2013 Red Sox 1B options

[SoxFan101NlB]

Would the Angels want Ells? They cant just sell Cron because he has nowhere to play. If they believe so highly in him as some ppl think, then why dont they move him off first? Havent looked too much into him other than hitting stats, but couldnt he possibly go into the outfield? or slide over to 3rd? Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

[bagwell368]

Would the Angels want Ells? They cant just sell Cron because he has nowhere to play. If they believe so highly in him as some ppl think, then why dont they move him off first? Havent looked too much into him other than hitting stats, but couldnt he possibly go into the outfield? or slide over to 3rd? Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

Cron is a plow horse, he's a 1B or DH period (he was a C a bit in college). He's had a labrum surgery as well as a knee operation in his young years. He's got a ton of power. He seems to have trouble with good breaking stuff. He could easily turn out to be a .238/.313/.453 sort of hitter - and if the Angels agree they could be looking to deal him before he's exposed. OTOH if they don't prying away a #6 hitter for cheap money with big power is going to prove to be expensive.*

*I culled about 4 scouting reports/articles for the info about him.

[ILikeBaseball]

I don't think Cron is a viable option for the Sox.

First of all he's at least 1-2 years away having spent 2012 playing high-a ball. Second, there some obvious caveats with Cron, contact skills, pitch recognition, plate discipline. How do we know he pans out?
But think of it this way: if he were that great and a sure thing, why would the Angels even consider trading him? They could DH him instead of Morales for the league minimum or find a different spot for him. Point being, if the Angels think he'll pan out as a solid hitting 1B with 30+ HRs they'll make room for him to cash in on his cheap first years.

[Tarheelguy1967]

I'd like to get Napoli, but as slow as it's moving that seems, at least to me, to be unlikely. Don't know why, but I'm just not a big Morneau fan. The options at first just don't seem that exciting to me. I hope we are able to put together something to get a young, power hitting guy here cause I sure don't want to see Salty at first

[bagwell368]

The Red Sox are being mentioned as the most likely landing spot for Napoli by a number of sources but the word is he wants to wait it out a bit (like LaRoche signing (that's my add)) to max out his deal. So no news on Napoli in the coming days doesn't mean anything - except perhaps people are getting anxious.

[Nomar]

Napoli will wait until winter meetings I bet. Can't blame him for wanting to get the most money he can.

[ruckus16969]

I'd like to get Napoli, but as slow as it's moving that seems, at least to me, to be unlikely. Don't know why, but I'm just not a big Morneau fan. The options at first just don't seem that exciting to me. I hope we are able to put together something to get a young, power hitting guy here cause I sure don't want to see Salty at first

Me to. Even if it didnt cost much to get him I'm still not sold on him. I would rather try to get someone like Trumbo

[bagwell368]

Me to. Even if it didnt cost much to get him I'm still not sold on him. I would rather try to get someone like Trumbo

Trumbo has power, and 4 more years of team control - for cheap the first two years, and not bad thereafter. He'd cost at least 6 x what Morneau would in terms of tradeable assets - if not 10x.

Trumbo doesn't show any real sign of being a good BA or OBP hitter, mostly a middle of the road or worse pitcher mistake crusher. K's a ton, has holes in the swing. Not impressed. Where does he play here? 1B/LF/DH over these 4 years. He has an average bat for 1B, above AL average in LF (in a very poor era for LF'ers BTW)... Just no.

Morneau could come for cheap. The value for Minny is saving the contract cost of $14M. If he sucks, OK, no real harm to the system or the team. Trumbo will cost so much more, and could be a block to better players coming up in 2-3 years.

After a hideous '11 season JM posted a: .267/.333/.440 - basically as good as Trumbo in '11 and a bit less then '12. JM kills it in Fenway this year as he has before, and he can get him self a 3 year deal out of it. if the Sox like. He's a great presence in the clubhouse. An MVP with another 2nd place in the voting. Handles himself well. A little ballast for a transitional team.

[Nomar]

Trumbo is beyond overrated. It's like Salty as a first baseman but he hit .330 for a month do everyone rides him like a show pony.

Morneau is low risk because of his relatively low price. He at the very least buys the Sox some time to find a 1B. He's a pretty good change of scenery candidate as I don't think his concussions really took away that much of his game.

[AI4]

I agree with Nomahhhhh

[PapelbonLester]

Mike Napoli....end of story

[Bo Sox Fan]

This team's chemistry would be insane if we filled our glaring needs through Team Canada.

1B - Trade for Justin Morneau
LF - Sign Jason Bay
SP - Sign Ryan Dempster

Them boys would be the less talented 2004 idiots version 2.0 then put the cherry on top...

RF - Sign Nick Swisher

That would be a fun team to watch.

[BostonSports96]

This team's chemistry would be insane if we filled our glaring needs through Team Canada.

1B - Trade for Justin Morneau
LF - Sign Jason Bay
SP - Sign Ryan Dempster

Them boys would be the less talented 2004 idiots version 2.0 then put the cherry on top...

RF - Sign Nick Swisher

That would be a fun team to watch.

Don't Dempster and Bay suck? I don't want them.

[AI4]

If Napoli is holding out for a 4th year from us, I expect a deal where he gets 3 guaranteed years at $10M+ per with a 4th year vesting or mutual option with a decent buyout; OR, we raise the AAV for the first 3 years by $1-2M each. Let's say we are offering 3/$30, then I can see $3/36M getting it done.

[bagwell368]

How does 4 years for $46M grab you? That's $11.5M per - after all it was OK to overpay Gomes $2M a year, so why not overpay Napoli? Isn't that the new Sox paradigm?

Whatever....

Manyana....

Who gives a flaming booger...


BTW, please say you were joking about Bay? Good god...