The Opener is back after a brief hiatus. Here are three things to watch for around baseball today:
1. Jesús Luzardo media availability:
Jesús Luzardo will speak with media members today for the first time since the Phillies acquired him in a trade with the Marlins. The left-hander was excellent in 2023 but struggled in 2024 before suffering a season-ending lumbar injury. He also spent a couple of weeks on the IL in April and May with tightness in his throwing elbow. However, the 27-year-old told reporters (including Christina De Nicola of MLB.com) earlier this winter that he has been able to perform his “normal offseason progression,” suggesting his elbow and back are “feeling really good.” Presumably, Luzardo will further discuss his health and offseason program with reporters from the Phillies beat this afternoon.
2. Craig Breslow to discuss Walker Buehler signing:
After coming to terms with free agent right-hander Walker Buehler last week, the Red Sox officially announced his one-year, $21.05MM contract over the weekend. Today, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will meet with reporters to take questions about Buehler (per Chris Cotillo of MassLive). Cotillo adds that there are currently no plans for the pitcher himself to hold an in-person press event.
Breslow is likely to address how Buehler will slot into a starting rotation that also includes Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and potentially/eventually Garrett Whitlock, Patrick Sandoval, and Quinn Priester. In addition, expect Breslow to answer questions about what comes next. He has made several moves to bolster Boston’s pitching staff this winter but next to nothing to upgrade the offense.
3. Free agent contracts yet to be finalized:
A handful of reported free agent deals from December have yet to be officially announced. Those include Paul Goldschmidt’s one-year, $12.5MM deal with the Yankees; Joc Pederson’s two-year, $37MM deal with the Rangers; Teoscar Hernández’s three-year, $66MM deal with the Dodgers; and Corbin Burnes’s six-year, $210MM deal with the Diamondbacks. While the Hernández and Burnes deals were reported relatively recently (Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, respectively), it’s been more than a week since Goldschmidt (Dec. 21) and Pederson (Dec. 23) agreed to terms with their new clubs. Barring any surprising developments, both deals will most likely be finalized imminently.
soxintwo
Whitlock needs to return to the pen he’s not built as a starter
Fever Pitch Guy
sox – I haven’t heard one thing about a possible timeline for his return. Even if he returns mid-season, I wouldn’t expect him to be effective until 2026.
What a disastrous extension Bloom rushed into giving him.
WCSoxFan
@feverpitch
Typical timeline for internal brace surgery is only 6-9 months. No reason to think he won’t be ready to go by spring training 2025.
Giolito, by comparison, had the same surgery 2 months earlier and he was throwing (although not MLB ready) before the season ended.
Will be interesting to see if he’s back to 100% right away or if it takes him time to get his feel back.
Fever Pitch Guy
WCS – I hope you’re right, but it’s a little different with Whitlock because he already had a full TJS a few years ago. Gio never had a prior surgery.
all in the suit that you wear
Not a disastrous extension. Whitlock will earn $18.75M over the four guaranteed years (2023-26). Stop trolling please.
Ragnarok
He’s obviously overpaid right now but there’s still a shot that those club options will hold value down the line.
This one certainly isn’t a win but it’s a fairly small loss.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rag – Agree with you on the team options, that *could* recoup some of the lost money on the extension. Time will tell.
bwmiller79
Whitlock was throwing good innings before his injury, that contract seems like a steal in comparison to some of the deals being made this off-season.
Buehler slots in at the top of the Red Sox rotation, Crochet, Houck, Bello and Crawford. It’s damn near the best rotation in baseball.
Dodgers may have them by a nose, Mariners. Yankees. But I’d say Boston has a top five rotation coming into ’25 and that’s a big difference from ’24 when expectations were not so high.
BaseballClassic1985
Red Sox rotation is nowhere near the top of MLB. Come on now.
Fever Pitch Guy
miller – I hope Buehler and Crochet can both stay healthy and give at least 180 innings each, that is the key.
Bello needs to pitch like he did at the end of last season, otherwise he will have another 4.50 ERA year.
bwmiller79
I’m much higher on Bello than a lot of people, he has a nice throwing motion. Crawford also pretty solid for a number five.
Red Sox rotation is better than the Rays, and I like the Rays pitching staff. Better than every staff in the AL Central, you could say KC but I like the Red Sox there too. I’d take the Sox over Texas and Houston too. That’s the AL for you. NL probably drum up one or two that are nicer, but I’d say top five is pretty accurate.
Troy Percival's iPad
Remember Matt Strahm wanted so bad to be a starter that Boston traded him to Philly where he became an All-Star Reliever? This is the second PBO that Whitlock has been allowed to pretend to be a starting pitcher. Breslow should tell him he can go to the ‘pen or he can go to Greenville.
Fever Pitch Guy
Troy – Whitlock was a starting pitcher in the minors, but the bigger factor in his usage as a starter by the Red Sox is his contract extension. It’s been well documented he was given that massive extension with the intention of him being a starter.
The Red Sox always make decisions based on money, they figure they are saving lots of money by using Whitlock as a starter instead of spending $21M-$30M a year on another starting pitcher.
The Red Sox simply refuse to pay market rates for proven elite starting pitchers, and despite their many penny-pinching failures I don’t foresee a change in that approach.
When was the last time the Red Sox gave a contract longer than two years to a pitcher? I believe the answer is Whitlock, not counting Bello because his extension bought out 5 years of team control.
Ragnarok
Massive?
It was $18.75MM gtd.
That’s less than they paid Giolito to not pitch last year. Right in line with what they gave Sandoval for a year +. It didn’t work out but there was nothing massive about it.
RickEO
Market rates?? Fried was market rate. Umm no ty
RunDMC
Fried was not market rate…he got more guaranteed than Burnes, who almost everyone rates as better than Fried, is also younger (~1 year), more durable in recent years, and won a Cy, fwiw. Burnes took less money (TOR reportedly offered more, with an unnamed team supposedly offering 250M) to pitch at home with an opt-out.
I’m a Braves fan and even I’d take Burnes over Fried — and wouldn’t go anywhere near 200M for Fried. Fried benefitted from Soto spurning.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rag – Please don’t tell me you’re comparing a free agent contract to a contract that bought out 4 years of team control. If not for the extension he would have made a fraction of what he did.
Massive overpay for a pitcher who had a history of being injury prone.
Yet ANOTHER high risk gamble by the Red Sox that failed miserably. When will they ever learn?
Fever Pitch Guy
Run – Excellent post, you are 100% correct!
Fried also benefited from being a lefty, which is what the Yankees were determined to sign.
all in the suit that you wear
The Red Sox bought out Whitlock’s arb years at a reasonable rate.
2023: $1M
2024: $3.25M (arb 1)
2025: $5.25M (arb 2)
2026: $7.25M (arb 3)
2027: $8.25M team option
2028: $10.5M team option
It was a low-risk, high-upside gamble. Nothing wrong with it.
christopher8002
Strahm signed with the Phillies as a free agent in December 2022. His two-year/$15 million deal was roundly criticized as an overpay that blew up the reliever market. It’s worked out OK.
Fever Pitch Guy
chris – I knew Strahm would perform well. He was mishandled by Cora in Boston, and as a result of the mishandling the front office decided to let hm walk. With a better manager and pitching coach everyone knew he would perform up to expectations.
whyhayzee
Strahm is another in the long line of successfully resurrected southpaws by the Red Sox. Miller, Pomeranz, Moyer, Hill, the list goes on and on. Then they let those guys go (for some reason) after they’ve turned them into quality performers.
Fever Pitch Guy
hayzee – He had the highest ERA of his career while in Boston!
There’s a great site called Baseball-Reference.com that you may want to use before posting. I totally agree it was a mistake to let him go, but chances are he still would have been mishandled by Cora.
whyhayzee
Strahm’s ERA with Boston was essentially equivalent to his previous two teams. The difference is his results were all over the yard and his one season over 100 innings was not very good. The Sox used him just fine.
Ragnarok
It was an overpay relative to what he would’ve earned because of these injuries. Otherwise this would’ve looked fine.
Club options are potentially still valuable. For a bad deal—this isn’t worth hammering. Still has a small shot to provide surplus value depending upon how he pitches leading up to those option years. Mid rotation starters are going for $22 per. If he establishes himself as that it’ll end up making up for the arb overpays.
I’m not comping it to Giolito. I’m just pointing out that the total deal is still less than 1 year of Giolito. Hard to say the word “massive”
Fever Pitch Guy
Rag – So you don’t know how team control works, that’s fine.
In 2023 he would have made $720K even without being injured
In 2024 he would have made $800K even without being injured
In 2025 he would have made $2.9M even without being injured
Now add those three amounts, then subtract them from the $4.7M X 3 that he was paid with the extension.
It goes without saying he was MASSIVELY overpaid for the first three years of his extension.
And I already wrote the team option years could recoup some of the money lost, but you shouldn’t assume he would be a starting pitcher those two years. If he continues to relieve those two years, he’d be getting paid top dollar for a reliever …. especially if he’s not a closer.
MRSHOWTIME
Bregman is declining player similar to the polar bear. Anything over 3 years is going to be a regret for the acquiring team ( unless u get/ win a WS and said player was a key piece )
3 years 100 million shpuld be ceiling for both players……. personally 3 years 80ish is what I would offer each
Problem is they want like 7 years 200 million
Poolhalljunkies
Fpg ..whitlock is making an avg of 3.4 mil between 23-25 ..its still a good deal..you want to complain about a bloom deal lets talk about james paxton or yoshida..this is small potatoes and barring injuries a steal
Fever Pitch Guy
Pool – With all due respect, you don’t need to make up dollar amounts …. there’s plenty of websites that have his AAV.
It’s $4.7M annually from 2023-2026.
And what did the Red Sox get in the first couple years of that contract? 90 innings of 4.50 pitching combined.
Now guess how much he WOULD have made 2023-2025 if he didn’t sign the extension?
Agree with you that Bloom made many mistakes, some bigger.
Ragnarok
You’re talking he’s overpaid $14MM. Which I’ll go w/ even tho that gap could be a good bit smaller. He can still make that up being a solid mid rotation starter in arb at what they have him for.
It was an overpay as we stand now with his injuries but it’s not even necessarily a done deal to be a total overpay in the aggregate. For a bad deal at small dollars—-this is a tough one to drill to death. Bello could end up much worse.
Poolhalljunkies
Fpg i did not make anything up as i clearly stated 3.4 was based on 23-25 ..so “no offense” either but maybe read what i wrote more clearly of course it jumps if you include 2026 but 2026 is not relevent yet imo
Fever Pitch Guy
Pool – Are you talking cash instead of AAV? If so then that’s fair, but as you know AAV is the all-important number that comprises the budget for each season.
Even at $3.4M that’s $10.2M combined for 3 seasons in which he would have been paid around $3M COMBINED.
So he was paid more than TRIPLE for virtually no contribution to the team thus far. That additional $7M could have been used to acquire a much more productive pitcher.
Hammerin' Hank
Whitlock’s deal was a reasonable extension and nowhere near a “massive overpay” in today’s MLB dollars.
Poolhalljunkies
Fpg yes 10.25 was the collective cash for 23-25.. but i see your point about in hindsight 7 mil overpayment during that period but still maintain that the deal looked great when originally signed and his rule 5 selection is still lauded in the game as rare find…we cant predict injuries but the sum paid to him likley didnt stop them from adding another player in any of the previous seasons
all in the suit that you wear
Even if we give the benefit of hindsight, a $7M overpay spread out over 3 seasons is not disastrous. What a pathetic, desperate troll.
Rsox
Whitlock could be a great Closer, has been lights out as a setup man, just doesn’t have the durability to start. The best versiin of a Sox pitching staff is with Whitlock in the bullpen
Fever Pitch Guy
Rsox – Does Whitlock have the ability to miss bats at a closer level? He hasn’t shown that before, and that’s important especially with the stupid Ghost Runner rule.
Rsox
He seems to average about a strikeout per inning, which isn’t great but he does average less than a hit per inning and opponents are hitting .245 against him lifetime
Fever Pitch Guy
Rsox – I just don’t see it. Anyone can be a closer, even Wake was one … but elite closers miss bats.
Plus Whit was more effective as a multi-inning reliever. That should be his role.
Rsox
Maybe. Either way the bullpen is better with him in it
whyhayzee
Bregman would be nice, he seems to hate the Yankees like Buehler. Load up Breslow, then crush their sorry butts.
Fever Pitch Guy
hayzee – Why are you always so negative about Campbell, Mayer, Grissom and Story? Give them a chance, Bregman is not needed and neither is another massive overpay for an older player.
whyhayzee
I’m not negative about anyone, but I think the Red Sox need a righty bat with pop. I thought Story could be that guy but he hasn’t stayed healthy to prove it. So I’m looking at Bregman. He seems like he has a chip on his shoulder and always wants to win. I agree on not giving him a long contract and maybe that takes him out of the picture.
Fever Pitch Guy
hayzee – You say you’re not negative about anyone, and then you immediately write something negative about Story! Haha!!
I’m bullish on Story next year, he’s due for a healthy season which means at least 20 homeruns. I’m not expecting early Colorado type numbers, but certainly MUCH better numbers than Rafaela.
I thought for sure you were planning on Bregman playing 3B, not shortstop.
If Grissom, Story, Wong and Campbell hit like they are capable of then they will easily replace O’Neill’s production against LHP.
whyhayzee
Reality is not negative. He’s been out a lot.
Fever Pitch Guy
hayzee – People who are very positive (such as me) realize just because a player has been injured often in the past it doesn’t mean they will ALWAYS be injured in the future.
I honestly don’t understand why you are so negative about players such as Story, but yet you approve of the Buehler, Sandoval, Hendriks, Crochet, Paxton, Mondesi and Moran acquisitions even though they all are (or were) trying to return from serious injury.
Poolhalljunkies
Fpg you calling yourself very positive is funny when if you scroll up you had nothing positive to say about whitlocks deal ..pot just met kettle imo
Fever Pitch Guy
Pool – That’s another lie of yours. I wrote something positive about the team options, and i wrote just because he’s been often injured doesn’t mean he can’t have a healthy season in the future. One of many positive comments I posted below this article, but as usual you chose to ignore all the positives.
I need to evaluate if I want to continue interacting with you, because you clearly have an issue that you can’t control.
alan.kawadler@verizon.net 2
The sox are going to go left/ right with the abreu and Campbell in right field. grissom will be the second baseman. that takes hear of getting right handed hitters into the lineup.
By not signing free agents, look at all the money that henry will save.He must be in heaven.
Rsox
I would be fine with Arenado as the term is shorter and the price is likely better. Bregman is a long-term commitment that i just don’t see Henry ponying up for.
That said, Story can be the RH power bat the team needs if by the grace of god he could stay on the field and get 500 AB’s. Don’t sleep on Rafaela either, his swing reminds me alot of Alfonso Soriano
Thec’s
Breslow is not going to sign anyone to a long term contract! Get ready Boston because Henry and company do not have balls to sign anyone to a long term deal! It has to hurt to get that extra special player! The Sox will still be a yard sale shopper
draker
I’m not sure that I fully understand the perpetual negativity of some Red Sox fans. I watched them a lot last season and thought they were a pretty good club. They’ve made some good moves to strengthen pitching (Crochet, Buehler, Chapman) and their roster looks strong top-to-bottom with a couple of good MLB-ready hitting prospects in the wings. Yes, their brief, unfortunate foray into Rays-type thinking set them back a couple of years but to this outsider both the present and the future look pretty bright. On paper they look better than every AL East team but the Yankees to me.
MRSHOWTIME
Exactly…. they made me a lot of moneysst year…… I thought then along w the Royals were pleasant surprises for there fans and the ATMs
Fever Pitch Guy
Mr – How did you make money on the Red Sox last season? Did you bet on their usual second half collapse?
WadeBoggsWildRide
Hahaha Fever on the 2nd half collapse comment.
Fever Pitch Guy
drake – They were very much a mediocre team this year. They got off to a fast start because of the change in pitching approach and soft schedule, but once opponents caught onto the new approach they teed off on Sox pitchers. The schedule getting harder in the second half didn’t help either.
I do believe they can make the postseason next year if key players stay healthy and the kids live up to the hype.
draker
I agree that pitching was their weak spot, which is why now that they have strengthened it they’ll contend in ’25.
WadeBoggsWildRide
Contend for 3rd place in the division? I guess that is probably still a wild card spot.
Rsox
They were a tale of two very different teams in ’24. The first half was scrappy, disciplined and played til the last out. The second half they swung at everything, dipped their gloves in concrete and would go ice could for stretches that defied logic. It’s easy to be negative when got a hopeful glimpse of what they could be and then have to watch them phone it in down the stretch
Fever Pitch Guy
Rsox – Just like 2023, and 2022, the team collapsed IMMEDIATELY after ownership once again lied to them about believing in the players and pledging to acquire impact players.
It’s not a coincidence. They played their butts off through late July and they were “rewarded” with Ramirez, Paxton, Jansen, Hill, and two mediocre middle relievers who both got hurt. Kennedy deserved to be slapped for his s-grinning “Hey everybody, we are buyers! We are going for it!”
Thec’s
Boston will never committe to all in! John Henry and company wants to shop at yard sales instead of actually going out and get a real asset! The teams that want to win spend to win! John Henry won’t and in return will piss this talented core away! You need someone on this team that knows how to win and can handle the pressure! The only one left is Bergman which not going to happen!
PhilliesFan91
If Luzardo is healthy , Philly has one of the best starting 5 in the league