moonslav59

Indeed. I hate that idea. I also hate trying to catch lightening in a bottle with signings like Richards, Kluber, Wacha and Hill. Buehler was in that boat, too. The one "durable" guy they signed was not great to begin with and Gio ended up missing his full first year, so that plan has failed, as well. We just seem jinxed on FA SP'er signings. Almost all of them. Even the ones that do okay have an asterisk. Gio missed year 1. Wacha and Hill missed key time down the stretch.

You do have to consider that Duran has 2 abs left and might make $12M then $17M, if he does well. Trading him for Ryan and then extending Ryan might end up costing more, but you can't really just subtract Duran's $7.7M x 3 years. Good point, though.

I like this ranking, and also like Early ahead of Arias. I'm losing faith in Sandlin.

Exactly. Devers was ranked about where Soto was to start. He did climb to 4th in a year, but deserved it.

I really don't see any reason why we can't spend up to the first or even the second tax line, but when you hear stories about a "limited budget," it makes me cringe. I doubt we can find takers for Masa and Hicks, and at best, maybe we can save onl $10-15M combined. Adding players/prospects might increase the savings, but that seems counterproductive. The window is wide open, so maybe we need to get creative like this. Other significant AAVs to trade might be... 9.2 Bello (but that just adds a new hole) 9.1 Sandoval 7.8 Duran 7.5 Campbell 6.3 Rafaela 2.8 Crawford

You asked for the stats that made him look good. Had you asked for the bad one, I'd have included 2024. 2024 was not bad. 109 ERA+ but with some bad numbers with that. He's 29. He may bounce back. I'm not happy with these kinds of signings- not at all. I'm hoping this one works.

Could be. It looked that way for the $38M we spent on Gio, but he redeemed himself to some extent. Henriks and Paxton were total busts in similar deals (less money.)

I had him pegged for our pen as maybe a long guy- low to moderate leverage. No big loss, in my opinion, but I felt the same about Priester, so what do I know?

2021-2022: 41 GS + 3 Games in relief (235 IP is not a tiny sample size.) 3.17 ERA/ 3.44 FIP 75 ERA- (21st out of all SP'ers with 200+ IP) 132 ERA+ 1.29 WHIP 5.4 fWAR/5.3bWAR The guy was pretty good. It's questionable he can return to that form, but he just turned 29, which is about peak prime for many pitchers. I'd put him as our #4, until we see what he's like in ST'ing. I'm fine with anyone who places him as our #6 or 7, until they see what he looks like in ST'ing.

Of course. The idea would be to minimize the budget hit, so a secondary signing or trade could be made to add that other key piece. $21-25M is not enough to add two big bats via free agency.

Yup. Too much hype and not much substance or even truth.

Not many that I see, but I stopped reading many Boston media outlet articles a while back.

I'm not saying we should or will trade them. I think I'd rather have Masa than $5M in savings to add to FA signings. I don't like Hicks. If it's true we only have $22-26M to spend, and Alonso costs $28M, then we'd need to trade someone to afford him. If we are able to trade Duran plus for KMarte, we's spend about $11M more. That would leave $11-15M to spend on a FA, so adding $5 (hicks), 7.5 (Campbell) or $12.5M (both) could mean we add a nother really good FA and not one for $10-11M.

If it comes down to pennies, maybe trading Masa and "saving" $5-6M on AAV and or Hicks and saving $4-5M on AAV would add up to enough to sign a bigger name than a moderate one. Trading Duran or Campbell could add some more.

Sandoval had the internal brace procedure, not the full TJS, so his timetable was expected to be shorter. He failed to pitch in 2025 due to another issue, I believe, so I think he should be 100% over the surgery, now. Hopefully, he is working out to strengthen his arm and will be ready day one of ST'ing. It's hard to keep hoping on these guys, because we've came up short on almost every one of these signings, but maybe he breaks the mold.

Good points. After signing Devers in 2013, he stated out at #18 in spring '14, jumped to 12th and 4th during 2014.

I don't think he affects how we view Arias, and our future infield situation is very fluid, right now. We don't have a 3Bman, 2Bman and need a comeback from Casas at 1B. Story has 2 years left. Mayer will probably fill one slot. but nobody views Romero as a FT'er. Not many view Romy as anything more than a short-side platoon at 2B, 1B or DH- maybe 3B. Guys like Soto are hard to project- kinda like Cespedes, who had some high potential a while back.

Nick Deeds reports... The Red Sox have been connected to a lot of free agency’s top bats after strengthening the rotation with their Sonny Gray acquisition. Reports have indicated that the club is not only in on the likes of Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, and Alex Bregman but also interested in signing multiple well-regarded free agent bats. Despite all of that buzz, however, financial realities could make that difficult. Reporting over the weekend suggests that the team might not be willing to spend much farther than the first luxury tax threshold this winter, which would leave them with a roughly similar payroll to 2025. Barring a change of heart from ownership, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will either need to use the trade market to add some lower-cost bats and/or shed some salary via trade. Boston is currently about $21MM shy of the first tax threshold. If our budget in $25M, we aren't getting 2 big FAs. Maybe we can make a trade for a big bat like K Marte ($19M AAV,) and if we give up Duran ($7.5M) or Campbell ($7.5M) or get them to take Hicks ($10.3M) maybe we can have enough left over for one moderate FA, but not someone like Schwarber, Alonso, Bregman or Bichette. There is no excuse for skimping this winter. None! We just got out from under the Devers deal and dropped a ton of salary from Buehler, Gio and others. The window is open. Don't close the curtains!

To me, the "hammer" has been more about the lies & deception than the quiet.

Not a peep. To me, if he's healthy, he has the inside track on the 4 slot, maybe 5 slot. The 5 slot is up for grabs between Crawford, Dobbins and Harrison. Early and Tolle would need to have great ST'ings to win a rotation slot without significant injuries to 1-2 of the 6 pitchers ahead of them.

Good rundown, Larry. I like hearing from people who have seen these guys pitch, but at their ages, some big jumps can happen at any time. Also, seeing a guy on a couple bad nights might also not help with your views.

That might have more to do with what they want in return than the idea of trading him. If they are looking way down the line, maybe they ask for farther away prospects.

he was pretty good for 2 seasons, although one was not a full season.

I was just about to post about Okamoto, but you said it better than I could.

If that happens, then great, but Mayer cannot be the plan. I'm fine with handing Mayer and Romy a platoon at 2B or even 3B, but only if we add 2 big bats. (Alonso & Bregman. Alonso $ KMarte or Alonso & Polanco.)