Fan_since_Boggs

I've said all along that the Red Sox would sign Bogaerts and Betts long term and that Bradley Jr would be the guy left out. The problem with Bradley Jr is that so much of his value is tied to his defense and his defense will likely decline before Bogaerts and Betts' offense declines. You replace Bradley Jr with a league minimum salary (?), replace Porcello with a league minimum salary (Johnson, Houck, etc), replace the starting 1b with a league minimum salary (Chavis, Dalbec), replace the closer with a league minimum salary (Feltman), and there is plenty of money left for Betts. Speaking of a league minimum salary, do the Red Sox now move Chatham to 2b? The Red Sox need a future 2b. Chatham was another great draft selection by the best GM in MLB.

I think the Red Sox will resign Bogaerts and Betts but will let Porcello and Bradley Jr. leave. Bradley Jr.'s value is tied to his defense and defense is often the first thing to go. I'm not sure how they will replace Bradley Jr., as there is no one in the system close enough. The Red Sox should have a pretty potent lineup, however, and thus can acquire a weak hitting, defensive stud for CF, a guy making league minimum salary.

Jackson: it must be tough to be a Yankees fan during this period of Red Sox dominance. I can sense your bitterness. The Yankees have a really good team, but the Red Sox are special. Red Sox fans had to live through the Yankees dominance in the late 1990s and now Yankees fans get to see what it is like from the other side. I guess it couldn't have been fun to watch the Yankees get completely destroyed by a much superior Red Sox team in the playoffs last year.

Yep, and while Bannister wasn't hired by Dombrowski (Bannister was in the Red Sox organization before Dombrowski arrived), Bannister was promoted to his current position under Dombrowski, if I'm not mistaken.

It is amazing what has happened to David Price, he has become a Red Sox post-season legend. I don't know if the Red Sox go all the way last year without him. He could be a HOF pitcher, but I'm not fully certain. He was great early in his career, and we can't overlook that dominance, and now he has done special things in the postseason. If he continues to pitch reasonably well over the next few seasons, rather than completely fall apart, he will be an interesting candidate for the HOF. We have to credit Dave Dombrowski for signing him.

Eric Van argues that Brian Johnson is already an above average starter and his arguments are more sabermetrically sophisticated than any of Jackson's "Brian Johnson sucks" statements. True, the Red Sox haven't been overly successful in developing starting pitchers, but this is a new regime, led by a genius in Dave Dombrowski. For whatever reason, the combination of Dave Dombrowski's old school approach together with the organization's established analytical approach unleashed something pretty special, a team that won 108 games and was one of the greatest teams ever. Cora is part of that equation too, not only as a manager but as an evaluator of talent.

I believe and have been saying that this is the most likely scenario. (1) You can't get much for Leon on the trade market anyway. (2) Even though the Red Sox would like to jettison his contract, they like him enough to continue paying him 2.5 million for depth purposes. (3) There is a good chance that no team will touch Leon for 2.5 million. (4) There is a good chance that Leon will accept his assignment to the minors, wanting to collect 2.5 million.

A few guys you don't bring back in 2020: Porcello Holt Nunez Pearce Moreland And you replace all of them with league minimum salaries. There will be intense compeition for Porcello's spot: Johnson, Hernandez, Houck, and Shawaryn. One of the two utility spots belonging to Holt and Nunez goes to Lin (who will be out of options). Pearce and Moreland are replaced by either Chavis or Dalbec. I guess Lin could take Nunez's roster spot and the Red Sox could try to resign Holt. I just wonder if some team is going to overpay for Holt, liking his versatility. But maybe not.

So, through 2019, the Red Sox have a stud starting staff, Sale, Price, Eovaldi, Rodriguez, and Porcello. After the 2019 season, Porcello leaves and the competition begins for the 5th spot in the rotation: Brian Johnson, Houck, Hernandez, and Shawaryn. There is a good chance that one of those guys will rise up and be a solid cost controlled starter. That would take the starting staff through 2020 and 2021 when Rodriguez will be a free agent after 2021. This would be the perfect time for Jay Groome to enter the rotation--he will still be young, only 23 years old. The Red Sox are loaded with starting pitching depth over the next few seasons and will have a lot of options. At some point soon (over the next 2-3 years) they will need to make decisions on Houck, Hernandez, and Shawaryn--are they going to be long term starters or transition to reliever, like Matt Barnes did a few years ago? It is amazing how well Dombrowski has managed the Red Sox starting pitching depth.

Great signing and it hurts the Yankees. With the Yankees wobbly pitching staff, you would have to think they were ready to spend big on Sale if given the opportunity. Sale is a legacy player too, a guy who will wear a Red Sox cap in the HOF.

Swihart is having a great spring. He will either be traded for something pretty valuable or he will make the team over Sandy Leon.

Justus Sheffield has looked great for the Mariners in spring training--"nasty, nasty, and nasty": Justus Sheffield Mariners change of approach WWW.MLB.COM PEORIA, Ariz. – Justus Sheffield’s search for the perfect pitch has been replaced by a new and more efficient approach. The Yankees should have signed P.Corbin and kept Sheffield. Instead, by trading Sheffield for Paxton, the Yankees moved sideways and didn't improve the depth of their shaky starting rotation. To state the obvious, I would rather have Corbin and Sheffield than Paxton--two extremely talented pitchers are better than one extremely talented pitcher. Hal didn't go the extra mile for Yankees fans.

The Red Sox save money by dumping Leon, whereas Swihart has a few more years of control. In addition, which catcher could the Red Sox dump and still bring back later in the season if necessary? Even if Leon signs with another team, how hard can it be to trade for him?

Strange to think that the Red Sox and Yankees match up pretty well for a trade. The Yankees could use a starter, e.g., Brian Johnson, and the Red Sox could use a reliever. With that said, I doubt the two teams agree on a deal. The Red Sox could use D.Betances, but I've heard that his velocity is down, kind of like B.Workman.

If they release Thornburg before the start of the season, I think they would save 1.75 million. That injury/surgery was a big deal -- I don't know if pitchers always recover from that.

I think this contract is going to work out well for Harper and the Phillies. The fact that Harper declined opt-outs will help endear him to Phillies fans. Harper wanted to go to one place and stay there for the rest of his baseball career. He picked the Phillies, the fans will eat that up and cheer him.

What's weird about this article https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-separate-paths-of-craig-kimbrel-and-the-red-sox/ is that it says the Red Sox will be picking 10 spots lower in the draft if they sign Kimbrel. I thought they were already slated to lose 10 spots? Can anyone clarify?

Weird. Why would a guy who throws a knuckleball use PEDs? It must be his knee, trying to recover ASAP. I wouldn't release Wright, he is an effective pitcher. It is just a matter of getting him healthy. Who knows, maybe an 80 game suspension will be a good thing for him if he returns with full health.

Gray is right. It's the Yankees pitching coach, his philosophy is to get ahead with the fastball and then throw sliders in the dirt until the cows come home. That approach isn't ideal for a pitcher's health. The Yankees employed a highly debatable strategy in the offseason. (A) Sign Corbin and keep Sheffield or ( save a few bucks and trade Sheffield for the often-injured Paxton. I thought the Yankees made the wrong decision. If they did (A) instead of (, they still have Sheffield providing rotation depth. The Yankees need Sheffield now that Severino and Sabathia won't be ready at the start of the season. And Paxton will obviously miss time at some point too (fragile). If I'm the Yankees, I'm signing Keuchel, he isn't a bad pitcher. I guess he is asking for a lot of money, however.

The Phillies sell 100,000 tickets within 24 hours of signing Harper, some are saying that is a record for ticket sales. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/phillies-sold-100000-tickets-in-less-than-24-hours-after-signing-bryce-harper-195043717.html This was a great move for the Phillies. 1. With increased ticket sales and the TV contract, the Phillies can afford Harper no problem. 2. Harper makes the Phillies a better team, and should put up big numbers in that park, a middle of the order bat. 3. By signing him for 13 years (he can DH for the last few seasons of the contract, the DH will likely be in the national league by then) Harper will likely wear a Phillies cap in the HOF. He will be associated with the Phillies organization first and foremost, adding to the overall value of the franchise. I could never understand why so many position players want to play with the Yankees. The Yankees have had so many great players over the years, guys like Harper and Machado can't possibly ascend to the top of the Yankees legacy. As great as Harper and Machado are, they will never be as great as Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, and Berra. They will never be more loved or respected than homegrown players like Jeter and Rivera. In contrast, consider the Phillies legacy. Mike Schmidt (great player, probably better than B.Harper). Steve Carlton. The list isn't nearly as long as the Yankees list, meaning that Harper can retire as a Phillies legend--he can retire as one of the best players to ever don a Phillies uniform. Or consider the Padres legacy. I can't think of another great player besides Tony Gwynn. Machado can retire as one of the greatest Padres to ever don a Padres uniform. We shall see what happens when the games begin. Last year during the season when I predicted the Red Sox would pull away from the Yankees and win the division easily, I was called "delusional" by a Yankees fan on this forum. How did that prediction work out, skippy?

The Phillies have a billion dollar plus TV deal on the horizon and so the Harper contract is relatively easy to pay for. I think Harper takes the Phillies to the next level and they are now the favorites in the NL East. When the offseason began, I thought for sure the Yankees would sign either Machado or Harper, along with P.Corbin. They Yankees have had a terrible offseason. Hal Steinbrenner is definitely fiscally conservative. If George is around, either Machado or Harper are in pinstripes along with Corbin. Hal is better for baseball and fair competition, but George was better for the Yankees. As a Red Sox fan, I'm starting to like Hal. Hope he doesn't sell the team.

Good point. Pettitte only owned up to it AFTER he was caught. Otherwise, he says nothing about it. Clemons did take things to another level when he broke the law and lied to Congress about his usage. Clemons is the bigger scumbag, but Andy Pettitte is not exactly a role model either. Neither cheater belongs in the HOF.

If necessary, the Red Sox could easily trade one of these guys for a really good relief arm, but I don't think the Red Sox will need to do that with guys like Feltman and Lakins ready to contribute at some point this season. A great quote from Feltman, the future closer of the Red Sox: In addition, the Red Sox can always move an SP prospect to the bullpen if necessary -- 3 candidates: D.Hernandez, T.Houck, and M.Shawaryn. I would continue to develop these guys as SPs, but a short term move to the bullpen wouldn't derail their development.

And this is why the Red Sox should demote Leon to AAA and not worry about it. There is a good chance he will pass through waivers and accept his AAA assignment.

They could have done that. However, it is so easy to find 1b. I would rather trade Andujuar for an SP and take my chances with Voit and Bird. If Voit and Bird don't work out, the Yankees can find a serviceable 1b somewhere else. Also, who knows how much value Andujar will have a few months from now. If he has a sophomore slump, his trade value will be completely shot based on the fact that he sucks defensively. The Yankees may look back and wonder why they didn't trade Andujar when they had the opportunity to get something good for him.