ChiSox59

My guess is their top few options for RF are controllable LH bats that they'd need to acquire via trade. I have mentioned Nimmo, Conforto, and Benintendi in recent weeks. Obviously all those guys would require prospect capital in return, unless the BoSox really wanted to get cute for this season (doubtful). I actually don't hate Gordon as a stop gap option if the trade market prices just don't make sense. Prefer him to Puig, honestly. Another stop gappy option would would be David Peralta. He's been rumored to be available, controlled thru 2020. Not sure how his defense is, honestly.

Or maybe they didn't want to guarantee a guy $300M when they were about 2 years away from being ready for prime time. Having to overpay to land a premier FA may also be a legitimate possibility. But I also fully expect them to be in the Cole sweepstakes, and from the sounds of it, I am one of the few here who believe that.

The Yankees legitimately have an all star level player at every position. These things are not the same.

The bolded is really the bottom line. The Sox currently have $17M committed to 2020 payroll. With arbitration, they'll be around $50M without signing anybody. They could add $75M to next year's payroll and still be below average.

How about: Red Sox chose 4 of the following: Bummer, Colome, Abreu, Leury, and Rutherford Sox get Benintendi and Rusney Castillo. Castillo due $11.75M this year and $14.25M next year. Offsets the money the BoSox are picking up in 2019, and gets Castillo off their books. Sox could run Castillo out in RF the rest of this season. Guy sucks, but maybe this is a way for the Sox to get creative to get Benintendi. Again....doubt Dombrowski blows one of his best assets on something like this, but kind of fun to speculate about.

Seriously? If you need that explained to you, I may as well stop responding to you.

Schryver will be in the bigs in September. Interesting arm.

Thing start to matter next season. These are things the organization will care about when trying to win baseball games. You can't have an everyday lineup that 8/9 dudes are right handed hitters.

So you think a lineup with a 1 left handed batter creates good lineup balance? Literally this would be the lineup in June next year: Robert CF (R), Moncada 3B (S), Abreu 1B (R), Eloy LF (R), McCann C (R), Puig RF (R), Anderson SS (R), Madrigal 2B (R), INSERT ? DH If this were the lineup, Leury would probably be in RF and Puig at DH. But this lineup is just so right handed.

Puig isn't very good though. He's been a slightly better than average OF since 2015. And not to sound like Lillian, but the Sox get so right handed if they add Puig. Literally the only lefty in the lineup is Moncada at that point. They really need a good defensive OF that bats left handed if they're looking for a long term fit. I guess I wouldn't be shocked to see the Sox flirt with Puig on a short term deal if they can't find a RF on the trade market, but he really isn't a very good fit. I'd honestly rather just roll with Leury in RF next season unless they could get Puig for like 1/$10M or 2/$18M, but that seems unlikely.

Lol,...not sure if joking.. If the Sox could get Beinintendi for Abreu, Colome and Bummer, he'd be in CF in Chicago tonight. And we have no minor league OF depth that is ready to play RF next season (with Robert in CF). After Robert, really none of the OF prospects have progressed as hoped, and certainly none are ready for MLB action in 2020. Best case, Rutherford comes up in 2021, or Adolfo has a monster start to next season and is ready by mid-summer, but both of those guys are major question marks at this point. And this is coming from one of, if not the biggest, Adolfo believer on this board. Basabe is not a completely cooked goose at this point, but hard to really expect much from him at this point. He could have been in CF by now if he'd played decently this season - but an injury, and a pretty poor season to date has ruined that opportunity for him.

Again - as I stated, I am not suggesting the Red Sox would actually trade Benintendi at all, let alone for a package of Bummer, Colome and Abreu. I was simply passing along the report that Boston Globe said he was potentially available, and seeing as though its been well reported the Sox like Beinintendi, and he fits what they need, it may be worth discussing. I also think its reasonable to assume Boston would have some interest in all three of Bummer, Colome and Abreu - but probably not in exchange for one of their best assets. Also, Abreu is the only impending free agent of those three. And yes, Beintendi is a much better all around baseball player than Puig and Castellanos. Castellanos is not an option for the Sox in RF. If they signed up, it'd be as the primary DH, occasional OF. You cannot have an OF with Eloy and Castellanos in it.

No doubt Wood is a big question mark. Which is probably why you could get him for 1 year and $8-10M range. I am in the Alex Wood camp (in addition to adding a front end guy) mainly because I want Kopech to spend the first month or two in AAA getting his feet wet, slowly adding workload (thereby controlling his innings early), and taking it slow. This also will get us a year of control back. Start the season with rotation of Cole (or other front end SP acquisition), Giolito, Cease, Wood, Lopez. Once Kopech comes up bump Lopez to pen, unless injury necessitates it sooner. The Sox need to take it easy with Kopech next season. There is no way he is going to throw 200 innings, so IMO, the best of both worlds is letting him slowly regain his footing in AAA, get the year back in late May / early June, and then call him up with only 40 or so IP under his belt. Realistically this is only possible if the Sox acquire two SP to go along with Gio, Cease and Lopez.

Nice weekend for Adam. Hope he keeps it up.

1. Bellinger 1a. Trout

Alex Wood would be a fantastic signing as the 2nd of two SP acquisitions. The other needs to be a TOR starter if the Sox are serious about getting good. I think 6/$180M would get it done for Cole. I've previously said 6/$168M. Somewhere in that realm. At some point the money needs to be spent. The Sox have so little committed moving forward that Cole at $30M AAV doesn't even get them close to a league average payroll.

I agree it’s gonna cost more than Abreu and two pen arms. I said as much. What do you think would be a fair deal. I do think the BoSox would have interest in all of Colome, Bummer and Abreu. What do you think would need to added?

He was a 4+ fWAR OF last season. And Sox need a LH bat that doesn’t suck balls defensively in RF. None of the FA fit that description.

So says some recent speculation from Boston Globe. Would you be interested? Does Colome, Bummer and Abreu get you even close? What would need to be added? Purely speculation here to discuss...not necessarily saying Red Sox would be interested. Was shocked to see report he may be available.

I’d be surprised if it got as high as 7/$210, but I guess you never know.

Yawn..feels like this kills some discussion.

The time to move on has come and gone, ladies and gentlemen...0

Ya interested to get a look at him.

Per sox Twitter.

Great for the Padres man. Not sure what they have to do with the discussion at hand.