Red Sox/MLB 2025 Hot Stove - Mets land Juan Soto on 15-year, $765M deal

[GatorMike]

 

[BostonBob]

Like it or not it sure looks like Devers is going to be the Red Sox 3B for the coming season.

from cbssports.com:

The Red Sox are mostly done shaping their 2025 rotation, as general manager Craig Breslow said the "heavy lifting" is done (via Boston Globe). The focus moving forward is finding a right-handed bat for the offense. Some, including us, have mentioned the Red Sox as a possible fit for Bregman, but Breslow insisted that All-Star slugger Rafael Devers "is our third baseman."

Bregman surely won't sign in order to immediately move to first base, so that seems to close the door here. Via Boston Globe, Breslow says the team will be "open-minded" on finding the right-handed bat and it could be an infielder or outfielder.

The best right-handed bats available in free agency other than Bregman belong to Pete Alonso, Santander (again, a switch hitter), Ha-Seong Kim (though he's coming off major surgery), Jurickson Profar (switch) and a few reunion candidates (J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner, Yoán Moncada, who is also a switch hitter).

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

Like it or not it sure looks like Devers is going to be the Red Sox 3B for the coming season.

from cbssports.com:

The Red Sox are mostly done shaping their 2025 rotation, as general manager Craig Breslow said the "heavy lifting" is done (via Boston Globe). The focus moving forward is finding a right-handed bat for the offense. Some, including us, have mentioned the Red Sox as a possible fit for Bregman, but Breslow insisted that All-Star slugger Rafael Devers "is our third baseman."

Bregman surely won't sign in order to immediately move to first base, so that seems to close the door here. Via Boston Globe, Breslow says the team will be "open-minded" on finding the right-handed bat and it could be an infielder or outfielder.

The best right-handed bats available in free agency other than Bregman belong to Pete Alonso, Santander (again, a switch hitter), Ha-Seong Kim (though he's coming off major surgery), Jurickson Profar (switch) and a few reunion candidates (J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner, Yoán Moncada, who is also a switch hitter).

CBS left out a qualifier in that quote.

 

[BostonBob]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Damn - that's a pretty important thing to leave out.

 

[Chevalier du Clavier]

 

[Shaun]

thank god

 

[EverettMike]

thank god

Love that once again a Sox off-season is simply celebrating them not doing something dumb.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

Love that once again a Sox off-season is simply celebrating them not doing something dumb.

Yet showing interest in this con job

 

[DKH]

Sox spent less then A’s offseason

I think me and @EverettMike need to sell Charlie Brown Halloween costumes complete with 15 sets of eye cutouts - a Red Sox Halloween bag with 2024-5 offseason and a styrofoam colored Fenway brick in lieu of a rock

What a sham

 

[N o o d l e s]

Love that once again a Sox off-season is simply celebrating them not doing something dumb.

I’ll take it lol

 

[Smitty93]

I'm seriously starting to believe the Red Sox are a mental experiment. Does anyone know if Linda is currently getting a PhD in psychology?

The PR is just so bad, it has to be intentional. How do you get skewered for "full throttle" and then basically do the same thing again, albeit without the punchy sound bite? People would be annoyed, but if they didn't hype up another offseason and instead were remotely truthful about the plan, people might just accept it. People love to say Boston fans don't accept rebuilds, but that's unequivocally false. They'll accept rebuilds as long as management shares a clear plan.

It feels like it's all about coercing fans to renew their tickets. I'm sure it doesn't meet the legal threshold, but it feels season ticket holders could sue them for fraudulent misrepresentation of the product they're purchasing.

 

[SoupNazi]

I feel like Bell is a guy who just can’t find a home.

 

[SoupNazi]

I’m a Cleveland fan so don’t like the idea of Bregman for the first year or so in Detroit. After that, meh. That contract will be an albatross.

 

[CDJ]

Sox definitely should buy a RHH but honestly I’m not sure why people are flummoxed or frustrated about them going after Crochet instead of a guy like Fried. Crochet fits their timeline. What is the point of paying all that money for a FA when your team is gonna be peaking when the guy is 33/34. All those guys are on the wrong side of 30 and 2 of them wanted to play on the west coast (Snell and Burnes). Crochet will be in the middle of his prime when this team peaks.

 

[FRyan4426]

I can’t believe people fell for the FSG PR machine again. He isn’t going to spend. Plain and simple. The same thing is happening with Liverpool in the PL.

 

[EverettMike]

Sox definitely should buy a RHH but honestly I’m not sure why people are flummoxed or frustrated about them going after Crochet instead of a guy like Fried. Crochet fits their timeline. What is the point of paying all that money for a FA when your team is gonna be peaking when the guy is 33/34. All those guys are on the wrong side of 30 and 2 of them wanted to play on the west coast (Snell and Burnes). Crochet will be in the middle of his prime when this team peaks.

That's only true if that's how they run the team (and even that is if the prospects pan out). They had a chance to make the team an instant contender. Now we're hoping to reach 88-90 wins and nab a Wild Card spot.

Your love for Crochet is reasonable, but it's blinding you to the issues with that being the only real move they made.

 

[CDJ]

That's only true if that's how they run the team (and even that is if the prospects pan out). They had a chance to make the team an instant contender. Now we're hoping to reach 88-90 wins and nab a Wild Card spot.

Your love for Crochet is reasonable, but it's blinding you to the issues with that being the only real move they made.

Walker Buehler is a significant add. I don’t like Chapman but he’s a significant add. Again, they need to buy a bat and maybe another good reliever (who they better sign, not trade for). But they have definitely addressed SP in a pretty major way. They have serious potential as a rotation. I don’t think Law is off when he says they could be among the best in the AL

I think they’re heavily invested in Anthony/Mayer/Campbell- and they should be. When they are making small money in years 2/3/4 of their career this team should be a wagon. So I think that’s why they went the Crochet route. He will be like 27/28 at that point.

I think they make the playoffs this year.

 

[GatorMike]

We'll see what happens.

I think the Sox still have at least one significant move in them. Maybe two.

 

[EverettMike]

Walker Buehler is a significant add. I don’t like Chapman but he’s a significant add. Again, they need to buy a bat and maybe another good reliever (who they better sign, not trade for). But they have definitely addressed SP in a pretty major way. They have serious potential as a rotation. I don’t think Law is off when he says they could be among the best in the AL

I think they’re heavily invested in Anthony/Mayer/Campbell- and they should be. When they are making small money in years 2/3/4 of their career this team should be a wagon. So I think that’s why they went the Crochet route. He will be like 27/28 at that point.

I think they make the playoffs this year.

I can't even believe anyone is still this positive about this team. "Middle market Red Sox hoping things work out cause some letter tickets hit" is not something I'm supporting anymore. Cheap organization that wishes it could spend even less.

(Calling Chapman a significant add is ludicrous, FYI.)

 

[CDJ]

I can't even believe anyone is still this positive about this team. "Middle market Red Sox hoping things work out cause some letter tickets hit" is not something I'm supporting anymore. Cheap organization that wishes it could spend even less.

(Calling Chapman a significant add is ludicrous, FYI.)

He’s going to be their left handed setup guy (possibly even closer), is making over $10 mill this year, and he has the highest K/9 of all time. I didn’t like it but it’s a significant move for a guy who will probably play a pretty big role on the team.

 

[Smitty93]

Walker Buehler is a significant add. I don’t like Chapman but he’s a significant add. Again, they need to buy a bat and maybe another good reliever (who they better sign, not trade for). But they have definitely addressed SP in a pretty major way. They have serious potential as a rotation. I don’t think Law is off when he says they could be among the best in the AL

I think they’re heavily invested in Anthony/Mayer/Campbell- and they should be. When they are making small money in years 2/3/4 of their career this team should be a wagon. So I think that’s why they went the Crochet route. He will be like 27/28 at that point.

I think they make the playoffs this year.

The issue, as I see it, is that they've spent a lot for not much certainty.

Crochet has a lot of talent, but he basically has half a season/100 innings as a full-time starter, considering he was on an innings/pitch limit for the second half of last season (and that doesn't even include injury questions). Buehler also has talent, but he was pretty bad last year before his final 10 postseason innings.

Sandoval won't be available until the second half at the earliest (and we don't know what he'll be like when he does return). Chapman could be good, but I don't see that as a guarantee. Of course, there's no guarantee with pitchers, but if you're a team that's talking about competing for the playoffs, you'd like to have more confidence in what you have.

Hopefully they've got some more moves in them. I struggle to see it because the last few years have shown a clear operating model that doesn't support that. They send out a bunch of contract offers at projected player value level and hope no one submits an overpay bid. What happens is they end with a bunch of players no one else really wanted.

One of the things about being a big market team is that you're supposed to be able to pay your way out of your problems. You don't have to bet small to ensure you only lose small. I'm sure we're all familiar with the saying "Scared money don't make money". You can afford to do something crazy every once in a while. Charging ticket prices like you're a big market team and then not putting a product on the field that's worthy of that price is just fraudulent.

 

[sarge88]

Walker Buehler is a significant add. I don’t like Chapman but he’s a significant add. Again, they need to buy a bat and maybe another good reliever (who they better sign, not trade for). But they have definitely addressed SP in a pretty major way. They have serious potential as a rotation. I don’t think Law is off when he says they could be among the best in the AL

I think they’re heavily invested in Anthony/Mayer/Campbell- and they should be. When they are making small money in years 2/3/4 of their career this team should be a wagon. So I think that’s why they went the Crochet route. He will be like 27/28 at that point.

I think they make the playoffs this year.

I don't get all the gloom and doom --- I mean I "get it" in some cases, but those are the perennially negative and those who are comparing everything the Sox have done vs. the cumulative efforts of the rest of the league --- meaning, they're upset we didn't get Soto, Fried, Hernandez and Snell.

Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Bello, Giolito, is a legit starting 5. Not saying it's the 93 Braves, but it's potentially very good -- just like a bunch of other teams.

Aside from that --- like most, I think they add another RH bat, but with:

Duran, Devers, Abreu, Casas, that's a pretty good start to any lineup. Wong is above serviceable, and sure Story is a wild card with his health, but maybe Campbell is ready sooner than we think or Grissom blossoms?

Not saying they're perfect -- but I also don't see the east as being as good as many expect.

Baltimore isn't better --- NYY -- okay they added some pieces, but they had the best hitter in the world last year and still choked. Cole is a headcase and Judge has done nothing in October pretty much ever. They're the ones that should be worried, IMO. Big guys like Judge often seem to just fall off a cliff at a certain age (Hrbek for example). Volpe is certainly nowhere near living up to the hype. Chisholm is ok, I guess. I mean they'll be good, but until they prove they can do anything in October, I'll continue to doubt them.

TB? Toronto?

I'll take my chances that the Sox grab a WC spot and go from there. I mean at the very, very least 3 out of 5 games a week they have a guy starting that is capable of giving them 6 - 7 solid innings.

 

[GatorMike]

FWIW, tonight won't be the first time in recent memory that a ball has dropped in New York City:

 

[LouJersey]

 

[CDJ]

FWIW Kiley McDaniel in his espn+ article about best moves so far has the Crochet trade and Buehler signing as 2 of his 4 best moves

Thinks Buehler is a #3 and thinks the Sox package for Crochet doesn’t include any future stars while he considers Crochet to be a cost controlled star who is “ace or ace-adjacent”

His least fav is Montas-Mets, Nate-Texas, and Cobb-Tigers