Gomes: "It's kind of interesting, though — $500 million and still some questions. You've got [free agent catcher Brian] McCann who hasn't been in the American League before, the pitcher [Masahiro Tanaka] who hasn't pitched a game over here. They've got some guys playing different positions. ... Kind of flattering a little bit, you know, that [a division] rival has to reload as much as they did. We lost some core players; at the same time, this organization is extremely deep. The majority of our core group of guys is back. We're champs. We have to uphold that title."
Gomes also noted: No beards in 2014.
Boston signed Grady Sizemore to a cheap one-year deal. Because of injuries, Sizemore has not played in a major league game since late 2011. Sizemore: "Who wouldn't want to be a part of this group of guys and this organization?" ... John Farrell answered a few questions about Sizemore.
Jon Lester wants to stay with the Red Sox for the rest of his career, and he's willing to take a deep discount to do so.
I want to be here until they have to rip this jersey off my back. I want to stay here. This is what I've known. I grew up in this organization. I've had plenty of good and bad times here. I enjoy it, my family loves it here, all my son talks about is going home to Boston, and that's what he thinks is home. If it all comes down to it, we want to be here. ... I want to win, and if that means taking a Dustin Pedroia deal, to take less money to be happy and competitive and win every year, let's do it.MLB.com released its Top 100 Prospects List - and Boston has nine players, the most of any organization. Xander Bogaerts is #2.
Pedroia and Lester show that more money doesn't mean more happiness. You don't have to sign the biggest contract to prove you are a great player. And there is a point where you just don't need any more money. Nice to see.
ReplyDeleteNice words from Lester, but I'm waiting to see what the "discount" amounts to for him. The Pedroia deal is insanely team-friendly, especially if you look at what Cano (very comparable to Dustin regardless of how you rate either player) got a mere four months later. I don't expect Lester to leave 10+ mil/year on the table, but I'm very curious to see how this pans out. 18 mil AAV would be a sweet spot, anything less is a real discount IMO. Going to see interesting if the possibility of the discount leads Ben to break his rule of not giving 6+ year deals to 30+ pitchers. Hope it gets done before ST, regardless.
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