Nick

What would make you happy? Re-sign Tazawa who has been ineffective for last two years? Ziegler basically replaced Kimbrel when he went down. He only pitches against right handed hitters. Name names.Who is out there that you want? You already told me no closers would come to Boston.

Kelly was not in the equation for most of the year. To me, he qualifies as an 'addition'. It's really not difficult to acquire 'number' of relievers. Teams have to do it all the time, partially due to uncertainty when it comes to ALL relievers.

You make too much sense...our starting rotation is fine, sign Clay B. Our bullpen needs one addition. There are cheap options. See Moon's current list in our bullpen. Our OF is solid, having full year out of Beni. Young and Holt can provide depth. 3B needs tweaking. Worst case, pick up another right handed bat to go with Shaw. 3B can be mediocre if we have a legit bat at DH, EE. We have enough money.

I have a feeling that Sox FO believes DH is a specialty skill, something not every position player can do. It's almost like pinch hitting 4 times during a game. I'd think some position players won't like it.

Moon Knowing all what we know about DD, what do you think will be his approach? He's very methodical. He identifies needs, then goes about resolving them (within reason of course). IF we win it all, will there be a grace period to be patient and wait as we solve internally some of our shortcomings? Acquiring a Ziegler type reliever(s) should not be a big issue. Picking up Clay B's option will be the easiest way to assure some depth for next year. I suppose he may chose to wait and see for trade deadline and react to what we need. I always attempt to look through management's perspective. I'm just not sure what the limits are with player payroll. I did read something to the effect, for the Yankees anyway, it was additional $30M or so when they make the playoffs versus not making it. And most of it hits the bottom line because player salaries are fixed.

+1 DH by committee sounds too much like Ace by committee approach of two years ago....how did that work out?

I had a high school teach back in 1972 that would give us extra credit if we found certain words in the course of our reading outside of our classroom......believe it or not I came across it in a Sporting News Article.....anyone remember when it was only 25 cents? My weekly ritual.....riding bike to drug store to purchase baseball cards and weekly Sporting News.

I have Bradley Jr behind Mookie and ahead of Xander. No trade.

no doubt, Kelly's approach as a closer is much different than his pusillanimous approach as a starter.

Secondary needs 1. Upgrade front line pitching....can we acquire Chris Sales without giving up the farm? Or are we willing to part with say both Gomes and Kopech? Or is that even enough? I would not give up neither Beni nor Moncada. 2. Top of line closer caliber reliever (but who is not actually a closer)....who and what would it take? 3. Top DH....Encarnacion....how much and how long? Are we willing to go over cap? Will FO listen to Ortiz? He will play a role similar to Martinez, no? If we love Ortiz so much why do we all think it's a stupid idea? Primary needs 1. Relievers..Koji, Tazawa, Ziegler replaced by C. Smith, J.Kelly and ??????. Basically Ziegler acquisition was to mitigate the loss of C Smith. (although it was perfectly timed as Kimbrel went down at the same time) Emergence of Joe Kelly may have reduced the 'need' number to 1 reliever. Very doable. 2. Hanley has proven more than adequate at 1B. We still need DH and 3B. Do you platoon say Shaw and Young at DH? Are there cheaper solutions to acquire 2 players for short term without blocking Moncada? Can we live with Shaw in the lineup knowing offensive contribution from catching spot will surely go down and big bat of Big Papi will be gone. Three black holes? We have some work to do.

I just don't see Beni going on a sustained slump that lasts over a month, something both Xander and Bradley Jr have done. I think he'll become better hitter than both of them.

If I offer Chapman $30M and tell him he won't be the closer, he'll refuse? Are the closers that stupid?

If Cy Young award was based soley on measurable numbers....bWAR, fWAR, PWARP, Deserved Run Average, WHY IN THE f*** DO WE EVEN HAVE PEOPLE VOTE ON IT? Just give the damn thing to Kluber.

Okay, I'm losing my arguement. Champman will not come to Red Sox for the simple reason he won't pitch anything but the 9th inning. My bad. He will want even more money to pitch in 'hold' situation. Got it.

If I'm the highest paid reliever in mlb, why would I care how I'm used? If my ego is that big, then I wouldn't sign me. It's not like the team is going to use me in low leverage situations.

I like JBJ ahead of Xander. I like our OF going forward.

Well put..Are we going to base his future on 30 PA's? He has the raw skill set. Great arm, athleticism, power, etc. It just may not happen in 2017.

I can't imagine how the Marlin players feel.....I realize they have to play out the season but boy....that's got to be tough.

It's unfortunate that in today's me first generation that one won't pitch the 8th inning no matter how much he's getting paid to do it.

There was a good article on how the spread between team revenue and luxury tax threashhold has widened over the last few years (obviously the TV revenue has skyrocketed). It's time to put the limit to around $230M so we can sign Encarnacion and Chapman without luxury tax implications.

Yep....that was a big miss, especially for an organization that signed Porcello to 4 year, $82M on potential.

From where I sit, that's a big freaking IF if there ever was one.....now that would be a bet I'd be more than happy to wager on.

Great to see that we have two 'work horse' starters in Price and Porcello (200+ innings). I'm hoping E Rod joins the two next year. He is maturing in front of our eyes.

I'm not disparaging Porcello at all when I say he's the safe pick in my opinion. His volume of work for 2016 is Cy Young worthy. I would be surprised if someone else wins it.

He's currently the highest paid at $11,325,000. Miller signed for 4 years @ $36M last year. $15M per year looks reasonable to me, especially for a reliever. I certainly wouldn't pay anymore for him. Not very many teams can afford him and that should work in Sox's favor.