mvp 78

Which pitching prospect did we hold onto that was desirable at the time that is now better than Kopech?

We probably could have started this thread earlier in the season, but whatever. What are the moves you are expecting? Is Xander going to re-sign? Is Bloom going to get a good corner OF? Who gets a QO? Which FA's are going to be targeted? C - Sox are probably good with McGuire and Wong 1B - Sox stick with Casas/Hosmer/Dalbec, maybe one gets traded 2B - I think this is Story's position for the next few years SS - I want to say that the Sox do the right thing and figure out a way to keep Xander, they can move him off position (3B/LF) if Mayer ever earns the spot 3B - Sox MUST extend Raffy this offseason RF - Sox fans want Nimmo, I think Bloom targets Haniger CF - Kiké LF - Verdugo DH - I don't think they replace JD with a fulltime DH, I think they rotate it with Dalbec/Hosmer/Arroyo/Refsnyder/et al SP - Sale/Paxton(Sox pick up the 2 year option)/Pivetta/Whitlock/Hill/Bello RP - High Leverage FA/Houck/Schreiber/Barnes/Kelly/FA/FA/German So my assumption seems to be 3 RP's (one high leverage/late inning guy), Haniger in RF, re-sign Hill and pick up Paxton's option. The only thing I can't pin my finger on is whether of not they re-sign Xander. I think they should, but it's probably 50/50. If they don't re-sign him, they'll need to either sign Swanson for similar money or trade for a CF/SS. The remaining FA options are either out of their price range or just not interesting IMO.

Yankees fans count the ones from before they were born too.

It's not "major" losses, but the totality of it is what causes the Sox to have to bring JBJ back, find a bunch of pitchers off the scrap heap, etc. Not having appropriate depth at the upper minors and younger cheap talent really hamstrung the Sox from 2020 - 2022.

Also, NESN will be much worse without Remy and Eck.

Brooms.

Barnes bandwagon is ready to load for 2023.

It was impressive.

Espinal was the guy I was forgetting about. He's good, but he's not a star. He shouldn't have been an All Star this season. He's already 27. His glove is decent, but a 99 wRC+ isn't going to get you on a Wheaties box.

Not sure that Seabold and Downs are a lock to be with the team next Spring.

I agree. I think both he and Ward can provide the big club something next season. Both were out due to TJS. Both were top 10 prospects and at roughly the same advanced level at time of injury. Maybe Ward gets in the 7th/8th inning mix and Mata gets in the rotation at some point?

The initial trade was fair. The extension was bad IMO. Going back in time, the Sox do that trade 10 out of 10 times.

I can never follow who is linked to who. Signing day is fun as I get to check out a few Youtube videos of 16 year old kids I've never heard of, but that's about it.

Current top 20 Sox Prospect IFA's: Bleis Rafaela Mata Paulino Perales Wikelman Bonaci

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/10/red-sox-claim-easton-mcgee-from-rays.html The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Easton McGee off waivers from the Rays, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. McGee had been designated for assignment on Monday. Guy makes his MLB debut on Sunday. Pitches 3 innings against the Astros and gives up 0 runs. Gets DFA'd for his trouble. That's baseball for you. Maybe Sox just needed an extra arm for tonight?

Dubon, Logan Allen, Anderson Espinoza, Beeks

That's the gap from DD trading a lot of the farm away.

Pham Devers Bogey Dugie JD Kiké Hosmer Arroyo McGuire

The homegrown infusion from Betts/Bradley/Bogaerts/Benintendi/Vazquez/Devers certainly helped the 2018 team. I think they had a decent run of growing players on the offensive side of things, it's pitching where they have certainly struggled for a while. Maybe it has turned a corner? Maybe it hasn't? It's hard to say at this point. There are lots of eggs in the basket, but we don't know how many will hatch.

1. Yes, the Beckett/AGon/CC trade was mainly a salary dump because they wanted to clear out some malcontents from the clubhouse and start over. That's not really up for debate. I think they got ok value considering how much the Dodgers took on. Gonzalez provided decent value his first 3 years and CC for 2, but overall they ended up eating some bad contract years (especially with Beckett who was never the same). 2. I don't believe the Betts deal was a "salary dump." They included Price to dump his salary, sure. The Betts portion wasn't to clear $27M off the books, it was to get future value for losing Betts in less than 12 months.

Pivetta vs Fleming

At the time, Allen Webster and RDLR had much higher upside than "nondescript prospect." Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean they didn't have value at the time. Saying less than 2 months of James Loney headlined the trade is just wrong IMO.

I mean, is that necessarily a good strategy?

Price wasn't a great contract, but they needed to bring in a guy to lead the staff. They just picked the wrong guy. I don't think Price was the main reason they couldn't re-sign Mookie though. I think they were more scared by the sticker shock.