moonslav59

Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 We have too many holes to fill them all with high quality players. We have no clean-up hitter. We have no 1Bman. We have a banged up DH. We have a poor fielding 3Bman that might be better at 1B. We need a RP'er. We have ERod starting 2018 on the 60 man DL and Wright as our best hope as the #5. I'm not thrilled with our 4 guys who can play 2B, but at least we have 4 to choose from. I'll choose Hernandez/Holt/Lin/Marrero at 2B over Travis at 1B/Clean-up. I'll choose Hernandez, so we can sign a 4th OF'er or RP'er or SP'er. Sure, if Henry opens his wallet really wide, we can add a quality 2Bman, too, but to me 2B depth is not a top 3 or 4 priority this winter. It might be our #5 priority. I guess I might not argue to much, if someone says it's our #4 priority, but to me we have 3 clear needs ahead of 2B, and it's easier to find a Nunez mid season than a Martinez, Moustakas, Santana, Bryan Shaw or quality mid rotation starter. Kimmi's response: I don't think that we have 'too many holes' to fill. Again, I think our team looks pretty good as is. Maybe all of the holes I listed above are not urgent, but I do not think I'm inventing concerns. I am surprised that no one seems to be concerned with the potential health of our starting rotation. Look above. I placed our need for a SP'er as higher than our need for a 2Bman. It is a priority, even if just to add depth in the shape of 5/6 starters. If our rotation is healthy, they should be one of the top rotations in baseball. If ERod does not bounce back from his surgery as quickly or as strongly as expected, and/or if Price has significant elbow issues again, then that paints a whole different light on our rotation. After this past season, I do not have a lot of confidence in Price making it through next season without spending a lot of time on the DL. I can see us signing a new Fister type of two and hoping they carry us until ERod returns. If he doesn't, we'll look for a starter at the deadline. I would look for a #2/3 type pitcher on a relatively short contract (easier said than done, I know), and sign JD Martinez, and call it a day outside of tweaks to the pen and the bench. In both cases of the pitcher and JD, I would offer more money per year to get fewer years. I'd be fine with that. I might try to add Bryan Shaw and look to trade the likes of Hembree, Swihart and Johnson for a better 6th starter. Honestly, if Dombrowski did nothing this offseason, I would expect the Sox to be back in the playoffs. Agreed, but as a wild card with worse odds at winning it all than we had this year. The window will be closing soon. I think DD is going to look for ways to make us top 3-4 favorites. I hope our farm does not suffer as a result, and we can fill our needs through free agency, but I'm not sure what sort of spending budget Henry is giving DD this winter.

He's too bad to hope for substantial improvement "on the job" during a run for a ring season or two. If we can get a great 1Bman, I'm fine with poor left side IF defense, but I don't see and great FA first basemen. Think of how great Devers did for us on offense this year in 58 games. If we projected him to 145 games, his WAR would have only been 2.4 due mostly to his -12.7 UZR/150. Now, 2.4 is a massive improvement over Pablito & Co., but if we have a chance to use his skills in a better way, and we have a strong sense of immediate urgency while "the window" remains oipen, I'm not sure we can fiddle around hoping Devers miraculously jumps to average defense over one winter. The Sox organization has been working overtime on his defense for years. I think it is unrealistic to think he'll be even okay next year on defense.

I realize Moose is very risky, but I'd rather have his defense at 3B than Devers. Then, when you look at Hosmer as "the other option", the defense looks horrible: Devers at 3B and this at 1B? D. R. S. : -12 UXR/150: -42.3 (OUCH!!!!) Moose: D. R. S.: -3 UXR/150: + 5.3 Yes, 2017 might be an outlier for Moose, but look at Hosmer's 2017. better yet, throw out 2017 and look at 2015-2016: WAR 4,4 Moose (in almost half the PAs!) 3.3 Hoze wRC+ 121 Moose 113 Hoze OPS .815 Moose .792 Hoze (By the way, .815 would have led the Sox in OPS this year.) BAbip .281 Moose .319 Hoze The area Moose falls short in vs Hoze: OBP .346 Hoze .340 Moose Maybe 2017 was an outlier for Moose, but he still compares favorably to Moose in the previous two years. Plus, we need power. 2015-2016 ISO: .198 Moose .164 Hoze I'll take Moose over Hoze anyday and everyday. Our defense improves greatly at 3B and gets slightly worse at 1B. (If HRam can play 1B and Devers DH, then our defense is greatly improved over adding Hoze.) The offense is better, especially if you factor power as more important. The cost per year will be cheaper. The years should be shorter. Moose over Hoze is a no-brainer to me, although these two are not the only two choices. Santana or JD are other options, but they have some downsides as well.

"...did not look that great" is an understatement. Devers needs a lot of improvement... A LOT! I seriously doubt he can improve as quickly as we hope or need. Like I said, I'm fine with leaving him at 3B as long as we fill our biggest needs in other ways. To me, we are in a bind. JD Martinez fills the clean-up slot better than any other FA, but he's an OF'er/DH. Hosmer looks like the "obvious" get, but he's been up and down on offense and now has massive negative UZR/150's and DRS's. The projected years and money scare the hell out of me. He's my last choice, since he's not really the clean-up hitter type. That leaves Moustakas as plan A or B barring any trade options. trades will just create new holes or further deplete our already fragile farm system. If we're willing to kick HRam to the curb, and pay him to ride the bench or play elsewhere, then signing JD, Shaw and Santana would be a a way to make us very strong contenders for the next 2-3 years. All have massive risk, but I do think DD will have a large spending budget this winter.

For those who do not like Mostakas, because you want to wait for Machado next year, how's this? Sign Machado next year and move Moustakas to 1B and Devers to DH.

Is Cozart a better choice than Santana, if the QO penalty for Carlos is in place? MLBTR projects: $45M/3 Santana $42M/3 Cozart (move Bogey to 3B and devers to 1B? I know, that's a lot of moves for a marginal star.)

Their saying Hosmer, Moustakas and Cain for the Royals.

Hmmm. He drops on my list, if he does. MLBTR has him getting $45M/3, so it makes sense he'd get a QO. Close call.

Low level prospects are often valued highly by GMs with long plans. Espi was not the first low level prospect to be traded for something good. I realize Groome is no Espi, I admit, but to claim he has little to no value is a stretch. The 19 year old was still ranked 87th at mid season by BA. Yes, Espi got up to #15 mid season 2016 at age 15 with the Padres.

We have too many holes to fill them all with high quality players. We have no clean-up hitter. We have no 1Bman. We have a banged up DH. We have a poor fielding 3Bman that might be better at 1B. We need a RP'er. We have ERod starting 2018 on the 60 man DL and Wright as our best hope as the #5. I'm not thrilled with our 4 guys who can play 2B, but at least we have 4 to choose from. I'll choose Hernandez/Holt/Lin/Marrero at 2B over Travis at 1B/Clean-up. I'll choose Hernandez, so we can sign a 4th OF'er or RP'er or SP'er. Sure, if Henry opens his wallet really wide, we can add a quality 2Bman, too, but to me 2B depth is not a top 3 or 4 priority this winter. It might be our #5 priority. I guess I might not argue to much, if someone says it's our #4 priority, but to me we have 3 clear needs ahead of 2B, and it's easier to find a Nunez mid season than a Martinez, Moustakas, Santana, Bryan Shaw or quality mid rotation starter.

JD Martinez is a power bat, but without a real home defensively, unless he could play outfield (a real ?). Replacing JBJs 20 HR with 38 and with a higher OPS sounds good for the offense. JD in LF and Beni in CF really hurts our OF defense, but the upgrade in offense would be tremendous. Then, we get something for JBJ (#3 SP'er or 1Bman?)

I don't think we help at 2B. We have Hernandez, Holt, Lin & Marrero. Pedey may come back at some point and make the acquisition a bench warmer. We don't have that kind of money to spend on someone destined to be on the bench. Our top priorities will likely take up all the money. 1. Clean-up power hitter (1B?) 2. 1B or DH (if HRam can play 1B and #1 is not a 1Bman. 3. 4th OF'er 4. RP 5. SP, if possible 6. 2B

The Red Sox have hired Tim Hyers as the team’s new hitting coach.

JD Martinez is not a QO free agent. I don't think Santana is either. The Sox reportedly asked about Darvish last deadline. He's not a QO guy ether.

I'm fine, if we kick the tires hard and lose out. Guys like GS don't come along often.

I never like him, and I used to get the Globe everyday for decades. I don't know about other people's complaints about him. I don't live in New England anymore and haven't since '04.

It's more than that for us... If the signing team paid the luxury tax in the previous season, the team gives up its second-highest and fifth-highest draft picks and $1MM of international bonus pool money in the next int’l signing period (which opens on July 2). One reason to trade for Stanton or sign JD who is not a QO free agent.

I never said I felt GS would end up here. I'm fully aware of his right to veto a deal. He may not want to come here, and the fact that we have not reached out to his agent does not concern me. (Wouldn't that be collusion anyways?) My point is, we can afford him. He might want to come here to win a ring. He might prefer LA or SF. We have other options, but I'd at least do my due diligence on GS before moving to someone else.

We got Pom for Espinoza. Long-away prospects have value.

They reset the luxury tax for a reason. It's spending time. The window is closing in 2-3 years.

I stopped reading this fool years ago.

If Ben wasn't in on the HRam and Pablo signings, then he wasn't even the real GM. I do think upper management signed off on the 5 year plan idea, and Ben would have eventually traded several prospects, but you are right. He was supposed to stay competitive during the 4 years. Finishing in last for 3 years outweighed the ring, and it became Ben's fault when HRam & Pablo failed, and Porcello peaked a year too late.

Is this an option? Trade JBJ for prospects and trade prospects for Stanton ($18M luxury tax bump). $14M Cozart (Bogey to 3B and Devers to 1B). $7M Shaw

I disagree. While "most teams" can theoretically "afford" Stanton, they will not even kick the tires. His contract would be 20-40% of their payroll. They just won't do it. $25M is not that much for the Sox luxury budget. He's worth more than that. I'm thinking we may spend near $40M this winter as the luxury tax has been reset. We could afford Stanton, Santana and Shaw, if we traded JBJ for a low cost SP'er.

This is where the Sox could gain on other competitors. They can afford his $25M luxury tax cost while other teams look at his actual cost of about $30M x 9 years. We can offer less by taking the whole contract.