My Sox Dream Offseason

[Dirty Water]

Hanrahan is a Red Sock. Pretty much got him for spare parts. I'll take it.

[sunshinekids99]

Happy to not see Melancon pitch for the Sox again. He'll do fine with Pittsburgh, just don't think he has what it takes to pitch in Boston. Hanrahan is a good closer, if he can control his walks he'll be fine.

Looks like the Sox are back in on LaRoche, which probably means that Napoli won't be coming to Boston.

[Dirty Water]

Reports coming today that Napoli will be a one year deal.

[sunshinekids99]

Love seeing Napoli for one season if that happens.

[thesack12]

Man, what a terrible offseason. Turned all that salary purging into bascially just a bunch of bodies. So anti-climactic and an absolute waste of a chance to re-shape the roster while remaining relevant. Would have been much better off sitting on that money.

Dempster, Victorino, Napoli, Drew, Gomes, Ross, Uehara. An aging depth starter, an aging center fielder on the decline who has never been that good, a catcher they plan on using primarily at 1b (even though he is terrible defensivily and said with his own mouth he doesn't like playing 1b) coming off a terrible year and has chronic hip issues to boot, yet another low quality one year SS plug in, a platoon outfielder, a backup catcher, a pen depth guy coming off injury plagued season and is almost 40 years old.

Seriously I can't see any sizeable upside to any of those signings. I'm having trouble finding any upside at all to most of them. All those guys are on the wrong side of 30, most coming off bad or injury riddled seasons, and none of them have ever been top quality players. Only half silver lining is Napoli's deal got reduced to an incentive laden 1 year deal.

Hanrahan was the best addition, but even he comes with questions. Can he make the adjustment to the amrerican league in general, let alone be a dependable closer in the AL East. This move just makes the Bailey deal last offseason all the more bad. But the big bonus to the Hanrahan deal is it got that piece of feces Melancon out of Boston, that guy was terribad to the 10th degree.

Its likely that Boston finishes 5th in the AL East again.

Can only hope De la Rosa and Webster develop. They are the only hope Boston has of getting anything good as a result of the Gonzo/Crawford/Beckett trade.

I guess there's reason for optimism with Farrell, and you can consider him part of the offseason "haul." But really though, I just don't see him having the horses necessary to legitimately compete. Plus his Toronto tenure was not exactly awe inspiring. I like him, but I don't think he is a true transcendent manager. Getting him also cost Boston Aviles. He was one of the more solid/consistent players on the team who was cheap labor. Not saying the Farrell pickup was a bad move, but the writing was on the wall in Toronto, Cherington could have most likely got him for a mid level prospect. Aviles would have helped this team.

Basically I am not AT ALL a Cherington fan, and don't have confidence in the guy at this point.

[sunshinekids99]

Napoli-For a one year deal the Sox got a steal. If he's hurt he doesn't get paid and he's gone. He should be able to have a good year in Fenway.

Drew- Before his very bad ankle injury he was one of the most underrated ss in baseball. This guy can play and if he's healthy I think he'll have a good year.

Uehara- The guy has been down right dominate, I'll take the chance on injuries with him.

Ross- A very good backup catcher, I have no problem with that signing.

Gomes- Dominate against left handed pitching, although overpaid.

Dempster- Not a signing that I like very much. I think they were better options to go for. Hoping he can be closer to the Chicago versions rather than the Texas.

Victorino- I get why the Sox wanted him and I think he has a much better year than last year. With that said he was vastly overpaid.

[thesack12]

Napoli: like I said, his deal being reduced to an incentive laden 1 year deal was the only silver lining. Cherington got rescued by the medical staff, for making a horrible signing. Really though Napoli is not all that good, he has really only had one good season his entire career, 2011. He is coming off a terrible year, a really bad year. Plus no matter where you put him on the field, he is going to be a big liability defensively. Thats especially true at first, where Boston will primarily use him, not to mention the fact the he has said with his own mouth he doesn't like playing 1B. Then there is the degenerative hip issue. Due to the contract getting reduced, that contract wont hurt Boston but im failing to see much upside there either.

Drew: Are we really going to believe that he is anything more than yet another very short term stopgap at SS? That is his max upside IMO. He is a very good to great defender, but he is very average at the plate and has little to no speed. He also hasn't played more than 90 games since 2010. So his health is a very big question. Again the one year deal isn't going to haunt Boston, but again not a lot of upside there. Would have much preferred using something else to get Farrell, and plugging Aviles back in at short.

Uehara: Dude has indeed been good, but he is yet another guy coming off an injury plagued season. He is also 38 years old. Plus how many right handed arms does the pen need? Aceves, Hanrahan, Bard, Bailey, Mortensen, Tazawa, Uehara. Right handed arm in the pen was very low on need to be addressed list. The biggest upside that could come of this signing is trading away some of the pen depth for something of use elsewhere. But at this point Cherington in the trade market scares me.

Ross: a solid career backup catcher, oh man what excitement. Wasn't Boston supposed to be developing Lavarnway behind Salty anyways? Besides having Ross in the fold basically guarantees Napoli won't be behind the plate any, which is clearly the best place for him. Just don't see the point of the signing. Especially making him the very first signing of the offseason. Was there really going to be a mad rush to sign a 36 year career backup catcher?

Gomes: <.300 average against lefties is hardly dominating southpaws. A platoon player with little power, and no speed who is almost useless against righties. Would muth rather kept Ross, even if they didnt wanna pay Cody, Sweeney or re-upping Scotty Pods could easily have provided similar if not better impact than what Gomes will bring.

Dempster: A low caliber starter who is 36 years old. He was an ok starter for Chicago, and don't let the win/loss record fool you he was not good after getting traded to Texas. As a career national leaguer, he clearly struggled making the leap to the american. Those struggles are all the more likely to continue, and he won't get nearly the run support he got in Texas. Another low upside signing, an expensive one at that. Would have much preferred giving being the team to give Haren his one year bounceback shot, or even making the gamble on Liriano. I would have even signed Zambrano on a 1 year show me type contract over Dempster. Just don't like the Dempster deal from any aspect.

Victorino: Probably the worst signing of the bunch. Was a massive overpay, on both years and money. Not a horrible player, but he has never been great. At this point he is 32, and on the decline. His biggest attribute is his speed, but that is the first thing to erode with age. His disruptiveness on the base pads and range in the outfield are all going to continue to go downhill. He also doesn't have a very good on base percentage, nor much pop in his bat to help compensate for his declining speed. His best usefulness to Boston is that he is a switch hitter, but a switch with little pop and low OBP could have been gotten for a lot less than 3 years/$39 mil. Would have much preferred earmarking that money for Ells, or if Bradley is indeed the real deal just saving that Victorino money to build the outfield around Jackie.

Im just not enthused about any of these signings. All seem like whatever moves for just bodies to plug in positions.

[sunshinekids99]

Ross is the perfect backup catcher. Let Lavarnway develop in AAA. Ryan still has a long way to go behind the plate.

Gomes kills left handed pitching he had a .974 OPS that's awesome. Not to mention he gets to leave playing in Oakland where he struggled.

Mike Aviles really? The guy is not a starting ss in this league. Drew is keeping the seat warm for Xander and I'm fine with that.

Uehara gives the six another option in the pen. With question marks like Bard, Aceves, and Bailey I glady take a dominate reliever.

[thesack12]

It was obvious Cherington's prime target was Napoli who is primarily a catcher. I just don't see the point in the Ross signing, especially the timing. There was not going to be a mad dash for that guy, once Nap was in the fold there is no need for him. Maybe he was signed because Salty was fixing to be traded, but if thats the case it just questions Cherington more if he wasn't able to complete a deal and/or held a false sense of the market.

Gomes' .974 ops against lefties is not as good as Cody's 1.009. Plus of his 6 seasons in Tampa, Gomes had one good year. So its safe to say he has a history of not performing the best in the AL East. He remains a platoon player, with limitations. Like I said both Sweeney or Pods could provide comparable impact for a fraction of the cost.

I agree Aviles is not all that desirable as your everday SS. But he was one of the more reliable stopgaps the Sox have ran out there the last handful of seasons. Are we really going to believe the oft injured limited offensively Drew is going to be anything significantly better than simply the next one year plug in? Besides like you said, Drew is just keeping the seat warm for Bogaerts anyways, so what would it have hurt to use the much cheaper Aviles in the same fashion? Hell even Ciriaco could have sufficed. Pedro certainly proved he deserves consistent play time, but barring injuries he wont be getting it. Drew is on a 1 year deal so its not that big of a deal, I just fail to see much of a point again. One thing is for certain Iglesias needs to be moved ASAP before his value gets completely zapped.

Aceves will be fine now that he is not closing. He has shown he is a very vsaluable and versatile asset in the pen. Bard can't be any worse than last season, and there is plenty of optimism a full offseason of knowing he will be in a full time pen role again has helped him get his mind right. I'll give you that Bailey is a total unknown right now. I don't dislike Uehara, but the truth is his health and age are concerning and a right handed pen arm was not an area of concern. Really other than closer, the pen was one of the most reliable aspects of the team.

[sunshinekids99]

Sweeney and Pods are just not starting players. Zero power from corner outfield spot won't cut it.

[Celtics_Champs]

Yeah I liked the Drew signing. He's getting too much flak cause of his last name. Hopefully it turns out like beltre where he plays his butt off for a contract.

What are your hopes for Lackey? Apparently he was asking Lou Merloni about his image, how to fix it and stuff in private. That's probably the best thing I heard about him since he's been here. I think if he keeps that attitude he'll do alright for himself.

Daisuke signed with the Indians. Tito can't get away from him.

[sunshinekids99]

I'm happy to see that Lackey looks focused. He is in much better shape and if the arm is right he could have a solid season for the Sox.

I do feel for Tito too, having to watch Dice is always painful.

[sunshinekids99]

Back to Gomes for a quick second. While Ross did have a good year for the Sox, Gomes is more of a power option IMO. While Ross was very good against lefties, lets not forget he got to do at Fenway. .921 OPS at Fenway .684 on the road. Gomes on the other hand was .764 OPS in Oakland and .987 on the road. I easily get why the Sox wanted this guy, I however am not sold he's anything more than a platoon guy. I'd love to see the Sox get Mike Carp to go with Gomes, he just got DFA by Seattle.

[thesack12]

Gomes' career OPS at Fenway is .783, which is negligibly better than his career OPS at Mcafee (Oakland) of .761. We're not talking about a player who has rarely played at Fenway either. Gomes was a Ray for 6 seasons, so he is well seasoned in the AL East. He has played 31 games at Fenway park, which is the most games he has played in a park that wasn't his home turf at some point in his career. He has a total of 8 extra base hits in those 31 games in Boston. Not exactly a powerhouse.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... Career&t=b

One more note, Gomes is also not much of a run producer. He has played 8 full seasons in the big leagues and only has one season of 60+ RBI's. He has only scored 60+ runs in a season twice. For quick comparison Cody Ross has 4 seasons of 60+ RBI's and 4 seasons of 60+ runs scored in 7 big league seasons.

I don't hate the Gomes, but as I keep saying I just don't see the upside in the signing. Boston could have easily got a much cheaper option that can provide similar if not better production and impact.

[sunshinekids99]

At 2 for 10 I'm not seeing anybody from free agency that helps as much as he could. Gomes has been a platoon guy his whole career so I wouldn't expect him to have high runs or rbi totals. As for the Fenway numbers also don't forget the Sox were actually a good team when he was with the Rays. Harder to hit against the likes of Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, etc than it is for last years group.

[thesack12]

^ While he was playing regularly for a good portion of the start of the season, Sweeney was top 5 in the american league in batting average, and I believe he also led the AL in doubles for a bit there. Then he got hurt and it was all downhill from there.

Pods batted .300+ for the 60+ games he played for this team. Even at his advanced age he has a little speed left, which is also a plus.

Of course both those guys aren't great players, but they have proven they can be solid platoon OF players. Those guys proved they could be solid when the Sox were in absolute shambles, and almost couldn't even be considered a "team." A solid platoon player is all you can hope Gomes' becomes. Projecting Gomes is purely speculation. History shows that he hasn't played well at Fenwayn or the in the AL east as a whole, regardless of how its qualified.

This team is not going to contend, so I just dont see the point of signing guys like Gomes and Victorino to more than one year deals. Guys like that are part time players who's best role is being situational specialists. Those types you augment your roster with when you are legit threats for the series, not sign to multi year deals and expect to lean on. I see no reason to tie up money in non impact players. Granted this isnt the NBA with a salary cap in play, but that allocated money could be the difference on free agent bids for quality players next winter, also could prevent Boston from absorbing salary via trade.

IMO these are some guys that could have provided similar production. Sure you could cherry pick specific situations where player a is better than B, but overall these guys are similar caliber players and capable of comparable overall production. All these guys are better values based on the contract they signed this winter.

Sweeney
Pods
Delmon Young
Scott Hairston
Jason Bay
Rick Ankiel

I would have also made a minimum contract gamble on Sizemore, and wait for him to be ready. Using either Sweeney or Pods in the meantime.

So in conclusion, I guess we are just gonna have to agree to disagree on Gomes.

[sunshinekids99]

The only player you listed that I would even think about would be Grady Sizemore.

Ryan Sweeney has no power. I do like him as a 4th of tho, he can play some solid d.
Pods has zero power. Not great in the field. He's a pinch runner at this point.
Jason Bay hasn't had a good season since he left the Sox in 09. There is talk he doesn't even make the Seattle roster. How he got a major league contract from Seattle is mind blowing.
Delmon Young was awful last year. Under .300 obp .707ops He was a negative player last season.
Scott Harriston would have made some sense, he hits lefties very well.
Rick Ankiel was awful last season. He has some pop back in 08.

[thesack12]

^ Yeah, personally I would say that a guy who hit .300+ for almost 70 games played (Pods) can be a little better than solely a pinch runner. But maybe thats just me.

As for Sweeney, I hope he makes the team. He is a valubale platoon/depth guy. I would much prefer he make the team over a guy like Nava.

Bay dealt with a lot of injuries as a Met. Who is to say he wouldn't have had a mini renaissance with a return to Boston? We know he can play well at Fenway, very well at that. Either way, you aren't out much if you offered him a contract similar what Seattle did. You could have aways used Sweeney as your fallback option.

Young might have had a down year, but he has plenty of power. Also one down season hasn't stopped Cherington from signing anybody, just look at a handful of this winter's signings.

Ok, I'll admit that Ankiel was a bit of a stretch.

But, the best indicator we have to go on pertaining to Gomes is his extensive AL East experience. He was not too good of a player as a Ray, and was simply not good at Fenway. 8 extra base hits in Boston over 30+ games isn't too encouraging for a guy you are expecting to provide power and production. We can speculate all we want bout what he is going to to from now on, but the fact of the matter is he is 32 years old, so he isn't going to grow as a player any. Also, myself I put a lot more stock into tangible results like past production than I do what its thought a guy can do in the future. Basically I believe history is a much better indicator toward future results, especially when the guy we are talking about is 32 years old.

Obviously, I'm hoping I'm wrong and Gomes thrives and turns out to be a great value. I'm just not seeing it at this time.

[Dirty Water]

Jackie Bradley Jr this Spring:

.519/.618/.704

I mean it's not against premium pitching, but good god. This kid can rake. I'd like to see him get called up mid-season. Hoping not because of an injury, but this kid could probably use about 150 AAA ABs and he is ready for the show. Webster and De La Rosa look like solid #3 or 4 starters too. And Xander should benefit from a full season at AAA.

This year will probably be a mediocre season, second wild card maybe. But 2014 looks bright actually.

Lester
Buchholz
Doubront
Webster
De La Rosa

C Salty/Lavarnway
1B ?
2B Pedroia
SS Bogaerts
3B Middlebrooks
CF Bradley
RF Victorino
LF Gomes
DH Ortiz

Or maybe Iglesias starts hitting his weight and we can put Bogaerts at 3rd and Middlebrooks at 1B or OF.

[thesack12]

Yup, Jackie has been nothing short of sensational this spring. He has been sparkling at the plate, but was also named best outfield defender in the Minor leagues by Baseball Prospectus. Dude seems to have massive upside. I'm so excited about this kid.

I personally think its just a matter of time before Victorino struggles mightily, and that will be the point in which Bradley gets the nod.

I still have yet to hear much about Xander. I haven't been following the WBC, which is probably why. But I do follow Red Sox avenues, and they haven't mentioned much of anything. So that leads me to beleive that he hasn't been doing much over there.

As for Iglesias, he was named the best infield defender in the minors by Baseball Prospectus. Dude is a magician with the leather, but he is woeful offensively. < .200 at the plate just isn't gonna cut it. With the likes of Xander and Marrero on deck, I think Boston should move Iglesias now. His offensive ineptness and being passed up by those other SS prospects is only going to drain his value.