Coming off a last-place finish last season, their third in the last four years, and armed with a new leader in the front office, next week’s winter meetings figured to be a playground for the money- and prospect-rich Boston Red Sox. 

That notion seems to have faded now, but not because the team has scoffed at a major 2016 roster shakeup. It is because Boston has already started playing in its offseason sandbox, having acquired a top-shelf starting pitcher in David Price and an elite All-Star closer in Craig Kimbrel before anyone boards a flight to Nashville for the winter meetings. 

Those two moves appear to have made the Red Sox drastically better than the 78 wins they compiled last season. They still have young, quality position players up the middle of the diamond, David Ortiz is still a middle-of-the-order bat and Clay Buchholz is potentially a co-ace for Price.

With all of that, Boston’s first-year president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is likely done making significant offseason acquisitions before the meetings start.

“You can always get better. We’ll be open-minded going into the winter meetings,” Dombrowski said on a conference call Wednesday. “We’ll see what happens over the next few days leading into that, but we’ll be in a position that I think our major moves are done. But when you go to the winter meetings, you can never tell what happens.”

That leaves the door open for more things to come, although adding major salary to their current payroll does not seem likely since the Red Sox are already committed to more than $180 million for 13 players next season. By the time the 25-man roster is complete, the club is destined to be well over the $200 million threshold. 

However, there is room to make other impact moves, such as using a deep prospect pool to acquire another cost-controlled player or shedding some of the salaries already on the books. Whatever the case may be, the winter meetings could bring the Red Sox more headlines.

“I’m definitely sure they’re not finished yet,” Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts told Ian Browne of MLB.com regarding the front office. “Who knows what else they’re going to do?”

Maybe we do not know what the team is going to do at the winter meetings, but we have an idea of what it might want to do and what it should look to do.

First, the rotation is hardly great even with Price. Buchholz has the talent to help, as he’s shown with a 1.74 ERA through 16 starts in 2013 and a 2.68 FIP through 18 starts last season. The problem is he also has a 5.34 ERA on the books between those two seasons, and his health has been a major concern throughout his career as he enters his age-31 season.

The Red Sox had the third-worst rotation ERA (4.39) in the American League last season. Simply adding a new ace might not be enough, especially in the long term, as Price will be 31 next August after signing the richest contract for a pitcher in the sport’s history.

Last year, under former general manager Ben Cherington’s guidance, the Red Sox passed on making free agent Jon Lester the kind of offer he looked for because they feared the second half of that contract as Lester aged.

Despite the franchise completely changing course under Dombrowski, who has never been shy about handing out mind-boggling contracts to aging players, it still must know it has to get younger and cheaper in the rotation.

That should bring Atlanta Braves right-hander Shelby Miller into play. Miller, 25, had a 3.02 ERA in 33 starts last season, and the Braves are listening to offers on him. The price is high, but the Red Sox did not forfeit a draft pick to sign Price, and they did not have to give up their young major league talent to get Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres. They also still have a strong prospect pool in the minors.

Using that to acquire Miller, who is under team control and will make about $5 million next year, would make the Red Sox a serious October threat. That makes him a fit even with Price in the rotation.

While Miller or another starter might not be a priority at the winter meetings, getting rid of at least one of last offseason’s regrettable signings—Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez—should be. The Red Sox still owe Sandoval $75 million through 2019 and owe Ramirez at least $66 million through 2018, not counting a $22 million vesting option for 2019.

Despite those salaries, Ramirez and Sandoval were the worst players on the roster in 2015. While either deal would require the Red Sox eating a lot of money, they should be aggressive in ridding themselves of either player. The winter meetings are a perfect breeding ground for such trades.

Dombrowski assured the Red Sox took care of their major business prior to the meetings, making two blockbuster moves beforehand. But there is still work to be done, so do not be shocked if at least one more happens next week.

 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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