Several news items of interest came out of last evening’s Boston Baseball Writers’ Association of America dinner regarding the Red Sox. General manager Ben Cherington shared his thoughts on the outlook for the remainder of the Red Sox winter, and veteran slugger David Ortiz spoke to reporters about a potential multi-year deal.
Ortiz entered the offseason seeking a contract that went beyond the 2012 season. He performed well last year, and hoped to cash in by using free agency as a bargaining chip.
Things didn’t go quite as expected, as the market for designated hitters has been dormant this offseason. Instead of receiving a lucrative multi-year deal, Ortiz eventually accepted the Red Sox offer of arbitration.
Now, with an arbitration hearing approaching, Ortiz didn’t sound confident that a multi-year extension would be reached.
Another attendee of last night’s Boston BBWAA dinner was Red Sox GM Ben Cherington. Boston’s new general manager fielded several questions himself, most pertaining to the makeup of the Red Sox starting rotation.
Cherington admitted that the Red Sox likely have more questions surrounding their rotation than do their division rivals. However, Cherington noted that, if Spring Training were to start tomorrow, he feels “good” about where his team is. Cherington feels that he’s added enough players to his in-house rotation options to create a comfortable level of competition and that the Red Sox boast a good level of depth in the area of position players.
That being said, Cherington knows he still has time and will continue to keep his eyes open for potential improvements. In recent weeks the Red Sox have been tied to starting pitchers such as Roy Oswalt. Now that Carl Crawford’s status for Opening Day is unknown, Boston may also be on the lookout for another bat.
For more on the Red Sox, be sure to check out BoSox Injection.
You can check out all of the available free agents by position below.