chw42

Any chance the Rays want Hendriks?

We haven't had a solid left handed hitter in the lineup since Adam Eaton the first time around (if you're not counting switch hitters). Yes, Benintendi's ceiling is fairly low. He's not exciting. But this lineup badly needed a stable and consistent left handed hitter and that is exactly what Benintendi is. The upside to him is that his offensive numbers were depressed by Kaufmann stadium. His wRC+ on the road these last 2 seasons were 123 and 131. His ISO on the road in 2021 was over .200. Move him to Guaranteed Rate for half the season and I wouldn't be surprised if he put up 25 homers next year. Did they overpay? Probably. Is Benintendi an impact player? No. But only Aaron Judge or one of the top SSs would have been if Yoan and Grandal don't bounce back. The team's potential is still gonna depend on at least one of those guys to not be a corpse next year at the plate.

I totally forgot that Benintendi had a hamate bone injury. Apparently he had the surgery before to get it removed and then it grew back and got broken again? You gotta hope that's not a recurring issue.

I think we need to thank AJ Pollock for declining his free $8 million. Without that, I doubt this deal happens.

Oh for some reason I thought Grandal got $78 million. Now Hahn gets to say he gave out the biggest deal in Sox history to make it seem like the team is still spending money.

Yeah it's larger by like $3 million IIRC.

I wouldn't have minded Gallo, but this lineup is already looking at bounce back seasons from 2 of its left handed bats in Grandal and Moncada. Adding a 3rd guy to that list is just a bad idea. I feel like you have a better shot of winning the lottery than all 3 bouncing back.

Grandal's deal is still bigger.

I like this idea actually. Platoon partner/insurance for Colas.

That's not too bad. Liam's probably gone now.

I know they're going with Colas in RF, but we still need a 4th OFer. Depending on Victor Reyes or Mark Payton to be that guy is a bad idea.

My question is, what were they doing when Boston gave up Benintendi for Franchy Cordero before 2021?

Uh hmm, Ozzie's Burner had it first.

Watch this be the largest FA contract the Sox have ever given out

Probably 5 years and $75 million.

The Sox still need another OFer if they sign Benintendi.

That's a pretty good trade for both sides actually. Gleyber would be an awful SS though. They might as well play Polanco there again.

For Montas? The Yankees are pretty loaded with starters now that they got Rodon.

Seems like the Sox already moved on to Benintendi

Are they trying to trade Larnach or Kepler then?

1 year $11 million. Pretty close to that $10 million prediction we saw.

I'm guessing it's either 4 and $64 million or 5 and $75 million. More likely the latter since it sounds like it's that 5th year that's been the sticking point so far.

Swap Moncada and Grandal.

He's a high floor low ceiling type of guy. I'd bet he never eclipses 3 WAR the next 5 years. But I also doubt he would go under 1.5 WAR unless he's hurt for most of the year. If you're paying him $15 million for 5 years, you're basically betting on him being worth 10 WAR for the next 5 years. That's not a high bar to clear.

Rick Hahn's 4D chess move: overpay a back-end starter that "sets the market" for other mediocre players to make his initial overpay look better. In all seriousness though, it seems like almost every signing is $8 million minimum this year. I don't think Hahn is singlehandedly responsible for that, but I'm sure Matt Boyd would like to thank Hahn for giving Clevinger $12 million.