What is wrong with Wily Mo?

[BSN07]

WMP is the domincan version of Jose Canseco in the field( minus the roids:D).

[a700hitter]

Sorry my friend but Wily Mo Pena will cost us at least a dozen games in the outfield if he plays a full season out there. He simply cannot judge and track a fly ball accurately at all. He has continually misplayed balls in RF' date=' and when I saw in LF at Yankee Stadium in September he couldn't function out there either. He is the bargaining chip we can and should use for pitching help, whether in the pen or in the rotation-----if we can get some NL team to take him off our hands as we did Cincy's last year. Actually be belongs in the AL as a DH---on any other team but ours. The sucks to high heaven in the field, playing balls off his glove and off his head to the sound of clank. [/quote']If he can't learn to play 1B, he'll never be a starting OF on a contending team.

[BSN07]

I agree, hes athletic enough to give 1B a shot. At this point I doubt he could be any worse.

[seabeachfred]

I agree' date=' hes athletic enough to give 1B a shot. At this point I doubt he could be any worse.[/quote']

 

The Reds tried working him there and, YES, he was even worse there. The guy should be a DH on a rebuilding team in the AL unless some NL wants to be dumb enough to take a chance on him in the OF as the Reds and Red Sox were. He simply cannot judge a fly ball at all.

[soxlife92]

DH would work very well for him. I agree, he cannot field, however I think he's got a hell of a bat. Some team can work him at DH. Which team though?

[example1]

DH would work very well for him. I agree' date=' he cannot field, however I think he's got a hell of a bat. Some team can work him at DH. Which team though?[/quote']

 

He could be pretty nasty on the Angels.

 

If he's going to be a major league star he has to spend an entire offseason working on nothing but 1B. If he can be servicable there then he can allow a lineup much more flexibility, playing a servicable OF and 1B. Nothing spectacular but you take the risk to get that bat in the lineup. I've gone through a number of potential Sox lineups, and the one I like the most is Drew in RF, Manny in LF, Coco in CF, and Pena at 1B with Youk at 3rd, Pedroia at 2B and someone like Lugo at SS. With Ortiz at DH that's a pretty good group of hitters.

[soxlife92]

Agreed.

[seabeachfred]

I don't care where he goes as long as it is not in RF for the Red Sox. I just know he would be a disaster out there just as he has always been in that position, both for the Reds and our team. Get him out of town for the good of all of us and him, too.

[example1]

You're too hard on him and you're not giving his potential enough credit. He made a few really bad plays last year, but you shouldn't let the particular ugliness of those plays effect the reality of his overall performance. It's the same with the strikeouts. Sometimes a player can strikeout a lot and still be productive. Pena looks like he has the potential to be that type of player. He's never going to be Manny, but at 24 he's got a good upside DEPITE the 5 errors you personally saw him make last year. Ya got to have a longer-term view here man. He made 1.25 million last year. He could go to the freaking minors or be a career bench player (which we currently lack), instead of just throwing him away. Getting rid of him for nothing fails to use our resources to their potential, or at all for that matter.

[a700hitter]

You're too hard on him and you're not giving his potential enough credit. He made a few really bad plays last year' date=' but you shouldn't let the particular ugliness of those plays effect the reality of his overall performance. It's the same with the strikeouts. Sometimes a player can strikeout a lot and still be productive. Pena looks like he has the potential to be that type of player. He's never going to be Manny, but at 24 he's got a good upside DEPITE the 5 errors you personally saw him make last year. Ya got to have a longer-term view here man. He made 1.25 million last year. He could go to the freaking minors or be a career bench player (which we currently lack), instead of just throwing him away. Getting rid of him for nothing fails to use our resources to their potential, or at all for that matter.[/quote']Getting rid of him for Chad Cordero is hardly giving him up for nothing.

[jacksonianmarch]

it would be a whole lot more than just him.

[example1]

Getting rid of him for Chad Cordero is hardly giving him up for nothing.

 

Absolutely. Chad Cordero? I'll take it.

[BSN07]

Bowden is asking for NYY top prospects for N. Johnson. He's 28 or 29 in the last year of his contract. Cordero is 24 and led the league in saves 2 years ago, and was pretty damn good last year too for a pitiful team. Bowden is gonna want WMP and either 2 of out top pitching prospects or 1 of them and someother top position prospect. The only way we get Cordero straight up for WMP, is will have to ask for the trade on a night Bowden is smoking crack with former DC mayor Marion Berry:D

[seabeachfred]

You're too hard on him and you're not giving his potential enough credit. He made a few really bad plays last year' date=' but you shouldn't let the particular ugliness of those plays effect the reality of his overall performance. It's the same with the strikeouts. Sometimes a player can strikeout a lot and still be productive. Pena looks like he has the potential to be that type of player. He's never going to be Manny, but at 24 he's got a good upside DEPITE the 5 errors you personally saw him make last year. Ya got to have a longer-term view here man. He made 1.25 million last year. He could go to the freaking minors or be a career bench player (which we currently lack), instead of just throwing him away. Getting rid of him for nothing fails to use our resources to their potential, or at all for that matter.[/quote']

 

Even though we disagree on Pena, I have to hand it to you for a very well thought out counter to my small post on the guy. Yes, I could be wrong and you could be right, but if Pena can bring us a good closer or great set-up man I would be delighted to trade him but not to just give him away. I will tell you this---if the FO is dumb enough to trade Manny Pena will be put in left field and told to sink or swim. If he sinks the will relegated to the bench of traded the following year when Crisp is moved to left and Jacoby Ellsbury takes over CF for the next 12 years. BTW, I don't dislike the guy personally, not at all. In fact, I met him in Spring Training this past year and the guy was open, friendly, and accommondating. I just want to win and I don't think having him RF can do that. An old coach's mentality.

[rician blast]

If he sinks the will relegated to the bench of traded the following year when Crisp is moved to left and Jacoby Ellsbury takes over CF for the next 12 years.

 

LEt's not foget that after next season there are three CF's coming into free agency that might garner interest from the ed Sox...Wells, Hunter and Andrue Jones.

[riverside sluggers]

Not to mention that your ace (Schill) is getting old and in what is most likely the last year of his last contract' date=' and let's be honest Wake is getting up there too. One more back injury and he might just be finished. Then you go into next off season in need of 3 starting pitchers. That's bad. With two holes in the rotation (of Beckett, Matsuzaka, and Paps) you can afford to go after one big gun and let a prospect get a shot. Whatever, the point is that I agree with a700.[/quote']

 

Actually Sox are banking on having a healthy Lester back by the 2008 season as part of the rotation (Matsuzaka, Beckett, Papelbon, Lester). Which would leave them with just 1 open spot

[riverside sluggers]

Trust you Riverside?? Well at this time I trust you more than I do Epstein' date=' so that is in your favor. You have some inside info, though? Look, I'm convinced that Francona loves this guy and would be willing to tell Theo that he would be very comfortable with Cora at SS, and Theo would think he just found the Hope Diamond by hearing that. It would mean he could try and snow-job the fans into thinking that we really didn't need to get a SS because we had a diamond in the rough all the time in Alex. Don't be surprised if that happens along with the sudden praise for our two bum RF. You will hear that combined they hit 24 homers last year, a good total as far as the FO is concerned. What will not be said it that the total is only 12 because the Whale hit only one for us, and you won't even hear a hush about how Stepin Fetchit will cost us about a dozen games with his lead glove. I'm sorry Riverside but as of now I have lost all confidence in Theo Epstein, and I was once one of his biggest boosters. He just seems to have lost his capacity to get things done.:dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:[/quote']

 

I just dont believe the Sox will lower their shoulders and concede the starting job to Cora. They saw what happened when he was given consistent starting time (due to array of injuries) and his stock in the 06 season dropped considerably because of it. Remember we began to think last season that Sox were content on giving him the starting position? They wound up signing Alex Gonzalez around the beginning of February. Cora's a good defender but with a weaker bat than Gonzo's.

 

By all accounts the Sox are said to be the front-runners for Julio Lugo. After him there's trade possibilities in Michael Young, Omar Vizquel, Cesar Izturis (if Cubs land Lugo as shortstop), Juan Uribe. Free agent possibilities are Craig Counsell and Royce Clayton... Alex Cora is at the bottom of the barrel

[Fried Neckbones]

Actually Sox are banking on having a healthy Lester back by the 2008 season as part of the rotation (Matsuzaka' date=' Beckett, Papelbon, Lester). Which would leave them with just 1 open spot[/quote']

 

Right. That would be the prospect, and that's assuming he would be healthy. I really hope that he is, I do, but it's still a HUGE unknown how he's going to come back, and the odds that he will be able to be an elite athelete again are kind of long.

 

Also, I was defending the aggressive pursuit of Matsu given the other holes in the team this offseason.

 

But that is a pretty nasty rotation :thumbsup: .

[seabeachfred]

LEt's not foget that after next season there are three CF's coming into free agency that might garner interest from the ed Sox...Wells' date=' Hunter and Andrue Jones.[/quote']

 

Ellsbury is our centerfielder of the very near future. He is a can't miss prospect and our best position prospect still in the minors. Wells is outstanding and I would love to have him but I just cannot believe the free spending Jays will be unable to resign him after spending oodles of money for players not even as good as he is. Jones will cost more than we want to pay for him and the personable Tori Hunter is not that great a hitter to begin with and strikes out too much. Wells? Yes, the others No. :D

[jacksonianmarch]

Lets have Lester get over that cancer hurdle before we all start pencilling him into the rotation plans. I just want to hear he is healthy before proceeding with anything.

[riverside sluggers]

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/11/30/sox_nixon_in_07/

 

The Sox are set to offer Trot arbitration, and he is likely to accept which would roughly be $7-8 million. Kind of a hit to the payroll for one year of Trot. Boston now has an outfield of Manny, Coco, *JDrew, Wily Mo, Trot and Eric Hinske

 

Gordon Edes goes on to speculate a fine scenario in which we would see another year of a Trot/Wily Mo platoon (if Manny is traded)... Yeah fine if you consider Tito loving certain players too much. Its not a platoon if Wily Mo rots on the bench as Trot is given out all the starts including ones against lefty starting pitchers

[Bosoxwest]

Huh? I can only assume this is a reaction to last year's injury bug, but it seems like a little much. In terms of the outfield Hinske is Nixon, so really you'd need both Youks and another OF down for this to make sense. Moreover, WMP had a massive reverse split last year (OPS .660 vs. LHP / .946 vs. RHP) - wouldn't you want to make certain that was aberrant before you force him into a platoon situation where he only hits lefties? His three-years' are flat, but still, it's possible his new Sox-inspired appraoch at the plate makes him succeptable to LHP.

[TheKilo]

The Red Sox are idiots for offering him arbitration.

 

Looks more and more like Manny's on the way out. Idiots.

[riverside sluggers]

Thank the lord if this is true

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2006/12/arbitration_dec.html

 

Speculation the Sox could be backing off giving arbitration to Trot

[AirPantapas]

I'd like Wily Mo Pena in Cf while we trade Coco Crisp to Seattle for Bettencourt.

 

Next year Ellisbury takes over.

 

However this all changes if Manny is traded.

[Cocos Disciples]

Hmm...Coco for Betan is intriguing. That guy is an unbelievable fielder, has decent speed, but besides that is kinda empty on the offensive side...not a bad average, doesn't walk at all.

 

I think if we can avoid dealing Coco, do so, he will rebound in 2007.