CWSpalehoseCWS

Great post.

I still think they could add another starter, I'm just not convinced it'll be anyone you could consider top talent. Thinking more along the lines of Teheran, Salazar, or Hamels (which none of which trill me in any way). I get the impression this FO is really banking on Gio, Kopech, and Cease to be the foundation of the front of the rotation. I really hope they can land Wheeler though.

See Manny Machado and how they handled that whole situation with their "seat at the table," "we offered more money," and "all he had to do was stay healthy" crap. I really hope you're right and they do surprise us, but until that happens, I am not expecting them to come out on top for any of the top talent in the FA market. Their past history and shortcomings speaks for itself up to this point. I'd rather set my expectations extremely low and be pleasantly surprised.

Depends on what else they bring in IMO. If they can get Grandal + Odorizzi, I don't see how you could be unhappy with that outcome. If Odorizzi ends up being the Sox main offseason addition, I would be slightly disappointed too. I was simply trying to point out that to cry over losing a 2nd round pick should not be the main reason shy away from adding someone like Odorizzi - who clearly would provide more for the Sox when compared to the past historic outcomes of their 2nd rounders. Granted, the Sox seem to be drafting differently the past few years, but I'd rather take my chances considering the same FO and player development staff are still calling the shots.

They can't get a big fish with JR signing the checks. All they are doing is setting themselves up for failure. If they want to go get one of Rendon/Cole/Stras, keep it quite and surprise everyone. My expectations are so incredibly low, if they sign anyone of value for the long term I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'd much rather prefer Wheeler to Odorizzi, but if the Sox got Odorizzi, I would not be terribly upset about it (assuming the contract details are not over-the-top). Odorizzi theoretically would be far more valuable to the Sox than their 2nd rounder in the 2020 draft could offer them. Look at their past history. A list of the Sox last 10 2nd round picks: 2009 - David Holmberg / Trayce Thompson 2010 - Jake Petricka 2011 - Erik Johnson 2012 - Chris Beck 2013 - Tyler Danish 2014 - Spencer Adams 2015 - n/a 2016 - Alec Hansen 2017 - Gavin Sheets 2018 - Steele Walker 2019 - Matthew Thompson Sheets, Walker, and Thompson are the only ones that *might* provide future value to the team, and you could almost argue that's only because they haven't been in the system long enough for disappointment.

No doubt he will. He set the expectation for himself that he would win ROY this season.

I don't think you're getting Benintendi on a buy-low deal. Maybe you could somehow get him if you wanted to buy some of Boston's bad contracts, but you're still going to have to give up something of value.

Dickerson?

It does load up a lot of right-handed hitters in the bottom of the lineup, but I'd rather put Grandal and his OBP in the 3 hole than burry it in the middle of the order.

I'd be pretty happy if they could pull that off. Solid moves across the board. Though, I'd flip Grandal with Abreu.

So the Sox are letting Jose test the market, while also screwing his market. Interesting. Hope Jose takes it. He's not going to beat that AVV on a long term deal.

Seconded. Sox need to aim a lot higher than this, even as a stop gap option.

Assuming they could also offer him a QO if he did opt out in 2020 as well. You'd get some type of leverage, and another year older, even more unlikely he'd get a better deal.

After the skimming scandal, it wouldn't surprise me. Another disadvantage if that's the case - and that's not me sticking up for that practice. Unfortunately it seems to be a large part of the process down there in this moment in time unless MLB somehow puts their foot down.

I wonder if that would have affected the Sox and their dealings with any buscones. Don't they usually sell off some of these young kids to teams well before they are even able to sign with anyone? Might be why the Sox don't have a presence in some of those markets and seem to rely on the Cuban connection far too often.

Not at all a loss. Guy is already 31 with little to no success at the MLB level. Sox can do better for a 3rd lefty option out of the pen. Great to see the 40-man getting trimmed rather quickly.

Same here. I think he should be #1 on the priority list for positional players. Sox went after him last offseason, hopefully they can offer him something not incentive based.

A team would be high to take Adams. That guy will never pitch in the majors with his stat line in Charlotte.

This is the first person I thought of too. At 37, I really hope the Sox don't go down this road though.

Frank Menechino wouldn't surprise me. Palka and Collins seemed to speak highly of him with the adjustments he had them make once they were sent down.

Nothing about the guy seems overly exciting. Unfortunately, there isn't too many options out there to pick from and he'd still be a pretty big upgrade considering what's been out there the past few seasons.

How was the trip... Enjoy the hurricane?

Yep. He is sure to have some regression next year. If I'm the Sox I throw all the money at Grandal. Bench increases by 1 next year, so the Sox can easily carry Collins as a 3rd emergency catcher and play both McCann/Grandal in the lineup if they wanted giving them a rest as the DH.