Hugh2

It's 6 years, not 7, and Votto is still 33. Cliff Lee was getting offered 132 and 138 million dollars from the Yankees and Rangers at 33 years old. That was 4 years ago and salary inflation has been going up appx 10% in baseball. I know it seems crazy but Votta would probably get paid something very close to what he's owed in free agency. He's easily one of the best hitters in all of the baseball and has shown zero signs if slowing down, zero. Now maybe the Sox and no team would want to give up top prospects for Votto, I disagree with that but perhaps I'm wrong. If I am wrong. I'm fairly certain, as I said before, the Reds aren't giving him up without a significant return. Smaller market teams don't exist for our pleasure and to make trades for us. It has to work for them and they have to sell it to their fan base. I highly doubt they are interested in salary relief.

Sox gave up two top 100 prospects for a guy making close to market money in Kimbrel. Votto would demand a steeper return than that. Maybe if they were interested in rebuilding they would take S. Travis/Groome/Chavis/Matta

The Reds aren't trading Votto, you can take that to the bank. Not sure about the rest of your point, is anything being up against the cap makes us less likely to trade for Votto

The guy is a career .964 OPS hitter and is showing no signs of slowing down with his 1.014 slash line now....he's also on the hook for 25 million a year in an era when guys putting up his numbers are starting to get over 30 a year. That's 150 million left, which isn't that big nowadays. But you're right, I don't think teams are lining up to give up prospects and eat that contract but why would the Reds just give him to us then? He is the face of their franchise, do you really think their ownership is going to trade him to us for peanuts just to clear out some payroll? That's not happening.

He could replace Young on the roster next year, and will definitely get a look in September. Perhaps sooner? Idk. Maybe he's for real, but excuse me for being skeptical after stalling out in AAA for five years. I'm willing to give him a shot as a 4th outfielder and if he's for real he could get more AB's as a DH. But I'm not ready to start him so we can trade one of our three outfielders as suggested earlier.

And whose spot is he going to take in the lineup? He's not better than Betts/JBJ/Benintendi

Brentz? or Devers? who are we talking about here

Brentz is a 28 year old career minor leaguer who has repeatedly failed at the upper levels. I'm not convinced he's turned the corner. Perhaps he has but I wouldn't risk years of control from talents we have in the of now. And Votto as good as Votto is he's still on the hook for 25 million a year from age 33-40. Votto is also the face of their franchise, they aren't going to consider trading him without getting blue chippers in return. The only blue chipper we have is Devers.

Stanton would cost you one of JBJ/Betts/AB + Devers + Matta. You upgrade a position that doesn't need upgrading, and you downgrade your defense. Meanwhile you've just depleted your farm system with no solution for the gapping hole at 3B and you gurantee you stay over the luxury tax. I'm starting to jump on the Alonso boat. Alonso + Devers on the corners might be the spark this offense needs.

Fair enough, but all teams have guys like that....although to be fair we seem to have a much higher success rate overall despite the lack of developing pitching.

Let's imagine a hypothetical situation where Carson Smith was healthy and a viable setup man. This team could completely rebuild their system by trading him and Kimbrel. Obviously, we don't want to do this as we want to compete, but I'm just trying to eximplify the fact that the costs for relief pitching has gone sky high.

5,6,7 according to whom? BA? MLB? soxprospects? according to soxprospects 5,6,7 are: Houck, Mata, and Flores. I'm really excited about all three of those guys but it's more probable that only 2 of them are productive MLBers and one ends up being an all star. All three could flop too. Houck was just added, he, as with every 1st round draft pick still comes with the shiny new toy shine. Many see him as a reliever, perhaps a very good one, perhaps more if everything breaks right or perhaps he's no better than Anthony Ranaudo, Henry Owens, Brian Johnson, Bryan Price, or Nick Hagadone. Mata is really exciting, but he's only 18 and in low A. As exciting as he is, there are more ways for him to fail than to succeed, and he likely has a long way to go. Flores is 16 years old, 16!!!! by the time the Sox are going over that "hypothetical cliff" he's likely still going to be a teenager who was just recently come stateside and played in full season ball. These guys are far away from becoming a blue chipper like Devers, but you're right.....they do all have potential and that is something the system has gained back over the past two months and if a few things break right on the development path we could have a very good system again in a few years. But in terms of near ready, star talent that has a good chance to contribute over the next couple years........we only really have one prospect right now.

If we do deplete more farm assets for a reliever can it at least be for a guy who isn't injury prone???

The system definitely looks better than it did 6 months ago, but still lacks star potential talent after the top 2 and depth. It will be interesting to see how some of these newer names develop over the next few years.

having younger prospects doesn't make them better prospects. Being further away from the majors also gives them more risk as well.

You have to be a lover of prospects to get excited about some of these guys because of the further away they are they more ways exist for things to go wrong. But Mata is an exciting player who seems to have come out of nowhere in a year our system could really use that.

1.5 Million dollars with good international scouts, the 12th pick in the draft, the 26th pick in the draft, and the 24th pick in the draft.

hey.....how about that inning

I think your trade packages are too light, and I don't trust Brentz at the MLB level.

I was just thinking of another point, in terms of the argument for promoting Devers now, and I think this is the reason why some prospects often make the jump from AA to the majors. Rookie ball thru AA is mostly prospects, and guys with hopes of making the majors but a lot of times 1/2 a teams AAA roster can be up/down career minor leaguers, older players who used to be big leaguers but can't play well anymore. Often times, you are playing next to a guy who you are about to surpass on the depth chart but in HIS MIND he deserves to be playing in the majors. One could argue that atmosphere can be a little toxic, and you don't want a young guy around that for an extended period of time. My best guess is at a certain point if nothing materializes on the trade market the Sox will just bring him up. Even if they don't think his development is done yet if it's towards the end of the season it's not like he will be missing at bats and there's something to be said about gaining exposure at the MLB level. At the very least, it could really help him out next year. And who knows......he might just help us win a world series.

The Sox have a game plan for every prospect (for better or worse). They aren't going to to stray very far away from that plan because of what is happening up on the big league level. All we have is 1/2 a season in AA and 19 at bats in AAA to assess Devers by. Yes his stats look good, but these are minor league stats. A guy can look good in the minors and get eaten up at the MLB level, he could be smart enough to wait for the fastballs but really struggle with offspeed stuff on the corner. A hole like that might not slow down a guys stat line in the minors but could be exploited at the MLB level. Devers gets a lot of praise with the bat, for having a great hit tool, and many see a potential .300 30 guy out of him but there's also been some rumbling that he still looks a little confused at the plate with breaking pitches. Then again, he also hit a curveball outside for an opposite field HR today, so what do I know. But if the Sox were going to rush him, and stray away from the plan I suspect they would have done it by now.

He has 15 at bats in Pawtucket, his time could be soon but it's by no means a crazy idea to tell people to pump the brakes.

It would be nice if a fit existed where we could get a guy to play 3B but could also slide over to 1B if Moreland continues to lay eggs and Devers gets another promotion in a month or so.

No I've heard that the Sox don't think he's ready and aren't ready to promote him yet either as well.

This was my thoughts as well.