I want to resign Bay, and if we can’t get him reasonably I’d like to give Holliday like six years. But if neither of these are possible then I would not be too upset with a Reddick/Hermida platoon in LF.

The Sox will spend money but only at the right number of years and dollars. If Bay turned down 4/$60M and the Cardinals’ opening offer is 6/$96M, the Red Sox may be hedging their bets. Hermedia is a great value pick but a curious choice based on how their roster could shape up.

If Bay or Holliday is signed, he becomes a 4th outfielder. However, he can’t play CF and can’t platoon with lefty Drew. Therefore they need to carry someone like Baldelli who significantly cuts into his playing time.

If Bay or Holliday isn’t signed, Hermedia becomes the starting LF. Unless they make a run at a huge middle of the order bat (Gonzalez) he makes the offense weaker. If they go that route, maybe they try to acquire Stephen Drew and include Byrnes (as a salary dump to less the prospects heading west). Stephen patrols SS while JD, Ellsbury, Baldelli, Hermedia and Byrnes share outfield duties.

I’m sure that Theo has a plan that will make sense in the end, but for now I can’t wrap my head around this.
-his defense is far too bad to serve as a bench OF
-his offense has not proved to be enough to replace Bay
  -and if that WAS the plan, we would have an all LH outfield and a very lefty-weighted lineup
-I could see wanting him as a 5th OF if we had spare roster spots but I’m not sure how we would, plus I feel like then his playing time would suffer enough that he wouldn’t be able to develop
-as far as trade value, he might be a part of a trade IF we paid the rest of his value while he’s under team control (I don’t think you’d send a guy like this to Petco though, so I doubt it’s a move trying to make THAT trade happen)

All I can think is maybe see if he shows better potential in spring training and then either find a way to get him to AAA (like a convenient injury) or if he really proves his is improving, use him as a 4th OF (or just dump him somewhere for even less value).

Maybe Theo thinks he has the skill-set and potential to replace Ortiz when he’s gone? Seems unlikely but he doesn’t seem to show a ton of potential beyond hitting.

I don’t know. I do really like this trade in one respect- I have no idea what they’re thinking so it keeps my mind occupied considering what the plan could be.

which seems the most likely in my mind- which is Theo got him cheap, plans on signing Bay or Holliday, and once they are both signed, trade Hermida to a team that was hoping to get one of them and is now desperate for an OF. There’s way too many teams in for them both and way too weak of a market apart from them. If we could find someone desperate, especially if we still paid his salary, he could become pretty valuable.

for Adrian Gonzalez. Discuss.

If Jeremy Hermida is the “4th Outfielder,” its only because Jason Bay has walked and Hermida is platooning in Left. Otherwise, he has no role whatsoever in a outfield with Bay-Ellsbury-Drew as he will spell Bay infrequently and he serves no utility as Drew’s backup. Further, what sense does it make to bring in a “high upside” guy and then not give him the swings he needs. You think this guy is going to realize his potential off 150-200 swings? Sorry, the tea leaves are out there to be read. This guy is either going to be playing in a left field platoon next year (with rocco or Dye, etc….) or he will be in another city.

It won’t happen though because we’ll get Holliday or Bay. The Yankees aren’t going to sign them both. My guess is we push for Holliday, the Yankees get him because they can outspend Michael Bloomberg, for crying out loud… then we sign Bay, and Hermida sits with Baldelli or gets traded for better pieces elsewhere because the insurance policy is no longer needed.

Insurance on the possibility of signing neither Bay nor Holliday and as a Quad A prospect in the minors.