BeepBeepYoureDumb

But, given that we're one slot short in the rotation going into the season, can we afford a ~$3M bump when paying Ortiz for the next couple years fills more of a need and we might need to bring in a starter?

Whether or not we bust the luxury tax this year has to affect ownerships willingness to give Theo the green light to go above it next year, right?

Right, health is obviously the only thing with Bedard, but assuming he's on the mound for a game 3 is assuming he's healthy. In that hypothetical situation, I love our chances with Bedard on the mound.

I definitely do not view pitching Bedard as a lose lose situation. He's better than 2/3 of the names you mentioned. I don't care how hot Ogando has been this season, he isn't the kind of pitcher Bedard is.

Well, Pedey making 6 mil does make sense because rookies usually make quite a bit less than that until arb. and certainly aren't guaranteed any year to year stability if they go to arb every year. Nice post, AtWork. That budget picture makes me think it very likely is Ortiz or Papelbon next offseason and not both. I think it's obvious Papi fills more of a need for them. Maybe they find a way though.

Unless Bedard continues looking as good as he has.

What was wrong with that? Ells in left in '07 is part of the reason we won a WS

You can see the future?

singles hitter! GIDP here we come

SIGN JOSE REYES! jk

like who though? I think it will probably Iglesias/Lowrie. Iglesias seems to be tabbed as the SS of the future.

What makes you say that? Pretty good #'s with Detroit this year. 9.5 K/9 in the minor leagues, 3.71 ERA in the minors. He could very well develop into a well above average #4 starter or even a #3

Some guy on NESN just asked Cafardo whether or not Wake was a HOFer if he hit 200 Wins. Said "200 is the mark of a HOF career to me" Cafardo shut it down and then said Wakes career would still live in "red sox infamy" .... what a mess that network is.

But against what competition would he be able to prepare? That's my concern mostly. As much as it hurts me to say this, at that point, Lackey might be a better bet than Clay.

I still don't understand what makes you say this though. I don't think theres any way we could possibly know for certain what the market for a closer will be - or for any player for that matter. Would you have guessed Werth would have been paid what he was paid? A couple years ago would you have expected Francisco Cordero to get 46 million? People have pointed out that teams like the White Sox, Dodgers, and Nationals among a few other teams could be in it for a closer. Think about it, we had no idea before 2007 that the Red Sox had set their sights in Dice-K years prior. They coveted him and put a number on him and got their man. Unless you're going on something we don't know I don't see how you could no for sure that this is the "worst possible time" to be a closer on the market and how GM's around the league value bullpen arms. We can't know for sure a team like the diamondbacks or even the bluejays might come out of no where. Maybe Papelbon is their Dice-K, the guy they've been watching for a while who they're willing to offer a lot of scratch because they believe he will add something to their team that they're missing to put them over the top. We can't know that isn't going to happen. The one thing Papelbon has said time and time again is that he wants to set the bar for other closers on the market and that he intends to cash in and deserves to be one of the highest paid at his position. Teams are gun shy about big contracts? Jason Werth got a huge deal. Adam Dunn got 4/56, Tulowitzski was signed to a 100 million dollar extension. Big contracts are happening and not exclusively from big market teams. For relievers, Soriano did just get 3/35 and he's got a history of arm trouble and not nearly the track record that Papelbon has as a closer. edit -- clarity