moonslav59

Glad to hear the good news! Congrats.

It's a joyous time for Sox fans, and it gives me great pleasure to kick off next year's thread as defending Champions of MLB. What a great season 2018 was from start to finish. DD did just what was needed, Cora pulled it all together and the players all pitched in to make this, perhaps, the greatest season in Red Sox history. 108 wins and 11-3 in the playoffs against maybe the best opponents in MLB history. Repeating won't be easy, and starting this thread is in now way intended to take any happiness away from any fan. If you want to take some time letting this year sink in, go for it. Join the thread when you start thinking about next year's team. Here we go... Let's start with our players that are up for free agency: Craig Kimbrel: a top closer in MLB for many many years, but was not much of a factor near the end of the season and through the playoffs. No doubt, we will need someone to step up in a major way or re-sign or replace him, in kind. The next guy was probably our best option for an in-house solution. Joe Kelly: a very good set-up man and one of the hardest throwers in MLB. He gave us a great World Series performance, but was inconsistent at times this year. Drew Pomeranz: His 2018 was nothing like his 2017, and his poor season forced us to acquire Eovaldi. That worked out well for us, but we will not have to replace Pomeranz. The next guy is another story. Nate Eovaldi: DD struck gold and then some with the trade he pulled to get Eovaldi. Replacing Eovaldi with some mixture of Johnson, Velazquez and Wright is an option, as perhaps DD could look for another starter like Eovaldi next July, if we need one, but my guess is a strong RH'd starter is a top priority this winter. Steve Pearce: DD proved lightening can strike twice when he essentially replaced HRam with Pearce. When Moreland got hurt (again), Pearce showed he could hit righties pretty well and turned into an essential piece to our WS run. Ian Kinsler: Like Pomeranz, we won't miss him, but he did bring some stability to the 2B position, when we needed it badly. His offense fell off a cliff, but his defense was very valuable until the 18th inning game gaff heard round the world. Brandon Phillips: Another player that will not be missed, and his role can probably be filled from within the system. I'm sure much debate will take place around Kimbrel, Eovaldi, Pearce and Kelly or ways to replace them, in kind via FA signings or trades. I'll leave that for later days. Instead, let's look at what we have coming back and their salaries or MLBTR projected arb salaries: Here's how 2019 looks with MLBTR's arb estimates included: In Luxury Tax Dollars 31.1 David Price 22.0 JD Martinez 20.1 Rick Porcello 18.7 Mookie Betts 13.8 Dustin Pedroia 13.5M Chris Sale 11.9 Xander Bogaerts 7.9 Jackie Bradley Jr. 6.5 Mitch Moreland 5.0 Eduardo Nunez (with PA bonus reached) 4.8 Eduardo Rodriguez 4.5 Christian Vazquez 3.4 Brock Holt 2.3 Tyler Thornburg 2.3 Sandy Leon 1.5 Matt Barnes 1.4 Brandon Workman 1.4 Steven Wright 1.2 Heath Hembree 1.1 Carson Smith 1.1 Blake Swihart $172M Total (21 players) $2.2M Min for 4 MLB roster players $2.2M 15 players in minor leagues on 40 man roster $14.5M Player Benefits $18.5M Sandoval $209M Total That's exactly the CB Threshold next year. I'm not going to get into what spending budget we might have or about luxury tax issues right now, but this is a good reference to use as a starting point for those conversations to come. I'm going to assume the Sale option is given, and Pedey gives it a go. The next point of reference is the 40 man roster. I'll start with the foundation we have right now with no additions included. That way, we can know see what we have and who might need to be replaced, traded or DFA'd. Here is our current 40 man roster minus the FAs to be (36 players): Red=Bubble players (Trade or DFA) 9 Starting Pitchers: Price, Porcello, Rodriguez, Wright, Johnson, Velazquez, J Haley, W Cuevas, C Shepherd 10 Relief Pitchers: Barnes, Brasier, Hembree, Workman, Poyner, Thornburg, C Smith, Scott, Walden, A Maddox 3 Catchers: Vazquez, Leon, Swihart 2- 1B: Moreland, Travis 4- 2B: Pedroia, Holt, M Hernandez, T Renda 2- 3B: Devers, Nunez 2- SS: Bogaerts, Lin 1- LF: Benintendi 1- CF: Bradley 1-RF: Betts 1- DH: Martinez Add 4 (or more if we lose some bubble players) from our Rule 5 list: Victor Acosta, Christopher Acosta, Yoan Aybar, Roldani Baldwin, Trey Ball, Juan Barriento, Edilson Batista, Eduard Bazardo, Jordan Betts, Marino Campana, Rusney Castillo, Michael Chavis, Luis Colmenares, Eduard Conde, Harrison Cooney, Jake Cosart, Ricardo Cubillan, Enmanuel De Jesus, Chad De La Guerra, Jhonathan Diaz. Jerry Downs, Nick Duron, Junior Espinoza, Willis Figueroa, Devon Fisher, Austin Glorius, Daniel Gonzalez, Juan Hernandez, Darwinzon Hernandez, Oscar Hernandez, Tyler Hill, Dedgar Jimenez, Trevor Kelley, Trenton Kemp, Matt Kent, Travis Lakins, Marcos Lantigua, Adam Lau, Deiner Lopez, Isaias Lucena, Chris Madera, Danny Mars, Algenis Martinez, Tate Matheny, Kevin McAvoy, Daniel McGrath, Samuel Miranda, Joseph Monge, Mark Montgomery, Jhon Nunez, Josh Ockimey, Angel Padron, Yorvin Pantoja, Yankory Pimentel, Roniel Raudes, Austin Rei, Hildemaro Requena, Denyi Reyes, Eddy Reynoso, Jeremy Rivera, Jake Romanski, Teddy Stankiewicz, Kevin Steen, Cole Sturgeon, Josh Taylor, Luke Tendler, Josh Tobias, Carlos Tovar, Kyri Washington, Jantzen Witte, Kyle Wren There's a lot to discuss in the coming months. I love our chances next year, even if we barely do anything in the off season, but I seriously doubt we got that route. Let the debates, discussions and arguments begin, but keep it about baseball. No politics. No personal insults. Thank you.

Or, this^^^

Pretty close, except no PJs.

...and then the Marathon bombing.

I started thinking about next year in Januray. I even think about 2020, at times. It doesn't detract from the joy I feel today. The sun is even out, as it has rained here just about everyday for 6 weeks.

You crack me up! Reminds me of a trip we took to Dolores Hidalgo in Mexico. The town is known for its many flavored homemade icecream. They have some wild ones, like... Pork rind iceream (Chichahrron) Bacon Mole' My favorite was pine nut ice cream. The cucumber was good, too.

Nice!

Precisely! This is one reason why I think Cora is our best manager ever.

Like Elvis' favorite food: a deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich.

It's coming, probably tonight, but I'll leave the free agent lists and scuttle for later.

You beat me to it!

Technically, you make a lot of sense.

The great start to the season really set the tone. The chemistry clicked. Papi said he noticed it in the clubhouse during spring training. Kudos to DD and Cora and the whole coaching staff for pulling these guys together. There are so few players who didn't contribute something, at least at some point in the season or playoffs. It really was a team effort- and not just 25 guys either.

I'm not sure about appearances, but IP we probably have the record: Game 1: 1 Eovaldi, 0.1 ERod Game 2: 1 Eovaldi Game 3: 6 Eovaldi, 1 Price, 0.1 ERod Game 4: None Game 5: 1 Sale

Yes, you're right. I was thinking of the 25 man roster for the team who selects a rule 5 player. My bad.

I honestly hope the Yanks get 2 from Machado, Harper and Kershaw. They will drain the budget and under perform.

That's for sure! We may have different ways of showing the love, different areas of the game we love more, but we are all big Sox fans, through and through.

Let's assume we sign Eovaldi, and all our starters are healthy next year. Here's all the 19 pitchers who can be part of our pen next year, and it's a lot of arms- some marginal options (assuming no Kelly or Kimbrel): Barnes 2 options Brasier Hembree 0 options Workman 0 options Poyner 2 options Scott 1 option Thornburg 1 option Smith 2 options Walden 1 option Lakins (rule 5) Feltman (not rule 5) Starters to the pen or AAA? Wight 0 options Johnson 0 options Velazquez 2 options D Hernandez (rule 5) Shawaryn (not rule 5) Shepherd-2 Cuevas-0 options Haley -2

I have a tradition to uphold. Don't rain on my parade!

The good thing is, we can probably afford $44M/4, as long as we don't address the pen with much added money.

What award?

His sample size was small and spread out. I'm not sure we can read too much into his 2018 OPS or recent OPS. I think he can hit, but with Chavis and Ockimey being rule 5, I doubt Swihart stays with this club. We may trade Swihart and Ockimey for a RP'er or a prospect not needing to be on the 40 man roster next year.

Chavis is rule 5. He either starts the season on the 25 man roster or traded. He will not pass through the rule 5 draft untaken. Dalbec is NOT rule 5. He may make the 40 man roster mid season, but he will not on opening day, even with a stellar spring.

Okay, word it this way, even if he never puts a uniform on again or never makes the active roster again.