Juan Soto Signed With the Mets. What’s Next for the Red Sox?

14 minutes ago, a700hitter said:

We need some offensive punch too.  The current offense on the roster will just not compete with other teams.  And there is a big fall off from Soto.  Betts looks like a bargain at this point.  That was a monumental mess up by the Red Sox.

The SOX FO appears to have the money to spend on both an ACE starter and a big RH bat, but the problem always seems to be they are either a day late or a dollar short or both.

This is why the SOX have the nickname 'interested.'

15 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

Go watch the video of the game this past season where Robert fails to even try to throw home as the winning run tags and scores on a fly ball. Do NOT want this guy anywhere near the Sox. NO, NO, NO!

I get what you’re saying, but honestly, I think a lot of White Sox players were demoralized by 2024…

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Would you call a Bregman, Manaea, Kittredge winter a "good one?"

10 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The SOX FO appears to have the money to spend on both an ACE starter and a big RH bat, but the problem always seems to be they are either a day late or a dollar short or both.

This is why the SOX have the nickname 'interested.'

If Manaea was replaced with one of the top three pitchers I've already mentioned, it would be a damned good one.

BTW, I just recently heard that BURNES wants to pitch closer to his hometown, which means he could be heading to the Giants.

I believe trading for Crochet is the SOX best chance of the 3.

8 hours ago, Davy Andrews said:

The biggest domino of the offseason has toppled, and not in Boston's direction. Let's talk about what the Red Sox do now?

And with that, the offseason has officially started for the Boston Red Sox. Juan Soto has decided that he will wear a Mets hat on his Hall of Fame plaque. While the Red Sox were never considered the favorite to land Soto, they were by all accounts a real contender, and missing out on that kind of generational talent – even if you’re relieved that it means the team isn’t on the hook for $765 million over the next 15 years – is still a blow. The next Ted Williams won’t be roaming the same right field as the first Ted Williams. But once you’ve come to terms with that reality, you’re left with a simple question: What happens next for the Red Sox?

The short answer is that it's time to get moving.

First, they’re sure to refocus on the goal that they’ve emphasized repeatedly since the season ended: finding front-line starting pitching. Now that Soto is off the table, the landscape looks much more settled, and several teams will be turning in earnest to the cream of the starting pitching crop: Max Fried and Corbin Burnes in free agency, Garrett Crochet on the trade market, and Roki Sasaki in the international free agent market. (To be clear, every team was already going to be in on Sasaki given the tiny size of his contract, but the PowerPoint decks with which teams are pitching him are undoubtedly being given some extra polish and a few additional slide transitions as you read this.) Sasaki will decide for his own reasons where he wants to play, but it’s extremely difficult to imagine the Red Sox coming away without one of either Fried, Burnes, or Crochet. They’re a marquee organization bursting with both talent and resources. They’ve got enough money to land both Fried and Burnes, and even if they come up empty, they’ve got more than enough prospect capital and young big-league talent to swing a deal for Crochet.

With Soto off the table and Tyler O’Neill signing in Baltimore, the Red Sox are still in need of a power bat. Whether or not you think Wilyer Abreu should be playing right field every day, Alex Cora’s decisions over the course of the 2024 season made it clear that he and the Red Sox think the young right fielder needs a platoon partner. Teoscar Hernández would make a lot of sense, both because he’s coming off an excellent season and because he’s now the clear top dog in an outfield market that is starting to look mighty thin. Behind Hernández, someone will have to take the chance that Jurickson Profar is somehow able to repeat his miracle 2024 season. Anthony Santander would make a lot of sense for the Red Sox as well. He’s a bad defender, but he’s a powerful a switch-hitter who hits righties and lefties pretty much the same. It’s easy to see him splitting his time between the outfield and DH.

The Boston roster also has a gaping hole at second base. It’s entirely possible that the Red Sox will let David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez handle the position to start the season and wait for either Marcelo Mayer or Kristian Campbell to come up from Triple A and claim it. However, infield options like Alex Bregman, Ha-Seong Kim, and Gleyber Torres are still available. If the Sox can’t add their power bat in the outfield, signing Bregman and sliding him over to second base (which he’s reportedly said he’s amenable to) would solve that problem in bold fashion.

One thing that hasn’t changed: the Red Sox need a catcher. As things stand, Connor Wong is the only catcher on the roster, and the already patchy free agent market at the position is growing sparser by the second. Six different catchers have signed already. Carson Kelly and the 36-year-old Yasmani Grandal are the top options left, and that’s not a position the Red Sox want to find themselves in.

The Red Sox have missed out on their chance at adding one of the brightest (and now the highest-paid) stars in the galaxy, and it’s now crunch time, especially when it comes to free agent position players. The pitching market is still robust, but their chances of replacing the punch O'Neill supplied from the right side in 2024 are getting slimmer by the minute.

 

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"The next Ted Williams?" What's this guy smoking?

BTW, Teddy Ballgame didn't play RF. 

11 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Career OPS+

Ted Williams 191

Juan Soto 160

As good as Soto is, Williams was 20% better.

How does this guy Andrews have any credibility when he didn't even know the greatest SOX player wasn't a right fielder?

What's gonna happen in the off season will happen and all the predictions are a waste of time reading or watching.

18 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yep, so far they've been interested in Bieber and Soto.  

They're full-throttled interested.

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

 

If Manaea was replaced with one of the top three pitchers I've already mentioned, it would be a damned good one.

BTW, I just recently heard that BURNES wants to pitch closer to his hometown, which means he could be heading to the Giants.

I believe trading for Crochet is the SOX best chance of the 3.

It could be. Other teams will make strong offers, too.

I'm not really sold on Crochet being a top pitcher, but every pitching addition is a risk, and I'm not seeing many options out there.

Burnes or Fried

Crochet, Lopez

Manaea, Flaherty, Castillo or maybe Eovaldi.

I'm not sure, if these guys could be traded for and are some good enough?

Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Mitch Keller, Alcantara, B Garrett or the like?

Sonny Gray, (IS Monty too risky?)

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yep, so far they've been interested in Bieber and Soto.  

You mean of those already signed?

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Career OPS+

Ted Williams 191

Juan Soto 160

As good as Soto is, Williams was 20% better.

Soto couldn't fly fighter jets in wars or fly cast to catch Atlantic salmon as good as Ted, either.

2 hours ago, a700hitter said:

I like Luis Robert a lot, but aren’t there concerns whether he can stay on the field!

That and the fact that the CWS apparently want a king's ransom for the a guy who has not been consistently good.

11 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Splinter you may remember that I told people on the other site we were on that the Sox were insistent on building through the farm. no-one believed me and I was taken off that form.  wonder what they are thinking now

You were booted for that?