Tag: MLB Free Agency

Red Sox Look to Replicate Last Place Finish Once Again in 2024

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If pitchers and catchers report to spring training, but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

It’s one thing for fans to be down on a franchise coming off another last place finish, but after an offseason of inactivity, even the national media is smoking this team.

USA Today has the Red Sox sitting at No. 19 in their power rankings, which seems a bit high, but also denotes the ranking is tied to expected hopeful reinforcements being added to the squad. They also gave the Sox a D grade for their offseason so it any sense of optimism comes with a grain of salt.

Yahoo! Sports did not mince words in their prediction of the potential dumpster fire on Landsdowne:

Season prediction: The Red Sox are worse than bad; they are forgettable and irrelevant. Their unwillingness to spend predictably backfires, and the pivot from former head honcho Chaim Bloom to Breslow doesn’t change all that much. The lack of superstardom beyond Devers (and Casas) leads to dwindling interest in the team, and by August, the city of Boston is watching preseason football. Very few people watch the Netflix doc, which, given the circumstances of the season, paints the Red Sox as a disorganized jambalaya of chaos.

So yes the Red Sox are projected to finish last in the AL East by just about everyone, which would accomplish a rare feat for the Sox as that would make it four times in five years and six out of the last 10! If they were to finish in last place yet again, that would mean the Boston Red Sox, over the course of a DECADE, finished in last place 60 percent of the time.

That is absurd.

Compare that to the Orioles who are only going to get better as a team stocked with young talent that already won 101 games last year, the Yankees improved by trading for Juan Soto, the Rays are coming off a 99 win season and always seem to find a way to win 90+ games, and the Blue Jays snatched away one of Boston’s few good players, adding Justin Turner to a team that finished 11 games ahead of the Red Sox last season.

Meanwhile the Sox offseason consisted of whiffing on Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and second tier guys like Aaron Nola in free agency while not even kicking the tires on reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell or World Series hero Jordan Montgomery, who as we all know has literally been hanging out in Boston all winter.

Are either one of Snell or Montgomery take it to the bank, guaranteed 30 starts and sub 3.50 ERA guys? No, but signing one of them would at least be signaling to the fan base that you’re going to at least try and be competitive and hopefully get some productive years out of players with legitimate track records.

Boston also traded its only representable defender in the outfield in Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, while letting productive veterans Turner and Adam Duvall walk for peanuts. They traded away oft injured, yet default ace Chris Sale in a salary dump for a second baseman in Vaughn Grissom who on his absolute best day profiles as a Dan Uggla cosplay. The Sox did bring in Lucas Giolito, who is now probably out for the season with a UCL tear, but this is the man who is best known for surrendering an absolutely preposterous 41 home runs in 2023. You wouldn’t hit that many dingers playing home run derby in Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball.

One of the highlights of the offseason was the Red Sox signing Liam Hendriks and the team Instagram pretending like it’s 2022 All-Star closer Liam Hendriks and not out (at least) through half of the 2024 season Liam Hendriks as he recovers from Tommy John.

Good grief.

Now you’ve even got Raffy Devers blatantly calling out ownership saying “everybody knows what we need.” Pointed comments from hands down your best player, in Year ONE of a $313M 10-year contract on, checks notes, FEBRUARY 20TH is an actual, legitimate problem.

Unsurprisingly John Henry declined to speak to the media at the start of Spring Training once again, which extends his vow of silence in official interviews all the way back to the post-Mookie Betts trade press conference. So Sam Kennedy once again stepped in as Henry’s stunt double, taking all the body blows. I was however shocked to hear Kennedy drop the nugget that yes ownership has in fact set parameters for new head of baseball ops Craig Breslow and he is operating within those parameters.

Breslow when asked why he didn’t sign any notable free agents in his first offseason:

What a wild, wild thing for ownership to let slip, essentially acknowledging huge expectations from the fan base, a vaunted history of success over the past 20 years, yet they will actually be shedding payroll. They actively cut payroll by 20% as if Boston isn’t a major market.

The Red Sox are going to be rolling the Six Million Dollar Man onto the field on April 9th

Rather than building for the short term and the long term in tandem, the Red Sox will instead rely on teenagers, minor leaguers, and top prospects all coming up through the system at around the same time (in the near to distant future) and all producing out of the gate like established big leaguers, and quickly becoming all-stars around the same time, and winning a World Series or four, all doing so before any of them can reach arbitration and ask for a raise.

Save us, Theo.

RIP 2019 Boston Red Sox

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Well, that was the worst stretch of baseball since the ol’ Bobby Valentine days. After 8 straight losses to the Yankees and Rays, the Sox season is effectively over. We’re now 14.5 games back of the Yankees and 6.5 games back of the Rays. Our only hope of making the playoffs would be to catch the Rays, but considering they just swept us for only the second time in their history and in doing so became the first team to win 8 games at Fenway in a single season since before the Apollo moon landing, that’s it. We’re finished.

A lot of people were surprised when the Sox didn’t make any moves at the deadline, and will hence blame Dave Dombrowski for this missed opportunity. For anyone with even the slightest interest in this team, it’s clear this pitching staff needs help. While everyone around us improved, Dombrowski stood pat. Although he is far from the genius he seems to fancy himself, I honestly don’t have much of a problem with it, and I’ll tell you why.

If your employees do something really well, you pay them for it. If, after you start paying them well, they suddenly stop doing the job well, do you just bail them out and bring in someone else? Do you continue to drive up your personal costs just because the people you know to be good at what they do suddenly stop being effective? No. You either fire them or make them clean up their own damn mess. And since I don’t expect anyone to be fired during the season, there’s only one option. This dumpster fire of a week only solidifies that mindset for me.

I like to imagine I’m Porcello and the Sox pitching staff is the TVs.


Before getting all riled up about how bad our pitching is, let’s first talk about something positive. I’ve seen many people, including some here at The 300s, talking about how this season has been awful. It really hasn’t been ALL bad. Our offense is fantastic. We currently rank first in all of baseball in Runs, Hits, Doubles, Batting Average and RBI’s, second in Total Bases and On-Base Percentage, fourth in Slugging and OPS, and eighth in Home Runs. That’s pretty damn impressive. Just ask Rick Porcello, who’s been getting record run support over the last month or so.

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Chris Sale wasn’t happy with the umps against the Yankees yesterday, but he has bigger problems to worry about.

Now for the bad….I don’t buy the notion submitted by Boston sports radio that our bullpen is the biggest problem. The bullpen sucks, don’t get me wrong. But our current rotation of Sale (4.68 ERA), Price (4.36), Porcello (5.74), Rodriguez (4.19) and Cashner (6.94 with Boston) is making $80 million this year, Eovaldi (6.66) is making $17 million, and…oh yeah, Sale signed a $145 million contract extension to start the season. The salaries of those six pitchers is more than the entire payroll of the Athletics, Orioles, Pirates, White Sox, Marlins, and Rays. Two of those teams are ahead of us in the Wild Card race right now.

For further proof that our starters are the issue, look no further than this week. Starting with the Rays series, the starters allowed 4, 6, 7, 4, 8, 3 and 7 runs. They didn’t make it out of the fifth during five of those starts, and the dude who gave up that lowly 3 number only pitched 3 innings. That means during this 8-game stretch, our starters have a combined ERA of over 10!!! That’s beyond atrocious. It’s hard to win games when you’re constantly coming from behind, and it’s even harder when the people getting paid to be the best are the ones digging you those holes. No offense in the history of the league could keep up with that level of terrible.

Sounding optimistic, Dombrowski still believes…or so he says.

So when it all comes down to it, I’m with Dombrowski, if not necessarily with the reasoning he gave in his post-deadline press conferences. Either pitch better or miss the playoffs, but we’re not sacrificing future talent for only a minor piece to the puzzle. After all, Andrew Cashner was pitching quite well before coming here and look what he’s done. We don’t need to win every year, and since I know this team is capable of playing championship ball they can figure it out themselves. If that doesn’t happen, I’d expect Dana LeVangie to be looking for a job come winter time and a major shakeup of the pitching staff. If we do miss the playoffs, fine. It’ll be Patriots season by then anyway…..ugh. I need a drink.

Red Sox Smartly Bring Back Carson Smith on Minor League Deal

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On Sunday night, it was announced that the Red Sox re-signed reliever Carson Smith to a minor-league contract – and it could truly end up being one of the league’s most underrated moves this offseason:

Some of you out there may not be too familiar with the 29-year-old righty, and for good reason – since being traded here from Seattle before the 2016 season, Smith has pitched in a total of just 31 games.

However, he is a very talented relief guy, who relies primarily on a nice slider/sinker combo that’s helped him compile a really impressive 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings over his career. He’s not necessarily a flame-thrower, but he has a slightly deceptive side-arm delivery that helps keep opposing hitters off balance. Also, his stat line from his last fully healthy season in 2015 reads like this: 70 innings, 2.31 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 11.8 K/9.

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Smith gave up a total of just 18 earned runs in 78.1 innings while in Seattle from 2014-2015.

Those are some pretty lights-out numbers, but those are also from three years ago. As I said, some may be surprised to hear that Smith’s actually been on the team’s roster so long, but two injuries – one being due to chance and the other being due to his temper – have kept him on the shelf for most of his time in The Bean.

Smith missed all but three games in what was supposed to be his first season in a Sox uniform due to Tommy John surgery, and he did not return until late 2017, the following year. He then only played in eight games that season, but gave up just one run and struck out seven across 6.2 innings of work. He did also pitch 1.1 scoreless innings in the postseason that year, giving up just two hits.

Therefore, the team was pretty excited to have him in the bullpen at the beginning of 2018. However, it didn’t go as well as planned; after giving up four earned runs across his first four appearances, Smith was eventually able to settle down toward the end of April. But then, after a rough outing in mid-May, Smith suffered a subluxation in his shoulder after aggressively throwing his glove on the ground in the dugout (no, but really), which then ended up costing him the rest of the year. (Even worse was the fact he basically blamed Alex Cora for the injury due to “overuse,” an excuse for which Cora then called out his reliever publicly. Yeah, it wasn’t a great look for anyone involved.)

Regardless of what has happened in the past, it seems as though the Sox are willing to take the chance on him with a low-risk, prove-it deal, and I am totally on board. During an offseason in which the Sox are a bit cash-strapped and don’t really have the capital to bring in one of the bigger names left on the free-agent market, this was exactly what they should have done. They truly can’t lose here; in fact, they may just end up with one the biggest steals in the game by season’s end.

So here’s to letting bygones be bygones and hoping that Smith can rediscover his previous form. Fingers crossed, Sox Nation.

Joe Kelly is the First Domino to Fall for Sox This Offseason; Signs with Dodgers

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As we pointed out on Tuesday, it’s pretty safe to say that All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel is likely to be playing elsewhere next season, and last night we learned that another bullpen piece is jumping ship as well. On Wednesday night, it was reported that setup man Joe Kelly will be joining the Los Angeles Dodgers on a three-year, $25 million deal.

To be honest, I’m not all that upset, especially considering the amount of dough L.A. is doling out to the electric but all-too-erratic 30-year-old.

While the guy has an absolutely lethal heater that can hit triple-digits and does own a respectable 3.87 career ERA, he did finish the 2018 regular season with a 4.39 mark and walked 4.4 batters per nine innings – numbers that are unacceptable for someone who was supposed to be one of the ones relied upon to hold the fort in the late innings before Kimbrel came in to shut the door.

However, Kelly was then completely untouchable in the playoffs, allowing just one run in 11.1 frames with 13 strikeouts. Unlike Kimbrel, Kelly was probably one of the top reasons the Sox were even able to win the title this year due to his incredible postseason play.

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Seriously, this dude was absolutely DIALED IN two months ago.

But again, inconsistency has always been Kelly’s most glaring issue – posting seasons with ERAs as low as 2.69 and others with ones above 4.50, including a 5.18 mark in 2016 – and maybe his performance this past October finally gave him the confidence he needed to pitch to his full potential going forward. But, with an already enormous payroll – one which the Sox are apparently focused on cutting significantly this offseason – it just didn’t make sense to take that risk at over $8 million per season.

Thanks for everything, Joe, and I’ll never forget your magical October run. Best of luck out in La La Land.

Red Sox Have Re-signed Nathan Eovaldi

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WEEI – The Red Sox are reportedly nearing a deal with free agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on a four-year contract that could be worth nearly $70 million…Eovaldi, 28, was a tremendous find at the trade deadline, going 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA after arriving from Tampa, and then following it up with a dominating postseason that saw him go 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA. He delivered one of the signature performance of the playoffs, even though it ended in defeat, when he tossed six innings of three-hit relief in an 18-inning loss to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series.

While the terms of the deal are still unknown, most of the big baseball writers have been speculating 4 years at $70 million, which is $17.5 per year. It might sound like a lot for a guy who was a midseason pickup that had a really strong second half and an incredible playoff run, but I’m totally on board with this move. The Red Sox needed Nathan Eovaldi for this upcoming season, but more importantly for the next few years.

The Red Sox rotation is stacked, but is also top heavy and comprised of expensive guys in contract years. Chris Sale has had his last 2 seasons start off incredible only to stumble down the stretch due to injuries and is a free agent after this upcoming season. Are the Red Sox prepared to give him a $200 Million contract? I’m not so sure. Rick Porcello is also in a walk year and while he’s had his ups and downs over the years, he will be a 30-year-old free agent with a Cy Young Award under his belt next winter so don’t expect him to come cheap. That leaves the Red Sox with David Price, who has ranged from trainwreck to solid to elite so your guess is as good as mine for what to expect, but Price is signed for the next four years at least. After that the Sox are left with Eduardo Rodriguez, who seems to miss extended time with injuries every year, and a bunch of Triple-A pitchers.

Simply put, the Sox need someone to anchor this staff alongside David Price beyond just next season.

So the Sox needed to make this move. I’m less concerned with Eovaldi’s injury history as I am with projecting future performance. Even though he’s had two Tommy John surgeries, as we’ve said here before; that’s basically a prerequisite to being a great starting pitcher these days. Alex Speier dove a little deeper on that issue:

“The idea that a two-time Tommy John recipient could be seen as something other than an extreme risk illustrates how drastically the landscape has changed over the last decade…the chief risk appears to be whether a pitcher returns to his prior level from a second Tommy John surgery. There is a survival effect. Roughly 20-25 percent of pitchers never make it back from a first or second Tommy John, but those who do appear at no greater risk than other pitchers who hadn’t undergone even a single Tommy John procedure.”

Would I be shocked to see Eovaldi’s performance regress back to the mean next year though? No I would not. But at 4 years this deal is a drop in the bucket for John Henry and the Red Sox. Dave Dombrowski loved what he saw, primarily because Eovaldi saved his bacon and the Boston bullpen en route to a World Series title. Now Dealer Dave likely smells blood and sees a ripe opportunity for the Sox to repeat (and clinch Dombrowski’s spot in the Hall of Fame) so why pinch pennies now? Welcome back to Boston, Nate.

Craig Kimbrel’s Agent Made an OUTRAGEOUS Claim Yesterday

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This is hyperbole that would make Scott Boras blush and that’s a guy who just said JD Martinez was so good (the best free agent ever in fact) that teams should apologize for underpaying him!

But for Craig Kimbrel’s agent to say he is the *best* closer of ALL-TIME?

Only 319 more saves to go to tie Mariano Rivera, Craig.

Lets take a look at this outrageous statement. Yes, Kimbrel is 14th all-time in MLB history with 333 saves. In fact he and Fernando Rodney, who is 11 years older than Kimbrel, are the only active players in the Top 20 in career saves. But that 333 BARELY puts him halfway to the 652 saves that Rivera racked up in 19 seasons. So if Mo Rivera pitched until his age 43 season and Kimbrel just finished his 9th season at age 30, that means he’d have to average 25 saves a season for the next 13 seasons. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but what position is more fickle and fades faster than hard throwing relievers?

Hell, Jonathan Papelbon is the best closer in Red Sox history, one of the most dominant relievers I’ve ever seen, and he only lasted 12 seasons (7 with Boston). Papelbon is 9th on the all-time list with 368 career saves, but he fell off the map and was done at 35.

So yes, statistically Kimbrel is definitely up there with the best closers of all-time, but have you ever really felt secure when he comes into a game? Yankees fans went two goddamn decades of playing 8 inning games because when Mo Rivera came into the game in the 9th it was over. Meanwhile every single Craig Kimbrel save is a high wire act and god forbid someone is on base or it requires more than 3 outs.

Love ya, Craig. Mean it, wish ya the best. But you are not the greatest closer of all time and the Boston Red Sox will not be paying you anywhere near what you are looking for.

Red Sox MEGA Blog: What’s Next for the World Series Champions?

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The Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions once again and that feels so sweet on my finger tips as I type this from my cubicle. I was at the mall on Monday after work grabbing my fresh new champs hat and will be wearing that everywhere from work to the bar to Thanksgiving dinner. So make sure you enjoy the 4th Sox title in 14 years, but with a gaggle of free agents this winter and some serious question marks around a few core players, lets take a look at what’s next for the Boston Red Sox.

David Price

As we covered the other day, David Price has officially opted into the remaining four years and $127 Million of his Red Sox contract. After his excellent ALCS and World Series run it should come as no surprise he opted to stay. The guy seems to love his teammates, finally got over the hump in the toughest market in baseball, and is coming off a 108 win season and a World Series championship. Why leave now? Quite frankly, with Chris Sale’s health concerns, the Red Sox need him. But how will that contract age? Just about as well as you’d expect a 7 year $217 Million contract for a pitcher that will be 37 by the end of it. And that’s not a knock on Price at all, thats a knock on the cost of doing business in today’s MLB, especially for a team that said we don’t sign pitchers over 30 years old in 2014 only to then sign a pitcher over 30 in 2015 to a 9-figure contract.

Chris Sale

I am extremely worried about the longterm health of Chris Sale and not just because of the recency of his shoulder issues. This is the second year in a row that Sale has worn down and gone on the DL with shoulder injuries. Sale is absolutely lights out dominant and one of the best pitchers in baseball when healthy, but at 6’6″ and “180” pounds staying healthy has proved difficult for the big lefty.

Lets look at his K’s/9 IP (Baseball Reference refers to this as S09) real quick just to get a sense of how much he is whipping the ball around because that number jumped *significantly* from his last year in Chicago to his first year in Boston. Sale averaged 9.3 SO9 in his last year with the White Sox in 2016, which jumped up to 12.9 in his first year in Boston and then jumped up again to 13.5 in 2018. That is huge and is especially significant because Sale is a guy that the White Sox had tried to tame a little bit. Chicago had tried to get Sale away from chasing strikeouts in order to get more innings out of the lanky lefty. I can’t find a direct quote, but I remember Sale not being a fan of the approach as it resulted in his lowest SO9 since his first full year in the big leagues. His last two years in Chicago were also his worst two years ERA wise, granted they were 3.41 and 3.34, but still. Some guys just need to let it rip.

The Sox are in a tricky position here because Sale is grossly underpaid at $15M in 2019 (if healthy), but it’s also his contract year. So Sale will likely be looking for a huge payday after making peanuts his whole career relative to his performance. Seriously, take a look at the bargain he’s been his whole career.

Sale has barely made more in his entire career ($44M) than Price made last season ($30M). Even if you’re not about the money, thats gotta piss you off a little bit. And if the Sox have legitimate concerns about his shoulder are they really going to pony up $25-$35 Million a year for another 30-year-old starter? They might have to.

Craig Kimbrel

Over his four years with the Red Sox, statistically Kimbrel was very good. He had 108 Saves and a 2.44 ERA with 305 K’s in 184.1 Innings Pitched. He made the All-Star team each of the 3 years he was with Boston saving 31, 35, and 42 games respectively. But he has shown a knack for the high wire act save, which reared its ugly head in the playoffs this year. Kimbrel is very good, even if he simply cannot pitch effectively in non-save situations or for more than one inning, but for a guy with a “potential path to the Hall of Fame” he is going to command big money. I just don’t think the Sox need to invest that into a closer as we’ve seen effective relievers and closers come out of nowhere year after year across the entire league. You had one on your own team this year as the Sox leaned heavily on Ryan Brasier as a 7th and 8th inning guy in the playoffs. A guy that was pitching in Japan last year. Dave Dombrowski seems to agree with that line of thinking as well.

“We do think that we do have a situation where internally we have a couple candidates to do that. (Matt) Barnes and (Ryan) Brasier are the top candidates,” Dombrowski said, via WEEI.com. “They’re not Craig Kimbrel at this point in their careers. But I don’t think we go into the closer by committee approach. So if it wasn’t Craig it’d be either them or we’d have to see what other alternatives existed outside the organization.”

So while he was very good while he was here, I think Kimbrel’s time with the Red Sox is over.

Dustin Pedroia

Alex Cora has already said Pedroia will hit lead off on Opening Day next year if he’s healthy. Pedroia has traditionally hit in the 2-hole (4,115 Plate Appearances) or as a No. 3 hitter (1,290 Plate Appearances) in a pinch, but Cora said it would be more out of respect to Pedroia if he’s able to come back.

“If he’s ready to go, I think that’s the only game he’s going to lead off next year. He’ll lead off Opening Day,” Cora said. “I told him that a few months ago because he deserves it. So Mookie won’t lead off one game next year. That’s the goal.” 

Stuff like this worries me because despite all the shit Pedroia took on the airwaves the last couple of years, like being snidely labeled “the little leader,” he still is the heart of this team. So Cora saying Pedroia deserves this ceremonial at bat has a certain “last hurrah” type feel to it. I’ve blogged about it in the past, but I think Pedroia’s days as a full time second baseman are likely done. Even Dombrowski had said that Pedroia’s knee was something they would have to monitor for the rest of his career, so we might start to see the beginning of Pedroia the platoon player next year if healthy.

Joe Kelly

The real life Rick Vaughn could be a guy the Sox turn to for closer duties in 2019 if he can replicate anything close to his 2018 postseason performance. I would think a player who has had such an up and down career with 2 Saves on his resume wouldn’t have a huge price tag, but you never know. For a guy that seemed to really buy into Alex Cora’s plan and became someone that fans adored after inciting a riot with the Yankees, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t on the Red Sox in 2019.

Drew Pomeranz

I’ve stuck to my take 2+ years that the Red Sox lost the Drew Pomeranz trade and I think I’ve generally been proven right. He seems like a really nice dude so I’m not gonna trash him (plus he can snatch beers out of the sky with the best of them), but I just never loved the move. Look I know the prospect we traded for him, Anderson Espinoza, blew his arm out and hasn’t done much in the minor leagues, but thats never been the point. The point has always been that Espinoza was the Boston Red Sox No. 1 pitching prospect and the No. 13 prospect in all of baseball at the time. In fact he’s still the No. 89 prospect in all of baseball despite not throwing a pitch last year. The Sox sold incredibly low on that kind of equity. You should have been able to get a much better return than a starter/reliever one-time All-Star with injury concerns in Drew Pomeranz. Not to mention a guy who was INJURED AT THE TIME as the Padres got caught fudging his medical records. All that combined with the fact that Cora acted as if Pomeranz was Boston Kryptonite and kept him securely fastened to the bullpen bench, I still think the Sox lost that trade.

Eduardo Nunez

He exercised his $5 Million player option for next season so he’ll be back. While Nunez had a bit of a down year, he showed in the playoffs why he is such a valuable bench player. He can play multiple positions, pinch hit, and generally plays balls to the wall all the time. If he can stay healthy this is a great guy to have on your bench.

Nathan Eovaldi

Have you ever gone to a concert of your favorite band and been so blown away that you legit started getting emotional? That’s what Nathan Eovaldi did in the playoffs this year. He was so good in the World Series that he literally made Rick Porcello cry.

He went 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA in 6 appearances (2 starts) with 22.1 Innings Pitched, 16 K’s, and only FOUR Earned Runs. Incredible. I was on the brink of tears when he wasn’t named MVP and I watched my +5000 lottery ticket float away, but still an incredible month from Nasty Nate. I would love for the Sox to bring him back, but Eovaldi likely pitched his way into a 9 figure deal with his dominant postseason run and I just don’t think the Sox have the payroll flexibility or the stomach to pony that up. He is a guy with two Tommy John surgeries already on his resume so that could be another reason the team shies away, but with Chris Sale already dealing with injuries, Eduardo Rodriguez constantly on the DL, and Rick Porcello on the last year of his contract next season, the Sox could certainly use another young stud pitcher (he’ll be 29 at the start of next year) for now and the future.

Steve Pearce

MVPearce would be a great fit to return and platoon with Mitch Moreland as the two formed a bash brothers duo this season. However, after putting on an absolute show in the playoffs and taking Clayton Kershaw out behind the shed to earn World Series MVP honors, it would not surprise me if a team threw way more money at him than the Sox are comfortable with. This is a toss up, but we’ll never forget the short time we shared together. Steve Pearce does owe me $2,500 after he stole the MVP away from my guy Nathan Eovaldi though…

Ian Kinsler

The Catching Situation

Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart are all under contract for next season so what does a team do with 3 catchers? Vazquez recently signed an extension, the team loves Leon’s game calling, and the Sox also made room for Swihart rather than dishing him at the trade deadline. Something has to give though, especially with Swihart all but requesting a trade earlier this season due to lack of playing time. You could probably get a prospect back for Swihart, but I think the team has tanked his stock to really make it worth it. I would expect the team to move on from Leon and integrate the switch hitting Swihart more into the mix while Vazquez takes over primary duties. Especially after Vazquez started 12 games in the playoffs with more than twice as many Plate Appearances as Leon.

We Hardly Knew Ye, Carson

Oh and the Red Sox finally kicked Carson Smith to the curb after his tour de force asshole performance back in May.

After throwing 14.1 innings and getting taken out of a game Smith slammed his glove and blew out his shoulder doing so. You may remember though that he threw Alex Cora and the coaching stuff under the bus blaming his workload for his injury. The guy who was never healthy was now throwing a fit in front of the media. Hit the bricks pal, best of luck.

The Barren Boston Red Sox Farm System

The Red Sox farm system is BARREN right now and everybody knew that would be the case from the second Dave Dombrowski walked in the door. It’s just how he operates. Trade any and all prospects to acquire proven MLB (preferably Tigers) talent. And it won you a World Series so I am not going to complain for one second about that. But, if you take a peek down the road, there are no reinforcements coming for this team. God forbid the Sox are unable to re-sign their own young studs like Mookie Betts and/or Xander Bogaerts. Not to mention David Price is 33, Chris Sale has had shoulder injuries 2 years in a row, Porcello is in a walk year, and the rotation behind them consists of JAGs like Brian Johnson, Hector Velazquez and Steven Wright.

Back in 2016 the Red Sox had the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball in Yoan Moncada and the No. 5 overall prospect in Andrew Benintendi leading the way for their six prospects in the Top 100. Obviously some of those guys were involved in the Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel trades, moves that helped you win the World Series. But, keeping an eye on this team’s long term viability, the Sox now only have ONE prospect in the Top 100 in Michael Chavis, who got popped for PEDs last year so your guess is as good as mine for how he’ll pan out.

One of Boston’s most exciting prospects, Jay Groome, was ranked No. 43 by MLB in 2017 before he blowing out his arm last year. Groome has the build that makes scouts drool as a 6’6″ lefty, but after Tommy John surgery won’t be back on the mound until late in 2019 at the earliest. He would likely start at Single A when he comes back from injury so Groome could still be years away from making an impact at Fenway. I still have sky high hopes for the kid, and not just because he was working out last offseason with current Red Sox ace Chris Sale. Just look at this MLB.com scouting report from 2016:

“Groome works with a 90-95 mph fastball that peaks at 97 with armside run, and he could throw harder as he gets stronger. Nevertheless, his best pitch is a curveball with power and depth that many evaluators believed was the best breaking ball in the 2016 Draft… Groome’s 6-foot-6 frame is built for durability and he uses it to generate good downhill plane on his pitches. His athleticism enables him to repeat his clean mechanics and fill the strike zone. He has the potential to become an ace if his makeup issues don’t get in his way, and he could be the best pitcher signed and developed by the Red Sox since Roger Clemens.”

So there are a ton of questions to answer for this team, but first there are a ton of beers that need drinking and a ton of Schrute Bucks that need spending on all of the World Series Champions swag.

David Price Doing His Best to Deter Free Agents from Signing With the Red Sox

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ESPN –  J.D. Martinez had no shortage of information to consider before agreeing Monday evening to sign with the Boston Red Sox. But ace David Price tried to make the slugger’s decision a little bit easier. “I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” Price said recently. “I told him we’d love to have him here.” Price, Martinez’s teammate with the Detroit Tigers in 2014-15, elaborated in an interview with USA Today Sports that was published Tuesday. “I told J.D. he will love the guys here in this clubhouse, but also told him he’ll get booed,” Price told the newspaper. “He’s a quiet, soft-spoken guy, but he’ll handle it. Besides, everyone gets booed. I heard Big Papi get booed many times in Fenway.”

Jesus christ this guy just can’t get out of his own way. Just lie to us. Just lie. Don’t tell me that you told a Free Agent Boston is a great place to play, but then follow that up IMMEDIATELY by saying its a negative shit hole and all the fans will boo you and are mean on Twitter.

“It’s tough here,” is how Price described his first two seasons in a Red Sox uniform, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “There’s just so much more negativity.”

And whats all this about booing David Ortiz? Many times? I mean maybe some fans did in 2009 (the only year from 2004-2013 he didn’t make the All-Star team) when he hit .238? That was also a cool 7 years before Price played for the Red Sox. Did fans boo Big Papi many times in the one season they played together in 2016? Ya know the year Ortiz hit .315 with 48 Home Runs and 127 RBI’s on his retirement tour? The year he had a 1.021 OPS, the 4th best of his entire 20 year career?

I call Kangaroo Court.

But, I digress. If anything, this tells you what JD Martinez thinks of David Price’s opinion. Oh its a miserable, negative shit hole? I’m in.

Meanwhile we have Rick Porcello going the complete opposite direction in his assessment of Boston when asked by Martinez:

“It’s honestly a pleasure playing in Boston,” he explained. “Yeah, there are tough times if you’re not playing well. You’re going to hear about it. But what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to hear about it? Because when you are playing well, it feels like you’ve got the entire world behind you, and that’s all you can ask for as a player. That’s fair.”

Little tidbits like this make me wonder just how divided this Red Sox clubhouse really is. You have guys like Porcello and Chris Sale talking about how they love the pressure and accountability of Boston, which is the antithesis of Price who bitches about everything every chance he gets. I wonder if one of the veterans is going to, if they haven’t already, tell Price to just STFU.

Before the negative attitude infects all of the good young players on this team and they think its natural, encouraged even, to piss and moan to the media every time Dan Shaugnessy writes a mean word about you.

This is what guys like Price say they understand, but they don’t really get it. If you 1.) play hard and 2.) perform well you’ll be scotch. Hell even if you can’t do #2 but you still do #1 then you’re good in my book. Trot Nixon is a goddamn legend in this town. People to this day still lovingly refer to him as a dirt dog. The guy with a .274 career batting average and 137 Home Runs. That guy is revered around here because he played his balls off every day.

I’m not saying you can’t complain or you can’t get mad because that’s only human, but channel that negative energy man. Use it. Get pissed off. Pitch well for an entire season. But don’t cash those $31 Million checks every year while whining about every little perceived slight every single time there’s a mic in your face. And definitely do not tell prospective Free Agent signings that they will get booed by the fans if they sign here. Christ.

The Red Sox Finally Sign JD Martinez

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Update: The JD Martinez deal is $110 Million over 5 years with opt outs after the 2nd and 3rd year.

LETS GO! According to Pedro Gomez of ESPN the Red Sox just signed JD Martinez after months of blue balling each other.

The total dollars have yet to be reported, but years wise it seems like a good deal for both sides. The $200+ Million deal Martinez was hoping for never materialized and he chose to wait it out hoping someone would get stupid and swipe their Free Agency credit card. Never happened and you can imagine JD is less than pleased with Scott Boras for setting those expectations.

But a 5 year deal is perfect for the team and if JD continues to hit 40+ home runs every year then he can opt out after 2 years and try his luck again.

Depending on who you listen to the Sox were offering anywhere from $100-$125 Million and as a Red Sox fan I am more than happy with that. I mean its not my money so I could care less how much these guys actually get paid, but as we’ve seen in recent years when the team buries itself with bloated contracts it hamstrings them in potential future deals. An abortion of a $95 Million deal for Pablo Sandoval, a $217 Million contract for media combatant David Price, and of course the $72 Million deal the Sox handed out to Rusney Castillo after seeing his And1 Mixtape. All huge commitments with the most successful of the 3 having been as a middle relief pitcher in the playoffs. That my friends is what they call a less than ideal ROI.

So assuming the JD deal is in that reported $100-$125 Million range, the Red Sox have set themselves up really well for the present without strapping themselves for cash in the future when guys like Mookie Betts come due for big money deals.

Dealer Dave finally got one right and I’m sure everyone in Dunkin Donuts will hear all about it Tuesday morning.

 

Japanese Super Prospect Shohei Ohtani is Leaving $200 Million On the Table by Coming to the MLB Early

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Yahoo – Baseball super agent Scott Boras is, in no uncertain terms, upset about the process that’s lead up to Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani’s arrival in Major League Baseball. Ohtani, after a posting agreement was finalized last week, is set to hit the open market Friday. The catch is: Since he’s an international free agent under 25, the market isn’t as open as it could be. MLB rules put a hard cap on how much teams can spend on international free agents under 25, so the most money Ohtani could possibly get is $3.5 million from the Texas Rangers. Some teams have as little as $10,000 to offer Ohtani. This isn’t about the money for Ohtani, who has long expressed his desire to play on baseball’s most competitive stage. To do so, he’s willing to leave upward of $200 million on the table. Were he over 25, Ohtani could be a true free agent and sign with any team for any amount. Since he’s a two-way star who can throw 100 mph and hit long home runs, getting upward of $200 million on the open market would be entirely plausible.

This guy is INSANE. He is leaving, literally, tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars on the table by coming to the MLB early. Because he is under 25 years old the international rules in place by MLB cap his earning potential $3.5 million. MAX. But if he had waited until he was 25 he could have entered the MLB as a true free agent and would have been free to go to the highest bidder.

Why the arbitrary age of 25?

“picking 25 years old as the cut-off means that a player like Ohtani will hit free agency around the same time as a player from the U.S. who went through the normal draft procedures.”

Just to put this into perspective, the most recent big name Japanese free agents coming MLB earned HUGE pay days. The Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka for $155 Million. The Rangers signed Yu Darvish for $60 Million. The Red Sox even signed old friend Daisuke Matsuzaka for $51 Million and that was 10 years ago.

So this guy better hope he has the juice and actually performs well in the United States or he just sold low on a winning lottery ticket. Thats half the appeal with international players. You just never know how good (or bad) they’re gonna be. It’s impossible to project how their talent will translate to playing in the MLB. Thats how absolute bums like Rusney Castillo swindled $72 Million out of the Red Sox. Imagine if that guy had come over the US and played for peanuts in hopes of getting a big pay day later? That guy would be working at the Burger King off I-95 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island instead of earning $10+ Million a year to play 2 miles down the road for the PawSox.

Remember the last guy who wanted to pitch and hit in the major leagues? Red Sox super prospect Casey Kelly? Yea, turns out he couldn’t do either one well in the pros. Godspeed, Shohei.