Who Will the Red Sox Target for 08/09 FA? Who Will They Trade?

[yall hate]

Yankee's signed Kevin Cash away from the Sox for 700k.  oh well, now the world series is definitely theirs.

[Nerf DPOY]

Yankee's signed Kevin Cash away from the Sox for 700k.  oh well, now the world series is definitely theirs.

You're right. As Cash goes, so goes the season.

It looks like Youk won't be signing an extension this winter, which leads me to believe that he'll either finish out these two last years or even possibly be traded at some point. Oh well.....

[mahonedog88]

Well now with Cash gone, we really don't have a catcher...

So either we sign Varitek for a whole lot more money than we want, or we put alot of pressure on Lars Anderson to deliever this season

[MBz]

Well now with Cash gone, we really don't have a catcher...

So either we sign Varitek for a whole lot more money than we want, or we put alot of pressure on Lars Anderson to deliever this season

I'm not sure how these two are connected?  It's not like Lars Anderson is a catcher and nor will he be converted to one?

[Chris]

Well now with Cash gone, we really don't have a catcher...

So either we sign Varitek for a whole lot more money than we want, or we put alot of pressure on Lars Anderson to deliever this season

I'm not sure how these two are connected?  It's not like Lars Anderson is a catcher and nor will he be converted to one?

And its also not like he will be anywhere near Boston until MAYBE the September call-ups.

[Nerf DPOY]

Well now with Cash gone, we really don't have a catcher...

So either we sign Varitek for a whole lot more money than we want, or we put alot of pressure on Lars Anderson to deliever this season

I'm not sure how these two are connected?  It's not like Lars Anderson is a catcher and nor will he be converted to one?

And its also not like he will be anywhere near Boston until MAYBE the September call-ups.

And no other teams want Varitek, but other than that........

[Nerf DPOY]

I just read on SOSH( and no, I don't have a link )that the Sox are close to signing Brad Penny to a one year deal. It's hard to have an objection to this move, being that it's basically a classic No-risk/ high reward situation.

One advantage I see the Sox having over the Yanks and even Tampa is the amount of depth this staff has from top to bottom. As I figure it, this probably puts Bowden as a seven starter, followed by Zink as a possible 8th starter ( I'm figuring on Masterson for the pen, but you never know...), meanwhile we added Ramirez to an already solid pen. I've become opposed to dealing ANY of our young pitching for one of the Texas backstops.

[Chris]

I just read on SOSH( and no, I don't have a link )that the Sox are close to signing Brad Penny to a one year deal. It's hard to have an objection to this move, being that it's basically a classic No-risk/ high reward situation.

One advantage I see the Sox having over the Yanks and even Tampa is the amount of depth this staff has from top to bottom. As I figure it, this probably puts Bowden as a seven starter, followed by Zink as a possible 8th starter ( I'm figuring on Masterson for the pen, but you never know...), meanwhile we added Ramirez to an already solid pen. I've become opposed to dealing ANY of our young pitching for one of the Texas backstops.

I agree, this is a no-brainer if they can pull it off.  You can never have too much pitching depth. 

As far as dealing for a young catcher, unless they were very proven offensively and defensively at the major league level, I would only offer Bard and maybe a lower level starter.  Bard is a bit of a luxury with Papelbon, and Masterson, and now Ramirez as well. 

[SShorefan 3.0]

fox sports is also on the Penny story

[yall hate]

WOW!

According to Jon Heyman and Tom Verducci of SI.com, "the Red Sox made a play to re-acquire Marlins superstar Hanley Ramirez after losing out to the rival Yankees for star free agent Mark Teixeira."  The Marlins listened, but no agreement was reached and talks have ended.  The Marlins coveted players such as Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz, but they'd need to be bowled over to trade their young shortstop.

Ramirez, 25, is signed at a discount through the 2014 season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/12/29/heyman.verducci.hanley.red.sox/index.html

That would have been a monster move.  Although, I would assume Florida was asking for Buch, Ellsbury and something like bowden/lars and another highly regarded prospect.  Cant say I fault the Sox for not giving up that much for him, although Hanley is amazing.

I think I could easily come to peace with parting with Buch and Ellsbury, but I guess the other items are where you run into problems. if it were those two plus masterson and lowrie, well it would seem like too much. 

[Toine43]

WOW!

According to Jon Heyman and Tom Verducci of SI.com, "the Red Sox made a play to re-acquire Marlins superstar Hanley Ramirez after losing out to the rival Yankees for star free agent Mark Teixeira."  The Marlins listened, but no agreement was reached and talks have ended.  The Marlins coveted players such as Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz, but they'd need to be bowled over to trade their young shortstop.

Ramirez, 25, is signed at a discount through the 2014 season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/12/29/heyman.verducci.hanley.red.sox/index.html

That would have been a monster move.  Although, I would assume Florida was asking for Buch, Ellsbury and something like bowden/lars and another highly regarded prospect.  Cant say I fault the Sox for not giving up that much for him, although Hanley is amazing.

I think I could easily come to peace with parting with Buch and Ellsbury, but I guess the other items are where you run into problems. if it were those two plus masterson and lowrie, well it would seem like too much. 

The Marlins are an enigma. Eventually, in order to sustain success, they're going to have to figure out how to sustain a roster. Or, they can just continue to feed higher-payroll teams their stars in exchange for prospects, who will only be traded away if they end up developing.

[Nerf DPOY]

Put me down for "No". Basketball is about forefront talent. Baseball stresses depth and top to bottom team balance. This is in no way a slight against Mr. Hanley Ramirez. He's tremendous. If the price is 3/4 quality players/prospects, then I say "No, thank you".

[Tr1boy]

Good to hear we signed penny and bard(or super close to)

Penny comes from the marlins system that included beckett, burnett etc So henry has ties with him

his fastball was clocked at 97 mph late last year. He would be a dream 4th or 5th starter and if we were faced in the same situation as this year where beckett wasn't healthy in the playoffs, he could easily pitch you a great game

Hopefully he stays healthy.

Bard also had an injured year last eyar but had a real good one before that. Decent catcher and still hasn't reached his peak at the age of 30 or 31

If we can't sign anymore big bats the key for 2009 will be ellsbury and jason bay. Ellsbury has to step up and come through this year

[Tr1boy]

Bard officially signs. If he can get back to his form the year before we have a seriously decent catcher behind the plate. (well cept expecting him to catch wake)

I remember during his brief time he was solid behind the plate and of course his hitting potential is 2x of teks at this point.

[Nerf DPOY]

If we can't sign anymore big bats the key for 2009 will be ellsbury and jason bay. Ellsbury has to step up and come through this year

I tend to be more complacent than most on this board regarding the Sox offense, but agree that Ellsbury needs to really improve his OBP to justify leading off next season. .336 is just a miserable OBP for a leadoff guy. I don't care how many bases he steals. Anything below .370 and I'd bat him 9th.