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This Pedroia thing has been beaten to death. He isn’t retiring and the Sox will have to deal with spending a mere $194 million instead of $208mill. It happens. Texas has the same thing with Prince Fielder’s contract. Personally I’d rather Price retired...

Prediction: Foltyniewicz has pitched his last game as a Brave...

Chavis is certainly a good start towards getting Buxton. The rest are crap. A Chavis-Houck package should intrigue MN, but I’d be hesitant if I were Boston and I’d rather hold on to my pitching prospects...

I don't think the CBA would allow this. It has a specific clause about trying to circumvent the luxury tax with contracts and negotiations. And if the plan is to give him the same money over more years, it's probably not even a wise move. Just leave it as is and let it expire as soon as possible rather than making it an issue over the next 10 or whatever seasons...

Per baseballtradevalues,com, Byron Buxton is worth $21.8mill in surplus trade values. Using their method, the Sox could get him by dealing either Dalbec ($17.5mill) or Chavis ($17.7mill), paired with one of Tanner Houck ($4.8mill), Groome ($4.3mill), Antonio Flores (($3.7mill) or maybe Nick Decker ($3.6mill). Depending on whether or not the Twins even like any of those prospects. But yes - Buxton is an amazing defensive CF. Agree there...

I don't agree with your budget estimates. Per sportsrac, the Sox have about $56mill before the first limit. The arb cases for Betts, Benintendi, ERod, Barnes, and Workman should tally in lose to about $45-50mill, leaving JBJ ($10-12mill) on the outside looking in (as you have him). That leaves te Sox with about $6-11mill total to spend. Not much for getting a rotation piece and bullpen help and a CF and RF. The budget might go up a little if JD opts out and re-signs at a lower AAV, but that would increase it by maybe $6mill at most. I don't see squeezing in Odrizzi and Betances. Unless the Sox disregard the limit, and it is not etched in stone that they will stick to it. I will say, I don;t think Henry minds paying $X million in luxury taxes, if it leads to him making $X+Ymillion in revenue...

Also, Benintendi is 10th in fWAR for left fielders over the past 3 seasons, and that was after a down year in 2019. He's hardly some worthless corner outfielder who needs to bulk up his value. He plans to lose some weight, and get back to being a 3-3.5 fWAR player. Also, not sure how the plan of putting him in the middle of the order was going to add .100 OPS points...

This would all be a massive overreaction. I get why they would deal Betts, but the idea should be bring him back after one year, which means they need a tea to bring him back to. If he is set on testing the market, Boston has a strong history of making competitive offers to free agents. Cincinnati is one possibility, but I wouldn't rule out the Mets. And I think the most likely targets are San Diego (where the CEO has promised "heads will roll" if the team has another embarrassing season, and the Braves. Both alo have much, much stronger farms than Cincy, and Luis Patino is a better trade target than Hunter Greene. (The Padres also have a massive 40-man roster crunch, and the deal could be expanded to include some of the prospects needing protection for some of the Sox who do not.) I get dealing Walden, but honestly, a 30yo career journeyman even with a low salary and a lot of control isn't likely to bring back much else besides another career journeyman. If the Sox dealt him for, say, Brian Goodwin, that's about the limit of his appeal. I do agree it is not likely JBJ is back. I think it is more likely Rusney Castillo is in the Sox OF next year, but I wouldn't bank on that, either. JDM isn't likel;y to opt out, and if he does, it gives the Sox about $78mill to spend before reaching the tax limit. With very little else is the way of appealing hitters on the FA market, the only thing more surprising than Martinez opting out would be the Red Sox not bidding heavily to bring him back anyway, and probably at a lower AAV (although with another year or two tacked on). Also, the buzz in Chicago is that Abreu and the White Sox have mutual interest in getting something done. I don't see Barnes as a "sell low" and I don't think GMs view players that way anymore, especially not players under 30. Barnes is a 1-1.5 fWAR relief pitcher with 2 years of control left, and there is a lot of value in that. He ranks 22nd in MLB in fWAR over the past 3 years among all relief pitchers, and third among all relief pitchers with 5 or fewer saves. So as non-closers go, only Chad Green and Yusmeiro Petit (who is always criminally undervalued) have been better. If the Sox deal Betts, Barnes salary, which might be $2-3mill, is hardy an obstacle and he can easily be retained if no one meets an asking price. The Sox are NOT going into some stupid full scale rebuild. They cannot afford to, and have too much money on the books for the next few seasons. They will try to be competitive next season, despite what Yankee fans want...

Please no platoons where players swap positions. I could see Dalbec at 3b, Bogaerts at SS, and Devers at 1b, with Lin or Hernandez playing 2b and Chavis as the supersub at 1b, 2b and 3b. And he might even see time in LF or RF. The Sox are definitely going to need some minimum wage players on the 25 man roster, and hopefully none of them are named Ockimey or Travis...

Was that because he was trying to rebuild the farm or because nobody would give up the player(s) DD was targeting for anyone in the Sox system?

If Devers does move to 1b, one has to wonder what becomes of Chavis. Does he take over 2b? Move to LF or RF? Or CF, if he can handle it? Does he become a super sub, spelling others at 1b, 2b, 3b and corner OF? Or go to the minors? Or does he become trade bait?

And therefore the Sox should never trade another single prospect regardless of the return? A farm serves two purposes - trade bait and minimum wage replacements. If Dalbec is not going to play 3b - where he is most useful - then what are the Sox supposed to do with him? Like I said, if Devers moves to 1b, problem solved. Last spring, Dalbec outlasted several other prospects reportedly because Cora liked his defense. So he might have a position. But if Devers improved enough to stick at 3b, Dalbec is absolutely good trade bait. He doesn’t have to be dealt for an expensive player. The teams in most need of a 3b will be Miami, Milwaukee (if Moustakas walks) and Texas. Not exactly teams loaded with high priced contracts. If Dalbec were dealt to Milwaukee for OF Trent Gresham and RHP Freddy Peralta, he serves both purposes of the farm system at once...

Some replenishment would be nice...

You don't think Dalbec is blocked? The Sox absoutly need to see what they can get for Dalbec. A big part of his value is the defensive play he brings to 3B. Unless the Sox are going to slide Devers over to 1B, what are they going to do with Dalbec? Put him at first base? It's a waste of his defense, a waste of his outstanding arm, and getting his bat into the lineup means the Sox are only trying to capitalize on the most questionable part of his game. The could try him at an entirely new position like RF or 2B, and maybe RF is a good idea, but only if they trade Betts. Or they could let him rot in the minors while Devers puts up MVP numbers in Boston. It might be different if Devers was arb-eligible or 1 year from free agency, but the Sox are apparently looking to extend him, which puts Dalbec further into the hole. Unless the Sox move Devers to 1b, which is possible, although I have no idea how likely it is...

I wouldn't look too deep into this. Really so far, the only guy actually removed from the organization was Andy Barkett, the assistant hitting coach. LeVangie was reassigned to a former position. Bannister seemingly was promoted. Both are still employed by the Boston Red Sox. To say this is the work or some recently hired Shadow GM makes no sense. The only guy gone was only an assistant hitting coach. Not only is that about as small of a role as their is on the staff, but it might not even have been for baseball reasons, and might have been more personal. It's not like the Sox had to shake up the hitting...

If the Sox do have concerns about their rotation, then the only option at this point - since trading any of Sale, Price and Eovaldi is not likely at all - should be to really focus on the bullpen and shorten games. Chapman is certainly unpopular among Sox fans, but if he opts out, he does become the premier reliever on the market. I do suspect he opts out, since he can make more in a deal now that he will with his option years in NY. If the Sox don't pay for Chapman, always possible on a resetting team, the next tier of relievers on the market on not so attractive. Hector Rondon is certainly very underrated and under appreciated, but he is also not exactly among the game's best. Arodys Vizcaino is a terrific reliever, but he is rarely actually healthy enough to pitch. Betances is currently injured, but might be available, but also carries The Former Yankee Stigma aka Ramiro Mendoza Syndrome. I suppose Kenley Jansen might opt out...

Think Kyle Wright and Brusdar Graterol...

Over Boggs? Over your man-crush Devers?

It might be possible to afford both if JDM opts out...

The only players the Sox should really consider trading are Betts, Barnes (who apparently has good value, but his inability to pitch back-to-back days is troublesome), and Dalbec (rising in the ranks but blocked by Devers). Baseballtradevalues.com does give all of them favorable trade values, but of course, that is just projected WAR vs projected salary over remaining years. It cannot include the most important factor - how badly (or not) another GM wants the player...

If TB does come back and win this, you do have to like their roll...

If the Sox season rests on Price/Sale/Eovaldi and all are unknown, then the smart solution is to bulk up the bullpen. Grabs a competent warm body to round out the rotation (Tanner Roark?) and do what you can to bulk up the pen with 2 or 3 of the best arms that can be had. That way, if the Front Three are less than expected, you limit their IP and shut down the opposition for innings 6-9 and play a game where they have 5 innings to score more than the Sox can in 9 innings. If the Sox deal Betts, does it put Aroldis Chapman on the radar?

so the Dodgers and Astros can be the Yankees, but teams that can beat the Dodgers and Astros cannot?

Make Lester red. 2016...

Exactly. Look at the Yankees. They made small market moves to acquire Voit, Hicks, Urshela, Grigorius. Even the contract they gave to LeMahieu wasn’t a big market deal...