Lady and avoiding all you want to have been more and more.

Welcome to Massa Territory, ladies and gentlemen.

We have a special guest here tonight, Tim Healy of the Boston Globe.

Welcome to the show, my friend.

How you doing?

I'm doing great?

How are you doing?

Oh man?

You know we got the Josh Naylor signing yesterday.

It felt like a weight lifted off of our shoulders.

I was speculating this yesterday, and I don't know if you felt this too.

I was sitting around yesterday my fantasy football team was getting clobbered, and I thought.

You know, where are the rumors soon?

Where is the news?

Where are all the golden tidbits out there?

And I thought back to last season.

I felt like we had so much more happening around this time.

And then I connected some dots like, oh yeah, Wan Soto, that was kind of dominating the news cycle, especially in You're early going.

Have you kind of felt that way too, especially with all the Sodo stuff last year with the Mets.

I haven't really sensed that, but I suspect one factor is that the GM meetings this year are were a week later than normal, right, Normally there immediately after the World Series.

There it iss and.

Agents are talking, teams and teams are talking.

This year they got pushed back a week, so maybe that has something.

To do with it.

I think that's it, because listen, I'm a freak when it comes to all the rumors and all that.

I live and die off of it, and I think that might actually be it.

I think you're onto something there.

Well, I appreciate that little tidbit there, but I'm here, Yes, absolutely, And this is why you work for the Boston Globe.

You're so good at what you do.

UK.

Speaking of the Boston Globe, I got to ask it.

You're coming from mets Land, you know, lots of experience over there.

You did work with the Marlins, two with the Mets.

In the Red Sox big fan bases, I gotta ask you, what are the biggest differences that you see between the two fan bases.

That's a great question, and they have long struck me as very similar, to be honest, right, massive fan bases.

Hardcore.

Moods, and days ruined or made based on the score of the game that night.

Yeah, and I you know, full disclosure, I grew up a Red Sox fan and even though that teams, even though that team specific fantoms sort of falls by the wayside as you get into the media side of things, it definitely gives me a level of insight into the psyche of Red Sox fans that I didn't have on the Mets side.

So learning the Mets and comparing that to the Red Sox and now coming back to the Red Sox world.

It's funny because the Mets have not won the World Series in going on forty years, and all of the insane stuff that has happened to that franchise and in that franchise in the last decades is has messed with them collectively in such a way that they're always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And the messed up part is that other shoe usually does drop at some point.

Right this year, they completely collapsed the miss the playoffs.

That's probably what Red Sox fans were for a long time there, But as we know, they've won four times this century.

There in many ways a model organization, if less so in the last few years.

So as even though both fambriations are massive and ravenous, Red Sox fans have, you know, they've been eating good the last fifteen twenty years.

Yeah, now, I'd say the Red Sox, they are this is how long I've been a fan, now a twenty five thirty years.

I get.

The best way for me to explain it is, you could be having the best day ever as a Red Sox fan.

Things are great.

Two hours later, not even two hours later.

An hour later, it's like the worst day ever.

It can just shift like that.

The Red Sox, you know, we've had our highs, but the lows are brutal.

You've had Theowepstein in a gorilla suit, you have the twenty eleven meltdown, Mookie Bets trade, We've we've been through it all.

And the Mets they've definitely had theirs as well.

But it's interesting.

You got some.

Parallels there, parallels absolutely, but hopefully for the Mets they can bounce back.

So we'll see.

But I gotta ask you, my friend, last week you were at the GM meetings, and like you just said, they were a week later.

I didn't realize that.

But uh, you know, it felt like, you know, things are starting to get in motion, the wheels were starting to turn a little bit.

And after spending your time there, you had everything going on, you know, GMS, President Baseball Operations talking breaking bread, you had the awards and everything.

What was the were some takeaways that you had leaving the general manager meetings?

My biggest takeaway was the Red Sox are.

Big game hunting this offseason.

Greg Breslow talked a big game in a way that he has not in past off seasons.

And you know, we've gotten full throttle comments and things along those lines in recent years which proved to be proved to be not really predictive of of the off seasons that ensued.

But Craig Breslo set the bar high.

He wants a legit number two slash one.

B started to go with Garacochet.

He wants and I love the quote on it.

He wants a middle or of the order bat that the other team has to play around.

That is, that's not just your run of the mill Josh Naylor, Vinnie Pascatino first baseman.

That's a that's that sets the bar very high.

So you know, he has his work cut out for him now.

He you know, really has nobody but himself to blame or to credit for setting the bar so high.

Yeah, So it's it's gonna be a really interesting offseason to come because we all knew on the outside that that is what the Red Sox needed.

But I think for Red Sox fans, it was encouraging to hear the Boss say as much specifically and in public that yes, item number one, item.

Number two, this is what the Red Sox are going for.

It's felt like for a while now, going about five years now, you know, just making it back to the postseason this past year, it felt like that was the first hurdle to really get over, and I was expecting this.

This has been basically the story with the Red Sox going back ever since John Henry took over.

Whenever they got into back into a competitive window and we're in one, that's when they've shown the aggressiveness.

And it's been frustrating for the last you know, five six years now, since the Mookie trade twenty twenty one.

You know, you can kind of scratch that off, but you know, that's kind of what the Red Sox have been doing over the years.

They rebuild that farm system, and then once they get these younger guys that are ready to contribute at the major league level, that's when they go and make those moves and I'm fully expecting a bigger offseason for the Red Sox here and like you said, with Craig setting the bar high.

If you know, with Craig, I've noticed over the last couple of years since taking over.

I don't want to say he gives word salads, but you know, he dances around I think a little bit.

But his answer is very straightforward this time around, like this is what we're looking for, this this, this is that kind of what you're feeling too.

Yeah, it was much more black and white and it wasn't quite a Dave Dombrowski style full shopping list at the beginning of the offseason, but Breslo did let did open the door a little bit more than he normally does this early.

So yeah, yeah, it seems like, you know, I don't know if that's a concerted shift in his approach, in his public speaking approach.

I don't really know, you know, I don't have a huge body of work on him.

Yeah, but it's uh it.

I think it's helpful.

I'm helpful when dealing with on the teams, helpful and sending a message to the fans and then dealing with reporters to you know, lightly outline, this is what they're looking to accomplish.

Yeah, absolutely accomplishing it.

Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, we'll see what he can do.

Big off season last year, and I think he's very capable of having another good one for this offseason.

But one big name that keeps popping up for the Red Sox, and with Josh Nayler coming off the board going back to the Mariners, all eyes are pointing to another first basement out there, someone that you covered very heavily, and that was Pete Alonso.

I got to ask you before getting into you know, positional, why you know the fit of him in the starting nine with the Red Sox in the lineup.

After covering Pete Alonso for so long, you know what you got personality wise from him, just him as a person.

If let's say he were to come to the Red Sox, you know, just throw it out there.

How do you think he would fit in the city Boston after seeing him in Queen's for so.

Long, I honestly think he would be a natural fit in the city, in the region, in the market.

Like you said, set aside the skill set and roster fit, He's a blue collar kind of guy and Boston and New England is a blue collar kind of place, so I think he would embrace Boston and Boston would embrace him.

Plus, you know Red Sox fans like their big old sluggers, right.

Every World Series title this decade has had that guy at DH or teas or teas or teas, and then JD.

Martinez in eighteen, and Pete Alonso's in that mold so hard worker, has had to work for everything that he's had.

There are questions about his defense, and you know, I think back to twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen when he was in the minor leagues about to reach the majors, and scouts openly wondered, Mets executives openly wondered if he would be legitimate first basement in the majors, And here he is, all these years later, still playing first base.

So I would say, as far as roster fit and market fit, city fit, doubt Pete Alonzo at your own risk.

Yeah, I agree.

And he just has the nickname, and that's one thing that the Red Sox fans love.

They love nicknames, right, Yeah, well, minus Panda, that was one that we got over that one pretty quickly.

But I think he would be a great fit as well, you know, getting back to the defense there getting I hate to keep going back to the old team you covered the Mets, but that's all right.

It's valuable in this situation.

It just is.

But David Stern's one thing that has been talked about with him and his approach to this offseason is run prevention, improving the defense, just like the Red Sox are looking to do as well.

You know, we've heard a couple of different things when it comes to the Mets and Pete Alonzo.

Again, the run prevention, they're looking to improve that.

But then we've also gotten some other reports that the communication between Lonzo Boris and the Mets seems to be positive, at least in the early going.

Kind of what is your take on everything with the Mets and a reunion with Pete Alonso.

Is possible?

I wouldn't say that it's likely, but it's certainly possible.

I think, you know, at the baseball fan in me, and I wrote about this in the Globe a couple of weeks ago, but the baseball fan in me would love to see Alonzo stay with the Mets because he has a chance to be a one team guy and those don't exist much these days anymore, so.

It what I like to see it.

Sure, that'd be nice.

I'm not so sure that the Mets will be willing to spend tens of millions of additional dollars for the sake of that, right.

It is not in David Sterns's blood to hand out massive contracts to guys on the wrong side of thirty.

So whether owner Steve Cohen, you know, tells David Stearns to do whatever it takes.

I'm not so sure.

Yeah, but if Peter A.

Lonzo gets the four or five year deal, maybe longer that he's looking for, it's going to be a real test of the philosophy of David Stearns and the Mets.

Yeah, I keep thinking about you know, yes, David Stearns, he's with a big market team now, but I always just think back to where he came from, you know, with the Brewers, the small market mentality.

You know, you look at what he was doing on the pitching side of things, looking for buy low, high reward kind of guys.

You saw that with Clay Holmes this past year, Luis Savarino, Frankie Montaz.

He took a chance on.

If the Mets, if you were to off the top of your head, what do you think the Mets would if they, let's say, moved on from Alonso, What direction do you think they would go?

And do you think that he would look for maybe someone cheaper on the free agent market, a trade possibility, or a stick in house with baby and Vento's I don't know what are you thinking.

At first basic could go in any of those directions, but they don't have.

Part of the problem for the Mets is they don't have a clear first base replacement.

If Alonzo goes elsewhere, you could do v dos, You could do a Vano's McNeil platoon situation that gets floated sometimes.

Bret Batty has dabbled at first base and actually had a pretty solid season in twenty twenty five.

The first base market doesn't have a ton peter A.

Lonzo is clearly the best one out there.

Josh Naylor's off the market now, so you don't even have him as a backup.

So you know, that's part of the calculus for the Mets.

If not Pete Alonzo, than who And if not Pete Alonzo, do they spend big on another position player, Whether that's Cody Bellinger stealing from the Yankees, Alex Bregman take him from the Red Sox.

There are a lot of tentacles and ripple effects of that potential move.

Yeah, it feels like, as we've seen the Bellingser connection, I wonder if they're looking for a bit more.

Versatility there where it can.

And he's talked about this as well.

He said at the end of season pressory, he wants guys that have that versatility because it makes it easier, you know, for Mendoza to manage the game.

Right, So that's what Cora likes as well.

So it'll be interesting to see what direction the Mets going.

But I got let's say, you know, for the Red Sox.

Of course, this is a Red Sox show where let's say the Red Sox Alonso either goes back to the Mets, goes elsewhere.

We've been hearing about Kyle Schwarber a lot.

Yeah, and there's another team that you definitely got a front row seat to a lot, the Philadelphia Phillies.

And let's say, you know, Schwarber, maybe I don't know, doesn't end up going to the Phillies.

Have you heard or you know, based off of what you're feeling out there.

Do you think Schworber could be a prime target for the Red Sox over say, Pete Alonzo.

I'm not so sure it would be over Pee Alonzo, but I do know I'm very confident in saying that if they do land on Kyle Schwarber, perfectly good addition, a great addition.

In fact, we know Alex core is a big fan.

Alex kra does not make an effort to hide how much he enjoyed Kyle Schwarber in twenty twenty one and how much he continues to appreciate him as a player in person.

So if you ask the manager if you'll let the manager handout contracts, I think it would be a no brainer.

So, yeah, there's your forty home runs a year, your one hundred and ten, one hundred and twenty RBIs a year.

That's the kind of big bat, just like Peter Alonzo that Breslo described, the kind of bat the other team needs to plan around, which has, as Breslo said, a compounding effect on the rest of the roster.

That said, you know, would you rather have player A or player B.

Peter Alonzo is a right hander.

Schwarber or lefty.

Peter Alonzo a couple of years younger, in theory, will hold up at his career rates a little bit while longer and peter A.

Lonzo plays for his base and is open to dhing sum, whereas Schwerber at this point is exclusively a DH and would really really clog you up there.

There would be no you know, there'd be no giving Bregman, Roman Anthony et cetera DH days because you're going to want Kyle Schwarber in there for pretty much one sixty two.

So there are pros and cons to each no answers, But if you're looking at it on paper, peter A Lonzo makes more sense.

Yeah, I agree.

I think like you said, either way, it's like chocolate vanilla, both are good.

Right With Alonso, it's like, because you think about the Casas factor as well.

I mean, obviously you're not basing your off season off of Cassus.

You kind of just let him come back when he's ready.

But that's kind of one of the advantages of having Alonzo there.

He can just be at first and then when Cassas is ready and you don't even have to rush him back at that point, he just comes right back in so I think either way it works.

So we'll see what happens.

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But one other need for the Red Sox this offseason is a number two behind Garret Crochet.

Then these are the big These are the two biggest needs for the Red Sox.

And I keep thinking back to my talk with Sam Kennedy last week when he joined the show.

He you gotta kind of listen to what they say, and I think they they will give you little tidbits.

You just got to listen for it.

I know people like to say, oh, they're just saying a lot of words.

I think you can just listen.

And one thing that Kennedy said was he hopes to see more trades this offseason.

That seems to be a good direction for the Red Sox to go for a starting pitcher behind Garrett Crochet.

You know, based off of your feeling, what you've been here and who you've been talking to, what direction do you think is more likely for the Red Sox to go after that number two trade?

Or maybe they could pivot to the free agent market.

I suspect it will be trade between there are two big objectives at a big picture, at a big bat, one of them probably will be via trade.

And of those two, I think you look at the player the markets for both, and the free agent hitters are better fits than the free agent pitchers.

Franbervaldez really good, Maybe underrated, but the vibes are weird after he's screwed with his catch near the end of the season, So I don't know what to do with that, to be honest, Dylan Cees, Dylan sees his stuff is amazing.

Okay, Ragas Suarez, I really enjoyed watching in Philly through the years.

But are you going to give him a nine figure contract?

I don't know.

And then you look at the.

Potentially available starting pitchers Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcontra, Jared Jones on the Pirates.

Who's to say, right, the Royals are a fit for a trade, fit for the Red Sox.

So you go down the list.

Sonny Gray, maybe if you like him as the number two, Cardinals would be happy to trade him.

So I like the fit on the picture to the trademarket better for the starting pitcher.

But as always, that's on paper.

That's in mid November.

When the Red Sox and others get into the weeds, you see how things shake out and maybe it's reversed, maybe both of free agents and you're spending really big, so you know, I suspect it'll be trade, but I you have to you have to see how it chicks out.

Yeah.

The one thing I keep thinking back to this past week, we've gotten some reports that will not even reports.

You know, Derek Falvey on the Twins, he's talked out loud, saying, yeah, we kind of want to build around Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez.

We kind of like the the young guys we have on the team.

We want to add to this team.

And you know, the Brewers as well, they're saying, hey, we like Freddy Pearl, so for sure one year, right, you know, But you know, I kind of wonder do you feel like when you saw those reports and you saw them talking, were you feeling more posturing going on?

Were you feeling more playing some hardball or do you feel like they maybe the Red Sox missed their chance on Joe Ryan and maybe they got to go another direction.

I think both can be true.

I do think in early to mid November, even beyond, well beyond that, that's posturing.

That is Derek Falvey, Matt Arnold, bench Errington, Peter Bendix, pick your executive of choice.

That's them saying pay up.

If you want the really good picture, it's gonna cost you, which is fine, you know, that's their prerogative, and all those pictures are good pictures and will cost a pretty prospect penny so to speak, you know.

And I asked Matt Arnold last week about Freddy Paralta in the starting Pitcher trademark, and he said he gets you know, he gets hit on Peralta all the time, and as he should because Parralt is really good.

But they're not just going to give him away.

And that is especially true, as you know, when the picture is not a pending free agent and comes with multiple years, as is the case with Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez.

Sandy al Contra, I actually love the Pablo Lopez idea.

I'm going back to the trade deadline when the Red Sox were in Minnesota.

People were talking about Joe Ryan, and rightfully so, because he's awesome.

But Pablo Lopez man, when he's healthy, he's he's really good, and he's under contract for several more years.

Not that expensive.

I think it's like twenty in change per year, twenty million in change, so.

I suspect there's some room to work with there.

The problem with the Twins in particular as a potential trade partner is if the Red Sox want to use, say an outfielder as the trade ship, the primary trade trip, a trade chip for a pitcher.

If the Twins are trading Peralta or Ryan or Lopez, I don't know that they want a big leaguer in Jared during or will you or bray you right, because they're probably tearing it down.

So there's some you know, there's some stuff to figure out there.

But Craig Breslo, you know it won't it won't be as much of a layup of a trade as Garrett Crochet was last year because crishe was getting traded somewhere, and there's not that obvious, obvious guy this offseason.

Just a bunch of possibilities, really good possibilities.

Yeah, I agree.

I was just talking about that on the last episode, saying, like, you know, Crochet, he was gone, like he was getting moved.

So but this time the Twins, I mean, they're they're playing the game smart.

I mean, that's so this is what they should be saying in my opinion.

So it's gonna be interesting.

And I'm glad you brought up Jared Duram right there.

That'll be our last topic of the night here.

What a censor are you getting right now with you know, we keep hearing the word surplus.

I think I might go crazy if I hear the word surplus one more time.

But we're getting a lot of you know, Jared Duran, he definitely looks like he's going to be on the move or maybe will you or a bra you, you know whatever, he's Sadam Raphaeli, Chris Catillo.

He's brought him up as a possible candidate.

Kind of what is your feeling right now on that trade market with moving one of those outfielders.

I think one needs to go.

Yeah.

Coreg Brezlo said last week that, hey, three outfield spots in the DH spot which is mostly open, they can make it work, which is also what they said last June July going into the trade deadline, and that proved true.

They made it work for a little while, and the injuries happened and they ended up having frankly not enough outfielders for a while there.

So that worked in a short term way.

When you're trying to build a roster for a full season, you don't want to go in with that with four outfielders for three spots, especially when you're frankly trying to add a dh type of guy to begin with, so I don't.

Buy that from Craig Breslo last week.

And then if you look at the outfielders, I think Jared Durant is the most likely to go.

That doesn't mean he is guaranteed to go, but if you look at the options right, Roman Anthony clearly is not going anywhere.

Said on Rafaela could be had if a team wants to really value but he's got a great contract that he's so good at defense.

It would take it would take a lot for me to give up Rafaela if it were up to me, which clearly it's not.

I work for the Boston Globe, not the Red Sox.

Will your bray you two time Gold Glover in two seasons, He's got thirty home run potential.

Alex core loves him, so again, he could be had if a team wants him and is willing to pay the appropriate price, but it doesn't seem most likely.

And then there's Aaron duran who was his best position to center field, and he's not going to play center field on this team, So what are you going to do?

Probably traded.

He's a great player, he's.

At his best He's an absolute dynamo, a five tool guy, so much fun to watch.

But the roster fit is weird now.

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

I think, you know, Duran is definitely a dynamic player.

You know.

Sure, people they look at the fact that his numbers took a bit of a dip compared to twenty twenty four, but he was still a four wins above replacement player.

He was very valuable.

Yeah, fifth of the major leagues and doubles I believe, seconding triples, second or third, a lot of speed.

He's going to bring you a lot to the table.

But when you look at it, I think, will you're the defense out and right field, especially at Famway Park, it's so valuable sata'm Raphael.

That up the middle defense that he gives you, You're not going to see that very often.

Roman.

He's underrated defensively, I think I think people focus on you know, you start seeing some comparisons to even Ted Williams at one point last year, he's putting up similar things to what Ted Williams.

Was doing back then.

Yeah, so you kind of just look at, you know, for what the Red Sox need right now, it seems like those three seem to be the better options at this point.

Not anything against Ran, but it's kind of odd man out kind of a thing.

And also with Duran, he has great value.

He can definitely bring back something.

So we'll see what ends up happening.

But I got to ask you this before we do get out of here.

I'm going to put you on the spot.

We're gonna do a little something fun.

If you were to give me one prediction for the Red Sox, this offset something that you're feeling right now.

You're feeling great about you based off of people that you know, the conversations that you've had, feelings that you've got.

If you're to give me one prediction for the offseason this year, what would you do?

I'm thinking a lot about a starting pitcher we have not mentioned here whole reagans of the Royals.

Ooh ooh, three years of team patrol left.

The price would be major, and the Royals are not particularly inclined to trade him.

They have not ruled it out altogether.

So you gotta try.

You gotta try make the call, start the conversation, say Darren Duran, and then what and then what might hurt?

But he's really good and I could think he could be the one b that the Red Sox are looking for.

I love that.

It's funny because you know, I've been on records.

I'm seeing people out there saying like, oh, Vinnie pas Quintino.

I'm like, well, why would you do Durand for Vinnie?

Because that's like a lateral move as they're.

Taking out of their line.

I'm thinking, if you're the Royals, you got to trade like the Red Sox from a surplus, and I feel like that could line up.

Cole Reagan's is just so good.

I just wonder if the Royals would do it.

But every offseason we get shocked with something.

There's something we didn't see.

No one saw Carlos Korea going back to the Astros at the trade deadline, Like I mean, something always happens that you're not expecting.

Could that be the move?

I think that's a that's a good prediction, a nice bold prediction.

I like that.

So, yeah, if you say Peter long So I would have been good with that too.

I've been thinking about it a lot, and hopefully now I'm dragging some people down with me because I can't get it off my mind.

The last couple of days I'll take it.

I'll you can drag me, that'll be good.

But everybody, we're going to wrap this up right here.

I want to thank you for coming on, my friend.

Let the viewers at home know where can they find you?

Social media's so let them know.

Sure, all the good stuff is at Boston Globe dot com slash red Sox and then I'm on Twitter at timb Healey, t I M b as and boy h e A L e y.

There you go, all right, the two best spots.

Sounds good to me.

Well, thank you so much, my friend.

Do appreciate it.

Everyone in the way out if you can hit the like button, subscribe if you're new, and we'll talk to you next time.