redsoxfan3

Napoli is more interested in Boston because of a better chance of team success. Boston is more "appealing" than Seattle. Although, the years for him is a big factor. It would not come as a surprise if he signs with Seattle if they offer four and we stay at three. A team option or mutual option for a fourth might get the job done. Jen Royle is reporting that Mike Napoli is likely to sign with the Red Sox during winter meetings, who is a friend of Mike. I like the move. I like him because he will provide some power. Does anyone know if he will be a 1B or C primarily? I would prefer him to play 1B in a platoon role with Sands, and have him catch on occasion. I like the flexibility of him being able to play C and 1B, and provide some power. That leaves us with Ross and Napoli being on the roster for sure next year, with Lavarnway and Salty as question marks. Do we trade Salty and have Lavarnway, Ross, and Napoli or do we send Lavarnway to AAA and keep Salty to split time with Ross and have Napoli catch on occasion. I think this puts us in a decent situation. We just have to figure something out. I am assuming IF we do make this a done deal that we look to package Salty in a deal for sure, but then again I am not Ben Cherington. What would it take to get Jon Niese from the Mets? The Mets need a C and they might be interested in Salty in a package deal. Niese is only 25 and had a career year last year. He had a 3.40 ERA, 1.172 WHIP, and pitched 190.1 innings. He is also under team control through 2016. If he can consistently pitch those numbers, then that would be a plus. Would Doubront and Salty be enough to get Niese, or would we have to do Salty, Doubront, and prospect(s)?

I can understand what you are saying. The approach last offseason and this offseason should be extremely different. We were a 1st place team for a majority of 2011, and then we s*** our pants come September. Cherington and the FO did not feel that we needed to do a whole lot to improve the team last offseason because of some of the success we had in 2011. That was obviously a mistake and we continued the horrible play in 2012. BC avoided getting SP pitchers last offseason, aside from garbage players. This offseason, SP is clearly the number one need. In my book, this is his last chance. We have plenty of money to sign players this offseason, unlike last. We need at least one SP (preferably two), we need two corner OF's, we need a 1B, and need to think about SS and C for next year as well. He has a lot of work to do. This is his last chance to show the fans that he can do something and that he is fit for the job. I am not ready to write him off yet, but if he does not have a good offseason, then I will be on the BC is unfit for his job list. There are players out there that we can add to this team to make us a contender. I am not saying we will win a WS, but with the right moves we can definitely make it to the playoffs. We will not be able to get everyone that we want, but please stay away from guys like Aaron Cook. Hopefully he actually does have a "plan."

That is the thing, we can make moves now without trading away our prospects. We need to wait for some guys like Bradley, Bogaerts, Brentz, De La Rosa, Webster, Barnes, etc. to develop. We can sign FA's to short-term deals (1-2 year contracts) to fill the gaps until those guys are ready. I think we can still build a solid team for the future, while signing short-term contracts now and have immediate success.

I don't think anyone really wanted Melky, at least I didn't. I am not really upset by this. The Jays are going to be pretty competitive next year, or at least have the potential to be. I will admit that I was jumping down BC's throat for not even making Hunter an offer, but moves will come with time. I think as more and more moves are made and we are not really making any, fans become more agitated. I trust BC to make some moves, but we still have a lot of offseason left. I expect between Thanksgiving and the winter meetings that we will start to see more moves.

Sources are saying we are going to make a run for Hamilton. I do not really want his big contract. That is why we did the Dodgers trade. I really think if we resign Ross, sign Napoli, sign Victorino or trade for another OF, sign Drew to compete for the starting SS position, sign a late inning reliever to help Bailey, and sign two guys like Kuroda and Sanchez that we will be a competitve team until some of our prospects are ready.

The thing you have to think about is AAV. On a short-term contract and with a thin OF market, teams are probably going to increase AAV a little bit for a short term deal because the competition is tougher. For B.J. Upton, he might get a ridiculous contract, but in a longer-term deal, I am not so sure a team would be as willing to have as high of an AAV. That is just my theory, but you never know if a team decides to overpay him. That is true. Most of the recent reports have been linked to Hunter or Napoli. I am sure we are talking to pitchers, but the media is just talking about position players. Greinke has kind of went under the radar in the last week and so has starting pitching in general. We will definitely start to hear more and more about it as we get deeper into the offseason and closer to winter meetings. To answer your question about Greinke, I do not see him as a fit in Boston. He is probably the most talented FA SP, but his anxiety would probably be a huge concern in Boston. I don't think he has the mental toughness to pitch here. I agree with this completely. That is very true. We have flexibility financially this offseason. We can afford to pay guys a higher AAV for a shorter contract. This is true. Bogaerts should be untouchable unless a guy like Trout or Stanton is involved, which it's highly unlikely either of those two are going anywhere.

That is not the point. Hunter has publicly stated that he is interested in Boston, and I also said that I do not think he would have picked Boston over Detroit. It was clearly known that Hunter was going to make a decision pretty quickly. How can the Red Sox be given an opportunity to counter when they never made an offer in the first place? That is my point. It blows my mind why they did not even make an initial offer. All I want to see is the effort being made to attempt to sign guys that will help out this team. Hunter only wanted a two year contract, and that is the exact contract that this team needs. There is no long-term commitment. I am completely aware that the decision has to be mutual. Hunter may not have signed here if we had made an offer, but how can he even sign here if we did not make him an offer? Unless I am missing something that the FO was not interested in Hunter, I do not really understand why the FO did not make an offer. I do blame the FO in this situation, because it was reported that the Red Sox never made him a contract offer.

Hunter expressed interest in coming to Boston, especially since he was a friend of David Ortiz. I am not saying he would have chosen us over Detroit, but we did not even make him a contract offer. We could easily afford 2/26 for him. It is not a long-term commitment. It just blows my mind. You have to start to question where Ben Cherington's head is at. We lose out on him and the OF market is not all that deep. We cannot sit and wait all offseason. We need to at least make offers. OF is the biggest need we have right under SP.

We are still strongly pursuing Napoli. Hunter said that he plans to make a decision fairly soon. I know that we need OF help and some help at 1B, but let's work on signing or trading for some damn SP's. Napoli is said to still want to primarily catch, so my guess is if we sign him, he is our starting catcher in a platoon role with David Ross who also sees some time at 1B when Ross catches. I am completely fine with that. It would allow us to put Salty and Lavarnway on the block. I would prefer to let Lavarnway develop more in AAA, especially since Ross is only here for two years. We would for sure need to trade Salty if we sign Napoli. There would be no use for him. I heard someone complaining about 1B on Twitter, saying that we have too many 1B as it is. We only have Sands and Gomez. We need to go after LaRoche or Swisher. Sands could be a nice surprise at 1B, but I think we should definitely pursue LaRoche or Swisher. If we cannot sign either and we do sign Napoli, then I might be okay with Sands starting at 1B with Napoli getting some playing time there as well. Sands has not proven anything yet. I am hoping we can sign Hunter. He is a guy we can sign on a short-term contract who will be a huge improvement over who we currently have. The only problem is there are a few teams interested in him.

Either way, if they trade Salty and stick with Lavarnway and Ross, that is two RH hitters. I would rather have Napoli and Ross in a platoon over Lavarnway and Ross. Napoli had an OPS of .861 vs. RHP's and an OPS of .706 vs. LHP's last year. He was clearly better against RHP's. I have not checked Ross's stats, but if he can hit lefties well and Napoli can hit righties well, then I think that would be a decent platoon. If we do get rid of Salty, I would not mind going after Pierzynski who hits LH if they want one RH catcher and one LH catcher. The only problem is I am not sure how interested Pierzynski would be in playing in Boston.

Supposedly Ross is "not going to be a starter, but more than a backup." Which is obviously a platoon catcher. If he is not our primary starter and we have been "shopping" Salty for weeks, then what does that make Lavarnway? Hopefully that means that he is going to be in AAA. I do not want Lavarnway as our starting catcher. I know he would not play every game because he would be in a platoon role, but I just don't think he is ready for the majors. His bat was clearly not there last year, and that is the reason why he would be in the majors. His defense could still use some work. Several scouts have said that he still has to work on a lot and to throw a runner out, "everything has to be perfect." I really hope we are seriously considering signing Napoli. He could split time with Ross at catcher. He would also be able to play some 1B, depending on who we sign. This is definitely interesting, but a unique situation.

I would be a no on Swisher for 4/40. I would be willing to increase AAV and do 2/25. I am not willing to ever give Ross 13 million AAV, even if in is one year. I would probably do 2/12 or 3/18. If he doesn't like that, we pass. There are other options out there. I am hoping we can sign Hunter. Sanchez wants 6/90 or 7/100. Whay are everyone's thoughts about that?

Here are my favorite FA and trade options for this offseason: Sign Anibal Sanchez Trade for Masterson and Choo Sign Torii Hunter Sign Adam LaRoche and/or Mike Napoli Sign Stephen Drew Possibly sign Jason Bay as a 4th OF Sanchez, Masterson, Lester, Buchholz, and Lackey are our starting 5. A lot of work to do with the rotation. Possibly trade Doubront in a package for Masterson and Choo. Choo and Hunter start in the OF with Ellsbury. Bay is a buy low, small risk move that gets an invite to ST to compete for the 4th OF role. He could be a nice surprise, but I do not want him as a starter. LaRoche starts at 1B. Napoli is there if LaRoche signs elsewhere. If we can sign both, that would be fine by me as well, because he can split time with Salty at C unless we trade Salty. Lavarnway gets more time in AAA. Sands can be a backup at 1B and in the OF. Gomez is always a backup option at 1B as well. Drew is signed to compete at SS with Iglesias and Ciriaco. I like these moves, but obviously there are still other options out there.

In a kind of surprising move, the new pitching coach is Juan Nieves and not Rick Peterson. Not really sure how I feel about this, especially after Farrell was saying he liked Peterson. Hopefully this was John's decision. Thoughts?

That is true. Ethier's splits are bad and I agree. The Dodgers would have to eat a lot of that contract if we would make a trade for him, but that won't happen if they are trying to free payroll.

lmao, I think Bobby V is not going to have a managing job again after the s*** storm he caused in Boston. I backed him the entire year, but in reality I just did that to support our manager. That was a stupid mistake and I should have realized how lousy he is in terms of being negative towards our players.

Agreed. An 8.3 AAV for him is ridiculous with his splits. On a two year deal, I could see him being worth 10-12, but as the years increase, I think the AAV has to decrease. Anyone that signs Ross to more than a 3 year deal at over 15 million is crazy, but with teams in desperation for OF help, he realistically might get an offer of 3/21. I think 3/25 is outrageous for him. Ross did NOT get a qualifying offer. There is no way in hell we offer him 13.3 million for next year. He could have possibly accepted that offer. I know that he wants a three year deal, but I would not even offer him 2 years at 13.3 million. I want Ross around for next year, but I think we can spend that 8.3 million a year on someone better. I am all for going after Hunter. It is good that Hunter might give Boston a shot, especially since he is close with Big Papi. Hopefully that will bring him to Boston. My only concern is that he is 37 and what type of contract is he seeking? A one or two year deal to bring him to Boston is ideal. Also, if we do not trade Ellsbury, can Hunter play the corner OF positions, or will he want to stay in CF? Signing Hunter would give us flexibility to trade Ellsbury, but we need to sign two other OF's as well.

Ross is seeking a 3 year contract worth roughly 25 million.

Exactly! Not to mention Farrell brought in Butterfield and Lovullo with him as well from Toronto. Lovullo has the potential to be a manager and Butterfield has a lot of experience and was a well respected coach for the Jays for many years. Peterson only adds to the impressive coaching list. Anyone hear of any potential hitting coach candidates?

Agreed. Even if he is 25, he still had a little upside. Anytime you get someone that throws 97 and can post an ERA in the 1's for back to back years, that is impressive, even if it was in the minors. If he can consistently reach 97 and could move through our farm, he could have easily been a nice addition to the bullpen by the time he was 27 or 28 (assuming he does not have a drop off in velocity). The FO dropped the ball on this one. It sure would have been a shame if we DFA'd Valencia. I mean with Middlebrooks at 3B, Valencia would have been a sure lock to get a lot of playing time for as long as he was with the Red Sox in AAA. /sarcasm

Out of all the options, Peterson was the one that intrigued me the most. I will say that I am not sure how successful he will be, but I think he will be worth a gamble. I heard from a couple of different people that Farrell was the one that really wanted Peterson like the article indicates. I am not sure how true that is, but I am hoping that this is not a move by the FO and that Farrell really did want Peterson as the pitching coach (assuming he gets hired, which seems to be the general consensus on twitter).

I was really hoping we could have gotten Ethier in that trade. We got Webster and De La Rosa who have the potential to be quality middle of the rotation starters. We got back Sands who can play the OF and 1B who has the potential to be a power hitter. It sucks that we got stuck with Loney. I would have rather have given Gomez the chance to start the remainder of the year at 1B, with Ethier playing in the OF. With Webster, De La Rosa, Sands, Ethier, and freeing a lot of payroll, we would have been a clear cut winner in that trade. I still think we are the winner overall. We cleared up some payroll and we received three good prospects with pretty high ceilings. Loney was just thrown in because we needed another 1B and he was pretty much useless for the Dodgers since they got Gonzalez. Having Ethier right now would be really nice. I really hope Sands works out. Some scouts are speculating that he will be competing for a Major League spot this Spring.

Fair enough. 5 million AAV is fair for Ross. I would be fine with 2/10.

My FA list to keep an eye on, based on team needs (not really factoring in trades, because a trade can happen at any time): Sign two SP's (no specific order): Haren Jackson Kuroda Greinke Lohse McCarthy Sanchez Sign two OF's (no specific order): Ross Pagan Bourn Cabrera Hamilton Victorino Swisher Sign one 1B: LaRoche Swisher Napoli Not really sold on many of the FA SS options, we might have to explore trade options to compete with Ciriaco and Iglesias for starting SS. Drew kind of intrigues me, but the SS market is thin. Sign one C: Napoli Pierzynski A trade is also an option to improving at C. If we can sign Napoli, then I would be content with Napoli splitting time at C and 1B. Any other FA agents that you think I missed or any other feedback?

We have not necessarily passed on Ross, we just did not offer him a qualifying offer. He seems upset that we did not get a deal done with him. That might influence his decision to go elsewhere. I think that we still have a pretty decent shot to resign Ross, but it solely depends on how much he wants. If we do not resign him, we sure as hell better sign or trade for two more decent OF's.