The Boston Red Sox weren't able to get the reunion
with Alex Bregman, but they're bolstering their rotation in
a big way, reportedly inking one of the top
starting pitchers on the free agent market. John Hamman
reporting that Boston has struck a deal with Rangers Suarez
, who has posted a 338 ERA across eight seasons
with the Phillies, including a 148 ERA and 11
postseason games. Cor Santos here and we're joined now
by John, who's first on this story. How
did this deal? Come together. I just asked
you, did it appear out of thin air?
I think it came pretty quick. I mean,
they were concentrating on Alex Bregman. That's the guy
they wanted back. He was the leader in the
clubhouse. They offered 165 million. However, the
Cubs outbid them 175 million, a longer range on
deferrals with Boston and no, no full, no
trade, I think hurt them in that negotiation,
and they responded quickly. They pivoted, as they
say, and now Ranger Suarez is already. Suck
. I mean, they've built a great rotation,
right? Sonny Gray was added. Johan Oviedo was
added. So they've added 3 starting pitchers. Obviously
Crochet is still the ace, but this is an
excellent rotation right now. How does this rotation stack
up with the rest of the team? I think
it's one of the best. I think it's one
of the best in baseball. Obviously Crochet, probably
a top 5 pitcher in the game. Sonny Gray
has been outstanding just about everywhere he has pitched.
Ranger Suarez. He is an excellent pitcher. The
one thing about him, he doesn't throw a ton
of innings, but the innings he does throw are
excellent, and he is better in the postseason than
just about anybody. He's been better than anybody other
than Mariano Rivera and Stephen Strasburg in this decade that
won 48 ERA in the postseason. So to me
, Bao is a very good starter as well,
and they've got young guys who are very good as
well, including Connolly Early. I think this is
an outstanding rotation one and certainly. In the top
5 in baseball. And given his postseason track record
, why is he a good fit for the Red
Sox? I mean, I think they expect to
be in the postseason. They were last year.
Obviously the Yankees knocked them out. I thought they
were a very good team last year. They have
a great manager. They got a lot going for
them. They've got a great young nucleus, and
you know, right now the only question is that
infield, and they've got young players there potentially.
OK, so what is the next move for the
Red Sox? Well, I think this is The
next big move. This was it, I think
. Instead of Bregman, now they've signed 130 million
with no deferrals. The Bregman deal would have been
a little bit more than that. It was 165
offered with some deferrals. It's possible that they add
an infielder. They certainly were looking for a right-handed
bat, but I don't think they're in bad shape
. Marcello Meyer is an outstanding prospect. Romi Gonzalez
played very well last year, but they certainly could
look at. Base or second base, could Alec
Baum be a possibility? It feels like Bechette in
Philly is a possibility there for them to do that
deal. They probably need to trade Boh somewhere.
Boston still would probably like to hit a righty bat
on that infield. He would make sense. Eugenio
Suarez potentially makes sense. Bechette still out there.
I think he's probably more likely elsewhere at this point
with Boston having spent$130 million. I learned about
the the trade rumors like the day before. And
I couldn't believe it at first and then. Everything
, uh, I let everything sink in and,
and I talked to, uh, the president of
, uh, Saint Louis Cardinals about it and I
really liked it and I thought we, and I
really think that it, it was the best thing
for, for both for the Cardinals and for myself
. The history that the Redor has and, um
, I think it's really a dream coming true for
any, any player, any Latin player that grew
up watching Boston. Um, watching Bor Ramirez,
David Ortiz, Tim Whitefield, Curt Schilling, um
, at this point in my career, I was
, uh, really surprising about this move. Um
, I never thought about coming to Boston in my
life, but when I, when I first,
uh, when I went to my first free agency
, it was one of my, uh, landing
spot. It didn't work, uh, but now
we're here and I'm really excited for this new opportunity
, um, and I can't wait to get back
on the field with the guys. I was kind
of in shock because I feel like this process has
been going on for a little bit, so I
was kind of like, man, I can't believe
we're finally getting to this place. But obviously,
you know, Arizona was one of the first teams
to show interest in me and uh you know,
I love the way they played the game. Um
it was, you know. You know, I
, I had, I expanded my list and those
are one of the teams that I expanded, um
, from last year. I put them on this
year. Um, and, uh, yeah,
I mean, it's close to home for me.
I'm from Orange County, so it's easy. I
got family in Arizona and uh I really like this
team. They're a good team. They play hard
and, uh, They're young, but I,
I, I feel like I could really uh help
this team win ballgames and uh contribute and obviously being
around good, uh, young, hungry players,
I think it just helps me stay young. So
, uh, it was kind of a no-brainer for
me, so I was really excited about it.
You know, when the Diamondbacks are good, the
environment gets pretty electric, which is. It's kind
of fun, um, but, you know,
the batter's eye is always great, you know,
it's a huge batter's eye, so it, it
obviously feels better to hit there. But, you
know, I still have high expectations for myself on
the offensive side, I do, um, on
both sides of the ball. You know, I
expect to go out there and help this team win
on both, both sides, and, uh.
You know, that's where my expectations are. Um
, I know the last few years haven't gone the
way I wanted. Um, obviously dealt with some
injuries and different things, but I think some of
the adjustments I'm trying to make and the adjustments that
I've, uh, talked with the hitting coaches already
about, I think they're gonna pay dividends. You're
only doing something like this if you're in a position
as an organization where you're not where you wanna be
. And so, you know, that's not why
any of us do this and that's not where any
of us want to be, so. You know
, as an indicator of where we are, you
know, it's, it obviously, um, you
know, is a sobering thought in terms of the
ground we need to cover and, and the distance
between where we are and where we want to get
. It's motivating in that regard to make sure that
we get this on a track to where that's not
the type of business we're doing. There's always going
to be tough choices, you know. There are
teams that. Even when they're competing for World Series
, they might move veterans occasionally. They might go
target prospects occasionally. That's what good organizations do.
But to be doing it at scale like this is
obviously indicative of us being in a position that,
you know, we hope to get out of sooner
rather than later. First of all, Griffin,
thank you for your service. Yeah, thank you
, thank you for the support. OK, no
, no, you, you seriously though, you
come from a military background. Your brothers, your
wife all graduates of the Air Force Academy. So
what will it mean to you to be able to
put on the red, white, and blue in
the WBC? Yeah, I mean, it's,
it's a once-in a-lifetime opportunity. As soon as,
you know, um, the team started getting assembled
, I called my agent. I said, I
gotta find a way to get on this team.
Uh, it'd be so, such an honor to
, to wear Team USA and, um, obviously
with my background, I don't think there could be
a, a better duo. It's great news.
I was, I was pumped. I, I'm
a big hockey guy. Um, I grew up
playing hockey and I, my favorite movie is Miracle
on Ice. Um, so I've always wanted to
rep the red, white, and blue. I'm
, I'm, I'm so psyched to get a chance
to, to, You know, play for the
US and this is, is, it's really special
to me. Obviously super blessed to have this opportunity
and uh yeah, Dero gave me a call a
couple of weeks ago and uh it was actually during
one of my workouts, so I kind of went
to my phone and had a voicemail from him and
uh as soon as I saw the name, I
was like, oh no, like this is,
this is for Team USA just beyond stoked and such
a cool opportunity and to be able to represent the
country and play in this event. For more on
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