Zenny

We would trade for prospects to move on for a young ace. I know Phelps isn't that great, but trading Millar and Mientkiewicz for those potential prospects means we need a first baseman. Granted, I'm not a big Josh Phelps fan. He needs more plate discipline, but he could hit 30+ homers some day. Again, I didn't say it was a realistic plan. I was just trying to think outside the box.

Yuck, stay away from A.J. Pierzynski. Game-calling deficiencies aside, he has no power and drew only 19 walks last season. 19 walks. No thank you.

What about signing Josh Phelps? I know his walk totals aren't great, but he's young and would come cheap since the Guardians just non-tendered him. We could trade Millar and Mientkiewicz for prospects (and financial flexibility) to use in a potential Hudson or Burnett or Sheets or whoever trade and we'd have a 26 year-old first baseman with a great deal of power potential. Granted, I'm not saying this is realistic, but it's an option.

Ben Sheets is my favorite player, Red Sox or non-Red Sox. I'd love to have the Sox get him. He's simply amazing.

Well, A.J. Burnett is available in a trade, in case I haven't said that FOUR THOUSAND TIMES ALREADY!

Go back and look at Burnett's 2002. Filthy. Look at his monthly splits from the end of this season. Filthy. He has all the peripherals to succeed in Fenway and the AL. I want this guy in the Sox rotation for a long time to come.

Ken Rosenthal is saying that the Sox are making a huge push for A.J. Burnett with a deal that will likely include Arroyo or a third team. I love A.J. Burnett. Theo, get this done. He's going to be 28 next season and can crank it up to 100 and go deep into games with lots of K's.

I think he's owed $13 or $15 million bucks over the next two years. It's either $6 million then $7 or $7 then $8. I can't remember which.

I just made this point on baseball.com. If you check over there, you'll recognize it. If not, enjoy. It was made in regards to questions about Polanco's ability to play SS. Due to the Phillies having Jimmy Rollins at SS, Polanco hasn't played there since 2002 with St. Louis, but he is very capable. 1998- 116 innings, .952 FP, 5.51 RF, .865 ZR 1999- 58 innings, .931 FP, 4.14 RF, .769 ZR 2000- 151 innings, 1.000 FP, 4.99 RF, .914 ZR 2001- 281 innings, 1.000 FP, 5.09 RF, .936 ZR 2002- 90 innings, 1.000 FP, 4.27 RF, .958 ZR Oh yes, he's very capable of playing an excellent shortstop. Hell, he's better than Renteria at short. Now, kick in the superior ability to get on base and the exact same power numbers for 1/4-1/5 of the cost for fewer years and you have yourself a deal. Placido Polanco should've been Theo's top choice at SS all offseason. Basically, the guy hasn't made an error at shortstop all millenium.

It looks like the Hudson to L.A. deal is going to be announced today. It's for Edwin Jackson and Antonio Perez.

That's what I heard and I am drooling at the possiblity. Ben Sheets is a thousand times better than Carl Pavano. Let me put it this way: Ben Sheets is the next Curt Schilling. There's some context for you to put it in.

The very latest I heard was that Delgado wants 4/$64 and the Mets balked. Omar Minaya (the Mets' GM) now says he has Richie Sexson and Moises Alou wrapped up, but he's still waiting on Pedro before he officially signs anything to make sure he has the money.

It wouldn't be hard at all, but it would be a waste of his talents (like what the Mets did with the Reyes/Matsui situation). Hanley is already a better defender than Renteria is. Edgar should be the one playing 2B when the time comes.

He's tired. The same thing happened to him in the AFL last season. It's a long season. I mean, it's December for Christ's sake. He's been catching since the end of February. He needs to rest. He did make a lot of improvements starting in August last year though. He hit .267/.375/.600/.975 in August (75 AB's) and .278/.316/.556/.872 in September (only 18 AB's). Granted, his AB/K was still high at ~2.75, but that was in line with his seasonal AB/K, which shows he knows how to hit even when he does whiff a lot. Shoppach is going to be a starting catcher at the MLB level some day. It's likely not going to be 2005 and if Varitek returns, it will not be with the Red Sox (we'll just draft another catcher or find one in Latin America to replace Varitek by 2009, should he sign), but he will get a starting job with someone someday. He has too much power and ability to take walks for someone not to at least give him a shot somewhere down the road.

Really? I didn't see that coming. The Sox may be over the $140 million mark this year.

The only catcher in MLB who doesn't take the time to sit down and prepare with his pitchers is A.J. Pierzynski because he's too busy playing cards, ask Brett Tomko that one. All catchers do this. It's not like Tek is some anomoly (Spelling? f*** it, I'm not looking it up.) That's part of their job; they all sit down with pitchers to review a strategy for the day's game and how to attack certain hitters. Tek is not the only one. I wish that Brian Schneider trade was back on the table. I really like that guy.

I wish!

Sorry, can't find the article. Basically, what it did was take Baseball Reference's top comparisons for Varitek and all the catchers in the Hall of Fame and showed how they performed after age 32. They all had a sharp decline, except for the ever-immortal Carlton Fisk. Tek is not Fisk. Tek is not even playing the same game as Fisk, so there is no comparison to be made there. The real kicker for me is the road stats. It's common knowledge that catchers are always the first to decline and any kind of long-term contract for Varitek like this is just too much. But when the guy has a .320 OBP and barely .400 SLG% in MLB's 29 other ballparks (and even worse against our top competition for playoff spots) it's just not good to be paying him $10 million a year when he's maxed out and is only going to be getting worse from here. Sara, sorry if I was harsh before. Pass the pipe this way.

I had the perfect article bookmarked on my last version of Windows, but a virus ate my computer and I installed XP, so I lost the bookmark. Give me 15 minutes and I should have the article again.

Halama's got a 2.64 ERA in his past 130+ innings out of the bullpen. I like it a lot.

I wish, but who's going to be willing to take on that contract by then? It's likely the date in question is going to be after next season or mid-way through 2006. That means Renteria will have 2-3 years left on his deal with well over $30 million dollars owed to him. No potential trading partner could possibly afford that unless we take a bad contract in return.

You should care if it's a stupid stat. There are better ways to judge players. Being better at judging players makes the game more fun because you truly know who's better than whom, what amount to pay which guy, which player is the diamond in the rough who is cast-off by your standard "BA/HR/RBI" fans like you. For example, Placido Polanco would have been a much smarter pick-up than Renteria. Why, you ask? He would've made 1/4 of the money with equal power and a better ability to get on base with similar, if not better, defensive capabilities at SS. Not only that, but we wouldn't have had to make a 4 year committment and we would have a lot more financial flexibilty to go after everyone's favorite Golden Boy catcher, who you can pretty much kiss good-bye now. Renteria just got his money. Also, why pay for a catcher who can only hit in one ballpark? Suppose we trade for Brian Schneider, who has a better overall hitting line than Varitek's road line, and gets the same benefits from the Fenway effect for 1/10 of the cost while being the best defensive catcher in the game. He threw out 1/2 the guys who tried to steal against him! He was the clear-cut choice for the GG at catcher in the NL, but the ignorant voters overlooked him. There are alternates in this world besides the big names. I also bet you're one of those guys who thinks Barry Zito is still an elite pitcher.

No problem. 1. Hanley has no prior extended experience at 2B. He's been a SS his entire career. He may have a few innings there, but I can't find any minor league fielding stats ever since The Baseball Cube changed their formatting. 2. Dustin Pedroia is going to end up at 2B anyway, whether with us or not. He profiles somewhere between Mark Loretta and David Eckstein, a lot more towards the former than the latter. Pedroia was a far superior college player to Eckstein in a much tougher division to play in, which is why I dismiss the rampant Eckstein comparisons people like to make. While Hanley, on the other hand, profiles as something between Nomar and Renteria (with Renteria being the low-end upside).

While you have been attacking John, who has been nearly dead-on with most things, I lost all respect for you and your baseball knowledge. You use batting average to try to prove your point? Juvenile. This proves that your baseball knowledge is lacking. First off, Hanley Ramirez is one of the top 10 best atheletes in the minor leagues today. That's without looking at stats or anything else. He's ripped. Second, Hanley was hurt for most of his tenure in high-A, which leads to some of the only OK stats and hampered power. He exploded in AA. How many 21 year-olds (which is 2-3 years below average prospect age at AA) have a .512 SLG% above a .310 batting average? That's a .202 IsoP. Look that stat up. It's one thousand times better than batting average. He's also shown steadily improving plate discipline with every level he's gone up. That's a good indicator for improvement. Third, he has no power, huh? How's leading the Dominican Winter League (which is mostly composed of current major leaguers, former major leaguers and the best-of-the-best prospects) in homeruns? Yeah, no power. He's just being the best of the best. Fourth, "let him languish in the minors and then trade him?" That's the most ignorant statement regarding baseball I have heard in quite some time. What a fantastic way to run a team. Stunt a potential All-Star's growth while paying a SS who had a .728 OPS last season (that's the same as Tony Batista's, by the way) nearly $10 million dollars a season when we could have the next Nomar, sans the stupidity and plus more plate discipline for THE LEAGUE MINUMUM. That's 3,333% more. You're kidding me, right? Sorry, bro, that's just retarded. Read some stuff and come back when you have a goddamned clue.

This is a one year, $750K deal. If he gets hurt for the remainder of the season, he can be released. This guy has fantastic stuff when he's able to make it onto the mound. He's only making 2.5 times the league minimum. That's nothing. This is nowhere near the BK Kim situation.