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jdub's offseason plan

This is sort of a half-measure between what I would do if it were up to me and what I think the Sox might actually do, because if there’s one thing we know, the Sox are all about half-measures.

Arbitration-eligible:

Todd Frazier $13.5M - Tender

Brett Lawrie $5.1M - Tender

Avisail Garcia $churros - Non-Tender

Miguel Gonzalez $2.6M - Tender

Dan Jennings $1.2M - Tender

JB Shuck $1M - Non-Tender, re-sign for Charlotte

Jake Petricka $900K - Tender

Zach Putnam $900K - Non-Tender

Daniel Webb $surgery - Non-Tender

Relatively consistent with the other plans, I'm just not a fan of Putnam, I've seen the splitter fail and him become useless too many times. Feel free to complain about me cutting him and signing some free agent bullpen arms.

Contract options (pick up or buy out)

Matt Albers: $250K buyout

Impending free agents

Austin Jackson: Let go

Alex Avila: Let go

Justin Morneau: Let go

Side Note: They should cut James Shields too.

Free agents

No. 1: Mitch Moreland

I’m not going to peg a salary here, but Moreland is a very capable 1B/DH and will provide solid Abreu insurance in the event that the arbitration process gives him a buttload of money and the Sox decide to trade him eventually.

No. 2: Jason Castro

Probably the most obvious choice here.

No.3: Mike Dunn

Bullpen needs lefties, Dunn is a guy the organization actually drafted years ago and will likely be modestly paid.

No.4: Carlos Gomez

Aging declining head case. Sounds like a starting outfielder for the White Sox.

No.5: Sergio Romo

Sort of a reach here. Sox have some late inning options in house but the bullpen is overall pretty thin. We’ll see what he costs.

No.6: Derek Holland

Kenny always gets his man.

STASH PICKUPS: Lourdes Gurriel & Norge Ruiz

They will both be 23 and exempt from bonus pool restrictions this offseason, and Rick did sign Abreu and made a good faith effort on Tanaka. If these guys fall in a certain price range, I see Rick being in on them.

It would be a very Sox-like move to spend a little bit of money in order to temporarily plug a bunch of weak spots. If they look toward the future, Gurriel & Ruiz make sense.

Trades

I don’t see anything real notable happening on the trade front. I think the actual value of Sale and Quintana is really up in the air, and you see that even in this theoretical exercise. I saw one offseason plan where Sale netted a return worse than the return in either Craig Kimbrel trade, and then another one that would decimate the Red Sox farm for the next 5 years (I like that one). It’s really hard to gauge what the obvious trade chips are worth, so I’m going to stand pat.

Lineup:

C - Castro/Narvaez

1B - Abreu

2B - Lawrie/Saladino

SS - Anderson/Sanchez or Alvarez (Gurriel wouldn't be ready at the start of the season)

3B - Frazier

DH - Moreland

RF - Eaton

CF - Gomez/Tilson or May if they go in house

LF - Cabrera

It’s ok, not great.

Rotation:

Sale

Quintana

Rodon

Gonzalez

Holland

Bullpen:

Robertson

Jones

Dunn

Romo

Jennings

Petricka

Burdi

Someone other than Tommy Fucking Kahnle

Summary

The only two moves that I’m really confident in are tendering Frazier and signing Castro. We’ll see how creative Rick & Kenny get, and hopefully they’re good next year.


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