It seems that Corbin Burnes isn’t the only former Orioles All-Star to catch the Red Sox’s eye. According to a report from Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Boston has had some discussions with free agent starter John Means. Once a promising hurler, the southpaw’s career has been derailed by injuries over the last three years. He underwent his second Tommy John procedure this past May and will not be able to pitch for most of the 2025 season.
An 11th-round draft pick in 2014, Means was never a highly-ranked prospect. However, he pitched reasonably well throughout the minor leagues and earned a spot on Baltimore’s Opening Day roster in 2019. After three strong appearances from the bullpen, he made his first big league start in mid-April and continued to thrive out of the rotation. He was named an All-Star that summer and finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting that fall.
From 2019-21, Means made 67 appearances (63 starts) pitching to a 3.73 ERA and 4.48 SIERA in 345 1/3 innings. He was rarely dominant, struggling to miss bats or induce groundballs. However, his control was excellent (he walked just 5.1% of batters), and he averaged 5 1/3 innings per start. He may not have been much more than a league-average starting pitcher, but there’s value in league-average, especially for a basement-dwelling club like the Orioles of that era.
Unfortunately, injuries were always a problem for Means. He spent time on the IL in each season from 2019-21 with various arm ailments. Then, things took a turn for the worse in April 2022 when he needed his first Tommy John surgery. His left elbow and forearm continued to give him trouble as he tried to make his way back, and eventually, he needed a second Tommy John in May 2024. For what it’s worth, he was quite effective in the 10 starts he managed to make between 2022-24, giving up just 16 earned runs (2.75 ERA) in 52 1/3 innings. Yet, that thin silver lining pales in comparison to all the cause for concern.
Means is most likely seeking a two-year deal that will allow him to prioritize his rehab for most of 2025. In return, he would, ideally, provide his new club with a full, healthy season in 2026. However, his extensive injury history and lack of upside could prevent any teams from offering him such a two-year guarantee. Thus, he might be looking at something more like the one-year contract Matthew Boyd signed with the Guardians last summer. That deal was technically worth $3.5MM, although it was prorated to $1.75MM because Boyd signed mid-season. Like Means, Boyd was an injury-prone arm coming off Tommy John surgery when he signed with Cleveland.
If Boston is seriously considering Means, it would likely be as a low-risk depth signing with the potential to pay off late in the year. In other words, signing Means would not necessarily take them out of the running for other starting pitchers on the free agent or trade markets if chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is serious about continuing to pursue rotation upgrades for the 2025 season.
John Means Business
Chris Berman trademark! Somewhere the Natrone bomb is smiling.
I’m trying to figure out what this Means
swan – I can tell you exactly what this Means.
It Means the Red Sox are still going cheap by taking flyers on guys who are injured with the hope they can save a few bucks.
They are still not acting like a Top 4 revenue team.
We’ve seen this crap far too many times with guys like Paxton, Hendriks, Mondesi, etc and so far it’s always resulted in a waste of time and money.
I’ll wait until ST as I always do, but as of right now it’s looking like “raise the ceiling” Means nothing more than giving up a boatload of talent for Crochet.
Fever, I can’t remember Mondesi perhaps because there have been so many. You have to remember that Henry got wealthy finding that edge in finance (arbitrage).
dewey – It was just last year he was with the Red Sox.
If you can’t remember him it’s understandable, he sat out his entire Red Sox career while collecting over $3M. And when they signed him they knew he was trying to come back from an injury.
Figures. Like signing a Giolito has they known beforehand about his need for surgery. Maybe Hendricks works this year.
Alderberto Mondesi. They signed him hurt to remain hurt.
After what we’ve witnessed, why are we expecting the Henry’s Red Sox to be anything but cheap? It is ad nauseam to constantly hear complaints about the dissonance. They are pretending, and you among all Red Sox fans are hook, line, and sinker.
Henry has always been about this. He has flirted with big deals and he’d rather waste his money on reclamation projects than pay for top dollar.
Just like many fans that partake in fantasy baseball auction leagues, there are always people who are cheap and resist going all in. Risk averse people who trick themselves into paying for damaged goods. Henry is this person. He likes having the advantage to know who is worth more than cost. And right now, the playing field is very even, as moneyball doesn’t work. This just leaves the broken and downtrodden as bargains. Sometimes it works. Other times it doesn’t.
Cleveland – I agree with most of what you wrote, except I don’t buy into their promises hook or line or sinker. I never have said I believe them, what I’ve said is that I will leave the possibility open that they actually do what they say they will do. In other words, I’ll believe it when I see it. And there is still 2 months remaining for them to prove themselves.
I think it’s important to voice justified displeasure. If we quietly sit by tolerating it, they will have no motive to change.
Also—having played (and been highly successful) in fantasy auction leagues since it was called “rotisserie baseball,” I can tell you that the hardest strategy is holding your fire until most other owners have blown their wads—unless the supply is being emptied. They struck on the cheap yesterday with Crochet, and if he’s good they will extend him at a younger age than Fried or Snell. They have all the funds they started the off season with, save for the $10.75 they spent on Chapman and about $3 mil on Crochet. If they get outspent on all available right handed bats you should crow all you like. And by the way, I agree that Sean Murphy would be a smart pickup if they can work something out. They could still use their personnel logjam to deal for Castillo. What second starter do you think they should go and get?
Whether you believe them or not, the reaction is all they need. Divide and conquer. They say hopeful things that catch some people, and then there are all those that aren’t fooled but spend all their time trying to dispel the fooled. This chaos makes it easier for Henry to do what he wants. Only when the fans unite in one message does he cave.
Look at the Devers’ extension. The whole fanbase was rallying after losing Bogaerts and Betts; the narrative was the Red Sox can’t keep their home grown talent. This threatened the fans retreat. Henry had to pay up to quiet this. Do you think he’d do that, pay Devers all that money, if had his way?
This full throttle stuff pissed everyone off. So they said they’ll make good this time. Have they done that? No they have done the same thing. They have everyone know they are in on all the free agents but fail short of the gargantuan numbers. This splits the fans. Some fans agree that contract is too much. Others say they could afford it. Some wanted this target, some want the other. All this time, they don’t have good press but they have people’s time and care. This is what he does.
Voicing displeasure only works if when its the same message from all the fans. This can’t be ignored. This other bit only helps him.
Cleveland – I’m not sure whether you’re saying I’m being too critical or not critical enough?
Sure there’s some people that are front office suckups, they will always endorse everything the front office does or doesn’t do. It’s like that with every sports team fanbase. Those people are delusional because it makes them feel better, like believing in Santa, so I’m not going to try and take that pleasure away from them.
But I disagree that everyone needs to be on the same page. As long as there’s a majority of people who refuse to pay a premium price for an inferior product, ownership’s hand will be forced to spend and compete. It’s already happening, ratings are way down and ticket revenue is way down among other things. I’m sure they are losing sponsors as well.
They will end up spending, and will most likely have a payroll over $200M again. It probably just won’t be on star players, they will do what they usually do …. pick over what’s left after the other teams get the players they want.
With Devers they backed themselves into a corner with the mishandling of Mookie and Xander, it’s just been horrible management all the way around. John Henry is trying to run the team like he made his fortune, treating players just like commodities. That doesn’t work, it won’t work. All their past success was driven by big spending and a desire to win. I think they will soon realize that, and especially as they hope to maximize their profits from Fenway Corners down the road.
You guys just traded for Crochet. Why are you complaining??
What do you think I meant about you?
The other bit was on how the point of a majority opinion is that it can’t be ignored. It’s louder than the numerous individual opinions. I merely was pointing out how Henry uses propaganda so he can keep being a pos.
Cleveland – I think you feel I shouldn’t express my unhappiness with the front office because I shouldn’t expect them to act any differently than they have in recent years.
And that’s fair, you could be right in that they may never get back to a level of spending that brought them success in the past.
But I still firmly believe they WILL start spending again when profits are projected to drop far enough, and certainly when Fenway Corners is near completion. I thought perhaps that time is now, but maybe not. Either way, I am staying true to myself by holding them accountable for poor decisions … just like I did with the Giolito signing, the Sale/Grissom trade, the Story signing, the Cora extension, and so many other mistakes they’ve made the past 5 years.
steldarl87 – The strategy for an auction draft in rotisserie baseball can be a clever way to get good players cheap but it hinges on the ability to evaluate talent. Sometimes cheap is simply cheap and not a bargain at all.
Boston is likely to go for Buehler who got $8Million in 2024 and did next to nothing so he shouldn’t be over $10Million but with Breslow like with Bloom it could be double that because they are clueless. But even at $15Million Buehler fits the strategy. High risk high reward but the probability of high reward is significantly low just like Giolito and O’Neill. But at under $20Million and a 2 or 3 year contract, it’s in Breslow’s wheelhouse.
I also believe there will be a foolish desperate move that pushes Casas out and moves Devers to 1B where he will fail miserably. I believe Casas and something else will be traded to Seattle for Castillo.
That would leave Boston with
1 – Houck
2 – Crochet
3 – Castillo
4 – Buehler
5 – Crawford
6 – Bello
And a bunch of guys that can sit in AAA as SP depth.
I hope they give 3B to Campbell but that seems way to logical for a guy like Breslow or his mentor Cora. I’m sure there must be a Dominican player they can trade for that can take over 3B for Devers and they’ll keep Campbell in the minors in hopes Mayer can be promoted to play SS and Story will move to 3B. That’s more the type of messed up thinking that goes on in the front office. A ton more errors at 1B, a 3B in Story who will get hurt and probably not hit well, a SS who is also likely to get hurt and can’t field and will hit around .200 but a deep starting staff.
Everything reeks of .500 baseball again.
FOmeOLS – Because we paid double his value.
Every team looks for flyers like this. It has nothing to do with the bigger picture. When Crochet puts up stellar numbers this year I expect a full mea culpa. You seem to have everything about the Red Sox figured out, Fever. Would you have been happy if they paid $900 million to outspend Cohen for Soto? Or whatever it took to get Fried? Would you have been happier if they had been outbid on Crochet? The White Sox top prospect is a shortstop—perhaps Mayer, who you want Breslow to deal, didn’t interest them. Which bat—if any—would you be happy with Breslow signing, and for what numbers?
stel – I understand you’re new so I don’t hold anything against you. Just to summarize because I’m not gonna repeat everything all over again:
1) I don’t want to deal Mayer, I said I would have preferred Mayer instead of Teel. Big difference.
2) You’re wrong about the top ChiSox prospect, he’s a LHP.
3) Ever heard of Edgar Quero? Chicago’s 4th-ranked prospect before this trade …. and he’s a catcher.
4) I’m fine with not acquiring a big bat now. I was hoping they’d let the kids play next year and then sort things out. Outfield right now is solid. Infield except for 2B right now is solid. Catcher is the black hole.
5) I would have been happy if they had signed Snell for slightly more than what he got.
6) I wouldn’t have minded if another team outbid Crochet.
7) I was never into the idea of signing Soto, always wanted them to spend on pitching instead.
8) Again you don’t understand the difference between calling Crochet a risky acquisition and making predictions. Since YOU made a prediction of him “putting up stellar numbers” apparently YOU seem to have everything about the Red Sox figured out.
9) Every time the Red Sox pays big bucks for players that are expected to be out for a while? I already named 3 the Red Sox have signed over the past 2 years, now you do the same with some other teams.
10) I don’t take anything you said personally, but I do hope you stop accusing me of writing things I didn’t write.
Yes on Soto but just enough to outbid Cohen. Fenway Group has combined wealth of $34 billion. They can afford it.
No on Crochet.
Yes on Fried.
Fpg mentioned trading Mayer? I missed that.
Bregman and whatever it takes.
Baseball – Thank you! You are 100% correct, I never had anything against Mayer. All I said was if forced to trade one of the Big 4, I would choose Mayer. That doesn’t mean I want him traded.
Steldarl87 – I have to ask. Crochet came on the scene in 2018 as a college player. Wasn’t terribly good. Got drafted and was used as a reliever and wasn’t terribly good then suddenly in 2024 after missing a lot of time during his short career he suddenly pitched well as a starter which he had never been before.
What about that summary of his career instills great faith in his abilities? It’s like trying to trend off a single point.
All we can do is hope. He’s the farthest thing from a certain success. Teel and others in the trade would have much higher probabilities for success based on their far longer record of success.
$900 Million is too high for Soto but I would have traded guys like Mayer and other over rated farm hands to get Kyle Tucker if I felt we needed an elite outfielder. For the money, which the front office is always focused on, Tucker was a much better choice than Soto as great as Soto is because Tucker price/value is far lower but he’s better than anyone on the Red Sox roster. The Cubs got him for a song today!!
Since the money paid to Soto, Fried or any other high priced player comes out of profits not the pockets of the owners I say spending up to the CAP is the way to stay competitive in the world of baseball today BUT and this is a very, very big BUT you must pick quality players not famous players. This team is high on a famous Mayer who hasn’t performed so they don’t seem to have the skill set to discern who is a quality talented player and who has a big reputation. This is the problem Cashman and the Yankee’s had until recently. Since we lost Dombrowski who had that skill, the Red Sox and Yankees have flip flopped in discerning who is truly talented and who is simply popular. Cole was an outstanding addition. Soto was too and they should have extended with big numbers that probably would have been lower than what they recently bid. The days of the Yankees signing guys like Stanton and the Red Sox signing JD Martinez are over. Now the Yankees sign the talented ones and Boston signs the cheap ones with high upside that never develops.
I’m just a guy whose been around baseball for a half century or more but to me baseball is just like the stock market. You go for blue chip players. You can take small amounts of money and invest a few dollars in the very high potential guys but your core team needs to be blue chippers and with a CAP far above $200 Million, you should be able to fill the roster with a combination of Blue Chip players and premiere farm system players, especially now since we already have Duran and Houck as premiere farm system players in the majors and controllable.
As long as you asked about bats, here is my suggestion.
Trade Devers for Arenado to shorten the length of time that big money is owed. That will improve defense 10 fold. He’s a right handed power bat that may have faded recently but with Arenado’s personality, he would love to be on a competitive team again. I think his hitting will rebound in Fenway on a competitive team With Devers gone Yoshida can take over DH and we can finally truly evaluate him at his best position. I think I would start Campbell at SS and if he does well you give Story some playing time to try to raise his value to move him elsewhere and dump more salary. With Teel gone the back up catcher Wong is forced into being a starter with the same length of success as Crochet. If his year 2 can match his year 1 he can stay but they already screwed the future by trading Teel so they’ll need to trade for Basallo since BAL already has Rutschman. Mayer and something else for Basallo makes lots of sense. BAL probably won’t do it but it’s worth pursuing him.
Boston had a great combo of cheap and expensive talent designed by Dombrowski. It was slot based and it allowed the team to have many all-stars without going over the cap. All the old cap issues related to Cherington not Dombrowski.
Here was his strategy:
C – Cheap position with two adequate defensive catchers that were close to league average hitters
1B – Cheap temporary 1B until Casas was ready
2B – Pedroia was the guy until Manny took him out so that converted that position to cheap place holders until a farm player with potential could be graduated to the MLB team
SS – Bogey – To be bumped in salary at the opt out check point which is when Bloom mistakenly dumped him
3B – Wasn’t allowed to move Devers because of JD. This was the one mistake in Dombrowski’s design. Devers was far worse on defense than ever expected.
LF – Benny – Adequate slightly above league average player who wouldn’t break the bank
CF – JBJ until Duran was ready. Big mistake to continually give JBJ big arbitration raises because he got priced out of the market before Duran was ready
RF – Mookie was to be there until at least 2030
DH – JD did such a great job replacing Papi that during the 2022 checkpoint off season I believe Dombrowski moves Devers to DH and finds a 3B to replace JD on the roster
So you have Mookie, JD, Bogey as higher priced players and several controlled players or inexpensive players like Moreland who were place holders for upcoming controlled player.
Breslow needs to build this line-up the same way. We have no two way all-stars other than Duran. We have a offensive all-star in Devers who can’t play defense but does and kills the team. The defense has to be fixed to win.
Before the Crochet deal here is what the future held:
C – Teel with Wong as back up
1B – Casas
2B – Meidroth or Grissom
SS – Campbell with Story until the wasted contract runs out
3B – Story until he gets hurt then Rafaela
OF – Abreu, Duran and Rafaela with Anthony on the way
DH – Devers
Since Devers won’t move or will be moved to 1B the entire strategy for improving is demolished. The defense is still bad we have no future catching stud, but we do have an iffy SP1 who should be a SP2.
Bad Gms like Breslow and Bloom do more damage than good. The team will make tons of money so ownership is happy but the fans should NOT be happy because we won’t make the playoffs with the current team. We’ll be .500 ish yet again. The success of this organization ended with the firing of Dombrowski and that is far back in our rear view window we might as well be the White Sox or Colorado.
This is a perfect fit . Means and possibly Walker Buehler. All they need now is Santander for an extra DH . Two broken pitchers for cheap money and another DH . Front office can say the money saved will be used in the future to extend guys or go after next’s year’s free agent class. Which of course none of that will happen.
B dog 351 – Did your really say Santander for and extra DH? Is this really Bloom writing this?
You can never have enough DHs, that’s what I always say.
Devers, Yoshida, Abreu, O’Neill etc hahahaha
Sagacity : I can’t believe I saw an article on here saying they were interested in Santander . That’s a Bloom 2.0
B dog – Remember at the trade deadline the Sox insisted they were shopping for a RHB? Their solution was to acquire Danny Jansen. I wouldn’t be surprised if they acquire a similarly bad RHB this offseason to check off their wish list.
Maybe all this talk about “interest” in many players is just a way to drive up the price, but at some point they need to actually follow through or they will continue to be the laughingstock of MLB.
I mean they’ve been outspent this season by OAKLAND of all teams, how bad is that!!
Fever: I hope I am wrong but I don’t think will sign anyone significant . They are too worried about overpaying . At best they do another trade . Danny Jansen that was the big acquisition .
To me this sounds more like a depth signing for the future. If he had Tommy John surgery in May won’t it take a chunk of this year for him to just get MLB ready. This doesn’t bother me as much as some of the other dumpster diving. This should be a low money signing with limited risk and the potential for high reward if he returns to form in 2026. Henry can’t use this as an excuse not to sign a pitcher like Burnes, who I doubt will be worth what he gets anyway. I think there are still a few trades that could improve the team as well as some significant free agents for them to sign. I am not ready to start thinking negatively yet. I do wish they had done more this week, but I will show some patience for now.
Uncle – History has shown these types of signings by the Red Sox are not supplemental in nature, they actually expect to rely on the players.
Case in point, they wasted $10M and a roster spot on Paxton and all they got was 96 innings of 4.50 ERA pitching. That $10M could have been put to much better use, and a less riskier pitcher could have taken his place.
Will it work out better for Hendriks? Time will tell. But yeah I agree, let’s give them two months and see what else happens.
Fever Pitch Guy – I have a lot of faith in Hendriks because of his journey to get here. He’s overcome adversity and I believe he will again. I even suggested the deal before it happened because I thought it was a much safer risk that many taken recently.
Means is a bad risk. I wouldn’t do it.
Sag – I hope you’re right! I am familiar with people who have won a battle with cancer, it takes a toll on the body.
It’s a Means to an end.
You leave John Means alone Boston
The Red Sox/Orioles exchange program continues! With Crochet, Gio and Hendriks, the Red Sox are now the 2020-’21 White Sox East.
It’s a big if but IF he could stay healthy he’d be a plus to any rotation. I would have liked for the Orioles to have given him another shot but they don’t do anything I want them to do. I’d take a 50/50 John Means over a healthy washed up Trevor Rogers.
data on Trevor Rogers is incomplete. from what we know of personality, i’d agree with you but we’ll how it goes with Rogers over a longer period of time.
Minor league deal with invite to ST? Let’s see what he’s got.
Know what I Mean…s?
That’s not going to be sufficient. With his track record and the demand for SP he’s definitely going to get a major league contract. He’s probably looking at something like 2 years, 6 million or so.
Did you guys even read the article. He’s recovering from his second TJ and will be out most of the year
Bird – Unfortunately, we did read the article. But, the Red Sox have given two pitchers over the last three years a two year contract to:
take the first year to recover
(maybe) pitch in year two
It’s literally the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen.
Sad.Sox 3
But, the Red Sox have given two pitchers over the last three years a two year contract to:
take the first year to recover
(maybe) pitch in year two
It’s literally the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen.
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Plenty of teams do this. Just off the top of my head, TB did this with Glasnow and got handsomely paid off, TO did this with Chad Green and he is likely their closer. Mil did this with Woodruff. Cleveland did this with Bieber. And I am sure there are many others like this.
Joe – I think Glasnow was still in his Arb years, and more importantly he was 27yo. Means will be 32 when the season starts. But, it’s unimportant..
Just because others are doing it means its a good thing? I have some Parenting books that may disagree with that assumption, LOL.
I think this is a dumb idea in general, and even more so in this instance. This is more of the “Smartest Guy in the Room” general manager stuff.
Just because others are doing it means its a good thing?
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I’d have to research it. This probably falls under the category of “It depends on the numbers” Is it going to be $1M to rehab and a $3M team option? Then I am good with it.
And it can’t be “Smartest Guy in the Room” if others are doing it.
Sad Sox : you’re spot on (smartest guy in the room.) Find a diamond in the rough and look like a hero. That might work once in a great while or if you’re a non competitive club with limited funds and are hoping for the lucky lottery ticket .
Ok but you’re not going to invite him to ST
Thinking that as well, but probably something more like 6-8 million per year for two years (12-16 mil total). That price is probably too conservative though considering that WAR is worth about 8-9 million these days and he’s almost certain to have 3 WAR year in 2026 while aiming for that bigger 4 year contract.
Basically a team will be paying for his second year which would be reasonable (if not a steal) at that price if he puts out his normal healthy year stats. It’s a gamble, but I think a very safe one with Means. (I’ve been a big Means fan since his 2019 rookie year, so I could be a little biased with my opinion! LOL!)
fairy – Why do you think it’s a safe one? The only pitcher who has come back successfully after a second TJS is Eovaldi …. but his were at Age 17 and Age 26.
Means had them at Age 29 and Age 31. It’s even harder to come back from them at his age.
Worth a flier for sure. Honestly i feel like more especially older pitchers should try and enter mid-season like Rich Hill did. It lessens their workload to maintain stronger results when they matter late in the season.
Red Sox are spending beyond their Means
This is the RS idea of “raising the ceiling.” Ahahahaha!
You probably missed the Crochet trade.
I saw it Joe, not impressed. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not complaining
This has nothing to do with this article but since I couldn’t comment on the article I was wanting to comment on I will do so here.
Why did they close the comments section for the Juan Soto article?
It’s an article about Juan Soto and how good he is and the pace he’s on and it give us a chance to discuss his crazy contract.
But they giving him the treatment like he committed a crime like Wander Franco all he did was manage to get Cohen to give him 3 times the money Pujols got from the Angels for 5 more years. I say put him in the hall of fame for that alone Hell for that kind of money he can build his own hall of fame dedicated to himself
It’s an ad article for bref so usually those have closed comments.
As a Red Sox fan, Means has been in my offseason wish list.
Welcome to the 21st Century. These days, most people read the headline and provide their “hot take” two seconds later.
No,please, not another dumpster dive for a guy who you give a minor league contract to. There are better players available Breslow. Spend the money you have not spent any money this winter after supposedly you were going to fork over 700 million for Soto.
Fairly certain Means wouldn’t be getting even a measurable portion of that $700million
There are better players available
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Just for fun, what do you base that on? Like, what did you project his 2026 ERA to be, and how much would he get paid for that?
Love me some Red Sox dumpster diving.
123 Era+ is not league average
@saj
Given that he hasn’t pitched a full season since 2021, I’d not put a lot of value in that. His career SIERA is 4.52, which is far above league average, so he’s not great overall but if he can get healthy again, he might be a decent piece in the pen.
Guy was a pretty good pitcher for us when healthy but therein lies the problem. Really do wish him the best though wherever he lands.
Worth a low, 2 year look.
Harmless signing, but probably also a fruitless one
I didn’t know he was still playing baseball
2 year minor league deal with the hope that maybe he makes it back by Aug/Sep if not spring training ’26
This just sounds so much like a AA type of signing.
Noooooooo
No more pitchers.Lol.I would say bring 25 pitchers to spring training.Should be able to get a good 13 out of them.
Gotta replace Giolito in ’26.
Be thankful for the Crochet trade, otherwise this minor little report would be drawing aaaaaall the snarky comments!
Lol. I’m thankful that there won’t be more Crochet trade articles every other day.
Been hoping the Twins would be able to sign him. They’re short on LH pitching in general, he won’t cost much and they’re always going for injury prone players
I do wish Means the best and want him to succeed in his career. But Boston signing him would kick my heart into the Chesapeake Bay. He was the only bright spot in a lot of sorry years for Baltimore.
James Paxton 2.0? Sign him to a 2 year deal, or a 1 year with a team option, and see where he is after recovering from this TJ surgery. I’ve always like Means and I’m hoping he can get healthy and compete again.
Agree sure looks like paxton 2.0
A player plagued by injuries, sounds like every other player that Breslow has acquired. Guy is a bum
Love me some John Means. He’s a mid-rotation arm that plays up because of the 6 inches inbetween his ears: he doesn’t pitch on tilt; reads bats very well; always attacks hitters; not flapable on bad calls/tough luck; stays focused on every pitch…very few non-competative pitches thrown. Means has never had the “stuff” but he’s got the “gamer” stuff in spades!
However, the Orioles have Bradish and Wells both recovering from TJ, so it never seemed like he was coming back to the Orioles. He’ll be a good add for any team that can wait.
Here’s to hoping he gets to keep balling out on MLB mounds.
Means is one of my favorite players to root for. The story about him and his father moved me to tears.
Do the ends justify the Means?
If this little is going to happen today, they should do a chat here
People got whipped into a frenzy for a minute after the trade yesterday, so the Red Sox had to pump the brakes and quickly remind everyone that they’re still stupid.
Anyone calling this move stupid or anything similar is trolling or just doesn’t get it. This is a little to no risk move. At best (for both parties), Means pitches well when he returns towards the end of 2025, has a nice 2026, and sets himself up for a nice 3-4 year contract. At worst, his arm never recovers and the Red Sox part ways with him after 2025 or 2026 after paying him very little, and everyone moves on. This really is Paxton 2.0 and no one should complain about a deal similar to that.
What do you mean we dont get it? If he comes back and pitches well for ONE of the TWO years, then the Sox time and money is repaid by him leaving for more money somewhere else,
If its such a brilliant move, why not sign him for 5yrs then? First to rehab, second to build up, and then the Sox reap the benefits for having a very serviceable starter for the following three years at very little money.
I shouldn’t even bother responding to a troll but here it goes:
They KNOW he is going to miss one of the years. That’s taken into consideration at the time of the signing. They also know that with a pitcher riddled with injury concerns, you don’t sign for more than two years. I never even said it was brilliant, I’m just saying it’s low risk.
Bring him in at a low price, see what he has. And if he does so well that a team wants to give him a longer deal after that, then the Red Sox can offer that too.
I don’t even see what point you’re trying to make, but you got a response out of me so I guess that’s something.
DUFF- don’t get me wrong, I’m not trolling or even trying to be sarcastic. It’s a move that talented teams can make and wait on while they’re first place rosters carry them through, or the bottom feeders.
I don’t see the usefulness for a team that has such glaring roster holes, and a depth of depth pitching already. Just seems a little redundant
That makes more sense, apologies for calling you a troll. I just think of this as solely depth. They just swung a big trade for Crochet, and I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt at this point that other impactful transactions are on the way.
Why don’t the Red Sox just play their home games in the parking lot at Mass General? They have quite a fondness for injured players. Talk about cheapskates.
I’m beginning to think Chris Cotillo tossed out stuff like this that barely qualifies as noteworthy news just to spur the reactions like there have been in this comments section with the usual suspects going on about how this is an indication of John Henry being cheap and how the Sox will compete and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
What’s truly funny about that notion is that if he is doing this for that reason he’s just about guaranteed to get the reaction intended.
Hopefully no one forgot he’s the twelth pitcher in history to pitch a 27-batter no-hitter.
Not effective in years. Check
Often injured. Check
Red Sox want him. ✔️
I wonder if there has ever been a lefty pitcher who has shown promise early in their career, then disappeared for a while only to return and have a run of success? And have any of those pitchers ever been on the Red Sox? Hmmm.
Moyer, Hill, Pomeranz, Miller come to mind.
It would be nice to add Means to that list.
Dear Redsox, it is December, NOW is when we shop for the big toys, Burnes, Bregman, T.Hernandez,, etc……that’s where our attention should be.
We shop for bargain basement acquisitions in late Jan/Feb when the big toys are gone. Sheeesh. C’mon now. Smfh.
They don’t need to waste time with this. They have Fulmer and Giolito (not to mention Perales) who are rehabbing. Giolito’s timing was awful–both years are killed by his surgery, since Year 2 will be the unsteady return in the 2nd half of the season. The Sox should read the article about the Pirates on this site–apparently, the Bucs have listened to trade suggestions about Jared Jones. If this is true, given that the Pirates desperately need bats, esp. in the OF, start by offering Abreu, Casas, and Crawford to fill Jones’s slot. Add lower prospects as needed (Romero). Then sign Christian Walker at 3/60 to take 1B until Justin Gonzalez is ready in 2028.
They don’t need to waste time with this. The Sox should read the article about the Pirates on this site–apparently, the Bucs have listened to trade suggestions about Jared Jones.
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I’m guessing that the RS have enough spare time to have an intern call all Means’ agent to ask him what the ask price is. Two minutes out of an intern’s day?
IRT to the Pirates, you should call up Mr. Breslow and let him know you heard a rumor that Jones is on the block. I’m sure they will put your call through right away.
Okay, a bit sarcastic for the holiday season, but I suspect exactly 30 teams are already aware of the Jones rumors.
You are making my point, JoeBrady. I was being a bit sarcastic myself when suggesting the Sox should read the Bucs article here. My point is, instead of looking under a rock for another injured pitcher, perhaps they should follow through on their stated desire to get a young pitcher with talent and years of control. I haven’t seen Jared Jones mentioned by the commentariat, so I wanted to get it out there for public contemplation. Sorry it rankled you.
It didn’t rankle me, but I trust you know people and companies can multi-task. It’s not like the entire organize goes into snooze mode waiting for the Crochet decision.
They might be having conversations with a dozen teams and agents every day. They can have one intern talking to Means while another intern talks to Cherington, while another intern talks to Burnes’ agent while another intern talks to DiPoto, etc., for 20-30 iterations.
The Halos should be all over somebody like this. Kirby Yates too. Alas we will probably end up with neither.
Means when healthy is quite a bit above average. He also has a no-no to his name…
I like to shop the discount rack as much as the next guy, but this is getting really old. They really seem to love paying guys to rehab instead of being on the field of play.
Sox just can’t go an offseason without signing an injury recovery project. I don’t mind it as long as other things are happening
Are you front office guys trying to piss off Redsox Nation? Quit being cheap go sign Scott snd Burns, or Behuler, Meanea, etc
In addition to being a Red Sox fan I am a 49ers fan. We had a GM a few years back prior to John Lynch Ames Trent Baalke. He would use draft picks to draft injured ACL players and try to stash them on the roster. These were players that could have been signed as undrafted free agents. Well, not one of those players made it as a pro after he drafted them and stashed them. He was eventually fired as GM of the 49ers. I am so tired of the Red Sox interest in injured players. We are not a small market team.
It would infuriate me if the Os let John Means get away, and Boston would be even worse. He’s much too high quality a person to work with a tool like Alex Cora.
You ignored his no-hitter, the first for Baltimore in decades, and a highlight of a dreadful season.
might be worth a flyer if he’s cheap enough. Wouldn’t want to see another James Paxton deal. The Sox paid way to much for what the got from Paxton.
No Means No
That would be cool. He’s a WVU grad. I remember when David Carpenter was a Red Sox for a few minutes. He came over with John Farrell from Toronto. We went to the same high school.
Holy unnecessary commas, Batman! There shouldn’t be any around “ideally,” nor should there be ones after “yet” and “then” at the starts of sentences.