The Official 2012 Boston Red Sox Thread

Yeah I don't care what players you have on your team it will be extremely difficult to win baseball games using 56 players and having 27 games go on the DL during the year. I think the Sox used 14 OFers this year. Think about that for a second. Add that to the underperformance of many of it's top players (Gonzalez, Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Pedroia and Youkilis while he was here) it's not shocking to see why the team was so bad even with the adding distractions.

I actually don't think all is doom and gloom for this franchise. I have to assume that both Lester and Buchholz will have bounce back years. Rubby De La Rosa will be a nice addition to the rotation and his #1 potential, just depends on whether they start him in the minors at the beginning of the year or not to keep his innings limits down. There were a lot of positive steps that Felix Doubront made and I think he proved he could be a solid #4 starter in the AL East, and depending on his command he could possibly be a #2 due to his high strike out rate. And call me crazy but I think Lackey is actually going to have a nice bounce back year. I don't think we will ever see the Lackey from his LAA days but I don't think we're going to see the Lackey from '10 and '11 either. It's clear he was pitching hurt, especially in 2011 so if Lackey can step in and give the rotation 180 innings as a #5 starter that's not terrible. They do need to sign another starting pitcher or 2 though as again De La Rosa will most likely be in the minors to start the year and it's never bad to have depth. But the whole thing rests with Lester and Buchholz, if they can go back to being the pitchers they were before 2011 this team has a shot.

I do think Ortiz and Ross will be back but you're right they have holes at a corner OF position, 1B and SS. The good news is, a corner OF position and 1B are pretty easy to fill, or the easiest positions to fill. I don't think they are going to give Ryan Kalish the starting LF/RF job but he's an option. It's just too bad he was hurt at the end of the year and couldn't really play in August and September. And they probably don't trust Jerry Sands enough yet to give him a 1B/LF role either but he's an interesting candidate to watch for.

As far as FAs go for 1B the only option that would somewhat excite me would be Mike Napoli but I doubt he'd sign a 1 or 2 year deal. I guess LaRoche would be a back up plan, again if he would go for a 1 year deal. The SS position is thin, I mean Stephen Drew is probably the best name out there and he's been bad for awhile now. OF the interesting names are obviously Hamilton but I'd only touch him on a 1 or 2 year deal max and that's zero chance he'd sign and I think he'd be a bad fit in Boston. BJ Upton is an interesting name as is Michael Bourn but I don't want to spend big money on those guys and again they won't want to sign 1 or 2 year deals. So there are probably going to be a couple of trades coming to fill those positions.

A lot of interesting SPer names available, especially guys that I think the Sox can get for a 1 year deal to try and see if those pitchers can reestablish their value. Depending on health Scott Baker, Jorge De La Rosa, Garvin Floyd, Edwin Jackson, Kuroda, Brandon McCarthy, Shaun Marcum, Jake Peavy and Anibal Sanchez interest me. As do Zack Grienke and Dan Haren. I love to try and get my hands on Ryan Madson too just coming off of TJ surgery last year to put in the pen. But again the price has to be absolutely right for any of those players. Just because the Sox have tons of money to spend doesn't mean they should.

I think we are going to see the team make a number of trades during the offseason. They have both the prospects and financial flexibility to make those types of moves they couldn't last year. It's going to be a fun and interesting offseason. The good thing about the team playing so bad this season was it gave the front office a head start on planning for the 2013 season so hopefully they used that time wisely.

 

Depends on how desperate they are to give rid of the 138 million left on his contract. The Sox could tell them look we will take his whole salary but you're not going to get anything good back in return or if you want to pay for some of it we will give you better players.

That's what the Dodgers SHOULD have done with the Red Sox in August instead of agreeing to take on all the money AND give them prospects back.

 

Don't you have an ALDS you have to start preparing to lose?

 

Oh the excuses are starting up early I see.

Nah borrow Baltimore's instead. Just in case there's another fire on it....

 

Not for me, I don't golf. Maybe Beckett is, I don't know.

 

Now do you think CC Sabathia is going to share Mini Me for lunch with Joba and Andruw Jones or do you think he'll just eat him all by himself?

 

Good article by Alex Speier (best Sox beat writer by far and it's not close) on new Sox pitcher Rubby De La Rosa:

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/b...ubby-gem-look-new-red-sox-pitcher-rubby-de-la

I was semi-kidding in the playoff thread that the "new Moneyball thing" is to get good young pitchers and it seems like the Sox have done just that with RDLR and possibly Allen Webster.

 

I agree and if you're the Dodgers don't you have to at least play a little hard ball here? Tell them they will take those contracts but Boston has to chip in with some of the payments or they get lesser players?

The whole thing to me just sounded like a bad fantasy baseball trade where the Sox took advantage of a dumb player.

 

Completely agree with all of this. But I don't see the Sox signing any FAs this year to big deals, that's what hurt them in the past and why they're in the state they are now nor do I see them getting rid of Pedroia ever. Lester, maybe, if they get a huge package for him but I just can't see Pedroia going.

 

I'd offer him 2 years at 30 million with a vesting option for the 3rd year with a buy out, that way if Ortiz performs like he thinks he will the 3rd year will be automatic but if he doesn't or if the Sox choose not to resign him he'll get paid to walk away.

Either way I think the Sox should just offer the guy a 2 year deal that way for at least 1 year we don't have to get the monthly David Ortiz is mad about his contract rant. But giving him more than 2 years guaraunteed would be silly/dumb unless the money is extremely low.

 

As long as they don't hire Bobby Valentine again I don't care who they're interviewing until they hire someone.

 

Why overpay if you don't have to?

 

When did I ever say that? My point was if you can sign a player for 2 years why sign him for 3 instead? Just because you have money doesn't mean or make it smart to spend it just to spend it.

If 2 years for 14-15 can get the contract signed why offer 3 years for 14-15?

 

Again though, why give Ortiz a 3 year deal last year when a 1 year deal got it done? I think another 1 year deal could get it done this year too but I think it's important to just give him 2 years to keep some balance in the lineup and clubhouse and not have to hear him *****.

 

Oh that I agree with. I don't think they would haggle over a million or 2. I think it's more about the number of years. I think the Sox would rid give Ortiz 17 or 18 million for 1 year than 30 million total for 2 years.

 

Because the Sox had Ortiz by the stones per say. No one was going to give him 14 plus million to DH last year, only the Sox were. It would have made zero sense from them to commit that at the time, especially with what their payroll was going to be.

I'd still like to see them give him another 1 year deal and would prefer it but I understand why they should just offer him the extra year just to keep him happy.

 

Of course Ortiz would have played somewhere else but I think it was almost no chance he would get a 2 year deal or 14 million a year like he did with the Sox, especially since the DH market is and was extremely thin.

 

Since there's not much else to talk about the Sox are going to interview Dodgers' 3rd base coach Tim Wallach on Friday and former catcher Brad Ausmus next week. So far those are the only two candidates that have been linked to them so far.

 

Red Sox are interviewing current Yankee bench coach and former Red Sox Tony Pena today and will interview current Baltimore Oriole 3rd base coach and former Red Sox coach Demarlo Hale. Brad Ausmus will also be interviewed sometime this week too. Still no word about if the Sox asked about Farrell.

 

Why on Pena and why on Farrell? Not to say you're right or wrong but we, as fans, and even the front office simply have zero idea how well a manager will perform. Majority of it has to do with the talent on the field and how well the manager helps "babysit" those 25 players and their egos.

The love affair with Farrell is because they worked with him for 4 years, so there's a comfort level there. But as of today, unless it's going super secret under the radar the Sox haven't talked to Toronto about Farrell.

Personally I have no clue who should be the manager and how good or bad he'll be until I see him interact with the team and see what he does when the games start. So I won't get too worked up over the choice either way (unless it's Grady Little or Bobby Valentine again).

Again remember when the Yankees hired Torre everyone knocked the move because he never "won" when he managed, ditto for Francona.