Nick

Lets' start with $60M in savings. Incremental cost of acquiring Machado for $30M is $20M since we're getting rid of Xander and his arb 3 cost. (est of $12M?) That leaves us $40M from savings realized in getting rid of payroll from Porcello, Hanley, Kimbrel, and Holt. We will need to re-sign Pom or find a comparable replacement. Maybe he'll have a great year and it takes $25M to sign him. He's already making $8.5M so at most, it will cost us additional $17M to sign Pom for $25M. (I'm being very generous). That leaves us with $23M from original savings and $9M we pick up from increase in the luxury tax for 2019, or $32M to cover increases in arbitrations costs. Keep in mind that's keeping our CURRENT AAV payroll of $205M. 2020 fix will be relatively simple, we sign Sale lets say for $30M (just to make it easy). That's $17M more than what he'll be making in 2019. Where do we get THAT money? Sandoval's $18.455M contract will have expired. Bingo. Just to be safe, Moreland's $6.5M will also be coming off our books. Our payroll is still around $205M. Hopefully a young player will have emerged by 2020 to replace Moreland, if not sooner. 2021? Hell Betts maybe making close to $20M by then. Signing him to $30M deal won't be that difficult. We have 2 years left on current CBA. Thus we can finally blow past our luxury tax limit to second penalty phase. $237M and additional 12.5% penalty. I contend luxury threashhold will get a big bump in next CBA. Union got played in this one. If we do what I suggest, we can actually stay below the luxury tax threashhold for 2019 and reset the penalty again for 2020 season. Make sense? Don't let Hanley's contract vest and give away Porcello for $20M. We will have 4 $30M players, Sale, Price, Machado and Betts for 2021 season. If they can't lead us, then we don't deserve to win. f*** JD.

Machado + Wright > Porcello + Xander It's all about choices. Why in the hell would I trade Porcello to sign another $20M pitcher? My topic was on cutting cost. Hanley's vesting option, get rid of it Porcello, looks to me like our #5 pitcher, replace him with Wright or someone else. Kimbrel, wants long term deal, PASS ON HIM AS FA Holt, good riddance, That saves us $60M so we can add an impact bat for 2019 (Machado?). IT'S ABOUT CHOICES, MOON. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT ALL. THERE IS A BUDGET SOMEWHERE.

This..... We now live in a country where $25M is disrespect.

so bottom line, going rate for Porcello's performance last year is $20M? good to know.

got to cut cost somewhere. Yep, it would be great to keep everyone and sign JD this winter, throw in Nunez, then sign Machado next year. But that's unrealistic. You have to make choices. Do you extend Pom and keep Porcello if he has a trade value? Aren't you the one advocating for using young players? Why not go with Wright if he's healthy? He eats up innings as well as the next guy. His ERA can't be any worse than Porcello's.

I'm good with that...Xander's making $7M and he'll probably go up to $12M for 2019. So it's just a matter of coming up with $18M. Porcello's $20M should cover it. Machado + Wright > Xander + Porcello

Replace him with Wright.....We have no business paying our #5 starter $20M. Look, it's a game of give and take. If you boss tells you to cut cost, where would you cut it?

wow....thanks (maybe the real problem is too many players are handled by just one agent, in essence Boras controls the market)

Goal for 2018 without JD Get into the playoffs with healthy starting rotation....I'll take my chances with Sale, Price, Pom and Porcello/E Rod Get out of Hanley contract for 2019....save $22M Find a replacement for Kimbrel for 2019 (Carson Smith?)....save $13M Trade and find a replacement for Porcello for 2019 (Wright?)....save $20M Find a replacement for J Kelly for 2019....save $3.8M that's total savings of $58.8M, get rid of Holt and we're close to $61M. Immediate action will be to sign Pomeranz. He's already making $8.5M, luxury tax limit goes up by $9M. So from my perspective we already have slotted $17.5M for Pom. Assuming we sign Pom or someone comparable for $20-22M, I think we can still compete and get into the playoffs in 2019. Yeah some of that $60M in savings will be eaten up by higher arbitration numbers, but we still should have enough to sign one impact bat for 2020 or save money for Sale for 2020. I'll go out on the limb and anoint Michael Chavis as a starter for 2019, savings some money.

Can you list Boras free agent clients?

It would certainly help if another young bat emerges during 2018 for second half call up. Hey call me crazy. Beni, Devers, who's next? I'd love to see one starter added every year. That means turnover every nine years. That's not really expecting a lot.

Sign Nunez and let him DH also. Limit Hanley's at bats. If we get rid of Hanley's contract for 2019 (ie vesting option), Moreland essentially costed Sox nothing.

Agreed. It's time to think about what we actually have....if we sign JD, great, if not, we move on. Basically we have every position starters back from last season. If someone is unable to go, we have back ups. My guess is Price will be ready to go as long as there are no setbacks. Price, Sale, Porcello and Pom should start most of the games in April with some fill ins...Wright? Our bullpen appears to be in pretty good shape. My team is on the field.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Chavis is working out at 1B.

I suggested this while back but I'd like to see 'a home team cap' for any FA signing with his 'rookie of the year' home base. The cap amount can fluctuate just as Qualifying Offer amount does. Suppose it's $25M for 2021. As an example, no matter how much the Sox pay Betts when he becomes FA, his 'luxury tax' implication to the Sox is say $25M. It would only apply to those players who stays with the same club where his rookie status season was spent. This would encourage teams to develop home grown talent and keep them. I think it rewards teams that draft well and develop players.

We have the highest payroll in majors. Maybe we should live without another big contract.

Both Kimmi and Moon simply fails to acknowledge the fact that coming on heels of two last place finishes, DD did what he felt necessary to turn the club around. He was hired to get the f*** out of last place. Maybe he overpaid, so what? We are now in a different place. DD has not rushed to to sign JD at any cost. Hell, he maybe willing to go with what he's got. He has entire staring position players back with the promise of many of them might perform better in 2018. if you are going to blame anyone for DD's overpay his first year, blame it on the previous management. Hell they get all the credit for last two years, they should also get the blame for putting DD in a difficult situation.

Is it possible decision makers are tired of Borass schtick? At some point will he be accused of conflict of interest charge? How many top tier talent can he represent at once? How can he not prioritize his clients?

We don't win the division without Price in 2016. DD did what he had to do, 3 last places in 4 years. Do you honestly think he wasn't going to sign Price? Hell, we could have just kept Ben if you wanted to come in dead last.

it's all Ben's fault for signing Sandoval.

Sometimes good signing is that one you let it get away.....

"show me the money"...if Sox gives him the most money and most years when he becomes a FA, Betts will sign with Sox.

Wouldn't Arizona have some concerns about J.D. playing outfield in out lying years?

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2018/01/dave_dombrowskis_boston_red_so.html#incart_river_index Masslive has excellent summary of 27 players traded by DD. On the surface the one that really hurt was the Thornburg deal. Of course things can still change as some of these young players mature. Right now, for me, Kimbrel trade looks fair (Moon will argue we are paying FA money plus gave away prospects). I simply can't fault the Sale's trade no matter how good Kopech and Moncada turns out. Margot is starting CF for the Padres but his path was blocked with the Sox. Anderson Espinoza (Pomeranz)has dropped to #7 in Padres organizational ranking. He's still young and can recover from his surgery. Another solid year from Pom will go long way in justifying the trade. Dever's success will also go long way in erasing memories of couple of these trades. Moncade and Shaw. Carson Smith with 3 years of team control for Wade Miley definitely looks to be a winner especially if he can lock down the set up role. We still may get some mileage from Elias. I'm anxious to see where Micahel Chaviz's game is in September.

I'm anxious to see who gets the 'call up' this year. We've had Benintendi two years ago and Devers last year. Who are likely candidates? Perhaps a pitcher this year?