Red Sox Spring Training: Public flotsam from impending free agents

The Boston Red Sox this spring training will have negotiation feelers put forward by players facing free agency. I place little value in this pronouncements of Boston and Red Sox love.

Spring training is upon us for the Boston Red Sox and the relaxed atmosphere for players becomes a fertile ground for insights into the negotiation process – or in a moment of honesty, a revealing quote or two. For players in the process of negotiating a new contract, it usually means professed love or adoration for your city and team. A “gee – I just love it here!” I take this not with one grain of salt but every grain in the great Khewra mine in Pakistan.

Last season, the usual positives came forward from the closer in residence, Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel wanted to stay – at least for the right price. Eventually, that price became known at six years and $100 million – a price that has been moderated considerably once Kimbrel realized that the MLB coffers for selected teams found the requirements a wee bit fiscally stifling. Kimbrel is not alone.

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are still waiting at the altar for a GM to back up the Brinks truck and let the boys do a swan dive into several thousand Benjamins. Time is ticking on
Kimbrel, Harper, and Machado. Maybe the Yankees will step in with a rescue envelope?

One phrase that has been tossed about so frequently that it has become an urban legend taken for truth. I speak of the “hometown discount.” Is it true? There are rare incidents where a player has gone under market, much to the ire of the union and his agent, who sees money fluttering away. The Red Sox have had a few such magnanimous individuals.

The most notable is Dustin Pedroia who signed a team-friendly contract that seems to run longer than the lifespan of Methuselah. Also on the short list of such fiscal benevolence is Tim Wakefield who had a year-to-year with the Red Sox. Too bad Tom Brady plays the wrong spot as he could be on the list.

The latest love fest is from Chris Sale who has professed adoration for all things Red Sox and Boston. From my jaded point of view, this is simply putting into place the desire for a David Price like deal that would firmly entrench Sale into the one-percent class.

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Sale is not alone in the very important graduating class of 2019. After 2019, the bonds of contractual servitude are lifted and Sale, Xander Bogaerts, Rick Porcello, and a few lesser – meaning a relatively cheap, under $10 million – will be able to sell their physical ability to the highest bidder.

I expect no Kirby Puckett in this group, who refreshingly took less money to continue with the Twins leaving a dumbfounded Red Sox management with a wedding cake, hall, band, and no wedding. I expect the free agents in waiting to maximize and squeeze – to go all “Cabaret” – every Mark, a yen, a buck or a pound out of someone with a specific need.

One of my baseball heroes is right-hander Gil Meche formerly of the Kansas City Royals. Meche had a deal on the table that would pay him $12 million for one more season. Unable to pitch, Meche walked away, considering it unfair that the Royals would have to pay him not to pitch. Yes – Virginia – ethics do occasionally surface in baseball. I wonder if Pedroia would do the same if he is unable to continue? So much for that flight of fancy.

This spring I will listen since there is a tinge of amusement in the pronouncements from players and special emphasis on players soon to be sequestered on the baseball free agent meat market. When I read the Tweets or other social media droppings I will chuckle and think of Meche and Puckett.