I just don’t see how they can go into the season with the only real RHH power threat being Turner. I agree Arroyo seems prone to injuries, but he can be backed up by Ref, Valdez, and whoever the backup MI is (maybe Iggy anyway depending on costs?). I guess it just comes down to me believing more in Arroyo and you believing more in Refsnyder.
A 3rd guy brought in via trade might help to address that problem depending on if you can move two off the 40 and Ort may be expendable. Not a ton of wiggle room, but some.
How can a team with this many holes right now afford to care about losing Ort? If we are hoping to contend, would we rather have a real middle infielder or Brasier?
Yes, I believe since they agreed to a contract prior to arbitration, Brasier has a major league contract the same as any other. If the team had taken him to arbitration and lost, the contract would only be partially guaranteed. I think in that case, the team can release the player any time between the arbiter's decision and opening day for a portion of the contract (my quick googling didn't answer what percentage). Any arbitration-settled contract becomes guaranteed on opening day. Again, that's not relevant since they came to terms on an MLB contract.
I'm totally fine with Arroyo starting as long as we have a backup who's shown they're capable of holding down an MLB starting job and we aren't relying on Valdez or whomever if/when Arroyo goes down.
The way this is normally done on the rare occasions that it is done is the team and player agree and they just don't announce anything until the start of spring training, I believe NY did this with Brett Gardner once or twice in recent years and I think they may be doing it with Zach Britton this year (NY traded one of their only two lefty relievers in Luetge and there was a lot of talk last year midseason that Britton felt bad about delivering so little in the final years of his huge deal and would come back for very little if Cashman wanted, although there was also a bit of buzz this week around a reunion of him and Buck on the Mets).
I haven't heard anything to this effect, but I expect that Paxton will start the season on the IL; that could easily be the 60-day.
Paxton had a lat tear mid August; presumably he'll be good for spring training.
There are no limits as far as I know. That Robles deal wasn't unique. I think most veterans who sign to minor league deals do so with an agreed to MLB salary should they be promoted. Usually those deals also have opt-outs for the player should they not be added to the 40-man by a certain date, like say a few days before Opening Day. Of course they all also have standard opt-outs during the season as well so they can seek other opportunities if they think they won't be promoted. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a couple of those types of deals in the next few weeks, and not just with the Sox.
Yeah, but this is for the kind of veteran like Willie Calhoun and Ryan Weber and Greg Allen, guys who aren't going to get major league deals. Guys like Iglesias or Andrus are never going to go this route, too much demand and they can do better.
Depends on what the salary offers are, no? Like if the Sox offer Andrus $6M as an MLB salary but he has to start on a minor league deal, and the best he can find anywhere else is a $3M MLB contract, would it be a slam dunk that he signs the MLB deal? Especially if he's told he's going to be added to the 40-man as soon as they can put Story on 60-day IL?
:Logically that all seems possible, but in reality I don't think this ever happens.
I suspect, like Mancini (who I didnt want), the reality is the longer we wait the more likely they sign somewhere else.
As opposed to the swirling rumors we heard about their other signings of the offseason?
They can simply announce that the parties have come to an agreement and hold off on the official signing and announcement until they make a corresponding move. Remember the angst by some here over the delays in adding Justin Turner and Corey Kluber to the roster?
I don’t think there’s much of a reason to suspect that this means they sign elsewhere. This is pretty much the blueprint the Sox followed last year prior to signing Story. Now it may well be that they’re interested in neither of these players, nor Iggy, but the fact that they haven’t signed here yet probably doesn’t tell us much about how interested the Sox are.
FTA: "I don’t think there’s any doubt that he can face major-league pitching — but doing it consistently is something he still has to work on.”
The Giants seem ready for a new shortstop and I don’t know if the Angels are sold on Rengifo. But I think you’re right that at this point it’s more of a buyer’s market than people realize.
I'd be happy to give Rengifo a shot after last year's performance should the Angels want to trade him for a reasonable return.
What's reasonable? Given the offensive performance last year, if he's a decent defender he may cost more than Kim who many here think that it would take at least Houck to get.
I'm sure you're being facetious, but he spent last season in the independent Atlantic League playing for the Long Island Ducks and the Staten Island FerryHawks. 99 games, 411 PA, .297/.353/.373/.726, 6 HR. He was quite the utility player, playing 2B, 3B, LF, CF, and RF during the season.
Quite the conundrum. Make $72M playing AAA baseball OR make $10M or so but be the starting LF for the Red Sox for 4 years. Tough choice for some I would imagine.
He's an average defender, has played 2B, SS, 3B, and the corner OF positions with more of his appearances at 2B than anywhere else. He's 2 years younger than Kim and both have 3 years of control left. BTV says Dalbec has more trade value than Rengifo. I'd do that in a minute but have no idea what the Angels might be looking for. Don't think I'd trade Houck for Rengifo and BTV says that isn't even close.
Because his bat is not ready? He’s struggled chasing pitches against advanced pitching. He needs to have time to work through those issues. Exposing his bat too soon and you could potentially see a repeat of Duran, Dalbec, etc.
Being thrust into having to compete at a level that is beyond you, and then struggling in the attempt, can have a psychological effect that could be hard to overcome. And that's even if the physical shortcomings can be corrected. I don't think we have to look much further than Jeter Downs to see what kind of developmental effect rushing a player can have. He had cup of coffee in AA in 2019, and presumably was going to spend most if not all of the 2020 season in AA. With that season lost to COVID, it would have made all kinds of sense to send him to Portland to begin 2021 but instead he started the year in Worcester and struggled significantly. His progress not only stalled after that forced year off, it seemed to go backwards.
Josh Harrison is aging but was still effective defensively (3 DRS) last season and not horrible with the bat. Might be a good below the radar signing as I doubt he’d cost too much.
He also hits like JBJ.
I know Kiki is great in CF but he was more of an IF than an OF for most of his career and a damn good one at that. He's not only the Sox’s best defensive OF, he’s also their best defensive INF as well.
