example1

Lincecum costs too much in your scenario. To give them that salary relief, a young viable SP, and Cecchini is a huge overpay IMO. Doubront is a pitcher who has the stuff to be a playoff starter as he matures.

I've been one of Ellsbury's biggest fans over the years, but I'm leaning toward moving him. He has the ability to be an elite player, but how elite has he truly been? He had one great year, and a few streaks of being excellent, but would we say he's at the caliber of the best players in the league? Yet he's going to want the money that Miguel Cabrera or Ryan Braun deserve. All things being equal, I'd prefer him to be on the Sox, but if he's leaving eventually or demanding considerably more than he's shown he is worth, they have to maximize his value.

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21233366/reports-sox-meet-japanese-phenom-otani This may deserve its own thread, but apparently the Sox met with "japanese phenom" Shohei Otani the other day. There's a video linked in the link. There's plenty of reason to be skeptical, but I think the Sox should try to put a good chunk of their money in international talent. Plenty of people here were talking about Yu Darvish in the offseason, and he is a legitimate MLB starter (though the price was too high). Also, there was lots of discussion about Aroldis Chapman and Yeonis Cespedes when those deals were being pursued. In retrospect, those players are good ones and they didn't cost FA equivalent prices. I would be shocked if the Sox--with their newfound financial flexibility and the paucity of good FAs over the next couple of years--aren't extremely aggressive internationally. This kid looks like a good candidate to invest in, if he's open to playing for the Sox. Looks like a big kid, and hitting 100mph out of the stretch at 18 is pretty impressive. EDIT: I noticed on another site that the kid is 6-4, 190. That's the kind of frame of an MLB pitcher. In the video his arms look really long. It could just be the video, but they look freakishly so.

Welcome to being a fan of a competitive team, Natstown

Wow! Just wow!

If I'm the Sox, I would be thinking really hard about a guy like Justin Upton. I was thinking about him tonight as I watched Curtis Granderson. I remember when the Yankees got Granderson I thought it was a decent signing, but not a difference maker. He had some good numbers and some poor numbers, was relatively young, but was inconsistent in Detroit. Obviously, since then Granderson has been tremendous and fits nicely into the middle/bottom of that Yankees lineup making them a powerhouse. It's easy to look at Upton's season and relative inconsistency and write him off as not worth investing in. However, we have to remember that he's going into his age 25 season. Granderson had 202 PAs going into his age 25 season. Upton has 3030 PAs already. I think he's the type of player the Sox would think about investing in even if it costs guys they would otherwise like to have. Say they make Bogaerts and one or two of Webster, Barnes or De La Rosa (whoever they like the most) unavailable; leaving two of those pitchers, Jackie Bradley Jr, and almost everyone else available. They would still have enough money to make a run at Ellsbury (or any significant FA, for that matter) and would give them a young offensive core of guys like Middlebrooks, Bogaerts, and Upton to build around moving forward. I'm not convinced that Upton is the guy. I do think that he's relatively affordable, very young and might be cheaper than usual after a down season and rumors flying that he's done in Arizona. Yes, pitching is the #1 priority, but neglecting other needs because of a myopic focus on the #1 priority would be just as bad as not addressing #1 well.

No thanks on Hamilton. No thanks on Napoli, unless the deal is really good.

Maybe BC, but isn't LL a part owner? Wouldn't that take some sort of buyout?

There are many threads where I didn't talk about draft choices. Thats a hollow criticism. However, even if I did, at least that is looking forward. Why do you need to call it what it is over and over, in a thread about Pedroias finger? You aren't a one trick pony a700. I'm sure you have a useful anecdote or remembrance about a player roughing it out injured at the end of a lost season or something. I'm not even being sarcastic. Those stories add color to the various topics here.

Orioles: pissed off.

I suppose there's something noble about losing "gracefully".

How about he balk-in a run?

I'm sorry to be so negative... I just got home from a 12 hour workday, turned on the game (only because I saw the score was 3-1 and thought I could see a win for once) and saw a HR. Geez.

Why does this matter? Why change Bailey?

I'm so far from worrying about this team's closer right now. I realize it's a part of a good team, but this team is so far from being good. Sadly, the reek of this team is worse than the reek of the 2011 team and the reek will likely carry over into 2013. Can any of these guys ever be winners again?

Can we just see a Sox player destroy some s***? Like, Pedroia taking a bat to a few water jugs, or someone just losing their top? A-Rod will win it here.

Seriously, would we mind if the game just ended here? Does it matter anymore?

Oh, Melancon is getting ready.

Sox aiming for the #7 overall pick.

Might as well just give up the losing run now. I don't care anymore.

Why do I even watch this s***?

Jesus, can we have a single thread that doesn't turn into the same old song and dance about incompetence, just once? There are multiple threads custom built for the king of talksox to talk about the shortcomings of the team. This is a thread about Pedroia, and his injured hand. The team sucks, it doesn't mean that we have to, does it?

Is the new mark of a successful team whether or not it has rookies starting games? That seems like a silly measure, doesn't it? Remember how you felt last year when Kyle Weiland started a few games? At least the 2011 team didn't have that claim of not having a rookie start, right? Who cares if an official rookie is starting? Doubront is a 24 year old with 3 career starts prior to 2012. He's not officially a "rookie" but he started the 2nd most # of games for the team this season and is a minimum cost player.

24 teams passed on Mike Trout, but the Red Sox didn't--they drafted 28th that year. For all we know, the Sox could have had him #1 on their board, but couldn't have drafted him if they wanted to. Of course, he wasn't even the Angels first pick that year (they drafted Randal Grichuk immediately before Trout). If you're talking about an all-round talent who is elite at the age of 19-20 (Harper, Trout, Upton), no, the Sox haven't drafted those guys. It's hard to draft those guys when you're picking in the 20s. You have to go back to 2003 to find a position player who was drafted after the Sox first first-round pick who has since been an all-star (that's searching only 1st and supplemental round picks, mind you). With their dismal performance this year, the Sox have assured themselves of their highest draft pick since 1994. They have a chance to get an all-star caliber player at that pick and it will be their most important draft pick in 20 years. They need to get it right.

I wouldn't go too far criticizing the draft picks of the Red Sox. I mean, they've missed on a few guys, but a number of their picks have been quite good. Of all the areas to pick to criticize, drafting wouldn't be near the top of my list. As you said, FA acquisitions are at the top.