Here's a look at some Red Sox items courtesy of WEEI.com's Rob Bradford..
- Prior to him being traded to the Padres earlier today, the Red Sox weren't engaged in talks for Carlos Quentin, a major league source tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. One of the major concerns from Boston's perspective, according to the source, was the 29-year-old’s ability to play right field in Fenway Park.
- The Red Sox never got the sense that Ryan Madson's price would drop enough to make him a viable option. Multiple big league execs surmise that Madson’s agent, Scott Boras, is looking for a deal similar to the one he landed for Yankees set-up man Rafael Soriano. Boras managed to get Soriano a three-year, $35MM deal last offseason after the market for closers appeared to have dried up.
- Boston could stand pat and take care of their right field situation with in-house solutions. The newly-acquired Ryan Sweeney could split time Darnell McDonald and converted infielder Mike Aviles could also factor in. Ryan Kalish should be in the mix too upon recovering from shoulder surgery.
Are you kidding me, he has no suitors left who can pay $35 million for a closer. I mean, I guess if anyone can get that contract, its Boras but $30 million over 3 years is a little more reasonable for a guy of Ryan Madson’s talents.
Boras blew his only chance with a team that would give him $12 million.
I’d give him 3/27 with a player opt out clause after 1 year.
I wouldn’t give him a big first year. If wants 1/7 with mutual options at 10, I’d be for it. Other than that, I’d do a one year deal and offer arb at the end if he’s still an ‘A’….
I think that Boras has misread the situation but like many have said, all it takes is one stupid team to bid against themselves and once again make him look crazy smart! I would rather have Soriano than Madson to start and the Yankees picked him up because their current closer is a freak of Nature who is being studied by science to explain how he still is getting the job done at geezer age!
Soriano over Madson? Are you serious?
Isn’t it convenient how writers forget how Soriano got his contract for that amount. Hal Steinbrenner ordered Cashman to sign him, regardless of cost, and Cashman had no choice. If the owners didn’t interfere, since Cashman is on record as saying Steinbrenner ordered him to sign him, Soriano would now be pitching for 5M a season for three years, if that, since no one was interested. Fielder, Madson, Pena, plus all the Boras clients are in the same boat in 2012. No one is willing to pay what he is asking for and they remain unsigned, as teams have opted for other players ahead of them. Boras either drops his demands for his clients, or his clients enter 2012 in limbo, with nowhere left to play.
There is absolutly no chance thatsoriano would of had to accept five million per year.
If no one signs him, since the Yankees were his last hope, he takes what is offered or he sits at home. That is his only option.
It wasn’t Cashman at all. Levine and Hal were the ones who did the negotiation, Cashman had not part in it.
or if he ends up like Soriano… a non closer
He doesn’t want to set up any more though, he’d probably have accepted arbitration if that was the case.
Sweeney is not a solid long term anything. Kalish is a future Shin-Soo Choo, though.
No hes not
Choo might be a little optimistic, but I don’t think it’s too far off from Kalish’s potential. Definitely a similar type of player.
Choo is probably the very very top of his ceiling. I don’t think he’ll ever have that kind of plate discipline, but a 20/20 guy with solid BA, OBP and defense is certainly within the realm of possibility.
Right, that’s probably a better way of saying what I was trying to say.
Kind of Choo-lite I guess: slightly lower AVG, and fewer walks (which adds up to a reasonably sized gap in OBP); similar power and quite possibly more steals though.
Choo-lite for league minimum sounds pretty good…
Here are the limited MLB numbers for Ryan Kalish and for Shin-Soo Choo at a similar age:
Kalish 179 PA, .252/.306/.405/.710, 88 OPS+
Choo 200 PA, .257/.342/.411/.753, 96 OPS+
… and their career minor league lines:
Kalish 1693 PA, .280/.367/.429/.796
Choo 3109 PA, .287/.385/.453/.838
“Boras managed to get Soriano a three-year, $35MM deal”
still hilarious a year later
Boras and Soriano are still laughing their way to the bank…
w/ a player option after each yr….lol
So, what are the chances that Boras’ clients bail out on him and get a new agent? Cuba Gooding’s character in “Jerry McQuire” said it all, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!”
Ah yes, Jerry McQuire. British detective and alter ego of Jerry Maguire.
Thanks for the correction.
I don’t see Madson bailing on borASS..I do see him being convinced to take a 1/$8m-9m deal(few teams will jump at that) and go at it next season ala Beltre
Hey, Barry Bonds hasn’t officially retired yet, has he?
Cherington is smokin’ something if he thinks an Oakland replacement player and an inconsistent backup journeyman platooning in right field is legit. Byrd or maybe even Ross or Spilborgs is a better (not great but better) option until either Kalish comes back (no guarantee he will anytime soon) or FA hits next year. Nickel and diming on scrap-heap outfielders doesn’t cut it when you have a $170M+ payroll and a big hole in RF. Open the coin purse, Benny.
Sweeney might be a decent RF for Boston. He wasn’t terrible in Oakland and will now get to play in more hitter friendly parks against worse pitching staffs (for AL East opposed to the AL West staffs). So he could actually be a solid pickup.
Just for the record, “Benny,” unfortunately, does not hold the strings to the “coin purse.” The three stooge-like owners do.
I don’t see it, plus having them both means even more of a lefty-bias in the lineup. And McDonald as the only right handed hitting outfielder? I personally think they should have pursued Quentin for left and put Crawford in right. For all the talk of his plus defense he didn’t show it this year, and to me it is better utilized in the cavernous right field in Fenway than the short Monster. I hope you’re right Obi-Wan, we will see what they do next.
Kalish has potential. Sweeney, not so much. I have a feeling we’re gonna have some ugly production out of right field this year. Anything beats JD Drew though!
Ryan Sweeney is such a puzzling hitter for me. You would think a guy that is a somewhat decent hitter, and is 6’4″, 225lbs. would be able to hit for some power. Yet, Sweeney couldn’t hit a home run to save his life.
I don’t think Sweeney would be a good long term solution in RF at all, he’s a good fielder, but he hits for almost no power and his OBP is only so-so. He’d be a good fourth outfielder, or a short term solution as part of a platoon, but really nothing more than that.
True, but they are both left-handed bats.
Crawford doesn’t have the arm for right field, and I don’t know how good of an idea it would be to move your 142 million dollar man to a position he’s never played and likely wouldn’t be comfortable in; especially not for Carlos Quentin.
Yikes, I’m glad you’re not in charge of any minor league development giving up on players that easily.
He had 92 AB in 2011 because of injury. He’s only 23 years old. There is absolutely no belief that he’s “on the decline” anywhere, especially not having seen how he’ll return from the injury.
look! bleacher creature made a funny!
that is too much!!!! that was more hilarious than robert andino!!!!!! awesome!!!
I think he might have been talking about Choo, but Choo missed a lot of time too, and is only a year removed from ~6 WAR
Oh, my bad. Apologies.
Although 29 years old is still a little early to be down on a guy with Choo’s ability.
Agreed, I don’t think he’s right no matter which one he was talking about.
Eh, I’d say a .340 OBP out of the 9 spot is decent enough when you take into account the rest of the lineup. Kalish is pretty much the current long term solution with everyone watching the development of Brentz, Jacobs, and Bradley.
Fenway plays different than other parks. Speed is more important in Right field at Fenway than anything. I also think having your better throwing corner outfielder in Left at Fenway is a good idea. Lots of chances for assits with the Monster, both at second and home. Plus a strong arm in left can turn wall ball doubles into singles. Crawford’s arm is not awful and his speed would make up for first to third issues. As far as moving your 142 million dollar outfielder to the other corner, The Red sox moved a 160 million dollar outfielder named Manny From right to left about a decade ago and that worked ah-right.
He’ll hit 8th. They like Scutaro in the 9-hole.
They will be waiting 2-3 seasons for brenz and Jacobs, probably longer on Bradley.
no mention of Lin either who might not have any power, but has the glove and especially arm to play RF. would imagine he is at least able to put up .303OBP .704OPS and 88 OPS+ that mcdonald did and run rings around him with speed and overall defense.
Right, but he said Sweeney is a possible long-term solution in RF; “decent enough” doesn’t make someone a long-term solution especially on a team that is expected to make the post season every year. A .340 OBP would be acceptable if they did something else extremely well, but he really doesn’t; above average but not outstanding defense, zero power, no real base stealing ability…
Definitely agree about Kalish and the others though. I think Kalish will be looked at as the long-term right fielder once he’s healthy, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if one of those other guys (along with possibly Vitek since most assume he’ll be moved to the OF sooner or later) push him out of the spot in a couple years. Although I think Bradley may be looked at as a more of a possible Ellsbury replacement if they aren’t able to re-sign him.
It’s the swing and stance in play there. sean Casey was the same way. Baffling how huge guys can have little to no power isn’t it, even though casey did hit 20+ a couple of seasons in HR friendly Cincy in his early days, he was a average/doubles machine pretty much throughout his career and still could have hit even when he was forced to hang em up imagine for average.
hopefully the green monster will help him
The way I figure it after the all star break is when we find out if Kalish patrols right in 2013 or if we have another defensive platoon in right. If there’s another platoon then Lin replaces McDonald.