moonslav59

Maybe he's waiting out one option before pulling the trigger on a trade.

Red Sox reliever Heath Hembree will receive a $1,312,500 salary next year, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link). Starter Steven Wright checks in just a shade higher, at $1.375MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Both players had projected in this range, with Swartz pegging $1.2MM for the former and $1.4MM for the latter. It’s Hembree’s first time through the process and Wright’s second. -MLBTR

Just to divert the conversation to something actually about baseball: Steamer 2019 Projections Severino: 4.5 WAR Paxton: 4.0 WAR Tanaka: 2.6 WAR Happ: 2.8 WAR CC: 1.2 WAR Gray/German/Lasagna: 1.2 WAR 16.3 Total for SPs Sale: 6.1 WAR Price: 3.1 WAR Eovaldi: 2.7 WAR Porcello: 2.6 WAR ERod: 1.9 WAR Velazquez/Wright/Johnson: 0.3 WAR 16.7 Total WAR for SPs Don't show this to Jacko or BillyBabe!

Would you be shocked if he traded more prospects for a low-cost solid closer, instead?

I hope the Yanks get Machado, too. Then, when we bear their asses it will be even more sweeter.

It really could be, if they just lost $200M on a bad investment, Having $20M left vs 0 is huge.

They "quietly" won 90 games this year, despite playing the Sox and Yanks in over 20% of their games.

Maybe they need to try and play better but not great teams of get themselves into a legit conference. Word is there is going to be a big conference shake up at some point- probably not this winter.

Who cares what anybody calls it? I know it's a slow time of the year, but this is pretty bad.

MLBTRs reports...Besides the Marlins... Frisaro pegs the Dodgers, Braves, Astros, Rays, Padres and Reds as the six teams still in the mix for Realmuto. Frisaro further tweets that the Dodgers “may be [the] most motivated” to land Realmuto of the six current suitors. Why are the Rays looking for a catcher?

Got it. My bad.

I forget about Zunino. I read somewhere recently that the Rays were interested in a catcher.

Now, TB needs a catcher.

Not necessarily. Feltman was not rule 5, so he didn't need to be added. By not adding him, we were able to keep one more player a little longer in hopes of seeing MLB qualities. If Feltman has a great spring, there is a slight chance he could be added to the 40 man immediately, maybe by putting someone on the 60 day DL, trading someone or DFA'ing someone not likely to ever amount to much anyways. IMO, Feltman is unlikely to make the 25 man roster until 2020, September of 2019 at the very earliest, but stranger things have happened.

It only counts with Yankee players. We also need to worry about Sale's late season struggles, but Severino and Torres will repeat only their first halves of 2018 two times next year. Bank on it.

The Rays love defensive catchers, and Vaz would be their starter.

Not a chance.

Slightly, but by about the same as Kimbrel... CK https://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=6655&position=P&pitchgraphs=true&statArr=&legend=1&split=base&time=daily&start=2016&end=2018&rtype=mult&gt1=15&dStatArray=FA&ymin=&ymax= CA https://www.fangraphs.com/graphs.aspx?playerid=12183&position=P&pitchgraphs=true&statArr=&legend=1&split=base&time=daily&start=2016&end=2018&rtype=mult&gt1=15&dStatArray=FA&ymin=&ymax=

Bum is a risky get, as he is showing some decline. Wouldn't signing Keuchel be less risky?

Would TB agree to this? Vazquez, Chavis & Shawaryn or Houck for Jose Alvarado We might then have enough budget space to sign Allen and keep some wiggle room on the max line.

Dombrowski: Red Sox “Have Not Anticipated Large Expenditure For A Closer” By Steve Adams | January 9, 2019 at 8:08am CDT The Red Sox have already lost Joe Kelly to the Dodgers via free agency and stand to lose Craig Kimbrel in free agency as well if they don’t make a push to re-sign him in the coming weeks. However, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski downplayed the possibility of retaining Kimbrel in an interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “Craig did a great job for us,” said Dombrowski. “He’s a Hall of Fame reliever, but we have not anticipated having a large expenditure for a closer.” Those words have to be cringe-worthy for Kimbrel and his representatives, as the seven-time All-Star reportedly entered free agency hoping to secure a six-year pact. As of late December, Kimbrel’s camp had dropped the price tag a bit but was still seeking a deal along the lines of the five-year pacts scored by Aroldis Chapman ($86MM) and Kenley Jansen ($80MM) two offseasons ago. As I noted at the time of that report, though, Kimbrel is only three months younger than Chapman and eight months younger than Jansen — meaning he’s over a year older now than were the other two hurlers at the time they signed. Looking beyond the impact of Dombrowski’s comments on Kimbrel, however, it’s perhaps alarming for Sox fans to hear the team’s top decision-maker suggest that there may not be a bullpen splash of note. Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree are currently in line for work at the back of the Boston ’pen, and that trio can’t exactly fill fans or the team with confidence. While Brasier looked sensational as an out-of-the-blue reclamation project in 2018 and Barnes has emerged as a quality setup piece over the past two seasons, the overall bullpen is lacking in experience. Brandon Workman has been solid over the past two seasons but in a smallish sample of 81 innings. Tyler Thornburg was tendered a contract after a pair of injury-ruined campaigns, while lefty Brian Johnson has been steady but unspectacular. It should be noted, of course, that Dombrowski’s comments certainly don’t indicate that the Sox won’t be making bullpen additions of any kind. But a splash for Kimbrel seems unlikely in the wake of such a public declaration, and second-tier names like Adam Ottavino could also prove steep depending on Dombrowski’s definition of “large expenditure.” It’s worth noting that over at Roster Resource, Jason Martinez projects Boston’s current luxury tax payroll to be at a hefty $239.7MM. Even accounting for a bit of wiggle room, that doesn’t leave Boston with much room if the team hopes to remain south of the top luxury tax penalization bracket. Of course, there’s also no real reason that the Red Sox should need to remain below that threshold unless ownership makes the curious decision to mandate doing so. The Sox are entering their final season of control over Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts, and they could see J.D. Martinez opt out of his contract next winter as well. There’s every reason for Boston to put the pedal to the proverbial metal in this instance, even if doing so means taking a hit in the draft for a second consecutive season. (The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that exceeding the luxury threshold by more than $40MM will drop a team’s top pick in the following year’s draft by 10 spots in addition to a 45 percent luxury tax on any dollars over $246MM.) Perhaps the Sox will find an intriguing option on the trade market or make a shrewd investment or two in the lower tiers of the free-agent market for relievers once the market dries up a bit, but it’s nevertheless puzzling that a team that is so heavily invested in every other area of the roster isn’t taking a more aggressive approach when striving to replace its two most prominent relievers. Of course, it’s also possible that Dombrowski’s comments not only reflect some real hesitation, but also represent an effort to shore up his leverage in negotiations with potential signees.

Y Grandal signs for 1 year deal! $18.25M/1 with Brewers. Big get by MIL.

True. Also, these stories of some big time players ending up broke might make wanting a few more million more appealing. Many players who are getting these mega deals grew up thinking $1M is a lot of money and $2-3M is enough to retire in semi-luxury. Maybe, it's hard for them to just think $3M is not much when compared to $200-300M deals. I don't blame any player for seeking the very most he can get.

Much better, but we'd still be over the 2019 max tax line by over $20M and make resetting after 2019 much more problematic, but it works for me. I wonder how Henry would view it.