For the purposes of this posting, I'm restricting it to the top top free agents. Any who've been rumored or speculated as fits for the Sox.
CC Sabathia
This was a rumor that more or less began today with rumors of a meeting between CC and the Sox. My guess? They were feeling out just how much he wants and how much (based on the rumors around) he does or doesn't want to pitch in New York.
Call it due diligence, call it driving up the price, call it genuine interest if you want. I personally think it's the first, myself. I can't imagine the Sox are going to shell out top dollar for CC over Tex, though CC might be easier to (no pun intended) fit on the roster currently.
Derek Lowe
I'm so confused about Lowe. I think he has matured since his time in Boston, and that he's as good a bet as any 35(almost 36) year old to throw 800 innings at at least a 3rd-starter level over four years that has come up in the FA market for awhile. That sentence was a mouthful.
The point is, Lowe is a solid investment depending upon what he and Boras are thinking in terms of AAV. What's he worth? Depends upon how you want to look at it. Is he worth $4M more per year than Gil Meche? Probably. Is he worth $3M more per year than Carlos Silva? Almost certainly. But that might be a bad way to look at it. Either way, the point is whether you think Lowe is worth 4/$60M, because that's probably what his final contract will look like. The only reason I'd be against the contract itself is if it makes us less likely to extend Becks again, or of being able to incorporate Bowden or Buch into the rotation in the next year or so.
A.J. Burnett
My thoughts? No thank you. We can argue about his 'stuff' relative to his peers all day long. And my point isn't about the "intangibles" or anything of that nature. I just think he's a good bet to disappoint over the course of a 4 or 5 year deal, whether you think it'll be by injury or performance. I might be being a little stupid about this, and that's okay. Let me know if you think so. On the plus side for me, we haven't been linked to A.J. too much.
Ben Sheets
I truly think there's a good chance Ben Sheets will be a member of the Red Sox if he can't get a multiyear deal anywhere else. That being said, I think there's a very slim chance he won't be offered a multiyear deal so it's probably not worth thinking about. Like Burnett, and maybe moreso, he's quite an injury risk. But he's a good risk in the short term for a team with the pitching depth to cover him if he misses 5-8 starts a year. I like his K/BB (3.36) which is third among FA starters this offseason and he's not especially prone to the long ball. (Comment starter: 1st in K/BB of FAs? Sabathia. #2? Randy Johnson. Am I alone in wishing he'd be likely to consider an east coast team?)
Rafael Furcal
This was purely speculation on MLBTR sometime last week, but apparently there was a mystery team that put in a bid for Furcal, and we were speculated as that team.
Nothing wrong with a little speculation, and the Sox have been known to operate a bit behind the scenes like that, but I see no way in which that was plausible unless a deal involving Lugo were going to happen within a week of that signing. Even then, dubious at best. Dismiss it from your minds, and now I'm wondering why I wrote all this about him. Oh well. Way too lazy to delete.
Mark Teixeira
This whole post is actually due to BoSox415's posting about Teixeira and whether we're still interested or not.
I'd say yes. And we know several things about Teixeira. Let's do some questions and answers. (with me playing both parts)
Does Mark Teixeira want a truckload of money?
Yes. Absolutely.
Does Mark Teixeira care a lot about winning?
Don't know, actually. His primary concern could be money. It could be individual awards. It could be any number of things. We like to think all pro athletes are in it to win it. And Tex probably is. But we don't really know.
What's the best fit for Mark Teixeira?
Honestly, it might be Anaheim. Despite how good Vlad is, he'd really be the lynchpin of that offense, and would probably be pushed to the forefront as the star of that team within a year or two. Better-than-solid pitching staff, and a semi run-down division in terms of real competition. They also have that money he probably wants a lot of.
Well, that was fun. I guess the point is that all the news about Tex is old news, and probably will be for awhile longer. And as much as I emphasized the money issue, I don't want to portray him as money-grubbing or greedy. I don't think that's the case. But he is going to get PAID, and it's worth thinking about the length and monetary commitment 6 or 7 thousand times before coming to a decision about whether it's a good idea. If you do think it's a good idea, then make sure you don't think about Lars Anderson as a roadblock. The Sox's likely #1 (according to most publications(probably)/sites) prospect this year is still a prospect.
We could always stand pat and use the extra savings to sign Lebron James or Chris Bosh.