Your 2015 Boston Red Sox

[67WasBest]

 
 
Well let's see - Lets say the Sox offered Cespedes for Cueto .. both guys are on one year deals .. but how much better than Cespedes is Cueto at this point - 2 WAR?. Remember Cueto is coming off a career year after missing almost all of the previous year. So how much do the Sox have to kick in to even that out - Is Alan Webster's next 6 years worth 2WAR? Or Barnes? So a Cespedes/Webster/Barnes for Cueto deal is more than fair.

I agree with your suggested package being a fair trade and if the can acquire anyone of that skill level, count me in.  If they could line up Lester, Cueto, and any of the other names rumored available, they would be a well built and very tough team.

 

[MakMan44]

The Reds hang up the phone at that deal. 

 

[mloyko54]

Ben Carsley @BenCarsley

#Breaking: MASN Insider Matt Collins reports #RedSox are heavy favorites for Geovany Soto #Stove

 

[SoxFanForsyth]

Ben Carsley @BenCarsley

#Breaking: MASN Insider Matt Collins reports #RedSox are heavy favorites for Geovany Soto #Stove

Not sure if you realized this is a joke tweet, Matt Collins is a writer for OTM

 

[grimshaw]

 
Ben Carsley @BenCarsley

#Breaking: MASN Insider Matt Collins reports #RedSox are heavy favorites for Geovany Soto #Stove

 

That's a good move if they snag him reasonably.  He's young enough to carry a bit of the load at 31 if there's an injury to Vasquez and he can run into them occasionally.  Solid defender too.
 
Oh and he's a righty so he'll fit right in.

 

[JohntheBaptist]

What's the joke?

 

[mloyko54]

I didn't realize that was a joke. My fault. 

 

[Rasputin]

Exactly. It's debatable what Cespedes will actually net us. If you can net Grandal (who rated positively defensively before last season) and Kennedy that's probably a net positive trade for the Sox. Then again, I don't buy that Webster will be better than Kennedy next season so I doubt our opinions will align. 

We have no use for Ian Kennedy. At best, Kennedy is a middle of the rotation guy and we have that. Maybe he'll be better than Webster, but I wouldn't bet on it, but most importantly, to have any value at all, he would have to be better than the best of Webster/RDLR et al. and that is far from guaranteed.

I'd rather use what we have to get a clear upgrade.

 

[MakMan44]

We have no use for Ian Kennedy. At best, Kennedy is a middle of the rotation guy and we have that. Maybe he'll be better than Webster, but I wouldn't bet on it, but most importantly, to have any value at all, he would have to be better than the best of Webster/RDLR et al. and that is far from guaranteed.

I'd rather use what we have to get a clear upgrade.

Agree to disagree at this point. I think it's pretty clear that Ian Kennedy's 2014 would be the best SP on the Red Sox right now. I mean, there's no guarantee you're going to get that next season but I'd rather have Grandal and him in the fold than Cespedes and Webster because I don't buy that Webster is going to take a massive step forward next season like you're suggesting. He could, as he's very talented, but I think Kennedy is going to be the better SP in 2015 barring health issues. 
 
EDIT: Honestly, I'm a bit sick of debating what Cespedes is going to net us at this point. I'm completely unsure of his value at this point and we're going in circles so I'm going to make this my last post on the subject until something changes. 

 

[Rasputin]

Agree to disagree at this point. I think it's pretty clear that Ian Kennedy's 2014 would be the best SP on the Red Sox right now.

 
That's not remotely clear. It's actually pretty clear that's completely wrong.
 
Clay Buchholz' ERA+ by season going backwards 72, 237, 92, 124, 187, 111, 69, 303. Unless you think Buchholz is permanently disabled by whatever the hell the problem was, he's very likely to put up better than Ian Kennedy's 92 ERA+.
 
Joe Kelly, had a 94 with the Red Sox, 91 overall for 2014, and 140 and 108 in previous years.
 
Webster doesn't have to take a huge step forward. All he needs is for his last three or four starts to be more representative than his prior however many starts. If that happens, then he has already made the adjustment and we just can't tell for sure because we don't have the data. 
 
The point is that Ian Kennedy is pretty meh as far as pitchers go and we've got lots of guys who can be pretty meh. What we need is guys who can be counted on to be better than pretty meh. We need a guy who actually is very likely to outpitch Joe Kelly, and who may not outpitch a good Clay Buchholz, but who will likely pitch more innings than even the best Clay Buchholz.

 

[Rasputin]

I'm also not clear why Kennedy has to outpitch either of those guys- who are currently the teams #1 and #2 starters. Wouldn't he replace a Webster, Ranaudo, RDLR first?

 
He has to pitch better than those to guys because THAT'S WHAT THE TEAM NEEDS. If he isn't going to pitch better than those two guys, what the hell is the point of getting him? You want a guy who is pretty mediocre who can just go out there and not be terrible? We got Joe Kelly for that. You want fourth and fifth guys who probably are going to struggle a bit, but who have upside? We've got that. We've got like a dozen of those guys. 
 
What we don't have is the guys at the top. If a guy can't be the guy at the top, we have no business getting him because we have no use for that.

 

[grimshaw]

 
He has to pitch better than those to guys because THAT'S WHAT THE TEAM NEEDS. If he isn't going to pitch better than those two guys, what the hell is the point of getting him? You want a guy who is pretty mediocre who can just go out there and not be terrible? We got Joe Kelly for that. You want fourth and fifth guys who probably are going to struggle a bit, but who have upside? We've got that. We've got like a dozen of those guys. 
 
What we don't have is the guys at the top. If a guy can't be the guy at the top, we have no business getting him because we have no use for that.

I don't love Kennedy either but there's something to be said for adding a slightly above average innings eater to the team without having to give up many assets.  
De La Rosa got his brains beaten in from mid-August on and averaged 5 innings per start after teams got the book on him.  You can't have two guys in the rotation like that or your pen is wiped.
 
I think they will do better, but I think you're underrating Kennedy.