The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey was one of many who tweeted out comments from Dave Dombrowski on the Red Sox offseason this morning. Among the notable tidbits, the Red Sox are apparently prepared to send out qualifying offers to some of their free agents, though Dombrowski couldn’t speak to the specifics until MLB releases the names on Friday.
Presumably, this list includes only one name: closer Craig Kimbrel. Boston could look to replace him with in-house options, the top candidates being Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier (twitter links). If Kimbrel does depart, bolstering the bullpen could very well become a focus of the Boston offseason – especially if fellow free agent Joe Kelly follows Kimbrel out the door.
One player who definitely won’t be receiving a qualifying offer is Nathan Eovaldi – he is ineligible after being acquired mid-season from the Rays. Competition for the right-hander is expected to be fierce after his gutsy playoff performance with the Red Sox. Fellow mid-season acquisitions Steve Pearce and Ian Kinsler are also ineligible to receive qualifying offers.
On the health front, MLB.com’s Ian Browne was among those to confirm that Chris Sale is not expected to undergo offseason surgery (via Twitter). The lanky left-hander needs only rest to be ready for Spring Training. Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald adds (via Twitter) that the team is hopeful that Dustin Pedroia will be ready in time for Spring Training, though that is far less certain.
The catching situation in Boston remains a crowded, but capable field. It is unlikely that Boston will head into next season with all three of Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart on the active roster – but it’s not an impossibility (Twitter link). Boston experimented with using Swihart in a superutility role last season, but it’s unclear whether or not Boston believes that’s a sustainable solution moving forward.
On the whole, Dombrowski is understandably pleased with the current state of the Red Sox and would be happy to bring back the entire squad as currently constituted for 2019, per the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Thus far, the Red Sox have kept David Price in the fold after he forewent his opt-out clause, as well as Eduardo Nunez, who picked up his $5MM option for 2019. It will obviously be expensive to keep this core together long-term, but as of now, Boston ownership has not mentioned staying under the luxury tax as a priority for 2019.
They are so screwed in the next year or two. Mookie, Bradley, Bogarts, Holt, Moreland, Leon, JD, Nunez, Sale, Porcello, Erod, Wright, Barnes, and Hembree will all be free agents. I think the only players with more than 2 years of control include Vazquez, Swihart, Denver, Benintendi, Pedroia, Price, and Brasier.
Hopefully some of their young players can develop and make an impact in the next year or two. Not sure who though.
Would love to see the Red Sox sign Wilson Ramos and upgrade the offense at catcher.
Assuming Joe Kelly would be significantly less expensive to re-sign than Kimbrel, why not bring him back to close?
Also interested to see who they bring in to play second……
Joe Kelly is not closer material. He’s barely seventh-inning material. It was nice to see him finish strong but he’s not next year’s closer. I don’t even think another team would make him next year’s closer
A guy who throws 100+ and can mix in an effective breaking ball…………………for one inning at a stretch…………….and a pretty nasty demeanor who proved he can pitch lights out on the biggest stage?????
That dude can absolutely close. What he can’t do, as he has proven, is be an effective starter over the long haul.
It’s fun to speculate……
Joe Kelly has basically the same career BB/9 as Kimbrel (3.7 vs 35.) but his K/9 is HALF (7 vs 14). Kimbrel can get away with a lot of the walks because of how powerful of a weapon the strikeout is for him. Kelly has to rely more on contact, which is dangerous when you’re putting runners on.
Throwing 100mph outside of the zone just means your ball four gets their faster than anyone else’s…..
I seem to remember that Kelly has stated he wants to start again….prolly won’t happen in Boston!
Machine Gun Joe would be a better option at closer for about 10-15 other teams right now, so I would give him a shot
Can you name the 15 for us?
espn.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=REclosero…
You can start with the entire AL Central except Cleveland.
Mycheal Givens
Ken Giles
Hansel Robles
Drew Steckenrider
Robert Gsellman
Kirby Yates
Will Smith
Thats 11 for sure and I could argue at least 5-6 more.
Nah, I’d add Cleveland too. I’d take Kelly for Allen.
Add Sergio Romo and whoever’s closing for the Marlins. That brings the number to 14.
Pedroia gets first crack at second base. If he can’t go, we’ll see what happens then.
The Sox aren’t about to let the core of the team get away….they’re just not like that…..(to be fair, they have the resources to make sure it doesn’t happen). DD, who apparently John Henry has man-love for, will be allowed to retool on the fly…..
MLB is far to accidental to predict a repeat next year….but they’ll be in the hunt. They’re still young; OF’s younger than most rebuilding teams, Devers is 22 etc…….lots of core pieces….
Yes they’ll make it happen again next year. Like you say they’ll be in the hunt. Big reason for Success this year was their alternate Approach at the plate. Nice job hiring the right guys. Ownership knows how to get it done.
Giving a QO to Kimbrel seems like a major mistake. He would most definitely accept it.
Lol he’s going to get at least 60M over 4 years, more likely 5/80ish or more.
Dombrowski doesn’t really need to do much. I think getting Pearce back to be a bench bat and (if needed) platoon with Moreland would be great, and they either need a lefty reliever (Wilson/Miller) or their star closer back. The former would be much cheaper, and they have enough talented arms to ride it out, especially in the regular season. They have to be a bit careful, cause imagine what they will have to pay Mookie in the next few years…
I do not understand the Red Sox obsession with Blake Swihart.
He’s out of minor league options and you can’t just cut him. Plus he could take off at any time and be a stud so you don’t want to give him away for a double A minor leaguer. He’s just a guy who’s right on the verge of either crashing or succeeding.
Agreed.. pedigree isn’t a reason to get a player.. just let go of swihart. Any player might because the next later bloomer but you tie up roster spots for a redundant player.
Tie up a roster space? He’s not an embarrassment at multiple positions including as a third string catcher. What more do you want for a 25th man?
You don’t understand why an organization likes a young, switch hitting, catcher, with a possible plus bat, and plus arm?
“If you could read their (the Red Sox) mind love…what a beautiful story it would tell…”
…he’s just a “rainy day people”……
No plans to get that trophy fixed?
Pearce makes the most sense to keep. Mooreland, Devers, Benetendi all LH bats, and Pearce can play those positions, tho, admittedly, without much skill. I wouldn’t want him at 3B or LF 6 days a week, but as a fill in……and I think he actually plays a pretty good 1B, important since most throws from their IFs are adventures…..
I thought he played very good 1B in the playoffs. There didn’t seem to be a huge dropoff from Moreland at all.
Dombrowski knows his stuff. He built the Marlins from an expansion team to the 1997 World Series Champion. Then, with the fire sale after the 97 season, along with draft picks, he acquired many of prospects that would be big pieces for the 2003 championship run (Derrick Lee .from the Padres; Brad Penny from the D-Backs; AJ Burnett from the Mets; Dontrelle Willis from the Cubs; Mike Lowell from the Yankees; Braden Looper from the Cardinals; etc.)
I think he’ll figure out what needs to be done with the Red Sox moving forward.
Then he will leave with an old core of unmovable players..: again.
He was following ownership’s desires in Detroit. He’s not the only one to give a long contract or two that bombed back then.
Uh, he left Miami for Detroit before 2003. Somehow it looks like he left them with a nice core of movable players considering that after they won the championship, they were able to trade all of those players from 2003 through the 2005 offseason for more prospects.
I’m sure the Sox will be fine.
I’m not sure why you would want to give an $18M qualifying offer to Kimbrel. Brasier was pretty good and was a closer in the minors before being called up in September. Pomeranz is gone. Hanley Ramirez’s $22M is off the books now (still paying for that Sandoval deal though). Eovaldi is gone (I’d like to see the Sox resign him for 3/45, but I think he will fetch more than that).
Joe Kelly is interesting cause we are paying him to be a starter (when we traded for him and Allen Craig he was a starter). I think Pearce is gone even though I love his story. We have Sam Travis who has been waiting to play and could be a good fit to platoon with Moreland this year.
In arbitration I could see Mookie getting $15M. If he keeps it up he could easily be a $25M per kinda guy (Trout/Harper money) but he’s in Arb for the next 2 years.
Sox apparently don’t care about the ‘cap’ so there isn’t a need to go completely crazy with cutting costs, but a 3M pay bump for a closer who was incredibly shaky this year makes me cringe a little bit.
Fyi, Trout is making $35M, not $25M. And he was extended a lot earlier. The Red Sox are lucky if Mookie signs on the dotted line for $35M/year, on a five year deal.
Realistically, it’s either gonna be closer to $40M on a shorter deal….or it’s gonna take a lifetime contract (15 years, since he’s only 26yo), with a total of $400M, to bring down the AAV.
Boston ownership has not mentioned staying under the luxury tax as a priority for 2019.
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That’s because they’re already over it. So getting under it would involve moving people.
Bring Back Eovaldi! Ultimate post-season performer. The Red Sox must have seen something in him, and he’s proven himself. Good reason to try to get him back.
haha sox can quickly replenish the farm with compensation picks by letting half the group walk
To make another run next year it makes sense to get a top flight SP. I’d use Devers to get Baumgarner. His value is low and his talent is high. His post season experience is outstanding and he’s already proven to be the kind of SP who doesn’t mind relieving if needed. Plus, he can be used as a pinch hitter if games go beyond 12 innings and we run out of bench hitters!! Kimbrel’s money could be used to help with the increases to current players and to resign Eovaldi. Doing closer by committee might not be too bad if the committee has Brasier, Kelly and Barnes. Maybe a hard throwing lefty might be available at a reasonable price to add to the mix.
There must be some value that can be used for players like Pomerantz and our ineffective righty relievers. Steven Wright is guy we should hang on too for his unique pitching style and how that might work in both relief and occasional starts. The other current roster spots seem inconsequential.
For me, a stud SP would really make a big difference and I don’t believe Devers will ever improve enough defensively to justify playing him at 3B. He’s been improving since high school and he’s still the worst 3B in the majors. I think “the miracle happens now” time has past and we must accept that he’s a butcher at 3B. Do we want a butcher who has tons of power, is questionable as to his ability to hit for average and lacks speed and still needs to expand his baseball acumen allot? Kinsler buys us a couple of years to find a guy who can field and hit. We should find someone comparable to Betts, Benintendi, Bradley (now that he hits), Bogaerts, Peddy, Moreland/Pearce who can hit and field.
Devers value has jumped due to the post-season so we should cash in on that. Baumgarner would look great in a Red Sox uniform, just like DeGrom. We need someone at that level. Anything less is wasted money. We do have lots of money dropping off but I don’t think we are on a “balancing the budget’ agenda right now so lets find the few pieces we need and take another run at it. DD looks very smart right now, let’s hope we can say that a year from now. Let’s hope Cora figures out JD should bat 3rd. We can only imagine who would have won the MVP if JD had batted third and had all those opportunities. We’ll never know but for me a .340 power hitter is better than a .280 power hitter.
why would SF even agree to that? Lets put another chubby at 3B. why not trade with the angels and in exchange give them the sunflower seeds on the floor of the dugout?
Cora and the Red Sox won the World Series, and you’re still going on about JD batting 3rd vs 4th. You and Barron almost make it an embarrassment to be a Red Sox fan. Can’t appreciate that they won the whole thing, because they didn’t do it your way..
No jackass I’m talking baseball and you have your head up your ass. Next time write something worth reading. Go check the stats Mr. Cheapshot artist. Your an embarrassment to Red Sox fans because you don’t understand the game. Make a counter argument next time rather than cyber bullying. My excitement for us winning isn’t dampened by the line-up, it’s aggravating to see what it did to JD. I’d like him to stick around. Go back through the box scores and count up the opportunities for RBIs that were given to the 3 hitter instead of the .340 hitter. It’s bad baseball and it’s not my opinion alone, there are thousands of stats to support what I’m saying. Again, I have no issue arguing a point with anyone but at least come armed with facts, intelligence and something more than cheap shots.
Some of these comments are just too much.
Eovaldi is not getting a huge money. Hewill probably get a 3yr/$40mil deal.
Pearce is a great story, but he’s a 35 year old journeyman. He’s not likely to get many decent offers. Probably similar to Freese (1 yr 5 mil).
Kelly had a great postseason but that doesn’t erase his less-than-stellar regular-season. I’d be surprised if many teams even considered him as a closer.
They should extend a qualifying offer to Kimbrel. He’s unlikely to accept and will probably get a four-year deal or one similar to Chapman’s deal. At least we get the draft pick if he declines.
Hopefully they focus on getting Betts, Sale and Bogaerts figured out first.
One would think they’ll check in on J D Martinez as well and get a feel on him.
As far as many of the other young players on the roster, they have some time.
They recognized their peak window as ’18 and ’19. They have as good a shot at another World Series appearance as anyone.
They’re in great shape for ’19 already.
Dombrowski has made solid moves for the most part and he won a WS in a year where he was criticized at every moment. I think this team will be even better on Opening Day. Looking forward to it.
DD you do what you do have a lot of faith in this guy he is a very smart baseball man. I’m sure the Red Sox will be very competitive next year and that’s all you can ask for. In my opinion Cora did an excellent job this year and he is especially strong at relating to his players and getting the most out of them. KD cmon man stop with the talk of trading Devers the 22 year old who oh by the way made no errors in the postseason and only had 4 errors after July 22nd. The Red Sox are not trading Devers it isn’t going to happen.
Not making errors is good. If you are familar with RF (Range Factor – Total number of outs participated in (basically (PO+A)/IP)) he was 11th on the Red Sox!! So, basically he didn’t make errors and didn’t have many plays to make errors in the post season. Things worked out very well for him and consequently the Red Sox. He wasn’t exposed.
His fielding percent during the season was only ahead of Porcello, Kelly and Phillips!! His fielding percentage went from .906 in 2017 to .926 in 2018. True, that is improvement. In four more years he could be comparable to our other starters. I’m sorry, but the facts don’t support Devers as a fielder. I am thrilled he never cost us a game in the post season with his glove, but should we all have to stress every time the ball is hit to 3B in the future? I do appreciate how much you like him but I think you are counting heavily on a magical transition that hasn’t happened so far and seems unlikely to happen based on the history of baseball. Name another 3B that was a butcher then became great or even above average with there glove. Did they play 3B? Now how many butchers never got better? I think you’ll find it’s far more likely he won’t improve and his body type certainly won’t make this easier as he gets older. Someone mentioned Panda in the responses to my first comments and apparently folks outside Boston may see him quite differently than you do. Thus, I say trade him coming off a series where he didn’t embarrass himself.
Also, 4 errors after July 22nd. Nice! Isn’t that a bit of a misuse of statistics? He had 20 errors in his first 80 games and only played 36 games in the second half of the year. He got benched by Cora because of his glove and his lack of hitting so I don’t think the second half supports the idea he’s improving. He’s a cocky kid and I do think the post season gave him back some of his lost swagger but I’m not sure that’s good because it’s that swagger that leads him to swinging at everything. I truly believe he can become a great hitter if he learns discipline but that’s a huge if and in my opinion a risky if.
I remember when Montero (Yankee Catcher) came up and was going to be a prolific hitter. He had the same issues and failed, got traded to Seattle and was never heard of again. There is a good chance he could do the same. We all thought Wil Middlebrooks was going to be great after a year. How did that turn out. Why gamble on a guy when you don’t have to? He could become another Bagwell or he could become the far more frequent scenario, a guy who never makes it in the field and ends up DHing at a young age and eventually loses confidence and fades away. He a Gary Sanchez are both on the Montero track and it will be interesting to see if one, both or neither follow in his footsteps. Big power, too many strike outs, bad defense.
I say sell high and get as much as you can for him then find a long term solution at 3B that can field and hit.
Ok KD here is retort rookie year for Adrian Beltre 29 errors in just a few more chances.
You don’t compare other fielders to third baseman your comparing defense to other guys in the field is not how you compare third baseman.
Devers doesn’t strike out nearly as much as Middlebrooks does, as a matter of fact Devers struck out in less then 25% of his at bats which isn’t bad for a 25% slugger acclimating himself to the big leagues.
In the Minors he was a less the. 20% strikeout guy so his bat to ball skills are there. You advocated Dalbec in an earlier article and that guy strikes out 37% of the time in the minors how is that going to translate to the big leagues?
You don’t give up on a guy as young as Devers just because you think maybe he wont be a good fielder. Beltre had more errors then Devers his first year and things worked out better then OK I’d say.
Maybe you will be right about Devers but don’t pass judgement on a 22 year old kid my opinion is he will be a star and your is he will be a bust reality is somewhere between there.