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Some people would rather have JDM than Grandal and think McCann and Collins are good enough and that a catcher should be farther down the list of needs. I have read those things many time over the last 10 threads discussing the future.

Gennett had a terrible year. He cannot command any decent salary at this point but his upside is probably the best on the market if he can return from injury to his 2017/2018 production which he didn't accomplish with SF. If you are going to be looking to sign maybe 5+ Free Agents then probably one should be a value play, If Madrigal struggles enough to be sent down Gennett offers the possibility of All Star level production if he can regain his mojo from 2018. It's not like his latest impactful season was that long ago. And he'll probably take the first decent offer so he isn't one of those guys waiting for a Minor league offer. He could be one of those guys that takes $5M a year for just a year and an option or a small base salary with incentives.

If that is the case might as well just just do the qualifying offer. No need to give him 2 years at that price. Take it one year at a time since you have that option. He made $16M last year . Hard to imagine them lowering their offer . I'll predict the qualifying offer, No idea who Sox might sign 1st. Unless it's Cole people are going to be upset whoever it is. I'd say Brett Gardner but maybe he will give the Yankees a shot to get him back so I'll go with Brock Holt

I was just pointing out that Moncada and JDM had basically the same OPS+ this year thus making him a current hitter of JDM's quality since that's the question you asked. I've seen posts wanting JDM and Castellanos to be added. At some point, like now, we have to value positional versatility and defense . Going forward if the goal is a World Series then JDM gets put in the OF part time and Castellanos gets benched or vice versa. I don't like that one bit. I know that wasn't your idea but with every single player we get we have to keep all those things in mind that Grandal supplies that JDM doesn't.

Tony might be thinking one of my posts was your post because I wanted the Sox to resign Avi after he was non tendered and one of the smartest organizations in baseball saw value in him signed him and got that value like Tampa Bay usually does and the Sox do not.

Moncada is right there with him now and Eloy will be just like him next year. I don't know if Grandal would have the same effect but I am not in favor of clogging up the roster with DH only types and Grandal does check the boxes in some key areas of need, LH, OBP power and a position player. Even if his D is overrated he's still very valuable playing that position. Don't get me wrong I like Martinez . I wanted him when the Red Sox signed him because not many teams were after him . Many thought then it was too early in the rebuild but I'm never against getting quality players at any time since they could always be given an early opt out thus having the ability to get assets for him.

Good question. They had him long enough to make him a better fielder yet it took individual attention from Ron Washington to get there. You can never say how much coaching helps along with maturity/desire . After all it took him until he was 29 to get that kind of WAR in one season.

Good for Avi. Just what I was hoping he would do. It was a BOMB !

also Dozier, Starlin Castro , Kipnis, Kendrick . Still hate your idea but its generating good discussion so giving you a little help.

Exactly why I've been saying sustained success is a mirage of Hahn's mind when they haven't done much at all to change orgnizational philosophy especially in the beginning of the rebuild when it was more necessary . Not too late to catch up but does anyone really see them buying a load of high speed cameras, taking IFA seriously and actually trading for more bonus pool money and becoming Luhnow ruthless to make sure all are on board with the philosophy change ? I know I don't see it happenning.

You can't even call it a career year . He did great for only 297 plate appearances, He had a career 1/2 year. And yea no thanks. Those are the kind of numbers we hope Collins can get. And Gallo had 2 years with high K around 200 per season , high walks and less than .210 batting average but high OPS due to the 40 and 41 HR;s he provided. One guy like that I could possibly stomach like Collins but 2 you 're relying on walks too much without a hit tool. Too typically all or nothing or the BB, K ,HR outcome. Also the Ranger more than likely will move both Choo and Mazara. Choo as a semi salary dump and possible eating some of that contract.

Not by me. I repeatedly said he was slow as molasses to anyone who speculated him in CF by using his sprint speed numbers.

He was a free agent after 2019 only if you couldn't work out a deal for longer. Tampa signed him to an incentive laden deal for 1 year. Sox couldve gave him 1 year and an option, But anyway beside the point. Yea so you are telling me you would have rather kept Cordell, Tilson and Palka because they were more valuable to the Sox than an MVP season from Avi ? You already said the chances of them breaking out was 0.1% , If Avi had an MVP season I think the odds would be just a little bit higher they could get a decent sized asset for him don't you? And even in a non MVP season I'd rather take the chance of getting a low level minor leaguer or maybe even OMG shocker the Sox could trade for IFA Bonus pool money !

Re: Avi I always thought the purpose of a rebuild was to collect assets , identify talent and make transactions to bring in more talent. Avi was obviously more talented and similar in age to Cordell, Palka Tilson so why get rid of him over them ? There are always other options for a player besides him playing in the future. The more assets you collect while still in the rebuild perhaps your odds go up of making a trade . One silly insignificant trade such as how the Astros got Yordan Alvarez can make all the difference. Hey I'm all for getting the top talent . I was the one who suggested getting Rendon and moving Moncada or playing Rendon at 2nd . Just bring in the WAR machines and do whatever you have to do. But if they start crying poor once they have 1 big contract then I'd rather not hear about how they need the money for the future to lock guys up. which is what we heard from KW just last off season when we didnt even land a big contract yet.

Read the thread from early June through July 1st.

Where's Eloy ?

I thought it was Yadier Molina.

He must be reading my posts But Gardner also looks like a good choice . I'm just concerned about his age.

It would be extremely tempting. Players are not invulnerable to injuries that threaten their careers. There's already a bunch of peeps around here who call Moncada soft. A bird in the hand my friend.

Won't happen. These reporters are all shills for the agents. Every year everyone forecasts big bucks being spent and the last couple years the market has been tight . He's not a 2 way player . Why anyone thinks he gets $20M for 5 years is beyond me. Oh look he's a Boras client . Just shocking the richest most powerful agent out there already has one of his lackey's out in full force.

I understand that concern but I just don't see any other option. If the Sox were in a position of strength I'm not even sure I could run with your idea then either. There are plenty of decent names out there who should perform as they always do barring injury. Of course the trick always is do you get them and if you don't what's plan B ? Do you settle for someone like Avi in RF ? I'll toot my own horn. I was one of very few who recommended resigning Avi after he was non tendered. Turns out one of the smartest organizations in baseball agreed with me and got good value for the money and now he gets a chance to play in the playoffs . I really want to see him do well. Now I haven't been tooting the Avi horn again since I prefer Gardner/Dickerson more but I'm just recommending the Sox concentrate on kicking some ass early in the process with good offers and then get on a roll showing the late signers/stragglers that they mean business. A lot of these guys are Boras clients so I can't say how effective that will be but they have to show everyone they will spend the money by making a flashy early signing if possible. I mean if your plan was to get everyone started thinking big so you don't have to look at so many posters saying Cole etc. are pipe dreams more power to you. Think big.

I agree wholeheartedly and it's why I don't believe sustained success is realistic because they never prepared the whole system for it.

From MLBTR from April 11,2019 https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/04/mlb-releases-2019-20-international-bonus-pools.html Major League Baseball has released the bonus pools for each team for the 2019-20 international market, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler provides. There are no longer any carryover spending limitations from the prior international system, so every team is free now to operate without limitation under the new rules — though there is one organization that still faces a notable limitation. (Braves) Also from MLBTR for the 2018-2019 signing period. Under the previous CBA’s signing system, teams were penalized for going over their pool limits by being limited to signing players for no more than $300K. Eight teams (the Astros, A’s, Braves, Cardinals, Nationals, Padres, Reds, and White Sox) are still under this penalty for the 2018-19 international pool, though seven of them will be able to exceed the $300K once the 2019-20 int’l signing period opens on July 2, 2019. The Braves are the exception .. The Sox traded Jones in late July so the Sox were able to exceed the 300K limit after July 2nd, 2019. They gave up $1M of the slot money to the Rangers. They got 2 pitchers in return but as many here and on twitter thought it was a very strange deal . And again in case you missed it many teams made signings before the Sox were in the penalty. What did the Sox do? Do they have anyone valuable to the team now because of signing some 16 yr olds before the penalties like the Twins did /6/7/8 years ago. The Twins are just a small sample of teams that got great value from that money just as the Sox couldve done had they kept Tatis or spent it on others in the Tatis years or before the Robert penalty. No argument can be made otherwise. Ad apparently what you just told me since I gave you proof from MLBTR was wrong and the things you got right like the 300K limit I had already posted .

They've traded it a few times in the near past and before that. The most recent was withTX to take Nate Jones meaning they had money they could have used but didn't. Other times when they were in the penalty they could only sign players at 300K or less. That means they could have used all the money but on more inexpensive types but chose not to do the quantity over quality type signings. My main point is use the money MLB gives you to sustain success instead of discarding it. Guys like Robles and Acuna and many others come from that money. There are many success stories out there and Sox have none because they ignored it and had the Wilder scandal. The one success story they could have had was traded away , Tatis, Jr. Accumulate assets. MLB gives each team free money to do just that and its largely been squandered until Luis Robert . A part of the Twins success this year is based on 3 guys they developed through IFA. The Nats have Robles, Braves Acuna and on and on.

Everyone knows ALonso and Jay were Manny acquisitions . It's also probably why the Sox supposedly had interest in Nelson Cruz, If anyone remembers Manny wrote an article in the Players Tribune on why he was playing for the DR in the WBC and it emphasized family. So it's perhaps the reason why the Sox did what they did regarding Machado. It might also be the reason for Colome and Nova and Welington Castillo from earlier , all team mates on that 2017 team. I'm as leery of the front office as you and there are some good value picks out there along with the headliner. Our best hope is they get 2 headliners 1 from the starting pitching group and 1 from positional players then mix and match to maximize power, OBP, left handedness , positional versatiilty, defense and the bullpen. If they keep these things in mind there are plenty of names that could be had on reasonable deals, I do not expect failure but I also do not expect 100% hits and I also don't expect them to fill all the holes to make a playoff team but enough to put the Sox into a position for a big run in 2021. Betts can be discussed then if available.