harmony

We can probably agree that many factors may have limited the active market for J.D. Martinez. But the delay in the Martinez signing may highlight a health issue that was better known within the industry than in the general public. Or not. The Red Sox may have been more willing than many clubs to overlook a health issue because of the team's perceived need for a big bat. The 2017 drop in production following the departure of David Ortiz magnified that need. Let's hope J.D. Martinez is healthy and productive.

Huh? I did not bring cap space into the discussion but responded when you did.

The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs handed two free agents larger contracts than the one J.D. Martinez landed despite those players' reported nine-figure offers from other teams.

A small fraction of the 30 MLB teams have cap space concerns: http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/

There may be a reason that teams, armed with more inside information than most fans, shied away from J.D. Martinez. Or not.

Author Larry McMurtry once metaphorically compared Houston, with its muggy weather, to female genitalia (that's not the word he used). I've never been to Houston except in October 2016 when my Southwest flight stopped briefly at William P. Hobby Airport en route, coincidentally, to Boston. I grew up on the Mississippi River in Iowa so I'm no stranger to humidity (not to mention cold, snow and tornadoes). My wife, who is from Southern California, dreads summer trips to my hometown ... almost as much as she dreads the winter trips.

On my 1973 hitchhiking trip I ended up taking a ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where it was indeed 10 degrees cooler than Boston had been days before. If I recall, Maine was 10 degrees cooler as well.

Thank you for the correction on the humidity.

LOL ... I would be surprised if the Seattle Mariners would have any interest in Blake Swihart. I was crucified on this forum a year ago when I suggested the Red Sox would be happy if Swihart's age 25 season last year would approach Mike Zunino's age 25 season the previous year. Swihart and Zunino each peaked at No. 17 on Baseball America's Top 100 prospect lists. Like Zunino the year before, Swihart was starting his age 25 season in Triple A after a stint as a starting catcher at the MLB level. In 2016, Zunino posted a wRC+ of 138 games at Triple A before posting 1.2 fWAR in only 55 games at the MLB level. In 2017, Swihart posted a wRC+ of 47 in 53 games at Triple A and an fWAR of 0.0 in six games at the MLB level. Meanwhile, Zunino in 2017 posted an fWAR of 3.6 in 124 MLB games despite being sent down to Triple A for 12 games. Mookie Bett was the only Red Sox hitter to exceed Zunino's fWAR in 2017. We can only hope that Swihart can match Zunino's age 26 season.

The Seattle winters are wet (and this week even snowy) but the Emerald City has far better weather than Boston during the baseball season. Here are the average monthly precipitation totals (in inches) and average high temperatures: March: BOS: 4.33, 45; SEA: 3.70, 54 April: BOS: 3.74, 56; SEA: 2.68, 58 May: BOS: 3.50, 66; SEA: 1.93, 65 June: BOS: 3.66, 76; SEA: 1.54, 70 July: BOS: 3.43, 81; SEA: 0.67, 76 August: BOS: 3.35, 80; SEA: 0.87, 76 September: BOS: 3.43, 72; SEA: 1.42, 71 October: BOS: 3.94, 61; SEA: 3.46, 60 It's the humidity that can make the Boston summers oppressive. As a 17-year-old hitchhiker from Iowa, I made my first trip to Boston during a heat wave that I remember as 100 degree temperatures with 99 percent humidity*. My second trip to Boston came in August 2010 when my friends and I encountered torrential rains in Rhode Island driving up to Fenway Park from New York. The exceedingly polite usher wiped the rain off of our bleacher seats at Fenway. On my final trip to Boston a cold rain drenched me at the Head of the Charles Regatta in October 2016 before the skies cleared and the temperature plummeted the following day. Boston is a fine city but the weather is not my cup of tea. * an internet search revealed that the high temperature in Boston that day in July 1973 was 95 degrees with 71 percent humidity:(

FanGraphs projects 2018 starting pitching WAR of 16.4 for the Yankees and 15.9 for the Red Sox: https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=9#SP https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=3#SP With Yankees holding a healthy 7.4-to-3.9 edge in relief pitching WAR. The Red Sox and Yankees are projected with a hitting WAR of 28.0 and 27.1, respectively.

Deja vu. http://insider.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=9159 Just kiddin'

Welcome back, tom-uk (one of my fiercest critics).

If the Red Sox fall out of contention in either of the next two years the Sox have veteran pieces who can be flipped to replenish the farm.

The $22 million AAV is nice for the luxury tax calculation but my understanding is that if J.D. Martinez opts out after two seasons the combined $6 million difference in the two-year AAV of $25 million will be added to the 2020 luxury tax calculation when the Red Sox will be looking to re-sign or replace Chris Sale, Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rick Porcello. That's where the crunch may come.

Mitch Moreland is guaranteed $13 million, plus performance bonuses, over the next two seasons and as a recently signed free agent cannot be traded without his consent until June 15. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/al-east/boston-red-sox/

On the topic of defensively limited right-handed hitters best-suited for the designated hitter slot … J.D. Martinez is five months younger today than Hanley Ramirez was when the Red Sox signed the latter to a four-year, $88 million contract with a vesting option for a another year (that coincidentally would bring the total to $110 million over five years). Martinez has posted 6.0 bWAR and 5.6 fWAR in 239 games over the past two seasons while Ramirez had posted 8.9 bWAR and 8.5 fWAR in 214 games in the two seasons before he signed with Boston. In the 2014-15 offseason MLB Trade Rumors had projected Ramirez with a six-year, $132 million contract while this year MLB Trade Rumors projected Martinez with a six-year, $150 million contract. You never know how these free agent contracts will play out.

Tony Watson has signed with the San Francisco Giants:

I agree with Bellhorn that the Sox are likely done with major transactions. I doubt the Red Sox want to break up their current outfield.

The opt-outs work to the player's advantage (although the front-loaded nature of the rumored contract temporarily helps the Sox in the luxury tax calculation).

With the touted offseasons of the Yankees and Red Sox, could the AL East represent the American League in the World Series for only the second time in nine years?

I wonder whether the Red Sox offered Eduardo Nunez a contract after each of the first two workouts and, if so, whether the final contract was better, worse or the same as the earlier offers. Again, I hope Nunez returns to full health.

His health may have driven down the price of the Eduardo Nunez deal. The Red Sox reportedly held workouts for Nunez in December and again in February. MassLive reports that at each workout Nunez "wasn’t 100 percent" in his return from the knee injury. http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2018/02/eduardo_nunez_signs_with_red_s.html After a third workout last week Nunez signed the deal that fell far short of the two-year, $14 million contract projected by MLB Trade Rumors: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/2017-18-top-50-mlb-free-agents-with-predictions.html We can all hope that Nunez returns in good health.

That is within the realm of possibility. It is also within the realm of possibility that Seattle left fielder Ben Gamel will outproduce Boston left fielder Andrew Benintendi this year (as Gamel did for half a season last year). But I wouldn't bet on it. My point is that Benintendi is a less-proven commodity than Chris Archer.

Does that mean you discard Marcel's Blake Swihart projection of a .265/.333/.413/.746 line in 211 plate appearances? Just nonsense?