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While I agree about cost-controlled players, if any of this happens, DD really needs to be fired. Hopefully the plan is not to replace Chris Sale with Tanner Houck or Mike Sharwyn. Hopefully the plan is not to replace triple crown candidate JD Martinez with Steve Pearce and Mike Chavis. Hopefully the replacement for Bogaerts isn’t Lin. (Maybe the Sox can handle Chatham in the role.) I expect a player or two to take bigger roles just based on salary. But if any or all these happen, that’s just some combination of sheer laziness and ignorance on the part of DD...

Maybe you should counter with “It’s the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Greatness!!”

1. To delay free agency and control the player for an additional year or two. 2. The way arb deals are going, buying them out seems to make a lot of financial sense...

Look at it this way. Either there is a budget limit or there isn’t. If there is no budget limit, the bullpen solution is easy. It’s not like every agent for every elite closer isn’t going to contact DD just to see if he can make a better offer. No closers sign anywhere until DD has a chance! When you are a large budget team, you get that sort of help. But if there is a limit, the solution goes to the other extreme and gets much more difficult. If it’s in the $5-7mill range, even the harshest market drop won’t bring Kimbrel/ Robertson/etc. down to that range. The Sox will have to sign for a pitcher who takes less money (Shawn Kelley?) and/or trade for a closer. Trade bait includes Chavis, Dalbec, Darwinzon Hernandez, and maybe Brock Holt. Pick and choose from that list...

Does that mean it’s still open?

Absolutely true. But no one seems to be contesting the notion that Dombrowski has a budget limit. I hadn’t even seen that article when we were posting about this topic yesterday....

You’re a math teacher. You know “subtraction” doesn’t mean status quo. The phrase “addition by subtraction” typically refers to getting rid of s cancerous or awful player. Carl Everett was a good example. Ditto Pablo Sandoval...

Right. You actually said earlier on this thread you were starting to worry. I suggested several closers who might be available in a trade - one of whom was an All Star last season - and naturally you decided to compare those options to a fictional pitcher who aged out of independent leagues. And now you think Ottavino - who combines high salary with a lack of closing AND has a spotty career track record (and a TJ to boot!) is the logical solution. Got it...

Sing it to Dombrowski. Pete Abe write today about how not only did DD leave no room in his budget for a bullpen, this apparently isn’t the first time he’s done so...

K Exactly. Pearce was only signed for one year at bench money. He’s not really an impediment to signing a 4 year $60mill closer. They’re bringing in a pitcher or two. I just think it won’t be Robertson/Ottavino/Britton. I think they sign someone like Shawn Kelley or Brach and trade for another using Chavis/Dalbec (plus?)...

It is the first step. Figure in the payroll situation, the listening to offers etc. The Plan doesn’t appear to be “All in for 2019 and let 2020 fall where it may!!” And going heavy on the closer really could disagree with a long term plan here...

Typically “addition by subtraction” refers to getting better by letting a player go. Hence the “subtraction” part...

Dombrowski’s decision to wait out the closer market.

Yes among other things...

I don’t see the harm either. But last we heard it’s not in the budget. Couple things - who cares if they were secondary options? Did they work out as closers? Also, as for the small window - it is Dombrowski’s job to keep that window open for as long as possible. Unlike a lot of people on this board, he might not be thinking “let’s go all in for 2019 and figure out 2020 when it gets here!!” As much as I think most fans overhype the closer, at the very least they usually do sign short term contracts. I’d love for the Sox to bring in both Ottavino and Britton. (On those projected 3 year deals? Sign me up!) I just don’t see it happening. And while it’s possible that it might still happen, is it looking likely? And does it really make sense for this team? I will say, a lot of fans seem to want to live in a world where Henry buys their worries away and it’s sacririgious to suggest otherwise. And I also don’t see it as the end of the window....

Did you feel this way when the Sox had unproven closers named Uehara and Papelbon? Last year one of the best closers in the AL was Blake Treinen, who, if anything, had proven himself to be an ineffective closer in his previous attempt st the role. I just want a good relief pitcher or two. That they are some sort of “proven closer” doesn’t need to be the priority, and it is possible Dombrowski feels the same way. There is plenty in his history as a GM that says so...

By that logic, the Sox should also stop drafting pitchers completely...

Or.... crazy thought! We could quit pretending that a high salary guaranteed a good reliever and maybe notice that Smith, Jeffress, Yates, and Givens were all better than Kimbrel last year. And Keone Kela - whom I forgot to mention but is also likely available- was only slightly less effective. But I guess some people expect only high priced players who will make more difficult to impossible to retain the core like Betts and insist John Henry owes it to them to spend more. Maybe the Sox should give Kimbrel his 6 year / $100 mill and let EVERYONE walk. That way, in 2024, we know who will handle the ninth inning. As for who handles the other eight innings or who hits to ever get a lead, well, who cares? After all, we’d have a closer. None of the guys I mentioned were untried as closers. But do you remember who the last “unproven” closers for Boston were? Some guys named Papelbon and Uehara. I think they worked out all right, even without all that “closing experience” and without being the highest paid in the game...

Milwaukee is a possibility with either Jeffress (one year remaining) or Knebel (rough year last year, demoted to minors, might or might not be available). San Fran’s Will Smith should be available, as he’s entering his walk year. Mychael Givens is a possibility. Kirby Yates is reportedly available...

Re-sign Bogaerts. Let the rest walk. Maybe keep one of Holt or Nunez at that price...

Ummmm...that implies we let either of them go...

Actually if the Japanese posting process with blind bids is any guideline, it would probably lead to insane overbidding...

I do find it hypocritical that closers are considered for the Hall more readily than DHs...

Anyone who has followed DD's career knows the closer actually is the one position he tends to take chances with. The guy has put together rosters where the closer role has included names like Braden Looper, Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney, Jose Valverde, Joaquin Benoit, and Joe Nathan (at age 39). But I do expect him to make a trade, because THAT is what he does. I expect either Michael Chavis or Bobby Dalbec (or both) to be traded, because both are among the Sox best prospects and the Sox need neither since the current MLB third baseman is younger than both of them...

Well, if the budget is allowed to go up from the current rumors, then anything can happen. But if we are as limited as some think, these 4 guys are not coming to Boston. Unless there is a subsequent salary-clearing deal like Porcello or Bogaerts. But honestly, I would just assume keep both Porcello and Bogaerts and try to get a closer another way...