***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

I know, the parade hasn't even happened yet, but it's never really too early to start thinking about what we do to repeat. In no particular order, things which need to be addressed:

1. 3B - I'm on record, even before the WS MVP, that I would not mind seeing the Sox overpay slightly for Lowell. I think we've regretted letting Cabrera go, and I think Lowell is probably a better player than O-Cab. A-Rod and that [censored] Boras should not even be contacted.

2. Schilling/Rotation - Does Schill hang it up? I'm honestly not sure if he's got a full season left. Do we keep him around as a 4/5 starter for a year, or does he really think he can command a big bucks FA contract? Wakefield is probably nearing done as well, and though we seem set 1-3 with Beckett, Dice and Lester, and we're all obviously very optimistic about Bucholz, who wouldn't like to see us go after a certain lefty from Minneapolis?

3 - CF. Is Jacoby ready to be an everyday CF? Will Crisp accept being a 4th OF, or do we just plan on having a 4 man OF rotation, considering that Manny is probably going to need rest/DH somedays. Anyway to get Brandon Moss at least a meaningful look next year?

4 - C. It's probably about time to start thinking about a replacement for Tek. Especially if wake doesn't come back, we don't have a whole lot of use for Mirabelli, so who ever the future is will probably get 40 or so games.

5 - Middle relief - Timmy, god love him, is probably at about the end of the line. which leaves us with Paps, Oki (who may or may not be as effective in year two, and certainly needs his workload reduced, regardless) and...MDC who's probably ok as your 2nd righty setup guy, and Javier Lopez, of whom the less we say, the better. Do we deal Crisp for an arm or two? I honestly don't think so, because Crisp is something of a known quantity, while, with a few exceptions, bullpen arms are so high variance that any trade would be a gigantic crapshoot. Hopefully Theo and the brain wizards have a plan to give us 3-4 more guys in the pen and have 2-3 more arms waiting in Pawtuckett...

6. Securing opening day tickets. went in '05. It was awesome. Back in '08, and hopefully more...

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
1. 3B - I'm on record, even before the WS MVP, that I would not mind seeing the Sox overpay slightly for Lowell. I think we've regretted letting Cabrera go, and I think Lowell is probably a better player than O-Cab. A-Rod and that [censored] Boras should not even be contacted.

[/ QUOTE ]

What the Sox would 'slightly overpay' another team will probably outbid and give more years.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

3B - Really sounds like the Sox aren't even going to push for A-Rod so please sign Lowell, none of this moving Youk to 3b talk please guys.

Schill - For purely selfish reasons I want him to stay, he would be good for the young guys but thinking objectively, we obviously don't need him, think about this rotation for a second, we are f'ing stacked for the future and now.

1-Becks (28yrs old)
2-Lester (23) Showed aggression and stuff, another offseason will be HUGE for him
3-Dice K (28) Should improve leaps with a full offseason conditioning program
4-Clay (23) No-No in his rookie year, should be better albeit inconsistent
5-Schill? Wake? Random Vet?

They also have Masterson in the minors who is a good arm

Catcher - I think Tek enters this season with 3 serviceable years left full time, maybe 2. Cash looked decent at times, I wouldn't mind giving him the chance to win the catcher of the future.

Coco - I think Jacoby should enter the season leading the battle for CF and Coco's contract should be a good trading chip if we are looking for another starter or a replacement if Lowell leaves.



The most exciting thing about this offseason/team is that they are so young that they could basically stand pat and lose the contracts of Schill/Clement/Lowell and have a lot of money to sit on for the right guy, even if they don't spend any of that extra money they are still f'ing stacked.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

Also Re: Bullpen

I am really hopeful that Hansen can come back up and give us something next year, kid has sick talent, he just needs to tweak a few things.



One last thing, do they shop Manny's contract again this year? Dangle coco to Min for Hunter and move Jacoby to left?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

3B-

bye mike, love you glad we could help you get a fat contract.

hi youk!~

1B- whomever is available

schilling. one year for 13? sure, np.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

the title of this thread is going to tilt me all off season ugh

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
the title of this thread is going to tilt me all off season ugh

[/ QUOTE ]
Will you jump off a building if the Tigers sign Arod? [/hijack]

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
the title of this thread is going to tilt me all off season ugh

[/ QUOTE ]
Will you jump off a building if the Tigers sign Arod? [/hijack]

[/ QUOTE ]

most likely

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

oh and coco, 2nd most expensive 4th OF in MLB

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

Hunter is a FA.

3B- sign A-rod to 10 year 300 million contract
enjoy Curse of Arod gimmick account showing up in threads for next decade.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
oh and coco, 2nd most expensive 4th OF in MLB

[/ QUOTE ]

fwiw i heard people is cleveland talking about trying to trade for Coco...

i would hate that though

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

Mike Timlin is still a good relief pitcher, and should he wish to continue pitching, we should give him his one year, three million dollar contract or whatever he wants. Tim Wakefield is a good deal and should certainly be picked up. Julian Tavarez has a below market option that should be picked up, but I certainly won't mind if we just flip him somewhere.

Johan Santana is entering his age 29 season and is a tremendous talent. Our biggest movable assets are Ellsbury and Buchholz. The Twins would also certainly be interested in Crisp or Lester. Bowden and Masterson might help close a deal. I don't think Theo will trade Ellsbury or Buchholz, but if we can get Santana for Lester/Crisp/Masterson, I definitely think we should make that move.

Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are a tremendous young core for our starting rotation, rounded out by Schilling and Wakefield for one more year looks like tremendous depth.

Delcarmen, Okajima and Papelbon are a good young backend to the bullpen, but I'm not too enthralled with Delcarmen. I would not be opposed to moving him. I like Tavarez plenty to have him in here, but I'd prefer we didn't hold on to Javier Lopez. A proven power RHP would solidify this bullpen, but it looks to be a strength whether or not they get him.

Varitek is ancient and in the last year of his deal, we need to find a good young catcher to hopefully replace him in 2009. Lowell would be a fine signing, but A-Rod would be better obviously. If they still like Youkilis at third, they can try to find a solution at first base instead. I think moving Manny is probably a good idea considering how bad his defense and baserunning are at this point, but probably only happens if we can sign A-Rod or Santana. I'm fine with Drew/Crisp/Ellsbury taking 2 of 3 OF spots, but I'd like a little more power from the third guy.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

that would be bad for CLE i think. its starting to become apparent that he wont hit like he did back when he was w CLE so that leaves his main value as great defensive CF which they already have.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
that would be bad for CLE i think. its starting to become apparent that he wont hit like he did back when he was w CLE so that leaves his main value as great defensive CF which they already have.

[/ QUOTE ]

how did he not lose his job to ellsbury sooner?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Mike Timlin is still a good relief pitcher, and should he wish to continue pitching, we should give him his one year, three million dollar contract or whatever he wants.

[/ QUOTE ]

preach.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
1B- whomever is available

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris Carter, ready to go.

For whoever was talking about young pitchers, Michael Bowden is leap years better than Masterson and at the same level within the system. It really falls off after those two and Buchholz. With Jed Lowrie as a utility guy waning in the wings (or forcing Lugo to UT), this team really doesn't need to make a big move. Just load up a couple of relivers and maybe a swingman and be marginally better than the Yanks, Tigers, and Indians.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mike Timlin is still a good relief pitcher, and should he wish to continue pitching, we should give him his one year, three million dollar contract or whatever he wants.

[/ QUOTE ]

preach.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed, but...

As with Schilling, I'm not convinced Timlin can last another full season. If we re-sign him, it has to be with the understanding that his use has to be pretty carefully monitored for the first 3-4 months of the season so that his arm doesn't fall off in the late season, when his value as a tough as nails guy to get 2-3 hitters is accentuated.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

What's up with Gagne, his contract is over?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
What's up with Gagne, his contract is over?

[/ QUOTE ]

If the Sox can get a deal on him that would be very nice. I am sure they will make him an offer (if they lose him to FA do they get a draft pick?).

Wait, zomgngd, I will pretend I didn't look at his stats, he has sucked so bad.

craig

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
that would be bad for CLE i think. its starting to become apparent that he wont hit like he did back when he was w CLE so that leaves his main value as great defensive CF which they already have.

[/ QUOTE ]

how did he not lose his job to ellsbury sooner?

[/ QUOTE ]

cuz he is a REALLY good CF. also he hit here and there.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What's up with Gagne, his contract is over?

[/ QUOTE ]

If the Sox can get a deal on him that would be very nice. I am sure they will make him an offer (if they lose him to FA do they get a draft pick?).

Wait, zomgngd, I will pretend I didn't look at his stats, he has sucked so bad.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]
Bright Side - after his post-trade implosion he will be cheap

Dark Side - He may very well suck again

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

3b is obviously the biggest potential hole. i love mikey lowell, but 2 years ago his contract was an albatross and now we're looking at something like 4/52-60 to keep him. is there any chance that turns out as a good deal? you've got the best player in baseball available, and unless they want to trade the farm for miggy cabrera when lowell falls off the face of the planet, you've gotta make the move now, imo.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

- signing lowell is retarded

- chris carter is not good at all

- mmike timlin is not good at all. hes run good with his ERA

- theres no way schilling doesnt resign

- trading manny to a stupid team for a young 3B/1B/C needs to happen

- trading jacoby over coco is prob the smart move. theres not much difference between the two in the short term. is jacoby/lester in the ballpark for santana? beckett/santana/schilling/daisuke/buchholz best rotation ever?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mike Timlin is still a good relief pitcher, and should he wish to continue pitching, we should give him his one year, three million dollar contract or whatever he wants.

[/ QUOTE ]

preach.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eff the haters who said Timlin was done and should be brought out back and put down. Eff you all.



(sorry mike... [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img])

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
mmike timlin is not good at all. hes run good with his ERA

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Did he run good with WHIP too?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

I think it's most likely that the Red Sox will: A) let Lowell walk (getting draft picks in return), B) move Youkilis to 3rd where his bat is more valuable, C) get a Millarish, decent 1st baseman who doesn't cost a ton.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
3B-

bye mike, love you glad we could help you get a fat contract.

hi youk!~

1B- whomever is available

schilling. one year for 13? sure, np.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nailed it.

How do people think we don't need Schilling back? Buchholz will have his innings capped in 2008. Wake has had significant injuries in each of the last two seasons. And Jon Lester has a career WHIP of 1.566.

And I would gladly take a year of Youk at third and Barry MF'ing Bonds at first.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

Schill was on the Dennis and Callahan show earlier talking about the chances of him leaving the team. He rated the chances of him staying with the Sox at 50%. However, as Dale and Holley pointed out on their show soon after, Schill was quoted on writing letters to a few of his teammates and giving them out already. D&H thought that he would have either not written them, or held on to them if he thought he was staying.

However, all Schill wants is one year at the same price, it really is worth it IMO.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

some of the things boston fans think about their team are pretty silly.

wakefield - he said he'll be back, glad to have him. if he can't hold up to be in the rotation he's a great swing guy out of the pen, class act, and a great clubhouse guy.

mirabelli - the stud who no longer hits bombs is going to hit the road. time to focus on getting a young guy to replace tek when he totally breaks down, which could EASILY be next year.

timlin - yes he is older than dirt and could implode at any time. but he also (improbably) was very valuable this season, and all the young guys love him. there is really no harm in giving him another year if he wants to come back, if he sucks we can just DL him and bring up a kid like we did this year. he is a team guy and will be cool with whatever.

coco - i think sublime is right, his value is too low right now to move him, and ellsbury isn't going to keep hitting .350 next year anyway. the fact that he's one of the most expensive 4th OFs in baseball will be mitigated by the fact that ellsbury is one of the cheapest starting CFs [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

tavarez - pick up his option, use him or trade him, whatever. at that price he'll have some value to an NL team that needs back-of-the-rotation help, or he can stick around and keep providing depth and crazy.

schill - he says he really wants to come back but it wouldn't shock me to see him go to an NL team for a two-year deal. he looked totally gassed by the end of this year and i don't expect he'll ever be able to go a full season again. thanks for everything curt, regardless of what happens.

lowell - on the one hand, the price he will demand will be much higher than what the sox should (and probably will) pay. on the other, there's not a lot out there at the corner infield spots, and it's not my money. i won't be upset if we overpay for him because i love this [censored] guy, but i think he probably walks.

gagne - of course they offer him arb and like 99% sure he declines. but either way it's not a bad situation.

free agents - doubt we'll get a-rod, but if we did it would be pretty interesting - do you move him back to short and tell lugo to kick rocks? or do you fill the existing gap at 3B and leave the rest of the infield the way it is? hell you could even move him to 1B and play youk at 3rd to reduce wear and tear on a-rod. i don't think there's a big difference between the two of them defensively but i could be wrong.

barry bonds on the red sox would be hilarious and probably awful. i would sure as [censored] watch. not gonna happen though.

trading / speculation

the two pieces that we've already seen at the MLB level who are most likely to get moved are ellsbury and manny. the FO would have a hell of a time dealing with the backlash of an ellsbury trade after his postseason, but you never know. i doubt that they'd be able to get santana this offseason for a price they'd be willing to pay, but i expect them to try. using him as bait for miggy is still in the back of my mind too but i think that's wishful thinking.

moving manny to an NL club willing to give up some really good young CI or C talent would be a major coup. if i could ask for one trade this offseason this would be it, unless of course lowell is back.

my top priorities going forward are

1. find someone else who can catch the knuckler next year and hit a little bit. kevin cash is not the answer.

2. extension for papelbon.

3. get some CI help either by bringing back the WS MVP (not likely), signing someone (slim pickings), or moving manny.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

theres no way papelbon gets an extension. hes probably like a 3-2 dog to be good by the time he's done with his arb years

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

also im kind of terrified that in august they're going to announce that they've extended tek another two years

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

I don't think Schill is coming back, I heard he already sold his house in Boston, but take that fwiw.

Mirabelli needs to retire. I agree with NT!, it's time to start grooming Tek's replacement, and that guy is not in the minors right now. Kottaras (sp?) has underperformed in AAA and I just can't see Cash being a starting C, although he is a decent backup.

I would be pumped to see Lowell back here but I don't think its happening. I really want to keep Youk at first but then 3rd base is a huge hole and there isn't anyone available to plug it in the near future.

I don't mind keeping Coco for reasons already mentioned, we'll see how Ellsbury does and if Coco struggles or doesn't get enough playing time, then move him. Unless of course you can find a great deal right now.

Should be an interesting off season as always.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think Schill is coming back, I heard he already sold his house in Boston, but take that fwiw.


[/ QUOTE ]
so many ppl seem to think this and it makes no sense to me

1) schilling has been pretty adamant that his first choice is to sign with the sox for 1/12 or 1/13 or whatever it was.
2) the sox are a 100% lock to accept that offer if its there

the negotiation seems to have basically gone like this:

april 2007:
schilling: wanna resign me?
theo: maybe what do u want
schilling: 1/13
theo: hmm sounds fair lets t..
schilling: but i mean i'll also accept 1/13 at the end of the season if u wanna wait until then
theo: oh we dont rengotiate contracts mid-season lets awit until november

now schillings all like well they haven't resigned me yet maybe they dont want me i better post psuedo farewell messages on the internet

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
theres no way papelbon gets an extension. hes probably like a 3-2 dog to be good by the time he's done with his arb years

[/ QUOTE ]

why, you figure his arm is just going to be cooked by then? i thought they were trying to protect it / improve his conditioning?

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
also im kind of terrified that in august they're going to announce that they've extended tek another two years

[/ QUOTE ]

oh god don't say this

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think we've regretted letting Cabrera go...

[/ QUOTE ]

Can we stop with this nonsense?

Who would you rather have on the team, Orlando Cabrera or Jacoby Ellsbury? Because, that's really the choice.

When Cabrera left the Sox and signed with the Angels, we got a first round compensation draft pick. We used it to draft Ellsbury.

A draft pick isn't a sure thing. But, good scouting and good development should turn the #23 overall pick (whoever it is) into a player more valuable to the franchise than Orlando Cabrera ever could be.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

a lot of people forget that we got picks for a bunch of those guys. we magically turned 35-year-old pedro into clay [censored] buchholz, don't hear too many people complaining about that these days.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

very cool:
http://lanaheimangelfan.blogspot.com...ons.html#links
http://home.comcast.net/~briankaat/statsite.html

papelbon - relievers get hurt all the time or maybe dont get "hurt" but lose 5mph. i mean if papelbon wants to sign for 5/30 and give up two FA years then go for it but in general why give a long term commitment when u dont have to

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

how many years until he gets arb again? i always forget when that kicks in.

Re: ***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***
 

first 3 years they get the minimum (altho teams usually give small raises to be nice)
next 3 years they get arb

im actually not sure if papelbon is a free agent after 2010 or 2011 i forget how partial seasons work