With the deadline for players and teams to exchange figures to file for arbitration now behind us, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on this weekend:
1. Orioles 40-man roster move incoming:
The Orioles made a move on the relief market last night, agreeing to terms with right-hander Andrew Kittredge on a one-year, $10MM deal that includes a club option for 2026. The move adds a veteran reliever with late-inning experience who can help set up for Félix Bautista alongside Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez, and Gregory Soto. In order for the signing to be made official, however, the Orioles will have to first clear a 40-man roster spot that can then be given to Kittredge. Typically, that will involve a club designating a player for assignment, though occasionally clubs will work out a trade to create the necessary vacancy.
Speaking of Orioles 40-man moves, they’ll get clarity on their recent DFA of catcher René Pinto at some point today. Baltimore signed right-hander Charlie Morton to a one-year deal seven days ago and designated the 28-year-old Pinto for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Pinto appeared in each of the last three seasons with the Rays but was claimed off waivers by the Orioles in early November. Now that a full week has passed he’ll either be claimed by another club or outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk, where the Orioles would be able to stash him as non-roster depth for the 2025 campaign.
2. Multi-year talks for players who exchanged figures?
Seventeen players exchanged salary arbitration figures with their teams yesterday after failing to come to terms on a deal prior to yesterday’s filing deadline. Those teams and players can continue to negotiate, as the figures exchanged merely set the potential price outcomes to be determined in an arbitration hearing. A deal can still be hammered out for any and all of those 17 players before hearings begin next month. Most clubs, however, employ a file-and-trial approach, meaning they no longer discuss straight one-year agreements once figures are exchanged.
That leaves open the possibility of negotiating a multi-year deal (or a one-year deal with an option, as the option year effectively renders it a multi-year deal and makes that agreement irrelevant as a data point/comp for arbitration negotiations in future offseasons). In all likelihood, at least a few of the players who exchanged figures will come to terms either on a true multi-year deal or on a one-year deal with an option — eliminating the need for a hearing. The Cardinals at least discussed multi-year deals with Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar this week, for instance. Just logically speaking, a two-year deal for someone like Washington’s Nathaniel Lowe — locking in his final two arbitration seasons — could make sense for both the team and player.
High-profile impending free agents like Kyle Tucker and Michael King seem quite unlikely to sign extensions (Tucker in particular) and seem destined for a hearing. However, talks for the majority of the players in this group of 17 figure to continue as clubs and players look to avoid a hearing.
3. Red Sox to host Fenway Fest this weekend:
The Red Sox are hosting Fenway Fest, the club’s winter fan event, tomorrow from 9am to 5pm local time at Fenway Park. Tomorrow will mark the first installment of Fenway Fest, which was announced last month as a replacement for the club’s previous two-day Winter Weekend event that began in 2015. Notably, chief baseball office Craig Breslow, team president Sam Kennedy, and team owner John Henry are not scheduled to appear at tomorrow’s event after appearing at previous Winter Weekend events (perhaps unsurprisingly so; Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic notes that ownership was roundly booed at each of the past two winter fan fest events).
This year’s event includes appearances by manager Alex Cora and a number of coaches as well as a long list of players and prospects that includes recently-acquired starter Garrett Crochet. Aside from player and personnel appearances, the event also includes a preview of the upcoming Netflix documentary covering the 2024 Red Sox. More details regarding the event, including ticket pricing, can be found here via MLB.com.
Come on John, if you aren’t even going to show up to be booed for one day then sell the team already.
Meow – The article is actually incorrect, ownership didn’t show up last year either. It’s not just a matter of Red Sox Nation venting, Henry and Werner have a history of saying dumb arrogant things that are inflammatory to the fanbase.
Red Sox Nation is hoping one day FSG will replace Henry, the sooner the better.
And oh yeah …. Devers was just removed from the player appearance list, and Duran was never on the list.
Nice look having your two biggest stars be no-shows, eh? But they are still charging $85 for admission …. and BTW plenty of tickets still available!
Makes sense, given how “full throttle” went over. I’ll always appreciate the Henry/Werner/Lucchino group for bringing championships here, but ownership just seems like they’re bored of baseball after winning so much. Which, go follow your soccer/hockey/whatever else dreams, but let someone else run the Red Sox who cares.
Meow – John Henry is 75 years old, has 8 championship rings, was never a Red Sox fan (he’s a Cardinals fan), and has a bunch of other ventures he’s focusing on including Fenway Corners, the PGA, Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool FC, etc. The Red Sox winning is simply not a priority to him anymore, making money is.
Good news though. MLB Pipeline Executives poll rated the Red Sox Farm System # 1 after the trade for Crochet. Team is set up for success.. Playoffs this year and years to come!!!
Shoman – I hope you’re right! Those rankings are heavily weighted by top prospects such as Anthony and Campbell, it will be interesting to see how the Sox farm system is rated after Anthony and Campbell are firmly settled with the Red Sox.
I know, I’m an eternal optimist …. but I really believe those two will be impact players for years to come!!!
Fever… actually in this case that rating is based more on what is coming up behind this current group. I agree that they will be impactful which is why they are probably not spending on FA’s this year . Big acquisition next year and extensions coming down the road to try and lock up younger home grown players rather that let them hit FA.
Agreed.
85 bucks for admission thats ridiculous
I’d pay that for Fenway. Wouldn’t pay it for Wrigley (again) to inevitably sit behind a beam they assured me isn’t there. But hey, who needs to see home plate? Not much goes on there for CHC anyway, they said.
Pool – And it used to be $25 if you wanted to buy an additional session for one autograph and one pic, now you have to pay the full $85 for an additional session. They just continue to try and squeeze every last dollar out of their fanbase, it’s disgusting … just like the “giveaways” at games that you now have to pay for.
It’s not that bad for families. Kids 3-14 are $35. Something your kids will remember for a long time meeting their favorite players. Devers not being there is wild though. The brass should also be there to take any heat. These are your hardcore fans and season-ticket holders.
YBC – The way it works (at least up until now), each admission ticket allows you to pick a room and time slot for one autograph and one picture …. but you don’t know who will be the two players (current or former) that are assigned to you. So not really a big thrill if you get Nick Sogard and Zach Penrod.
Probably best the stay away from any press events. They might have to actually proclaim some sort of confidence they’re committed to investing in the team. And then have to back it up.
Imagine that…
swan – So true!! It’s better that ownership simply not speak, rather than say dumb things such as whining that “Players are expensive”.
Oh yes that magical 81-81 Red Sox 2024 season.
cg – First time since 2021 they didn’t have a losing record or finish in last place!! WOOO HOOO!!!
What is the price of a ticket?
Bobby – It’s $85 admission for adults, and that includes a ticket for a crappy seat to a crappy April or May game in Fenway. That’s how desperate they are to unload tickets.
Glad I live 300 miles away.
One thing I didn’t notice yesterday, but saw in the mailer this morning was Caleb Ferguson is to be stretched out? Are these teams ok? I mean there’s a ton of starting pitchers looking for jobs, they have minor leaguers ready at Triple A, and yet this practice is becoming prevalent? To me it’s disturbing and another way to cheap out on real starters.
Money
Exactly, and especially when a 37 year old Alex Cobb coming off a 3 game season costs 15m.
Ferguson was a starter in the minors and a promising one at that. A 20 year old making 24 starts in the CAL league with a 2.87 era and 10k/9 is pretty good. From the players POV, can definitely understand wanting to be a starter in the bigs.
@Padre
Alex Cobb is a proven above average- to well above average starter…he got his first all star nod as a 35 year old starter.
He’s not really showing sign of regression, and is still worth that amount IMO.
Analytics-haters will love my reply. Let the failed starters refine their two plus pitches in the MLB. When the pitch data boxes get checked with the results as a secondary consideration, start the third/fourth pitch starter experiment.
At least one Sox team is having a fan fest.
avenger – Every MLB team has one.
The White Sox fan fest is January 24-25.
Here, it’s the Red Sox fans fester.
Bunch of complainers.
Kittridge got way too much money especially when he is going to spend half the year on the injured list.
I know 40 man roster slots are valued, but as they are also added into CBT tax, is it possible for a team close to the CBT line not fill a spot?
Don’t know why, but the recent RS pitching acquisitions remind me of the Ray Culp. Dick Elsworth era. Believe we will get 85 – 90 wins out of these guys. Bullpen is improved, so we won’t be blowing so many late inning games. (Sorry Nick P.).
Cora: The Wild Card
FSG is the real estate broker
fenway corners is the house
red sox are the 2-car garage
Every freaking Red Sox related post brings out the same commenters to make the EXACT same bitter comments. Does it really ease your anger to make the same comments, over and over?
Take a deep breath, relax, contemplate your navel, let the anger go. Ommm. Ommm. Zen thoughts. Kumbaya. We Shall Overcome. Peace Train.
Those of us who have followed the Red Sox for many, many, many years – and I’m talking Yaz, Rico, Boomer era Red Sox, if not before, have a very different perspective than the younger fans who demand to know why the team doesn’t win every year. Yes, it’s a fallow time to be a Red Sox fan, but so were the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
Boo hoo, John Henry is the worst owner of any team in MLB, as opposed, to, say, Harry Frazee, Bob Quinn, the famously racist long-time owner, Tom Yawkey, Heywood Sullivan and Buddy LeRoux, or John Harrington, the face of the JRY Trust.
Here’s a list of teams that have not won the World Series since 2018: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, NYM, (Team formerly known as Oakland) A’s, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Toronto, Arizona, LAA, Miami, White Sox, Philadelphia, NYY, St Louis, San Francisco, Kansas City, Cubs, Milwaukee, San Diego, Seattle, Colorado, Tampa.
Teams that have won the World Series since 2018: Washington , Atlanta, Houston, Texas, Dodgers.
Teams that have won more World Series championships than Red Sox since John Henry purchased the team in 2001:
After several years of limited spending, and the fan-crushing trade of Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, the Red Sox are widely seen to have developed one of the ten best minor league systems in baseball, and many analysts are rating the Red Sox off season moves this winter as one of the best if not THE best overall upgrade in the majors.
But, no. The Red Sox have only won 4 championships in the last 20 seasons. That’s only 20% of them! They need to win every year! Like, you know, the Yankees, who have won… let me see here…. ONE title in the last 20 years.
Why don’t the Red Sox sign every big free agent name? Why don’t they outbid and outpay everyone for everyone?
Turn off sports radio, take a deep breath, and meditate “omm, omm, the Red Sox are the most successful franchise in the major leagues over the last 20 years, omm, omm, they’ve put together a team likely to contend this year, omm, omm, other owners and franchises and fan bases compete for the big free agents, omm, omm, I don’t need to repost the same bitter response to every Red Sox post, omm, omm, peace be with you.”
Kidding – Interesting read, thank you!
Unfortunately nothing being discussed here is the same. This FSG Fest is in a brand new location and with a brand new format as the prior Winter Weekend. So that’s New Story #1.
New Story #2 is that Duran is a no-show, the same star player who yesterday was announced the Red Sox aren’t budging yet on the $500K gap for his salary this year.
New Story #3 is Devers being removed from the player appearance list just yesterday. He is unquestionably the team’s biggest star, face of the franchise, and oh by the way there’s been a lot of discussion about moving him off 3B which he absolutely doesn’t want to do.
So that’s three big new stories being discussed here. Not sure why you think this is all old news, but if you don’t want to read about FSG Fest going on TOMORROW and the potential internal discord going on with the team then please skip over the comments under this article. You can do that ya know, nobody is forcing you to read these articles or comments.
Have a blessed day!!
Yeah, let’s just ignore 5 seasons of boneheaded moves because they did some good things previously.
Does this ownership group feel like the same one that led to the championships? If you took the ownership group from 2004 and magically transported them to now, would they have demanded trading Betts? Would they have gotten outbidfor whatever star player they were chasing? No they wouldn’t have. The ownership group now cares more about diversifying their portfolio rather than winning baseball games.
If ownership was attacking these seasons like they did previously, then fans would have no issue. But under Bloom and Breslow’s first year (which arguably gets a pass) they were not serious about winning games at the major league level and that’s embarrassing.
What big name free agents have the Red Sox signed recently? Trevor Story? The guy who was injured and hasn’t shown he can hit away from Coors? If they did sign any, then they wouldn’t have been stuck in that poor rebuild that they didn’t attack properly.
Joemo… yes those championships should buy some equity and trust with the fans. They have the top rated farm system… a young core of position players and pitchers and are set up for success moving forward with financial capacity to spend on the right fits and talent at the right time. They deserve some credit for what they are building.
Agreed the expectations are ridiculous. The Red Sox spend around the luxury tax threshold every year. That is not cheap and is certainly enough to field a very good team if spent well. Breslow is working on spending it better and I think they will spend more as the team gets closer to being championship caliber.
Kidding… very well said and needed! Great post!
Kidding – Agree 100%. Unhappy people making negative comments makes them feel empowered somehow. I have prostate cancer stage 4, and will not waste time on their negative vibes…. I just mute them all.
That said, I totaly agree with everything you wrote. The Red Sox have 6 top 100 prospects with 3 in the top 25. The future looks bright for the Red Sox looks bright as long as they do not block those prospects with over 30, declining, expensive veterans!
MLB-1971: Agreed and they wouldn’t be in this position if they hadn’t taken a step back and rebuilt the farm system.
Allin – Agreed. The 1980 and 1990 Red Sox constantly added players trying to ‘compete’ every year (bragged about how many straight year over .500, but it always caused them to come up short of their WS goal with rare exceptions….. like the Yankees the last 15 years).
After the Red Sox failed to ‘run it back’ in 2019, they needed to rebuild, but had many long term contracts, and their farm system was not strong enough for an immediate contender. They were fringe Wild Card contenders, but why add to those teams when it would only delay the rebuild (the mistake the Yankees keep making and will not correct until Cashman is gone). What point would there be to add to a team that would fail in the wild card round or ALDS. The Yankees only made the WS, because the AL was historically bad in 2024. They were nowhere near as good as the Dodgers!
The Red Sox have rising position player stars, and Breslow is building pitching depth that will be the envy of the MLB. These are ingredients for a sustained run competing for WS titles not playoff exist like the Yankees over the last 15 years.
I am truly glad Red Sox ownership has not listened to the whining ‘fans’ and stayed the course! They will be more successful for it. I want WS wins, not playoff exists.
Red Sox management sucks.
personally i would rather make the playoffs 4 years in a row with no titles than trade 3 crappy seasons for a title. life is short and baseball seasons are long