Cherington's Holding All the Chips

Ben Cherinton

The Boston Red Sox are coming off an incredible 180 degree reversal in what was supposed to be a bridging phase. The 2012 Red Sox had just completely been depleted of half of their producers and had several potential stars brewing in their farm system. The next couple years were supposed to be competitive enough to keep the fan base interested while the real cream of the farm rose to the top of the system. Well that all changed when the island of misfit ballplayers came together in beantown and took home the 2013 World Series Championship.

The Red Sox have a little bit of everything: A surplus of pitching, great young players with MLB experience, and a deep farm. So now that the Sox hold all the chips, where do they go from here?

Don't Lose Focus
What the Red Sox did this season was amazing, spectacular and plain lucky? I wouldn't go as far as to attribute all of the Sox' success to luck, but they were the benefactor of good pitching and timely hitting which is the recipe to a successful team according to Moneyball manager Billy Beane. This team is not the formula for success. You can't go into every offseason and throw mediocre contracts at average-above average players and expect them all to stick like the Sox just did. You need a long term goal and I think the Boston management had a great goal going into this 2 year window; they wanted to remain relevant enough while giving the players of the future the necessary learning curve to better help them down the road. The worst thing they could do is have a championship hangover and start shipping off their prospects in hopes of keeping this winning squad together. You have a great future, now just don't mess it up

Mike Napoli

Let the Extra Baggage Go
The Red Sox tendered 3 offers to Napoli, Drew and Ellsbury. The only player I'd want to see return out of that group is Ellsbury, and I believe there is not really a chance they will get him, but seeing as he is a Type A free agent, they will at least be looking at a sandwich pick by letting him go. The greatest news I heard all day was that Stephen Drew would not be returning to the Red Sox and would be looking for a multi-year deal around the league which will also warrant a sandwich pick for the Sox. Last but not least is Napoli. He put up decent power numbers this season and served his role protecting Ortiz, but I think you can find better options, younger options or cheaper options and use your money elsewhere. Letting go of these players should pave the way for the future of Boston.

Brian McCann

They could then move in a different direction via free agency to someone like Brian McCann who I personally would LOVE to see in a Sox uniform. He is a veteran catcher who knows how to control a staff, can hit for power from the left side and can play some 1B. He is the perfect fit in Boston and if the Sox could ink him I would be ecstatic. Not to mention he can grow a mighty fine beard

Make a Big Move
As stated above, the Sox have ALL the pieces that any organization would look for. I want to see them make a big deal. Why would a team want to go out and sign an average free agent SP like Ervin Santana for 5 years and $80M when they can get a guy who just clinched the World Series with only 2 years left on his contract for relatively cheap in John Lackey? I think Lackey is the big chip that can (and should) be traded to a contender for a mid-level prospect. Ideally I would like to see them then use that prospect and couple him with one of their A-level prospects (Barnes, Middlebrooks, Ranaudo) and pull in a big fish stuck in a small pond. There are few names that come to mind: Giancarlo Stanton, Felix Hernandez, Carlos Gonzalez are just a few guys who are stuck on bad teams that could possibly use the prospects and the Sox could definitely use a cornerstone superstar to add to their already flourishing roster.

Obviously the possibilities are endless with what they could do but this is just a breakdown of some of the things I think should be done. All we can do now is wait and see where the pieces fall. I will look further at how they are doing and give them a grade later in the offseason.