Free Agency this off-season

[Sea Dog 23]

It has started to take place with players leaving, and the newcomers able to sign Sunday or Monday, one of those days.

Of note Justin Turner has opted out of his player option.  However their seems to be mutual interest that we could arrive at a new contract for him, albeit a 39 y.o. with some injuries to close out the year.
Also Sox did not pick up the option to retain Corey Kluber and they removed P Jaime Garza from the 40 man roster.

[SeaBeachFred]

It has started to take place with players leaving, and the newcomers able to sign Sunday or Monday, one of those days.

Of note Justin Turner has opted out of his player option.  However their seems to be mutual interest that we could arrive at a new contract for him, albeit a 39 y.o. with some injuries to close out the year.
Also Sox did not pick up the option to retain Corey Kluber and they removed P Jaime Garza from the 40 man roster.

We need RH hitting and lots of it.  Turner should be given some consideration for a new contract.  Bloom is his usually shitty job in his scouting department drafting one LH hitter after another.  Is there anything that butt did worth while?

[MongoLikeSox]

I think there is a looming decision due soon on Joely Rodriguez. From what it reads in the baseball reference contracts list, the Sox have a $4M+ option on him. 

The Worcester transactions included 4 players chose free agency on Oct 2nd. Yu Chang, Kyle Barraclough, Caleb Hamilton and one of my favorites, Christian Arroyo. Boy did Arroyo ever fall out of favor or what?

The MLB site's transaction reporting is sketchy. Apparently Caleb Ort had gotten put on Waviers and was selected by Seattle on Oct 13th.

[SeaBeachFred]

I think there is a looming decision due soon on Joely RodrigBACK UP THE TRUCK!!!!!!!uez. From what it reads in the baseball reference contracts list, the Sox have a $4M+ option on him. 

The Worcester transactions included 4 players chose free agency on Oct 2nd. Yu Chang, Kyle Barraclough, Caleb Hamilton and one of my favorites, Christian Arroyo. Boy did Arroyo ever fall out of favor or what?

The MLB site's transaction reporting is sketchy. Apparently Caleb Ort had gotten put on Waviers and was selected by Seattle on Oct 13th.

Aside from Christian Arroyo who really never got a real shot from Cora and to boot could not stay in one piece, for the rest of that  pathetic group I quote former outstanding manager Leo Durocher.....to wit......  BACK UP THE TRUCK!!!!!

[Sea Dog 23]

I think there is a looming decision due soon on Joely RodrigBACK UP THE TRUCK!!!!!!!uez. From what it reads in the baseball reference contracts list, the Sox have a $4M+ option on him. 

The Worcester transactions included 4 players chose free agency on Oct 2nd. Yu Chang, Kyle Barraclough, Caleb Hamilton and one of my favorites, Christian Arroyo. Boy did Arroyo ever fall out of favor or what?

The MLB site's transaction reporting is sketchy. Apparently Caleb Ort had gotten put on Waviers and was selected by Seattle on Oct 13th.

Aside from Christian Arroyo who really never got a real shot from Cora and to boot could not stay in one piece, for the rest of that  pathetic group I quote former outstanding manager Leo Durocher.....to wit......  BACK UP THE TRUCK!!!!!

It looks like the Sox have moved on from Joely Rodriguez, they did not pick up his option or whatever his contract read.  Fred, I saw a post from Chris Costillo that Cora and the Sox did not think much of going after E-Rod last year, that "he took a lot of effort to inspire and get him ready for his starts."  Obviously, they will look more kindly to Marcus Stroman that E-Rod from the free agents.  It's going to be a tough slog to get some good pitching.

[SeaBeachFred]

It might be tough as you say Sea Dog, but it has to be done and Henry must open his wallet to get it done.  We are not a small or mid market team and the Boston press might make certain Henry knows it, including the writers on the paper Henry owns.  They must stand to him and let him know in no uncertain terms that he is very much responsible for the decay of our team the past five seasons.  If they are risking their jobs,  there are a lot of good lawyers who would be more than willing to launch a major lawsuit of unlawful termination against the owner that could drive the cheap bastard out of town.  No, he has to spend and Breslow has to be able to convince some of the top free agents that Boston is no longer a hangout for dumpster divers and incompetent buffoons.

[MongoLikeSox]

Fred, I suppose the differences between Bloom and Breslow will be known soon enough. The biggest broad stroke difference I'd like to see is not Free Agent spending, but a stop to the moves that make no sense from a big-league baseball standpoint. No more building rosters that look good only on an analytics front.

The second biggest thing I want to see is us keeping players who thrive here.

I do not want to see the Sox chase the flavor of the day. They can keep Ohtani on the West Coast for all I care. Too many eggs in one basket for an owner who does not like to spend for more than a year or two at a time. Speaking of Ohtani, if there's a poster child team for bad spending, it's the Angels. Wow, have they ever been burdened with some dud contracts. Far worse than us.

Our own Free Agent signing history has a lot of bad results, and they were easy to spot right away. We've had a lot of signings that made zero sense on the day they happened. This goes back at least to the Carl Crawford signing. Red flags are a thing for a reason. Please pay attention to them.

I know it was not Bloom who signed the Gold Bust Twins, but doesn't it seem to have Bloom written all over it?  This is where I hope Breslow excels. Keeping that sort of signing off the table for us. Stand up to the nonsense that he's inherited. Dombrowski did to some extent and won a WS, but he certainly had flaws of his own including the 2nd-biggest Red Sox mistake ever made - bringing Betts to Arbitration. (Babe Ruth was #1 mistake.)

[Sea Dog 23]

As far as Breslow's pulling off a great off-season, his first big test is the GM meetings this week.  There was a knock on Bloom that he had little respect from the other GM's, and that remark could have been hatched by Kennedy or some Judas in our FO.

Breslow is a yougin with his resume, as scant as it is.  But there is some groundwork to be had this week.  We need at least two pitchers in the rotation.  One of those is thought to come by trade.  Verdugo and Houck could be  bargaining pieces to get one of the pitchers.  Here is hoping Craig gets off to a respectable start at the meetings.

[longgame]

While I don't want him to make just any move, I'd like to see Breslow actively pursuing people rather than wait around and see who is available for a bargain.  We'll know soon enough.  Moving to cut ties with underpeformers or the oft-injured is a good and necessary start.  I wouldn't chase after Turner either, as much as he did for us, he's too one-dimensional and we already have that guy starting at 3B.  I'd like to see a RH bat that can play some defense without worrying he'll break his leg barring getting a true stud as an every day DH. 

Lots of talk about Ohtani out there.  I think he's a money sink that will take up $50M per year on someone's roster. How do you sustain something close to a quarter of your payroll going to one guy, no matter how good he is?  Is he almost twice as good as say Mookie Betts? My guess is the Sox don't go after him.  Go after the Japanese pitcher (Yamamoto? I think) instead.

There are so many needs and that will be the biggest challenge for Breslow.  Who gets brought up, who ends up getting blocked, who is a peak value as a minor leaguer that doesn't project to a stud at the MLB level?  He needs to get to the bottom of that and fast.  I just hope he has a plan versus the totally reactive Bloom.

[MongoLikeSox]

..........Fred, I saw a post from Chris Costillo that Cora and the Sox did not think much of going after E-Rod last year, that "he took a lot of effort to inspire and get him ready for his starts." .....

This has me shaking my head. There is little doubt in my mind that E-Rod was one of those types of guys that, to steal a movie line, felt a little too much inside.

So what? Manage the issue and quit whining. That's your job. Don't like it, go back to bench coaching. 

[elktonnick]

While I admit E-Rod can be moody and pose a challenge for a manager but not an insurmountable one, Cora is not the guy for the job.  For one thing E-Rod is Venezuelan.  Cora does not handle non-Caribbean Latin ballplayers well.

[longgame]

I may be reading too much into this but one of the things I read yesterday was the Red Sox were “targeting” Whit Merrifield.  First of all, he’d be a huge upgrade at 2B, but more importantly, he is being “targeted”.  Again, I may be reading too much into this but had Bloom every targeted someone?

[elktonnick]

I may be reading too much into this but one of the things I read yesterday was the Red Sox were “targeting” Whit Merrifield.  First of all, he’d be a huge upgrade at 2B, but more importantly, he is being “targeted”.  Again, I may be reading too much into this but had Bloom every targeted someone?

Yes but only guys who had long stints on the IL.

[MongoLikeSox]

Refsnyder? Yu Chang? Franchy Cordero?

Merrifield would be fantastic. A real ball player. We got one(Duval) last season for CF. Too bad he broke his wrist, but it was a good signing, especially if we ignore the slight out of position part. Whit's at the perfect stage of career for what we need, hits, runs, etc.

I cannot help but think that maybe a building year for the OF is in order. Dominoes CAN fall in order for 2025 and beyond with a Whit signing. Screw Rafaela's versatility. Leave in in CF next season, bite the bullet on some mistakes and watch him grow. Signing Whit to play 2B next year on a 2-year deal is as logical as going after a Short Stop last January would have been. It makes Rafaela available as a full-time CF'er. Even if Yorke/Meidroth/Bonaci takes 2B for 2025, you get Whit as a primary RHB that can play almost every day filling in at 3-4 positions and DH. Perfect for an aging veteran. This is a win win unless be busts in beantown. Been known to happen. 

I THINK Story has an option after this year. If not, he's a stud defender. I think it's law somewhere that every contender can have one swing and miss guy. I'm fine with Story being that guy. Him and Whit up the middle gives me warm fuzzies on so many levels.

[Sea Dog 23]

An interesting dynamic to the "new Sox" under Breslow, will be how they approach players with a QO.  The Sox did not hand out any QO's this year.  Under Bloom-Sox there seemed to be a taboo of going after QO guys, for the sake of giving up one of your draft picks.  Will Breslow look beyond that mindset this year?  There is some reasoning that he might go after Bellinger, who he knew with the Cubs.  Nola would be a statement that we are going after prime time pitching.  Here is a list of those QO's that came out this week.

Shohei Ohtani
Aaron Nola
Blake Snell
Cody Bellinger
Josh Hader
Matt Chapman
Sonny Gray