Much like Newman, the Sox are not “Ready to deliver”– The 2025 Offseason News (& rumors?) Thread

catomatic

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Little known fact about the billboard featuring the morally-symbolic eyes of TJ Eckleburg is that Fitzgerald once revealed TJ stood for Tommy John.

Daisy Buchanan’s still on Newbury St?
 

E5 Yaz

polka king
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Took the word right out of my mouth.

If I ever do a stand up set, I need loneredseat in the front row, fact checking everything and revoking poetic licenses whenever and wherever he finds them abused.
Won't be able to; too busy checking to see if indeed his shoes are untied
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I believe Baltimore just agreed to a 1 year / 13 Million deal with him.
shit... I meant to type O's. Autocorrected to "I'd". But it is a pretty good deal.... I think he should be expected to be a solid innings eating guy around a 4.00ERA. A "mid" rotation type. Good value signing for them, but they do need to get a top rotation guy IMO to put them at the top of the AL.

At this point, the entire AL is so weighted to the ALE. Houston is taking a step back.... TX I think was built for a one year run that expired already. Seattle can't commit to upgrading offensively. Guardians will be good, but not very good. Same with Minnesota and Detroit. Just very weak across the board.

I expect the MFY's to figure out a way to get Vlad for one season and hope that his one year there will convince him that a long term deal at a place he supposedly doesn't like isn't all that bad of an idea. If they do that, they vault to the top. But right now, as it is, I think them, Orioles and the Sox are all about even....
 

chawson

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I expect the MFY's to figure out a way to get Vlad for one season and hope that his one year there will convince him that a long term deal at a place he supposedly doesn't like isn't all that bad of an idea. If they do that, they vault to the top. But right now, as it is, I think them, Orioles and the Sox are all about even....
I don't know, that strategy just burned the Yankees fairly badly for a guy who'd seemingly be a lot more inclined to stay with them.

"It goes back with my family," Guerrero said (in 2023) about not wanting to play for the Yankees. "That's my decision, and I will never change that."

He also said last summer, when directly questioned, that he'd obviously play for the Yankees if traded there, something out of his control. (The alternative would be throwing away his career.) I think it'd be a major reversal of opinion if he were to sign there but I know there are financial interest absolutists who believe he would if they offer the top bid.

I think if the Sox are willing to spend $710 on Soto then I don't know why they wouldn't go to $500 on Vlad Jr., who'd be hitting FA a mere six months older than Soto. That would probably get it done.
 

bosox1534

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My issue with Vlad is that we already have a LH version of him on the team for the next 10 years. So then we’ll have $800M in two guys who are both at some point in their careers going to have to be DHs. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me unless they move Devers, which I also think wouldn’t make much sense.
 

Rasputin

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My issue with Vlad is that we already have a LH version of him on the team for the next 10 years. So then we’ll have $800M in two guys who are both at some point in their careers going to have to be DHs. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me unless they move Devers, which I also think wouldn’t make much sense.
My issue with Vlad is that he's a big fat tub of goo (much like me) and when he hits his decline, it's going to be precipitous. He's one collision at first away from being entirely useless. Also, with the near certainty that Devers is going to be unable to play third for the duration of whatever contract Vlad gets, we'll essentially have three players for two positions. If Casas ends up traded for something, that wouldn't be the case, of course, but it would be very hard to make a good trade where Casas is what we're giving up.
 

jon abbey

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The Soto trade did not ‘burn’ the Yankees one bit and there is IMO literally zero chance NY trades for Vlad Jr.
 

MDF618

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I am not sure where this fits, likely as its own thread...Not sure if I am late to the game or if there actually has been a noticeable shift in journalism this year...but I am getting very tired of these supposed "news stories" that pop in my Google News alerts multiple times a day...basically everything I read during this hot stove season about the Red Sox is click bait. All the coverage is about "Proposed" trades,
"Projected" trades, and "Predicted" trades. It is really pissing me off. If you dont have any news to break, if your story is not sourced, journalist should keep it to themselves.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I am not sure where this fits, likely as its own thread...Not sure if I am late to the game or if there actually has been a noticeable shift in journalism this year...but I am getting very tired of these supposed "news stories" that pop in my Google News alerts multiple times a day...basically everything I read during this hot stove season about the Red Sox is click bait. All the coverage is about "Proposed" trades,
"Projected" trades, and "Predicted" trades. It is really pissing me off. If you dont have any news to break, if your story is not sourced, journalist should keep it to themselves.
Seems like a Google problem to me. Those aren't journalists posting those articles, they're fantasy writers.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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My issue with Vlad is that we already have a LH version of him on the team for the next 10 years. So then we’ll have $800M in two guys who are both at some point in their careers going to have to be DHs. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me unless they move Devers, which I also think wouldn’t make much sense.
They’d just be a couple of CYA candidates away from recreating the Dombrowski Tigers!
 

Don Buddin's GS

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I am not sure where this fits, likely as its own thread...Not sure if I am late to the game or if there actually has been a noticeable shift in journalism this year...but I am getting very tired of these supposed "news stories" that pop in my Google News alerts multiple times a day...basically everything I read during this hot stove season about the Red Sox is click bait. All the coverage is about "Proposed" trades,
"Projected" trades, and "Predicted" trades. It is really pissing me off. If you dont have any news to break, if your story is not sourced, journalist should keep it to themselves.
Those bullshit Google News "projected trades" articles are even worse for the NBA. One of them last week had the Celtics supposedly moving DWhite.

GTFOH with that nonsense.
 

Big Papi's Mango Salsa

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Also helps to remember the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox carried two abysmal defenders in Ortiz and Manny to championships.
The 2018 team carried at least 3 as well (Devers at 3b, Nunez at 2b and JD Martinez in his 50ish games in the outfield).

On the great teams, one of the terrible defenders was hidden at DH. Of course now our offense only DH is more like a 110 OPS+ hitter that either needs to be platooned in order to achieve higher than that (he was 112 last year) or a bit lower if he is left in against LHPs AND is able to be more like the slightly below average hitter he was against LHPs in 2023.

Neither of which is at all like the 135-145 OPS+ (conservatively) DH bat the Red Sox had for those title teams. Which is something I'd like to see them get back to - and I think the clearest way to do that is moving your most likely 140OPS+ bat to the DH slot. However, it doesn't look like that is in the cards.
 

Fishy1

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The 2018 team carried at least 3 as well (Devers at 3b, Nunez at 2b and JD Martinez in his 50ish games in the outfield).

On the great teams, one of the terrible defenders was hidden at DH. Of course now our offense only DH is more like a 110 OPS+ hitter that either needs to be platooned in order to achieve higher than that (he was 112 last year) or a bit lower if he is left in against LHPs AND is able to be more like the slightly below average hitter he was against LHPs in 2023.

Neither of which is at all like the 135-145 OPS+ (conservatively) DH bat the Red Sox had for those title teams. Which is something I'd like to see them get back to - and I think the clearest way to do that is moving your most likely 140OPS+ bat to the DH slot. However, it doesn't look like that is in the cards.
I wouldn't rule it out yet. I still think it's a real possibility. In my ideal world we're still going to try to move Devers to DH at least part-time in order to improve the infield defense.

Most of us thought we'd need to move Abreu to get Crochet (not me!!) and that didn't end up being the case-- so I'd say even if it looks difficult right now, we're still in a universe where a deal to move Yoshida and improve the defense is still possible.
 
Mar 30, 2023
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I don't know, that strategy just burned the Yankees fairly badly for a guy who'd seemingly be a lot more inclined to stay with them.
Saying that the Yankees "go burned" by the Soto trade is a ludicrous statement that perfectly demonstrates the brain rot of the "cost-controlled uber alles" era. Juan Soto just put up an MVP level season, formed one-half of arguably the greatest one-two punch in baseball history, and led the Yankees to the World Series. Experiencing those types of things is the entire point of baseball as a spectator sport and pastime, not rooting for your team to win the "lowest dollar spent per WAR over a five-year period" trophy.
 

PedroisGod

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Saying that the Yankees "go burned" by the Soto trade is a ludicrous statement that perfectly demonstrates the brain rot of the "cost-controlled uber alles" era. Juan Soto just put up an MVP level season, formed one-half of arguably the greatest one-two punch in baseball history, and led the Yankees to the World Series. Experiencing those types of things is the entire point of baseball as a spectator sport and pastime, not rooting for your team to win the "lowest dollar spent per WAR over a five-year period" trophy.
I had this exact same discussion with my brother. The only guy that the Yankees are really going to regret trading from that deal is King. Soto had a monster year and they nearly won the World Series. Every team that is serious about winning a World Series should make that trade every day of the week.
 
Mar 30, 2023
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I had this exact same discussion with my brother. The only guy that the Yankees are really going to regret trading from that deal is King. Soto had a monster year and they nearly won the World Series. Every team that is serious about winning a World Series should make that trade every day of the week.
And they just signed a pitcher with a far better track record than Michael King, who is only one year older. But, hey, he's not cost-controlled, so the Yankees are basically screwed. /s
 

jon abbey

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Also King was great last year but is a FA after this season, they gave up two years of him and full control of Drew Thorpe for a year of Soto. The Yankees do that again in a second now knowing everything that has happened since.
 

E5 Yaz

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Also King was great last year but is a FA after this season, they gave up two years of him and full control of Drew Thorpe for a year of Soto. The Yankees do that again in a second now knowing everything that has happened since.
Any notion that the Yankees "lost" the Soto trade is just bias-based wishcasting
 

Auger34

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Also King was great last year but is a FA after this season, they gave up two years of him and full control of Drew Thorpe for a year of Soto. The Yankees do that again in a second now knowing everything that has happened since.
Exactly. They made the World Series. They would make that trade 1000000 times out of 1000000. Anyone saying otherwise is insane
 

BigSoxFan

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Any notion that the Yankees "lost" the Soto trade is just bias-based wishcasting
Yeah, they didn’t lose the Soto trade, they lost the World Series. Let’s all get it right. And repeat this fact. Over and over.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I don't quite get why thinking that the Yankees would try to trade for one year of Guerrero is crazy. He fits their needs perfectly. Unless they think playoff Stanton was him showing that he's baaaaack, they need to add some power and really Judge has what 2 more years in the OF before he starts practicing at 1B or DH full time? Their pitching staff is getting grey... they likely have one more year to really GO FOR IT so he fits that window. And then he's spent a year in NY... maybe he'd come around during that time? The Yankees match up well with what the Blue Jays should be looking towards doing- tearing it all down again. The Yankees are built for a small window (despite some of the crazy contracts they have on the books)
 

jon abbey

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I don't quite get why thinking that the Yankees would try to trade for one year of Guerrero is crazy. He fits their needs perfectly. Unless they think playoff Stanton was him showing that he's baaaaack, they need to add some power and really Judge has what 2 more years in the OF before he starts practicing at 1B or DH full time? Their pitching staff is getting grey... they likely have one more year to really GO FOR IT so he fits that window. And then he's spent a year in NY... maybe he'd come around during that time? The Yankees match up well with what the Blue Jays should be looking towards doing- tearing it all down again. The Yankees are built for a small window (despite some of the crazy contracts they have on the books)
1) TOR will not trade him in the division unless they are absolutely bowled over, I actually doubt they will trade him at all.

2) The Yankees don't have the moveable prospect capital to deal for him.

3) I don't think they especially want to pay huge money for him in FA, he is a DH in waiting and they will probably need to move Judge there after Stanton is done.

4) He is a RHH and a bad defender, they are looking for LHH and good defenders.

Honestly I could go on, but you (you=SLT) are more likely to play for the Yankees next year than Vlad Jr.
 

8slim

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Saying that the Yankees "go burned" by the Soto trade is a ludicrous statement that perfectly demonstrates the brain rot of the "cost-controlled uber alles" era. Juan Soto just put up an MVP level season, formed one-half of arguably the greatest one-two punch in baseball history, and led the Yankees to the World Series. Experiencing those types of things is the entire point of baseball as a spectator sport and pastime, not rooting for your team to win the "lowest dollar spent per WAR over a five-year period" trophy.
You can't see me, but I'm standing and applauding.
 

Yaz4Ever

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Am I incorrect in believing that Vladdy despises the Yankees and will never play for them? Maybe I have him confused with someone else, but if not there’s no world in which Cashman gives TOR fair value for a one-year deal for someone who will be angry.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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I wouldn’t put any stock in things Vlad Jr has said about never playing for the Yankees; they are exactly what Johnny Damon said twenty years ago.

Hell, Pedro said he wouldn’t sign an extension with the Sox if they traded for him, IIRC.
 

simplicio

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I also despise the Yankees and will never play for them for less than four hundred million dollars.
 

Yaz4Ever

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I wouldn’t put any stock in things Vlad Jr has said about never playing for the Yankees; they are exactly what Johnny Damon said twenty years ago.

Hell, Pedro said he wouldn’t sign an extension with the Sox if they traded for him, IIRC.
I also despise the Yankees and will never play for them for less than four hundred million dollars.
Point taken
 

Big Papi's Mango Salsa

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Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but Mark Feinsand on MLB.com shared that Teoscar Hernandez is actually looking for something like a 3yr deal with an AAV of around $23m per season. https://nesn.com/2024/12/mlb-rumors-what-it-could-cost-red-sox-to-sign-teoscar-hernandez/

“The Dodgers and Hernández seemed headed for a reunion, but the two sides haven’t been able to reach a deal thus far,” Feinsand wrote. “That opened the door for other teams — namely the Red Sox and Blue Jays — to jump in on the outfielder, who is seeking a three-year deal in the $22-24 million a year range, per sources.”

If Feinsand is at all legit (and I don't know, but writing for MLB.com I have to assume he isn't a complete hack) 3/$70m/$23.3m should be something that the Red Sox are all over (unless they are blowing smoke and DO plan on moving Devers to DH while bringing in another 3b). I think he remains an excellent fit for the Red Sox. Yes, he would cost a pick, but recouping that pick from Pivettta should be mitigated.

I still prefer the upgrade the defense at 3b / upgrade the offense at DH route. But at the Bregman cost and at the way Bloom could be, lets say difficult to deal with (Arenado), Hernandez at that type of contract should certainly be achievable.

IF Anthony does what many of us think he's going to do in Spring Training (and I'm one of them) Hernandez is the DH. If Anthony doesn't and needs some seasoning, Hernandez is LF for the year before moving to DH when Anthony is ready.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Am I incorrect in believing that Vladdy despises the Yankees and will never play for them? Maybe I have him confused with someone else, but if not there’s no world in which Cashman gives TOR fair value for a one-year deal for someone who will be angry.
He has said plenty of stuff, and I'd believe that he'd be willing to sign for somewhat less with a different team in a pure Free Agency situation. I suspect if the Yankees brought him in (and I don't care what Jon Abbey says otherwise) for a year, and they made him feel real nice and comfy there, that some of that old animosity would go away. I'm not saying that they're going to do that... but they need another big bat. Right now, I don't think that they're better than the Sox or O's. Not worse. They need another bat more than the Sox do IMO and Vladdy fits the part perfectly... .for just a one year deal or possibly longer term.
 

moondog80

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3/70 seems right on target for Teoscar. But if even the Dodgers are balking, maybe the market truly has shifted and everyone else can forget about the Soto and Fried and Adames deals.
 

chawson

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The Soto trade did not ‘burn’ the Yankees one bit and there is IMO literally zero chance NY trades for Vlad Jr.
Also King was great last year but is a FA after this season, they gave up two years of him and full control of Drew Thorpe for a year of Soto. The Yankees do that again in a second now knowing everything that has happened since.
Sure, this makes sense. I'm not suggesting they 'lost' any trade for Soto, my point is that they clearly wanted to sign him long-term and having him acclimate to the Bronx for a year was part of the pitch. They paid what everyone agreed was a lot. Soto had a great year and the Yankees did too. Their attempt to re-sign him didn't work. I don't know that they'd want to do that again for one year of a hitter (at $30~ million) about to leave for free agency.

Michael King is a real asset, and two years of him at arb rates is fairly significant. As for the other guys, who knows. The Yankees trade a lot of pitchers from their supposedly terrific farm system and I can't remember many of them amounting to much, at least since Ian Kennedy.
 

simplicio

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$70m and selling low on Yoshida to upgrade DH for the remainder of his contract seems like an insane use of resources that's necessarily going to cut into offering extensions. No thank you.
 

jon abbey

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I don't know that they'd want to do that again for one year of a hitter (at $30~ million) about to leave for free agency.
They just pushed hard for Kyle Tucker in a similar situation, but these guys almost always get traded to the other league.

The Yankees trade a lot of pitchers from their supposedly terrific farm system and I can't remember many of them amounting to much, at least since Ian Kennedy.
Heh, I really hope you were one of the people pushing hard for Jordan Montgomery last winter. :)
 

Yo La Tengo

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$70m and selling low on Yoshida to upgrade DH for the remainder of his contract seems like an insane use of resources that's necessarily going to cut into offering extensions. No thank you.
Full agreement. I happen to believe that if healthy, Yoshida is going to be a big contributor this year, but if he craters, they have the totally viable option of playing matchups and rotating players through the DH spot. And bringing in an aging LF, with poor defensive grades, who will cost a 2nd round draft pick, would run opposite to everything the Sox have been building toward. Sign a starter or another big bullpen arm or two.