RED SOXS open for business?

[ewitkows]

The defending World Series champion Red Sox are at least opening the door to some surprising sell-side moves, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter links). Though the club is obviously not going to divert from its attempt to repeat, it seems there’s a movement afoot to pare back some existing payroll.

 

The true end goal here isn’t clear. Boston already splurged to re-sign Nathan Eovaldi, giving him a four-year deal at a $17MM rate of pay, and it doesn’t seem as if the club is interested in doing anything that would substantially harm its competitive position. The division, after all, promises to be quite competitive — to say nothing of the top-heavy American League.

 

Still, the Sox are said to be “openly listening” to offers for veteran right-hander Rick Porcello, who’ll earn $21MM this year before reaching free agency. Yet more surprisingly, the club is said to be “willing to talk about” star shortstop Xander Bogaerts (projected $11.9MM arbitration salary in final season of eligibility) and quality center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. ($7.9MM, second-to-last season of eligibility).

 

Parting with any of these players would clearly harm the team’s 2019 roster — unless, that is, there was a plan in place to add a different piece to fill the opening. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the idea would indeed be to repurpose any payroll savings, perhaps opening the door to some bullpen reinforcements.

 

While that’s sensible from one perspective, it still feels like an incomplete picture. After all, it’s not as if the Boston organization has high-quality fill-in pieces knocking down the door. In Porcello’s case, at least, there’s an argument that the Red Sox have sufficient depth after bringing back Eovaldi, but it obviously wouldn’t be as good as the sturdy 29-year-old. Bogaerts is not remotely replaceable from within; presumably, the club would go onto the market for a different option at short. As for Bradley, it’s easy to imagine Andrew Benintendi taking over in center, but that’d still leave an outfield opening that would need to be addressed in some regard (perhaps in part through reliance upon Steve Pearce and other existing reserves).

 

It’s fair to wonder just what the Sox could anticipate recouping in hypothetical trades. Porcello’s hefty salary limits his appeal, making him more of a candidate to be dealt for another spendy veteran or perhaps a limited prospect return. Bogaerts has plenty of rental value, though the Red Sox would be dealing with fellow contenders to find a fit and there’s limited demand at the shortstop position. Bradley is controllable for two years and could fit in plenty of places, though his offensive numbers have been down and he’s not the type of piece that most teams would go wild to acquire — particularly with some similar players potentially also available via trade.

 

Generally speaking, boosting the farm would certainly be of interest, but it’d be quite tricky to do that and save money without significantly damaging the team’s immediate competitiveness. Sussing out how this potential strategy could make sense in the aggregate is frankly difficult to do without contemplating multiple successive transactions. It’s certainly a fascinating development for the Red Sox and the broader market, but it is tough to guess at this point how it might all play out.

[long ball]

If Xander Bogaerts is available (I highly doubt they actually trade him), he should definitely be on the Brewers radar.

[bill hAll Star]

Looking at their payroll, I would guess that Porcello, Pedroia (debatable given hometown love), Moreland, and maybe Nunez are guys they'd deal away for limited prospect return. Price probably would've been on this list if someone ate $80 of the $120 million or something to that extent but after the World Series they're probably keeping him.

 

I doubt that Xander is on the block unless they're absolutely blown away.

[wallus]

How much of this is Red Sox articles=clicks/views? A team that just signed a high priced pitcher is in sell mode? Hmmm

[Oxy]

3 years of Corey Knebel isn't on the block either, but I bet we could get Bogaerts+ for him.

 

I like Corey, but I would guess his trade value right now is higher than his actual value.

[bill hAll Star]

How much of this is Red Sox articles=clicks/views? A team that just signed a high priced pitcher is in sell mode? Hmmm

 

They've got a lot of fat that they could trim from their payroll. They're $30 million into luxury tax land and they're going to pay 30% this year and 50% on that next year. They have some big names coming due next year and they have some things they want to do with the bullpen this year.

 

Unfortunately for them, a lot of that "fat" is paying Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo $40 million this year, which probably cannot be trimmed away anymore.

 

So yeah, I think they'd listen on some of their overpriced assets. I'm not sure they want to go $60 million over the tax threshold to finish their bullpen while paying a 30% tax on it.

[KeithStone53151]

Not that we would be interested, but do you think David Price has surplus value? Do you think a team like the Phillies would trade for him, if it was minimal player value and they took his entire contract?

[bill hAll Star]

Not that we would be interested, but do you think David Price has surplus value? Do you think a team like the Phillies would trade for him, if it was minimal player value and they took his entire contract?

 

Yeah, I am wary of Price's viability over the next 4 years but I could see a team like the White Sox or Phillies taking on his contract. Those teams might even know that they're probably getting a guy that may only be close to worth his cost for 2 of the 4 years and is an injury risk.

 

I think that the Red Sox may be afraid to deal him given the playoff lore. Maybe dumping $120 million outweighs that but it seems like something that professional franchises don't do much.

[mattyo]

3 years of Corey Knebel isn't on the block either, but I bet we could get Bogaerts+ for him.

 

I like Corey, but I would guess his trade value right now is higher than his actual value.

 

My first thought was that this wouldnt be a viable option, but the more I think about it the more interesting it gets. I think Corey is a valid sell-high player and adding Bogaerts would be a great help for this offense.

[wallus]

Bogaerts is a little overrated imo. I would trade Knebel for him though.

[Vollbc74]

With talks of the Brewers being linked to Kimbrel, a Bogaerts for Knebel swap makes a ton of sense. Kimbrel (or another reliever) takes Knebel’s place at the back end of the BP and Brewers get a big IF bat that can play 2B/SS/3B.

[Lathund]

How much of this is Red Sox articles=clicks/views? A team that just signed a high priced pitcher is in sell mode? Hmmm

 

Looking to move a player or two isn't the same as being in sell mode. They presumably know that they won't be able to extend every player entering free agency over the next few seasons, and perhaps they don't want to. So it makes sense to mvoe them while they can still get something in return, and avoid the expensive last year of arbitration so that they can perhaps strengthen elsewhere. That's something you can do in any part of the competitive cycle. Likewise, rebuilding doesn't mean you have to only sell sell sell.