Hugh2

Angels say no but why not? Both are free agents after next year. Sign Bogaerts to play 3B and a stop gap at SS/2B. I wouldn’t trade significant prospects for Ohtani. He may be the first 50 million dollar long term player and he’s worth it. The problem is if he ever goes down, you’re effectively losing two superstars at once. Too many eggs in one basket for me. I’d rather resign Devers who will probably cost 60% of what Ohtani may get AAV.

This is funny to me. Almost any time I’ve seen someone ask you “well what would you do” you pretty always pivot and do not. Just an observation

You're taking Garcia to partially pay for Lopez. It's not out of question he rebounds and has a great year, you don't need him to for it to be a great trade but if he does it's a steal.

Of the three, my money is on Story bouncing back the best.

I think the ship has sailed on AB, I don’t he ages very well at all. No power and when the glove and speed go down he will be a 4th outfielder sooner than later. Nimmo is the high OBP guy who can lead off the Sox have been missing with some pop and also add good defense in CF/RF. Mlb trade rumors projects him to sign for 110/5. I’ll bite

Here’s the problem with resigning both Bogey and Raffy. You had both of them this year and you still sucked. Personally with the shift changes, I think we should go big with Correa, resign Raffy is you can or wait u til next year. After that, unless you land Nimmo, I hope all the focus is on pitching .

Then give him away for free, he's worth every penny if you get Lopez without dealing away Mayer. You're effectively paying $13 million dollars a year for an ACE.

Gallo is also a guy who may stand to benefit the most from eliminating the shift.

I know I'm not the only one who can make this brag.....but told ya'll Nate would get a QO.

If Eovaldi accepts they still need to go after a guy. I think someone in the Bassitt/Taillon/Senga makes more sense for the Sox than going after DeGrome. If Eovaldi rejects I think you need two of those guys, however, I also think the QO might kill Nathans market so maybe the Sox can resign him for 3/35 or somewhere in that range. I would like to see the REAL number the Sox have to spend before hitting the luxury tax. The number seems to be very conflicted, I thought it was around 80 million now I'm seeing it to be 100. Arbitration, the AAV considerations options/buyouts, and player benefits really make things convoluted. Given the market this year maybe the Sox can reset next year and still be able to spend a ton of money next offseason if they can get creative this year. Maybe sign some guys to contracts they're guaranteed to opt out of next year or sign some large 1-year deals. Love him or hate him, I think Bloom is going to make the offseason very interesting somehow.

Supposedly Correa loved playing for Cora too. I wonder if he'd take 270/9 to play here.

True, but I think they lose international bonus pool money too.

Thoughts on free agency this year. The Sox have 100 million to spend, approximately. That is the good news, the bad news is if you could pick one year to not have the money to spend this would be it. The free agent class is pretty horrible. For example, a guy like Nimmo would be a perfect fit for this club. But in a FA class so weak Nimmo is the 2nd best outfielder meaning he's going to get overpaid. The Sox are going to get less bang for their buck with this 100 million. The bright spot is the SS market, which seems to have several big names. It could mean getting Bogaerts for less than he wants to make the decision to let him go to FA a smart one or it could also mean upgrading with a guy who may be an upgrade in Correa or Turner. With the shift changes coming in 2023 up-the middle defense matters more than it has in decades and 2nd base is now going to be a premium defensive position again making Story a perfect 2nd baseman. With a Turner/Bogaerts/Correa addition the Sox may have an elite infield next year but a horrible outfield again. Maybe Nimmo wants to come here and sign in the 17.5-20 mil range which isn't horrible or the Sox make a trade. It's the pitching that concerns me the most. There are some elite names at the top in Verlander, Rodon, and DeGrome but Jacob has serious health concerns as does Rodon who threw a career-high 178 innings last year after throwing 132 in 2021 which was the most he had thrown since he was 23 and he's going to be 30 next year. Verlander, there's no real knock against other than he will be 40 next year and he's probably going to get 2/80 3/120 somewhere. After that, there's a drop-off in the pitching market. Blooms in a tough spot. If I didn't have to worry about my job I'd be looking to build this team up for 2024, but if I was in his position I'd be feeling as if 2023 has to be a year they make a playoff run or he gets canned.

You would think, and I think we are right here, yet this stuff gets so convoluted you wonder if these reported miss it. I think the Sox aren’t on the hook, I’d like to see a real breakdown of the luxury tax with full confidence.

If I’m right I choose St. Jude’s Children Research hospital

I disagree with the last part of your statement. It's true when you have no top half. The Sox had no real #1 #2 this year. They had a few middling starters who even then missed time and a bunch of fringey #5 types. A strong back end and plenty of depth looks a hell of a lot better if you had a healthy Chris Sale leading this rotation. That ends up improving your bullpen too when someone becomes an odd man out.

I'll wager you on this. Might take some digging up and time to verify because the whole luxury tax line and contractual impact is very convoluted. I wager this. The loser.....has to donate $25 to a charity of the other choice.

AAV may matter when the contract is signed but when he is traded it becomes a 3 year 39 million dollar deal. The Padres sent that money over to the Sox making it a min hit for them. So I believe the Luxury tax hit really is only the league min.

I think the plan with Houck is for him to start if they have a very lackluster offseason on that side of the ball (or injuries). Otherwise they probably prefer him in the pen.

I highly doubt they're looking at him to be a #2 or #3 guy. Maybe even a bullpen role or swingman if he'd be up to it. I'm not in love with him either but I'm sure they're just doing their due dilligence and checking in with a lot of guys.

They were also throwing WHitlock out there injured. Both are a small sample size but Houcks is still has almost 3 times as many IP as a starter. I'd wager on Whitlock being the better starter in 2023.

Sox do well with those picks sometimes, also it's also about the draft pool money that gives you flexibility elsewhere. Plus lets not also forget one whole year of production from Devers.

True, but that was 30 years ago and he was a top 100 prospects, at least one point he was. So, that kind of makes my point. It's unlikely.

Eh, maybe. But how much will you get for ONE year of Devers? Not as much as you did for Mookie Betts. Maybe without the salary dump you come out ok, but I'd rather go for it with Devers next year, gamble, and make a run at the playoffs in 2023.

With 80 million to spend you still have to fill out the roster when the majority of that is going to Bogey/ SP1? Is Heaney really a bad signing if they are also signing....for example, DeGrome?