Boston Red Sox: Buy or sell?
By Rick McNair
The Boston Red Sox management is certainly developing contingency plans for the season as it unravels: Will they buy or sell?
The Boston Red Sox are now faced with a baseball “Sophie’s Choice” or what path to follow for the remainder of the season – buy or sell. Sell sends a clear message that the season is officially in the tank and to fully concentrate on the more mundane aspects of life, such as your family, Bar-b-que and becoming a Cubs fan.
With the addition of playoff slots you may not be out of the playoff hunt until the season has neared its shelf life expiration. Where there is hope the wishful fans will latch on to any possibility that somehow the pitching staff will no longer continue to do a baseball waterboarding to Red Sox Nation.
So the Sox inner sanctum, or Yawkey Way War Room, may be planning either an acceptable exit strategy or making a quality move or two or three to do some CPR on a team that has decided to go flat line. That clearly points a finger at a pitching staff whose main goal is apparently to have a home run contest to determine which pitcher can issue the most meatballs. So far it is a very tight contest.
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The Red Sox made all the potential right moves by getting a strong arm for the bullpen and a stronger arm for the rotation. Unfortunately, the Red Sox risk of taking a potentially fragile Carson Smith turned sour and David Price has been – at times – attempting to emulate the pitching prowess of Clay Buchholz. So back to the dilemma.
Other GM’s are acutely aware of the positioning of Dave Dombrowski – the Red Sox resident baseball ops genius – and will hold his feet to the proverbial fire to extract some of our farm systems most prized possessions in exchange for mid-range pitching talent. The Red Sox have created a conundrum with the continual base drum beating of the wonders of those on the farm. I am firmly convinced that both Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada will erase all traces of the angst brought forth by Ryan Lavarnway and Lars Anderson.
So if the Red Sox wish to make the effort it will cost them and that certainly means RSN will go through the stages of grief with the exit of an Anderson Espinoza or any other talent that has surfaced on the top ten prospects hit parade.
The management could also take the white towel off the rack – the Official Surrender Towel of The Red Sox (Amazon: $9.95) – and with a wave declare the season over. Done. Fini. Over or ovah. The wait until next year will then be in full force as management attempts to mollify the fans with various pledges of a bright future – usually via media accomplices.
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The Red Sox will then embark on another “plan” for redemption – a plan that will undoubtedly be as successful as the various five-year plans that “Mother Russia” implemented before accepting the decadence of capitalism.
The primary focus of the effort will be sliding into the seller category and that means almost everyone will be available. The only 100% sure thing is they will allow David Ortiz to finish out the season. My assumption along those lines is certain other players will be virtually untouchable unless someone is willing to pay a price that will stagger the national deficit for Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts.
There are others on the roster that could have some interest that ranges from a yawn to must have him status. Looking for bullpen help? Check out Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa. Want some more controllable talent? I offer up Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree and Robbie Ross. You get the idea.
Would someone be willing to make a Nick Punto trade and take Hanley Ramirez off our roster? Would Travis Shaw get you some up in lights, minor league phenom? Need a quality defensive catcher? Take a look in aisle, three – Christian Vazquez – lower shelf on the right.
That is the decision point that management is nearing – the cold facts are becoming clearer with every transaction listing of the pitcher du jour brought up from Pawtucket to disappoint. Time will give a clearer picture and it is certainly too early to pack it in, but it is never too early to plan your funeral.
Next: Red Sox: Xander Bogaerts needs a break
The Red Sox are fortunate in that they are a nice six-game winning streak away from being taken seriously again, but, hey I am just one winning lottery ticket away from multi-millionaire status.