sk7326

This team has generally avoided arbitration - and have been proactive with locking up their core young guys. The case for Bogaerts' extension is a strong one. Betts the Red Sox might be slow walking it a little bit - just because they are so loaded at those positions that perhaps they can afford for a measure of internal competition to work things out to a degree. It's also a two way street. If the Red Sox offer Betts 7/150 (for instance) - Betts could argue against taking it because of how flush with cash the market is.

Red Sox 10th ranked system: http://espn.go.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/14726383/atlanta-braves-top-farm-system-rankings-2016-mlb 2016 Top 100 ... Sox Blurbs ... Team clearly hit hard by trades and graduations ... but nobody is starving http://espn.go.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/14740563/index-top-100-prospects-2016-including-corey-seager-others-mlb #7: Rafael Devers #17. Yoan Moncada #18. Andrew Benintendi #38. Anderson Espinoza FWIW: Margot #25, Guerra #34

On base is an A ... could be better, but plenty good for 2016 Power is a B ... a lot of this comes down to Hanley being "playable" and healthy Infield defense is suspect ... although I think more at 3B than at 1B. I am reasonably confident in Ramirez just coming back to an infield position. I'd still prefer him at 3B and Sandoval in another uniform Outfield defense is an "A" ... you're not going to get much better, this side of Kansas City Starting - what is nice about the Price signing is that the rest of the staff could fall into place. I expect Porcello to have a bounceback to "solid #3 level" - his final month showed quite a bit. Relief - No point grading it. Bullpens are flimsy, and you can never have too many arms to throw at it. But the Red Sox made some positive strides and there is reason to be hopeful. Manager - Farrell is fine. Now he might not add too much value, but he doesn't actively detract from the operation (see Matt Williams, Dusty Baker) either.

One other note on the Miley deal is to note that DiPoto, Seattle's GM did do a bit of a ride-along with Boston late last season, so Miley is not being acquired blind. I think it's probably a mild win for Boston, but both teams addressed needs with surplus - which is what you want from trades generally.

I agree that ownership priorities changed. Also - some truth there, but I don't think Dombrowski really is going to manage a lot of the other parts of the operation (say, the draft, international FA) ... his job is the major league roster, which is the most important bit of course

Deal fits both teams - Sox got a couple of solid arms (granted they both worked in a lot of great pitcher's parks) Miley's peripherals were in line with his career (aside from a drop in strikeout rate) - some evidence of bad luck and defense in his performance. Seattle gets him into a friendlier pitching environment, and Miley is extremely durable, and the Mariners needed some back end starting. Miley was a 2 win pitcher last year, which is an excellent value given the contract. I am not weeping for Seattle here - it's not easy to find 200 starting innings, even 200 meh ones.

This a weirdly early thread - especially since their jobs are somewhat different. (Dombrowski's is a narrow but very important subset of Cherington's) Really all that has shifted is ownership priorities - that much is obvious. Dombrowski is making a lot of moves, pablum for the chat board posters and whatnot. What is obvious is that the 2016 Red Sox are on paper better than the 2015 one. Of course that was true about 2015 relative to 2014. Specific moves? Kimbrel - good pickup at an unreasonably steep price. High risk - because relievers go belly up quickly and unpredictably, but if you gotta do it, Kimbrel is a good hoss to back Price - excellent pickup at a very reasonable price. Modest risk - he'll have to learn how to pitch with lesser stuff for the deal to be a homerun, but even 3 "David Price" seasons is plenty Young - excellent pickup at reasonable price. Platoon masher. If Farrell is creative there are 300 PAs for him. Carson Smith - solid pickup at a price which seems ok. Miley was not in the Sox plans - then getting a quality setup arm makes sense. Roenis Elias is another swingman candidate, although he could be a lefty killer in the pen too. The question about Dombrowski will be whether he leeches the system dry for a relatively short window of opportunity ... that is largely inconclusive. But the team has gotten better without sacrificing much of its real premium future. There will always be questions (vis a vis the Kimbrel trade) whether the prospect assets have been optimized in deals, but no matter. This has been a B+ offseason so far.

Cueto is an ace - but what is inside his elbow is very much an open question

No, Betts as a potentially better Ben Zobrist ... I'm not saying it's likely - but it'd be a sensible use of his athleticism and skills

Between JBJ, some Papi off days and Castillo's unproven-ness there should be enough for 300 PAs for a guy who smokes lefthanders. This also puts working out Betts in the infield into play - to possibly play some 3B so they can get Young's bat in and sit Sandoval.

The Cards landed an elite corner outfielder for him and have pitching depth for days. I think it was just resource usage for them. The Braves have a rotten local TV deal and were awful last year. I suspect they think their rebuild might last longer. A young good starter could net them a bit more. Why did the Braves deal the best defensive SS in the league on a fairly solid deal? Weird goings on there.

They laid out for the top name in the FA market - to be fair, they did that last year and in 2010 ... fortunately Price seems like a better bet. "Hey! Let's try to lure David Price with lots and lots of money" is not necessarily something that would differentiate a GM - compared to say differentiating ownership

More specifically, a .330 sort of OBP with his glove is a clear solid starter

Every other part of the GM position that does not involve maneuvering the major league roster.

This is a good pickup - it's not my money, no other stuff given up, and the Red Sox pockets are (effectively) bottomless. Who wouldn't like this move? Let John Henry tell the Liverpool manager about his budget cuts in 2018 or whatever.

We knew it was coming. Without compensation issues, all it took was money. Always good to have a proven AL East pitcher. Team could use another mid-level starter - but really the rotation now fits a lot better. Thumbs down to the Kimbrel trade (the TRADE, not Kimbrel showing up), thumbs up to Young and to Price. So overall not too bad.

It is hard for any sort of "worst run" to include a World Freaking Series Banner ... the disappointments in 2012, 2014-15 have sucked because the team on paper looked to be better than that. But the Butch Hobson teams were much more depressing.

Excellent signing. I wanted this in 2014 when we were banking on Nava and Carp to not turn into pumpkins. He's not amazing but a strong right handed caddy for Bradley and capable of a bit more.

Ummm ... so the Dodgers are disqualified from signing Greinke? Oh I guess it's possible - but will Greinke get 6/180 from somebody else? That will be the thing. But not going to dismiss the possibility of Greinke and Dodgers finding some common ground.

Price being a little younger gives him a slight edge, although Greinke's style will require less adjustment over time. (He's basically a right-handed Tom Glavine right now) That said, I think it is a moot point - I'd be stunned if he left the Dodgers.

Fine. We do have solid evidence from prior Giants runs that Lincecum's stuff (if the hip surgery works) can play up in shorter stints. Question is whether the fastball can be enough to keep them off of the offspeed stuff.

I am in favor of a mild overpay for a guy like that - I understand prospects being blocked, but you save them to get value - this would make sense. But no matter.

The NL Central had the three best teams in the league this season

It's possible - I'd like to see what the Sox could do around Moncada - who makes all sorts of sense for Miami (Cuban and cheap).

Kazmir, Leake, Lackey, Chen all have cases ... Zimmermann has a QO attached to him which is a turn off for a mid-rotation guy. Unfortunately Samardzija got a QO because I liked him quite a bit for a value play. Unfortunately QOs are attached to a lot of the middle class guys who'd be worth a look - and will be bad for their market I'd think. For bullpen help, O'Day makes sense. Personally Tim Lincecum would be a very worthwhile flier to see if you can hit some lightning with him out of the pen.