Bellhorn04

I understand the doubts as well and I agree that the grade is incomplete at this point. I was thinking about this today - to this point the Red Sox still haven't made a single big dollar acquisition since Cherington came on as GM. That should be changing very soon.

Yes, transitioning from the NL to the AL can be deadly for a lot of pitchers. Dempster posted a 5.09 ERA with the Rangers after a 2.25 ERA this year with the Cubs. Oswalt's AL debut resulted in a 5.80 ERA compared to a career 3.21 mark in the NL.

We're the ones paying the tab alright, and like you say a big chunk of it is in our TV bills.

Every deal we're seeing, the salaries are inflated from what you'd expect. It's just another upward price adjustment.

He would be. But what's the best offer you would make him?

Ben went as far as saying the Sox would probably have one of the largest payrolls in baseball again. That would have to be significantly more than 110 million. I think it was the Sox FO sending a clear message to the fans that they would be making major additions. Similar to what Lucchino did before the 2011 season, just before the AGon and Crawford moves. Maybe I'm reading too much in, but I think the Sox FO knows that a vastly reduced payroll in 2013 just isn't going to fly with the fans.

Ben has already made a clear statement that the Red Sox will have a large payroll, meaning they will make some additions, and he has also stated that pitching will be a top priority.

This year, though, the Sox have a lot of needs and the free agent market is thin and getting thinner.

I think it was actually a caught looking.

It's a 50% raise for Kuroda. Add that to Guthrie's $25 million deal and the message is loud and clear: the price of pitching continues to have a high rate of inflation.

Yeah, if Ben doesn't sign somebody soon we're all going to be upset. The dominoes are starting to fall.

Kuroda re-signed with the Yankees for $15 million.

It makes you wonder, though, if there are any good deals on pitchers to be had. Prices keep getting higher.

So much for Guthrie...re-signed with the Royals today.

Cabrera has made less than $13 million in his career before this contract. Pretty hard to turn down $16 million. In the real world that's actually a fair amount of money.

http://cache.boston.com/images/bostondirtdogs//BDD_RSfrontoffice_11.20.07.jpg

Can't expect the Yankees and Orioles to sit still either.

Blue Jays have signed Melky Cabrera - 2 years, total $16 million.

One thing about this, though: the new rules that come into effect for 2014 are so punitive for going over the LT threshold (which is 189M for 2014) that teams may be doing whatever they can to stay under each year. So if the Sox do have a 2013 payroll of 120-130M, with the 2013 threshold at 178M, we can't expect them to spend the 'extra' 48-58M in 2014 or future years. I would expect them to make an effort to spend at least 150-160M this year.

If that were the case I don't think Cherry would have made the comments he did about the payroll being large this year.

I agree, a couple of reasonable targets there.

I copied this from a poster on the BDC forum who usually does his homework. The Blue Jay package of Jake Marisnick, Henderson Alvarez, Justin Nicolino, Adeiny Hechavarria, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis and Anthony DeSchalfani was the rough equivalent of the Red Sox offering Will Middlebrooks, Felix Doubront, Matt Barnes, Jose Iglesias, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ryan Sweeney and Miguel Pena. The 24-year-old Middlebrooks impressed this year in his 75-game MLB debut, but entered the 2012 season as Baseball America's 51st-ranked prospect. In contrast, outfielder Jack Marisnick entered the season as BA's 67th-ranked prospect. Their stocks headed is different directions this year but the 21-year-old Marisnick may have more room for development. Six distant years of Marisnick could approach the value of five immediate years of Middlebrooks. Compare the 2012 stats for Henderson Alvarez and Felix Doubront, who is 2 1/2 years older than Alvarez: Alvarez 31 GS, 187.1 IP, 4.85 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 88 ERA+ Doubront 29 GS, 161 IP, 4.86 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 89 ERA+ Twenty-year-old pitcher Justin Nicolino ranks 20th on John Sickels' recently released list of Top 50 pitching prospects. To provide perspective, 22-year-old Matt Barnes ranked 18th, 22-year-old Allen Webster 40th and 20-year-old Henry Owens 49th. Shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria has a decent glove and a better bat than Jose Iglesias, who is only nine months younger than the 23-year-old Hechavarria. Yunel Escobar, a 30-year-old shortstop who is owed $5 million next season in the final year of his contract, has career WAR of 18.7, including three seasons at 3.6 or above. Jarrod Saltalanmacchia is projected to earn $3.9 million in his final arbitration year but the 27-year-old catcher has been valued at only 3.9 WAR in his entire career. Catcher Jeff Mathis and outfielder Ryan Sweeney are known more for their defense skills than for their hitting. The 29-year-old Mathis, who posted 0.8 WAR in 71 games last season, is scheduled to earn $1.5 million in each of the next two years. The 27-year-old Sweeney, who posted a 0.7 WAR in 67 games last season, is projected to earn $1.8 million next season in his final arbitration year. Pitcher Anthony DeSchlafani is the rough righthanded equivalent of Red Sox pitching prospect Miguel Pena. They were taken three picks apart in the sixth round of the 2011 draft and posted good numbers at the Single A level this year.

Fast upgrades are damn expensive these days. The Jays had to part with some prospects and $150 million. It's a bold and risky move. But if I'm a Jays fan, I like it a lot, absolutely. They've been trying the cheap and patient approach for a long time now and it's yielded squat. Their golden days in 1992-93 came with Pat Gillick at the helm and a big budget, with splashy quick fixes like Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Cone.

No, absolutely not. I don't think it's implausible that the Marlins were asking for a big haul of prospects from anyone interested in this deal.

Two of the prospects the Jays sent to the Marlins were in their top 5 prospects.