New week, seven new questions!

1. Will the Red Sox make any qualifying offers?

Each November, teams have the opportunity to extend qualifying offers to players they’re losing to free agency. The QO is the average salary of the top 20-percent of players in the season that just ended, bringing this year’s total to a new record $21.05 million.

Accepting the offer is akin to a one-year contract. Should a player reject the offer, their former team will receive a compensatory pick for the upcoming draft. (Current Red Sox top prospect Kristian Campbell, for example, was their compensation for losing Xander Bogaerts.)

The Red Sox are losing several players to free agency, but several are ineligible for a QO; a player must spend the entire season on the same roster, and Luis García, Danny Jansen, and Lucas Sims were all acquired at the trade deadline. Players may only get one QO in their careers; Kenley Jansen rejected one from the Atlanta Braves before signing with Boston during the ‘22-23 offseason. This year’s sum would be too much to spend on veteran reliever Chris Martin.

Tyler O’Neill and Nick Pivetta are interesting candidates, though the QO sum would be a significant overpay for either player. Pivetta has been the most – really, the only consistently durable player in the Red Sox starting rotation over the last five years, and availability is the stat that matters most. O’Neill has expressed a desire to in return, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow confirmed that the interest is mutual and that he’s had initial conversations with the outfielder.

However, while O’Neill was one of the most productive bats in the lineup, collecting 31 homers in 113 games, he’s dealt with several injuries over his seven-year career; this was only his second time reaching triple-digit games in his six 162-game seasons. The Red Sox could work out a multi-year deal with him; the impending arrivals of Campbell, who can play almost any position, and outfielder Roman Anthony would certainly cushion the blow of any potential O’Neill injuries.

2. Could Lucas Giolito make a double impact on the 2025 Red Sox starting rotation?

Lucas Giolito missed the entire 2024 season due to elbow surgery, but he could help the Red Sox significantly this offseason by helping reel in a huge free-agent fish.

Appearing on Rob Bradford’s ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ podcast earlier this week, Giolito confirmed that he’s already spoken to left-hander Max Fried, his teammate at Harvard-Westlake Academy, about joining him in Boston.

“We played high school ball together and we always talked about how cool it would be if we were on the same team in the big leagues,” Giolito said. “So this is the shot to make it a reality.”

Breslow confirmed at the end-of-season press conference that adding a starter was one of the club’s top priorities; Fried would certainly be a strong addition to this righties-only rotation.

“Obviously, I think he would fit in great,” Giolito told Bradford. “Obviously I think the need is there. … And in my opinion, he’s the best, most consistent starting pitcher.”

3. Will the 2024 World Series be Dodgers vs. Yankees?

The NLCS and ALCS just began, but the Dodgers and Yankees are favored to triumph over the Mets and Guardians.

From a star-power standpoint, and therefore, a marketing and money standpoint, a Dodgers/Yankees World Series would be a juggernaut for MLB. Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts versus Aaron Judge and Juan Soto? That’s Goliath versus Goliath.

Personally, though, I really enjoyed the Rangers/Diamondbacks series last year, and the Nationals upsetting the Astros in 2019. Give me the unexpected matchup, give me an underdog. There’s no underdog in a battle between the two wealthiest teams.

4. What did the Dodgers do to Ryan Brasier?

Speaking of the Dodgers, let’s talk about Ryan Brasier. He was a virtual unknown when he joined the Red Sox in July 2018 (he hadn’t pitched in the Majors since his brief debut with the ‘13 Angels) but he quickly became one of the staples of that year’s bullpen.

The subsequent five seasons, however, were a very mixed bag – a 4.82 ERA over 168 regular-season appearances between ‘19-22 – and when he began the ‘23 season with a 7.29 ERA over 20 games, the Red Sox designated him for assignment and released him in mid-May.

The Dodgers gave Brasier a minor-league contract in early June, but brought him up following two appearances in Triple-A. After he posted a 0.70 ERA over 39 big-league appearances, including a scoreless 1-2-3 eighth inning at Fenway in late August, they re-signed him to a two-year, $9 million contract.

Brasier, 37, missed most of the season due to a right calf strain, but is now pitching for Los Angeles in the postseason. He held the Padres scoreless in two of his three NLDS appearances, including 1 ⅓ innings as the opener in the Dodgers’ 8-0 victory in Game 4.

Why can’t the Red Sox get guys like that? Or rather, what was LA able to unlock in Brasier that Boston couldn’t?

5. Who finally convinced MLB to scrap the All-Star Game uniforms and have players wear their team uniforms again?

Whoever you are, I want to send you flowers.

6. Have you watched FX’s Aaron Hernandez show?

I haven’t sat down and watched a full episode, but the clips circulating on social media of fake Rob Gronkowski and fake Bill Belichick are certainly something.

7. Will you watch, ‘The Comeback,’ Netflix’s new 2003-04 Red Sox miniseries?

I won’t spoil ‘The Comeback’ for you – though we all know how the story ends – but I will say that I enjoyed it, and if you’re missing the glory days, you probably will, too. More on that in the coming days.