Good call on Janssen, I misread his Cot's profile.
And I agree with you on 2015 and beyond. Some guys will have options picked up, some guys will sign extensions, there will be new players who eat up payroll, etc.
Say what you want about Gibby but his 3-man 2B/3B platoon is a pretty damn good move from a manager. There are probably plenty of managers out there who wouldn't even consider it.
I agree. Janssen does have a 4 million dollar option though.
Further to that, after NEXT season, then we have a ton of payroll flexibility. Love or hate AA, he at least only saddled the team with big contracts for 3 seasons.
Melky and Rasmus are FA's next year and then we have options on Happ, Morrow, Lind, Janssen, Santos, McGowan, and Thole. Losing all those guys would open up some holes but that will free up a lot of money.
Oh man is this enjoyable to watch. Two caught looking and then throwing big fat Ortiz out at first.
The only way to make this better is if Farrell has the Sox try to sacrifice bunt their way back in to the game.
There is little doubt that we will need a starting pitcher.
By the trade deadline we will know more about this team and if the Juan Francisco/Tolleson/Lawrie platoon is working and if we possibly need another reliever.
I think all 3 of them are grouped pretty close together IMO for their own reasons. I'd probably keep all 3 of them on the big league team if it were up to me.
AA said something along the lines of going with Hendricks avoids having to use a starter who is limited to 65-80 pitches for a couple of starts as they gain arm strength. If he wouldn't have put Stroman in the bullpen for two weeks this whole problem would have been avoided.
We are going to need 7 or 8 starters by the end of the season. Hendricks likely would have gotten his shot sooner or later but he should have been in line behind Stroman and then Redmond.
Alvarez does look like a legit #4. As for the rest of those guys, this is just my opinion but Hech and Marisinick are bench players. I am not sold on either Nicolino or DeSclafani, I wouldn't bet on either being serviceable starters in the big leagues but maybe they'll prove me wrong.
I agree with you on Escobar, he was wasted in a deal because of non-baseball reasons.
Navarro is fine as a patchwork starter and for what we are paying him.
As others have stated, he's probably better suited as a good backup to a mediocre starter but for 4 mil in FA he's fine.