Bring back Hinskie. I want to see one more face plant diving catch in RF. ;)

LOL, too funny. I believe he was just recently signed by Arizona, so he couldnt be traded til Spring.

I'd really rather see them upgrade at fourth outfielder as the primary consideration. At this point I have to wonder what Ryan Sweeney did besides punching a door. He's pretty much the same doubles power bat as Nava with more speed and the ability to play all the outfield spots. Maybe even marginally better at hitting lefthanders despite not being a cosmetic switchhitter.

We need another guy for the outfield corps who can be put anywhere. It's something I think is kind of important if you assume Kalish is spending time at Pawtucket getting back to where he might have been. And I guess if Nava can be worked out at first as a possibility, why not Sweeney?

Is a guy who made less than $2m and spent half the year on the DL really that cost prohibitive? With Napoli settling for much less, I'm beginning to suspect budgetary constraints that go beyond caution for the future.

Well the Sox still have money to spend so... Personally I dont want Nava anywhere near 1st base and even though Im ok, just ok, with him being a 4th OF but that's it. Id rather have more power off the bench, which leaves Nava out. I dont want Kalish on the big club at all, he needs at bats in the minors.
There is another issue that clearly needs to be resolved, we have too many relievers, too many Catchers and that's why I see a potential trade happening, maybe with Seattle but it could be anyone I suppose but I do see one happening sometime between now and the end of Spring Training.

Well it was $13.3 million this past year, and a number of players (Hamilton, Greinke, Upton, Sanchez, Soriano and Swisher at least) signed deals for more than that amount per year so that will drive the average contract amount of the top 125 players even higher. $14 million is a conservative estimate. It's tough to figure out exactly where that point will wind up being because it's tough finding a listing of the average contract values for every player.

Ya I hear ya. It seems insane and unfair for the present team to have a player that makes $4-5m a year go to $14m +/-, there's no team in the world that would offer that to a player and therefore they automatically lose a pick. The Only player Id make that jump in money to is Stanton or a young Ace pitcher. Stupid rule IMO and teams should be given better insurance than that.

That's the whole point of the rule. So that teams are only getting draft pick compensation for losing elite players, not the fringy middle relievers and average players that teams used to get draft picks for.

Personally I would have no issue with them doing away with draft pick compensation completely.

I think the rule is doing exactly what it's supposed to, limiting draft pick compensation for only the very best players. For example, there really was no reason for Boston to expect to get a draft pick for losing Cody Ross as a free agent this winter, yet under the old rules they would have. Larger market teams like Boston were gaming the system, and snapping up multiple picks in the supplemental round and multiple compensation picks in some years. It really had to be fixed.

The Red Sox were getting draft compensation for losing free agents, and then signing equal or better players to replace them with. Which I don't fault them for, it was a pretty genius way to game the system and build up the farm system, but it went against the spirit of the rule in my opinion.

I agree. As a Sox fan I was happy they could have off-seasons like 2004-05 and 2010-11 where they wound up moving up in the draft from their original position because of free agents they let walk while signing others themselves, as well as gaining supplemental picks. One of the big things to Theo's credit is he was one of the first GMs out there to figure out how to game things like that, and used it to his advantage a number of times. But it did go completely against the spirit of why they started with the compensation process to begin with.

I think the tipping point was when teams figured out they could pull a waiver deal in late August for a player they really didn't need and had no future use for simply to acquire a supplemental pick when they left as a free agent following the season.

I hadnt thought of it in those terms, thanks.

Don't count out Sox adding another 1B
January, 18, 2013

By Joe McDonald | ESPNBoston.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Now that it appears that the Boston Red Sox and Mike Napoli have settled on a one-year deal, general manager Ben Cherington is still searching for left-handed hitting options at first base. They figure to need some insurance in case Napoli’s hip becomes an issue and would like a backup who could hit from the other side of the plate than the right-handed hitting Napoli.

Cherington said Thursday night during the Sox’s annual offseason Town Hall meeting with fans that he’s in the market for such a player, but would not mention specific names. ESPN’s Jim Bowden suggested Thursday the Sox could target free agents Casey Kotchman and Lyle Overbay, both of whom fit that description.

“We’d like to find someone like that,” Cherington said in general terms. “We’ll look at some options between now and spring training. If we can’t find anything, it may turn into a spring training project and keep looking then. We’ve got some left-handed options for the outfield but if we can add someone to do that at first base. We did sign Mark Hamilton to a minor league deal, and we may look at other options, too. We’ll see what’s out there and if we can’t find anything before spring training we’ll keep looking during spring training.”

Cherington is looking at both the trade and free-agent markets, but admitted it’s not something that is a priority right now.

“We feel pretty good on the position players side of things,” Cherington said. “We’ve got some infield depth, we’ve got catching depth, we’ve got some outfield depth and I think if we can add a left-handed hitter that would be great. If not, I’ll keep working on it. I would expect there would be two or three more additions to camp, probably more of the non-roster variety, but we feel fairly good about where we are.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/24424/dont-count-out-sox-adding-another-1b

PODSEDNIK! Now that's someone who could play either.

Can he play 1st base? I dont mind him in the OF but Ive never seen him at 1st.

I doubt he has in the Majors, but being LH since birth I'm sure he has somewhere. I think he would be someone to try in Spring training if he goes unsigned. Sweeney, may also be a similar gamble.

I don't see Napoli as a platoon player. He hits well enough from both sides. Gomes is a strict platoon player.

That's not the type of platoon Im talking about. With the hip problem Nap may either need days off or not be able to go at all (DL). So you'd need someone to play in his absence.

Medically I agree...we may need a full time payer.

What would it take to get both Smoak and Carp?

Some firewood and a fishing pole?