Nick

For the money spent, I thought Price was the 'safe' bet. It's hard for me to project NL pitchers in AL East. No DH, bigger ball parks. Fly balls turning into doubles in Fenway. Price not only pitched in AL, but in AL East.

Also having S Wright for 4 MORE YEARS under team control to me is very comforting. He should be solid, inning eater for us. He essentially replaced Wade Miley for us and may turn out much more effective. I still have some hopes for Pomeranz to get better, as last year was his first year as a full time starter. He may be someone we can also extend relatively cheap in the future. I'm not sure if Kopech's future is in starting rotation but he too suffered spring training set back (self inflicted injury). He looks good on videos. Semi deceptive motion to go along with power pitching. At the very least, he seems to possess 8th inning set up guy ability. Anyone else see Brian Johnson as another bullpen opton if there's not a spot available in starting rotation? My hope is for Price to win next two Cy Young and World Series MVP and then opt out of his contract. I can dream right?

Thanks for pointing out...I've spent much time at the site but I didn't know that projected lineup existed. It's a cool tool. You can get pretty good idea also as to when the players will become FA. I go back and forth obviously but I'm not going to throw a fit if we stand pat this winter. Obviously there will be tweaking going on, especially with the bullpen. And I'm 50/50 on signing EE. On one had I just don't see DD not addressing the "Ortiz" departure issue. I haven't really thought out how EE's money will choke off future extension of our younger players. Now if for some reason, Price opts out then that will free up some money. That's also why I hate to trade away future starting pitching talent such as Kopech and Groome.

AAA Moncada AA Devers A+ Dalbech Pretty impressive depth at 3B....too bad we don't have one in the majors...

If healthy, out starting rotation is good enough to get us into the playoffs. We'll hopefully have a full year of Pomeranz, Wright and E Rod. Any drop off to Porcello should be picked up by uptick from Price. Other teams are able to 'develop' good starting pitchers. I see no reason why E Rod can't similarly improve coming into his third year. His spring training injury set him back last year. He looked stronger to me in September. He has exhibited toughness in tight situations. He was the ONLY pitcher I wanted to watch in dog days of summer of 2015. I oppose any deal where E Rod is traded. Trade Kopech instead. No way I'm giving up on a 23 year old left-hander who maybe on the cusp of top of the line potential. There's no reason not to expect better production out of likes of Kelly, Barnes and Ross Jr. It's as much crap shoot as acquiring relievers in open market. Really would be interested in knowing estimated time of arrival for Carson Smith. I don't think we'll handle two of three positions (1B, DH and 3B with Hanley either at 1B or DH) by 'committee' but I'll pat myself on the back for not spending penny in my discussion.

Ziegler may be tough to sign. His family lives in Arizona. I doubt it helps that Sox GM is now in Arizona. Don't you agree?

Maybe more the reason we should stand pat until next summer's trade deadline....obviously there's risk that some of our players will lose value but it can also go the other direction.

If Moncada is brought up midway through 2017, he would then give us 6 more years beginning 2018. Moncada's and Swihart's combined WAR maybe significant over the next several years. Don't you have to think about those numbers when you are trading almost major league ready prospects?

I'd like to see us stand pat on starting pitching front and see what develops.....Perhaps both Seattle and ChiSox will be willing to make a reasonable trade at the trade deadline next summer. Especially the White Sox as control years begin to shrivel for their two aces.

We're giving up almost 30 years of team control.......yikes

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/10/13/sean-mcadam-red-sox-will-zero-in-on-edwin-encarnacion-in-free-agency/ Sox looks to be a player for EE sweepstake.

Here's something from Sox Prospects with new rankings... Not many changes to talk about in the top 15 or so but the staff has made a number changes in the rest of the top 60. Summary Yoan Moncada is still number one and his ceiling is now 8. The twin who's still here, Luis Alexander Basabe, moved up one spot to # 7. Luis Ysla and Mike Shawaryn are both up 3 to 18 and 19 respectively. Victor Diaz rose a whopping 28 spots in the rankings from 49 to 21. Throws almost as hard as Kopech with better secondary pitches. (that's me commenting) Travis Lakins dropped from 17 to 22. Shaun Anderson fell from 20 to 23. Gerson Bautista jumped from 38 to 28. Brian Mata, a 17 year signed as an IFA in January (at age 16), is ranked for the first time at # 34. Deven Marrero fell 10 positions landing at # 38. Bryce Brents also fell, coming in this month at 39 from 32 on 9/1. Austin Glorius is down 8 from 37 to 45. Marc Brakeman down from 40 to 48. Tyler Hill rose from 51 to 47. Robby Scott is at # 50. He was last ranked 58th back in February. Austin Rei down from 45 to 52. Lorenzo Cedrola rose from 58 to 54. Roldani Baldwin is at 59, a notch higher than the previous time he was ranked back on 8/1. Read more: http://forum.soxprospects.com/thread/3254/soxprospects-rankings-discussion?page=5#ixzz4NLmtccKr

I agree and I especially think it was BS that JF clinged to Drew so much. We gave him a qualifying offer and he thumbed his nose at what $12M QO? There were too much noise in April/May trying to get Drew back and play SS for us. That was just a bs. I hate that about JF. Always bringing back retreads.....move on man.

Can E Rod turn into Lester? He looks to have the potential of becoming an ace. How do their careers compare to this point? They both entered mlb at age 22. Similar start for both. Lester then took off at age 24. I think E Rod has that potential. Getting out of tough spots. Not sure if the quality of pitches are there for E Rod. But if he can consistently deliver 3 pitches, can he get there?

We paid $30M penalty (100%) to acquire Moncada. I don't think Sox will go LA Dodgers but going over by $10M and paying $5M penalty won't dissuade Henry from going for another Division title. We did have some pieces come off the payroll, Ortiz, Koji, Taz and Hanigan ($32M). Young is set to come off next year and Kimbrel has a club option. (savings could total $20M if internal replacements are available for the two....maybe Kelly and/or Smith, Kopech arrives in 2018) Moon has projected current luxury tax payroll for 2017 Sox at $185M. I think Henry will live with say $225M. That has Clay B's option baked in it. So what can we buy with $40M?

Wasn't Drew the second player overplayed by his agent Boras? Nothing funnier than a player turning down a qualifying offer with no suitors willing to pay more. Like taking $12M, one year offer is a slap in the face?

It's amazing that so many of our players are either under contract or more importantly under team control for several years, yielding cheap options. Leon, Vaz, Swihart, Shaw, Travis, Moncada, Holt, Hernadez, Rutledge, Devers, Dalbec, Xander, Dubon, Beni, Basabe, JBJ, E Rod, Wiright, Pomeranz, Elias, Owens, Johnson, Kopech, Groome, Smith, Kelly, Barnes, Hembree, Scott, Workman are all under team control for 2-6+ years (for those with no major league experience on your list). 5 year and + team control starters C. Vaz 1B Travis 2B Hernandez SS Dubon 3B Devers LF Swihart CF Beni RF Moncada DH Dalbec SP E Rod, Wright, Johnson, Kopech, Groome Pen Smith, Barnes, Hembree

I will simply put Pablo on "I'll be pleasantly surprised" if we ever get anything out of him category. Craig, Castillo, Pablo, all dead money. I don't waste one moment thinking about him.

I doubt we get anything of value in return for Holt. He's cheap. We should keep him.

We are all doing excruciating painful mental gymnastics.....Signing EE will simplify much of our perceived problems. I'd take chance on his last two years of contract over Price's. That said.....we don't need to do anything other than acquire some bullpen help, and I would not even go overboard there either. See what our shortcomings are at trade deadline.... (but EE signing will go long way in recouping Ortiz' production)

EE's name is brought up because moving Hanley to DH then begs the question what to do with 1B and yeah don't forget about the worst mlb production at 3B. What is our open day line up? Masking utility player Holt as a starter at another position this year? That worked out well in LF. A mediocre defensive outfielder at best. Gets tired around July 31st. He's nothing more than an utility player.

Theo the GOD.....he'll be given credit for next twenty years of success.....

It's always a mistake to look back on a trade in a vacuum. Clay B. I believe was injured. We needed a starter. Detroit Tigers read newspapers or has access to internet. They knew Clay B was injured and Sox needed a starter desperately. Right or wrong, Sox front office FELT IT OWED TO THE FANS AND THE PLAYERS TO 'GO FOR IT'. The Tigers were in a better negotiating position. That's what the Orioles did with E Rod. Don't you think NOW they may regret the Miller trade? But at the time, they were 'going for it'. Does anyone here honestly believe Red Sox fans would be patient? Don't we all want the Sox FO at least trying to be competitive? Isn't that why Sox signed Pablo and Hanley shortly after swearing off on long term contracts that they dismantled in a trade to the Dodgers? Winning the Division after two last places is a feather in the cap for the Organization. Yep, they gave away Espinoza in the process. I'm sure all the Monday morning quarterbacks will be dissecting the trade into next decade forgetting that we did win the Division. (and a poster will point out maybe Pomeranz trade did not yield substantive return....can't win here unless the team makes PERFECT TRADE EVERY TIME.

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20161015/red-sox-roster-reset-after-years-of-tumult-outfield-looks-set-deep-into-future Her's a good article on how the OF situation has improved for the Sox.

Let me get this straight....you convinced me to spend $60M on a possible superstar just so we can trade him for Q? Oh by the way, WE'RE NOT THE ONES GETTING ADDITIONAL PLAYERS BUT WE HAVE TO GIVE UP ADDITIONAL FUTURE TALENT? Sure, where do I sign off on that trade? Really, this is how you are going to waste my money? Moncada's sunken cost is far different than others (Craig, Castille, Pablo) on the Sox roster. They have proven that YOU were wrong assessing their baseball skills........that's what I think Henry would say to Moon, the Sox GM.