Starr’s 7 Questions: Are the Red Sox ready to pay big bucks for a star?

Seven questions as the Red Sox take the plunge or cautiously wade into a pivotal offseason Why didn t the Red Sox extend a Qualifying Offer to Lucas Giolito The list of prospective reasons why the Sox opted not to extend a Qualifying Offer to right-hander Lucas Giolito range from magnanimous to practical to concerning Let s go in reverse order The greater part logical and therefore worrisome explanation is that the Red Sox did not want to offer a pitcher million for one year after elbow soreness caused him to struggle in September and be left off their postseason roster Greater part practically the Red Sox exclusively do not feel like he is worth million for a year but are open to a reunion in a more affordable albeit multi-year format Giolito is expected to command a three-year deal in the - million range The largest part generous version of events is that the Red Sox knew Giolito would have more suitors if he entered free agency without the strings of a QO attached to him Do you think the Red Sox who just spent the better part of a decade rebuilding their farm system and overhauling participant progress to conclusively create certain legitimate depth are so generous that they will turn down an opportunity to receive specific draft pick compensation Do the Red Sox have more pitching depth than people realize Giolito may or may not return to the Red Sox but several pitchers will be back next year Among the players reinstated from the -day injured list last week were starters Kutter Crawford Hunter Dobbins Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval Between them and Cooper Criswell whom the Red Sox signed to a fully guaranteed one-year K deal late last week I think the pitching department has slightly more depth than people realize Slightly Exclude Houck for now his late-summer Tommy John surgery effectively rules him out for most of if not all of the season Don t take any of this to mean the Red Sox should not be trying to add a starter this winter They entered this season with far more depth and were still almost running on empty by September Why did Trevor Story opt in and how does it impact the Red Sox It wasn t entirely surprising when Story opted into the remaining two years of his six-year million contract He feels loyal to the Red Sox who stuck with him through injury after injury Yet with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring next offseason and the expectation that all heck will break loose in the ensuing negotiations between the league and players it was somewhat surprising to see a veteran member decide not to pursue the safeguard of a longer-term deal now after his best season in nearly half a decade Could the Red Sox move him to second base though I think so There were questions about Story s arm holding up at the contest s greater part challenging defensive position when he returned to short after Xander Bogaerts became a free agent and before Story s elbow surgery in January and shoulder surgery in April Those same doubts poked holes in Story s otherwise impressive comeback season this year he made errors five more than his previous career-worst including seven errors in his final games In late September after his sixth error in a seven-game span he declared that while it was not an excuse his body was tired after a long season How can the Red Sox strengthen their catcher setup Connor Wong and Carlos Narv ez each underwent surgeries last month a right hand carpal boss excision for the former and a left knee meniscectomy for the latter Both are expected to be ready by spring training but are they a strong enough pairing to get through another hopefully better Red Sox season than this one Wong only played regular-season games a sharp decline from the games he played in each of the previous two seasons This was in part because the rookie Narv ez stepped into the everyday role and cemented himself as the primary catcher but largely because Wong s offensive production practically vanished into thin air After a career-best offensive campaign in when he hit with a OPS doubles and a career-highs in hits home runs and RBI Wong batted with a OPS this year His hits included eight doubles that were his only extra-base knocks and he drove in just seven runs Combined with his defensive struggles he ranked in the th MLB percentile in Blocks Above Average and st percentile in Caught-Stealing Above Average this season the picture painted is not a pretty one What should we glean from the exodus of scouting and competitor improvement staff Is it a compliment matter of concern or a combination of both that so countless key members of an improved Red Sox contestant rise machine have left in the last two months First assistant general manager Paul Toboni who left to become the Washington Nationals president of baseball operations in September He was Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow s favorite for a promotion to the vacant GM role and organization president and CEO Sam Kennedy described Toboni s departure as a brutal loss for the organization Red Sox director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson and field coordinator Andrew Wright joined Toboni in the nation s capital and Red Sox director of pitching Justin Willard agreed to become the New York Mets pitching coach It speaks highly of the Red Sox that teams want to follow in their footsteps by luring away their employees It also could say something about the state of the Sox that so multiple key contributors are happy to leave How likely is a Red Sox-Alex Bregman reunion The Red Sox should do everything in their power to bring Alex Bregman back long-term but my optimism that it will get done is fading by the day Which leads us to our seventh and final question Are the Red Sox certainly ready to be THE Red Sox again Yes the Red Sox have made several enormous trades Garrett Crochet handed out specific mega-extensions Crochet Roman Anthony and got Bregman during spring training last year However those are not the type of moves that defined the Red Sox teams that won it all four times in this century I m talking about bold big-market no-limit contracts that verge on outlandish That s what it takes to get a deal done nowadays Until the Red Sox show that they are willing to get truly uncomfortable with a long-term deal for a free agent position athlete they are not all the way in on themselves Bregman s three-year million deal had two escape hatches and it was presumed almost from the start that he would use one of them And so he has