Almost from the start, the free agent market has been a model of inefficiency. Bidding furiously against one another, teams pay exorbitant prices for past performance.<\/p>\n
The players win, but in the long run, teams often lose \u2014 especially on long-term deals which especially tend to not age well.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, free agency represents the only option as that\u2019s where the talent lies. Also, the obsession with retaining prospects often steers clubs away from trading them to fill needs.<\/p>\n
But this winter, the Red Sox<\/a>, through two early offseason trades, may have found a way around this conundrum. After adding Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo<\/a>, the Red Sox have close to 10 legitimate starting pitching candidates and\/or well-regarded prospects: Garrett Crochet, Gray, Oviedo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Hunter Dobbins, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle and Connelly Early.<\/p>\n This accounting doesn\u2019t begin to take into account the next tier of pitching prospects, including David Sandlin, Luis Perales and last year\u2019s No. 1 pick, Kyson Witherspoon \u2014 all of whom have trade value, too.<\/p>\n Not every pitcher, of course, is proven at the big league level and some \u2014 notably Sandoval \u2014 are coming off major physical setbacks.<\/p>\n But still, that\u2019s far more than most organizations and could put them in deals to address their lack of pop in the lineup.<\/p>\n What if, say, the Red Sox succeeded in re-signing Alex Bregman, then packaged Jarren Duan and a young pitcher to land another power bat? That would upgrade the lineup considerably and would enable them to keep their CBT number in the $250 million or so range.<\/p>\n (Keeping the payroll in that area remains an organizational priority, as has previously been reported).<\/p>\n Instead of spending, say, $35 million per season on a seven-year deal for Pete Alonso to add muscle to the offense, the Red Sox could find a bat on the trade market, using Duran (or Wilyer Abreu) and a young starter as bait.<\/p>\n The bidding for the likes of Alonso and Kyle Schwarber has yet to even get underway, but it\u2019s easy to anticipate those deals spiraling ever upward with the interest from a handful of big market teams (Phillies, Mets and others) all positioning themselves for one of the sluggers.<\/p>\n If the Red Sox were to land a run-producing first baseman in such a trade and bring back Bregman, they could use Marcelo Mayer at second, and then turn their attention to upgrading their DH spot.<\/p>\n With the money saved in largely staying out of the free agent market and freed from the long-term Rafael Devers deal, they could perhaps find a creative way to unload Masataka Yoshida\u2019s remaining salary and fill the DH spot with other options.<\/p>\n By jumping the line early \u2014 no other team in the game has struck so quickly for two impact pitchers \u2014 the Red Sox have gotten the potentially costly part of their offseason agenda already out of the way.<\/p>\n Now, as they move on to address the offense and the need for more slug, they\u2019re positioned to give themselves plenty of options, with an exit route available if they don\u2019t want to get into bidding wars for the bat they need.<\/p>\n ___________________<\/p>\n Just nine months after he signed an eight-year, $60 million deal with the Red Sox, it\u2019s uncertain how Kristian Campbell fits with the organization going forward.<\/p>\n