Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox AKA Valentine’s 9 have had a tumultuous past year. Starting with their epic September collapse last season, this team has seen the departure of past heroes, the addition of some questionable characters, and have made one of the most controversial trades in recent memory.

After their stunning collapse last season and missed post season birth, beloved Manager Terry Francona was relieved of his commission and Legendary General Manager and New England heart throb - Lord Theo Epstein left the organization for the challenge of rebuilding the Chicago Cubs.

Lead by new General Manager Ben Cherington (Lord Epstein’s Disciple) and Pop Diva Manager Bobby Valentine the Red Sox have had a somewhat turbulent and failure of a season culminating in the Epic Gonzalez, Beckett, Crawford Salary Dump Trade.

Where do the Red Sox go from here? It’s hard to say – they have a middle of the road farm system, and although they still have a few guys they can build around – 2 of them, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia are injury prone and their top 2 starting pitchers (Lester and Buchholz) have battled poor performance and inconsistency. I suppose if the Red Sox use their new found money and invest it in the right places, they could rebound next year or the year after that, but the other side of the coin is that they won’t invest it in the right places and their ho-hum farm system will let them down resulting in a stretch of mediocre seasons.

Thoughts?

This team got f'd up. The Red Sox are proof that Money doesn't always buy you love.

Theo left them in good shape... Lots of young prospects that can be used to restock the team and they will spend money and they got new money now.

I imagine that any team bidding for a top free agent will have to contend with the Sox. A team like the Sox with money to spend could end up bringing up the potential money being paid out to the FA's overall.

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Originally Posted by Riverbrian

This team got f'd up. The Red Sox are proof that Money doesn't always buy you love.

Theo left them in good shape... Lots of young prospects that can be used to restock the team and they will spend money and they got new money now.

I imagine that any team bidding for a top free agent will have to contend with the Sox. A team like the Sox with money to spend could end up bringing up the potential money being paid out to the FA's overall.

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I can see the Sauks being big time players in the FA market - but I can assure you one thing - it will be the sure fire star player FA signing or a dose of a couple or more 5-8M per type of players.

No more Carl Crawford type contracts for the very good, but not great player. You would think they have learned their lesson. They were beyond lucky to rid themselves of that contract.

Thank Goodness they traded for Gonzalez... without him and his trade value they would be saddled with Craw's and Beckett's contracts.

Wait, shouldn't it read "Gonzalez, Beckett, Crawford Salary Dump Trade With Nick Punto sighting"?

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Originally Posted by biggentleben

Wait, shouldn't it read "Gonzalez, Beckett, Crawford Salary Dump Trade With Nick Punto sighting"?

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You are correct... my bad.:)

This is a team in a mess. They have a decent farm system but their MLB roster is a mess. They pretty much have to extend Ellsbury and Pedroia because there isn't much in the FA market to spend their money on.

Jon Lester was claimed on waivers.. hopefully by the Twins even though i'd doubt it. What could the Twins do to make the trade? how's Lester's value these days?

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Originally Posted by rickyhawaii

Jon Lester was claimed on waivers.. hopefully by the Twins even though i'd doubt it. What could the Twins do to make the trade? how's Lester's value these days?

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I think Lester was pulled back.

As for Lester's value, I think it is still good - definitely not what it once was.

I am probably not the best person to answer your question about how the Twins could pull off this theoretical waiver claim trade, but it would take a top pitching prospect who is fairly close to big league ready - something that the Twins do not have as of 8-31-12. Kyle Gibson of 2010 would probably have qualified for that designation, but that was then... this is now. I'll say 2010 Kyle Gibson, one of our very good OF prospects, and a low level minor leaguer with interesting upside.

It's all up to there F. O. but I think Red Sox will be back on top next year. AGon was all that they lost. Craw never played, and Beckett
was a big head ache. A ace SP and a couple key bats is all it would take.

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Originally Posted by Top Gun

It's all up to there F. O. but I think Red Sox will be back on top next year. AGon was all that they lost. Craw never played, and Beckett
was a big head ache. A ace SP and a couple key bats is all it would take.

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That's all it takes for most teams. To get them either the Sox need to gut their system in a trade, sign all of the best FA's (and there aren't many good FA's out there) are the best available) or wait a couple of years.

Bogaerts is a pretty exciting prospect though and he could be up for good at the end of 2013.