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A generation is roughly 25-30 years, IE the time someone is born to when they produce the next generation. Thus there have only been 3-4 generations in baseball history. Pitchers wise there really isn't anyone that transcends the game. There is no Pedro or Randy Johnson out there right now and no one is even remotely close to getting 300+ strikeouts. In terms of hitters it seems that Pujols is in that class. But when you think of Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, etc you don't jump to Cabrera.

You HAVE to start Lackey though, he's a gigantic investment and no team out there is going to eat that cost. That's what sucks about long term deals, you have to slot them in. Therefore with Buchholz/Lester/Doubront/Dempster/Lackey and Morales/Rubby as possible candidates also it doesn't make much sense to keep adding more starters. The bullpen is jam packed as it is.

Don't see why the extra pieces would be anything major. How do the names of Sands/Pimentel leak and not something bigger if they were also part of the deal?

Would never work, these decisions are driven by money and neither has it. San Juan has a population of less than 400,000 and per capital pales greatly in comparison to basically any market in the US. Even worse in the DR. You'd have trouble generating enough revenue and getting players to play in countries with significantly worse living standards.

Highly doubt that, the Red Sox have bottomed out, Cleveland might still get worse.

It is though. Good players only accept one year deals if there was something wrong with them in the year before. No bad team is team is paying 13mil to Dan Haren or 9.5mil to Stephen Drew. There's too much risk in hoping a wildcard bounces back and then finding someone to deal legitimate prospects for them. That is further diminished by the fact that you can't get draft picks for players traded for mid-season.

No one's biting because players don't want to play there. Think about it, Free agents are either right in the middle of their prime or almost on the way out. Players derive value from playing in front of fans and being on a winning team. Victorino gladly accepted less money play in Boston rather than waste the last couple good years of his career in Cleveland. They may be wholesome cities but not for a human with star power and who's career is played out in front of the public.

Better teams generally have more money to offer and larger fan bases. Why would a bad team offer a lot of money to a guy for one year when they aren't competing. It could also backfire on the player if they have a bad season because then they are stuck in Kansas City or Cleveland. Have you ever been to those cities?

31 year old reliever who's set to become a FA? I don't think the value is all that high there

Agree with this list completely. I definitely see Strasburg getting the bump up with another solid season. I think Hamels is also probably in the top group too

No I don't but the way the stats are being presented in this thread it makes it seem like a case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide. He was clearly worse at home but not consistently twice as bad as his ERA taken as a whole seems to indicate. Thus given his peripherals are fairly similar home and away, I don't see any long term home/away issues for Lester. I think the differences are more of an aberration

I think a lot of it has to do with timing. The July 8-22 stretch was where he bottomed out this past season and had three home starts in a row where he got bombed to the tune of 21 runs over those starts. He finished the last two months of the season pretty strong with a 3.76 ERA over his last 80 innings. A number of those starts were at home and he was fine.

Your argument was centered around the idea that you don't understand the support for build from within. What is your proposal then? Ship all these prospects out for veterans? Before any of those established Red Sox players were successful major leaguers they were questionable prospects. I don't think the core is that far away. Hell Rubby has already had success in the majors, assuming he heals properly I think he either makes the major league roster in April or is there very soon. As for Webster, his command isn't great but neither was Jon Lesters. Stuff if far more important, a lot of young pitchers are wild to begin their careers and then settle in. Buchholz pitched 8 starts before getting the call to the majors, if Webster has a good start in AAA and there's an opening he's a potential mid-season callup. As for Bogaerts and Bradley, they have already had success in AA. If their first 100+ AB look good I don't think the FO will hesitate to promote them. WMB had 100 AB in AAA before establishing himself as a major league regular, these promotions can happen very quickly.

This is one of the most absurd critiques of a farm system I have ever read. The Red Sox farm is easily a top 10 system in baseball right now, there is no farm out there that is loaded with upper level prospects destroying AA/AAA. Every prospect out there has question marks, if "hasnt pitched above A ball" is the best critique you can come up with then I think we're in pretty good shape.

Pretty sure they still have a lot more than 9 mil of wiggle room. Who is making these predictions? You? Perhaps I missed it but by my count they have given out a grand total of two 3 year contracts with everyone else 2 years and under.

Come on you can't be defending Aviles. The direction his stats are heading in are so far gone from those career highlights. He doesn't get on base, is aging, and despite what suspect defensive metrics say, he is an average fielding SS at best. Drew has significant pedigree, at the age Aviles got into the majors Drew had already been there for four years. The upside is night and day compared to Aviles and he actually could be one of the better hitting SS out there.

Which prospects exactly are you referring to? Xander/Bradley are starting in AA most likely, and Iglesias clearly isn't ready to be a major league starter. Lavarnway will absolutely get plenty of AB, I think Salty gets moved and he becomes the primary guy. Kalish should also get plenty of AB as he figures to be splitting AB with Gomes. Not sure what they do with Brentz if he tears up AAA but frankly OF always get injured, I'm sure there would be an opportunity. Can never have enough pitching, can't see lack of spots being a problem for any of the young arms.

Drew's been injured the past two years, before that he was one of the best hitting SS, I think the upside is way higher than it would be with Aviles. In addition this money would probably be unspent and since it's for just a year I'm not sure it makes sense to tack it on to Farrell's cost.

They worked out an injury contract with Lackey and basically that stipulation got them a free year extra. Therefore I think these details do matter, even if they don't always vest.

Lackey was better than Sanchez before he came to Boston and he had been pitching in the AL exclusively. Lackey is absolutely clogging a spot and has been for the past 3 years more or less. I don't think the Red Sox want to lock themselves into a 6/90 contract with Sanchez only to see the same thing happen again, especially with Sanchez being almost exclusively an NL pitcher.

I don't think it does though. Maybe the sellout streak ends but do you really think Fenway will ever be anywhere near empty? Red Sox are so ingrained into Boston culture that it will always be nearly full every night whether the team sucks or not. I think they are betting on big bounce back years from Ellsbury/Lester/Lackey and that these moves this offseason will supplement that production. I don't think the Red Sox are a bonafide contender next year but I think they will be a potentially competitive team. Also very much disagree that Dempster clogs the rotation. You can never have enough depth, I would guarantee that if any of Webster/Barnes/De La Rosa are ready next year that they will get their chance to pitch in the majors. Dempster on a two year deal doesn't affect that at all. Sanchez on a 5-year deal very much clogs a spot long term.

I disagree I think their strategy makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately the plan isn't nearly as 'sexy' as most fans would hope. Sure they have a ton of payroll to spend but their plan isn't to re-lock themselves into long term contracts and hope this next batch of big name FA's works out. Thus they realize they can't field a horrible team but at the same time don't want to mortgage their financial future on a fairly mediocre FA class. I think if they saw someone they really liked they would make a long term move, but more and more the sense I get is that Hamilton is not that guy, neither is Sanchez, and neither was Grienke. I also think the plan revolves hugely around prospects and player development. Hence the short term contracts (3 years and less) and their commitment to holding onto the 2nd round pick. If their goal is to produce a decently competitive team while maintaining flexibility and holding onto prospects/draft picks then I think every move makes quite a bit of sense. Again these moves aren't the most energizing but they all fit a very similar pattern. I also don't see Ellsbury getting moved. If he performs well then you can lock up a guy star who you know performs in Boston. And even if he doesn't sign then you get a draft pick.

I'm gonna post my ideal offseason for fun now that there is some semblance of a roster coming together: 1) Trade Ellsbury for pitching (Ideally a #2/#3 guy but good pitching prospect would do) 2) Sign Hamilton 4/90 3) Trade Salty for Gavin Floyd 4) Consider signing Drew depending on how they feel about Iglesias, would get another LHB in the lineup 1. Victorino CF S 2. Pedroia 2B RH 3. Ortiz DH LH 4. Napoli 1B RH 5. Hamilton RF LH 6. Middlebrooks 3B RH 7. Gomes/Nava LF RH/LH 8. Lavarnway/Ross C RH 9. Iglesias/Drew SS LH/RH *OF has lots of flexibility for when Brentz/Bradley are ready as Victorino can go wherever and there's no long commitment in LF. 1. Lester 2. Buchholz 3. *Ellsbury Trade 4. Floyd 5. Lackey 6. Doubront *Barnes/Webster/Rubby are all getting pretty close also, and the prospect from the Ellsbury trade could be in that mix also

You are mistakenly looking at one year splits, for his career they are a lot closer

I really hope there is something bigger in the works with Ellsbury for a SP. I like Victorino a whole lot more as a CF then a corner OF...