Hot Stove 2013-2014

[seabeachfred]

The Varitek/Drew comparison is downright idiotic. Please stop.

 

Farrell likes Drew because he is a good player that should be even better the coming season if he can get through it without concussions. Depth is not a bad thing. I like WMB and XB, but XB is a rookie and WMB is coming off a season in which he struggled mightily. How can having flexibility and a fall-back plan a bad thing?

 

No it's not.....It is only if you have a crappy memory and I don't have one where the Varitek-Francona caper is concerned. Tito's total reluctance to bench or at least pinch hit a few times for the fast fading catcher in the dog days of 2008 cost us the AL East and home field advantage which might have gotten us into the WS. Just to refresh your foggy memory User, that summer it seemed that in every close game we had Varitek would find home plate with the game on the line and except for ONE clutch hit against Texas failed time and again even though we had Sean Casey and others ready to step up and try to win those dozen or so games we lost. It's what happens when a manager's personal loyalty to a player clouds his thinking. As far as Drew being better this season, that is your opinion, but taking how inept he was in the WS I have some doubts. Besides, depth can be a bad thing if two good young players are being held back to give playing time to a player who was signed to only a one year contract last winter as a stopgap until Bogey was ready. As for WMB, he had a tough sophomore year, but taken his first full year of ML play between 2012 and last season he has hit 32 home runs. Drew couldn't do that in his dreams, and, besides he can't hit LH pitching worth s***, and I don't believe Farrell would platoon him either. Well, once again for the umpteenth time we will just have to agree to disagree.

[Youk Of The Nation]

You keep blaming specific players for season losses. First you insist that the entire postseason could have turned out differently in 2005 if not for Edgar Renteria and now you're trying to tell us that Varitek cost the Sox the division in 2008. No one player can be blamed for either of those seasons, or any season. Hundreds of things, large and small, have to come together in order for a team to win OR lose a season. Jason Varitek, or Francona playing Jason Varitek, did not cost the Sox the AL East in 2008 any more than any one player won the 2013 World Series for the Sox. Sean Casey is not Ted Williams. If you think Sean Casey would have been the difference maker that propelled the Sox past a Tampa Bay team that was playing out of their minds in 2008, you should take a look at ALL of the stats. Varitek's 2008 and career stats, Casey's career stats, the Sox and TB team stats for 2008, and any other stat you can think of. To assert with such iron that replacing Varitek would have won "a dozen or so games" is ridiculous. The great thing about baseball and sports in general is that you cannot predict anything past a certain point. If you could, there would be no reason to play the games. Looking back on a season and blaming a lack of a title on a single player is foolish. The Red Sox lost in 2008 because of a combination of mistakes by every player on the roster, and because they got beaten by a better team. It happens sometimes. For every dozen games you claim the Sox could have won if not for Tek, I could pull out a dozen games they could have won if a different player hadn't made a mistake. Should we say that the Sox should have alternated closers so as not to lose the games where Pap blew saves? Should they alternate every position to account for the games where Bay or Drew or Ortiz or Pedroia made the final out in a one-run game? Of course not. The best teams lose 60-70 games, the worst teams win 60-70. It's the certainty of playing a 162-game season. There is only one other certainty, and that is that you can't ever know what will happen, or what would have happened. By all means make a case against a team for losing a season, but don't heap the blame on one guy. When a team loses or wins, it's because of all of the guys on that team.

[User Name]

What you are stating is the result of a logical thought process. That is not Fred's strong suit.

[Palodios]

No it's not.....It is only if you have a crappy memory and I don't have one where the Varitek-Francona caper is concerned. Tito's total reluctance to bench or at least pinch hit a few times for the fast fading catcher in the dog days of 2008 cost us the AL East and home field advantage which might have gotten us into the WS.

 

I have vivid memories of 2008's playoffs. They ran into a buzz-saw in Tampa Bay. Here are some names from that playoff pitching staff -- Garza, good-Kazmir, David Price, James Shields, Grant Balfour, Edwin Jackson. They also had the magic of Johnny Gomes, and their lineup still had Crawford, Pena and a healthy Longoria at the time. The reality was the Red Sox couldn't get runs on the board, and while Varitek didn't hit much, no one did. Lester got a total of 2 runs in support over two of his games, and that was the real difference.

 

depth can be a bad thing

 

Fred, listen to yourself here. Depth is never a bad thing. Good teams have good depth. Bad teams have no depth. Look at 2010 and 2011 as prime examples. 2013 was a team that had amazing depth, and look what happened. People on the board here made the same exact argument about Drew last year... the Red Sox didn't need him. Well, he opened up Iggy for a trade and got the last key piece for the WS run. The Red Sox's bullpen depth seemed a bit too deep, maybe they shouldn't have signed that Koji Uehara guy.

 

You're going to give UN? an ulcer if you keep arguing on this because trying to make the case that depth is bad is silly.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Palodios

[User Name]

Are you crazy? With the way this site works what's giving me an ulcer is the amount of logic crammed into back-to-back posts by YOTN and yourself. I can't handle all of this common sense!

[Bellhorn04]

Is Fred bringing up Sean Casey again? Good Lord.

 

Casey hit .188/.235/.188 as a pinch hitter in 2008.

Casey hit .206 in September of 2008.

[a700hitter]

Beckett's hypochondria (princess and the pea syndrome) and his insistence on seeing every specialist under the sun and shutting himself down for about a month; and his subsequent lat injury from being out of condition when he returned probably cost us back to back championships.

[a700hitter]

Papelbon still has a soft spot for his old mates.

 

Jonathan Papelbon on Hot Stove Show: ‘Loved’ watching Red Sox win World Series

 

01.02.14 at 10:18 pm ET

 

By WEEI

 

Former Red Sox and current Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, in an interview on WEEI’s Hot Stove show with Rob Bradford and guest co-host John McDonald (who played with Papelbon in Philadelphia in 2013 before getting traded to the Red Sox in August) on Thursday, said that he followed his former team’s postseason run enthusiastically. He suggested that he was unsurprised by his team’s ultimate success, both on the basis of the leadership provided by former teammates Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz as well as the dominance of Koji Uehara.

 

“I watched every game of the World Series, every inning, every pitch. I loved it, man. I was calling pitches when Koji was in there — you know how you do when you’re watching games, ‘He’s going to go to this’ or ‘He’s going to go to that.’ I tell you what, I was pulling for them,” said Papelbon. “I knew, I don’t want to say this now, but I knew they were going to win. I knew what that clubhouse was like. I knew what was probably going on before the games, how it was, I knew what kind of leadership they had over there with David and Dustin. I just knew, if I was a betting man, I would have bet on them. But I’m not a betting man. I was happy for them. Dustin’s one of my best friends in the game. I couldn’t have been happier.”

 

Papelbon is now connected in both Red Sox and baseball history with Uehara, as both pitchers have recorded the final out of the World Series for the Red Sox, with Papelbon and Uehara having accomplished the feat six years apart as the culmination of dominant postseasons. Papelbon described his colleague as having been a pivotal force in October. “I’m obviously biased. I thought he was the difference-maker and the reason why the Red Sox won the World Series. I truly do,” said Papelbon. “He did what he was supposed to do and put the team on his back. He was in that groove. He was just feeling it. As an athlete, when you start to feel that, it doesn’t really matter what you throw or what you do. You’re just going to be good. That was it.”

 

As for his current Phillies team, Papelbon suggested that clubhouse dynamics were responsible for preventing the team’s players from translating ability into success during a 73-89 2013 season.

 

“On our team, I honestly believe we have more talent than any other roster out there. But if you don’t take that talent and mesh it together, figure out each others’ little pros and cons and figure out how to make a 25-man roster form into one, nothing will work. I don’t care how much you spend or how many guys you have in the bullpen or how many starters you have and it just doesn’t work,” said Papelbon. “Look at the Red Sox last year. John [McDonald] will probably tell you the moment he walked into the Red Sox clubhouse there was an entirely different feel from when he left Philly. I’m not putting those words in John’s mouth by any means, but when you have a group of guys who go for 162 games plus spring training plus the playoffs, you have to have each other’s backs and know what he’s going to do before the next guy from you is going to do before he does it.”

 

Papelbon made similar claims during the season with the Phillies, including a memorable midyear suggestion that he “didn’t come [to Philadelphia] for this.” McDonald said that he understood where the Phillies closer was coming from in making that claim. Papelbon, meanwhile, suggested that he’s made similar statements while with the Red Sox at times when his team struggled, but without the same response.

 

“I was a new guy coming into the Philadelphia clubhouse. Coming into a new clubhouse, you tend to watch more than you speak. I will say this, I came from a clubhouse where it was in your face, it was ‘this is how we’re going to do it.’ We’re going to yell at each other and when we don’t do what we’re expected of, we’re going to let you know. That’s kind of the way I was groomed into being a baseball player,” said Papelbon. “Then I go to Philadelphia and it wasn’t necessarily that way, and I know that I’ve gotten a bad rap, some of the guys will say I’m not a good clubhouse guy because I’ll get upset and I’ll say something, but I’ve always said what’s on my mind. I don’t think I’ve ever shied away from my beliefs. But I think some of it reporters in Philly maybe take a little bit different because I was used to saying that, hey, this is how I feel, we’re not winning and I’m not happy.”

 

Papelbon has two years and $26 million remaining on his contract, with a vesting option that could bring him an additional $13 million for the 2016 season if he finishes 100 games in the next two years or 55 in 2015. Though Papelbon has a 2.67 ERA, 67 saves, 10.2 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine innings in his first two years in Philly, concerns about declining stuff and his sizable contract have reportedly left the Phillies open to moving Papelbon.

 

“I think there’s a little bit of truth to every rumor,” Papelbon said of whether he thought there was substance to the reports of his availability. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

 

[VA Sox Fan]

Beckett's hypochondria (princess and the pea syndrome) and his insistence on seeing every specialist under the sun and shutting himself down for about a month; and his subsequent lat injury from being out of condition when he returned probably cost us back to back championships.

 

We all know you and fred are good buds and all but come on. You really don't believe that do you? I can see that "logic" coming from him but not you.

See below again:

 

You keep blaming specific players for season losses. First you insist that the entire postseason could have turned out differently in 2005 if not for Edgar Renteria and now you're trying to tell us that Varitek cost the Sox the division in 2008. No one player can be blamed for either of those seasons, or any season. Hundreds of things, large and small, have to come together in order for a team to win OR lose a season. Jason Varitek, or Francona playing Jason Varitek, did not cost the Sox the AL East in 2008 any more than any one player won the 2013 World Series for the Sox. Sean Casey is not Ted Williams. If you think Sean Casey would have been the difference maker that propelled the Sox past a Tampa Bay team that was playing out of their minds in 2008, you should take a look at ALL of the stats. Varitek's 2008 and career stats, Casey's career stats, the Sox and TB team stats for 2008, and any other stat you can think of. To assert with such iron that replacing Varitek would have won "a dozen or so games" is ridiculous. The great thing about baseball and sports in general is that you cannot predict anything past a certain point. If you could, there would be no reason to play the games. Looking back on a season and blaming a lack of a title on a single player is foolish. The Red Sox lost in 2008 because of a combination of mistakes by every player on the roster, and because they got beaten by a better team. It happens sometimes. For every dozen games you claim the Sox could have won if not for Tek, I could pull out a dozen games they could have won if a different player hadn't made a mistake. Should we say that the Sox should have alternated closers so as not to lose the games where Pap blew saves? Should they alternate every position to account for the games where Bay or Drew or Ortiz or Pedroia made the final out in a one-run game? Of course not. The best teams lose 60-70 games, the worst teams win 60-70. It's the certainty of playing a 162-game season. There is only one other certainty, and that is that you can't ever know what will happen, or what would have happened. By all means make a case against a team for losing a season, but don't heap the blame on one guy. When a team loses or wins, it's because of all of the guys on that team.

[Bellhorn04]

I think the 2008 ALCS is one of those things you can get sucked into overanalyzing. It was a very strange series. We blew Game 2, with Tito making the worst decision of his tenure with the team. The Rays smoked us at Fenway and should have closed us in 5, but they somehow threw away Game 5, with Maddon equalizing Tito's Game 2 f***up with a few of his own.

 

Game 7 was kind of a nothing game. Garza outpitching Lester was the deciding factor.

 

I know many people will disagree but to me the 2008 ALCS was just us winning 3 games and them winning 4.

[SoxSport]

Afraid Pap is past his prime and Phils are stuck with his contract. Another example of how Red Sox prudence in not overpaying FAs has saved them a lot of money. At least in the post Crawford era.

 

The Red Sox and the Cardinals are the marquee teams right now--with their strong farm systems and depth in young players. Look at those young Cardinal starters: Miller, Lynn and Wacha. Closer Rosenthal. Interesting the Cardinals preferred Peralta over Drew at SS.

 

As a sidenote, I watch MLB TV channel all the time--along with the NBA and NFL channels. Don't watch ESPN, though I pay 5 bucks a month for it along with everybody else that subscribes to cable. The most expensive cable channel.

Anyways, I decided to find out who owns the league networks. Turns out they are owned by the leagues themselves, except for NBA which sold its channel to Turner sports (based in Atlanta) a few years ago. The MLB channel is owned by MLB, is based in Secaucus, NJ and is run by Tony Pettiti, former head of CBS sports. They do have a NY flavor, with a heavy dose of NY announcers and sportswriters --aside from the ex-players who do a good job. Yankees are often a prominent topic, especially at FA time.

The NFL channel has the best hotties --by far. Short, clingy designer dresses. Hot bodies. The ex-players on there must go nuts looking at them. Can you blame Middlebrooks? LOL. Great coverage, except they seem obsessed with the MF Jets--one of the worst organizations in sports.

Ever wonder how even average players in these sports can make millions? It's because you and I are paying for it in our cable bills-whether we watch or not. It's buried in our packages. For example, NBA TV has 59 million subscribers! That's TV households. How many actually watch NBA TV? Probably less than 50%. The numbers are probably similar for the NFL and MLB channels--as they usually all come together in packages.

 

That was a long sidenote. Sorry about that.

[SoxSport]

You keep blaming specific players for season losses. First you insist that the entire postseason could have turned out differently in 2005 if not for Edgar Renteria and now you're trying to tell us that Varitek cost the Sox the division in 2008. No one player can be blamed for either of those seasons, or any season. Hundreds of things, large and small, have to come together in order for a team to win OR lose a season. Jason Varitek, or Francona playing Jason Varitek, did not cost the Sox the AL East in 2008 any more than any one player won the 2013 World Series for the Sox. Sean Casey is not Ted Williams. If you think Sean Casey would have been the difference maker that propelled the Sox past a Tampa Bay team that was playing out of their minds in 2008, you should take a look at ALL of the stats. Varitek's 2008 and career stats, Casey's career stats, the Sox and TB team stats for 2008, and any other stat you can think of. To assert with such iron that replacing Varitek would have won "a dozen or so games" is ridiculous. The great thing about baseball and sports in general is that you cannot predict anything past a certain point. If you could, there would be no reason to play the games. Looking back on a season and blaming a lack of a title on a single player is foolish. The Red Sox lost in 2008 because of a combination of mistakes by every player on the roster, and because they got beaten by a better team. It happens sometimes. For every dozen games you claim the Sox could have won if not for Tek, I could pull out a dozen games they could have won if a different player hadn't made a mistake. Should we say that the Sox should have alternated closers so as not to lose the games where Pap blew saves? Should they alternate every position to account for the games where Bay or Drew or Ortiz or Pedroia made the final out in a one-run game? Of course not. The best teams lose 60-70 games, the worst teams win 60-70. It's the certainty of playing a 162-game season. There is only one other certainty, and that is that you can't ever know what will happen, or what would have happened. By all means make a case against a team for losing a season, but don't heap the blame on one guy. When a team loses or wins, it's because of all of the guys on that team.

 

Yup. It's never one player--win or lose. It's a lot of players--and things--coming together. Plus, to win it all, you got to be lucky.

 

That's why it doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether they "gamble" with X at SS, Mbrooks at 3B or JBJ in CF. It will probably be other factors undefined as yet which will determine where they finish next year. Think pitching. Think also how the other teams in the division do. Will one have a "lucky" season where everything breaks their way? Will another have a season in which nothing goes right?

[Youk Of The Nation]

We all know you and fred are good buds and all but come on. You really don't believe that do you? I can see that "logic" coming from him but not you.

See below again:

 

Wow, when you bold it all like that it makes me seem really repetitive. I probably could have made my point with far fewer sentences!

[Palodios]

We all know you and fred are good buds and all but come on. You really don't believe that do you? I can see that "logic" coming from him but not you.

See below again:

 

In all fairness, if there was one player who deserves the blame for 2008, that would be Beckett. When your ace has a 9.64 ERA in the postseason, including an 8 ER game against the Rays, it certainly hurts your team's chances. I can't believe I forgot exactly how bad he was that postseason... after all the s*** Lester got on here for the game 7 loss, so much blame should have fallen on Beckett.

[seabeachfred]

In all fairness, if there was one player who deserves the blame for 2008, that would be Beckett. When your ace has a 9.64 ERA in the postseason, including an 8 ER game against the Rays, it certainly hurts your team's chances. I can't believe I forgot exactly how bad he was that postseason... after all the s*** Lester got on here for the game 7 loss, so much blame should have fallen on Beckett.

 

Looks like I got ambushed on this one so I will do a skillful withdrawal from this topic except I believe that while there were a lot of culprits in 2008 to go around, Beckett, Varitek, Casey and others, that season disappointed me like no other until the crash of 2011. I kept believing we would catch the Rays and win the division but we lost so many close games that summer that we never closed that gap. Besides, in the last two three game series we played with them we on the opening game and lost the next two---very frustrating. Still, one thing this reaction to what I wrote has taught me. It is time to turn that page forever. We are now defending WS Champions and the talk should be where do we go from here and not look back before 2013. I've gotten the message.

[a700hitter]

Looks like I got ambushed on this one so I will do a skillful withdrawal from this topic except I believe that while there were a lot of culprits in 2008 to go around, Beckett, Varitek, Casey and others, that season disappointed me like no other until the crash of 2011. I kept believing we would catch the Rays and win the division but we lost so many close games that summer that we never closed that gap. Besides, in the last two three game series we played with them we on the opening game and lost the next two---very frustrating. Still, one thing this reaction to what I wrote has taught me. It is time to turn that page forever. We are now defending WS Champions and the talk should be where do we go from here and not look back before 2013. I've gotten the message.

Agreed that there were plenty of culprits, but I put the biggest blame on Beckett, because he wrecked his own season and the team's season with his pussy antics. He got cleared to pitch time and again, but the princess could feel that pea underneath the mattress and he refused to pitch and lost his conditioning and then really did get injured. I don't throw blame on guy just for bad performance. That's hard for me to do if the guy just has a bad spell at the wrong part of the season. I'll cut him slack if he suits up everyday and gives his best. 2008 was the first signal that Beckett was a selfish prick. In later years that became very obvious.

[seabeachfred]

Agreed that there were plenty of culprits, but I put the biggest blame on Beckett, because he wrecked his own season and the team's season with his pussy antics. He got cleared to pitch time and again, but the princess could feel that pea underneath the mattress and he refused to pitch and lost his conditioning and then really did get injured. I don't throw blame on guy just for bad performance. That's hard for me to do if the guy just has a bad spell at the wrong part of the season. I'll cut him slack if he suits up everyday and gives his best. 2008 was the first signal that Beckett was a selfish prick. In later years that became very obvious.

 

You know I saw saw Beckett pitch about a dozen times in Boston, New York and Anaheim and we won every time but once. Hell, he seemed to own the Yankees when I was there and in 2007 he carried the pitching staff. To this day I don't have a clue what happened to him and why he came to ST in 2008 with a gut. He could have been an icon in Boston and now I hear that he may be the starter on the Dodgers who will lose his spot in the rotation. Quite a comedown.

[a700hitter]

You know I saw saw Beckett pitch about a dozen times in Boston, New York and Anaheim and we won every time but once. Hell, he seemed to own the Yankees when I was there and in 2007 he carried the pitching staff. To this day I don't have a clue what happened to him and why he came to ST in 2008 with a gut. He could have been an icon in Boston and now I hear that he may be the starter on the Dodgers who will lose his spot in the rotation. Quite a comedown.

I think he lost the fire in the belly. He got married had a family and became domesticated. He used to be a beast on the mound. That Beckett has been gone for quite a while.

[Palodios]

I will never forget Beckett's last year with the Red Sox. May 10th, 2012. I've got really good seats -- which for me is a rarity. Through 3 innings, Beckett had already given up 7. July 6th against the Yankees at Fenway... they put up 5 runs in the 1st inning. The Red Sox get right back in it with 5 runs of their own... but he still lost the lead.

 

I've never seen a pitcher so completely apathetic. All he wanted to do was get in his hundred pitches, take a shower, and get out of there. He's never really recovered... but as soon as the Red Sox got rid of him, their entire team did a 180. It was no coincidence.

[seabeachfred]

I will never forget Beckett's last year with the Red Sox. May 10th, 2012. I've got really good seats -- which for me is a rarity. Through 3 innings, Beckett had already given up 7. July 6th against the Yankees at Fenway... they put up 5 runs in the 1st inning. The Red Sox get right back in it with 5 runs of their own... but he still lost the lead.

 

I've never seen a pitcher so completely apathetic. All he wanted to do was get in his hundred pitches, take a shower, and get out of there. He's never really recovered... but as soon as the Red Sox got rid of him, their entire team did a 180. It was no coincidence.

 

What you saw Pal is apparently what 700 and others saw with Beckett but I saw just the opposite. The last time I saw him was a few months before you did in the rubber game of Boston's first home series in 2011 when they came home with a winless record. He pitched seven innings of absolutely stupendous ball, shutting out the Yanks in a game that I believed ended 4-0. Sometimes married life makes a player more hungry to do better since he is now responsible for more than just himself, but the guy was already a millionaire twenty times over so I guess he didn't give a s***. People put a lot of the blame on Lackey for that chicken and beer caper late in 2011, but we know now that Josh was the ringleader of it, had become a bad actor with an "I don't give a s*** attitude" and we don't have to go into what happened that September. That, plus Francona losing the team and being distracted by some marital troubles of his own. Ah what a difference 2013 was, huh???? Like a fresh breeze blowing all the stench and bad air from the past out of the dugout, clubhouse and ball park.

[mvp 78]

http://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/16769-HOF-Induction-Discussion

[Palodios]

After all the money the Rangers spent to improve their offense, they lose a key piece in Derrek Holland before the year begins. That's baseball in a nutshell.

[seabeachfred]

After all the money the Rangers spent to improve their offense, they lose a key piece in Derrek Holland before the year begins. That's baseball in a nutshell.

 

Just keep that kind of stuff away from us is all I ask. We had more than our share of physical mishaps between 2009-2012----enough to last at least a decade.

[a700hitter]

Bobby Jenks would like to return to baseball. After the guy ate, drank and drugged his way out of a lucrative career where he made $8 million for 60 innings of work, he should just stay away. Maybe he could body double for John Kruk.

[User Name]

Once Jenks arrived in Boston, his back grew progressively worse. Four bone spurs were found on his spine and the plan was to go in and shave them off in December 2011.

 

A plan was set to actually shave off just two, but the surgeon started the third and didn't finish, leaving sharp bone in two different spots on Jenks' spine.

 

"It was like laying on your side and having a semi ride over the top of your head," Jenks said of the pain. He returned to his then-Arizona home following the surgery, sat down on his couch and said he felt a feeling like someone was pouring a bottle of water down his back.

 

That water was spinal fluid.

 

"Just exploded out from the incision," Jenks said. "There was a chance that if I would have gone to bed that night, I wouldn't have woken up."

 

Instead, a call to a facility where Jenks was doing shoulder work led him to a doctor who told him to gather up whatever he could and get to the hospital.

 

Along with finishing up the third bone spur and taking off the fourth, the second back surgeon also had to contend with a major infection that almost got to Jenks' brain stem. The doctor said that the hooks on the spine were the true cause of his pain and the bone spurs represented his body's way of fixing that area.

 

Given quite a bit of time to reflect, Jenks now recalls experiencing sharp little pains in his back when he was starting for the Angels as part of his first organization in 2000. He had been battling the issue, essentially, his entire career.

 

The culmination of the spinal issues put an end to Jenks' tenure with the Red Sox, with whom he had signed on for two years and $12 million as a free agent.

 

Obviously alcohol and food related!

[Palodios]

Bobby Jenks would like to return to baseball. After the guy ate, drank and drugged his way out of a lucrative career where he made $8 million for 60 innings of work, he should just stay away. Maybe he could body double for John Kruk.

 

May he have a short, fruitless, and humiliating return.

[SoxSport]

Bobby Jenks would like to return to baseball. After the guy ate, drank and drugged his way out of a lucrative career where he made $8 million for 60 innings of work, he should just stay away. Maybe he could body double for John Kruk.

 

Some guys just can't handle the money. The amount is just beyond belief. It's like the guy next door winning the lottery for $5 million. One big lottery for these guys. Even for the mediocre players.

[redsoxrules]

Kershaw signs with LA at 7/215

 

I don't understand how he didn't the take the 300M deal that was talked about.

[seabeachfred]

Kershaw signs with LA at 7/215

 

I don't understand how he didn't the take the 300M deal that was talked about.

 

According to what I heard on 710 ESPN Radio LA this morning, Kershaw was more interested in some residual benefits concerning travel, hotel accommodations, and investment opportunities than in raw cash. Needless to add it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we was staying with the Bums.

[Palodios]

He can still get another massive contract after this one is over because he is still only 26, and he has an opt-out option after year 5.

 

The 300 million dollar contract was for 12 years, so he will have a good chance to break past that figure with 5 extra years of his own time.