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The Purple Sox had a really quiet offseason, as their huge strikes have been buying and selling away one beginning pitcher and signing one other, although the latter of the 2 ultimately required season-ending surgical procedure.
Main League Signings
2024 spending: $23.25MTotal spending: $50.75M
Choice Choices
Trades and Claims
Notable Minor League Signings
Extensions
Notable Losses
The Purple Sox franchise has seemingly determined that it doesn’t need to be a powerhouse anymore. For the primary twenty years of this millennium, they have been extremely aggressive, operating high 5 payrolls for many of that point. That aggression paid off handsomely, because the Sox broke their 86-year curse and gained the World Collection 4 occasions from 2004 to 2018.
However since then, their high precedence has seemingly been to chop the funds. After the fourth title in 2018, they seemingly needed to trim the payroll however president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski wouldn’t do it, in order that they let him go. That led the membership to usher in Chaim Bloom from the Rays, hoping that he may deliver some small-market ways to their large-market membership. Shortly after he was employed in October of 2019, he traded Mookie Betts and David Value to the Dodgers in what was largely a cost-cutting transfer.
In 2023, the payroll had fallen to center of the pack as they began the season twelfth out of 30, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. In September of 2023, the fourth season with Bloom in cost, the Sox have been about to complete final within the American League East for the second time in a row and for the third time within the 4 Bloom years. This was apparently sufficient for the franchise to make one other change, as they let Bloom go earlier than final yr’s season was up.
This meant Boston began the offseason in search of a brand new individual to move up the baseball operations division, however it was a tricky pitch, with many candidates shortly withdrawing their names or declining to be interviewed. In any case, who would need to work for a membership that’s going to give you few assets after which put your head beneath the axe when issues don’t go properly? However in the long run, they settled on Craig Breslow, a former participant and Yale graduate who had been an assistant GM within the Cubs’ entrance workplace. Additionally they introduced again previous good friend Theo Epstein, however he’ll be in an element possession and advisory position, seemingly not energetic within the baseball choices on a day-to-day foundation.
Some questioned if the transfer from Bloom to Breslow would lead possession to log out on a much bigger funds, to be able to persuade followers they have been transferring away from nickel-and-diming and returning to their aggressive methods. Chairman Tom Werner appeared to fan these flames in November when he declared that the membership was going to “be full-throttle in each attainable approach.” Breslow did promise to be aggressive, notably in concentrating on beginning pitching, however the offseason ended up being largely about shuffling deck chairs. They sniffed across the markets for Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto however by no means gave the impression to be the favorites in these markets.
Within the rotation, the place the membership was reportedly trying to store on the high of the market, their huge splash was to signal Lucas Giolito. It was a wise buy-low transfer, since he had beforehand regarded like a borderline ace however hit a tough patch earlier than free company. If he may get again to his type from a number of years in the past, it will be a steal.
Across the identical time, additionally they subtracted from their rotation by sending Chris Sale to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom. The younger Grissom got here up as a shortstop prospect, with nice offensive expertise however questions on his protection. Atlanta determined to roll with Orlando Arcia at brief final yr, however transferring Grissom to second wasn’t an choice for them with Ozzie Albies there, which made Grissom extra helpful as a commerce chip.
The 2 strikes collectively regarded like a high-quality little bit of enterprise for Boston. Within the rotation, they swapped in Giolito for Sale, arguably a wash relying in your opinions of these pitchers. Alongside that, they added a possible on a regular basis second baseman, a place that’s been a little bit of a carousel for Boston for the reason that Dustin Pedroia days.
Sadly, Giolito was later identified with {a partially} torn ulnar collateral ligament and a flexor pressure. He required inner brace surgical procedure and can miss all the 2024 season. The Sox didn’t pivot and add one other starter, so the rotation that was a transparent precedence all winter is basically the identical as final yr however minus Sale. Grissom nonetheless hasn’t made his debut with the Sox due to a groin pressure, although he needs to be with the membership in a number of weeks.
Though that dangerous information about Giolito didn’t drop till early March, the Sox nonetheless had an opportunity to pivot. Because of a surprisingly gradual offseason, pitchers like Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell have been nonetheless out there within the later levels of the winter. The match with Montgomery and the Sox had been speculated upon all winter, particularly since he was spending a while within the space as his spouse was doing a residency at a Boston hospital. However the Sox determined to not rush out to the market to switch Giolito, letting Montgomery go to the Diamondbacks on a one-year deal and even letting a back-of-the-rotation man like Michael Lorenzen signal with the Rangers for a mere $4.5M.
Along with Montgomery, the membership had loads of curiosity in different free brokers, together with Yariel Rodríguez, Seth Lugo, Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Robert Stephenson, Shota Imanaga and plenty of others. In the end, their different most important strikes have been considerably just like the Giolito/Sale swap. They traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the Yankees for a set of arms, whereas additionally flipping a few different pitchers to St. Louis for Tyler O’Neill.
Each outfielders are impending free brokers, so the 2 strikes don’t make an enormous distinction to the franchise straight away, however it’s a wise sufficient swap for them to make. Verdugo has seemingly established what he’s at this level, a strong defender with an average-ish bat, an excellent however not glorious participant. His worth wasn’t going to get a lot larger, as even a scorching couple of months early in 2024 would include some skepticism.
O’Neill, however, has borderline MVP upside. He completed eighth in Nationwide League MVP voting after hitting 34 dwelling runs, stealing 15 bases and offering glorious protection that yr. He’s been hampered by accidents within the two seasons since, however it is smart for the Sox to offer him common enjoying time and see what occurs. If he can get again in good type by the tip of July, he may have extra commerce worth than once they acquired him. He’s additionally making $5.85M this yr in comparison with Verdugo’s $8.7M.
The Sox additionally thought-about some additional teardown strikes, with Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin and Masataka Yoshida’s names all floated in rumors all through the winter. None of that trio ended up leaving Boston, although the Sox did commerce reliever John Schreiber to the Royals for pitching prospect David Sandlin.
In the end, it appears the franchise is targeted extra on the long run than the current. Not one of the free brokers they signed added any cash past 2025 and their second-largest free-agent deal was for reliever Liam Hendriks. He’s recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure and gained’t pitch till across the commerce deadline, on the earliest, however he may give the membership a future nearer with Jansen and Martin set to turn into free brokers after 2024.
Their most important contract was an extension for right-hander Brayan Bello, who they inked to a six-year, $55M pact. It’s a little bit of a threat since his main league work has been extra first rate than nice to date, counting on a floor ball strategy with out many punchouts. However he had extra strikeout stuff within the minors and will take a step ahead within the years to come back.
Extending different younger gamers was additionally mentioned, although with out something getting accomplished to date. Proper-hander Tanner Houck and first baseman Triston Casas have been steadily talked about as candidates for such a deal however nothing was finalized earlier than the 2024 season began.
In the interim, it appears the membership is content material to roll with its inner choices and see how issues go. The 2024 season will contain plenty of enjoying time going to younger guys like Grissom, Houck, Casas, Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Kutter Crawford. On the identical time, the membership will certainly be maintaining an in depth eye on prospects like Marcelo Mayer, Kyle Teel, Nick Yorke, Wikelman Gonzalez and Roman Anthony, who’re all beginning this yr at Double-A and might be pushing for giant league debuts all year long.
The efficiency of these gamers will doubtless dictate how the membership decides to proceed subsequent winter and past. Whether or not that can even see them returning to a top-five payroll stays to be seen. Like final yr, they got here into 2024 with their payroll twelfth within the league, per Cot’s. If that’s your definition of “full throttle,” increase your hand.
Whereas that performs out, there’s one other unanswered query surrounding the membership, as supervisor Álex Cora is now in a lame-duck place as 2024 is the ultimate yr of his contract. He’s been coy about his future plans, with some suggesting he needs to maneuver right into a entrance workplace place whereas others consider he needs to take the Craig Counsell route and max out his subsequent contract as a supervisor. Whether or not both of these paths results in him staying in Boston is one thing that should be revealed in time.
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