The Red Sox recently signed right-hander Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55MM extension that extends their team control over the youngster by two years. That deal isn’t the only possible extension for a young potential cornerstone that Boston has pursued this winter, however, as first baseman Triston Casas confirmed to reporters that he and the Red Sox have discussed a possible extension as well. At the time, Casas indicated that while he would love to spend his entire career in Boston, the club had yet to present him with anything “enticing” to that point. In the wake of Bello’s extension, Casas recently discussed his own extension negotiations with the Red Sox, as relayed by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
In his comments, Casas reiterating that he hopes to play in Boston for “the rest of [his] career” while also providing an update on the discussions he’s had with Red Sox brass. Per Casas, the sides are still talking but there’s been “no numerical values” discussed to this point and that “nothing has really accelerated” to this point. Even as the 24-year-old makes clear he hopes to spend his entire career in Boston, it doesn’t seem as though he feels much urgency to get a deal done anytime soon.
“I think I have a lot of work to do before I feel like I can say I deserve that contract extension to be the long-term first baseman for the Boston Red Sox,” Casas said, as relayed by Speier. “…So if I don’t get that offer, I’m not upset at anybody in the organization. I’m not upset with myself.”
Although Casas claims to have not yet performed at a level that would warrant the extension he’s looking for, he certainly turned in a strong performance in his first full big league season last year. In 132 games with the Red Sox, Casas slashed an impressive .263/.367/.490 (129 wRC+) in 502 trips to the plate. That strong overall performance was bolstered by a torrid second half that saw Casas slash an incredible .317/.417/.617 in 54 games with a 175 wRC+ that was the fifth-best figure among all hitters with at least 200 plate appearances down the stretch, bested by only Shohei Ohtani, Matt Olson, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Mookie Betts. If the sides are unable to come to an agreement this spring, a 2024 campaign that even comes close to resembling his second half last year would surely improve Casas’s earning power considerably.
More from MLB’s East divisions…
- Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera was removed from his start against the Cardinals today before throwing a pitch, with Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald noting that Cabrera experienced a bout of tightness in his right shoulder while warming up for the game. McPherson adds that Cabrera’s removal from the game was precautionary, per Miami, and that Cabrera told reporters a few hours after being removed from the game that he was “already starting to feel better.” While both club and player are indicating that the issue isn’t a particularly severe issue, it’s worth noting that Cabrera was sidelined by a shoulder impingement in June of last year and missed a month of action. Should Cabrera manage to avoid a trip to the injured list to open the season, he figures to Jesus Luzardo and Eury Perez in the rotation. Southpaws A.J. Puk, Trevor Rogers, and Ryan Weathers figure to compete for the final two spots in the club’s rotation, though Braxton Garrett figures to join the rotation once he’s recovered from his own shoulder woes.
- Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh has yet to appear in a game this spring while rehabbing from arthroscopic knee surgery he underwent in early February. While the initial timeline for his return to action was three-to-four weeks following the surgery, Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer indicates that Marsh is not quite ready to return to game action at this point. Coffey adds that club manager Rob Thomson recently indicated that Marsh is “on track” with regards to his rehab and could get into a Grapefruit League game by the end of the week. Marsh, 26, slashed a strong .277/.372/.458 in 133 games for the Phillies last year and figures to be a regular fixture in the club’s outfield mix this season alongside Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas.
A lot of people think that Casas is a weirdo because he goes about life a bit differently than the typical jock but, statements like those above prove that he’s a mature, humble kid that’s already an asset to his team.
I enjoyed his response. It’s a nice way to say that I’m betting on myself to raise my stock before I sign an extension.
Yeah, there’s no reason for the guy not to bet on himself to get an even stronger extension offer next year. The guy is truly a statue playing first, but just a bit of defensive improvement plus maintaining the strong ops+ will reap a huge monetary reward next year. That he understands that is awesome. And so what if he’s a weirdo (and he is)? There’s no indication that he’s a bad guy, and far better a weirdo than a zero like .
(content after “like” was deleted/lost, so here it is in plain text);
insert your ‘favorite’ zero here.
Gomez – Casas is definitely a good guy. Thinking differently and being different are never bad things, in fact they are usually very good things.
With the exception for instance being things like Casas refusing to practice common plays at first base and instead focus on very infrequent plays far away from the bag. He needs to become more coachable.
Casas looks markedly slimmer this year he made a really good basket catch yesterday on a ball he wouldn’t have got to last year. He will improve defensively to at least average this year. He was considered average to better than average coming up defensively in the minors. Last year was the anomaly defensively he will be much better this year.
@Gomez Manny was also a little eccentric based on player anecdotes from baseball books which I’ve read. He was also one of my fav players since his Cleveland days. Hunter Pence was another off the top of my head.
Bruin – I hope so! It will help the MVP wager I have on him ;O)
YBC – That’s an understatement on Manny! Haha!
Ottavino is another one who marches to the beat of a different drum. He did the same barefoot walking and laying out on the Fenway grass (aka grounding) that Casas does.
He also needs a better manager and coach to begin with
His agent taught him well on what to say. Unlike when Mookie left, fans will be saying he wasn’t good enough for Boston, no matter how well he’s played.
YBC – I think he realizes to get paid as a position player he has to greatly improve his defense. The Red Sox no doubt told him similar.
Fever, unfortunately the Sox have set the precedent by paying all bat Devers…
@dewey Story was a plus defender in Colorado before he was beset by injuries.
Yankee, I was only commenting how Casas will argue the Sox should look at his assets and how from a political standpoint how it would look for a deal to not get done. Same as Devers’agent used last year.
dewey – Just as with Devers, as long as Casas hits I can live with him on defense.
Plenty of players were like that …. JDM, Manny, even Yaz toward the end of his career.
@dewey Noted.
Yaz was still at least competent at first base when he played.
Didn’t matter for devers
Grnmt – What do you think he meant by “no numerical values discussed”?
How do you possibly have contract negotiations/discussions without throwing out dollars or years?
So the Red Sox said they want to extend him, and that was it? Very strange.
Conceptually, how many free agent years would potentially be bought out or if the idea was strictly to buy out his arb years.
At FPG and Dewey… also, what he would need to work on in order to enter serious talks I would think
DBH – Agreed! I think if he puts up a solid FULL season this year, his value skyrockets.
And if he has a sophomore slump? Reasons on both sides to lock in a deal. imagine if the smSox had Fidrych and Joe Charbonough back in the day and extended both after year one.
I think there were numbers discussed initially. He probably meant in their recent talks since Bello signed
I think he’s a weirdo because he what’s to stay in Boston he should run for the hills unless he likes being in last place every year till Henry sells or steps back and let’s Warner run things like he wants to
He saying the right things because nothing is gained by not playing nice at this stage.
Yeah, I don’t know if you’re aware, but these guys do this to make money.
Then he’s on the wrong team and in the wrong decade if he really wants to get paid in this article it sounds like they’ve offered him a few different contracts and they’ve been garbage
It sounds like Casas wants to build up a better resume before he starts negotiating an extension. If he has another good year or two, he should be able to get more money in the extension.
Suit – My interpretation of Casas’ comments was the same. Knowing his true to self approach, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants a 10 yr deal so he has peace of mind and can focus on baseball. He’s smart enough to know that’s a lofty ask from a player with so much team arb control.
No entitlement, the best way to balance the teams leverage is to just got pad the resume with a 30 HR season while hitting clean up.
Mo: Well said, as usual.
And we all saw how that that plays out they did to some guy named Mookie Betts
Why do people think he’s weird? Just curious
Wiz – Because he’s very unique.
Everyone talks about the nail polish and the grounding, but there’s so much other stuff.
For instance did you know during his plate appearances he has a habit of loudly calling pitches the moment they cross the plate. That’s why he usually talks to the home plate umpire before his first at bat of each game, to make sure they know he’s not trying to show them up.
Wiz, he kinda has some old school hippie stuff running in his viens (which is fine).
He likes to take his shirt off and lay in the outfield grass the channel mother earth’s energy.
Spaceman, Manny being Manny, Damon… he is right at home in Fenway!!!lol
I listened to an in-game talk with him while he was in the field. I don’t remember what he exactly said but I was impressed with what he talked about, defense, hitting, just how great it was to be in the Bigs, etc.
Didn’t see it on here, but I read that CLE’s SP Gavin Williams was scratched from his ST start for a sore right elbow presumably from throwing weighted balls.
Just shut Cabrera down for spring rather be safer than sorry. Weathers has looked lights out so far in spring. Give the kid a chance while you can afford the recovery time.
Max Meyer should be next in line.
Meyer has the options in favor and health against him. Take the time before you figure out exactly where he lands.
Weathers has not looked like… Weathers! What’s the change?
It’s all stottlemyre. Weathers has the talent just needed the instruction and approach. It’s why I’m afraid of what the marlins do having Cabrera be the odd arm out are we going to get a better version of him? I’m not sure of that.
I say give all the young kids deals like Bello so there is no money to debate about. Rather than paying all the kids under $1MM during their pre-arb years lets pay them all nearly $10MM like Bello.
What a great way for Breslow to shuffle the blame for his ineptiture to someone else. I can see him in the board room “Hey guys I secured the future!!! I can’t help it we wasted so much on Devers, Story, Yoshida, Giolito, Jansen, Martin, O’Neill and Grissom!!!
The future sure is locked in with long term deals for guys who have 5 years of control left before the deal is made!!! IDIOTS!!! The nightmare isn’t ending and we got rid of Bloom!!!!
It sure seems to work well for the Braves.
Hammerin – Lets talk basics.
Riley got 10 years after his first ARB year when they would have owed him at least $10MM that year and probably $20MM the next year and then 8 FA years.
An intelligent financial person put that deal together. The Braves got him for $21.2MM for 10 years. He’ll be worth $30MM a year before he finished receiving his control year money so ATL saved about $10MM a year on the deal for 8 years!!!
NOT TRUE FOR BELLO!!!. Bello has done nothing and is getting this deal and Riley in 2021 finished 7th in the MVP vote, won a Silver Slugger and in 2022 was 6th in the MVP and an all-star.
You are talking apple and oranges if comparing what ATL did versus the numbskull Breslow.
TF – The Braves gave Strider his extension after an AMAZING season. Bello hasn’t performed nearly as well yet.
Why is there so much hate for Devers? 17 WAR last 4 full seasons. 45 games total missed last 5 seasons. Bat 280 hit 30 homeruns OPS 850. These guys do not grow on trees. To top it off he is just hitting his prime.
He is a DH not a 3rd baseman!
The bats beyond elite it’s under appreciated. I’m surprised the transition hasn’t gone to 1b yet, but he’s still young enough and I don’t think he’s outgrown it like vlad has.
His glove is below average granted, but its not that far below average. Red Soxes problems are more than him. This year’s starter FAs were just not that deep or wanted outrageous contracts. Doesn’t help that the Phillies are raising the bar either.
Vlad has out-ate 1st. Then again he can’t pad his stats against bad Orioles teams anymore.
Hehe – Devers is as clutch as it gets, check out his RISP numbers.
Jack, if you think devers’ glove is ‘not that far below average’ can you tell us what you think average is? Cause Devers was among the worst in just about every metric for qualified starters I can think of off the top of my head
It’s Below average. I would give him a D. Still his offense vastly makes up for it. I honestly believe the Red Soxes have a long term plan. Only a few long term contracts. Even the Story contract has only 4 more years. Even that can be salvaged even if he never plays like he did precovid.
Just drop a cinder block at 3B. He outgrew 3B before he ever reached the majors.
Well you know you look at the numbers and he has approved his defense. From horrible to just bad.
Jack – Only? It’s 67% of the contract remaining.
Only is used when there’s 25% or less remaining… 33% max.
Jack 19 – He’s the worst since the dead ball era!!!
YES HE IS THAT BAD. THEY SHOULD MAKE HIM GIVE UP HIS GLOVE TO HELP THE PITCHING STAFF.
Fever – The world has changed. No Betts, no Bogey, no JD to protect him and now NO JT!!!
Devers numbers are in the past. His 2023 numbers reflect his future which is about 30 OPS= points below his PAY.
Jack 19 – WORST IN 100 years at 3B!!! And that’s with the score keepers ignoring 50% of his errors.
2022 – 14 errors and 52 misplays categorized as balls other 3Bs would have made.
JACK 19 – HORRIFIC is still HORRIFIC. He’s 3rd in errors after 7 seasons among 3Bs and the guys ahead of him are just barely ahead and have played 17 years!!!!
No one gets it (or I don’t). Today’s game needs defense because it saves pitches thrown by the staff and most likely injuries as well by not forcing the pitcher to throw more, especially in high stress situations. Devers should have been moved to first before Casas came up and then to DH. It’s why I would trade Yoshida who I think can win the batting title. It would allow Duran to play left and get a real centerfielder like CR. Or trade Duran and keep Yoshida. My plan though required the team to also spend on both Monte and Chapman (who is no longer available).
I think Rafaela makes this team and locks down centerfield. Abreu has struggled offensively this spring but has looked really good defensively in right with a cannon arm. I’m wondering though if they decide to send Abreu to AAA do they start O’Neil in right? He’s athletic enough to play the position but tight field is demanding in Fenway it’s kind of like a second centerfield. Duran should play left ideally Abreu starts to look better at the plate and earns the right field job. An outfield of Duran, Rafaela and Abreu would be really good defensively.
A healthy Story will go a long way to help the pitching staff he’s an outstanding defender. It’s still worrisome when the pitching staff has so many elite ground ball pitchers to have Devers at third and Valdez at second to start the season. I’m not to concerned with Casas at first he will be fine defensively.
Jack – When the 20-year-old Devers hit a 9th inning game tying homer off a 102.8 MPH pitch from Chapman it was the hardest pitch any player has homered off since MLB started officially tracking pitch velocity in 2008. Legendary stuff there.
All Devers has to do to improve his defense is make spectacular plays on balls barely out of his reach that are routine for others. You can win 5 GGs that way.
Fever – We all still call it LUCKY AS HELL!!!
TF – Haha! Maybe someday you’ll grow to like him … or at least not hate him ;O)
.873 OPS over the past three seasons …. I’ll wait and see if he’s on a downward trend, or if he just had an “offyear” with an .851 OPS!!!
Nobody is disputing he’s overpaid as of now, but I know he can improve in all areas. I’ve seen it many times with other players!!
Just for Ha-Ha’s …. what makes you think a 27-year-old CAN’T improve?
Keep in mind he’s got a horrible manager!!!
Fever – when it comes to defense, when you’re THAT bad for THAT long it makes one inclined to think either you don’t care, or, can’t do it.
Given that Devers is locked in for a contract longer than his body type is likely to allow him to remain a productive player, he also has no incentive any longer to try that hard either.
Nothing wrong with building a core and locking up the key parts long term. Better to sign Casas to a long-term deal now than sign a Hanley Ramirez/Pablo Sandoval type bad contract to replace him later
Despite the current injury I think Grissom has a good chance of being a long-term, all-star-level player. We’re not talking about Michael Chavis here.
I still think that was a smart move. Him being injured does look bad now. Even if Sale does have a career resurrection and that is a big if. The Red Soxes are not ready to compete. Why not get a potential piece if he gonna be gone after the year anyways.
Gomez – NOT A CHANCE. He hits for average. I’ve just listed all his strengths!!!! He’ll be lucky to stay as a slightly above league average player until his control runs out. Yeah, give the guy a LT deal like Bello. Why make anyone earn anything. He’s a pre-arb right now who cost us $17MM!!!! We’ve already wasted a ton of money on the schmuck.
Locking them up pre-arb will save the club money they anticipate costing them in the arbitration years. Additionally, there’s a club option in Bello’s contract, and they’re likely to try to go 7-8 with Casas. Nothing idiotic about this.
Holden – SIMPLY idiotic before his ARB years and if they prove nothing by then it’s a total waste of money. Bello got a two year pass. If he falls apart the deal was a complete joke.
And it’s short money wasted if it does happen. Who cares? It’s better than wasting 100 plus million on someone like Montgomery that will likely be mediocre at best over the life of the contract.
Now the Sox are imitating the Braves approach? The attempted Rays model served only to destroy a championship calibre lineup. No vision in Boston – always shifting the goal posts.
30 Parks – NOT the BRAVES approach. They gave contracts to young all-stars not wanna bes.
Fair point, Troll. Frustrating.
The Rays approach is suicidal. It only works in the regular season. Plus you leave the fans feeling like they can’t connect with the star players because they will be gone.
Jack – Fantastic post, you definitely get it. Rays haven’t won a legit postseason series since 2008 and they injure their pitchers more than any team.
Your last point is proven by the pathetic attendance, the last star they held onto was Longoria ages ago.
Jack: The Rays have won 99 games 2 of the last 3 years. Anything can happen in the postseason. Even a 3-0 series lead can be lost. It’s what makes baseball great. The Rays are a very good organization. Yes, they cannot afford to retain most of the talent they develop, but they are very good at talent evaluation and player development.
“anything can happen” isn’t exactly a great plan.
“anything can happen” isn’t exactly a great plan
=================================
I’m not saying it’s a plan. Jack was saying that the Rays model doesn’t work because they haven’t won in the postseason. I am saying that 99 win teams like the Rays have had are good teams and good teams don’t always win in the postseason….because anything can happen in a short span of games.
I think teams should definitely try to be more like the Rays in terms of talent evaluation and player development. Large market teams should not try to be like the Rays financially. Large market teams can outspend the Rays and keep talent that the Rays can’t afford to keep.
Suit – there’s another fatal flaw in your logic I haven’t mentioned previously.
The talent in mlb is a zero sum game. For a team like the rays to identify, pick their guys, amd rehabilitate a fair share of them into positive results means someone had to leave those guys available.
There’s only so many gems in the rough to go around.
If more teams are turning those guys around, or, not letting them loose in the first place, then there’s less raw material for those development machines. That means more rays clones will be less effective, and, even the originals will lag behind.
(All this in addition to draft and bonus advantages, comp pick advantages, etc we’ve previously hit upon)
But I DO agree with your criticism of Boston, in that they had the income and ability to keep Mookie and Bogey in town their whole careers and screwed up by not doing so.
GA: Fatal flaws? It is still a good idea to try to improve talent evaluation and player development. The Rays are one of the best in the business. The Rays and Red Sox have about the same number of draft picks and international bonus pool. The Rays have a small advantage in these areas.
It’s always a good idea to improve, but, like we’ve talked about, you cant have everyone trying to do the things the rays do – kind of how all 30 teams couldn’t jump into bean’s moneyball scheme and have it work for everyone. You wind up where most teams just improve a tad.
Besides, trying to follow the rays sucks. A big part of their model is flipping stars and letting them walk for extra draft picks. Makes for a team that’s pointless to follow – sort of like the red sox have become, no continuity at the mlb level, no attachment to anyone. You love a guy like Bogey and he’s insulted and booted out of town by ownership. Yet they keep a bum like devers who has no marketable personality, nothing to endear himself to the fanbase.
The rays have a BIG advantage in the draft – every year they get a free bonus pick at the end of the 1st or end of the 2nd round. Ignoring the talent dropoff as you move to later rounds, including the 5% overage they also automatically get an extra $2.9m to $1.4m in bonus pool in the amateur draft.
Consider that some teams only get a total $5.x million bonus pool for their entire draft amd the rays are gifted 1/3 to 1/2 of that as a freebie on top of what they’d otherwise be entitled to? It’s a big deal.
That’s a big advantage to going over slot and taking guys with signability issues.
Then you get the compensation difference for signing, and for losing, QO players which is yet another impact to draft assets.
GA: It looks like you are telling me that the Red Sox cannot be exactly like the Rays. I never said they should or could be exactly like the Rays. I have said that it looks like John Henry’s plan was to be more like the Rays, but to significantly outspend them, which allows the Red Sox to keep talent the Rays are forced to trade. It looks like the Red Sox are focusing more on building from within (like the Rays and O’s) than from free agency and I like it. I expect it to work out better than signing older free agents to massive contracts that go bad. You have not convinced me of some major flaw in my thinking.
What you talk about now is not being more like the rays.
The red sox of the early 00s were built by homegrown stars, as were most of the teams through DD’s juggernaut that bloom dismembered for no return.
Until bloom all the sox teams brought up young guns, played them, paid them to keep them around, and occasionally traded from within either blocked prospects or spare parts who didn’t amount to much to put them over the top.
All this talk about being more rays like started with bumbling bloom. Look back at rosters starting around 1999 onwards and where players came from. Up until blooms fiasco there was exactly the system you talk about, it’s just that bloom broke that machine.
GA: If you are drafting and developing players more than signing free agents, this is more like the Rays and what the Red Sox are doing under Bloom and Breslow so far. I think the Red Sox will spend more on free agents to fill holes when a young core is in place. I think the young core is just starting to be put in place with players like Bello and Casas.
Suit: I don’t think you’re familiar with how the Rays pipeline works.
Take a look at this roster breakdown from their 2020 WS appearance team:
google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/world-…
Only FIVE of 28 players were drafted by the club. Then THREE were favorable international prospects due to their club status. FIFTEEN of the rest of the 28 were traded for, relying on flipping their established arb-eligible talent for more developed prospects that were projectable better than in the mlb draft. Then a couple free agents where they get favorable signing treatment
You can’t both sign and keep those homegrown players using your club spending might, and at the same time trade them for more projectable prospects like the rays.
The rays rely HEAVILY on trading away mlb players for prospects with a few seasons in the minors.
GA: Ues, the Rays are always working with young players.My original point here was that the Rays should not be dismissed because they haven’t won a World Series because anything can happen in the postseason. As far this tangent we went on, I am saying large market teams (all teams really) could benefit from top notch player evaluation and development which is what the Rays have and the Red Sox seem to be building. I like that the Red Sox are focused on building a young core instead of signing older, expensive free agents. I’ve said this all for awhile. Even if the Red Sox cannot build a young core as fast as the Rays (which I think is your point here), I still think it is a better approach than signing a bunch of older, expensive free agents.
How would you respond to the fact that there WAS a young talented core when bloom took over which he squandered?
GA: Bloom got rid of Betts and Benintendi and who else? Bogaerts was not young when he left. Benintendi is not a big loss. I think Mookie was determined to test free agency, so they traded him after he turned down 10 years/$300M. I fail to see a big young core that Bloom squandered.
Suit, I’m liking this tangent.
Fun fact: Bogey is younger than Story, and, would’ve been cheaper too as Bogey had been reported to have been willing to take an extension in the same range as Story got, but, wouldn’t have cost a draft pick, and intl bonus pool money, as a QO recipient.
The idea is to roll guys on an off the big league roster. Benny could’ve been kept, or traded. Bloom bungled this by basically neglecting the mlb roster and using it as a place to churn bargain bin players hoping for trade bait.
The whole mookie and free agency thing is speculation. I think we would have different ideas of his intentions, and, we’ll never know until maybe after his playing days are done.
But there were other ways to accomplish the 2020 tax reset, even before covid and Price’s opt out saved money. But that’s also a dead end tangent.
Imagine this team’s squad if you kept eovaldi, Bogey, and mookie. I’d bet there was at least 1 more ALCS and a WS in the last 4 seasons.
There were other young guys and home grown guys on those teams, some playing bit roles but those guys make a difference sometimes, just like Dave Robert’s.
Of course the game may pause a bit – crossing into WV
GA: I think I would have rather the Red Sox do just about anything instead of signing older players to long, expensive deals. I have had enough of waiting out bad contracts.
This Breslow’s a moron take is really quite dumb and doesn’t see the forest through the trees. The cost for pitching is going up tremendously fast. On the surface is it a a mild overpay for what Bello has shown so far yes it probably is. There’s also a humanistic side to negotiations and this announces a new era in Red Sox baseball. The Red Sox have watched player after player walk recently this announces they want to keep their star young talent. Would I have rather seen Casas locked up yes I would but Bello was willing to sign the extension Casas is not as of yet. Is there a chance Bello gets injured and doesn’t live up to his contract of course there is. I’m indifferent on this deal it buys out all of his control years for an extra year of control when we factor in that year of control and then the option at 21 million for another year of control that option has value especially the way starting pitchers prices are going up. From a pure dollars and sense point of view it’s a gamble from a humanistic good will point of view it’s a win.
Breslow went to Yale. I would say that alone should show he’s no idiot.
I guess I am in the minority here thinking Breslow is doing a good job. At the end of last season I posted that it will take a few years to undo Bloom’s mess so I hope the Sox play the young guns this year and avoid the silly contracts like Ohtani. So far it seems to be what Breslow is doing.
Yes, like most of you, I wanted to see Monty in a Boston uniform, but not for the next 7 or 8 effing years at 30 mil a pop. And let’s be honest, price of pitching is getting silly, especially for starters who, league wide, can’t make it past the 5th or 6th, and have arms waiting to fall off.
I agree with TrollFree that that waiting until a player hits his arm year to extend would be less risky. But I admit it will also be more costly, so I can see the value of doing it now, so I can support it.
As I posted before, now that his first season of transition is in the past, Yoshi should turn into a prototypical #2 hitters who hits for high average. If he can, he should get flipped at the deadline and Devers moved to DH. I am 100% confident that will not happen because ownership is horrible at admitting mistakes.
Breslow has a rep as a pitching guru and bringing Bailey on, who has the same rep, was a great move. Especially with Tek still around.
Sox could have MAYBE contended this year, but the money to do so would have been sillyville tokens.
Spend it on the kids who will be here for the next decade, not players who will 100% paid by the Sox to play elsewhere, like Sale and so many before him.
I looking forward to Casas launching 30 to 50 homers this year and many years to come, I don’t care how odd he is.
DBH – The way I see it is as long as you don’t extend EVERY young arm in pre-arb, one or two guys aren’t a big risk. I think we can agree even if Bello is never an ace for whatever reason, he will be a solid #4 as his basement floor. Teams are paying $9m/yr for veteran #5s, and, high risk reclamation projects.
If the extension doesn’t work out he becomes that guy. Catastrophic career-ending stuff happens to anyone at any time, doesn’t matter if it’s a 10 year vet or an arb1 youngster. The latter you can never plan for.
I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, 2024 was never a win-now season for Breslow. Shifting future years’ payroll into this season by front-loading is smart in that it frees up budget for later years.
GA: Agreed. If Bello is a 4, the Sox break even. If he is a 1, 2 or 3, the Sox have agreat deal.
GA, think you and I have been pretty much in agreement on most things this off-season.
I do think Bello will be a solid 2 or 3 guy, so should be.a win if the avoids weighted balls and spin rate lol
I think most people like the Bello extension there’s a few very vocal people that don’t. I mean you’re buying out the cheap arb years for an extra year of control and an option for another year after that. Who knows how expensive number 3 starter types will cost by then. Breslow has just but dealing with the budget ownership is giving him. It’s quite clear they aren’t green lighting acquisitions at this point. Breslow has done more to change the infrastructure in his first year then any of the previous POBO’s this century. His doing a fine job especially with what he has to work with since ownership isn’t spending mood.
There is no reason for Casas to sign the same kind of deal that Bello did. The injury risk for a first baseman is far less than a starting pitcher. The big concern for him would be performance regression and it appears that he is not worried about that.
How do you figure out how many figures to write when figuring who figures in the rotation?