On December 12th, the Los Angeles Dodgers fleeced the entire league by signing Shohei Ohtani to a 10 year, 700 million dollar deal. The kicker is that they will pay Shohei 2 million a year until he retires then backload his contract so it doesn't count against the Luxury Tax. MLB will probably investigate and make a future ruling to prevent such chicanery but this move gave the Dodgers the financial ability to sign free agent prize Yoshinobu Yamamoto on December 22nd. If that's not all, the Dodgers pulled off a trade the Red Sox should have made and got Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow and old pal Manny Margot for prospects Ryan Pepiot and Johnny DeLecua. All in all the Dodgers within the span of two weeks got three potential ace pitchers (when Ohtani pitches again in 2025 anyway) and a good outfielder in Margot for money and two prospects. The Sox could have done all of that......or not.
Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy went on national television that the Red Sox are going "full throttle" and so far its been a lot of hot air. The rumors swirling is that not only were these guys "too expensive" but the Sox are looking to shed payroll. Those rumors turned out to be true as the Sox made another salary dump when they traded fading former ace Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves for 22 year old shortstop prospect Vaughn Grissom.
The rise and fall of Chris Sale is pretty much a microcosm of the Boston Red Sox fortunes the last seven years. Sale was the second coming of Pedro Martinez the first half of the 2017 but began to fade in the second half, still finishing with a 17-8 record. In 2018 he was on track for 20 wins when he suffered an arm injury in August and barely pitched again the rest of the regular season. He was a shell of himself in October but did manage to close out the World Series in Game 5. In 2019 he was batting practice, going 6-11 before shutting down in August. Then it all went to hell as he got Tommy John surgery in February of 2020 and didn't return until August of 2021. He did go 5-1 at the end of 2021 but once again was a shell of himself in October. He pitched in just two games in 2022 and missed most of 2023 but finished strong going 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA. He's 34 years old and there's no way in hell he pitches a full year again so it makes sense to get something out of him. The problem is by failing to sign Yamamoto, Ohtani and trading for Glasnow, who the hell replaces him?
Oh it gets worse, the guy they got has no power and can't play the field. Grissom is a great contact hitter, hitting above .300 every year from 2021-23 in the minors and .280 in 23 games for Atlanta this season. The drawbacks is he only hit 9 big league home runs in 64 games and 216 at-bats and he is a horrendous short-stop. Now the rumor is they're going to move him to second base which is actually one of Boston's needs this year. Like I said, he can hit for contact then he's the modern day Marty Barrett. Problem is the team doesn't have many power threats besides Devers.
Now if you want to take the Boston media's "everything stinks" side, the Sox just gave up their former ace to save money for a guy who can't play defense or hit home runs. The Sox now have to rely on a rotation of Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck. Obviously the off-season is far from over with Lucas Giolito, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still available but the Sox have done nothing but trade talent for prospects going back to the Alex Verdugo trade. Combine that with the spending spree by the Dodgers and the New York Yankees trading for Verdugo and Juan Soto, the Sox are in the exact same position they were a year ago.
Now if you want to take the Boston twitter "everything is awesome" side, the Sox finally got rid of Sale and they addressed a need by getting a proven infielder that at least can hit. The Sox have no idea if Nick Yorke, Mikey Romero or Marcelo Mayer is going to develop so to see someone like Grissom being able to hit in the majors is encouraging. If you put Grissom at second, now you have Casas at first, Story at short, Devers at third, Duran in center, Abreu in right, O'Neil in left, Wong behind the plate and Yoshida at DH. The Sox are rumored to be interested in Teoscar Hernandez as a free agent but even if they don't get him, the lineup is starting to take shape. Another thing is Grissom may never see the Sox. You could package him, Rich Fitts and others to get a Dylan Cease or Jesus Luzardo. Sale was never going to be the same again so this is definitely a win for Boston Twitter.
Now if you're a realist, the Sox are definitely not better than last year at the moment with the losses of Verdugo & Sale but the off-season isn't over yet. There's still time to make some moves but they better hurry. Getting a Blake Snell and trading for a potential ace could change the complexion of the team instantly. Either way, Sox GM Craig Breslow better do something.
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