REDSOX off season begins.

Red Sox acquire closer Craig Kimbrel from Padres
and it begins.

They gave up some pretty good prospects in this trade. I wonder what the Reds were looking for if they were going to deal Chapman. I can only surmise the deciding factor was they have Kimbrel for two years plus an option for a third year, while Chapman only had one year left on his current contract.

Can't say that I've heard of any of the 4 prospects they gave SD, but soxprospects.com ranks Margot 4th, Guerra 6th and Allen 13th.
Too bad they couldn't have given them Devin Marrero instead of Guerra.

Edit: just finished reading some twitter feeds on the soxprospects.com sidebar, and the reporters there all felt that
Dumbrowski gave up too much, especially LHP Allen. The other 3 should've been plenty.

If Dombrowski's strategy is to shore up the bullpen with some trades and sign a FA pitcher who will not cost us our draft pick I'm okay with that. Do not want to see him sell off our prospects in an over pay for a starter. Liked Margot but the reality is there is no room for him as Betts will be here for a long ride. The other 3 players would be average MLB if even that. A closer is a huge piece .... as we learned when we won both World Series.

In other news Hanley Ramirez IMI is going to make a fool out of those who said ship him out ... he will be our 1st baseman and a good one at that. He looks like he shed at least 20-25 lbs already. Hopefully Dombrowski sends Sandoval packing ... not worth it ... I'd rather have a skinnier doubles hitter who can field and run the bases.

keep dreaming. Hanley's problem is his head. not his weight.

this is what DD brings to the table...sell off all the farm to build a team. Pretty much the exact opposite of what we are used to and what Theo and Ben have built over the years. 3 years from now we will have a low rated farm system. this kind of blows but hopefully it will result in a World Series title or two.

DD = Lou Gorman...discuss

I just wish they didn't put both Margot and Guerra in the same trade. I'm pretty sure both were ranked in their top five for prospects. Asuage is serviceable, and the young lefty has great numbers in a small sample size. But Margot and Guerra were both very highly regarded, and one or the other, plus Allen and Asuage should have been enough for Kimbrel. Especially when Kimbrel is making 13 million plus. The Red Sox are picking up the entire contract, so I agree with some of the others in thinking they overpaid for a relief pitcher. Now if this was for a young corner infielder, like when Dombrowski traded for a young Miggy, I would have understood it. I suppose the thinking of Dombrowski is that Guerra is blocked by Bogaerts and Margot is blocked by Betts (or Bradley), so that makes it a bit more palatable.

Boston Boxer said:

this is what DD brings to the table...sell off all the farm to build a team. Pretty much the exact opposite of what we are used to and what Theo and Ben have built over the years. 3 years from now we will have a low rated farm system. this kind of blows but hopefully it will result in a World Series title or two.

DD = Lou Gorman...discuss

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Unfortunately you are correct. I remember very well the Bagwell for Anderson trade. One of the stories reported by Peter Gammons was that Gorman never consulted with his minor league director or Bagwell's minor league manager before making the trade. Houston asked for Scott Cooper. Gorman knew that Cooper was doing well at Pawtucket, and he said no. Houston then asked about Double-A third baseman Jeff Bagwell. Gorman didn't know much about Bagwell, but thought he was basically a non-power hitting third baseman. If he had checked with his minor league director, he would have been told that the New Britain ball park was the biggest in the league and that Bagwell's power would be evident once he got another year or two under his belt. So he made the trade, arguably one of the worst of all time.

captain insano said:

keep dreaming. Hanley's problem is his head. not his weight.

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It's both.

I would maybe give Ramirez & Fat Panda one more season with their amigo Ortiz to straighten themselves out.
If they don't take their responsibilities much, much more seriously, then both of their lazy, greasy asses are history the microsecond the 2016 season ends.

I actually saw Panda get fatter as the season went on. I find it hard to believe that the front office hasn't spoken to him in the off season and told him to lose 100lbs. You would think it was in his contract when they signed him...if not it should have been.

nice trade for the Sox. Bullpen just got better

Boston Boxer said:

nice trade for the Sox. Bullpen just got better

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The trade was part heist ... I liked Miley but he's was excellent trade bait as a decent contract innings eater. Interested to see how this affects Joe Kelly who I want gone ... will he compete with the new power arm in the pen or be traded? Cannot have Clay and Joe in the same rotation as they're either good or suck and every game is a new adventure.

I want Bucholtz gone. he's nothing but a tease and he's always hurt. I would like to see kelly in the bullpen. Porcello suks but he's not going anywhere with the ridiculously foolish contract he was given last year. it's staggering how bad last years off season was handled. thank god ben and larry are gone.

Bullpen looks decent, but they need at least one more (actually two more) starters before the rotation can be considered even barely adequate.

captain stone said:

Bullpen looks decent, but they need at least one more (actually two more) starters before the rotation can be considered even barely adequate.

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what does it look like now?

Price
Porcello
Buchholz
Kelly
Rodriguez

We need to get rid of Kelly or put him in the pen

It looks like the Patsies' OL: one solid guy, one potentially solid guy, one completely unreliable guy, and two piles of rancid garbage.

Boston Boxer said:

what does it look like now?

Price
Porcello
Buchholz
Kelly
Rodriguez

We need to get rid of Kelly or put him in the pen

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price and Arod the other three suk. if thats there starting rotation next year they are in trouble.

I like the way he's playing it ... cost of pitching is way to high ...
If Clay or Joe under perform they still have plenty of players use in a trade ....
Also I'm still hoping he can shed the fat panda ....

they aren't trying to trade panda but i guarantee you they are shopping headcase Ramirez. there just isn't any takers. hopefully he plays well to start the season so another team takes the bait.