Lord Snow

I would have rather given Cody Ross the 3-years $25M he was looking for, even though that was overpaying, than give Shane Victorino 3-years $39M. Ross is a better player. Played good defense in right field. And was a good fit with the Red Sox. Jonny Gomes is going to be a regret. He will be released by August.

The Mariners, who are largely seen as the frontrunner for Josh Hamilton, are reportedly offering a 3-year deal in the the $60-75M price range (if you can believe Ken Rosenthal). If that is the case I am praying to God that Ben Cherington signs Hamilton. The Sox better not pass him up over 3-years $75M. That's a relatively small commitment to a #3/4 hitter who is still in his prime.

Koji Uehara is a really good signing by Cherington. His first of the off-season! 1-year $4.25M is good value for a pitcher with a good track record (when healthy).

Nonsensical? How? The Sox are a few pieces away. But those are significant pieces. I would have a lot of faith in a line-up of: 1. Ellsbury - cf 2. Pedroia - 2b 3. Hamilton - lf 4. Swisher - rf 5. Ortiz - dh 6. Middlebrooks - 3b 7. Ichiro/Cody Ross - rf 8. Salty - c 9. Iglesias - SS and a rotation of: 1. Johan Santana 2. Clay Buchholz 3. Jon Lester 4. Dan Haren 5. Felix Doubront In fact, I think that rotation would have been a cause for optimism. Santana is overpriced, but he produced when healthy last year and his arm is okay which is important. Haren, definitely some concern there but he had a strong finish to 2012, which is why I wanted him so badly.

While I wouldn't have signed Napoli. 3-years $39M isn't the worst contract. I figured he was worth about 3-years $30-33M so giving him an extra $6M is 'ok'. I think he will give the Sox an .800+ OPS. That is my hope anyway. And if he can do that he is worthy of spot in the line-up. Don't know that I want him hitting 3 or 4 though.

I don't see where the necessary pieces are going to come from to fix the team. Half the bats in the lineup are below average on day 1. The other half we are hoping will have a good year. Outside of Pedroia there is nobody I'm confident in. Ortiz should be okay but he is also 37. It wouldnt be a surprise to see some regression. The starting pitching is just a total nightmare. I'm not worried about getting a closer because there is enough talent in the bullpen for somebody to step up and claim it. Junichi Tazawa was a monster, and he throws like 4 pitches. I wouldn't mind him at the back of the 'pen even though that thought hasn't been entertained much. It's just frustrating because Cherington has entered "rebuilding" mode when the Sox were only a few pieces away from competing in 2013. The only thing they were going to cost was money and a 2nd round draft pick. Instead we are spending money on 'meh' players. If he went out and made some good moves (e.g. Hamilton, Swisher, Johan Santana) I would be excited about this team opening day. I would feel like we had a chance to win it all if everyone stayed reasonably healthy. Instead I'm pondering how many games we are going to lose. If Josh Hamilton signs for 4-years $100M or less, the Red Sox really dropped the ball by not signing him. That is a low risk high reward contract for an elite power hitter for his age 32-35 seasons.

The salary relief that was gained he pissed away by siging Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, David Ross, and Mike Napoli to massively inflated deals (okay, so Napoli was close to market value but he plays better at catcher). The current Red Sox line-up can't compete. Not signing Haren was a massive mistake by Cherington. He doesn't cost a pick. He is a risky move with high upside, yet he probably could have been had for 1-year $15M. But the Red Sox rotation is a skeleton crew so you take that sort of gamble. Instead we are giving that money to Victorino and hoping he has a career year at age 33 when the best he's ever been is mediocre. Take the $35M that the Red Sox have committed to bums (less Napoli) this offseason and you could have fielded a top offense. Sure, you would have to gamble on Nick Swisher and Josh Hamitlon gelling in Boston. But that is a heck of a better strategy than Victorino, Gomes, and D Ross.

Why in the world would Cherington sign a platoon player who could only hit left-handed pitching? There are far more right-handed pitchers in the game and teams only face a left-handed pitcher anywhere from 25-33% of the time, on average. Now, given that stat it would make sense to get a platoon player who could only hit right-handed pitching. But the Gomes signing is just ridiculous. 2-years $10M to a guy who can only be utilized 25% of the time. Same argument can be used for the people who point to Victorino's strong numbers against lefties. The numbers just don't add up.

Ben Cherington really should just wave the white flag. Trade off the young talent who can bring back prospects (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Lester, Buchholz) There simply aren't the options out there to repair the rotation. The lineup is terrible. This is a 70 win team. And it needs major work to be a 90 win team. Cherington could have gambled and got there by signing Swisher, Hamilton, Haren and one of Greinke/Anibal Sanchez. He didn't. He chose to prioritize getting a back-up catcher (Ross), a platoon left-fielder (Gomes), and a back-up outfielder to start (Victorino). The line-up currently looks like: 1. Ellsbury (CF) 2. Pedroia (2B) 3. Napoli (1B) 4. Middlebrooks (3B) 5. Ortiz (DH) 6. Gomes (LF) 7. Victorino (RF) 8. Saltalmacchia © 9. Iglesias (SS) The rotation: 1. Jon Lester 2. Clay Buchholz 3. John Lackey 4. Franklin Morales 5. Felix Doubront Do you think that team can compete? Even if Lester & Buchholz finish 1-2 in Cy Young voting the rotation is weak. And that starting line-up is pitiful. Loaded with overpaid automatic outs.

He is rumored to be grooming one of the Sox's 15 catchers for the rotation.

1-year $13M was just too practical for Cherington. Plus he needed that extra $13M to tack on another undeserved year for Shane Victorino! Cherington was quoted as saying that he would have liked to sign Haren if only he could serve as a 5th catcher or be a bat off the bench/late inning defensive replacement.

Why the fan base has turned against Ellsbury is beyond me. A gold glove defender, with elite speed, capable of a .900+ OPS and people are content swapping him for Shane Victornio. Victorino is in decline. And such a bad signing for that money. Cody Ross is a far better player and only wanted 3-years $25M as much as an overpay as that would have been this Victorino deal is far worse. Victorino only would have made sense on a one-year Cody Ross-2012-type deal.

That's a bunch of nonsense. Cherington is building a 100 loss team. They might as well trade Ellsbury, Pedroia, Lester, Buchholz, and Ortiz because Cherington is setting up the team for prolonged failure. Maybe we can make the playoffs in 2015. Cherington is just an idiot. If he really put a lot of stock in speed and defense he never would have dealt Josh Reddick for Bailey. Because Reddick is >>>>>>>>>> Victorino. Victorino is a horrible hitter. I don't care how good he is on defense. The line-up has no meat. It's like a 9 layer club sandwich all bread. You can't advance beyond the regular season if your team can only score 1-2 runs a game!

Victorino = definite bench player by 2014, if not mid-2013. 3-years $39M. Gomes = definite bench player by April 2013. 2-years $10M. David Ross = definite bench player by April 2013. 2-years $6.2M. That's $55.2M flushed down the toilet. For guys who are only going to provide negative production. But we don't have the fund to sign Hamilton, Haren, Sanchez, or Swisher? Cherington needs to be fired, immediately. That second round pick we are saving from not signing Swisher better become the next Ted Williams.

+1. Yes, praying for that failed physical.

What are you on? That's a horrible deal. It's one of the worst free agent signings I've ever witnessed. And you want to sell low Ellsbury, a guy who could come out and win and with the AL MVP next year, for a mediocre starting pitcher

Yeah, because the Sox were full of power bats last season... what team were you watching?

It's a bad move. When was the last time a team won a lot of games because they had a lot of stolen bases? You're talking about giving a player in clear decline $12.5M per year?! For 3 years?! So he can hit .255/.321/.430/.770?! Oh but wait he steals 35 bags a year so that's worth it.... NOT

I pray somebody is dumber than Cherington and offers him 4-years. How can we not be signing Nick Swisher but signing Victorino for nearly the price of Swisher? Swisher is an all around good hitter, with a good on base percentage. He plays mediocre defense, and doesn't have much speed. But when was the last time a team won a lot of games because they had players who stole a lot of bases but who couldn't really get on base in the first place? CHERINGTON PLEASE DON'T SIGN VICTORINO TO THAT KIND OF MONEY ITS A BAD MOVE! Victornio is worth about 1-year $5M and anybody who gives him a cent more than that is a moron. 3-years $38M is beyond laughable.

+1 Well stated.

Fact: 2013 Red Sox will have the highest paid bench in the history of Major League Baseball.

I swear to god these Shane Victorino rumors at 3-years $38M better be a joke. Victorino sucks. He's terrible. He is the kind of bat that hurts a line-up, not helps it. How can Cherington keep his job if he burns $38M on ANOTHER bench player? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss Theo.

This move is certainly worrisome. I'm not entirely sold on Napoli, nor do I think he is a good fit for the Red Sox. He is going to be playing a position where teams usually have a premium bat. Mike Napoli is not a premium bat. At 3 years the contract length is reasonable. I think they overpaid at $39M. Napoli is 31-years-old, is somewhat overweight, and two of his last 3 seasons have been sub par with a career year sandwiched in between. Would you still like this move if he comes out next season and puts up a .238/.316/.468/.784 line like he did in 2010? Or if he puts up a .227/.343/.469/.812 line like last season? While an .812 OPS is acceptable, a .227 average is unacceptable from a starting first baseman. You would tolerate it from a catcher, but at first? I don't like it. And Cherington's moves have all but blocked Napoli from going behind the plate. David Ross is unmovable with that contract. Unless Salty and Lavarnway get moved I don't see Napoli landing behind the dish next season. 2011 is too high above his career averages (and even his second best season) for him to be likely to reproduce. The one thing I will say about Napoli is that he produced about as well on the road as he did at Texas, which is encouraging. Only time will tell if this is turns out to be a good move. I would have preferred Nick Swisher.

Ross isn't even going to play very much. He will serve strictly as a back-up. I'd guesstimate he starts 3/10 games just to give Salty a rest (assuming Salty isn't dealt prior to the season). Ross' bat is a liability. The Sox can't afford to have a line-up with 2 automatic outs in it in Ross & Iglesias. I really think the Sox need to get themselves a true, consistent, ace. They haven't had one since Pedro Martinez departed after 2004. 8 years is a long drought. While the organization has shown it could produce quality starters (Buchholz & Lester) it has yet to produce an ace and that's nothing against the scouting and development. Ace talent is few and far between. One of the biggest problems with the Red Sox is that they've replaced A level players with B talent, and they've been doing it since Pedro Martinez left the rotation and he was replaced with Matt Clement and David Wells. Since Manny Ramirez was traded for Jason Bay. Those players needed to be replaced with elite talent, and the Sox have tried to downgrade every time they have had lost a big name player. Theo Epstein fell asleep in several situations. With Manny Ramirez aging he should have made certain that Miguel Cabrera became a Red Sox as he was the only suitable replacement for Ramirez short of Albert Pujols.

Excellent point. Something that will keep the Red Sox from being an elite team in baseball is their lack of a true ace. They need to find a young, available, ace and sell the farm to get him. Then lock him up long-term and pray he stays healthy. Felix Hernandez seems to fit the bill as the only "ace" that comes to mind who is not on a top team. David Price is also fits the description but I don't see the Rays shipping him to a division rival so he can beat them 5 times a year.