In the spirit of getting CRAZY: trade Benintendi for Baez/Schwarber. edit: To be clear, I see Baez having much more trade value than Schwarber. (You only do this if your scouts like Baez as a SS.) Sign JD Martinez (or the biggest bat you can find) to play LF.
When Pedroia returns midseason, slide Baez to shortstop, and do one of two things...
- EITHER trade Bogaerts to a contender needing an infield upgrade for the best thing you can get, ideally one or two legitimate AA/AAA SP prospects, who we're hoping will flesh out our post-2018 rotation situation. That gives you:
Betts RF RHH
Bradley CF LHH
Martinez LF RHH
Schwarber DH LHH
Ramirez 1B RHH
Devers 3B LHH
Pedroia 2b RHH
Baez SS RHH
Vazquez C RHH
- OR Bogaerts to 3rd, Devers to 1B, Schwarber to DH, Ramirez to PH/FA, yielding a late 2018 lineup that looks like this:
Betts RF RHH
Bradley CF LHH
Martinez LF RHH
Schwarber DH LHH
Pedroia 2b RHH
Devers 1B LHH
Bogaerts 3B RHH
Baez SS RHH
Vazquez C RHH
Either way, that's a team that might be quite well-rounded, offensively and defensively.