Red Sox waiting for Craig Kimbrel to set the closer market

The Boston Red Sox offseason has been pretty boring so far.

Not really anything of note happened at the Winter Meetings again this year as we have this new strategy where everyone waits until the last minute to sign somewhere as the intensely negotiate or something to the effect. And the problem with that is a lot of the big name players' deals kind of set the market rate for how much everyone else gets paid--so a lot of players are pretty much stuck at the moment.

According to MLB.com, that's what's going on with the Red Sox this offseason. Basically, they're waiting for Craig Kimbrel to sign somewhere and from there, they will then decide who they're going to sign and how much do rei mi those players will receive.

That said, it is clear the Red Sox are looking for a closer, but it's probably not going to end up being Kimbrel. That guy wants a contract worth over $100 million--to pitch one inning in less than 50 percent of games. Thanks for the contributions to the team, Craig, but it was nice knowing ya.

Personally, I like Adam Ottavino on the free agent market. The guy struck out 112 batters in 77.2 innings last year and posted a 2.43 ERA. He also said he could strike out Babe Ruth and you know what? He's right. A lot of people might wonder about that take, but there's a lot of reasons why he's right that we won't get into here. But you have to admire his confidence to say that out loud when it's bound to offend some people.

So yeah, the offseasons are kind of gloomy these days because nothing happens. But remember, the Red Sox did not sign JD Martinez until February prior to the 2018 season, so good things can happen later on as well.