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

[ADLinden]

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

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

i would hate that though

[sublime]

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.

[rwperu34]

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1B- whomever is available

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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.

[Uston]

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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.

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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.

[bnrocks]

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.

[NT!]

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.

[gehrig]

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

[Al_Money]

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.

[Scary_Tiger]

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.

[Moneyline]

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.