Palodios

He did a fine job with all of the core's contracts -- Buch, Lester, Pedroia, Youk, Ortiz. Its a shame he never found common ground with Ells.

Fortunately the Red Sox don't have to worry about it yet. They have the luxury of dealing with him through Spring Training, and if he still needs time to get ramped up they can go with the 4-man rotation through April.

Weren't we talking about weird lettering conventions among MLB players in games a while back? Xavier and Xander both homered in a spring training game yesterday.

The Red Sox paid 13 million for Dempster in 2013. Adjusted for baseball inflation, 20 million in 2019 for a 200 inning eater in with a 4.50 ERA isn't that big a deal. The Red Sox would be paying for his prime years by overpaying for his older years, but his veteran years might not necessarily be that terrible. We've seen what happens when a team loses veteran presence after Wakefield/Varitek retired and Beckett became the team's leader. After 2013's World Series run, I get the feeling Lester earned the respect of all of baseball, and there is definitely significant value in that.

The Red Six are always going to have a few high salary veterans simply because you can't fill all the holes with controlled young players. There are guys you are willing to spend a little extra for in the later years, and Lester is one of them. Normally I don't care about the Yankee argument,but if he ends up replacing Sabathia the fans will get ugly.

In 2012, Lester's ERA was in the 4.80s. Santana's was in the 5.10s. That's not that big of a difference.

Sure, but 80 million adjusted for baseball-inflation is roughly in the 100-120 range that we are all speculating makes sense. Ervin Santana will significantly affect the market because his numbers are actually very similar to Lester's. Cliff Lee made 5/120, Adam Wainright 97 million, CJ Wilson 80 million, Jared Weaver 80 million, Garza 50 million, RA Dickey 25 million. These are not terrible comparisons.

The guys getting 200-300 million are in the next tier from Lester. Better comparisons are Beckett's last contract, Lackey's contract. Tanaka is in the same tier and he only got 150 million... at age 25. Masterson is asking for 3/60 from the Guardians, and his last three seasons are comparable to Lester's

Crazy to think about, but the first game of the season is this month.

I figured Vic and Nava would lead off based on handedness, and Bradley might slide from 9th to 1st at some point.

If you give Lester a 3-4 year deal, i would be afraid of having the same exact problem we will have in 2015.... Except with a 34 year old pitcher instead of a 30 year old one. Look at Sabathia-- his decline has started at 33-34. I would rather overpay for 31-35 than 34-37 in a few years.

Weren't all of those deals leaked during the offseason? It seems that the two sides are still talking. The Levinson brothers aren't in camp to hang out. Who made what comments? Lester's reiterated the hometown discount comments only two weeks ago.

The Red Sox have not been in a rush with Lester. Most sources said that discussions would begin in Spring Training. It gives the team a chance to see what shape and health Lester is in after his 240 IP season. Ben prioritized the offseason on new acquisitions. Lester really wants to come back, and there are a good number of reasons that make him desirable to the Red Sox. Playoff history, durability, consistency, numbers, relationship with Farrell and the rest of the pitching staff, team chemistry, the composure to play at Fenway. He's always the first one to report to Spring Training and wants to be in Boston. People were skeptical when reports came out that Lester wasn't involved in Beergate, but honestly if reports came out saying he wasn't part of Beergate -- even if they were lies-- it means that someone upstairs probably likes him. The team just gained 13 million to Dempster, they're gaining 30ish million a year more on Peavy and Lackey next year. Homer Bailey is off the market, James Shields is 3 years older than Lester, and Masterson isn't in the same league. Lester's contract extension is inevitable and it makes sense in every single possible way. It will happen.

Hahaha, Remy is the only one who cares about the Mayor's Cup. The most common argument around here is that the early Spring Training games do not matter. The later games, when all your starters stay in the game and the real pitching is throwing, are still not that significant, but they matter more. Late Spring games also help bring momentum. I pointed it out last year, but the Red Sox's pitching staff dominated 2013's Spring Training, and it shows how hard their work paid off -- especially Lester and Buch.

Except for the Mayor's Cup. The Mayor's Cup matters.

Johan to the Orioles. Apparently he was throwing in the low 80's. Meh.

... and Derek Jeter will still receive a gold glove in 2014.

The whole discussion seems to put another light on Xander Bogaerts however. Montero was a top prospect who lit up the majors in his first year, and fell to ashes the following year. Pineda, same exact thing. Probably a lesson for myself and others who overestimate the value of some of these rookies (and yet another reason to re-sign Stephen Drew).

I said 1 to 2 wins. I am not saying 4-5 wins, or something crazy like that. We're talking about turning a .600 OPS to a .800 OPS for half the season, and adding defense for half the season. Sure it is conceptual, but it is perfectly logical. You're making absolutely no sense. If Robertson and Rivera started the season with 9.00 ERAs, and then immediately got hurt, would you be arguing that the loss of their seasons was a positive for the Yankees? Absolutely not. Maybe, maybe not. But all signs point to him starting out strong. This has nothing to do with my affection for the game -- more about the way you're talking to myself and other posters here.

I ballparked the wins number, but it is by no means unreasonable. Salty had a .600 OPS against lefties. Ross had a .800 OPS against lefties. WAR does not factor in game calling, and pitch framing-- an area Ross excels in, and Salty fails at. http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/catcher-defense/ You do realize Hanrahan was a top notch closer before he got to Boston right? 2011: 1.83/ 1.05 / .220 2012: 2.72/1.27/.187 I was referring to Bailey, not Miller. He hit .300 in all minor league environments where he has a large enough sample size, and .296 in the playoffs. In summary, don't be a dick -- especially if you don't have your facts straight. You seem to be making enemies quickly here.

When your starting catcher has Salty's defense, and awful splits, yeah it makes a big difference. They lost maybe 1-2 wins there -- WAR never tells the full tale on catchers. If Robertson and Logan went down, would you be saying "Oh, well we have the best closer ever so it doesn't matter"? Even with Uehara in the 9th, it pushed up several arms from middle-inning jobs to late inning jobs. Workman threw 8th inning stints in the World Series. Yeah, that's not what you want to see for your team. And so will Xander. Your point?

You're unbelievable sometimes haha. I don't think any of these teams have remotely as much depth as the Red Sox. They have a solid rotation, solid lineup, great defense, great bullpen, great bench, great minor league depth, and a great farm system. No players are coming off major surgery, besides Pedroia. You can't say that about any of the other teams in the ALE. As long as they stay hungry and healthy, it wouldn't be out of the question to see them make another deep run this year.

Owens was untouchable in the low minors last years. If he can keep that up through AA/AAA, he could potentially be 2014's Wacha.

Cruz was offered 14 million by his former team. He was asking for 70-80 million in free agency. He received 8 million. I love seeing player's greed screw them, but why does it usually have to be AL East teams getting the bargains ? Eesh.

Sounds like the Sox are in late round talks with Capuano. Seems like a pretty solid Dempster replacement to me, assuming the money is in the 3-5 million dollar range. Here's an interesting article http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/explaining-the-chris-capuano-bargain/