I am all for resigning Youkilis at 1B.

Same here.

Re-sign Ross and platoon him with Kalish, either trade for Justin Upton or sign Pagan for the other OF spot (Upton obv more desirable). Try to get Drew for cheap for SS and go with him and Iglesias there. Long term a 1b and 2 OF spots are needed, but this off season just isn't the time to lock in to someone. Hopefully one of the Sox prospects can handle SS for the foreseeable future.

Re-sign Ross and platoon him with Kalish, either trade for Justin Upton or sign Pagan for the other OF spot (Upton obv more desirable). Try to get Drew for cheap for SS and go with him and Iglesias there. Long term a 1b and 2 OF spots are needed, but this off season just isn't the time to lock in to someone. Hopefully one of the Sox prospects can handle SS for the foreseeable future.

I'm comfortable with most of this, but it hinges on them spending money on Anibal Sanchez and/or Edwin Jackson. Preferably both. Those guys are absolutely good enough to be the 3rd and 4th best starters (or better) on a really good team in 2014.

I agree with a lot of the points for Hamilton. One thing about his projection that is worth bringing up - the stats suggest he is an elite defensive LF, but a poor defensive CF - the gap is significantly larger than the different replacement values at each position. Even leaving aside the durability question, I think he's much more likely to beat his WAR projections if he's playing LF instead of CF.

I do think he's a good fit in Boston talent wise. But the Boston fans can definitely be more restless, from what I've seen, and I don't know how he would handle that. He very much seems to be the kind of player that doesn't like pressure.

I'm comfortable with most of this, but it hinges on them spending money on Anibal Sanchez and/or Edwin Jackson. Preferably both. Those guys are absolutely good enough to be the 3rd and 4th best starters (or better) on a really good team in 2014.

Agreed. Lester/Buchholz/Jackson/Sanchez/Doubront/Lackey gets it done. May not have a ton of upside, but that is a solid rotation (and for under $60 mill assuming $24 mill for Jackson and Sanchez).

Does anyone know if they got rid of the limits to signing free agents that MLB used to have when they were designated as Types A/B/C? It used to be that you were limited to three Type A free agents plus an additional one for any that you lost.

SG The Qualifying Offer and You explains the new compensation system. Though it doesn't say anything about limits on number of qualifying offer players you can sign.

This is a serious article? You're kidding me, right? Andrew Bailey -- a major league star? When's the last time he's pitched a full season effectively? David Ortiz, the man who quit on his team when they were out of contention and can't field, a major league star? Jon Lester, one of the most self-entitled Red Sox players of the Tito era, a major league star?

The author is an EXCELLENT troll.

Looking over the depth charts, the Red Sox sure have acquired an exquisite collection of tweeners. Between Sweeney, Kalish, Nava, Sands, Linares, Hazelbaker and Brentz, there's a lot of OF who aren't starters for a contending team. I suppose Kalish and Brentz may have some further growth potential, but there's not enough room in Pawtucket for all those guys. With the Red Sox injury issues it's always nice to have depth, but I wonder how many of these guys are still in the system next year.

I agree with 57, that is an extraordinarily optimistic assessment of this team's major league talent. Ortiz-Bailey-Ellsbury-Pedroia-Buchholz have all been missing large chunks of time regularly, and all should get red lights in Will Carroll's annual health report if he still does those. Lester has clearly slipped for whatever reason, a bounce back to average would be a wild success story but at least he has been durable. Even if they acquire three legitimate stars, which will be a challenge and more likely to be accomplished by trading prospects rather than via free agency, I have a hard time seeing this team grading out higher than 75 wins unless you are implementing a forecasting system that forgives all the missed chunks of playing time. There is a ton of replacement talent, maybe that's the new market inefficiency.

I also agree with 21, if that was the Royals roster their fans would be talking about next year's #1 draft pick possibilities

Between Sweeney, Kalish, Nava, Sands, Linares, Hazelbaker and Brentz, there's a lot of OF who aren't starters for a contending team. I suppose Kalish and Brentz may have some further growth potential, but there's not enough room in Pawtucket for all those guys. With the Red Sox injury issues it's always nice to have depth, but I wonder how many of these guys are still in the system next year.

I suspect Nava and potentially Sweeney will be gone fairly soon. There is no reason for either guy to be hanging around Boston this summer. Kalish will be in Boston if he's healthy leaving Pawtucket with Brentz, Linares, Hazelbaker and Sands. Between Sands playing 1st base and DH opportunities playing time shouldn't be an issue there.

59 replying to his own sock puppet is amusing.

59 replying to his own sock puppet is amusing.

Yeah, there is trolling, and then there is just plain dumb. Those posts most definitely classify as the latter.

I suppose Kalish and Brentz may have some further growth potential,

Kalish has no growth potential. I am done with Kalish. He is terrible. At this point I am more optimistic about Ryan Westmoreland's future in MLB than Kalish's.

haffenreffer and I aren't the same poster, we're two people who disagree with the masses here who think the Red Sox are going to be competitive in 2013 and apparently that has a few panties bunched up. I was on this site last offseason (as mopar) arguing against the 95 win crowd that it looked more like an 80 win team on paper, I even promised to bookmark a few of the more controversial posts and bring them back after the season to make the doubters sniff them but I'm not going to do that. I'm trying to keep it civil. It was a team with several players coming off career years and an injury prone bunch AND no major league ready prospects beyond marginal filler types.

Injuries and lost time is a big deal, this is a team that has bad games played skills. Now after the blowup it is also a team lacking in major league talent. We won't be able to argue about wins on paper until the front office clowns have a chance to redefine the roster but there is no reason for optimism. They have plenty of cash and a poor free agent class on which to spend that cash. They want to rebuild with their own prospects but any new infusion of useful talent in Boston is going to cost prospects.

I was on this site last offseason (as mopar) arguing against the 95 win crowd that it looked more like an 80 win team on paper, I even promised to bookmark a few of the more controversial posts and bring them back after the season to make the doubters sniff them but I'm not going to do that. I'm trying to keep it civil.

Come on, dude. This is some passive-aggressive ########. Either bring that #### up or let it lay. You sound like my ex-girlfriend.

Good post, nice work, you made your point and then some

Darnell,

I think the reason that you're rubbing people the wrong way is that you're being kind of rude. You can make your points without calling someone who's been nothing but well reasoned a troll.

I haven't called anyone a troll, again I'm not haffenreffer

Can we get a witness?

If I knew how to find my old posts I would but honestly I don't care, it's not that important

You agreed with the post that called him a troll, so I thought you agreed with that assessment.

I was on this site last offseason (as mopar) arguing against the 95 win crowd that it looked more like an 80 win team on paper, I even promised to bookmark a few of the more controversial posts and bring them back after the season to make the doubters sniff them but I'm not going to do that. I'm trying to keep it civil.

I can sometimes lack civility, so I figured I'd do you a favor and search for your posts so I could handle that for you.

I didn't check the entire site archive, just Sox Therapy from game 162 in 2011 to early June 2012, and the ZiPS projection thread for Boston 2012. In all of that you had one post, suggesting that they got a few career years from players in 2011, and it was likely Gonzalez would be the only one of them to repeat in 2012.

No team projection, no arguing, no promises to bookmark anything. Not really anything to bookmark.

Well, since I had all this incivility stored up to use on your behalf, I might as well use it now. Unless you can prove otherwise we have no reason to assume you have not - in the years since you were called mopar and were fairly reasonable - become a blithering blowhard, suddenly full of retrospective bravado you haven't earned, claiming you're not looking it up because you're being nice when really you're full of ####. It's not that you're a troll; it's that you're trying very hard to be one. Or two, since your apparent dishonesty in #64 shouldn't reassure anyone that you're not giving us a puppet show.

This would be the point where I might tell you in less polite terms to go away, but hey, I'm still holding out hope that you/haffenreffer can cite those claims. I could be wrong. At least I narrowed down the search for you.

So, um, yeah...

Robothal reports the Red Sox signed David Ross to a two-year deal, pending physical. On the one hand, David Ross is the practically perfect backup catcher, with four consecutive seasons now over 100 OPS+. I've always wondered whether he might be capable of handling more of the job than 50 games a year.

On the other hand, David Ross is a RHB backup catcher. He's a wonderful caddy for Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Why would the Sox sign a wonderful Salty caddy unless they planned on dumping Lavarnway? I don't like that at all.

Or maybe the idea is to make Lavarnway the everyday catcher with Ross as a backup, and screw the platoon split when you can get a backup of Ross' quality. There's a logic there, and I rather like it.

EDIT: Mysterious Robo update:

Ross will be “more than a backup but not a starter” for #RedSox, source says. Team could move Salty or Lavarnway. Plans unclear.

Reports the deal is 2 years, $6M. Can't complain.

For whatever it's worth, Ross has virtually 0 platoon split over his career, and has several seasons with a pronounced reverse split. So it wouldn't surprise me if he faced the majority of RHP with Lavarnway being the lefty masher side of a platoon. I definitely wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Lavarnway is the one being replaced here.

Looks like you're right. Reading over at SoSH, Robothal reports the Sox are shopping Salty and Giardi reports Saltalamacchia expects to be traded within the next month or so.