Chris Sale’s freshly-inked 5-year contract extension will leave the Red Sox searching for answers to a number of questions as they move forward, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI. With Sale’s contract including an opt-out after 2022, the Red Sox could find themselves in a tricky situation at that time. Bradford notes that the contracts of fellow starters Nathan Eovaldi and David Price expire after 2022, and lefty Eduardo Rodriguez is controllable through 2021, meaning that if Sale chooses to exercise his opt-out clause, the team could find itself wanting for starters. Of course, it’s far from a foregone conclusion that Sale will opt for free agency after the third year of his new contract, but it is certainly a situation that Red Sox brass will monitor as that time draws nearer. Pressure could be on the Red Sox to find and develop a new guard of young pitchers to fill the shoes of big-name Boston starters.
Some other notes from the AL East…
- The Blue Jays received some encouraging news today, with manager Charlie Montoyo informing reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that right-handed reliever Ryan Tepera, who has recently been dealing with elbow inflammation, will not require surgery. Having been cleared, Tepera will resume throwing on Tuesday. Montoyo added (Twitter link) that fellow right-hander Bud Norris is expected to be ready to play on Opening Day and will pitch an inning today.
- Orioles designated hitter Mark Trumbo will begin the season on the IL, reports Dan Connolly of The Athletic. After undergoing knee surgery last September, the slugger will have to wait to make his 2019 debut. With Trumbo on the shelf, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde may look to allocate DH at-bats by committee, though Trey Mancini appears the most obvious candidate to fill that role. While it remains unclear just how much time Trumbo will miss, he said that it could be a month or more before he’s able to take the field (via MASN’s Roch Kubatko on Twitter).
- The Rays will get right-handed pitcher Sam McWilliams back, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com (Twitter link). McWilliams had been selected by the Royals in December’s Rule-5 Draft, but will be returned to his prior club after failing to crack Kansas City’s Opening Day roster. McWilliams, who is not on the Rays’ 40-man roster, will report to minor league camp with the Rays.
i thought Bud Norris wasn’t making the roster.
Wondering same
Norris was given a $100k extension to stay with club.
That is what they said. In the same article they stated that they had paid him a $100k retention bonus. My guess would be they thought he was going to be injured to start the season and since he signed a minor league contract they wouldn’t have to add him to the roster until he was healthy. Since he is reportedly healthy now I am sure he will start the year in Toronto. It wasn’t even a week ago when they were saying he was consistently breaking 95mph with his fastball.
Thanks for the great summary!
I doubt the 2022 rotation is the Red Sox’s highest concern right now.
Front office: “Maybe we should have let him walk at the end of the current deal so we didn’t have to worry about it in 2022.”
What other teams could renew their 3rd ace pitcher, then worry about 3 years later when he could opt out? Were they on life support before he renewed?
In 2022, some pitchers leave. So what? They just spend money to buy/trade for replacements.. just like they’ve done with sale, price, eovaldi, lackey, kimbrel, uehara.
Maybe they are saying that way is unsustainable. But it’s been done for a long time successfully.
Planning for the future has changed big time with payroll skyrocketing in recent years. That said, planning for after 2022? To far a current WS contender to project in my view. How many of the current roster is likely to be there?
I hope we don’t have to hear about their tricky situation every day for the next 4 years.
Not to worry…in 2025, George Scott IV will be manning 1B……
2022????????? REALLY?????????Are we THAT bored??????????????
Meanwhile, the O’s (aka “poor devils”) suffer another setback with Trumbo (potential trade chip) being hurt…..
Bob WTF do you think we’re getting for Trumbo? Angelos being able to save 2 million bucks off his contract? Nobody wants bat first players with questionable on base skills. He has almost no value. Bundy, Givens, and Bleier are the only 3 on the team bringing back anything interesting. Maybe Villar if he comes out and rakes. That’s it. Relatively minor Injuries to our old overpaid players aren’t hurting anything.
jbig: Totally agree that all you’re going to get for Trumbo is minimal salary relief….and you’re neglecting Mancini as a potential chip….useful guy, Boom Boom, even if he’s fairly bereft defensively….Villar has value…the pitchers? Wow, they’ve got to show a whole lot more than they have…..
I wouldn’t be upset if Trumbo misses the whole year if it means Mancini is DH’ing instead of LF.
Don’t forget about Mancini and Villar. But beyond that, not much.
I like boom boom but unless he starts hitting like 2017 he doesn’t offer much in the way of value. He wasn’t very good last year and 1B Aren’t in high demand.
Don’t listen to Jbigz guys, he clearly has no idea about roster construction. His opinion is literally worthless
Sorry to upset you. Good call on Sisco. Absolutely horrible decision by Hyde if it was his decision and not the FO’s. Clearly service time manipulation.
Exactly I mentioned Nunez too because he has been terrible yet still has a spot, clearly service time manipulation for the few bright prospects we have. As far as whoever the next 40 man casualty will be, they will be safe because trumbo is going on 60 day IL
Surprised me big time on Sisco. we have to keep him down for quite awhile to keep his service time manipulated. That really bothers me. A third crack at AAA is just stupid. I don’t completely agree on Nunez because our 3B situation is a joke regardless. Neither Ruiz nor Nunez is a ML starter on a decent team. Going to be a rough year.
Wring Sam McWilliams link. The one in your points to Dodgers minor league infielder. ( BUT I have to say I was surprised there were TWO active Sam McWilliams’s.
Sorry, “wrong”
You also could have typed
“your link points to…..”
Yankees will run this town tonight. 😉
m.youtube.com/watch?v=jiGGdnHVygM
Taking a break from stroking it to a Derek Jeter poster?
Must suck not being able to make the Royals pitching staff…..
So in a nutshell, Rob Bradford’s article can be summed up by:
“Team isn’t sure what Rotation will look like 4 seasons from now”.
Thanks a lot, Rob. Groundbreaking.
Filler
The O’s… Ugh