Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. What’s next for the Red Sox?
The Red Sox swung a trade to clear space in their budget and on the 40-man roster when they shipped right-hander Jordan Hicks, pitching prospect David Sandlin and $8MM cash and two players to be named later in exchange for Gage Ziehl and a player to be named later. Getting the majority of Hicks’ salary for the next two seasons of the books has allowed them to squeak back under the second tier of the luxury, but the team has still yet to replace Alex Bregman on the infield. Marcelo Mayer poised to play either second or third base depending on where a new addition would play, but options are dwindling after both Luis Arraez and Eugenio Suarez signed over the weekend. How will Boston address its biggest remaining need?
2. First base market heating up?
While every hitter in our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list has signed after Suarez reached a deal with the Reds yesterday, there are still a number of interesting bats on the market. Specifically, the first base market has remained rather quiet throughout the winter, leaving players such as Paul Goldschmidt and Rhys Hoskins unsigned. Recently, that market has appeared to heat up. The Diamondbacks are reportedly interested in adding a first baseman, and yesterday they were connected to switch-hitting veteran Carlos Santana and also said to have interest in Ty France. Arizona’s division rivals in San Diego are also looking for help in their first/base DH mix and have interest in France, who is drawing interest from both New York clubs as well. Wilmer Flores, Nathaniel Lowe, and Rowdy Tellez are among the other noteworthy options still available. With Arraez and Suarez off the board, is the market heating up for some of these corner bats?
3. Arbitration hearings underway:
Arbitration hearings kicked off late last week, and the Associated Press reports two such hearings have occurred so far: one between right-hander Edwin Uceta and the Rays, and one between left-hander Dylan Lee and the Braves. The decision from those arbitration hearings is typically not immediately announced; Uceta’s is being withheld until other cases have resolved, while Lee’s is expected to be announced at some point next week. After first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino avoided arbitration last week, 12 more players are scheduled for arbitration hearings. The most notable among those is two-time AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, who is facing a massive $13MM gap between his filing figure and that of the Tigers. Arbitration hearings are scheduled to run through February 13.
I don’t see how Skubal doesn’t win or the Tigers don’t fold like a cheap suit for a compromise in the upper end of a middle ground number ($27.5M or something) before the hearing itself.
I don’t see how Skubal wins. Boras put him out on the limb.
It’s easy to see how Skubal doesn’t win. It’s not about is he worth the money, it’s about precedent. Precedent isn’t on his side.
There is precedent though. The Tigers offer didn’t even beat Price’s 11 year old record, so Tarik absolutely deserves to exceed that. Plus he gets to compare himself to non-arb salaries upwards of $40M with it being his last arb year. Tigers screwed themselves by low-balling. If they came in at like $21M, setting the record for both year-to-year raise and pitcher arb salary, they would very likely win, but not exceeding that salary record to me tilts the scales toward Tarik.
It isn’t a valid comparison. Price’s record was because he was a 4th year arbitration player.
It’s Skubal’s third and final year through arb. A one year difference. Plus price didn’t win 2 consecutive CYAs.
I think they both win.
I think Skubal should win but I don’t think he will. There’s no precedent for an arbitration raise that large not from Skubal’s previous year’s salary or from David Price’s (!) record setting salary.
I hope I’m wrong.
He won’t be he should, and him winning wouldn’t have to at some precedent for any good player but if you’re winning back to back cy young awards then maybe.
Prices’ record is from 2015. There has been significant salary inflation since then.
However, both sides took very aggressive positions and the fact that the arbiter cannot pick a number in the middle will make this a fascinating case.
CwpgaDH
“both sides took very aggressive positions and the fact that the arbiter cannot pick a number in the middle will make this a fascinating case.”
This
No one here knows more about this than Boras or the Tigers front office.
Absurd and arrogant to think otherwise.
But, half the people with strong ignorant opinions will be right, which will further their beliefs that they know what they are talking about
The tigers position wasn’t aggressive. They could have gained a little PR by offering him a new record amount but Boras was going to try for the bigger payday regardless. Skubal has zero to lose and could make a serious change to how things work. Worth the shot for him. Very unlikely to happen. Price was a 4th year arbitration player so he isn’t a very good comparison.
uggh…gotta bring Trump into it?
I agree with you TTO. And btw, Boras has already said there will be no negotiation. He is trying to reset the market and they are not willing to take one penny less.
I could be wrong, but I do not think Skubal wins.
I don’t remember what the figures were between the tigers and skubal but I know it’s a record amount that he is asking for if he gets his way it will leave a bad taste in the other players mouths because Detroit will never extend him they will let him walk and the dodgers will snap him up and throw wild money at him and screw another team over just like they have done too Toronto the last 4 times ( ohtani sasaki Yamamoto and tucker ) and btw for all of you out there I’m the biggest Bluejays fan and have been since they came into the league in 1977 thru the good times and bad times
@trillionaire
The Tigers made a critical misstep in their arbitration strategy with Tarik Skubal. By offering too far below his $32M request, they set themselves up for failure based on the precedent of David Price, who earned $19.75M in arbitration with Detroit a decade ago.
Here’s why this matters: In arbitration, each side submits a figure, and the arbiter must choose one or the other—no splitting the difference. While you could argue Skubal isn’t worth $32M, he’s clearly worth more than the inflation-adjusted equivalent of Price’s $19.75M from 2015. Price was a Cy Young winner, and Skubal just won the AL Cy Young Award himself.
Had Detroit offered $21-22M, they’d have given the arbiter a reasonable middle ground that accounts for both inflation and Skubal’s elite performance. The arbiter could justify awarding that figure as appropriately more than Price’s precedent without reaching the record-breaking $32M (just shy of Juan Soto’s $31M arbitration record).
Instead, by lowballing, Detroit likely pushed the arbiter toward Skubal’s number. Poor strategy from a front office that should know better—especially given their own history with Price’s case.
Everyone talking about precedent is also ignoring the fact that there is a provision in the rules that say if a reasonable comp isn’t available in a previous arbitration case, a player can argue to be comped to FA of their caliber.
Skubal is the first back to back Cy winner to go to a hearing. He can reasonably argue he’s closer in talent to Wheeler’s most recent extension or the Scherzer and Verlander contracts from the Mets.
He’s the best pitcher in baseball, and I’d say Crochet and Skenes are the only other in his tier.
Either way, the arbitercan only choose $19 mil or $32 mil. Usually they don’t choose less than a precedent already set
Tigers stood a much better Chavez had they offered around $21 mil.
“A much better Chavez”
I e Eric Chavez, best MLB Chavez
Would not be surprised if the Red Sox make a trade for Donavan.
Gunnar- not sure if Donovan is the guy, as the Sox are looking for a right handed bat.
Sad, I’m at a loss to understand the next move unless it’s an overwhelming offer for Marte. If getting a lefty is under consideration, I prefer Baty over Donovan but I’m starting to wonder if the club is looking at Casas for the needed power regardless if he too is a lefty (and who should be forced to earn his spot this spring). I don’t need a gold glover at second. Only one that is competent, which Hamilton is not. Gonzalez is ok in limited dosages but will be exposed with a lot of work at second. If the club is not getting a righty masher (starting swinging a bat Jim Rice), I’d prefer Gonzalez as the righty DH.
Marte might work…but not ketel..is noelvi marte for 3b worth trying to get from the reds? He can play 3b and might be available
dewey – If Mayer is playing third, I almost want a defense first second baseman and i’ll roll with the current lineup. The pitching should be good enough to keep our offense on par with the opponent’s.
I agree with your assessment of Romy. In small doses he’s fine, but Hamilton cant play 100+ games on a playoff team
Dont know if i see another move, because at this point, we will overpay. Lets see how the season starts.
I am concerned about the four man OF rotation, there just isn’t enough ABs for all of them.
I’m rooting for Casas, and I hope he gets right at Worcester and kicks down the door to get back to Fenway.
I doubt noelvi is available
Hamilton is actually slightly above average defensively at 2B. The concern with him is will he hit enough to hold down the spot. So far that really hasn’t been the case, even if used as a strictly platoon player who only bats against right handed pitching.
Ezekiel tovar if the rocks might be the solution. he would move story of ss to 2b. he is a good fielder with some pop. they are not gonna be good for a while.And may accept a basket of lower level.Good prospects.
@Poolhall
Noelvi is young (24) but the goal is to win now and his below average hitting (86 wRC+; 101 in 2025) and AWFUL defense at 3rd (-15 OAA in 989.2 innings) is unlikely to be a better option than one of the remaining free agents or a current in-house option.
kingken – sorry, i shouldve been clearer (my bad). my feeling is the proposed Hamilton/Romy platoon isnt good enough for a team with deep playoff aspirations.
Alan – dont think Tovar is available, but i’ll pick him up at the airport if the Rockies send him over
Oppo – i agree. even with Eugenio the Reds arent moving Noelvi
Your concern regarding the outfield isn’t nessessary. If there is a 5 game rotation where each guy plays 4 games and sits one between OF and DH between Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu, Yoshida and Duran, each guy will play 130 games. That’s before the inevitable yet unknown variables such as injuries/guys underperforming are factored in. Campbell needs to start the year in AAA as does Casas.
Regarding the infield- assuming Mayer is at third, Romy offers the most well rounded upside of the 2nd base options. If they truly want to go the low k, run prevention route at 2nd base, it should be Sogard.
My largest concern regards third base if Mayer is the third baseman. He’s never played in 100 games in a season in his pro career. When he inevitably gets injured, who becomes the third baseman for 60-100 games? Mikey Romero and Nate Eaton platoon? That’s pretty underwhelming.
I’d have preferred adding a third baseman and platooning Mayer and Romy at 2nd base. That idea seems to be out the window though unfortunately.
For all the talk by fans thinking Duran can play 2nd, I’m surprised by the lack of chatter surrounding Casas playing third. He was drafted as a third baseman and moved to first because Devers was here. Have to wonder if that’s something the sox experiment with in AAA
The guy is slow, unathletic and poor defensively even at 1b
Reds are completely committed to Marte in right field.
‘Too much depth’ is never an issue, unless it restricts the team from rostering enough players (26 or 40 man), which is not a problem currently. That said, along with Rafaela, Duran, Abreu, Roman and Yoshida; they have Eaton and Campbell. Romy and Hamilton also have outfield experience and Ward in triple-A seems interesting. So they could easily trade an outfielder without hurting their depth.
Mayer has struggled to stay healthy through each of his 4 full profressional seasons. But two of those seasons were cut short by the same wrist injury which has now been repaired, so that part should give us ease. The other two seasons he had back flare-ups, which are more concerning, so we better hope he has strengthened his core enough that they don’t re-occur.
Sad, totally agree but regardless, it’s nice to see ownership actually show they seem to care. I’ve said it before, regardless who is running the ship be it DD, Bloom or Breslow, ownership has to provide the purse that us fans provide it with. This ownership group could easily be with the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets but they have in recent years run the club like a corporation looking at projected rates of returns and invest Sox generated revenues elsewhere.
Sox fans who watch most games expect Hamilton to make big errors at the worst time. He is not average in the field. We don’t need great hitters at all positions and he’ll surprise with an occasional big hit despite his low average. Unfortunately for him, Eaton is as good or better on the base path and if they get another infielder, Hamilton is likely gone. I now realize he’s also a lefty but I’d love for Baty to play third with Mayer and Gonzalez sharing second to start the season. Then, playing time amongst Baty, Gonzalez, Mayer and even Eaton gets earned.
Eaton has looked fine in small doses. He was in my view the 10th man winner last year. Do they still have that? I expected nothing from him and wherever he played, he surprised me. His glove seemed good, his speed is top notch and he had some nice at bats.
dewey – Fascinating stuff going on as TWO NESN EMPLOYEES are currently laying into the Red Sox ….. it is so good to see they are maintaining their integrity by telling it like it is. If they had worked for the O’s years ago they’d be suspended or fired already. LOL
Alanna Rizzo: “The Red Sox don’t have a money problem, they have a decisionmaking problem. They have a ‘lets wait around because we think people want to play for the Red Sox’ problem.. When you trade Raffy Devers less than 2 years into a 10-year contract that tells Alex Bregman even if he signed with the Red Sox he still might be moved at any time. And they saved $200M on Raffy’s contract and didn’t put the money anywhere. What are the Red Sox doing?”
Bless you Alanna, so good to see even NESN employees get it!!! I’ve been saying for years the Red Sox are extremely arrogant, Red Sox Nation knows it too.
And from Carrabis: “The Red Sox came into the offseason needing to address their lack of homeruns in 2025 (self-inflicted fallout from trading Raffy) so they promptly lowballed Alonso and didn’t offer contracts to Schwarber or Eugenio. If the Red Sox don’t spend the money they just saved on the Jordan Hicks trade, then that would mean that they just salary dumped their salary dump. That will make me extremely angry.”
Love it!!! See, not every Sox employee is a programmed soulless suit. Some of them actually care about winning, actually care about how the organization is viewed globally.
FPG – thanks for that!!
I want to be level headed, and sometimes feel like i need to temper my Breslow comments, so not to come off too one-sided. And also, what Breslow is, has become endemic throughout front offices in MLB.
But, where I dont feel I am wrong is the desire for the Sox to not be a middling, cookie-cutter, organization. In my opinion, the Sox are a top tier (in every respect) organization and should act that way.
Sad – Yeah that’s why I make it a point to praise Breslow when he does good, we never want to be completely one-sided. He does have his qualities.
@sad.Sox
I understand that they would prefer a RH bat. The difficulty is that there is not one on the market. Marte is not available. Paredes is not available. Donovan is available. He may be LH but he is a solid player.
Stymeedone- I agree with you,
That said, there was an opportunity this offseason to get a 3B or 2B because of Mayer’s versatility, here we are….
I dont want to bang a square peg into a round hole just because…..
Sorry… the infatuation with wanting Donovan is cuckoo for coco pops. He is an average at best defender and another left handed bat with limited pop. Trading for him and having to give up key assets would just be stupid considering Romey was just as productive or maybe you just plug Campbell in and go with him.
Style, don’t kid yourself. All are available but no one is offering AZ what they want for Marte for example. With Boston, it’s no different. Everyone “knows” Duran is available but the Sox value him more than what other clubs have been offering. Things might change at any time but sometimes the best trade is the one not made. Imagine if Duran was traded at the deadline last year and then Anthony and Abreu get injured.
Coooer, I was agreeing with you until you mentioned Campbell who should in my view be amongst the first sent to the minor league complex so he could concentrate without pressure. I’d rather have Sogard share time with Romy.
Dewey- I want Campbell back at AAA too, let him refine and work on his game.
My question is this, after the failed 1B experiment, why did they let him play OF in winter ball? I hope this isnt to wither make him a super utility player, or increase his trade value. This organizational insistence on “versatility” is a career ruiner….
Gunnar – I agree. There is no way the Red Sox shell out money on another big free agent contract. The Red sox still have enough good prospects to get a quality 2B without giving up premium prospects like Tolle and Early.
Donny is going to net a Tolle or Early + another mid level prospect, they arnt going to trade for a lower quality 2nd baseman and that’s going to be the price.
The Res Sox are not going to trade Tolle/Early for B. Donovan.
No team would trade that much for Donovan as a 1 year rental..maybe that’s the holdup..Bloom is holding tight to that dream…no chance
Payne – Then I house second baseman it is.
Donovan has two years of control left.
It would make sense for them to trade for Paredes but Houston isn’t going to move on from him when they are likely to be in the hunt for their division.
Donny is a lefty but still can play 3 or 4 positions for two years, I still trade for Donovan even with him being a lefty. Even more so assuming that Campbell has a bouce back year, he’s likely the righty they will use at some point this season.
Forget Campbell Payne. If he shocks everyone, fine but just hope he concentrates and gets his stroke back. The league caught up with him quickly and then he left his batting affect his fielding and he became a lost puppy. As for Donovan, he’s not Boston’s answer and is not worth overpaying for. Let’s see what he gets in free agency next year. What would he have gotten this year had he been eligible?
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Salzilla
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Welcome to league, MeowMeow!
Just joined thanks Salzilla.
Welcome to the league!
How will Boston address the other IF position?
It’s looking more and more likely that it’s going to be Hamilton / Romy holding down 2B. Hopefully I’m wrong…
The sun is not set on Campbell.
Prior to 2025 he had never failed at the plate or in the field..perhaps he learned alot and seizes the opportunity
Also..just looking kc had less than 500 pro at bats before making the sox opening day rostor..not saying hes gonna be great but there are tons of examples of guys failing miserably in thier first taste of the big leagues then rebounding just fine the following year ..they are not all like Mike trout but many became productive major leaguers..too many ppl have written this kid off
I read that Campbell has been taking reps at 2B and OF this offseason at Ft. Myers.
I can totally see them just rolling with Campbell or one of the others at 2b inserting mayer at 3b rotating the outfielders (inclusive Yoshida) via OF and DH with yoshi taking a playing time hit most of the time…Contreras covers the lost production from bregman…so from that perspective its a wash…then you have wild cards in Casas..a full year of Anthony and “healthy” mayor and story ..see what happens
In December he was playing exclusively outfield but in January he was reportedly playing both OF and 2nd. What hasn’t been reported: was he playing any 2nd base BEFORE Bregman signed with the Cubs?
From a roster building perspective, that one move makes the possibility of Campbell playing 2nd far more valuable. So it could be a reactionary change of plans.
WCSox – thanks for bringing that to my attention. I hadnt heard of him getting reps at 2B. Thats good news.. I know the Sox value versatility, and, the quickest path for him back to the majors.
However, if i had my way, I’d rather they just continued to hone his skills at 2B to make him a serviceable infielder, even if it took a little longer
Skubal hearing set for 2/4. Skubal win guarantees a lockout. Plain and simple.
What’s the correlation between Skubal winning an arbitration case and a lockout?
Boras’ case busts all established comps and precedents related to the arbitration process and renders the concept of “team control” meaningless. Everybody draws a hard line…
Strike two! 🤣
A lockout of some degree seems inevitable but I doubt Skubal’s arbitration case will be a factor. Price’s case was 11 years ago and the market has exploded ever since. The Tigers only offering $19MM is a joke and they deserve to lose. Team control has nothing to do with this. It’s a matter of paying Skubal what he’s worth
@west
the system works fine. The Tigers just made a stupid mistake by offering less than the precedent, they themselves, set 10 years ago for Price. If it goes to the arbitrator he can only choose $19 mil or $32 mil. Is he really going to say they Skubal deserve less than what Price received 10 years ago? Just with the inflation and cost of living exp he deserves more. Had the Tigers offered $21 mil they might have decided on that because it’s still an increase above the precedent.
People cite the Price thing all the time but I rarely see them bring up that Price was on his FOURTH year of arbitration eligibility since he got Super 2 status, whereas Skubal is only on his third because he did not. Price got a $14mil salary in his 3rd year, so 19mil for Skubal would be a huge raise over Price’s 3rd-year arb salary.
Guys don’t normally get all that they’re worth in arbitration. The system isn’t intended for that. Skubal would easily surpass $32 million yearly as a free agent, so whether he wins or loses he won’t get what he’s actually worth on the open market. Arbitration gives players bargaining power that they wouldn’t otherwise have in their years before free agency. But it’s not designed to give them what they’re really worth.
Exactly Meow. All these people who think that Skubal is automatically going to win just because he deserves to don’t understand how arbitration works.
@meow
That’s not how it works. 3rd year of 4th year is irrelevant.
That is how it works. 3rd vs 4th year is very much relevant.
@Hammerin
But what you’re not getting is that the arbiter can’t choose in between. Either it’s $19 mil which is less than what David Price got 10 years ago from the Tigers or it’s $32 mil. Them easily agree that’s he’s worth closer to $32 than $+9 mil. The Tigerd paid John Flaherty $20 mil total for 2025. They’re going to secure they should pay Skubal less than that? They messed up on choosing too low of a number. They still likely try to fund middle ground. Boras will almost definitely hold out and force the Tigers to argue why he’s not worth the money. It’s a nasty process.
The Tigers will correctly claim that they are offering to double Tarik’s salary while Boras is asking triple, which is unprecedented in arbitration.
@meow @hammer @west
In arbitration, the year matters but performance and inflation matter more—David Price’s $19.75M in 2015 Arb 4 adjusts to roughly $26-27M today before factoring in Skubal’s current Cy Young win. While Arb 3 players typically earn 15-25% less than Arb 4, that gap is easily closed by a decade of salary inflation and Skubal’s peak performance happening right now versus Price’s Cy Young being three years old at the time. The Tigers’ mistake was offering too far below the inflation-adjusted Price comparable, which should have been their floor, not their ceiling. A smart offer of $24-26M accounts for the year difference while respecting the precedent and current market—instead they likely handed the arbiter an easy decision in Skubal’s favor. The arbiter will weigh all factors, but betting against a reigning Cy Young winner in a massively inflated market because he’s one arbitration year behind is foolish strategy.
Flores and France both have experience at second and third, could they be options for the Red Sox?
Wilmer can surprise you with his defense.
Soft hands, decent arm. Problem is wonky knees that won’t last the season. He also may be the slowest guy in MLB.
Nick Sogard and Romy can handle second for the Redsox
Problem is Sogard bats much better right handed than left handed so he’s not a great platoon partner for Romy. They’d be better off just playing Romy full time.
I’m afraid the 2B situation for Boston is going to be solved in house. I don’t have a problem with the short-side platoon being Romy, but the LH option kinds sucks if it’s Hamilton. This is where Donavon would be nice, but I think the roster is pretty well set. I would be shocked if they make another significant move now that they’ve dipped back under the 2nd LT level.
Personally I’d rather see Sogard get a shot at the LH side of the 2B platoon. I suppose this will be a battle to watch throughout ST.
It needs to eventually be solved in-house with Campbell.
Negative
What’s next for Red Sox is to dump Yoshida to whatever team values a contact-hitting DH and needs a lefty bat. They will have to eat some of the $$ to make it happen. Seattle might be a good fit.
Then with that additional savings, enough money will be cleared for ownership to greenlight Breslow adding to payroll, and thus revisit Marte trade talks, or Hoerner (my preference) with plan to immediately extend him after the trade
How will they ever have enough to get Marte (a player no longer on the market) if they no longer have Yoshida to sweeten the deal? /s
@stymeedome, ok, I probably should have said “eat most of the $$” That would probably be more realistic given how limited Yoshida’s overall value is. But then again, Luis Arraez just got what, $12 mil? Maybe Sox don’t need to eat most of the deal, after all. Maybe just half of it, and attach a low level prospect, in exchange for a sack of day old donuts
Eat “some” of the money owed to Yoshida? Try MOST of the money owed to him. The Sox would have to pay at least 2/3 of his salary to get someone else to take him unless they attach a serious prospect to get the acquiring team to take on more than that.
Yeah, if they do move Yoshi, they would have to send at least $20M to help cover the $36M left on that flaming bag of a contract.
Jfc, what was Bloom thinking anyway?!
@kingken67 please see my reply above. Sorry I replied to stymeedome but was intended as reply to you
The Cubs think they are a playoff team. Are they one without N. Hoerner? They are not trading him.
@Fenway Monster, Good point, but if Breslow overwhelms them with a deal that includes say Bello or Duran plus prospects, Cubs probably bite. Cubs have to balance maintaining their 2026 playoff chances with cashing in on Hoerner before losing him outright next winter. The Red Sox are uniquely positioned to help them do that very well. If Cubs get a controllable pitcher who helps their rotation now (Bello), or an upgrade at another position (Duran), plus some mid-level prospects to sweeten the deal, losing Hoerner is offset well enough that their current playoff hopes are not diminished, while also improving their long term future outlook.
@thirdbaseman No GM in their right mind would trade Duran (for 3 years) for Hoerner under any circumstance, nevermind add another prospect.
Bello for Hoerner is worth arguing over as one is younger with far more control but the other has clearly been better.
Duran and Bello are not comparable trade pieces.
Is anyone well-versed in all the rules pertaining to arbitration salaries?
If a player wins their hearing, their salary is guaranteed.
If a player loses their hearing, their contract is not guaranteed – until they make the opening day roster. At that point, their full contract is guaranteed.
If it goes to a hearing, it’s not guaranteed. If they are released before the season, they get a month or so severance.
I believe that is the “Take what you are given or else!” provision of the union agreement.
The Owners don’t like the Arb system already. If Skubal manages to win they will make it a key point of the next CBA negotiations. They might do it anyway, but the Achilles heel in the system is how younger players are treated. The gigantic contracts to star players are probably easier to resolve than the MLB minimum issues. Cheap young players create profitability.
I doubt the Red Sox do much of anything to address this need as they haven’t done anything yet and it’s only two weeks til training camp begins.
I said in a previous posts maybe they should give Campbell reps at 3B or consider trying Casas at 3B. The options are likely coming in house and either would be a solution to what to do with either player
Yes, but it took this long to find a taker for Hicks. Now they’re a little freer to make a move.
Casas is barely passable as a first baseman. He would be worse than Devers at 3B.
I hope Paredes and Diaz don’t have to go through arb hearings. Though I do think we could win with Diaz and maybe Paredes.
The Red Sox already replaced Bregman’s bat with Willson Contreras. The hope is that between 2B and 3B they can get more production than 1B and 2B gave them last year. That’s not a great hill to climb. Its more like a speed bump.
As of right now the Red Sox would have Rafaela starting at 2b against RHPs with Romy starting against LHPs. This allows Yoshida, who’s an above average hitter to DH vs RHPs but sure vs lefties. It’s not ideal, but the defense would still be very strong defensively. This is what the Red Sox did last season when dealing with infield injuries to Bregman & Mayer.
Other In-house Options:
Romy Gonzalez (fringy defense with a plus bat against LHPs but a fringy bat against RHPs)
David Hamilton (solid defender with elite speed but a questionable bat)
Nick Sogard (good defense at multiple positions with a questionable switch hitting bat)
Kristian Campbell (is now back playing some defense at 2b according to reports)
Free Agent Options:
Miguel Andujar (Above average bat but awful defender at any position)
Roman Urias (Average defender with average bat; coming off a down year)
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Plus defender at most positions but has a weak bat)
DJ LaMahieu (Was once an above average defender at 2b and above average offensively, but appears to be well past his prime)
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Plus defender at most positions but has a weak bat) you might want to add… terrible base runner especially with getting secondary lead….
Statcast has him as +8 for his career while Fangraphs has him as +11.3. Both have him as positive for each of the past two seasons as well.
I’m sure you’ve seen him screw up, but he appears to be quite a good baserunner (especially for having only average speed) when viewed in the aggragate.
I probably should have noted that IKF is easily the best baserunner of the group (not an especially high bar).
Bringing back Luis Urias would also be interesting as his contact rate and swing decisions were both the best of his career. But he’s probably not worth a guaranteed contract.
LOL–You didn’t see him screw up? Cost the Blue Jays the WS Championship.
Second paragraph.
You do realize he was at 3rd base as a pinch runner, right? Toronto had their choice of who to put in that situation and he was the guy. In hindsight, I’m sure he wishes he had been less risk-averse, but he’s only in there because he’s a good baserunner to begin with.
Red Sox screwed up with a baserunning blunder in game 2 this year. Unfortunately those things happen, but calling someone a ‘terrible baserunner’ due to one instance where they were thrown out is not a good call.
LOL…. He got No secondary lead as the pitch was thrown and nobody was holding him on…….he should have scored standing up…. that is how terrible a base running play it was. but you can keep making excuses for him. On that one play, no matter how he has been as you suggest as a base runner, he will now be remembered differently. .
Nobody has disputed the play or made excuses for him, as you have falsely stated, that’s a strawman argument. It’s ignorant to create an opinion of a player based on a single play and repeating it while making false claims doesn’t help.
While everyone else is salivating at the thought of Ketel, Hoerner, Donavan etc… I just want Otto Lopez.
I can’t tell whether Otto is coming or going.
I’d imagine Otto would cost just as much as Donovan or Hoerner – maybe more.
Before they picked up Caissie I could have seen an Abreu for Lopez swap, but now I’d expect they would want Early or Tolle, if they’d even consider it.
The Sox would not even consider trading Abreu for Lopez.
Abreu may have more offensive upside, but both are of similar value and age. Lopez up-the-middle defense and four years of control make him quite valuable, especially given the improvement in most of his peripheral offensive stats last year. Can’t imagine the Marlins would want to trade him.
If I’m Breslow… I would be working my connections with Nationals FO and work a deal with them for CJ Abrams. Play him at 2B. Package for him would be built around Harrison, and Arias. They don’t need Arias if they acquire Abrams.
THATS a solid option sac