Arbitration-eligible (with projected salaries from MLBTR):
- Todd Frazier, $13.5M - Tender.
- Brett Lawrie, $5.1M - Trade. Fangraphs has Lawrie at $6.9M in value for 2016. However, Hahn has said that not getting injured is a skill, and having him on the roster means you have to have a good backup plan, which the Sox are not very skilled at.
- Avisail Garcia, $3.5M - Non-Tender. Not even close.
- Miguel Gonzalez, $2.6M - Tender.
- Dan Jennings, $1.2M - Tender.
- J.B. Shuck, $1M - Non-Tender.
- Jake Petricka, $900K - Tender.
- Zach Putnam, $900K - Tender.
- Daniel Webb, $600K - Tender. Given that this is close to the minimum, I say keep for back end depth.
Contract options (pick up or buy out)
- Matt Albers: $3M for 2017 or a $250,000 buyout - buyout.
Impending free agents (re-sign, let go or qualifying offer)
- Austin Jackson: Made $5 million in 2016. Let Go.
- Alex Avila: Made $2.5 million in 2016. Let Go.
- Justin Morneau: Made $1 million in 2016, although he signed during the season. Let Go.
Free agents
Yoenis Cespedes - 6 years, $155M. Sox desperately get the power bat needed to complement Abreu.
Dexter Fowler - 4 years, $60M. Sox get their guy to play CF and to keep Eaton in right.
Trades
Trade David Robertson to the Yankees for Brian McCann. After trading Miller and Chapman last year, the Yankees will need back-end relief. Sox desperately need a starting quality catcher. Both get what they are looking for. McCann also has a no-trade clause which will come with, somewhat decreasing his value. Sox pay $10M for him each of the next two years.
Trade Jose Quintana and Brett Lawrie to the Braves for Mike Foltynewicz, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, and Akeel Morris. Free Agent starter market is barren, and the Braves are looking to make a splash with their new ballpark opening. Sox get back a young starter that can fill in immediately, another high end prospect in Albies, and a couple of wild cards in Acuna and Morris.
Conclusions.
In order to strengthen the lineup, I traded away Quintana to create some payroll space, but the rotation should still be good enough. My hope is that the bullpen can hold its own to start off the year, including the return of Petricka and Putnam counting as reinforcements. Even with this, could still use a LOOGY which I have neglected.
Projected Lineup
CF Fowler
RF Eaton
1B Abreu
LF/DH Cespedes
LF/DH Cabrera
3B Frazier
SS Anderson
C McCann
2B Saladino/Albies
Starting Pitchers
Sale
Rodon
Gonzalez
Foltynewicz
Shields
Bench
Sanchez, Tilson, Narvaez, Davidson.
Payroll comes in around $132M-$133M.
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