One way or another the Soto Sweepstakes is going to come to an end, and the Red Sox are going to have to pivot to the actual work they need to do. They still need to improve the pitching, and they also need to look at (other) possible improvements to the line up. These were the things they needed to do regardless of where Soto winds up.
1. If the Sox actaully land Soto, that probably presents options akin to winning the lottery, in that it's not something they really planned for when setting up the offseason. He gives them a (the) big bat, and even if he's not a RHH, it really doesn't matter. This potentially frees them up for more options in trade. If they land Soto, they almost certainly need to trade an OFer: Duran, Abreu, Refsnyder, Rafaella, + Anthony and Campbell coming up is pretty crowded, and it looks more like they'll need to make a deal to get a SP as it's probably harder to offer a big deal to Fried/ Burns in addition to paying Soto (but that assumes they'd make that deal anyway).
2. In the more likely scenario that they don't bring Soto to Boston, they still need to improve the pitching, especially the starting rotation. Again, it's a real question whether ownership is going to move off of it's "no long term deals for pitchers over 30" policy for either Fried or Burns. Both guys have some warts (Fried is not a strikeout, power pitcher and Burns has been looking at declining peripherals for 3 years) and the pitching market looks to be exploding, so $200M is probably a place to start. If the Sox aren't going to pay for pitching, the trade market is going to be a lot harder to deal with, since players they might trade are going to be impace bats they need.
Adding a RHH Ofer now looks possible in this case, but I would rather have had TO back than sign Teoscar Hernandez to a larger deal that costs a draft pick with him coming off a career year. Santander looks like the worst option of the 3 (and if the O's are moving on from him in favor of O'neil, I think that kind of tells us something - nevermind his projected fit for Fenway). The wild cards are the prospects, where either Anthony or Campbell can play the OF.
What do you think the plan is or should be for 2025.
1. If the Sox actaully land Soto, that probably presents options akin to winning the lottery, in that it's not something they really planned for when setting up the offseason. He gives them a (the) big bat, and even if he's not a RHH, it really doesn't matter. This potentially frees them up for more options in trade. If they land Soto, they almost certainly need to trade an OFer: Duran, Abreu, Refsnyder, Rafaella, + Anthony and Campbell coming up is pretty crowded, and it looks more like they'll need to make a deal to get a SP as it's probably harder to offer a big deal to Fried/ Burns in addition to paying Soto (but that assumes they'd make that deal anyway).
2. In the more likely scenario that they don't bring Soto to Boston, they still need to improve the pitching, especially the starting rotation. Again, it's a real question whether ownership is going to move off of it's "no long term deals for pitchers over 30" policy for either Fried or Burns. Both guys have some warts (Fried is not a strikeout, power pitcher and Burns has been looking at declining peripherals for 3 years) and the pitching market looks to be exploding, so $200M is probably a place to start. If the Sox aren't going to pay for pitching, the trade market is going to be a lot harder to deal with, since players they might trade are going to be impace bats they need.
Adding a RHH Ofer now looks possible in this case, but I would rather have had TO back than sign Teoscar Hernandez to a larger deal that costs a draft pick with him coming off a career year. Santander looks like the worst option of the 3 (and if the O's are moving on from him in favor of O'neil, I think that kind of tells us something - nevermind his projected fit for Fenway). The wild cards are the prospects, where either Anthony or Campbell can play the OF.
What do you think the plan is or should be for 2025.
