oldtimer

The word has it that FA signings will be delayed until at least the date of the signing of the CBA. The current one is set to end on Dec 1st with the hope of the new one being signed close to that time. It is of importance since some clubs will be reluctant to commit money in excess of the allowed amount and will hold off on FA offers until that item is cleared up. Decisions like EE vs C. Beltran may be impacted for the Sox. We are really only a couple of weeks away and shortly after the GM's will meet in Maryland. I think that one runs from Dec 5th thru the 8th. Perhaps some of the concepts put forth by you and others will begin to be realized during those meetings. You are right about Turner, I didn't mention him but clearly we would lose a pick for a very good 34 year old player. If you are familiar with Risk Assessment methodology, then one would hope the FO is also and does a formal RA on each option under consideration. Again, I like the idea of Beltran if we can make that happen. Holland is somewhat risky but I have to assume our experts will have evaluated that risk and determined the proper course of action. If they take care of DH and a setup man in the near term, then we can look to finding a solution, if one is needed, at 3rd base and perhaps more pitching help. The catching position is probably and internal consideration but we and other clubs do not have a high quality solution at this time.

In your 1, you neglected to mention that we also lose our first round draft choice by signing EE, since a QO has been tendered. I would say your #4 would be my preference of the choices listed. I think Beltran is being sought by Houston so the chances of making that happen are no better than 50/50. Holland is on the risky side with his return from Tommy John surgery. Trading away a starting pitching candidates for one BP guy and a short term 3rd baseman no to mention Barnes, Basabe and Shaw in my view is an unequal trade. We need to keep a reserve of starting pitching depth in the minors. I am not in favor of any of your other possibilities. Don't get me wrong on this, I would love Justin Turner but the cost in $ and players would be very high and he is on the downslope of his career and would be 39 in his final year if we gave him 5. He might be a 3rd baseman for 2 to 3 years and then morph into a DH. Don't want Rich Hill at all.

Thinking of the lineup for 2017 1. Benentendi/Pedroia 2. Benentendi/Pedroia 3. Betts 4. DH (Beltran/Young) 5. Rameriz 6. Bogaerts 7. Bradley 8. Leon/Swihart/Vazquez 9. Holt/Shaw/Sandoval If we are fortunate enough to get Beltran, I like our 1 through 7, after that it is a crap shoot.

Lots of talk about going after Holland for RP. It appears DD is headed in that direction rather than one of the top 3 out there.

He is very slow of foot. How many double plays did he hit into during the stretch? It seemed like quite a few to me, although I admit that I started to look for that.

Word from the Boston press is that EE and Bautista have declined to accept qualifying offers from the Blue Jays, so now signing them also requires giving up our first round draft choice (#26). The long term contract to an aging player at big bucks, the loss of a first round draft choice and getting a RH hitter are good reasons to be cool to the idea of either of these two. I still like Beltran although there is no cinch that we could sign him. Getting Young in against lefties at DH is a good idea, but then we lose depth in the outfield. I suppose if needed JF could pull a switch and move Young from DH to outfield and temporarily fill DH with another bench player but that wouldn't work on a regular basis, so we need another player who can handle DH.

I'll repeat myself from the middle in the 2016 season. JBJ has a tendency to over swing, presumably to add power when he makes contact. When he does that, his swing gets longer and he tends to loop it, perhaps to add loft to the ball. The problem with that approach is JBJ has difficulty making regular contact when going with the longer swing. In my opinion, JBJ should work on a compact and level swing. He could improve his contact rate doing that and perhaps he would lose a little power, but he has enough to still hit home runs while making that change. Failure for him to make a change will relegate him to the same type of performance as this year or perhaps even worse, since the pitchers seem to have him figured out. I like the kid and think he has additional upside, but he and the coaches need to work to make changes during the off season.

Maybe they should have tied off part of his abdomen.

Its interesting to see what some of our rivals are talking about in the off season. The Yankees are actively trying to move McCans and also Gardner in hopes of getting starting pitching. Gardner's possible destination is the Orioles who need an outfielder since Trumbo is likely to leave. A trade between rivals is somewhat unlikely as Baltimore doesn't look to have starting pitching that would be attractive to the Yankees. On the other hand, Baltimore may well go after Reddick on the FA market. No loss of draft picks required there, only money. Meanwhile McCans is being dangled at Atlanta who needs a catcher. Again, the hope the Yankees have is getting young starting pitching. Interesting to see what folks other than the Sox are doing as they will be our competitors in the offseason for FA and trade deals.

Just a note of caution. Leon is our slowest player because he is close to 230# on a 5'10" frame. Catchers need some bulk to handle the position, but that extra weight could wear him down over a season, especially if he became the primary catcher again next year. Lots to think about at the catching position.

That is what he said but we will have to await his possible trade moves to see if he really means that. I would expect one of our catchers will be moved as part of a trade.

Pablo would have to show remarkable improvement after essentially being out of baseball for a full year and recovering from injury. Would we go out and sign him if he were just another player who was available? The answer to that is no! So really the only reason for giving him another shot is his big contract and a memory of his ability from a couple of years ago. I would say his chance of making it back are quite slim (no pun intended) so I look at him as a backup plan and not the primary for 3rd base. So if we look at Shaw based on his long term performance and Pablo on his likelihood of returning to a competitive 3rd baseman, I would say we need a different plan A altogether.

Giving up the store for one pitcher, who might prove fragile, is not such a good idea. Espi is young and improving. JBJ may well make a step with his hitting and Mncada has tools but is a bit of an unknown. I don't think the deal will go down for Sale, at least with the players mentioned.

Then you know the way the game is played. What we don't have is a big library of cases on the way DD operates. It appears he looks at numerous alternatives and then goes in the direction of team improvement by getting equivalent value for any trades while he is open to spending a lot in the FA market. We will see if that trend holds. We all know the names involved but I would bet he has additional surprises out there. The first GM meeting concluded today with no announcements to date. The next is in early December in Maryland and at that time maybe some movement will occur.

The Sox will show strong interest in numerous directions such as Joey Bats, Beltran and EE. They have to do that with pitchers as well. They need to have numerous opportunities at each position, from which they will pick one or maybe two in the case of pitchers. DD can't signal too strong an interest in any candidate at this point without causing the price in $ and or picks to go up. He knows what he is doing in that regard.

We all know this of course but it is worth saying that we need several plans to fill a hole due to the competitive nature of the league. We may well be in competition with the Yankees and perhaps several other teams for his services. Good to have a plan B and a plan C to avoid over committing for the value gotten in return. Beltran is my Plan A though.

DD was quoted as saying he would be reluctant to offer EE a 5 year contract, which is what he seems to want.

Doesn't Chapman have an ongoing domestic violence charge against him?

I get that signing Turner at big bucks and probably losing a draft choice is a bit of a flyer. It would represent a real improvement at 3rd but the cost is high and it might not even be possible. The idea of DH with Beltran is solid and clearly we need to be involved in signing probably 2 RP's of quality. SP is a flyer like 3rd base, in that it will be costly in $ and talent and such trades are also risky. SP's can be fragile.

At 40 years old, we should have a good chance of getting Beltran for one year with an option year. Switch hitter, decent power, smart and a good clubhouse presence. Good for DH role. Might not get a QO and be in the top group in his category so might not cost a first round draft choice as EE would. Lot to like about bringing him on. I like Moon's plan C with Beltran and Turner. Solves two of our mot glaring deficiencies at reasonable cost. Opens up our existing squad to some possible trade candidates from third for possible RP's.

For those of you who are into the league happenings, there is a good synopsis in the following site: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2016-17-mlb-offseason-free-agency-winter-meetings-other important-dates/ The GM meeting in Scottsdale is coming up tomorrow and goes for three days. The winter meetings take place Dec 5th through the 8th in Maryland. Many other details of when key dates are hit.

With Leon's numbers in the second half falling off drastically (he is 5'10" and probably 230) and Vazquez offering little offensively we may have to hope that Swihart improves his defense so we can utilize his offense to improve our catching OPS.

Will Beni play any winter ball? He might benefit from getting another 100 AB's in competition during the offseason.

I don't think we should be expected to be best at all positions. Betts is probably the best right fielder. Pedroia is not the best at 2nd but he is darned good. Bogaerts also fits into that category. We should be happy to have above average players at so many positions and concentrate our effort on shoring up those that were either weak in 2016 or will become weak for 2017 due to losses such as Ortiz or our FA relief pitchers. We have a strong nucleus and an active GM who will try to fill the holes. Life is good.

I thought the decision to pull Henricks in favor of Lester was also a bad one.