Sox re-up Javier Lopez for 1 year

[Cocos Disciples]

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/01/javier_lopez_si.html

[ACL BoSox]

meh... he's serviceable

 

nothing to write home about

[Cocos Disciples]

I think hes often misused. Francona seems to use him as a LOOGY, but against lefties he has a .293 AVG and .805 OPS against, as opposed to .176 and .561 against righties.

[riverside sluggers]

Odd because in 2006, lefties hit .250 off of him while righties hit better at .281. He might turn around again to being better than lefties in 2008. With middle relievers you never know

[BoSox21]

I guess at $840,000 he remains a bargain but he just sucks. Should only be used during garbage time

[a700hitter]

...or when no one else is available.

[mAAAbs]

You can never have too much pitching....

[Jayhawk Bill]

I guess at $840' date='000 he remains a bargain but he just sucks. Should only be used during garbage time[/quote']

 

The average AL Relief Pitcher had an ERA of 4.42 (Dan Symborski, BBTF). Javier Lopez had a 2007 ERA of 3.10, and a 2006 ERA of 2.70.

 

I regard Javier Lopez as a bargain--a pitcher misused by Terry Francona, but a bargain.

[a700hitter]

One of the things that was valuable about him also was the flexibility the team had because he still had options. They could send him down and bring up other needed parts. Will he have options left this year?

[Jayhawk Bill]

One of the things that was valuable about him also was the flexibility the team had because he still had options. They could send him down and bring up other needed parts. Will he have options left this year?

 

 

I'm almost certain that he will not. Lopez had time in both MLB and MiLB in the four years 2004-2007. You usually get just three option years--it was unusual that he had a fourth (I forget the reason.) In any case, he should now be out of options.

[mosox]

That's a lot of money for a guy to walk lefthanded hitters.

[riverside sluggers]

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080125&content_id=2355847&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

 

Snyder will get $835K in arbitration.

 

Long innings/Spot Starter- Julian Tavarez (3rd season)

 

Lefty Specialist- Javier Lopez (3rd season)

 

Middle Relief- Kyle Snyder (3rd season)

Mike Timlin (6th season)

 

Set Up- Manny Delcarmen (4th season)

Hideki Okajima (2nd season)

 

Closer- Jonathan Papelbon (4th season)

 

Youkilis is the only Sox player left to deal with. He is asking for $3.7 million, they are offering $2.5 million. Michael Silverman of the Herald said recently dont be surprised if the Sox do a 3 or 4 year extension in the near future for Youk.

[SCM33]

Dont understand this move.....he really had zero value last year. He will never be used in reverse split situations, and cant throw enough strikes to lefties to be valuable. There had to have been better options available.......I know its low risk but it seems like money thrown out the window. We really havent had any good lefties since Embree and Myers (even though Myers IMO was very similar....and I hate LOOGYs, especially ones who dont get lefties out besides Garrett Anderson).