PREAMBLE
The Sox need assets in order to continue adding talent to the org. My plan is to use the full budget in an attempt to find the most valuable assets to achieve that goal.
MANAGER
Venable was my guy, so I'm good.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
- Andrew Vaughn: $6.4M - Tender - It seems wise for the Sox to use their available at-bats to churn through players that fit this profile (former top prospects, still relatively young). Maybe there's still something that Ryan Fuller can unlock. I don't see options with much upside on the free agent market, so I'm bringing him back for one more look.
- Nicky Lopez: $5.1M - Non-Tender
- Garrett Crochet: $2.9M - Tender
- Gavin Sheets: $2.6M - Non-Tender
- Enyel De Los Santos: $1.7M - Non-Tender
- Jimmy Lambert: $1.2M - Non-Tender
- Justin Anderson: $1.1M - Tender
- Steven Wilson: $1M - Tender
- Matt Foster: $900K - Non-Tender
CLUB OPTIONS
Decline both
- Yoán Moncada: $25M ($5M buyout)
- Max Stassi: $7M ($500K buyout)
OTHER IMPENDING FREE AGENTS
Let 'em all go. I'd happily take Soroka back, as it would be nice to see the Sox capitalize on that project, but it seems he'll have a fairly strong market (MLBTR has him at 2 years /$14M). I am using that money elsewhere.
- Michael Soroka (Made $3M in 2023)
- Mike Clevinger ($3M)
- Chris Flexen ($1.75)
FREE AGENTS
No. 1: Kyle Hart (2 years, $15 million). Fedde 2.0. I could not find anything about him working with a pitching lab to make meaningful changes like Fedde, but the results in the KBO are solid (He won the equivalent of the Cy Young). It's unlikely this would work as well as the Fedde deal did, but definitely worth a go.
No. 2: Ha-Seong Kim (2 years, $26 million with an opt-out after year 1). His shoulder injury could limit his market to mostly 1 year prove it deals, so the security of an extra year with an opt-out might be enough to lure him to the Sox. If he can put together a month or two of his usual production prior to the deadline, he becomes a nice asset.
No. 3: Jurickson Profar (2 years, $34 million). His Baseball Savant page sure looks good, and makes his offensive breakout in 2024 look like more than a just a fluke. My thought process is that his inconsistent past could drive his market down a bit. Defensively, starting him in RF might not be a great idea, but worth it for the offensive upside. Ideally, he continues hitting well and is a solid trade asset. Worst case, he's off the books before contention is realistic.
No. 4: Carson Kelly (2 years, $11 million). He plays good defense and can hold down the fort until Quero is ready.
No. 5: Joe Ross (1 years, $3.5 million). He was good after Milwaukee moved him to the bullpen, and could be an interesting project for Bannister.
TRADES
No. 1: Trade Garret Crochet to Yankees for OF Spencer Jones, SS Roderick Arias, P Brock Selvidge, and C Edgleen Perez. I Tried to come up with a realistic return for Crochet that includes some serious offensive upside. It seems Jones's value has decreased a bit industry-wide, but there's still a lot to dream on there. Arias is a good SS defender with power. Selvidge is a lefty with a unique delivery, a good starter package for a Bannister project. And then throw in a very young catcher in Perez.
SUMMARY
Payroll comes in right around the $113M mark. The hope is that by taking some bigger swings on FA's that are more than just straight trash heap pickups, they might fetch better prospects in trades.
C - Kelly/Quero
1B - Vaughn
2B - Baldwin/Sosa
SS - Kim
3B - Ramos
LF - Benintendi
CF - Robert
RF - Profar
DH - Vargas
Bench
OF -Fletcher
IF - Amaya
Rotation
Cannon
Martin
Hart
Burke
Thorpe
Bullpen
Ross
Wilson
Anderson
Murfee
Berroa
Ellard
Shuster
