moonslav59

I didn't say he was all that promising, but who in our system should get more playing time (with an eye towards 2022 & beyond)?

He probably won't be, but I'd give him a longer look than anyone else we have at 2B, right now.

That's why he cannot be "moved."

Let's assume we have a grand fire sale this year, and we trade JD, Eovaldi, Perez, Vaz, Moreland, but we keep ERod, Barnes and Beni (possible trading them next summer). This would be the general framework of our 2021 roster and budget: SP1 ____________ SP2 ____________ SP3 Sale SP4 ERod SP5 Godley/Ward/Mata RP1 ____________ RP2 ____________ RP3 D Hernandez RP4 Barnes RP5 ____________ RP6 Taylor RP7 Valdez/Walden/Brewer/Brice/Osich/Houck C ___________, Plawecki/Wong 1B Dalbec (Chavis) Ockimey 2B Peraza, Arauz/(Chavis) 3B Devers (Dalbec) SS Bogaerts/Lin/Chatham LF Beni CF _______/ Duran RF Verdugo/ ______/ Wilson DH Chavis Budget (assuming we pay 33% of all JD * Eovaldi's contracts for 2021) 25M Sale 20M Bogey 14M Pedey 10M ERod (last arb est) 7M Beni (2nd to last arb est) 4M Barnes (last arb) 13M towards JD and Eovaldi 16M for Price $109M Total add maybe $21M for arbs and min contracts and $15M for player benefits, and we'd be at about $145M on the luxury tax budget. The tax begins after $210M, so we'd have $65M to spend on free agents or $85M, if we allow ourselves to go over by $19.9M. Biggest holes to fill: SP 1 ($15-20M) SP 2 ($10-15M Closer ($10-15M) Catcher ($5-10M) CF'er ($5-10M) SP5 ($5-10M) RP2 ($5-10M) RP5 & OF4 ($5-10M) It's doable.

Yes, and guys like Moreland & Eovaldi (FAs after 2022) and Perez (after 2021) may be at peak value, right now, too. I'd mention Barnes, but his stock is low, rightg now, so maybe it would be better to wait until next summer and hope he shows improvement. I doubt Peraza (2 arbs left) has much trade value, either. I'd also see what we can get for JBJ and Pillar, even if we have to pay most of JBJ's remaining 2020 salary. JD Martinez is the toughest one to decide. He will certainly make us better in 2021 and 2022, but he is aging and costs a lot for a DH. I'd listen to offers, and I'd pitch in some cash, if the return was worth it. I'd lean towards trading him, now or next summer.

We could wait to trade Vaz, Eovaldi and Perez until next summer's trade deadline, but we risk their stock value dropping. We aren't winning, this year, so their value from 2020 is near useless to us. I doubt we win it all in 2021, so their value is worth more for other teams than ours. That's what makes trading them worth looking into. If other teams need them more than we do, we can get better return value. I get the point about being worth watching, next year. After taking 2020 off, we'll want some revenue from 2021. 3 years in a row of putrid play is not something Henry wants, nor the fans. I think we spend large, this winter, and will be fun to watch in 2021. We don't need Vaz and Perez to keep fans coming to games or watching on TV. Trading Bogey would be a different matter.

I'm not for tanking 2021. While trading players like Vaz, Eovaldi and Perez might weaken our 2021 outlook, we will "save" some money that can be spent on replacing them with longer term players AND we'll get something worthwhile for both- maybe some players that are ML ready in 2021 but also under team control for beyond just next year. I'm also assuming Henry opens the wallet wide in 2021, and by my calculations, Bloom will have over $70M to spend, not counting any "savings" he creates by trading some salaries, now. If Bloom can do "his magic," which is finding gems at bargain prices, maybe we can fill out our roster's many holes with players good enough to make us an exciting team to watch, next year. We'll still have Devers, Bogey, JD, Verdugo, Sale, Beni and ERod. We may not have to count on much input from our farm, except to fill the bench. $70-90M can go a long way, if spent correctly. If Henry allows us to go $19M over the line, we could be even better.

I agree. Leon got much better results from almost all of our pitchers. It's fire sale time.

I'd like to see him moved because he will not be part of our team beyond 2021, and he has value, right now. The same applies to anyone and everyone not a significant part of our future (2022 and beyond).

Trade him--QUICKLY!

No, he's... Freakin' Brock Holt!

Maybe Pedey comes back next year... not.

Brock Holt was just FDA'd for those who gush over ex-Sox players on the decline.

True, but I counted Bogey, because he will still be a great player at the time of his opt out.

Hembree had very little value. Workman has been good, but he has not been great. My guess is, we got about the best we could. I'd hoped for more, but this might work out. It makes us slightly better for 2021 and beyond, and we don't have Hembree's last arb to pay. Now, who's next? Moreland? Eovaldi? Pillar? JBJ with cash? Vaz? Barnes?

Working well for the top pick.

A serious prankster?

Workman should be traded for the best we can get, even if it doesn't seem like enough. He's a FA after this year, so bye-bye. JBJ is likely untradeable, but if we kicked in some cash, maybe we'd get something. Pillar might get us something- maybe more in a package. I'm not sure how much Eovaldi's stock has risen, but if we can dump his salary, I'd trade him in a flash. I like Vaz a lot, but the numbers he gets with the staff have not been as good as Leon's were. Next to Pedey, Vaz has the longest tenure with the Sox than anyone else. He's got 2 years left after this, but if we think we will not be highly competitive in 2021, one could view him as only having one "meaningful" season left before free agency. I'd trade him, but only if the offer was a good one. I'd trade everyone who will be a FA after next year, except ERod, since he's hurt: Moreland, Barnes, Hembree & Perez. I don't see JD as part of our long term plans. I'd add some cash, if we could get something useful for him. (Freeing up budget space could help us add younger players to the budget.) The only players on the 40 man roster I would not actively seek trading, although I'd listen to offers on anyone, would be Devers, Bogey, Verdugo and Sale. (ERod)

Trade 'em all. (I'm not joking.)

Good point. I've lost touch with MLB, this year.

I've always liked Dalbec, and certainly more than Chavis, but it is certainly unclear if he might be someone we "build around" or call our "core." I probably should not have used the word "core," but what I meant was that they are who I consider "keepers" as much as I think nobody is really untouchable. My guess is Wong becomes our #2 catcher at some point in 1-2 years. (Not really a "core" position) IMO, our best chances are Ward, Downs, Casas and Mata with Jimenez & Song close. I'm not high on Duran, Groome or Houck, but one could surprise. By the end of 2021 or 2022, this could be our core: Devers Bogey Verdugo Sale DHern Casas Downs Ward Mata That's a 9 player core from within our current system. We'll have JD, Eovaldi, Beni & Vaz for 2021 & 2022, but they could be gone afterwards, so I don't count them as "core" to our long term future. Maybe for 2022, we can count these 4 and have 13 that one year. Of course, we'll likely have in-system role players like Dalbec/Chavis, Wong, Lin/Chatham and guys like Duran or Wilson, but I would not guess any of them become "core," except maybe Dalbec. We may be lucky to have 10-11 solid players from our current system for 2023. Hopefully, our farm will look better, and we'll have several players looking ready for 2024>>. We have a lot of serious acquisitions to make to get us out of "cliff" status, but we should have $70+M to spend, this winter and some more after 2021.

You'd rather wait until after next game's 3 IP 6 ER? (BTW, I was half-joking. I would not trade Eovaldi based on one game, but I would entertain offers as I wanted before last night's gem vs a horrific team.)

Ward, Chatham & Wong will likely get some time in the bigs by 2022. Feltman- maybe, if he improves. I mentioned Downs and Casa as possible mid season 2022 contributors, which may be a stretch, agreed.

They should trade Eovaldi, tomorrow.

Is 2022 the "near horizon?" It's only about 200 games away. Look, I agree our best prospects are farther away than 2021, and our top draft picks from this year and next will be even farther away, but if I end up wrong on Casas, Ward and Mata, someone else will likely surprise us with a strong showing. Plus, some of the "farther away" prospects could be traded (not that I want them to be). I don't agree with soxprospects.com's projection of Casas and Downs being starters in 2022, but they may contribute some by the end of 2022. Here's our top prospects by age (soxprosects ranking): (Remember DHern is 22, Devers 23, Verdugo 24 & Chavis 24. They are younger than several of our current prospects.) 25 Dalbec 5, Chatham 14 24 Houck 10, Wong 17, Wilson 26 23 Song 4, Duran 7, Ward 9, Feltman 28, Aybar 29 22 Downs 2, Groome 8, Murphy 16, Zeferjahn 18, Cannon 21, Arauz 25, Castellanos 30 21 Mata 3, Bello 22, Liu 23 20 Casas 1, Jimenez 6, Decker 20 19 Lugo 12, A Ramirez 15, J Rodriguez 24, Flores 27 18 Yorke 11, B Brainer 19 17 Jordan 13