Flexibility (both in the field and in the payroll ledger) was the key word in a very active off-season at Red Sox.
Major League signings
- Enrique Hernandez, IF / OF: Two years, $ 14MM
- Garrett Richards, SP: One year, $ 10MM (includes $ 1.5MM $ 10MM buyout for club option for 2022; total option and buyout may increase based on performance climbers)
- Martin Perez, SP: One year, $ 5 million (includes $ 500k of $ 6 million club option for 2022)
- Hunter Renfroe, OF: One year, $ 3.1 million
- Hirokazu Sawamura, RP: Two years, $ 3 million (includes a double club option / player option worth at least $ 600K for the 2023 season; buyout increases based on list bonuses and appearance incentives)
- Marwin Gonzalez, SE / OF: One year, $ 3MM
- Matt Andriese, SP / RP: One year, $ 2.1 million (includes $ 250,000 purchase of the $ 3.5 million club option for 2022; the value of the club option may increase based on total entries)
- Total expenses: $ 40.2 million
Negotiations and claims
Notable signings for the secondary league
Extensions
Notable Losses
Continuing the trend of player turnover that marked Chaim Bloom’s first year as Boston baseball director, Bloom’s second off-season at the helm of the team saw some new faces arrive as familiar faces left. Most notably, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi both will be playing elsewhere in 2021, so in combination with last winter Mookie Betts trade, the Red Sox have already said goodbye to all three members of the excellent offensive and defensive field that was a big part of their 2018 champion team.
Bradley’s prolonged stay in the free agent market – he did not sign his two-year, $ 24 million deal with the Brewers until early March – created some speculation that the former Gold Glover might end up returning to Boston, and the Sox would have stayed in contact with Bradley’s representatives during the winter. However, the signature of Hunter Renfroe in mid-December, it was one of the first indicators that the Red Sox were looking beyond the JBJ era, and the subsequent addition of several other capable players on the field seemed to further limit the chances of a Bradley reunion.
As for Benintendi, his departure from Boston also began to look more like a reality as the off-season progressed, and business rumors continued to revolve around his availability. The Royals ended up hitting the previous seventh overall choice, joining forces with the Mets to work on a three-team exchange that saw the Red Sox leave with an injury-prone but intriguing force stick. Franchy Cordero, a young holder of the secondary league in Josh Winckowski, and three other secondary league players to be named later.
It was not even close to the commercial package that Benintendi would have commanded after his excellent 2018 season, when the Red Sox saw him as a future cornerstone, rather than a commercial plug. Benintendi’s value declined after a very average 2019 season and then a reduced injury campaign in 2020 that saw him reach just 0.103 / 0.314 / 0.128 in 52 plate appearances.
In a sense, the Red Sox were selling little at Benintendi, and an argument could certainly be made that the outfielder should have been hired to see if he could recover when he is healthy (and in a season played in less unusual circumstances than 2020) But, after two consecutive years of decline, Bloom may have simply felt that Benintendi had already peaked, and moving it now allowed Sox to obtain several secondary leagues, while more fights in 2021 would have affected the commercial value of Benintendi.
There was also a financial element to the change, as although the Red Sox included $ 2.8 million in trade to help the Royals cover Benintendi’s salary of $ 6.6 million, that still left $ 3.8 million in savings. That amount of $ 3.8 million exactly matches Cordero’s $ 800,000 total salary and the $ 3 million that Sox gave to the free agent Marwin Gonzalez. This type of valuation was the prototype of Boston’s off-season, as the club distributed its money among several players, instead of concentrating most of its available dollars on any particular big name signing.
This strategy was manifested in the types of players Boston pursued, when the Red Sox went after multi-positional types that could help at various points around the diamond. At the cost of a two-year $ 14 million deal, Enrique Hernandez was the most expensive of the group, but the superuser can and has played in all positions except catcher, throughout his seven seasons in MLB with the Dodgers.
Between Hernandez, Gonzalez and secondary league signing Danny Santana, coach Alex Cora can now approach the left field and second base positions in several different ways. Hernandez will likely spend most of his time on second base, although he can also spell it out occasionally Alex Verdugo in the central field. Verdugo could take a day off or move to a corner off the field in this scenario, which would give Renfroe, Cordero or Gonzalez a break. It is also possible that each of these players is still in the roster and the other regular has a day off. In short, the Red Sox now have a little depth built into the squad in the event of injury or if one or more players are falling.
The question now is whether this depth can be productive or whether these new additions can be noted for their versatility alone. Hernandez, Renfroe, Gonzalez and Santana are all trying to recover from bad seasons on the board. The squad and the juggling with the squad can put anyone in the quartet in ideal hitting situations and put them back on a good offensive track, in addition to others Christian Arroyo, Michael Chavis, Jonathan Arauz, and Yairo Munoz are also available to provide even more options for Cora. Best potential customer Jeter Downs it is also expected to reach the majors at some point in the 2021 season, so the Red Sox may have another position spoken if Downs manages to maintain itself as a semi-regular second baseman.
Bloom took the same comprehensive approach to his pitching acquisitions, as Boston’s most expensive offseason arm was Garrett Richards with a salary of $ 10 million. Richards and the re-signed Martin Perez are drawn in rotation along with Eduardo rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi. Swingman Matt Andriese could get some startups on the spot or potentially end up replacing Perez or Nick Pivetta at the end of the rotation.
It is safe to assume that these six pitchers and other depth options, such as Tanner Houck, Daniel Gossett, Connor Seabold and the company will have a little bit of action as the Red Sox try to rebuild everyone’s strength and keep them healthy by moving from a season of 60 games to 162 games. (Chris Sale he should also be back from Tommy John’s rehab around the middle of the season.) Indeed, signing an unspectacular starter like Perez may have been almost a necessity, considering how Richards and Eovaldi struggled to stay healthy during their careers, and Rodriguez missed the entire year 2020 due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis and myocarditis. Fortunately, E-Rod looked in excellent shape during spring training and seems to be ready to roll as a Boston Opening Day starter.
Some of the depth starters may eventually join Andriese in contributing the bullpen, which will introduce a couple of external arrivals in Hirokazu Sawamura and Adam Ottavino. Sawamura arrives at the championships after nine NPB seasons and with a distinguished track record as a substitute pitcher, making it a potential bargain investment for the Red Sox if he comes close to replicating his Japan numbers.
Ottavino’s deal would have been notable just because it is a rare deal between the Red Sox and the Yankees, but the financial elements add more interesting wrinkles. With New York paying $ 850,000 of Ottavino’s $ 8 million salary, the remaining $ 7.15 million makes Ottavino the second highest-paid player of any of Boston’s new additions in 2021, after Richards. While the “buy a prospect” (that is, the young righty German franc) element is certainly at stake, the Sox wouldn’t pay as much for a reliever coming out of a season of 5.89 ERA if they didn’t think Ottavino could be a productive player in 2021.
Many of Ottavino’s advanced metrics for 2020, in fact, are very close to his career averages. The right was hampered by a bit of bad luck (0.375 BABIP) and an ERA inflationary nightmare of an exit on September 7, when Ottavino allowed six races for the Blue Jays without registering a single exit. With that in mind, the Sox certainly hope that Ottavino can return to its 2018-19 level and provide the bullpen with a quality coach or perhaps even a closer candidate to share with. Matt Barnes.
Ottavino’s negotiation helped the Yankees ease some of their luxury tax burden, while the addition of Ottavino brought the Red Sox a little closer to the $ 210 million Competitive Balance Tax limit. The Sox zeroed its tax “penalty watch” by spending below the threshold in 2020, but the team seemed reluctant to cross the threshold again so quickly. Their volume of off-season changes has placed the Red Sox in the $ 210 million range; Cot’s Baseball Contracts has Boston’s tax number of about $ 204.3 million, while the Roster Resource calculation of about $ 207.6 million leaves Sox with even less space to spend more. This proximity to the threshold was among the reasons why a late reunion with Bradley just didn’t seem likely.
Of course, more than a year after the Betts exchange, Boston fans are more than tired of hearing about the luxury tax, and undoubtedly many of Fenway’s faithful are wondering why the team was no more. aggressive in responding to a last finishing place in AL Leste. Signing DJ LeMahieu (in whom the Red Sox had at least some superficial interest) or a native of Connecticut George Springer it would have been much easier to sell to fans than a collection of multi-positional players who fought in 2020.
As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes outlined, it is quite debatable that no big-market team should worry about an excess of luxury taxes this year, considering the small real price in tax dollars and how the CBT system could change significantly in the next one. collective bargaining. It may be that Boston’s senior management has decided that there is no value in exceeding the CBT limit, unless the Red Sox looks like an infallible candidate for the World Series.
Higher expenses may come next year, when the sale is supposed to be totally healthy, Dustin Pedroiathe company’s contract will be out of the books, and the Red Sox know more about what they have on Downs, Bobby Dalbec, Jarren Duran, and other promising young people. Of course, Sox will also have to replace Rodriguez in the rotation, as he is set to reach the free agency after the 2021 season. They will also have to repair the many holes left by all current players in one-year deals.
In the meantime, Bloom will certainly continue to tinker throughout the year on a list that appears to have improved from last season, but still seems to be at least a few steps behind the Yankees, Rays and Blue Jays in AL East.
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