Discussing the Red Sox options in search of their ace

November 26, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

With their offensive game made considerably better in the wake of this week’s Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez signings, the Red Sox have turned their focus to their biggest remaining weakness; pitching. Their options are plentiful but as time goes on, the once likely concept of a Jon Lester return to Boston is starting to become questionable.

Needless to say, though their chances with Lester have slightly lessened, their need for a high quality pitcher to anchor their staff has not.

If the Red Sox are to succeed next season they will need an ace. They will not find that ace within their current roster or their farm system. As a result, they will need to either acquire said ace through free agency or the trade market.

In terms of free agent options, the Red Sox are in a way lucky. There is an extremely seasoned crop of veteran pitchers searching for contract this offseason. Names like Max Scherzer and James Sheilds highlight that respectable group.

Scherzer and Sheilds both have an ERA under 3.5 and have shown that they are truly capable of shouldering major innings. Their ability to play those long games is characteristic of the kind of ace the Red Sox want. But at the same time, Scherzer’s recent Cy Young win as well as his being the two time defending AL Wins Champion gives him great leverage in forcing teams to give him much more money than they may want to give him. The same could be said for Shields who just recently proved his effectiveness in the playoffs with a dominant playoff run with the Royals.

The Red Sox are not afraid to pay big money. But at the same time they seem to have some strong misgivings about delving into either the Scherzer or the Sheilds market.

As of now, the most likely target for Boston, should they fail to sign Lester, would be a player currently under contract. Looking at the trade market, the options are even more bountiful.

Headliners include Reds pitcher, Johnny Cueto, Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma, and White Sox ace, Chris Sale.

Of those three, Sale is statistically superior with an ERA that is almost a full run less than Cueto’s and roughly .8 runs less than Iwakuma’s. However, with the Red Sox possibly shopping either infielder Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Bets or Yoenis Cespedes, a defensively competent White Sox team would likely be reluctant to deal its best pitcher for an unproven prospect and a one dimensional slugger.

With that in mind, the Red Sox are yet to engage in trade talks with the Reds, Mariners, or White Sox. However, the one team and therefore player the Sox have expressed great interest in is Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia baseball reporter Jeff Passan said via Twitter that if the Red Sox miss out on Lester, “Boston's desire for an ace will make a Cole Hamels trade very likely.”

Hamels pitched to a 2.46 ERA last season and has logged 200+ innings in each of his last five seasons. He would work for the Sox although, in order to get him, the team would likely have to part ways with either Xander Bogaerts or Mookie Betts or both.

In the end, the Red Sox could go any one of many ways in the ever changing landscape of this year’s free agent and trade markets. But of the vast array of MLB teams looking for pitchers this offseason, the Red Sox, by virtue of their now immense depth offensively do definitely have an advantage should they go for a trade.

The opposite is true if they try to pay their way into a big money free agent deal as Boston is now just a few million dollars away from activating the luxury tax. 

All fears would be settled nonetheless, if Boston could get Jon Lester back. He is proven in the system and is coming off the best season of his career. Fans love him. His former Boston teammates love him just as much as management does. 

"Obviously we're doing everything we can to sign a top-tier pitcher, Jon Lester. And hopefully he'll come back,'' Red Sox owner John Henry said.

Lester is the Red Sox' priority, he is their favorite candidate. 

To paraphrase Wizard of Oz, the road to Lester is the yellow brick road. The roads to their secondary options are those other colors that nobody sings about. 

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Belated takeaways from Sandoval, Ramirez introductions

November 26, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

After signing free agent third basemen, Pablo Sandoval, to a five year $95 million contract, and short stop, Hanley Ramirez, to a $100 million five year deal, the Red Sox front office hosted a press conference Tuesday to introduce the two newcomers.

There was a general aura of excitement in the Red Sox fan base Tuesday that had been present for the majority of the past few weeks. The long played out, highly political, free agent saga that had engulfed the baseball world for the past month had drawn the attention of baseball figures across the country had come to a stunning, climactic close just days before. Suddenly, with the services of two of baseball’s best sluggers, the Sox appeared to be a much better team than they were in September.  

Red Sox owner, John Henry praised management and coaching for luring such prime targets to town.

"If we can win the World Series every other year and finish last every other year, I'd take that,'' Henry said. "It has been a roller coaster, I can't deny that, but when you have a bad year, like you did this year, just like in 2012, you're determined to rebuild quickly, and I think Ben has taken tremendous steps to do that.”

Beyond Henry however, the main focus Tuesday was on the players who were being introduced as well as the current Red Sox they would soon be playing alongside.

Beginning with the players introduced, character issues were a topic given a large amount of discussion time

Though each powerful in their swings and legendary in their place in baseball history, Sandoval and Ramirez each have personal issues that have been assuredly and loudly pointed out since their singing.

For Sandoval, commitment has been a struggle for much of his career. Standing five feet, 11 inches tall, Sandoval weighs in around 245 pounds. His weight has fluctuated since the beginning of his career and, at times, lack of offseason commitment has resulted in decreased mobility in some of his six seasons in baseball.

He addressed those problems head on Tuesday insisting that he wanted to stay at third base rather than DH. To do so, he will have to stay in shape.

 "I’m going to sit down with the strength and conditioning staff, with the training and figure out the best situation," he said. "The organization will choose the program I have if they make an adjustment they’re going to do it because the organization does those things. So we’ll sit down with training staff and talk about that."

Sandoval further elaborated by voicing his understanding of how and why his weight has been a problem.

"I don't take it personal," he said. "I just take it like advice that they gave me. I want to show them that I can be a better player. I learned a lot of things from that, so now I'm showing that I'm in my new organization and I'm going to show that I'm mature and I'm good enough for that challenge.”

The team’s addressing the very blatant issues that Sandoval has dealt with instead of constantly drawing the conference back to what wonderful things he has done hint at a long term commitment to the player. Such a thing is truly positive as Sandoval is already a world class talent that could get even better with training and commitment to a baseball lifestyle.

But they still were not all grim and gloomy. Sandoval’s position was discussed as he also spoke on the fluidity of the game of baseball as it is played in Boston.

"I want a new challenge. I need a new challenge," he said Tuesday during a Fenway Park news conference. "I know that I had a great career in San Francisco. But I'm going to have a new one here."

Sandoval approached Tuesday’s conference with a kind of genuine will to learn this system. He said the things he had to say while meaning the things he wanted to say.

Ramirez, who was introduced a few hours after Sandoval, saw his conference largely centered around where he would play next season.

The discussion was slightly arbitrary and revealed that the Red Sox really are not sure what moves might be made in the coming weeks and months.

"You're always trying to get a sense of where they might fit in," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We're not even at Thanksgiving yet. The potential for some other additions might exist.”

Ramirez has been suggested as a possible candidate for the Sox left field position. However, there has been growing talk of a blockbuster trade that would move star prospect Xander Bogaerts out of Boston to make room for Ramirez and gain the services of a star pitcher.

Realistically though, the Red Sox are not sure which way they will go.

Beyond position talk, Ramirez’s past connection with the Red Sox organization was also brought up in relation to his ability to bond with current members of the team.

David Ortiz, who was the Red Sox designated hitter the night of Ramirez’ 2005 MLB debut with the Red Sox, has already embraced his being linked with Ramirez and Sandoval by the nickname “the three amigos”.

Ortiz, who has been one of Boston’s most consistent sluggers since his entry onto the team more than a decade ago, ought to recognize the need to develop Sandoval, and ideally Ramirez as well, into similarly capable hitters.

Judging by Ramirez’ antidotal evidence, that is just was Ortiz has tried to do.

"David, he's like my big brother," Ramirez said. "He's texting me pretty much every day and telling me what I've got to do, what I've got to change. I think he's part of my success in the big leagues ... I can't wait to be on the same team with him. It's going to be great."

One big thing that Ramirez has to change is his worrisome propensity to snap per se. After last season’s AJ Pierzynski debacle that ended with him being moved out for disciplinary reasons, the Red Sox need to keep tight reigns on Ramirez and any behavior issues he runs into.

But Boston showed in their recognition of those issues that they are ready to handle Ramirez and are willing to go to great lengths to get the most out of him.

Basically, the main takeaway from the Sandoval/Ramirez introductions is that the Red Sox are willing to address any problems that arise for the sole sake of utilizing the wide array of helpful qualities that the two bring to the team.

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Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval deals leave Red Sox overstaffed

November 24th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

In the span of about three hours, the Boston Red Sox unloaded nearly $200 million in payroll over the next five years. In quick succession, reports surfaced confirming and suggesting deals to Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval respectively.

The two high profile free agents have been the talk of the MLB this offseason making today’s stunning news all that more groundbreaking.

Further complicating this though is the fact that should these two deals go final, the Boston Red Sox will have one of the most powerful offensive lineups in baseball.

Ramirez, who was signed to a $88 million four year deal with an option for a fifth year at $22 million salary, carries with him a history of speed and power. Nine years and three teams after making his MLB debut with the Red Sox in 2005, Ramirez has hit an average of 24 home runs per season. He has on seven occasions stolen more than 20 bases while all the while batting a solid .300 from various points in a batting order. He has made three All-Star Games and been named Rookie of the Year, NL Batting Leader, Silver Slugger at various points in his career.

During what has been a rather successful decade long demolition of MLB pitching, one of Ramirez most capable opponents has been long time Giants third basemen Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval came to Boston on a similar $100 million five year contract that has since been all but signed. The value of whatever contract he would be given has been a hotly contested subject this offseason largely due to the flexibility Sandoval’s being a switch hitter allows him to possess.

The benefits of his manipulated batter/pitcher matchups, include 106 home runs and an assembled batting average of .276 in six professional seasons. Sandoval, like Ramirez, has made his presence felt in the Midsummer Classic, making the All-Star game twice.

After years of being compared to one another though, these two players have been united by a pair of marquee contracts and gargantuan salaries.  

But what does this mean for their playing time?

The answer is further clouded by the fact that there are many more names and positions in play here than those of Sandoval and Ramirez. Names like Yoenis Cespedes, Mike Napoli, Xander Boagaerts and Shane Victorino come to mind.

In short, last season’s last place finish obscured the fact that, at least on paper, this Red Sox team was already stacked with power hitting talent. But paper is not real life and after many of those players failed to live up to expectations the Sox were smart to try to bring in some fresh faces.

Those fresh faces, by nature of the equally fresh memory of the millions upon millions of dollars it took to get them, will likely play big roles for this Red Sox team next year. The other faces, by nature of the largely unsuccessful seasons that they worked towards last seasons could see their playing time suffer to accommodate the inclusion of Sandoval and Ramirez.  

More specifically, the left side of the infield as well as the outfield could see the most noticeable turnover. Sandoval and Ramirez’s natural positions are third base and short stop respectively.

As of now, it looks like Sandoval will ease into the third base position uncontested. Ramirez however might take quite a bit more shuffling to work into the lineup.

Firstly, one must understand that Dustin Pedroia will never leave second base. Second, Xander Bogaerts has already shown how much his game suffered when he made the switch from third base to short stop. Operating off of that previous knowledge the Red Sox ought to know that moving him out of the infield could be met with catastrophic results.

Remembering that Sandoval will likely be locked in at third base, that means that the only position in the infield available is first base which really is not available unless the Red Sox do something drastic and trade away Mike Napoli.

Napoli, who currently serves as a tried and true big bat out of the number four spot in the lineup, feels a little too beloved by Red Sox coaching to be let go.

So what does that leave for Ramirez? Outfield? Likely; yes.

While the Sox infield is stacked with fielding talent, the outfield is much more unstable. Shane Victorino dealt with immense injury trouble last season missing nearly 100 games with various hamstring calamities. To his right, the Red Sox center fielding position was in constant turnover with neither Jackie Bradly Jr. Mookie Betts nor even Brock Holt making a surefire case for why they should be tenured in the position. Though Yoenis Cespedes will not go anywhere, simply due to his bat, the Sox assuredly have room in the outfield to insert Ramirez should he be comfortable playing there.

If he is comfortable, then we will likely see at least one more player leaving Boston in the coming days and months. But that is not to say that the Red Sox could not get something in return.

As of now it looks like the Jon Lester contract roomers of last month have quieted. If they stay that way and the Red Sox do not get Lester, they will still be in dire need of an ace pitcher. To remedy that need, Boston could foreseeably trade a package deal of some of their top prospects for a top tier pitcher.

However, to date, no whispers suggesting the acquisition of a pitcher through the trade market have been hatched.

We may have to wait on that one.

Needless to say, the Red Sox blew things up Monday morning scooping up two of the MLB’s top hitters and dishing out some rather exorbitant sums of money in order to do so. But now they are left with a minor problem that begins to verge on worrisome. They are simply overstaffed. They have more big bats than they know what to do with and though that does not seem like a problem, if they smother any of those high value talents for too long they risk losing them. 

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Red Sox meet with Pablo Sandoval, discuss potential contracts

November 18th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

Members of the Red Sox front office met with sought after free agent Pablo Sandoval for several hours Tuesday afternoon. They invited the 3^rd basemen to see Fenway Park before meeting in team offices to discuss potential deals.

The Red Sox have expressed interest in Sandoval since mid-August as they noted his contract terminating after this past season. The interest in Sandoval stems mainly from his being a powerful switch hitter.

He hit 16 home runs last season and would be one of the Red Sox only left handed hitters if he was signed.

Beyond offensive versatility, Sandoval would provide a kind of consistency at third base that has been lacking in recent years. He put up a .971 fielding percentage a year ago and initiated 27 double plays. If signed the Sox would likely plug Sandoval in as a full time third basemen for next season.

Also, if Sandoval were to be given the six year term that he requests be part of his contract, he would be with the team long enough to be considered as a replacement for David Ortiz as designated hitter when he retires.

Sandoval would without a doubt better the Red Sox as a baseball team but he is currently commanding a very large paycheck.

During today’s meetings, baseball reporter Jerry Crasnick tweeted that sources had told him that Sandoval has verbalized his desire to sign within the ballpark of $80-$90 million over six years. He later suggested that a deal with Sandoval could materialize very quickly.

Despite that, conflicting reports exist that insist that there is little or no chance that a contract actually gets drawn up and agreed upon before Sandoval leaves town later this week.

But regardless, the Red Sox acted on their promise to go “all in” on Sandoval. They did so with a ball park tour, a short experience of Boston, and a reported dinner Tuesday night. The Red Sox seem to be giving Sandoval all available options in an attempt to lure him onto their roster.

"It's an opportunity for (players) to ask questions," Red Sox GM Ben Cherrington said of these recruiting meetings in general. "These are choices, big decisions that free agents make. Obviously, a big piece of it is going to be the economics. But it's a life decision and they should get an opportunity to ask questions about whatever they want to ask questions about.”

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Thoughts on Pablo Sandoval, Jon Lester roumers

November 12th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

As we roll into the meat of the MLB offseason, the stove is turned up on high heat. Teams begin to toss around offers and “baseball insiders” start churning out roomers relentlessly. Unlike that of any other major sport, the baseball’s offseason becomes like a poker game with professionals, amateurs and even common fans trying to guess who will sign where and who will draw up which contracts.

But amidst the tidal wave of roomers and reports there are always a few stories that stand out. In Boston at least it seems that we already have our stories.

Since the beginning of September the MLB has been abuzz with talk of Giants first basemen Pablo Sandoval leaving San Francisco. Sandoval has rolled out quite a few good seasons with the Giants and is one of only a handful of first basemen in the league with a swing as powerful as his. The Red Sox, like the rest of the league are understandably interested. But beyond Sandoval, the Red Sox have been and still are actively interested in somehow getting star pitcher Jon Lester back via the free agent market.

Players without 2015 contracts became free agents last Monday. Since then several of the league’s top stars have already signed with teams. Sandoval and Lester, two players who are stars in their own right, however have not.

Sandoval, who just won a World Series with the Giants, seems to be on pace for a major pay day this offseason. Reports chart his preferred deal as being a 6 year $90+ million one. In exchange for that salary, he will carry a powerful swing to any team that manages to grab him while also bringing a sought after addition of likability that many players lack.

The Red Sox recognize the desirable nature of those traits and more. Sandoval, a switch hitter would give the Sox a much needed left handed hitter to plug into the middle portion of their lineup.

Furthermore, he would honestly be an upgrade from their current 1^st basemen Mike Napoli. Napoli, a modern day strikeout monger is not the kind of player the Red Sox want as he ages. As much good as his bearded glory and powerful swing did for them in 2013, it is not hard to remember any number huge slumps the 1^st basemen has suffered in his two seasons with Boston.  He is inconsistent. Sandoval is not.

The problem is that big salary. If the Red Sox were to sign Sandoval though they could conceivably end up paying 3 or 4 more million dollars than what they currently are his position. Thus the question is raised: is he worth it?

The answer is not clear; especially once the idea of a Lester deal comes into play.

Lester left the team at the trade deadline knowing very well the possibility that the team might turn around and sign him at the end of the year. This is because the Sox know what they would get out of Lester. In 8.5 seasons with Boston, Lester played over 1,500 innings while also posting a career ERA of 3.61. He expressed a fierce love for the team that often translated to a strong, positive bond with the catchers who worked so closely with him. Unlike Sandoval, all that Lester could bring to Boston is tested and proven within the system.  

But that is not all that is working in his favor.

The league interest in Lester is slightly quieter with sources reporting only six teams engaged in talks with the southpaw. Furthermore, the Sox could get away with giving Lester less years on his contract (maybe only 4 or 5 years) citing his age (31).

In short, the Red Sox have roughly $40 million of payroll per season to shuffle around this winter. 

Yearly earnings on the proposed contracts to both Lester and Sandoval could easily combine to equal that. Therefore, a Red Sox team that is still somewhat spooked by the long contracts that came back to bite them in 2011 will likely soon become skittish in their attempts to sign Sandoval or Lester.

But at the same time $40 million a year is a lot of money. As a result, it is completely understandable how and why the Sox might still take a risk on at least one player. As for who, the answer comes down to position by position depth.

As much as Napoli is a scary player for fans and the team to put their trust in, the Red Sox situation at first base is much better than at pitcher. Boston needs an ace. Jon Lester has been that before. If the team were to resign him, he would be again. 

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