redsoxfan3

Alex Speier is saying that Lovullo is our new bench coach. This is not surprising at all. I am sure a lot of people saw this coming. I think this is a good move. He was the Paw Sox manager in 2010. He also was a candidate for the Red Sox manager position last year. What are your thoughts on the hiring of Lovullo?

Did anyone watch the John Farrell introduction?

Four and a half months away. I am excited about Spring Training, especially since I will be working at JetBlue, but let's hope this offseason will be a good one that will give us more hope for next season.

That is true. Bogaerts is projected as a 3B or LF. SS is still a possibility, but as his body fills out more and more, he could essentially outgrow the position. Ideally he is our SS of the future. A guy with 30 HR potential as a SS is extremely rare. With Middlebrooks blocking 3B, I would be all for him sticking at SS or moving to LF. Either way, I think we have a solid prospect in Bogaerts when he reaches his potential. He probably has a couple more years in the minors or will be a late call-up in September in 2014. It is exciting to watch guys like him and Bradley progress.

I agree. He is definitely missed. I understand that we traded Scutaro to clear some cap room, but I thought that was so we could sign a starting pitcher, but that never happened. I just don't understand the trade. We did get Mortensen and I think he will reliable for us out of the pen next year, but I still would rather have had Scutaro.

I do not know why anyone would not want to resign him. He had an unfortunate injury and is usually pretty reliable. If he is guaranteed to be healthy at the beginning of the year, then I do not see why we cannot sign him to a two year deal. He will be a big part of this team's success next year.

If you were Reddick, would you want to come back to Boston? If I was in his situation, my answer would be no. I would love to still have Reddick. The same goes for Scutaro. I would love to have him back at SS for us next year, but what would make him want to come back?

I would be okay with that. This team could use a pitcher of 195 innings and 3.86 baseball next season. That 9-13 record is deceiving. I think he would get enough run support in Boston to have a decent record. The only problem is that his interest in staying with Detroit will probably go up, especially if he wins a World Series this year. His price tag is already going up.

Well said. I agree, especially with the last two sentences. There is really not much we can do. Let's hope that BC gives him a competitive roster by making some good offseason moves. If he can get some better performance out of Lester and Buchholz, that will be huge.

It looks like their are mixed feelings about hiring Farrell and the compensation. Let me start off by saying that I would have preferred another manager. However, I am starting to like the idea of Farrell more and more everyday. I like that the players support him. I have not heard anything negative about him coming from any of our players. It seems that the players respect him already more than they ever respected Bobby V. I also like the fact that he was our pitching coach. He knows a lot about this team. I think he will be able to help Buchholz and Lester. Hopefully we can see a turnaround for those two next season. I know that with Toronto that he did not have a successful campaign as manger. I also am confident that there is more talent in Boston than there is in Toronto, especially with some good offseason moves. I think he can help this team and lead this team to back to one of the premiere teams in baseball. It might take a couple of years, but I think if anyone can do it, John can. He also said that this is his dream job, so that gives me the confidence in knowing that he is going to do his absolute best as the manager of the Red Sox. I did not really like sending Aviles for Farrell. The thing is, what can we do about it? What is done is done. Aviles was an okay starting SS for us last season. He was nothing great and really should not be much more than a utility player on a contending team. The positive is that we did not have to give up a good prospect or another MLB player that is a big part of this team's future. I do feel like the FO sent more compensation than we should have. We got Chris Carpenter back for Epstein, but yet we had to give up a Major League ready player for Farrell. It just doesn't make much since. We got another lousy Carpenter in return for sending Aviles. The other good thing is that we now have the flexibility to leave Ciriaco as our utility player. I think he is just as effective as Aviles as a utility infielder. With Aviles gone, I hope we go out and try to get a decent starting SS. I am fine with Iglesias competing for the job, but I hope we can at least add a decent SS to compete for the job. The FA market is thin, so this is where we might have to get creative with a trade. Lovullo is also an interesting option for our bench coach. He managed the Paw Sox in 2010 and also was a managerial candidate for us last year. He would compliment Farrell nicely in my opinion. I know some people are still against the Farrell hiring, but look at the positives and know that we cannot do worse than we did last season. If Farrell really blows it this year, then BC is probably out the door and we can finally move on past John Farrell. This is the guy that the FO has wanted for the last couple of years. He is finally here. It is his time. Don't let Red Sox Nation down, I don't think there are too many people that will be able to handle another let down.

This has been the trend on Twitter today. All of the Farrell compensation talk. I am not against interviewing him, but I sure as hell would not give up a good prospect for him.

He is not a product of Yankee stadium. He put up 20+ HR's and 70+ RBI's in Oakland and Chicago as well. He is a switch hitter and provides versatility at 1B and in the OF. I do not know why you are so against trying to sign him. I would rather have Swisher than Loney. At least Swisher can be a decent power first baseman. You are so set on his production in the playoffs. Delmon Young has had some bright spots in the postseason, do you want to sign him this offseason? The postseason is not everything. Of course you want a guy that can perform well in the postseason, but don't forget we have to get there first. Swisher would be a decent option to help this team out.

I would be okay with Ausmus. I like what I am hearing about him.

I know there are some people against signing Delmon Young this offseason, but do you think he would be a fit in the OF for the Red Sox since he is a FA?

Pena, Ausmus, Hale, and Wallach are the four options that have been or will be given interviews. Supposedly Pena's interview went well. Pena did have some success in 2003 as the Royals manager. He was named 2003 AL Manager of the Year. After 2003, his success went down as the Royals manager. That is still not a good indicator as what he can do with more talent. He has been with the Yankees since 2008. The thing I like is that he has played for the Red Sox in the past. He also knows some about the Red Sox organization from playing against them every year. What I really like about him possibly managing for the Red Sox is that he has coached for the Yankees for the past five years and he will know almost everything about the Yankees when we play them. Realistically I do not know if that will give us an advantage when we play them, but it certainly would not hurt. I do not really know if Pena and Nick Swisher have a strong relationship, but it could improve the chances of us signing Swisher if we have Pena as a manager. I am not saying that Pena is the best option, I just think he is an interesting option. Hale is also very interesting. If anyone knows the talent in this organization, it is Hale. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next week or two as more candidates emerge and we start to name finalists.

I would rather do an Ellsbury, Gomez, and either Britton or Owens for Belt, if it is possible. If we can keep Webster, that is key. Like you said, Ellsbury is a toss up. He only has one more year guaranteed in Boston. Gomez is already 27 and age is not on his side as he develops. Owens or Britton are decent prospects, but not as highly valued as Webster. I am down for that trade over throwing in Webster. I still would prefer to package a deal around Ellsbury to get an ace and try to sign Napoli or LaRoche to be our 1B.

Lincecum is a guy that is a backend of the rotation starter in the AL East after the season he had this year. I see him having a bounce back year. If you are telling me we could have Linceum as our number four starter who will give us an ERA around 4.00 and pitching 200+ innings, then I am all for it. I think we would have to take a chance on him after he had an ERA of 5.18 this year. A change of scenery and a switch to the AL might do him some justice, even though the AL East is a tough division to pitch in. I would not be against trading for Belt and Lincecum. The real question is if we could package both Ellsbury and Webster for a true ace. I would test the market for other starters before Lincecum, but this might not be a horrible idea.

I like Ellsbury, but I am definitely down for trading him this offseason. I agree with what you are saying. The value now might be at its highest for trading him. If we can package a deal around him for a true ace, then that is an obviously a no brainer.

I think a pick like him would work over Farrell. He would cost a lot in terms of compensation. I do not like how bad his record has been with the Jays either. I just do not see why the FO is so high on him. I would probably even want Mills or Bogar over him as well. There are some interesting options with Mills, Ausmus, Varitek, Bogar, and Wallach. At least it sounds like the FO is exploring different options.

I am not saying he is going to suck. I am also aware that players do have success if they do struggle early on in their career. I understand that scouting reports say something, but in my opinion, nothing has translated to MLB success yet. He had a decent rookie year, but I still do not think it is anything amazing. He could turn out to be a great 1B, but he could still turn out to be an average 1B. I understand your optimism for the kid, but I still am not sold on him as being a player you build your team around at this point, unless you are the Astros.

Like I said in my previous post, I do not know much about him, but I feel like he might be a decent option. I like the success he had in AAA with the Dodgers. I do not know much about his managing style, but he is a guy that many people probably do not know much about.

I just do not see how you can say that he is a 25-30 HR guy after he only hit 7 HR's this year. I understand he is young and still has room to get better and learn MLB pitching, but I do not think he is a guy you can build a team around if he has not proven anything yet.

First of all, Ortiz was our best player this year when he was healthy. Second of all, let's not trade Cody Ross if we resign him. He is made for Fenway and will continue to be a solid OF for us. There is no way we trade Lackey. No one is going to want to have his contract after coming off of his injury. I am okay with trading Salty and Breslow for the right deals, but we need to improve our bullpen and get a replacement C that is decent if we trade the two. I am not really confident in having Lavarnway start next year at C. I am okay with signing Haren. Santana was garbage last year. We do not need anymore 5.00+ ERA pitchers, we have enough to go around. I do like signing Napoli. I am against signing Josh Hamilton. I think he will be on a decline in the next few years and will not be worth the money he is asking for.

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think that Belt is going to be a "stud?" I know this was his first full year in the majors, but he only hit .275, .762 OPS, with 7 HR's. The power is really not that great, the average is okay, but nothing really makes him stand out to me. I like Allen Webster, and he projects to be a middle of the rotation guy. We are not that deep with starting pitching in the minors, so I do not think I am big on trading away one of our few guys that could be a decent middle of the rotation starters for a guy that has not proven anything in the majors. If we would try to trade Webster for Belt, I sure as hell would not include Ellsbury. I know Gomez has a small sample size, but if we were to compare the two based off of MLB performance of 162 game projections, this is how the two would compare: Belt: 12 HR's, 52 RBI's, .259 BA, .344 OBP, .762 OPS, and 117 OPS+ Gomez: 9 HR's, 74 RBI's, .275 BA, .324 OPB, .746 OPS, and 99 OPS+ I know that Gomez has a smaller sample size, but I feel like a full year in the majors that he would be comparable at 1B to Belt.

Tim Wallach is an interesting option that I read about today. I do not really know much about him other than he has some managerial experience with the Dodgers AAA team and has experience as a hitting coach and 3B coach. Does anyone know more about him? He is getting an interview for the Red Sox position next week.