With the Napoli deal on hold, there is a big gap at 1B.  I think regardless of Napoli, the RS need to go after Swisher.  He can fill in at RF, LF and 1B.  He provides the end of the lineup pop they are missing at the moment.

Another issue is the lack of depth in the rotation at the ML level.  I am not convinced that Dempster, Lackey, Dubront is a suitable end of the rotation.  They need to get another innings eater so the bullpen doesnt have to be taxed by June.

Morales and Acevas are not starters who can give you 175 innings.  The RS would be foolish to start the year with that rotation.

The lineup is thin at the end with Iglesias being a light hitting defensive minded SS.  I still like the idea of Asdrubal Cabrera and Justin Masterson on the 2013 RS.  I would not trade Barnes or Webster, but Ranaudo is dealable.  Cleveland needs OF help, Kalish is expendable or maybe Brentz.

I am not sure what the game plan is at this point but to sign nice clubhouse players who are mediocre at best. If they are so worried about long term contracts why were they talking about signing Pedroia and Lester to extensions, what is the rush if you are against long term contracts. Well at least we have Fenway Bricks and Christmas at Fenway to help us with our sorrow with what management did to improve the team this winter.

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Im all for good clubhouse guys, but you have to put a legitimate team out there seeing that everyteam around them is getting better.  They have money to spend and above average prospects to use for trade bait.

None of the players signed so far will turn this team around.  It seems like this is just to keep sox fans at bay for 2013.  Dont want to call it a bridge year but it seems like they are building one with the intent of bringing prospects up when needed.

Boegarts, Bradley, Brentz, Barnes, Webster should all see callups in 2014.  I like the idea of seeing legit prospect at Fenway in 2014 but not next season.  Papi didnt sign back on for two years to be a piece of a bridge.

 

In response to jb12bb's comment:

Well said.

They are starting over after Theo and the monster ruined the team.  BC is getting out from under the Theo mess and importing his own players into the mix.  I like what he is doing so far.  These players might actually play like a team instead being primadonnas.  I for one will enjoy seeing the new faces and rooting for a team that will play hard and together each game.  

ya but the one thing ben c hasnt done is land any big impact players. despite signing napoli and victorino, the sox still have a big hole in the middle of the line up left by adrian gonzalez. we also need a front of the rotation starter to replace beckett. And i really hope the sox arent planning on starting johnny gomes. as an outfiled of ellsbury victorino gomes is pretty weak. not to mention that gomes is a terrible rielder. Ben has filled some holes, but he still has a big move or two to make if this team is going to compete. the jays have added reyes, johnson, and now possibly dickey, the rays lost james shields, but added a potential middle of the order bat in will myers, the angels added hamilton. we need an impact bat and an impact pitcher. 

In response to redsoxpride34's comment:

The off season is not over.  There could be a trade or more signings.

They are still full of holes. Another bridge year 

In response to jb12bb's comment:

Why would the Indians trade two valuable established players for Anthony Ranaudo and Ryan Kalish?

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In response to jb12bb's comment:

 

I was a big Swisher advocate before there were any signings.  But I have moved on.

 

But really, the Sox should just mov Napoli back to catcher.  If Ross is more than a backup as advertised, and Napolis is to catch some, how many games are left for Saltalamacchia?  Have Ross catch 60-70 and Napoli catch 90-100.

 

Move Saltalamacchia for an upgrade for LF vs. RHP.  Three LHH outfielders who all hit RHP very well are Seth Smith, David Murphy, and David DeJesus.  All three are on teams with question marks at catcher.  Will Venable is another option, but SD seems OK behind the plate.

 

Sign Lance Berkman to play 1B when Napoli is catching.  Hey, no one else has snapped him up yet.  Do people not realize how awesome he really is as a hitter? OK, he is a little old now, and coming off an injury.

 

 

 

Hey Notin,

According to reports on I've heard on the local Seattle sport talk shows. Swisher is looking for a mulityear deal in the 4Y-60M range . Which is why he's still un-signed. The Mariners who have money to burn after missing out on Hamilton, might well be the one team that would overpay for Swisher.

As for the Sox interest in Swisher, it really hindges on a couple of key moves. They still have to "dot the i's and cross the t's" on Napoli's deal (injury clause and language appears to be the point of contention). Then decide if he's the everyday 1B or if he'll platoon there with time behind the plate and DHing also...The answer to that question lyes with Saltalamacchia and Ellsbury if either or both are not moved by years end. Napoli will likely be asked to play 1B everyday 150 games and we can offically end all specualtion about us adding another big bat or arm via trade. Which basically leaves us needing a late innings defensive 1B one that hits lefthanded.

 

In response to jb12bb's comment:

Let's not kid ourselves Ortiz signed because of the money--he knew no one else would pay him what the Sox paid him. I hope he plays the next two years injury free and does very well.

In response to Mchampion's comment:

I laugh everytime I read a post like this. Theo the guy who gave us 2 WS Championship Teams in  9 years? There may come a time very shortly when RS fans are wishing to go back to the days of Theo. If Theo did any thing wrong was trying to make spoiled RS fans happy. No one could take the idea of a bridge year and the uproar it caused, and instead had to sign Lackey, Crawford, and trade for Agon to keep upper management and the fans happy and to keep fans filling the seats and keep the sacred sellout streak alive. The streak is probably the worst thing that ever happened. After 2004 fans were so happy to win a WS that Theo was allowed to rebuild the team w/ mostly homegrown talent Lester, Pedroia, Paps, Delcarmen, Ellsbury, and Youk. A couple of trades for Schilling, Beckett, and Lowell. A couple of FA's Oki, Dice K, and Drew. After the 2nd WS title it seemed fans thought this was easy and team should win every year and think this caused baseball ops staff of RS to operate differently. They had to keep feeding the moster so to speak, they made decisions based on today not what was best for franchise in the long term and look at what that got us.

Im all for good clubhouse guys, but you have to put a legitimate team out there seeing that everyteam around them is getting better.  They have money to spend and above average prospects to use for trade bait.

Not sure that I agree the everyteam has made moves that make them better.

In the AL East only Toronto has made any moves of significance. Not sure that trading Shields makes the Rays better and the Yanks haven't done much and infact one could argue they've regressed. The O's are a team that should be competitive again, but I haven't seen any addition to date that makes them the team to beat. While the Red Sox might not have built an uber team with the additions of Dempter, Napoli and Victorino on paper they are a btter team than the one that finished the 2012 season..are they a legit 90 win team?

In the Central the Tigers added Hunter and will get back VMart, so they like the Blue jays have improved on paper and will have a pretty stout lineup. The signing of Sanchez rounds out what could be the best rotation and team in the AL...That said they've done little to address the two achillies of the team from last year and that's infield defense and the back end of their pen. The White Sox have done little to improveand ditto the Twins...the Indians might be in the mix but seem to be once again in the retooling mode..the most improved of the also rans in the central are the Royals adding two veteren pitchers (Shields and Davis) to an already solid young staff and team..this could the year they approach respectability.

In the west The Angels signed Hamilton and added to what was already a pretty stout lineup. trading away a big arm late innings guy (Walden) to add a starter (Hansen) who comes with a warning lable attached. .If the age of adage of pitching defense and timely hitting are the keys to winning, not re-signing Greinke or Harden while adding Hansen to what was already a suspect rotation....just not sure they got that much better in the big picture...the Rangers in losing Hamilton to a division rival, and then not be able to sign Greinke are another squad that seems headed for a downturn unless they can add another big bat hard to replace 40-100...The A's like the O's didn't do much to improve thier club either and if they pitch like they did last year will be in the mix...then there's Hill55 beloved Mariners...who are still on the outside looking in the good news for them is that the Astros will give them a run for their money and likely finish last....

 

The Napoli thing will get resolved. Due to the fact that the RS deemed Naps their #1 target and how aggressively they pursued him, I think its clear that they really want him.

Therefore, they must have saw something real to cause for this.  Well now, the cat is out of the bag, and Naps value/leverage has plummeted.  That being the case, Naps would be wise to agree to whatever kind of injury protection the sox are trying to squeeze in.

Probably something that either mirrors the JD Drew clause (if Naps has a hip flexor injury that causes him to miss most of either of the first two years, the sox can opt out after year 2) or something like the lackey clause (if Naps has a hip flexor injury that causes him to miss most of the first two years, a fourth year is added at the vet min).

Im not overly alarmed.  They thought Bay's knees were toast, and Bay's injury/decline had nothing to do with his knees.  They thought JD's shoulder was toast, but he never missed time due to the shoulder.

I think the most likely scenario is that the deal gets finalized (it may take a while, it took 2 mnts w jd drew) w/ injury protection built in.

In response to notin's comment:

I like the Berkman suggestion. I think Swisher wants too many yrs & too much $. Berkman might be fine w/ a one yr deal. 

In response to jb12bb's comment:

No he didn't. He signed back on for the money.

In response to Drewski5's comment:

The injury clause serve two important factors...Protects the club in long term deals with payroll relief if the player due to his preexisting injury missed significant time. More importantly helps them to insure deals with player that come with pre-existing injuries...It's a simple as that...

What I find curious is why Napoli and his representitive would agree in principle to signing a deal if they opposed the inclusion of or the language of an injury clause. Because if it's a deal breaker, wouldn't both parties have already moved on?

I laugh everytime I read a post like this. Theo the guy who gave us 2 WS Championship Teams in  9 years? There may come a time very shortly when RS fans are wishing to go back to the days of Theo. If Theo did any thing wrong was trying to make spoiled RS fans happy. No one could take the idea of a bridge year and the uproar it caused, and instead had to sign Lackey, Crawford, and trade for Agon to keep upper management and the fans happy and to keep fans filling the seats and keep the sacred sellout streak alive. The streak is probably the worst thing that ever happened. After 2004 fans were so happy to win a WS that Theo was allowed to rebuild the team w/ mostly homegrown talent Lester, Pedroia, Paps, Delcarmen, Ellsbury, and Youk. A couple of trades for Schilling, Beckett, and Lowell. A couple of FA's Oki, Dice K, and Drew. After the 2nd WS title it seemed fans thought this was easy and team should win every year and think this caused baseball ops staff of RS to operate differently. They had to keep feeding the moster so to speak, they made decisions based on today not what was best for franchise in the long term and look at what that got us.

Gary,

I agree that Theo Epstein derserves his share of credit for being part of the leadership team that helped us to rasie the two banners and retool an entire organization...He also has to shoulder his share of the responsibility for the state of the roster and the subsequent failures of the team before he departed for Chicago. Not all of the decsisons were entirely his doing, but he was the guy with the responsibility to oversee all baseball operations. It was he that signed Lackey with a pre-existing elbow condition, it was he that signed Beckett to a longterm extension, though he'd failed to finish strong since 2007. Like it or not he was also the guy that threw a ton of money at Crawford (a mis-fit toy) and He also helped to create the void of onfield leadership by lavishing a longterm deal on a player that didn't want to be a leader in Gonzalez. While not once but twice shooting a shot accross Youk's bough with his courting of Texiera and then trading for Gonzalez...

In the end Epstein and the Red Sox front offices dysfuction was widley known throughout the industry and he and Luccino both played a role in creating that envoirnment...the consequences of which manifested themselves in the underwhelming finish that was the colapse of 2011 and which nessecitated the purge last year...

From the ashes rises the Phoenix...my hope is that Henry and Luccino learned a valueable lesson from the infighting that was the front office and are ready to move forward and get bakc to the business if fielding a championship team...It all starts at the top and what made them successful in 2002 was that everyone was on the same page and all they need to do is blow the dust of that plan and given the resources at thier disposal it won't take them long to retool the club...It starts with the development of a mission statement one with tenents that guide them in every decision...

In response to Mchampion's comment:

Bullseye.

In response to notin's comment:

Funny, when I suggested Berkman, I was laughed at and called clueless. That he wold be on the DL all time. I pointed out that he averaged 144 games in his full seasons. He has bad knees but can still mash

In response to Alibiike's comment:

          Nothings changed Ali.

          Still laughing.

In response to Alibiike's comment:

I usually dismissed other people suggesting Berkman, not so much because he was a bad idea, but I really figured the Houston area native, Rice alum and long time Astro would be heading back there now that they need a DH.   He still might, but every day it looks less likely...