Zenny

Pedro is always looking for revenge against the Dodgers, or a chance to impress them to return playing there, so he should pitch very well tonight.

This game was an absolute kick in the balls with steel-toed boots.

As a prospect lover, I'm going to be very biased here and say Youkilis should start and Mueller should be shipped out or be left riding the pine. But that may not be the most logical thing. I'm probably the wrong person to be giving opinions about this.

Odalis would look great in a Sox uniform next season... Think about it, we'd potentially have four big-time Dominican All-Stars, two aces and two sluggers. I'm drooling.

Wow, Darren Lewis. That's a blast from the past.

Because it was Tito's kid and he wasn't going to get drafted anyway, so Theo wanted to do something nice for him. Anyone from the 40th round up really don't have much of a shot at the bigs anyway.

Daubach and Brown were sent down, Malaska was called back up and Nomar was activated from the DL. Trot began his rehab assignment last night, going 2-3 with a double for high-A Sarasota. He should be on his way to Pawtucket soon and if we're lucky, he might be back during the Dodger series at some point.

I'm hoping it's Crespo, but it'll likely be Dominique.

He would be a free agent. The only thing that we would potentially have to give up would be compensation draft picks for next year's draft. No trade necessary, probably because the Dodgers wouldn't trade him.

The Sox lost their first-round pick to Oakland for signing Foulke. The A's also got a compensation pick at the end of the first round. The shortstop we took is basically Adam Everett or David Eckstein, both of whom are former Sox prospects. Great, another one of these hard-nosed, scrappy, can't hit a lick guys. I am very excited about the fourth-round pick, Tommy Hottovy. He's supposedly a very good one. Here's a quote from hardballtimes.com's Matthew Namee: He had mostly been a reliever, but so had Jon Papelbon. I'm almost positive that the Sox will at least start him out as a starter.

By no means are the Dodgers out of the NL West race, so Odalis Perez seems likely to remain with his current team for the time being. But, the young left-hander is a free-agent once the season is over and he would reportedly love to pitch in Boston. Here are some quotes that my good buddy from NetSports, Steve, enlightened us with the other day: From the LA Times: From a 2002 SI Article about the connection between Sox pitching coach Dave Wallace and Perez: There are a couple of factors going into this. First, we snagged Dave Wallace from the Dodger organization. It was D-Dub that taught Perez to truly pitch and got consistency and control from Perez. I'm sure that Perez knows this and he could take his game to the next level if re-united with his former mentor. Second, the Dominican factor. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are here for at least three more years. Pedro Martinez may also be in Boston for another three (maybe). Third, he's not scared of the Monster. Any lefty with the balls to stand up to the Monster should at least get the opportunity to pitch here for a little while. I like Perez. He wouldn't be rediculously expensive and would be great in Fenway if he can get consistent control, like he has done this season.

This is so cool. I want in.

I hate Cesar Crespo. He can't hit, he can't field, he can't run, he can't walk. He's a waste of flesh.

I want to see it get up to 9.00 so I can say to my grandkids that I saw the worst player ever play. Yes, even worse than Cesar Crespo when he's still on the team sixty years from now.

WTF, 2-0 Royals after one inning. Lowe's season ERA: 7.05. I'm expecting that to climb by the end of his outing.

Catchers are always the first to lose offense. Carlton Fisk was an anomaly. Most of them can't hit their way out of a paper bag by 33 or 34. Varitek is 32 right now and will be 33 for the first year of his contract. He's had injuries in the past and playing catcher, he could receive more of them in the future. I know you're all going to think I'm crazy, but re-signing 'Tek seems like a risk to me. I just hope Shoppach gets a little more patient and then we should be all set. Also, this "field general" and "clubhouse leader" stuff seems over-rated, in my opinion. Sure, 'Tek's a nice guy who calls a decent game, but would signing him for the $10 million dollars a year he's asking for be reasonable when he starts hitting .240 with ten homeruns and then gets injured? I'm not sold on Varitek being a must-sign. PS- 'Tek has a road OPS of .733 this season. The Sox already signed the "must-sign": David Ortiz. The rest are just after-thoughts, with the way things are. Pedro is having wrist and shoulder struggles. Lowe is the worst pitcher in baseball this season. Nomar hasn't even had a major league at bat. 'Tek is iffy for all the above reasons. I think we should cut bait with all of them. Decline Mueller's option in favor of Youkilis. Re-sign Williamson and Pokey for $4 million bucks total between them and then offer the rest of these dopes arbitration. They ain't coming back for arbo-money, so they'll fly the coop to some other team. Being that these are all tier-one players, we'll get about eight first round and first-round supplemental picks for the '05 draft. That can then, in turn, be spent on more college players who would be ready to contribute by 2006 and 2007. Technically, this still isn't rebuilding. Addition by subtraction, boys. Nomar has yet to play a game; Bellhorn has been spectacular filling in at 2B (look at the '02 stats, this is no fluke) and Pokey's a defensive whiz at SS and 2B. That wouldn't change from this season so far to next season. Lowe is awful. We could call up Abe Alvarez and get much better production from the next Tom Glavine. Anyone we put in there would be an improvement. Pedro has been Mister Inconsistent. I still feel that he's the best pitcher in the game, but that could easily change by the time the season is over, if his wrist and shoulder continue to be issues. Shoppach is having adjustment troubles to AAA pitching, but he's coming around. He has a .718 OPS now, but it will be around or above .900 by the time the season is over. He's a $300,000 dollar replacement at catcher with better defense, the same amount of hard work in game-calling and preparation and more offensive upside for the future at 3% the cost of Varitek. Don't underestimate the Arroyo and Kim factor here as well. Let's say Arroyo gets a consistent changeup and improved ability to get out left-handers, which isn't out of the question. He's a $1 million dollar fifth starter who puts up a 3.50-4.00 ERA year in and year out. What about BK? I know he's on everyone's s***-list right now, but he has a career sub-3.50 ERA as a starter. If he gets healthy and his velocity returns (which are two very likely things), he'd be an outstanding #4 and would be a #2 on another team. My '05 Sox would break down this way with estimated stats: C-Shoppach (.250/.325/.450/.775; 15 homers) 1B- Millar (.275/.325/.450/.775; 15 homers) 2B- Bellhorn (.250/.400/.475/.875; 20 homers) SS- Pokey (.250/.300/.350/.650; 5 homers) 3B- Youkilis (.290/.400/.400/.800; 10 homers) LF- Manny (.350/.450/.650/1.100; 35 homers) CF- Damon (.275/.350/.375/.725; 10 homers) RF- Trot (.300/.400/.550/.950; 30 homers) DH- Ortiz (.275/.375/.600/.975; 35 homers) SP- Schilling (2.75 ERA; 215 K's) SP- Free Agent (Perez, Milton, Morris, Garcia, etc.) or Alvarez at #5 (no real way to project) SP- Wakefield (3.75 ERA; 125 K's) SP- Kim (3.25 ERA; 175 K's) SP- Arroyo (3.75 ERA; 125 K's) MR- Timlin MR- DiNardo MR- Malaska MR- Embree MR- Anastacio Martinez MR- Juan Perez (dominant lefty reliever pitching for AA Portland) SU- Williamson CL- Foulke (1.75 ERA, 45 saves) That team is every bit as good as this year's team, possibly better now that Lowe is gone, and is between 1/2 to 3/4 the price we would have been paying if we had signed a lot of the free agents. EDIT: I forgot the cool stats like homeruns, K's and junk.

I wasted a fourth-round pick on Big Sexy. At the time, I thought it was a bargain. Oh well, I still have Ortiz, D-Lee and Feliz who are 1B eligible.

Mark Prior is the new Greg Maddux, but with heat. Prior can throw any pitch in any count and be dominating with it. He's also the new Greg Maddux, because I think he'll cut bait out of Chicago once his contract is up for top-dollar somewhere.

This game is going to be 11-6, Royals lead and all runs charged to Lowe through 6 innings.

I have a feeling that this game is going to be something like 15-13 after three innings today. D-Lowe just needs to keep his ERA under 9.00 (basically, less than a run an inning) and the Sox might have a chance to win. I wish I was going to the game so I could boo him and his big contract.

Nomar went 0-3 with a K tonight.

Here's exactly what Maller said: Personally, I think Lowe is more likely to be headed for the Tigers, due to the fact that he's from Dearborn and that the Tigers have been throwing around big money for mediocre players.

Jason Jennings is a sinkerballer. Or should I say was. His sinkerball doesn't sink anymore. Any pitcher coming out of Colorado scares me. Look at all of the promising pitchers that went in there only to become crap there and continue their crap elsewhere. I wouldn't touch Jennings with a 10 foot pole.

They put a dome on Fenway! This is awesome! *sarcasm* Where have you been? They're home this series.