The Red Sox had some major work to do in the offseason. After their third last place finish in four years, they had to once again change their philosophy so they could get back to competing. Dave Dombrowski entered his first offseason with the Boston Red Sox with three moves in mind. He wanted to acquire an ace, a closer, and a right handed hitting fourth outfielder. First thing to get checked off was the closer. Dombrowski sent four prospects, including centerfielder Manuel Margot, considered a top ten prospect in baseball, to the San Diego Padres for Craig Kimbrel. The other three prospects sent to San Diego were shortstop Javier Guerra, infielder Carlos Asuaje, and left handed pitcher Logan Allen. Did the Red Sox give up too much for Kimbrel? Yes, they might have. However, it can be justified. Margot and Guerra were the two big names in the package going to San Diego. With 23 year old Mookie Betts manning centerfield (or possibly 25 year old Jackie Bradley Jr.), Margot becomes expendable. The Red Sox also have Xander Bogaerts, 23, so Guerra, 20, is also blocked. This deal seemed like the Sox gave up way too much, but after realizing that the top guys they traded were blocked by young stars, it made more sense. Good deal for Dombrowski. Next was the outfielder. Chris Young was signed to a two-year deal worth $13.5 million. As a fourth outfielder, he is a pretty good option. However, I do not totally understand why the fourth outfielder had to be right handed. You could argue it is because they do not know how Jackie Bradley Jr. is going to hit in 2016, but JBJ actually hits left handed pitching better than he does right handed. Either way, Young is a fine fourth outfielder. He is not good enough to start, so I expect the outfield of Betts, Bradley, and Rusney Castillo to remain intact. Assuming that is the case, this was also a good deal for Dombrowski. Finally, the ace came to Boston. Now I’m not sure who we have to thank for David Price signing with the Red Sox. It could be Dombrowski, but I lean more towards Jared Carrabis. Any president/general manager can give out over $30 million per year. It takes true talent to convince a guy who seemed to truly hate Boston, that this is the place to spend the next seven years of his career. Is seven years a little tough to swallow for a guy over 30 years old? Yes it is. However, there are reasons to like the deal. First of all, the Red Sox needed an ace. There were two ways to acquire that ace. They could trade away all of their prospects for an ace, or they could just open up their checkbook and not part with any of their top prospects. With the price that young starters are going for, Dombrowski made the right call. If Shelby Miller got traded for Dansby Swanson, Ender Enciarte, and Aaron Blair, imagine how expensive Sonny Gray or Chris Sale would be, never mind Jose Fernandez who would command a package that would look something like Mookie Betts, Eduardo Rodriguez, Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers, and probably another prospect. That is an outrageous asking price, but probably not far off from what the Marlins would want. Since Dombrowski chose the route of free agency, he had two real choices. He could go with Price or Zack Greinke. Greinke is two years older than Price, and has an anxiety disorder that I find hard to believe would be able to survive Boston. He not only chose the right route, he chose the right guy. Also, a three year opt-out is great for both parties. If Price pitches well, he can opt-out and take advantage of the fact that contracts keep ballooning. It also works out well for the Red Sox because they can thank Price for his time in Boston, and then move on. It is an out so they do not have to pay a guy into his late 30s, something they have expressed their dislike for over the previous few years. Dombrowski was able to check off all three of his priorities before the Winter Meetings. However, he had too many starters and still needed to add depth to the bullpen. Enter, the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners wanted a reliable starter after losing Hisashi Iwakuma to the Dodgers and Wade Miley is about as reliable as they come. He is by no means a great pitcher. He is a decent pitcher who will, for the most part, keep you in the game. But by reliable I mean that he takes the ball every five games. In his first four full seasons as a big leaguer, Miley has started at least 32 games. In return for the lefty, the Sox got back Carson Smith and Roenis Elias. Smith had a great season in the Seattle bullpen. Elias is more for depth. This honestly may be Dombrowski’s best move of the offseason. As I said, anybody can throw $30 million at a starter to get them to sign. Anybody can offer four top prospects for a closer. It takes great negotiating skills to get a guy like Smith in return for an expendable starter. Now, I would have rather moved a different starter, because Miley is so dependable, but it would have been more difficult to move the others. Clay Buchholz has as much skill as any pitcher in baseball, but is the opposite of Miley; he has never started 30 games in his career and only started 28 games or more three times. He has been a full-time big leaguer since 2008. Rick Porcello has a laughably large contract. Nobody was going to take that. Joe Kelly has some serious potential, so I can see wanting to hold onto him as a number five starter. The only other guy is Eduardo Rodriguez and he’s not going anywhere. There are a few more guys I would like to see the Sox take a run at. None of them are guys who would break the bank, but they have serious potential to help the Red Sox rotation. The first guy I would like to take a look at is Henderson Alvarez. Alvarez was non-tendered by the Marlins making him a free agent. He had a rough 2015 campaign, but he had a very good 2014 season and is only 25 years old. He should not command much money on the market. The next guy is Cliff Lee. Yes, that’s right. Cliff Lee. Lee has not pitched since 2014 and is 37 years old. He will draw interest from many teams based on name alone. However, if he is given a one-year, incentive based deal, he could bounce back to help a team. Not as an ace, but as a good pitcher. Steve Cishek is another pitcher who was non-tendered. He had a rough 2015, but had two strong seasons before that. He could also get a one-year deal and adds some depth to the bullpen. I was higher on this move before the Sox traded for Smith, but as a depth guy, he is worth a flyer. Since we’re looking at pitchers who struggled in 2015, I would give the Atlanta Braves a call on Julio Teheran. He would be much cheaper than Shelby Miller. Now that does not say a lot because Miller cost the Braves a ton, but at least ask what it would take to get him. There is one part of the Red Sox offseason that I do not think was a success, and that was bringing back John Farrell. They very well could just be bringing him back because they couldn’t fire a guy with cancer. I did not like Farrell even in 2013 when the won the World Series. They won it in spite of him, not because of him. He was totally lost while managing against the Cardinals. He is not a good manager. Is it coincidence that the Red Sox started playing better last season when Torry Lovullo took over? I don’t think so. It may have had something to do with Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval sitting down as well, but I honestly believe that Farrell brought this team down. Plus, he’s a clown. Last year he said they had five aces and this year, instead of backing down, doubled down and said that he believes three guys in the rotation, including Clay Buchholz, could hit 200 innings. Buchholz has never pitched 200 innings. I understand supporting your guys, but he is not doing it the right way. He just sounds stupid. Obviously I want the Red Sox to win the World Series this year. But if they get off to a rough start so Farrell gets fired, that would not be the worst thing in the world, as long as they turn it around under the new manager. Do not misread that. I am not rooting for the Red Sox to lose. I always want what is best for this team. What is best for this team is to have a guy not named John Farrell on the top step managing the Boston Red Sox. The offseason is far from over. We could still see another starter brought in. We could see more bullpen help acquired. Hell, we could even see Ramirez traded. If that happens, give Dombrowski executive of the year immediately. Let’s see how the rest of the offseason plays out, but it seems like the major moves are done and this team is ready to compete in 2016. Follow @SamPericolo for the latest sports talk and news
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SAMUEL PERICOLOSam is a graduate of Assumption College where he studied History, Marketing, and Political Science and was a Co-Producer on a weekly sports talk television show. Archives
March 2018
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