He was pretty damn good upon return, surely clean of PEDs. I highly doubt Cano was on PEDs his whole career and just randomly got caught in his mid 30s.
The $10M paid to Cruz doesn’t mean they can’t add $10M to Machado. Not really how it works.
I am all for Cruz on a 1 year $8-10M deal. Still plenty of AB for Palka. He’s terrible defensively; but depending how the roster looks I am Ok with him getting OF reps.
Tito Polo is a minor FA as well too, I believe. Did the Sox resign him?
If not, Sox are down to Rutherford as the return for Frazier, Davidson and Kahnle.
Still strange though...why take them off now? Why not just wait until the spot is actually needed and fill your 40 man? Maybe the idea is a lot of guys will be going through next day or two so it is easier to slip a guy like Clarkin or Tilson through waivers?
May as well add him. Can always remove him later and nothing is lost. Could also trade him or include him a bigger trade if the Sox think he has some value to other clubs. I don't find the move surprising at all.
I think we may not have seen him because he was showing big time signs of fatigue down the stretch. Sox just figured it was better to let him rest than continue his downward trend towards the end of the season.
Or....they just don't like him much.
I would rather try to trade Stephens than just lose him in the rule 5. Surely some teams would have interest. He's a major league ready back end of the rotation option. A nice filler piece in a trade. I think the Sox add him even if they don't really have him in their plans.
FWIW, I am not super interested in Eovaldi for what he is probably going to get.
But I don't think our path to getting better is running the same team out there again in 2019 like you repeat constantly that you want to do. Adding outside of the org reinforcements is important to take the next step. I am worried another 60 win season would be terribly detrimental to the young guys we have that we all want to be a part of the next core. The Sox to take the next step in the rebuild and start improving. Signing some FA that don't subtract from our farm or block key guys is the way to do that.