If the Red Sox don't at least match the best offer on the table, they really don't want him back here.Max Power said:If the Red Sox have to exceed the offer, he really doesn't want to stay here.
Hopefully, they have found a way to quickly adjust their value equation as new contracts are signed. (Was it just) Two years ago, Crawford and Werth were outliers and/or the top end of the market. Now Ellsbury has pushed the top end for OFs, and Granderson makes it clear those guys are no longer outliers. In retrospect, it makes the 3/$39 million offers to Victorino, Napoli, and (who am I forgetting from last year?) look downright prescient.Rudy Pemberton said:Yep, given this market. . .
What the heck should the Sox do here?
Napoli isn't a great use case because of that hip issue, but Kendrys Morales is worth more now than he was in October, even though Prince Fielder is no longer a $24 million guy. The money that got moved takes his value down a notch, but the recent signings push Morales' value higher.
I'm figuring there's some program or spreadsheet where the Sox can input the new numbers and get a reset on the "theoretical" market value of their current players under contract and the projections for any number of free agents. Mix. Match. Recompute. See if you have a winning team for the right price.
Of course, this is what free agency was intended to do all those years ago -- increase value and salaries for every player for each new contract. Market value of signing Xander Bogaerts just went up notably.