Theo Epstein has reportedly signed for three additional years, guaranteeing him at the helm of the Red Sox through 2011.
Two interesting Yankee tidbits come today, via Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman. Heyman contends that the Yankees might explore trading Robinson Cano, a thought they have explored before. Last year, Brian Cashman asked Joe Torre if he should move Cano for Orlando Hudson. They may still do that by moving Cano and signing Hudson as a free agent.
Sherman has the Yankees waving goodbye to Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu, which would position them to bid for Mark Teixeira. They may prefer to throw their dollars at CC Sabathia and dangle Cano along with Phil Hughes for Prince Fielder, who the Brewers are expected to look into moving before he gets too expensive. The Brewers could then turn around and ship Rickie Weeks out for a first baseman to replace Fielder (Garrett Atkins?). Just thinking out loud here.
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This offseason may have some huge talents available. The Yankees will try to scoop up as many as possible as part of their “traditional rebuilding process.” If so, they will be contenders again.
However, the Steinbrenners have forced the rest of the league to play their version of money ball, achieving a perverted form of parity. They will NOT be the only bidders for difference-makers like CC, Sheets, Oswalt, Kazimir, Burnett, Fuentes, Street, Texeira, Holliday, Sizemore, etc. These players will be spread around.. And Burnett, Sheets, Oswalt, CC, Texeira, Holliday may stay with their teams. Sorry Hank.
Fortunately, the Red Sox are set with their own stars. They only need 2 or 3 top talents, and can move mountains to get them, after freeing up $50M plus what we didn’t spend on Santana.
IMO:
Red Sox Priority One? One RP, the Gagne-
replacement, but only of Fuentes/Street/Nathan quality. No maybes or hopefuls.
Priority Two? Our next catcher. Perhaps Theo should act entirely out of the box, and do and spend whatever it takes to get Martin or Posey now, and put this issue behind us.
Priority Three? A starting pitcher, but ONLY one of the top one or two like CC or Oswalt, as we may not need either, perhaps having their equals in Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson or Colon, in a crowded rotation which already has 3 Aces.
Priority Four? None, unless Holliday or Sizemore are available.
I’m extatic for the re-signing of Theo. I’m a big fan of our GM. He is a man of vision.
I agree with Gerry for the most part. But for me the first one priority is getting a new catcher. Acquiring a high quality reliever would be great also, and I don’t think we need another starter. I’m a believer in Buccholz and Bowden.
Holliday is certainly intriging, but our outfield is overcrowded right now. A move for him will require a major movement.
In any case, in Theo I trust.