Theo's best and worst signings--- be it FA or trade

[kapsis21]

I think the point is that the entire league would not have left Ortiz sitting on the scrap heap. Pedro gave the Sox an early warning and an opportunity to get him before the rest of the league got cranked up. He was available for next to nothing. Everybody has next to nothing that they can come up with to spend for a guy and any number of teams would have taken that shot.

 

I think it is hard to believe we would have ended up with Ortiz were it not for Pedro. Think about that one for minute and when your heart comes back out of your throat take yourself a shot of some good scotch and say a little prayer.

 

lets turn it around, if Papi had 1 good year and then started to diminish it would have been Pedro's fault?? no right

agreed that Pedro gave him a heads up and Theo pulled the trigger give him credit for that, it was under his management and he pulled the trigger. and lets be fair anyone coming out of Minnesota team is basically dump these days or back in the day.. its a AAA level team at best.

[a700hitter]

All the title specifies is best and worst signings' date=' by FA or trade. It doesn't say they have to be low cost acquisitions.[/quote']True. My bad. I mistkenly thought this was a thread that I had started months ago where I was discussing big $ FA signings.

 

 

I still give Pedro more credit than Theo for obtaining Ortiz.

[Brennan]

Smoltz and Penny anyone?

[Brennan]

Theo for the most part sucked with big FA signings. No doubt about it.

[jung]

Worst...crawford.....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....crawford....you guys think I liked the Crawford signing or what?

[Bellhorn04]

Good: Okajima...and now, maybe, Tazawa.

[Bellhorn04]

yep we traded Bronson who is still pitching stellar in Reds uniform.. and we got absolutely nothing for that..same thing with Eric Gagne trade one of the worst ones' date=' i still miss David Murphy.[/quote']

 

The Arroyo-Wily Mo trade was one of the worst things Theo ever did. But to his credit he ended up salvaging something from it. He traded Wily Mo for Chris Carter. Then he traded Carter for Billy Wagner. Then he used the picks from Wagner's free agency to take Ranaudo and Vitek, our #3 and #16 prospects.

[NativeBostonian]

Have we all forgotten about Eric Gagne?

[Station 13]

Tazawa was 3/3M signing. Tonight he show he can earn his monies.

[SCM33]

Bad: Ramiro Mendoza, Edgar Renteria, Matt Clement (due to that vicious line drive), Wily Mo Pena, Julio Lugo, Brad Penny, Joel Pineiro, Mike Cameron,

 

Good: Mike Timlin, Coco Crisp, Jason Bay, Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre,

 

So-so: Keith Foulke, JD Drew

 

Foulke was not so-so. He was one of the best PITCHERS available at the time and he was absolutely dominant for us in 2004 at the expense of the rest of his career.

 

What does it matter about Theo anyway? Dan Duquette built the 2003 and 2004 Redsox teams which laid the foundation for any of the success that Theo had.

 

He was given little to work with and got the most out of his players in a time when the Sox had to dumpster dive for other teams spare parts/misfit toys. After the new management came in, they fired Duke and gave Theo unlimited funds to work with.....and he managed to sign s***** players to some of the worst deals in baseball history.

[Laser Show]

Foulke was not so-so. He was one of the best PITCHERS available at the time and he was absolutely dominant for us in 2004 at the expense of the rest of his career.

 

What does it matter about Theo anyway? Dan Duquette built the 2003 and 2004 Redsox teams which laid the foundation for any of the success that Theo had.

 

He was given little to work with and got the most out of his players in a time when the Sox had to dumpster dive for other teams spare parts/misfit toys. After the new management came in, they fired Duke and gave Theo unlimited funds to work with.....and he managed to sign s***** players to some of the worst deals in baseball history.

 

Foulke played lights out 1 year and garbage the other 2. If Crawford has 2 great years in his time here would you consider that a good contract as well?

[SCM33]

Foulke played lights out 1 year and garbage the other 2. If Crawford has 2 great years in his time here would you consider that a good contract as well?

 

Foulke blew out his arm and sacrificed his career en route to winning us a WS.

 

Let me know when Crawford ever contributes anything.

 

Foulke did was he was brought in to do. Nail down games and win a WS.

[Bellhorn04]

Duquette did lay the foundation, no question. But there were a lot of pieces added in 2003 and 2004. Duquette gets a good share of the credit but to say Epstein did little to improve on what he had is crazy.

[kapsis21]

Tazawa was 3/3M signing. Tonight he show he can earn his monies.

 

was his stuff filthy or what, that slider or changeup to de-aza was just unhittable. phew..

[kapsis21]

The Arroyo-Wily Mo trade was one of the worst things Theo ever did. But to his credit he ended up salvaging something from it. He traded Wily Mo for Chris Carter. Then he traded Carter for Billy Wagner. Then he used the picks from Wagner's free agency to take Ranaudo and Vitek' date=' our #3 and #16 prospects.[/quote']

 

holy shoot. didnt see that one coming. but we still lost one really good pitcher for the last 7 years and have yet to reap anything out of it..

[a700hitter]

holy shoot. didnt see that one coming. but we still lost one really good pitcher for the last 7 years and have yet to reap anything out of it..

Yes, that worked out fine. In 2006, he gave up a steady consistent number 5 pitcher who never misses a turn and puts up decent numbers pitching in a bandbox. He's still in the Reds rotation. In returnwe eventually got a couple of guys who might make the majors in 2014. That's really deferred compensation.

[Dojji]

Best FA:

David Ortiz

Keith Foulke

Bill Mueller

Alex Gonzalez

 

Worst:

 

Alas and Alackey

Carl Crawford

Mike Cameron

Re-signing Mike Lowell (sorry Mikey, likeable ballplayer, fantastic fielder at 3B, great in 07, but that's when it shoulda ended)

 

And the "Well it didn't work out as well as we hoped, but it's hard to really get on him for these guys because they did play significant roles in one Championship year" list.

 

Drew

Lugo

Daisuke

Tavarez

[Dojji]

Smoltz and Penny anyone?

 

Nah. Smoltz and Penny were signings that didn't work sure, but there wasn't a lot riding on them working.

 

In order to be a real bad signing, the failure has to set the franchise back IMHO. Smoltz and Penny were too disposable for that.

 

Lackey? Crawford? Renteria? Lugo? Those were high impact failures. Dwelling on Smoltz and Penny is like dwelling on the Gagne trade.