Boston Red Sox GM has monumental decisions in 2019 offseason
After Dave Dombrowski’s firing, the new Boston Red Sox GM will have plenty of decisions to make in the offseason including their stars J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts.
Dave Dombrowski made a lot of costly decisions in his tenure with the Boston Red Sox including spending a lot of money on players that have not necessarily performed up to their expectations this year.
And those decisions will have an impact on whoever the next Red Sox president of baseball operations is because ownership may want that person to start retooling or even rebuilding to save some money.
Nathan Eovaldi had another elbow injury this season and at one point had to go to the bullpen, and he is taking up $17 million of the payroll for the next three seasons.
David Price and Chris Sale will be making a combined $62 million in 2020 which could influence the incoming GM’s decisions in the offseason.
Here are the most important decisions the next Red Sox general manager will be forced to make before his team even plays one game in 2020 that include a former Cy Young winner and MVP.
Mookie Betts (Free Agent after 2020)
Mookie Betts might be the best all-around player in the American League if Mike Trout was not on this earth. Of course, he won the Most Valuable Player award in 2018, which included him leading a Dave Dombrowski led team to a World Series victory.
But just like Dombrowski, he might be headed out the door in 2019. He is allowed to go to free agency after the 2020 season.
It might be in Boston’s future general manager’s best interest to trade Betts to another team, especially to a team that has a very talented farm system like the Braves to replenish their poor system.
If the Boston Red Sox were to move Betts, then that would give the Red Sox the wiggle room needed to acquire an outfielder that would not cost as much as Betts but is close to his talent level.
Another factor to consider is the new GM is likely not going to have an emotional attachment to Betts as the rest of the fan base does, so he may not be so inclined to give him ‘Mike Trout’ money in an extension.
But Mookie Betts is Mookie Betts.
He provides energy in the Boston clubhouse and if he were to be traded then the fans certainly would not be very pleased and with teams in town like the Patriots who have already gotten the Red Sox’s attention, it would make the Red Sox second fiddle to the Patriots and perhaps maybe even third with the newly revamped Celtics led by Kemba Walker in town as well.
This is the most interesting decision of the offseason but doesn’t necessarily have to be decided this winter like these next two moves.
J.D. Martinez (Can Opt-Out after this season)
J.D. Martinez was a huge factor in the Boston Red Sox first and last championship in the Dave Dombrowski era, and if the Red Sox want him to contribute to another championship they will have to comply with his agent, Scott Boras.
Scott Boras is known for having his clients go out onto the market to establish themselves, and while that will most likely happen, recent history is in the Red Sox’s favor (kind of).
Xander Bogaerts signed an extension before this season and he is a Boras client, but I am not sure if Boras and Bogaerts himself were confident in getting more money from the free-agent market than he got in an extension.
The new Red Sox GM would have to give Martinez more money, which ownership might not want, for J.D. to stay because there are teams out there like the Yankees who are more than willing to spend money on a DH.
But the Red Sox may have leverage in this situation because there is a new CBA that will hopefully be settled, and Martinez would be a free agent then if he were to opt-in to his current contract.
The new CBA could be inserting a new rule that lets every team in major league baseball including the National League to have a DH, so Martinez (who would be getting older) would be getting 15 more possible suitors.
If he were to have a new deal restructured with the Red Sox, he might be a free agent before the new CBA kicks in, which might bring down his chances of getting a longer contract.
While Martinez could be in Boston for years to come, it is harder to predict if this starter will be…
Rick Porcello (Free Agent after 2019)
Rick Porcello has won the Cy Young, but ever since has been a mediocre pitcher that hasn’t had a great impact in his club winning games. According to Porcello, he’s “been terrible”.
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Porcello has a career-worst 5.83 ERA and already has 12 losses.
I believe that the new Red Sox GM would be unwilling to give Porcello any longer than a 2-3 year contract, as he is already 30 years old.
If the Red Sox GM were to not sign Porcello, then he would need to fill that spot with another starting pitcher. Obviously, if he didn’t sign Porcello, then he would not be signing any perennial All-Star starter, as they would be commanding a huge amount of money, so a trade would need to occur.
Boston could also play the waiting game with him and his agent. If they don’t want to offer him a lot of money, then they can hope other teams don’t want to either and they can persuade him to sign with them.
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All three of these decisions will shape the Boston Red Sox future for years to come and they could go one of two routes: retool and try to go for it in an attempt to come back from a bad season or irritate the fan base and rebuild.