In this post-MLB Season, the hot stove is already at a good simmer in Boston Red Sox Nation.
In these parts baseball is a 12 month sport, despite the recent successes by the Patriots and the Celtics (and now the Bruins). Even in the lean years, this has always been a baseball town first, but these days it is ever more important.
The Sox have already made 1 trade by trading their CF Crisp for some young bullpen help, that could prove to be a nice leverage-piece or chip in future trades. The important thing tho was the dumping of all of Crisp's salary in the trade, and this allows the Sox even more money room to spend at will.
Losing Manny's salary is a cool $20 million +, Schilling being gone saves $8 million, and the Captain Jason Varitek is a free agent so at this point he's saving the Sox $10 million.
There are several highly touted free agents on the table for the Sox to consider:
The top 4 are: C.C. Sabathia (a large left hander who throws serious stuff and is a darn good pitcher, though he has been abused the past few years, and is seeking a ridiculous amount of money long-term), Mark Texiera (a slugging 1st baseman who has good power, but also has great OBP numbers, and other key numbers the Sox covet), A.J. Burnett (a power pitcher from Toronto who jump out of his contract early following a career year which saw he demonstrate the ability to stay healthy, but is an injury waiting to happen and there have been questions about his heart/toughness), and Derek Lowe (the former Sox pitcher who was disgraced in town during the 2004 championship run, became known for his late night drinking habits, and overall boorish behavior, who has reestablished his reputation and his behavior, but still throws that nasty sinker...very durable).
While, I am normally a pitching, pitching, pitching first kind of guy, I am actually in support of going after the top slugger first.
All three pitchers have issues with them as noted above.
Moreover, as the steroid era draws to a close we are seeing the power number sink quitely back to where they used to be. In my view, all power hitters in the future will resemble those from the past: Short lived careers (see Mo Vaughn), who are also all or nothing hitters (see Ryan Howard). There will be a very select few who are able to get on base consistently, drawing walks, showing a good batting eye like Texiera. Not to mention, he's a gold glove first baseman.
David Ortiz is getting old, and the biggest weakness of the Boston Red Sox farm system is the lack of hitting power. Our top power hitting prospect is Lars Anderson and he may prove to be something, he may prove to be nothing. I think Texiera is young enough still to warrant throwing a truckload of cash his way to convince him to come to Boston. His numbers have remained the same no matter where he hits, whether it be a pitcher's park or a hitter-friendly park, and he showed no signs of being intimidated by being in the playoffs this fall. In fact, he was one of the more consistent performers on the Angels ball club, who were bitch-slapped by the Sox.
C.C. has too many miles on his young arm, and he wants too much money and too many years. No matter the mileage, I'd never give a pitcher that much money for THAT many years. Burnett is a classic case of J.D. Drew-itis. We have Drew who has a scratched fingernail and can't go play, Burnett has no heart, has no stones, and the data supports that he only displays such heart in his contract years. All the hallmarks of a remarkable tank-job in the pressure-cooker of Boston.
Bringing back D. Lowe for a reasonable contract is the best of three options here, if he is willing to take a reasonable contract. But, with Scott Boras at the head, I doubt this is a real possibility.
Finally, the drama ensues with one Jason Varitek. The first named captain of the team in decades is a free agent, and he's been a Scott Boras client since he became a professional...so this will be a tricky deal.
Those of us Red Sox junkies who watch virtually every game they play noted that Tek's bat seemed even slower than it did last year.
First, the team did start with a long road trip in freaking Japan. Then, according to the rumours in town, Tek filed for divorce from his wife, and the stress on his personal life probably caused him to get as physically ill as he did, from which his body never recovered. Although, it had to help that he began fucking the new Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney.
Count me in with the camp that is willing to give Tek no more than 2 years, otherwise we trade some highly-touted prospects like Clay Buchholtz and/or Michael Bowden.
