Hot Stove 2010: Sox ink Scutaro

So much for the Dustin Pedroia at short idea. The first domino has fallen in the Red Sox offseason: with not much to work with in the shortstop market, the Red Sox decided to sign the top free agent, Marco Scutaro, effectively swapping shortstops with Toronto and giving them our first-round draft pick in 2010 (for now). Should we sign a higher-ranked free agent this offseason, another team would get our first pick and Toronto would be entitled to our second-round selection. Not to worry, though. With Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito both going to Atlanta, we won’t be shorted any selections overall.

Hot Stove 2010: Sox interested in Mike Gonzalez, Soriano?

With the departures of Takashi Saito, Javier Lopez and Billy Wagner, the Sox have some bullpen holes to fill for this season. Even with the presence of several quality arms in this relief corps, we saw the value of having depth last year. Apparently the Sox have requested the medical records of Atlanta free agents Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano. This may not mean too much, but it could mean the Sox are on the verge of making a decision about them and want to make it an informed one.

2009-11-17 Links: Minor league free agents, Adrian Gonzalez, Hermida

The Red Sox lost a number of players to minor league free agency this week. These players are no longer a part of the organization, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them come back:

P Devern Hansack, P Charlie Zink, P Jose Vadequano, SS Angel Chavez, SS Iggy Suarez, P Dave McKae, 2B Travis Denker, P Jarod Plummer, P Derrick Loop, OF Brad Correll

The Red Sox also lost a number of players when they were taken off the 40-man roster and they opted for free agency:

RP Takashi Saito, RP Javier Lopez, 2B Nick Green, C George Kottaras, 1B/OF Jeff Bailey, 2B Gil Velasquez, RP Marcus McBeth, RP Billy Traber, RP Enrique Gonzalez

No one expected Saito to return, but the loss of lefties Lopez and Traber means that we have to sign at least one lefty reliever this offseason. There are a number of quality major league free agents available, and names like Casey Fossum and Chris Capuano are available as minor league free agents.

Projections: 2010 Red Sox

Here are my early projections for this year’s team! I use a weighted three-year projection which incorporates regression, batted ball data and historical rate statistics. I have not made any adjustments for age or playing time as of yet. More details on my methodology at my other site, FantasyScope Baseball Blog.

Post-2009: Roster locks and losses

We’ve covered our impending free agents here. Now we need to step back and see what the team looks like, sans those guys we’re gonna let walk. Then we can examine our strengths and weaknesses and formulate a plan for the offseason. Let’s take a look at what the Red Sox have already in-house, and what players could be gone:

Post-2009: Potential free agents

The best way for me to get my mind off the fact that the Red Sox are no longer in the hunt while the Yankees are is to get thinking on the 2010 season before the corpse of 2009 gets too cold. It’s good to know that Epstein sees this team’s core as having one more year left to contend; could that mean we’ll have a bit more of a “win now” approach this offseason?

Bring ‘em back?

First we should address the expiring contracts. The Red Sox need to decide whether they want to re-sign these players or let them go to free agency. Then we can examine what to do about any holes.

7/20/09 Injuries and contingencies

Hallelujah, Jed Lowrie is back! Lowrie appears to be healthy, but as the Sox are wont to do, they will bring him along cautiously, and platoon him with Nick Green for a while. Along with that move, Julio Lugo has been DFA’d to make room on the roster. Whether he is released or traded, the Red Sox will be eating the rest of his contract. Give Theo some credit for admitting his mistake in signing Lugo to an inflated 4-year deal.

Quashing rumors: Halladay, V-Mart and more

It’s trading time, and a lot of teams are deciding right now whether they want to buy or sell. Here are some rumored players and why they are or are not likely to become Red Sox:

Saito for Blalock deal nixed; Smoltz to debut Jun 25

The Red Sox revealed that they were considering a trade of Takashi Saito for Hank Blalock with the Texas Rangers, but Josh Hamilton’s trip to the DL deep-sixed the talks last week. Blalock is a left-handed power threat whose bat has come around recently, and he is a DH-type who can play first or third base in a pinch. He’s making $6.2M in his walk year. Sounds like a decent acquisition to me. This confirms a couple of things about the way the front office views our team: they are indeed worried about David Ortiz, and they view the bullpen depth as a strength from which we should deal to get what we need.

2009 Spring Training: Sox lose to Pirates, 3-2

The Pirates downed the Red Sox today, 3-2, when they came back and took it in the final frame off of reliver Richard Lentz. Jon Lester turned in a strong outing today, Turns out he is working in his changeup more this Spring, to see if it’s good enough to use regularly.