Nothing Doing but I thought I'd write to say "nothing doing" just the same

Thoughts on the Red Sox off-season to date, ownership's odd rhetoric, and blowing up the moon

Photo by Andrew Spencer on Unsplash

It’s been a quiet few weeks for the Red Sox. Almost like the front office is in hibernation. Imagine Craig Breslow as one of those fuzzy brown bears from a kids story book curled up gently in a bedroom inside giant tree with one of those old timey extra long winter sleeping hats on. It’s been that kind of January.

There hasn’t been a sleeping hat in reality, just effectively. The team made an offer on Shoto Imanaga but he signed with the Cubs so there’s no reason to input his name into the spellchecker. In a move that was somehow cosmically ordained, Marcus Stroman signed with the Yankees. I’d be shocked to learn he wasn’t wearing a Yankees t-shirt underneath his previous teams jerseys. The Giants leaned into a bizarre offseason and upping the strangeness to 11 by giving a four-year deal to Jordan Hicks, a hard-throwing yet mediocre reliever, to be a starter. Otherwise, the Dodgers and Cubs traded for each other’s prospects, but that’s really it.

None of this involved the Red Sox as far as we know. What’s so weird about this Boston off-season is how it doesn’t in any way match Breslow’s or ownership’s rhetoric from his hiring. We all heard how they were going to make big moves, they were going to push the limits, knock some heads together, take candy from babies, jump off the Eiffel Tower, then jump off the Eiffel Tower again, blow up the moon, and maybe even trade some prospects. Stuff was gonna go down, son!

None of this has happened, and despite the moon really asking for it. Trading Alex Verdugo to the Yankees was somewhat daring, though it was less daring than it seemed because Verdugo has one year left of team control and because Verdugo is Verdugo. Really it was just surprising simply because of the other team involved. Beyond that, [crickets]. They were kinda in on Imanaga and reportedly they were in on Teoscar Hernandez though both players got far less than expected and neither were ever reported to be close with Boston.

Maybe they still have a surprise or two up their sleeve (or elsewhere), but if so, I’m struggling to see what it might be. I wouldn’t want to be the team holding the bag on a big Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell contract, and that’s about it on the free agent market. Beyond that, what? Are they going to trade two top prospects for a starter? Maybe, but reportedly they aren’t interested in dealing any of their top prospects. If that’s true, it limits things considerably.

Breslow: Hey Jerry, I’m interested in some pitching. Would you consider moving Logan Gilbert or George Kirby?

Dipoto: Hey Craig, sure, we’d consider it. What are your limitations?

Breslow: We’re not going to trade Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, Marcelo Mayer, or…

Dipoto: [click]

The thing is, I look at lists of young pitchers and I don’t think I’d deal Mayer and Teel for Kirby or Gilbert either. But A) who gives a crap what I think, and B) if you’re at the store and bread costs $5, it doesn’t matter if you think it’s overpriced. If you don’t pay the $5 you’re not coming home with any bread.

I should say, it makes sense for the Red Sox not to make trades like that now. There is a very realistic scenario wherein a year from now Boston’s lineup includes Teel starting at catcher, Anthony starting in center or right field, and Mayer starting at shortstop. That, with Triston Casas, Rafael Devers, and Vaughn Grissom could make for a heck of a good, young, homegrown lineup.

So then why’d they say all that stuff at the beginning of the off-season?

It’s possible upon taking the job Breslow thought things were one way (maybe the roster was stronger and the farm system weaker) and he’s since discovered they’re another way (the roster weaker and the farm system stronger). It’s possible they just said whatever crazy shit got them out of the pickle they were in, and didn’t consider how it would play later. ‘The fans want to hear that we’re full throttle and so we’ll say that and then we get to leave.’ Perhaps they completely misread both the free agent and trade markets.

Regardless, it’s just so strange. Why would you publicly declare something if you know what you’re saying is wrong and in mere months you’ll look like a total doofus?

I don’t know. I have no answers here. I’d love to hear your theories on the comments!

But I kinda got off track here. What’s to come for the Red Sox this off-season? I mean, if I have to guess, I’d go with ‘very little.’ I think the big trade we all keep waiting for never materializes. It seems pretty clear they’re not going to drop $150 million on a free agent pitcher or they’d have done it already. Maybe if Montgomery or Snell decides to drop their price substantially (though in that case, why would either of them choose Boston over, say, New York or LA?).

They’ll probably eventually trade Kenley Jansen somewhere, but likely it’ll be for non-impact pitching prospects.

The guess here is the team that opens up in Seattle (weird!) in late March is pretty much the team you’ll see right now at Roster Resource or whatever site. And for the record, I don’t think it’s a bad roster! The infield looks like it could be really good, and the outfield has some potential. The defense should be better if not actually good and the pitching… OH LOOK A CONDOR IN A WETSUIT!!! [runs off]

We’ll get into things with more depth closer to the season. No sense sweating stuff out right now when they could easily change before the start of the season. But it’s looking more and more like our long, cold, snowy winter could extend well into the baseball season.

Thanks for reading.