With Cole Hamels and Zack Wheeler both signing deals on Wednesday, it has plenty of implications for the Boston Red Sox.
Cole Hamels signed a one-year, $18 million contract with the Braves, and Wheeler signed a five-year, $118 million contract with the Phillies.
Plus with rumors of mutual interest between the New York Mets and former Sox pitcher Rick Porcello, the free agency pool of pitchers is starting to thin out.
While big names such as Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg are still on the market, the winter meetings haven’t even started yet.
The biggest week in the MLB offseason just became more interesting for the Red Sox.
It was rumored that Boston is looking to move David Price and/or Nathan Eovaldi. If that wasn’t their main focus point of shedding salary, it should be now. Pitching will still be in high demand, even long after Cole and Strasburg both ink their respective contracts.
Although nobody expects the return for either player to be considered a “haul,” trading one of, or both contracts would save the Red Sox more money than simply trading Mookie Betts.
This scenario also makes sense due to the value of the contract: Eovaldi at $17 million per season until 2022 and Price at $32 million per season until 2022, including two opt-outs in his deal.
With Hamels getting $18 million and Wheeler at around $24 million per season, it puts the annual value at around the market value, which should be great news to the Red Sox front office.
This would also help the Red Sox save money to prepare Betts a contract after the 2020 season, as it seems doubtful that he will even talk about an extension at this point, which will help the team contend in 2020.
Whether this is the route Bloom and executives take during the next two months has yet to be decided, but Winter Weekend should be exciting to watch for Red Sox Nation.
