The Red Sox have announced that they will be holding a press conference today regarding Josh Beckett, and Ian Browne tweets that they will announce a 4-year, $68MM extension for 2011-2014 ($17MM AAV).  Personally, I love the deal.  I think it's safe to say that Beckett would have gotten a fifth year at a higher salary on the open market.  Sure it's a lot of money, but this looks like a home town discount to me.  Beckett, Lester, Lackey, and Buchholz (I think) are under team control through 2014.

How long before we start hearing about an extension for V-Mart?

I thought I'd share an article from ESPN Boston (a site definitely worth bookmarking if you haven't already).  It talks about Scutaro's time as a minor league player, and the transition he is making to become what he is now.  It's main theme is his increased patience and plate discipline over the last couple years, something that's been mentioned on this site.  I have high hopes for Marco this year.  He probably won't hit for a .300 avg, or 20 HR, or 80 RBI.  I think his value will come as a table-setter / run scorer.  If he can continue to draw a ton of walks, that would be ideal for our #9 hitter.

Anyway, check out the article, because its a pretty good read.

As of right now, what picks will we have entering the next draft.  I realize that we surrendered our first rounder to LAA and our second rounder to Toronto, but we also received first-round and supplemental picks for Wagner and Bay, right?  Does anyone know the draft order as it stands now, and what picks we will be using?

(Ignore this. Extra words. Go Sox. Pitching and defense blah blah blah blah blah blah.)

I check out MLB trade rumors a lot, and they recently posted MLB's to 50 FAs and predictions for their destinations.  Take it with a grain of salt but, I thought some of these predictions would make for an interesting discussion.  Here's who they have landing with the Red Sox:

3.  Jason Bay - Red Sox.  It's been rumored the Red Sox are willing to offer four years and $60MM to Bay.  That seems to be a fair opening bid, given his defensive struggles.

8.  Marco Scutaro - Red Sox.  It's difficult to place Scutaro, because not many teams with shortstop vacacies will be willing to pay the three years and $18MM+ he'll likely demand.  The Sox would be getting the best available shortstop here, but they could instead choose Jed Lowrie and/or Alex Gonzalez.

10.  Rich Harden - Red Sox.  A one-year deal with a $7MM base salary would be difficult for Harden to resist.  His injuries are maddening, but he leads free agent starters with a 10.9 K/9.

17.  Aroldis Chapman - Red Sox.  They've been heavily involved with Chapman from the start, and may consider him a long-term investment worth more than $20MM.

32.  Tim Wakefield - Red Sox.  Wakefield had back surgery in October, but the Red Sox will probably still view him as a bargain at $4MM.

Here's the link if you want to check out the other predictions.

Obviously Tim Wakefield is a done deal, and I agree that the Sox will sign Bay in the end, but I have trouble believing that they would sign all three of the others.  I love the Chapman idea.  Our farm system has no one that will be ready in a year or two, and Chapman would fill that void.

Harden was a decent SP last year for the Cubs (9-9, 4.09 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 171K/67BB, 141 IP), but he could add some great depth to our rotation.  You can never have too much pitching, and adding Harden would give us 6 SP, with Chapman likely spending time in the minors.

Idk how I feel about Scutaro, but with a lack of other options, he's probably out best bet.

2010

Rotation: Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Dice-K, Harden or Wakefield.

Lineup: Ells, Pedroia, VMart, Youk, Bay, Ortiz, Lowell, Drew, Scutaro.

I'm surprised that nobody has posted anything on Lowrie's injury.

According to the Boston Herald, Jed Lowrie will be out 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgury on his left wrist.  He had the surgery yesterday (Tuesday), so we can expect him back sometime in early June.  In the meantime Nick Green and Gil Velazquez will split time at short until Lugo returns.  Julio is starting a rehab assignment in Pawtucket, and he will probably be starting again within the next week or two.

Other noteworthy guys on the DL: Kotsay, Baldelli, Van Every, Matsuzaka, Smoltz.

The Red Sox look pretty good going into 2009.  Their rotation and bullpen are strong points.  Pairing their pitching and defense, their overall run prevention should be more than enough to give their above-average lineup a decent chance to win.  However, this team, especially its offense, is not without uncertainties.  Can Ortiz and Lowell bounce back from injuries and be productive?  Can Ellsbury evolve into the hitter we hope he can be?  Can Drew give us 450-500 healthy ABs?  Do I even need to talk about our catchers?

Long story short, this team is very good, but also vulnerable to offensive injuries and ineffectiveness.  But fear not, the Red Sox are poised to recover from any weaknesses during the season.  According to Alex Speier, the Red Sox' payroll will be under $120MM this year.  He also had this to say:

As a result, the Red Sox could be in an enviable position as the trade market takes shape during the coming season. So long as the team’s revenues are not affected drastically by the economic climate, the team appears to have resources and flexibility should a need or opportunity to make trades emerges during the year.

Peter Gammons also had an interesting take on the situation.  I'm not an "ESPN INsider," but I saw a quote on MLBTradeRumors.  

Gammons talked to an NL GM who commented on the Red Sox:

"There are a lot of teams sniffing around on guys like Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez.  But they want a premium young catcher or bat in return. When they're ready to bring Clay Buchholz and John Smoltz into the equation, they may be dealing from a position of strength because of their pitching depth and the fact that they are so far under budget."

I see it like this; the Red Sox have 9 major-league ready starters (or they will be at some point during the season), and 9 major-league releavers.

SP: Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Penny, Wakefield, Smoltz, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson*

RP: Papelbon, Okajima, Ramirez, Saito, Masterson*, Delcarmen, Lopez, (Bard & Tazawa)**

Pitching is an obvious strength.  Will the Red Sox use this to their advantage at the trade deadline?  If one or two of our position players are ineffective, will Theo pull the trigger on a deal?  What mid-season trades, if any, do you predict the Red Sox will make?

*Masterson was counted twice due to his flexability.

**OK, so Bard and Tazawa are NOT major league ready, but at least they have high trade value.

Alex Rodriguez's brother, Joe Dunand, says that Rodriguez will need surgery on his right hip.  (Link)

He'll have the surgery on monday, and will need about 10 weeks to recover.  This will prevent him from playing in the WBC and keep him out of the Yankee's lineup until mid- to late-May.  This is a big hit to their offense.  If Teixeira starts slow (.256 career BA in March/April vs .290 overall career average) they may lose some crucial early-season games in a tight AL East.  If the offense starts out weak, will the Yankees miss the playoffs?

Here's the link from MLB.  $5MM plus incentives?  That's a steal.  Sure his defense isn't great, but the Angles could use a left handed bat, and Abreu consistently hits 20 HR, 100 RBI, Steals 20 bases, and gets on base at a clip of .400. 

Maybe this will make it easier for us to extend Bay.  If his agent wants a big payday, they'll wait until free agency next year where there is likely to be a decent market for his services.  However, they could get scared by the lack of interest in corner outfielders, and take a 3-year, $24-27MM deal right away.  I can hope can't I?

The Red Sox signed Papelbon for another year at $6.25 MM.  I was hoping he would follow the lead of Pedroia and Youkillis and sign a long-term extension, but no such luck.  This was his first year of eligibility, and he set the record for money earned by a closer in that situation.

I think he has two more years of arb. left before he becomes a FA.  It might be 1 though, somebody wanna look it up?  When the time comes, what will it take to lock up Papelbon?

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports that:

According to one baseball source, the team has been intensifying talks with the Arizona Diamondbacks concerning 25-year-old catcher Miguel Montero. The Red Sox still believe that the price for gifted Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamachia is too high because it still includes pitcher Clay Buchholz. The Diamondbacks are not believed to be asking for Buchholz, making a return package of pitching that could include Michael Bowden and/or Daniel Bard feasible.

Can anybody tell me more about Montero? All I know is that he's a promising prospect, but how's his defense and bat? 

The article also mentions that this potential trade would not preclude the Sox from signing Vartiek.  I think most people agree that he would have a positive influence on any young catcher while getting slightly less than half of the playing time.

Word on the street is that Young wants out of Texas.  The rangers have a vacancy at third base, and would want Young to shift positions to allow a young stud SS to play with the big club.  Young was not pleased by this request, as he has already made one position change for the Rangers (2B to SS).  Young is a great talent at SS, and would be an amazing addition to an already great team. An average year for Young looks like this:

.300/.346/.442, 14 HR, 82 RBI, 93 R, 34 2B.

He's hit very well at Fenway in a very small sample size of 7 games.  It would take more than a pretty penny to get him AND Teagarden/Salty from Texas, but man that would be sweet.

UPDATE: Poll attached.

It appears that Rocco Baldelli's disease is not so untreatable after all according to numerous sources including tampabay.com

His doctor at the Cleveland Clinic has since reviewed further and more sophisticated testing that indicates his condition is a less-severe and treatable channelopathy. With a modification of medicine Baldelli is currently taking and having good results from, he is optimistic about his health and his baseball career.

I thought he would make a great 4th OF before this discovery.  Now I'm behind it 100%.  Rocco is a RHH so he could play for Drew or Ellsbury against a tough lefty.  He's got some pop, and his career .AVG/.OBP/.SLG are .281/.325/.445

If everything this off-season happened the way i wanted it to, here's what would go down:

1. Sign Teixeira to play 1B.  Whatever amount of money it takes- probably 8 years, $180MM or more ($22.5 AAV)
   
2. Trade Lowell, money, and a mid-level prospect to Cleveland for Kelly Shoppach.  We now have our future catcher.
   
3. Sign Jason Varitek- 1 year, $7.5MM with an option for next year.  Tek can platoon with Shoppach, show him the ropes, and retire.
   
4. Trade Lugo for Byrnes straight up.  We kill two birds with one stone by dumping Lugo and getting a sold 4th OF.
   
5. Sign Ben Sheets, 2-3 years, $12.5MM AAV.  If he's healthy, great.  If not we waste some money, but he at least provides a nice bridge to Buccholz and Bowden, as those two aren't quite ready yet.
   

Ebbidabibbeda that's all folks!  We get a great power bat long term, create the ideal situation at catcher, dump Lugo, and fortify our outfield and rotation.

Rotation: Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Sheets, Wakefield.

Lineup: Drew (RF), Pedroia (2B), Ortiz (DH), Teixeira (1B), Youkillis (3B), Bay (LF), Lowrie (SS), Tek/Shoppach (C), Jacoby (CF) [L,R,L,S,R,R,S,R,L]

Bench: Tek/Shoppach (C), Byrnes (OF), beyond that, fill the bench with some cheap FA infielders.  I know they're out there.  Theo is good at finding these guys. (e.g. Kotsay, Casey, Cora, Olerud, Pokey Reese- ha, remember them?)

Bullpen: Papelbon, Masterson, Ramirez, Okajima, Delcarmen, Lopez

[EDITOR'S NOTE by RANDY, 1:56 p.m.] While the Red Sox haven't made a splash in free agency, this may turn out to be the biggest move of the entire offseason. Re-signing Pedroia is absolutely huge. Hopefully Jonathan Papelbon and crew will follow suit...

You saw it here first!  According to ESPN, the Boston Red Sox sign Dustin Pedroia to a 6-year $40.5MM extension through 2014, with an option for 2015!

I couldn't be happier.  I thought it would take way more to extend him.  That's a $6.75MM AAV for the next 6 years.  The article doesn't say how much the option is for.

21-year-old Lars Anderson was listed in MLB.com's top 50 prospects list at number 25.  I'm sure everyone is just as excited about this guy as I am.  The report on him is very favorable, and calls him an "All-Star-caliber first baseman that will contend for batting titles and RBI crowns, with plenty of homers to boot."  The video also mentions that he could be ready to man 1B for the Sox by 2010.

Sanspo is reporting that Red Sox VP for international scouting Craig Shipley spent 1 hour 50 minutes negotiating with Junichi Tawaza, resulting in a $6M contract offer. No word on whether it’s a major league deal or not.

Pretty interesting, despite the fact that they misspelled "Tazawa."  The article goes on to say that Tazawa has also drawn interest from the Tigers, Indians, and Mariners.  I'd love to have this guy in AAA to develop a little more and then make the big club in the next year or two.

While posting on another thread, I started thinking about everybody's proposed Teixeira scenario.  1. Sign Tex, 2. Youk to third, 3. Trade Lowell.

The first two steps seem easy enough, but what teams would be in the market for Lowell?  What could we expect in return?  My knowledge is limited in this area, so I'll run through what I know and you guys can all correct me.

Chicago White Sox. Crede is a free agent, and there's been indications that Chicago will not resign him.  They're also in the market for a speedy CF who could hit leadoff for them. Apparently, Javier Vazquez may be available. Crisp-Lowell for Vazquez+?  What would that + be?

Minnesota Twins. All I know is that the twins need a 3B.  I don't know who they have to offer or how interested they may be in Lowell.  They could fill their third base hole internally with a platoon situation, but Lowell would certainly upgrade the offense.

Texas Rangers. I'm pretty sure Hank Blalock is going to be their DH, leaving 3B open.  I think everybody knows that the Rangers have something we want, and they are also in need of pitching (starting and relief).  How about Lowell + a young pitcher for Taylor Teagarden?

LA Dodgers. The departure of free agent Casey Blake creates a hole at the hot corner.  They are also in need of a lot of other things thanks to loosing a bunch of players to free agency.  They have a great farms system, but idk how we'd match up on a trade.

That's all I've got.  Obviously, most of these teams would ask us to eat some of Lowell's salary.  What other teams need a good 3B?

While, MLBtraderumors is not always the most reliable source, they do pose an interesting possibility regarding the white sox.  Here's the link:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/11/white-sox-shopp.html

Basically, they're looking to trade Javier Vasquez and Nick Swisher.  Here's their three-year averages:

Swisher: 531 AB, .245/.362/.452, 27HR, 81 RBI

Vazquez: 32 GS, 13-12, 4.39 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 199K, 56BB

Neither of those stat sets look particularly amazing, and they both had poor years in 2008, meaning the White Sox will be selling low.  I don't see Swisher fitting in to our plans unless its as a utility OF/1B (Think Hinske, Kotsay, etc.).  If that is the case, I have no problem with him filling that roll.  Vazquez is a less-than-ideal option as our 4th/5th starter, but I think he could do the job through the first half of the season until Bowden or Buccholz is ready to fill in.

The article says that the White Sox are in need of a CF and 2B (defensively), and a leadoff hitter and/or speed in their lineup (offensively). 

Because of all this, it seems like we could make a good deal.  Crisp and Lugo could both fill the "leadoff man with speed" roll.  A combination of Crisp and Lugo could fill those defensive holes (Lugo moves to 2B, where he has some experience).  They would really only need one of those two on offense, but having both certainly wouldn't hinder their need for speed.

Would a Crisp-Lugo for Vazquez-Swisher deal be fair?

Would one team need to add prospects?

The Chi-Sox could use Crisp, but will they take Lugo?

Do we want Vazquez and/or Swisher at all?

Thoughts?

We're comparing the pitching rotations in another fanpost so I'd like to examine how our lineups compare.

Red Sox

1. Ellsbury
2. Pedroia
3. Ortiz
4. Youk
5. Drew
6. Bay
7. Kotsay
8. Lowrie
9. Veritek
   

DEVIL Rays

1. Iwamura 2B
2. Upton CF
3. Pena 1B
4. Longoria 3B
5. Crawford LF
6. Floyd/Aybar/Baldelli DH
7. Navarro C
8. Gross/Hinske RF
9. Bartlett SS

Not sure how reliable this is, because I pulled it off of mlbtraderumors.com, but apparently Crisp talks with the A's are comming around again.  This is comming from the San Francisco chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/14/SP8HVK2AO.DTL

Sounds a little far-fetched, but it could happen.

Rotoworld is reporting that, "The Red Sox have reportedly re-signed Bobby Kielty to a non-guaranteed contract.  He'll earn $800,000 if he makes the team. The Red Sox appear set with a bench of Coco Crisp, Sean Casey, Alex Cora and Doug Mirabelli, so unless Crisp is dealt, there won't be room for Kielty on the roster."

I think Crisp will be dealt, and Kielty will sit nicely as our fourth OF.  I believe he was a fan favorite- personally I like him, and it's important for the Sox to have a red-head on the team.

The Twins just extended Michael Cuddyer for 3 years, $23 mil, and Justin Morneau for 6 years, $80 mil.  Does this mean that they are trying to build a contender for the next few years, and will hold on to Johan?  This is just speculation on my part, but there doesn't seem to be any talks with the Yankees or Red Sox, and while the Mets were supposedly in the lead for acquiring Santana, they're about to make a trade for Livan Hernandez.

Thoughts?

I don't think there's been a thread discussing the '08 bench for a while so I'll start one now.
Kielty is gone, Hinske is gone, Belli may likely be gone.  So where do we go next?

There are some very decent options for the corner IF and the OF.

Ryan Klesko is a free agent, and although he may not have the power he used to, he still gets on base at a good clip.  He can play 1B and LF, and I think we could put him in at RF as well.

Brad Wilkerson is another FA 1B/OF.  He has good career SLG. and OBP. (although the latter has dropped off recently) His average isn't great, and he strikes out a lot, but the guy did hit 20 HRs in 338ABs last year.

Ryan Freel is not a FA, but the Reds are shopping him to make room for prospects.  He lacks power but still has some speed, and would make a good runner off the bench.  He's primarily OF, but he also plays 3B (56 games in 2004).  He gets on base, has an OK average, and has stolen 125 bases in the last 4 years.  He'll make $7mill over the next 2 years.

I would be very excited if the Sox could obtain one of these guys (preferably Klesko) and then ship Crisp and maybe someone else to Texas for T. Teagarden to fill in the backup C position.  Once Veritek leaves, he should be ready to take the reigns.

This gives us a bench of
Ryan Klesko (1B/OF)
Brandon Moss (OF/1B?)
Alex Cora (3B/SS/2B)
Taylor Teagarden (C)

to back up a lineup of
Ellsbury
Pedroia
Papi
Manny
Lowell
Drew
Youk
Tek
Lugo

And with our pitching staff, thats a good time right there.  Any thoughts? [editor's note, by Schulz] Matzushocka also said Lofton would be a possibility. I'm not sure I'd want him as our everyday CF but he'd make a great 4th OFer

"By Jonnypops
Posted on Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 12:53:16 AM EDT
Well the AL Rookie of the Year has been signed, sealed and delivered and notably absent is one of our main men (and rare bright spots for the 2007 season) Jeremy Guthrie.  

In first place is Daniel Cabrera's favorite walking bullseye, overrated Red Sox asshole, Dustin Pedroia, who made the top spot with a 112 OPS+, 8 measley HR, a .442 SLG, but a formidable .380 OBP.  Pedroia received 24 1st place and 4 2nd place votes.

Second Place goes to TB's Delmon Young, who mysteriously got 3 1st place votes despite hitting for a 91 OPS+.

KC's Brian Bannister came in 3rd with 1 1st Place vote and whole bunch of other places that don't matter worth a shit, for putting up a 3.87 ERA, 121 ERA+* , and 1.21 WHIP in 165 IP.

Below that are a whole bunch of other jackasses like Okajima, Matsuzaka, and Reggie Willits.

So where the fuck is Guts?  He threw 175 IP.  He put up a superior ERA to Bannister at 3.70 and a superior ERA+* at 125.  Their WHIPs were the same.  Guthrie didn't even make the list.  Shame on you lazy ass sportswriters, SHAME!!

update by SC: My man's sayin' what I'm thinkin'. Fuck that! And it's 2:51am eastern and I'm drunk and who cares. Jonnypops is right. DELMON YOUNG?"

I never appreciated how sophisticated our blog really is.  Kudos, gang.