redsoxfan3

We would only get one year of control for Hanrahan. I just don't like the idea of giving up Iglesias or Doubront for one year of a closer. I know a lot of people want to give up Iglesias, especially in a situation for a proven closer. I am all for giving up Iglesias in the right situation, but not for one year for a closer. Iglesias is only 22. He is under team control until 2018. I want to at least give Iglesias one more full year in AAA, then if he cannot find his bat, then we can trade him. By that time he will be 23 and I would personally be ready to give up on him. He is still young and can still improve. After next year, we would be in a better position to know how far Xander is away and if he is going to be able to play SS. If Iglesias struggles next year in AAA and Xander is going to be a SS in the bigs and is not far off, then I think we should pull the trigger on Iglesias. I am more intrigued by Brian Wilson than Hanrahan. Wilson will not cost a draft pick and will not cost nearly as much as Soriano money wise. We won't have to give up any players or prospects like we would for Hanrahan. I know Wilson is a question mark, but I think he is worth a shot if he can get back to his 2008-2011 numbers. Wilson is only 30 and has publicly stated his interest in Boston.

I am not really big on Hanrahan. There are some question marks with him. I am all for getting Brian Wilson. I don't see why we have not heard more about him. Soriano is going to cost too much money. Hanrahan is going to cost us at least one decent player or prospect. Wilson might be the best option. Let him fight for the closing role with Bailey. At the very least, we would then have Bailey, Tazawa, Uehara, and Wilson as the late inning guys in our pen. Not bad at all. We have a lot of bullpen depth. Not to mention, we do not know what to expect from Bard. A big if, but if he can get back to the way he was in the pen for us before his meltdown as a starter last year, he will be another nice bullpen piece.

His asking price is 3 years for 25 million, the last time I heard. As of right now, I think that might have dropped a bit, since a lot of teams are not willing to give him that. I think 3 years for 21 million is more realistic. What blows my mind is that we signed Gomes for two and twenty, when we could have signed Ross for 3/21-25. It is a little higher AAV, but we all know Ross can put up solid numbers in Fenway. Nick Cafardo said that we were interested in signing Ross and that would mean that we would trade Ellsbury. I am not sure what is the truth. Cherington keeps saying that Ellsbury is going nowhere. Unless we trade Ellsbury, I don't see a fit for Ross. If we go after another OF, I would hope it would be Swisher, who is a switch hitter. That would give us more flexibility, especially since Gomes and Ross are pretty similar.

I do agree with you in saying the division is open, but in my opinion, I do not necessarily think that means the division is weak. The Jays just made themselves the favorite, in the eyes of most, to win the East with all of their offseason moves. The Yankees have question marks, but they can still be a very competitive team. Age is not on their side, but they are still not a walk in the park. The Yankees are still the Yankees. The Orioles have a lot of confidence after last season. I do agree that last year that they were fortunate to win 16 extra inning games. That is something that probably will not happen again. Either way, the Orioles are still going to be a tough team. The Rays did lose Shields and Wade, but they have the pitching depth to make a trade for Myers like they did. They are going to have to count on big years from guys like Moore, Hellickson, and Cobb. They are not the best team offensively, but Myers will be a nice addition. The Rays always find a way to surprise people, so you cannot write them off by any means. The Red Sox are coming off of a down year, so we all know that they will be playing with a chip on their shoulders this year. They will be determined to turn things around. The clubhouse and team chemistry will be better. There will be a lot less drama. We all know we need to have big years from Lester, Buchholz, and Dempster. There are a lot of question marks, but there is no doubt that the talent is there. I don't think it is fair to say that the division is weak. In fact, I think with the Jays offseason moves, that this is the toughest division in baseball. The Yankees are always solid. The Rays always surprise people. The Orioles are coming off of a surprising year. The Jays are expecting big things. The Red Sox have made some nice moves. I think it is fair to say the the division is the toughest in baseball. I don't know if I would say the entire division is solid, but as of right now, we do not not know what to expect next year.

What does the .300 team at the end of last year have anything to do with this year? We are not fielding the same team. Gomes, Victorino, Napoli, Dempster, Drew, and Uehara are better than guys that we fielded at the end of last year like Gomez, Loney, Nava, Podsednik, etc. I could get into a debate about each position and say how we are going to be better off this upcoming season than we were at the end of last season, but I don't think that is necessary. Everyone in their right mind knows the team we are fielding is going to be better than the one that we fielded at the end of last year. Is this a .500 team? There is no way in knowing as of right now. It is fair to say that this team could finish less than .500. There are a lot of question marks and the offseason moves are not finished. We have still been linked to getting other starting pitching and are still being linked to Cody Ross. It is hard to predict anything with this team. The team chemistry is going to be a lot better. We have signed some good clubhouse guys. I think there will be a lot less drama now that Bobby V is not managing like this team is a circus. I am not optimistic about this season. I am not pessimistic about this season. A LOT of things can happen. Every team in the AL East has question marks. I am not expecting this team to be over .500, but if it happens, I have seen crazier things.

No we don't. The only thing we know is that he will be an elite defender. We do not know for sure how he will hit. Odds are his bat is not that good, but that is not a guarantee. That is like saying we know for sure that Ortiz is going to be a .300 hitter with 25+ homers. Things happen and Iglesias could surprise a few people. That is not all that realistic, but it could happen.

I am interested in knowing some can't miss free agent bats that you are talking about. I don't consider Hamilton one. With the amount of money he wanted, it is a gamble. Three year contracts are not all that bad. The only reason these short-terms contracts have a high AAV is because we have the financial flexibility to do so. Napoli, Swisher, and LaRoche were the best FA first base options. We got one in Napoli, who can hit for power. Three years for him is not that bad. It is not like we will be tied down with him for seven years (assuming the deal does not fall through). Victorino's AAV is way too high, but in terms of years, it is not that bad. He is only here for three years and can play all three OF positions. Ellsbury is probably going to the hit the FA market in 2014, so Victorino can fill in the void in CF in 2014 and 2015. Hopefully at some point during that time, Bradley will be ready to go and can take over during or after Victorino's contract. It is not a bad signing. There are not a lot "can miss" free agent bats. The same goes for pitching. We are signing short-term contracts that will help this team out. There are not too many options. I really don't have a problem with your approach, but with a limited FA market, I don't think we are making bad decisions. We have a better team now then we did at the end of last year. That is a positive.

That is true. It could be a positive if they have solid seasons, but that is something that we CANNOT count on. I think it is essential to sign or trade for another solid arm. I don't think he is a reliever. He needs to be a starter in AAA and establish himself. I could see him as a decent back of the rotation guy next year if he has a solid season. I don't consider him depth at this point, but if he has a decent half a year in AAA, he could be a depth option if needed. He has a lot to prove. I think he has more value as a starter than a reliever, especially with all of our current bullpen options and with starting pitching being a weakness.

That is possible. The market for Swisher is not that big for Swisher. The Giants don't seem to be interested anymore. It is probably just down to the Red Sox, Guardians, Phillies, Mariners, Rangers, and possibly the Orioles. The Guardians are being aggressive in their pursuit of Swisher. Whether the Napoli deal falls through or not, I could still see the Sox making a push to sign him. Cleveland seems like they really want him, so that would not surprise me.

I don't like the 9.5 million for Drew, but it is just a one year contract. We are getting closer to the luxury tax. The positive is that it is just one year and he could have a bounce back year. We do not know what to expect from Iglesias' bat at SS, but at least I have a little more confidence at SS with Drew.

We need players to fill the holes in our lineup until this so called "youth movement" can take place. Bradley, Xander, Barnes, Webster, De La Rosa, Brentz, etc. are not currently ready. Iglesias and Lavarnway are both question marks. The only young player that is currently ready is Middlebrooks, who is no longer a prospect. I think you are missing a huge factor. We are only signing one, two, and three year contracts. We are not signing outrageous long-term contracts. We cannot just have guys like Nava, Kalish, Gomez, etc. filling in positions. This team will be horrible. We have at least improved our team short-term until some of the prospects are ready. It could be a couple of years before guys like Bradley and Xander are ready. Iglesias is going to battle Drew for the starting SS position in Spring Training. The position is not just going to be handed to Drew. Iglesias could be in AAA or he could be in a platoon role with Drew. Odds are Drew wins the position. Signing Drew was a move that means the FO does not have a lot of confidence in Iglesias' bat. Xander is going to push Iglesias, and it would not surprise me if we have a guy like Drew around until Xander is ready to take over at SS (there is even a chance that he can switch positions). At this point, I don't think the FO is viewing Iglesias as our future SS, although there is still time for him to prove himself. I don't really see any of the current signings blocking anyone. There are really not many major league ready prospects. When the time comes and some of the prospects are ready, then we can evaluate and take care of the problem as it comes. At least the contracts are short-term deals. We have to fill current position needs with established players, we cannot expect that guys like Bradley or Xander are going to be ready to make a huge contribution this season.

I am content with Napoli at 1B. We still have been in contact with Swisher, so I hope we can sign him. Hopefully the Napoli deal does not fall through. Swisher playing 1B and RF and Napoli being able to play 1B and C is a plus. It takes one more top of the rotation arm, and we are in a good position. I am afraid that BC thinks the rotation is set.

We are going to have a platoon between Lavarnway and Ross or Salty and Ross. It is not going to be all three, especially with the FO clearly stating Napoli will catch occasionally. Exactly. If we keep Salty, there is no room for Lavarnway in the majors. If we trade Salty, then we keep Lavarnway in the majors. There is also the possibility of trading Lavarnway.

MLBTR just had something about our interest in Drew. That is probably a decent option to help out at SS and infield depth. The job is Iglesias' to lose, but Drew would add more competition, especially with Ciriaco probably just being a utility player. Marcum, Lohse, or Jackson would still be nice additions to the rotation. You can never have too much depth. I think with the addition of one of those guys, that it would provide us with a good amount of depth. I think we also need to sign a guy like Brian Wilson. He has already stated interest in Boston or one of the L.A. teams. I think we need to take advantage of this and add him to our pen. I still think we need to try to sign one of Swisher or Ross. We don't have a horrible OF, but we could still use another decent bat. The IF is set with the Napoli signing, except maybe the addition of a SS. We still need to figure out what to do with Salty. Either we trade him or send Lavarnway to AAA.

That is hard to do though. It is always hard to trade someone that had an MVP season with two years left on his contract. Looking back now, it is easy to say they should have done this and that. You are right in saying that he will probably hit the FA market, especially with Boras as his agent. I think a potential big season out of Jacoby is a lot better than anything we would get back in return for him. If he has a solid first half and we are not in contention, then maybe we should look to see what we could get out of him then. The only problem with that is other teams might require him to sign an extension. We would not get a lot out of him for a half year left on his contract.

This team has almost, if not the same amount of question marks as last year. The positive is that we are going to actually be fielding a better team than we did at the end of last year. I think Ben Cherington has made some nice short-term additions. What happens this season is up in the air. The Jays are going to be tough. The Orioles have a lot of confidence after last year. The Rays will be solid. The Yankees are always going to be the Yankees. On paper, I believe we are the favorites to finish in last place. Then again, we all know that nothing is certain. The offseason is still not over. Trades can be made.

I don't see Swisher as a must. I see him as a nice addition that would provide us with a lot of flexibility. Sources have said Swisher does not really consider Boston as a top choice. At this point, I would be surprised to see us get Swisher. I am still not counting out Swisher or Ross.

Dempster as the number one is a question mark, but so is Lester or Buchholz. I don't like Victorino over Ellsbury in the leadoff role. I like Big Papi as the three hitter and Napoli as cleanup. I also think that we might make a trade for Salty, but that is only if they see Lavarnway playing in the majors.

Thank you, seabeachfred. I am just trying to be as realistic as possible. I am sure Cherington is well aware of the circumstances, but at the same time, time is not on his side. If they KNOW for 100% that they will be able to work out whatever "snag" they are having with Napoli, then I am completely fine with him taking time. However, if he is not sure if Napoli is going to work out, then they need to start picking up the pace so we can sign either LaRoche or Swisher if this deal falls through. There is no reason to jump overboard on this like I have seen a couple of my friends do, but we cannot sit around and wait too much longer.

I for one like the Napoli deal the best out of all of the others this offseason. I am biased because I do like him as a player. I know that we have to be patient for the deal, but the longer it takes, the more likely we are going to be put in a bad situation. It might not take too much longer for guys like LaRoche and Swisher to sign. If the Napoli deal falls through, then we are going to be in a situation where Sands and Gomez are our options at 1B if Swisher or LaRoche are not available. I understand that it might take some time, but it has been almost two weeks since we agreed to terms with him. I anticipate something is going to be done soon, but that is just speculation.

I thought trading Reddick last year was not that bad either for a proven closer (excluding injury history). Kalish has a lot to prove and has had injuries, but you never know, he could turn into a decent OF, especially a 4th OF.

I overlooked Marcum. I would be okay with him as well. I think a Lohse, Marcum, or Jackson acquisition would be a good thing. We cannot have too much depth. We need to stay far away from Liriano. I just don't know how much I like Doubront as the #4 and Lackey as the #5. I would be okay with them battling for the #5 if we sign a guy like Marcum, Lohse, or Jackson. Doubront could be used in a trade. I wonder what a trade involving Salty, Ellsbury, and Doubront could fetch.

The only two other FA starters I would be even remotely interested in are Lohse and Jackson. Adding one of those two would be good, but who knows if that will even happen? We havent been linked to Jackson, but have been interested in Lohse.

If Dempster can give us 4.50 or under and 170 for two years, I will be happy. At least it is only two. The positive is that there are rumors that if we did not get Hamilton that we will look into Sanchez and Swisher, so if we can sign those two and keep Napoli, we will be in a decent situation, especially with flexibility at 1B, in the OF, and at C. Sanchez, Lester, Buchholz, Dempster, and one of Lackey, Doubront, or Morales would be a pretry solid rotation. I am just hoping we can at least sign Sanchez or Jackson now.

That would be a stupid reason not to sign him. Jen Royle, a friend of Mike's, was keeping quiet about the situation. She is now saying he had a flu last week and that slowed everything down. She said this has nothing to do with his medicals. I would be surprised if the deal falls through.