trot4mvp

As Theo has repeated for the last week, this is a seller's market. Consequentially, teams with players on the market will be demanding MLB-ready players and/or prospects. Such is the case with the Pirates and Benson. Pittsburgh turned down Mientkiewicz (sp) and prospects from the twins and are truly running the Mets through the wringer, demanding Ty Wigginton (who is having a decent season) and high level prospects. From the Red Sox' perspective, we don't need Benson. As stated earlier in this thread, he's a #3 or #4 pitcher, tops. As such, we have neither the talent demanded from Pittsburgh nor the demand for a #3 or #4 pitcher (who will be a free agent at the end of the season, if I'm not mistaken). Boston would be trading away solid position players for a 2 1/2 month rental (i.e. Jeff Suppan last year). Bottom line: not a good deal for either team. And yes, his wife is dope....can anyone say trophy wife??

C'mon Zenny...that was arguably Lowe's best-pitched game of the season, and Lowe is a sinker-ball pitcher. He really doesn't have anything else going for him. How could he systematically break-down the Yankees without his best pitch? I'm siding with Gammons in this debate...plus, batstats and I witnessed these sinkers from dead centerfield. Just because Gammons stammers or have the best prose when he's on the radio doesn't mean he's not a great analyst. I'll take Gammons' word over anyone else's any day. He's one of the few in the business with a proven track record.

This appears to be an oxymoron...if he's a good analyst, then he is inherently smart. Gammons has so much credibility that he doesn't need to "make himself look smart." Gammo is the most intelligent baseball analyst out there, IMO. Even though he is slightly biased to the Sox (he did write for the globe for years), he knows about everything that is happening and baseball. Lately, he's been opining about politics and music, which I don't particularly care for. I was at the game Sunday night, in dead center field (section 34). DLowe's sinker WAS nasty. Unfortunately, his slider was off. Everytime he got ahead in the count, he'd go to his slider, which would miss away and increase his pitch count. Note that Lowe only let up 2 runs, yet had a pitch count of ~100 through 6 innings. His sinker was definitely ON Sunday night...it was his slider that was OFF.

Schilling is going to pitch with a vengeance tonight...you know he's still seething after that loss to the Yankees.

Wait, so Andy Dominique over Brain Daubach??? I've never liked Daubach much myself, but given a choice between the two, I'd take Dauber in a second. Both players will be necessary when Ortiz, Varitek, etc. (?) go on their suspensions.

Agreed...this team isn't on fire yet, but damn, they have been absolutely crushing the ball. It'll be interesting to see how the Sox fare against Lopez tonight. He has owned them so far this season. If we get the W tonight, I'm predicting a sweep (wow, feels great to say "sweep" again...haven't said it in awhile!) with Schill on the mound tomorrow. Stay tuned...

RSR... Not so sure they'll bring in Kent. I can't see them bringing in someone who is aging and has declining defensive skills for the kind of money he's making. Any idea who we'd give up for him? I think a more realistic and beneficial move would be to bring in Beltran...we'll know for sure in a few days. I can't see why they wouldn't bring up Daubach...he's been tearing it up in Pawtucket, as your stats indicate. Can you believe they brought up ANDY DOMINIQUE in place of Nixon? Why bother? Daubach is a proven commodity...and he's bound to add to this team's burgeoning chemistry.

That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. That deal has absolutely no merit and would give no benefit to either team involved (Sox have already had the misfortune of owning the rights to Cliff Floyd, the Mets don't need another monstrous contract...still paying Mo Vaughn $16M/year). Where do you people come up with this garbage? This s*** should be deleted from the board. I'm insulted.

Minnesota should be tough (they can win the Central without Benson), but the Red Sox should be able to beat them. You're right on here...when I made my comment, I meant it more like "There's no question the Twins will win the AL Central." Currently, it is a 3 team race as Cleveland is only 4.5 games behind Minnesota. The race is just getting started in the Central. After witnessing the resilience of this team this weekend, I'm pretty confident moving forward. As long as those bats stay alive, we'll be alright.

Hit the nail on the head...this is exactly what we need right now. Between Embree (who saved the Sox from a bases loaded jam in the 6th (?) on Saturday), Mendoza (all I have to say is WOW), Timlin, and Adams, our MRP and LRP situation is improved. But we NEED SWilly to come in and pitch the 8th. My heart sank yesterday after Matsui knocked that granny out, and then we brought in Adams in a set-up situation, who subsequently put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Thank god Foulke didn't f*** up...

The Minnesota and CWS series will be big for us, as both teams are in contention for the Wild Card/AL Central. I can't see the White Sox staying in it much longer...no Frank Thomas + No Magglio Ordonez = No PLAYOFFS. Minnesota can take the AL Central if they pick up Benson. We'll need to capitalize on both Toronto series...we've beaten up on them earlier this year and will need to continue doing so down the stretch. Detroit won't be a walk in the park, either. All in all, I have to agree with batstats...Sox don't have much of an excuse not to perform well over the next month or so.

Can we light this guy up tonight? Let's keep this winning streak going!!

He is an all-star caliber pitcher who won 20 games in 2002(?). He also has This will not happen. The Yankees have no interest in wearing down their lone remaining ace for a game that means nothing to them, especially with Mussina and Brown out until August. I like the Sox's chances this weekend. I'm chalking one up for us tonight, and we have a good chance if DLowe and Arroyo pitch decently and our bats wake up.

I've got a good feeling about this... ""Time to maintain a streak now, and then watch this team go out and whip the @#%$ out of some people for a few weeks." - Curt Schilling, The Remy Report Leiber, Contreras, Sturtze? All 3 pitchers are very beat-able...I, personally, would like to see the Sox pound on Sturtze. He went to my high school's rival school in Worcester, so I hate him that much more now that he's a Yankee.

Any video game would be better than watching the Sox lose this afternoon. My choice would have been SOCOM 2, baby...light up some motherf'n terrorists with an m60; can't beat it. Anyway, I don't think we should get rid of Pedro, because he WILL end up in NY next season, and it kills me to think about that. Everybody monitoring this board for the last month knows I wouldn't mind seeing Nomar and DLowe leave town, in turn freeing up a decent amount of cash. I'm still split on Tek; interested to see what Shoppach can do for us, and Mirabelli is looking more and more like a viable alternative. Does anybody know where I can find a list of next year's free agents???