JUSTgottaBELIEVE

See Soler, Jorge (2019)

But here’s the question. At what price does JDM become enticing for an NL team? You can’t convince me that an NL team wouldn’t be interested “if” the price tag was say $17M AAV over 4 years.

Anyways, I’m confident the CWS sign JDM but they better not get too cute on the contract/money or another team will undercut them similar to Machado last winter.

Again, JDM played 95 games in the outfield over the past two years. Even though he’s a poor defender, you better believe Boras will be marketing him to teams as more than DH only. And you’d be foolish to think an NL team wouldn’t sign him at the right price. Over 4 years, you don’t think he’d produce 7.5 WAR ($9M/WAR if $68M contract) for an NL team playing the outfield? I’d say he’d be awfully close considering i think he’d be around 3 WAR next season alone.

What better RF do those 3 teams currently have? I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t strongly consider JDM at $17M AAV over 4 years.

Huge money? They’ve never signed a DH of JDM’s caliber. Dunn was the closest thing but nowhere near the hitter JDM has been the past 4 years plus he was switching leagues which for whatever reason seemed to be an issue for guys back then (the fact that the AL was clearly the superior league back then contributed in some ways I’m sure, not the case any more).

Quite literally, DH is one of the two everyday positions in greatest need of an upgrade on this team. There’s nothing wrong with spending big money to upgrade and solidify that position for the next 3-4 years. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of the DH carousel we’ve seen from this team over the past decade.

I’m just sayin, I think it’s shortsighted to completely rule out NL teams like the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Braves in the JDM sweepstakes.

How do you know JDM isn’t on PEDs (along with a bunch others)? You really think the league is now entirely clean? Hmm, Nelson Cruz was pretty good this year at age 38/39. I’m sure he was clean.

I mean Manny Ramírez played the field well into his late 30s and was still very productive until his age 38/39 season.

For example, Jorge Soler posted a 136 wRC+ in 2019 and despite terrible OF defense still produced 3.6 fWAR...

Why is it a given that only AL teams will pursue JDM? Isn’t he still a ~3 WAR player as a LF or RF despite his terrible defense if he posts a 140 wRC+?

You’re applying that same logic to 2020 and 2021, though. These are seasons the Sox should aspire for more than 70 something wins.

You were the same guy saying last winter the Sox shouldn’t spend money on signing a Free agent to DH because Daniel Palka could provide “cheap production.” How’d that work out? $45M to fill those two positions in 2020 and 2021 isn’t a problem if those two produce like they did in 2019.

Agree 100%

Financial flexibility, heat on Jerry after recent Sampson controversy and fan base itching for a competitive team, young core talent showing they are ready to win now (TA, Moncada, Lubo, and Gio all took massive steps forward this season), and Kenny/Hahn needing to show results on the field and in the win column.

Sure, but no one is advocating Moose as the Sox’ top signing this winter. As a third or fourth signing, though, he’d be fine.

When has this franchise ever signed a tier 2 guy? I’m talking players of the caliber of JDM, Grandal, Bumgarner, etc. Considering the largest free agent signing in franchise history is Jose Abreu, I would say very few and I have no idea what you’re talking about when you say they tried a few years ago (Melky and LaRoche were not tier 2 guys, Robertson was and I would say he lived up to his contract).

I don’t see anyone advocating the Sox sign 3 Melky Cabrera types this offseason. That would be like bringing in Yasiel Puig, Travis d’Arnaud, and Edwin Encarnacion as the three primary FA additions. They should and will land better players than that tier.

Yes, that’s what I said. Again, plenty of very good tier 2 free agents available the next couple winters and the Sox should continue to find ways to extend their young superstars to lengthen their contention window.

Every FA this winter minus Cole, Strasburg, and Rendon is a realistic target. There are plenty of very good players available to spend the money on, plus I’m still advocating extending Moncada into 2027/2028 for big $$$. I’ve been beating on that drum since April before his breakout 2019 season.

How was Machado a 5-6 WAR player? He produced 30 fWAR over his first 6.5 seasons (yes I know 2014 was injury shortened but I’m not discounting one injury over a 6.5 year span since they are part of the game). That’s an average of 4.6 fWAR per season, not including his 3.1 from 2019. So he was already a 4-5 WAR player with downside to worse than that when considering the character flaws that were readily apparent heading into last offseason. I would be shocked if he produces more than 27 fWAR (3 per season) over the remaining 9 years of his contract.

But that’s why the thread is titled “a realistic offseason.” Those top guys aren’t realistic for this franchise so no sense in expending any energy towards it.

I wonder if the same people saying Moustakas is a poor fit for the next couple years are the same people that said Machado was a great fit last winter for the next decade? Because that would be odd.

If Grandal is the stud you’re making him out to be they would have found a place for him on the roster. Rather than spending similar money for an injury prone AJ Pollock ($60M guaranteed), they could have easily traded one or both of their catching prospects for a younger, better, healthier, cost controlled version of Pollock to provide outfield help.