Hugh2

Which means they’re overdue. When’s the last time they were $100 million under the cap? The Sox think longer than our short term memories. I don’t think it’s a bloom/DD thing. It’s a John Henry thing. Bloom has never been given the chance to spend, until this year.

I mean, If you were hired by an organization to be director of operations/GM and you looked at the teams history of developing pitchers vs developing hitters wouldnt you go position player too? You can always trade from depth, early reports on Romero is he’s a stud, oh no big problem. If Mayer is the real deal too you can always trade Romero for something you need OR move him to another position. I’m actually very optimistic about the bullpen, almost never does everything break right but here are a few things that could happen only looking inside the organization. Barnes, from August 1st on last year he looked like his old self. If that carries into 2023 the bullpen looks much better. Josh Taylor is back and healthy and a very effective LHRP. Schreiber has a 2023 that looks very much like his 2022. Zach Taylor looks good and showed a lot of promise during his call up to Boston. Does he emerge as a guy? Houck - what is he? We know he is good, but If ge can take one more step forward as a 26 year old in a defined role could he become a lights out late inning arm? All the ingredient’s are there. The young arms looking to come up mid season intrigue me much more this year than last year, minus Bello of course. Mata could be really really good in a pen, I’d also like to see the Sox transition some of these grungy starters into bullpen roles (like wink and Crawford). This is NOT an argument against more bullpen moves. I just believe there is plenty of room for internal growth and that’s a good thing.

I think you have the money to where if you spend it wisely you’re competing for a wildcard, but if you have a clean bill of health you compete for the division. Regardless, you should be a playoff team. In absence of Bello, I think you have to ship out Casas and that makes Hosmer/Dalbec your 1B platoon (is high might not be as bad as people think) but I still think Mayer/Bleis ship out too. They could be the next Correa/Trout. Two very talented guy. I’m ok with it, if we are already a championship caliber organization….which we are not. I would still like to explore trades with teams to take on some salary to reduce the prospect cost. Florida always comes to mind there, but there are others.

You’re not wrong but here’s the problem. There are only two guys who fit the bill in free agency. Verlander/Rodon Verlander will eat up 40 million a year and Carrie’s significant age risk Rodon will eat up 30-35 a year and will carry significant injury risk. Your other option is to trade for an ACE. Which if we are going that route the asking price is one of Bello/Casas and then Mayer/Yorke+

I wouldn’t be surprised either way, but I’d bet they’re not making any other major moves there. I’d like to see at least one if Wink/Crawford make the move full time to the bullpen and start the season In AAA. I mean….they both need to start the season in Worcester, but one of those guys needs to start transitioning to reliever.

Yes they will, but the Sox won’t leave 35 million laying around to not go after those guys. Contrary to popular opinion the Sox DO actually spend a lot of money. They have one of the largest if not the largest amount of money coming off the books below the luxury tax line, and they know they’ve f***ed up recently. I remember almost a decade ago I predicted the Sox would make a big move on the pitching front after failing to sign Scherzer/Lester the year before. People didn’t believe Henry would budge and switch direction while I argued he has a long history of doing exactly that, switching directions and then they went out and set the market by signing Price. If the Sox are NOT signing one of the big four I’d be willing to bet it’s because they’re signing a stop gap (Iglesias/Andrus) to go big elsewhere (Judge/Verlander). I also don’t think those guys costing more scare the Sox off, the question is how much more? If Correa is getting $100 million more I’m staying Bogaerts and it ain’t even close. But if Turner/Correa are only getting $40-50 more I’m seriously considering the upgrade and I think the Sox do too.

This is probably a very unpopular opinion after last years abysmal bullpen performance, but I do t have a problem with acquiring a lot of 7th/8th inning talent and seeing who emerges as an option. Martin was the 7th inning guy on the most stacked team in baseball. He was good enough to be the 8th inning guy on that team or any other team. He’s performed well in the post season. He is in the 100% percentile for walk rate. He would have been the best reliever in the this teams bullpen last year; maybe that’s not saying much but when you add a guy who would have been your best relieve your bullpen just got a lot better

In a perfect world of health, you could get away with trading for a LHH platoon bat with Refsnyder (who can smash lefties) and be fine. Heck, if they’re done with the bullpen and are determined to go big, they could do that while resigning Bogaerts and signing Verlander. But maybe going big to them is Correa/Senga/Conforto. That’s spreads the money around a bit too.

They can complete their roster with a trade for an outfielder, I think you’re right there. Also, there have been rumors the Sox are exploding the trade market for outfielders. It makes sense, after Judge, the next tier of talent is slim, will be bid high on, and all carry some level of injury/durability risk. Trading for an outfielder makes sense.

You can’t plan a season to have Mata a starter by June, I like Mata but he he may never be a starter in Boston. A lot of scouts see him moving to the pen, and FWIW they think he can very good there, a future star closer. I see a possible mid season Mata call up to strengthen the bullpen. I don’t ever want to see the Sox have to rely on their 7th 8th and 9th options to start ever again. Bogaerts could influence their plans for starting pitching. But that may come down to whether they sign one or two guys. Also, if Bogaerts walking is their plan A, I’d have to believe they want to make a serious run at Turner/Correa. If that’s the case, they’re probably only signing one starter from the (Senga/Taillon/walker/Eovaldi/Bassit) class, maybe still two if they could get a guy like Kluber/Heaney on the cheap. FWIW, I don’t see Eovaldi getting a pay raise. Depending on the years, I think he gets something around $14 - $18 per year.

Sale Senga Bello Whitlock Pivetta Kluber Paxton as a long man? Again, how often is everyone healthy? Maybe Bello looks like he can use a few more innings in AAA to start the season. No rotation is perfect, even with some good luck on the health front, a small injury could push someone out for a 2-4 weeks. I think it’s obvious the Sox get 1 starter, probably 50-75% chance they get two.

A good problem to have. Let’s say they sign Senga/Kluber and everyone is healthy. You can push a guy to the pen and roll out with a 6 man for a month. That might help down the stretch as you put innings on the arms of Sale, Paxton, and Bello.

Do people remember that Martin came up through the Red Sox system? He was an Indy ball guy too!!!! We traded him, Ben did, so you remember for who????

The fact that the Sox were in on Eflin makes me think they are also in on the rest of the middling starters. Which there are a lot of. I suppose they could make another bullpen addition (Jensen) if they wanted Houck to start next year. But I wonder if they switch the focus to SS/SP/OF now

Is this your weekly/monthly drive by posting?

You believe are gone forever? What do you base this on? He’s just 32 and was looking very good at the end of last year. Actually he was really good from August 1st on. Finally healthy again, not giving up home runs and keeping guys from scoring. If he looks like that, he can set up and spot close.

Dude, Martin has been pretty damn good. Who did you expect in the bullpen?

Sox are only the hook for the league minimum, SD pays the rest. In actual money and AAV.

Probably because they had too to get the deal done. Someone else was either offering him much more AAV or a little less than the Sox offer on 2 years.

I love the new tag line!

If they are 100% serious about resigning him, I think they will have saved money by waiting around.

No one is perfect, but Boras is pretty good at what he does. And that is maximizing value for his clients. I don't really think Bogaerts would be against switching positions, but he doesn't want the opening offer being someone giving him 1B money, they don't want to set the bar low. Remember, it's still very early in the offseason. They don't have rush and concede anything right now.

Of course he’s saying that, he’s trying to maximize his payday.

also Ronaldo Hernandez was DFA'd 40 man now sits at 39.

Pepen is reporting that Bogaerts will go back to the Sox with the best offer he gets. This confirms my theory of what the Sox would do back over the summer.