With MLB free agency kicking off at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday morning, eight members of the Boston Red Sox filed for free agency. Yesterday I had written there were six but I had forgotten about two of them.
The eight free agents for the Red Sox are Erik Bedard, J.D. Drew, Conor Jackson, Trever Miller, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield. The two I had forgotten were Jackson and Miller.
The Red Sox can now talk exclusively with those eight guys until 12:01 a.m. on Thursday when they can hear offers from the other 29 teams.
As I said in the post yesterday, expect the Red Sox to concentrate right away on Ortiz and Papelbon. They are the two Type A free agents the Red Sox have. So if they did lose them, they would be awarded compensation in the form of a first round draft pick and a supplemental pick.
Obviously, we hope it doesn’t come to that but at least the Red Sox would get something if the pair or one of them decides to go somewhere else.
Not to be left out of the mix, the Red Sox have until the end of the day tomorrow to decide whether or not they are picking up the options on Marco Scutaro and Dan Wheeler‘s contracts.
One more date to keep in mind is November 23rd. That’s when the Red Sox have to make a decision on what free agents they are offering arbitration to. If I had to venture a guess, it’s obviously going to be to just Ortiz and Papelbon.
In other news, the Red Sox are expected to bring in Pete Mackanin and Dale Svuem for interviews this week.
Here’s something to ponder quickly.
We all know about Svuem’s troubles as third base coach of the Red Sox when he would basically Bogar them. Could you imagine if he was named manager and kept Tim Bogar as his third base coach? And then he hires Wave’em in Wendell Kim as his first base coach?
Just a funny thought for y’all to think about on this snowy Sunday here in New England.
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