimes worked out for us.  But generally, fielding a team off otehr teams scrap heap is not how you build championship level talent.  

So its good to have a few guys who can be that next man up like Siegler, Monasterio, KC, Gasper...

Regarding KC being a regular, one problem is that our positoin player group and offense group hasnt had a tremendous amount of success last 2-3 years, and despite that - there are not a plethora of spots open.  And while many see that as a good thing, I think having a lot of above average regulars can be a trap.  Stuck in the good , not great range.  Reminds me of like the atlanta hawks that literally spent 15 straight years as a middle of the road playoff team that couldnt win it all, and its not a great place to be stuck.

So if we want to take that next step and jump from playoff team to legit contender, well for one, its not an easy jump to make and 2) its even harder because people talk like we dont have many open spots...so if we do make one or 2 additions, they should be hig himpact, and thats just not KC or at least the version of him we've seen.

No problem keeping KC, but when you look at the 40 that is overloaded with guys who may never play on the 26 this year, you start to look for ways to shed some of them.

Try to be right about the ones you keep.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

PCA was worth 85M. Is he getting that on the open market in FA? 

FanGraphs value system isn't reflective on what the players are actually paid. Saying "well, he's worth 30M" is kind of meaningless if we're talking about "did signing him to an extension save them money." It's two different subjects that have nothing to do with each other.

I don't agree Ceddanne is woth $30M, but the deal is very good one.

It's okay to be wrong.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

The point being that people might be giving up on KC a tad quick.

Not me.

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

• BA #4
• BP #3
• MLB #7
• FG 60 FV

Which organizations questioned him?

Had he done well, nobody but maybe MVP calls it idiotic.