Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe is concerned about the Red Sox’s lack of power, but top exec Dave Dombrowski doesn’t seem as worried.
“I think we have enough power,” Dombrowski said last week. “It depends on how the lineup shakes out. Personally, I like guys who can drive the ball into the gaps or hit the ball out of the ballpark. David [Ortiz] is a power guy. Hanley can do what I’m talking about. We don’t strike out in abundance. Our strikeouts are down compared to most clubs in the league. We’re very similar to Kansas City — not a power club.”
Still, in case DD changes his mind, Cafardo lists many intriguing power hitters that could be options for Boston this winter. Here’s more from today’s column..
- One major league source believes that the Astros could dangle first baseman Chris Carter as trade bait. The 28-year-old (29 in December) ended up with a .294/.400/.529 batting line over twenty postseason plate appearances, continuing to build off of the .240/.328/.558 batting line and nine home runs that he put up over his final 120 plate appearances. Despite that strong second half, his “unpredictable performance, coupled with high strikeouts” could have the Astros a more reliable alternative, Cafardo writes. MLBTR projects Carter to earn $5.6MM in his second of four trips through arbitration.
- Evan Longoria’s contract runs another seven years and his production hasn’t been as great as expected, but one AL GM sounds like he’d be pretty high on him still. “The contract he signed is long but reasonable,” the exec told The Boston Globe scribe. The Rays have repeatedly shot down speculation that they would shop the third baseman, but with the position being in such high demand, Cafardo wonders if they would keep an open mind. The Angels, he says, would be a great fit for the 30-year-old. Longoria’s contract with the club runs through 2022, which would be his age-36 season, plus the Rays have a club option on his services for 2023.
- Cafardo is hearing “a lot of buzz” that the Nationals could make right-hander Stephen Strasburg available. Recently, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the Rangers and Nationals had trade talks involving Strasburg over the winter, though nothing ever came close to getting done. The 27-year-old right-hander’s value is down due both to an inconsistent 2015 season and to the fact that he now has only one season left before hitting free agency. Despite all of that, one has to imagine that the Nats would require significant return to part with the former No. 1 overall draft pick.
- The Indians, Orioles, Mets, Tigers, and maybe even the Red Sox (thanks in part to the Allard Baird connection) could all be in the mix for Royals outfielder Alex Gordon this season, Cafardo writes. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com recently wrote that the Astros were a team to keep an eye on with regards to Gordon.
- Cardinals outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss is an interesting and affordable left-handed power option for a few clubs this winter, including the Red Sox, Cafardo writes. Cafardo says the Orioles will be another team “likely” keeping an eye on Moss. Moss earned $6.5MM in 2015 and the MLBTR projection model has him slated to earn $7.9MM in 2016. The incumbent Cardinals would reportedly like to retain Moss, at least in a bench capacity.
Remember not to awful long ago when fans writers, along with about everyone else in the game was saying mark Reynolds had little to no value?. He had plenty of power and played a position most would consider a bit tougher to find players for and was also somewhat of a poor fielder, just like Carter at that position (3b) and had a track record then, not to mention knew how to take walks and nobody was beating down any door to take on around the same salary due to Reynolds (4-5m) just 5y ago.
I see virtually no market for Carter.. A Dave Kingman ultra lite type player, unless Houston is looking to pay much of his salary, or like Baltimore did with Arizona? Give up very little in exchange for Reynolds.
There’s always a market for home runs. Carter is as pure a DH as they come, but his hitting suffered this year because the Astros decided to acquire a similar styled power hitter in Evan Gattis, forcing Carter to play 1B.
I’d much rather have Carter than V-Mart, Billy Butler, Adam LaRoche, Nick Swisher and even Gattis himself. He’s a DH upgrade on at least half a down teams, Carter’s biggest flaw is his inconsistency. If he stayed hotter longer he’d regularly launching 40-50 bombs a year.
Also the comp with Kingman is way off, Carter walks and K’s more than Kingman, showing some kind of idea of the zone. Kingman was a hacker, Carter’s a hitter.
It’s the amount of money Carter is going to be due via arbitration that will be the stumbling block in moving him this winter, just like it was for mark Reynolds several years back. Teams just aren’t that willing to pay much for people who can’t field, get on base, or do anything except hit *maybe* 30 or so HR, even as a DH and it’s not like he’s a superb run producer either.
I could see some valu, as he got paid in the 4-5m range, but that’s about it, his arbitration raise could drive that up to the 6.5-8m range, not sure where it will end up and it’s just too much for even a DH when teams are not paying people that much for DH’s that don’t meet the Ortiz level now.
Nothing against the guy personally, only judging him from performance with how others have been treated like him.
The Rays should only shop Longoria with his permission. He signed a team friendly deal to be the franchise star. He left millions on the table to do that.
I would like the angels to get Longo, but I wouldn’t want them to sell the farm for him, Not sure who the rays would ask for
Losing Strasburg in addition to Zimmermann doesn’t sound like a wise move, unless the Nats are thinking about being in the Price/Greinke market.
Lack of power isn’t really a concern. The young core of the Red Sox will improve their power with a bit of time. Bogaerts will likely hit for more power next season as he matures physically. Their real concern is a lack of bullpen. You can be fine playing a line drive game a hitting a ton of doubles. You cannot be fine without a bullpen.
I don’t really see what anyone says about diminishing power from Longo. He is still hitting in the same area he had always hit. Still stealing bases. And still is arguably the best defensive third baseman in baseball right now. What are you comparing him to? The power of Donaldson? I’ll take consistency.
The Indians owners are not going to pay Alex Gordon what he will command in FA. This is their annual tease to season ticket holders.
AJ Reed will take Chris Carter’s place at 1B… Hopefully for a long long time. Carter will end up on a bench in Colorado or Milwaukee.