elsrbueno

Maybe if he could actually play defense, or run out ground balls, or run on potential double plays, or run in general. I guess I'm the only person here who's wicked pissed that Manny's too good to show up on time.... so I'll just keep my opinions to myself and hope that he does hit enough to justify fact that he's a selfish a-hole who's way overpaid to be a one-dimensional player.

Another place we could have dealt Wells now seems to have their rotation filled. Weaver's nothing special but he'll be good enough for Anaheim. Considering AJ Burnett got $11 million per Weaver's a relative bargain at $8.5.

Another possibility that may be used at times is Chipper Jones in left with some combination of Griffey/Wells/Damon in center and right. Of course this isn't the BEST combination, but since the first games are in early March (and not deep into spring training) I expect the early games to have more of an all-star format (starters for 2/3 of the game, reserves for the rest). I agree that Francoeur should be used as a reserve however to start. Despite his hot start in Atlanta, he did hit something like .240 in September (I'm going from memory there but he DID cool off near the end) and he's not as prolific as a Griffey or Wells offensively.

With Wells and Griffey on the same team, Damon should definately be in left, but I'd put Wells incenter just because you really want your best fielder there-- and as much as I like Griffey, both Wells and Damon have better range RIGHT NOW. I wouldn't be surprised if Griffey gets most of his ABs as a DH given his injury history though -- despite the COMMENTS that winning is priority # 1, since a ton of big time players have backed out (Crawford, Bonds, Pettite, Hudson, Sheets, etc, etc, etc) priorty #1 is not pissing off the owners. I'm surprised George let Jeter and A-Rod play to be honest..... He already suppressed Johnson, Mussina, Rivera, Cano, Matsui, Posada, and pretty much everyone else.

better offensively, yes, but better defensively? I haven't seen Griffey post injuries, but I've heard he's a lot slower moving around. I'd assume in that senario Nixon would be dealt...... I was just thinking there's no room for the 4 of them: Nixon, Ramirez, Crisp, Griffey in the same outfield.

The only domed stadium I've been to was Olympic Stadium in Montreal. I'm a baseball fanatic and so I'm thrilled to go no matter where it is and who's playing, but in Montreal it's nothing like it is at a place like Fenway Park. Even Dodger Stadium and The park the Angels play in (Angel park of Los Angeles sponsered by Disney World of Anaheim or whatever the hell it's called these days) are worlds cooler than Olympic Stadium. I'm not voting in this poll because frankly I don't have an answer. Every single Yankee fan I've ever personally met has been a bloody moron, but there ara a TON of Red Sox fans who are also morons. Also, I don't care about Basketball or football, and I haven't followed hockey since high school...... Plus having never met a fan of a Chicago sports team I can't judge their passion/knowledge. I don't think LA stacks up to NY/Boston as far as passion though. I went to a sold out game in Anaheim where 60% of the people showed up in the 3rd inning and left in the 8th. What's that about? And it was a game against Oakland, last year-- so it's even as close to a rival as the Angels would have.

I don't know that he'd move to RF to be in BOSTON. Something tells me he isn't the most fond of Boston, and there's a TON of ground to cover in Fenway. IF Ken Griffey would come to Boston (he has a no trade clause I believe) and accept a 4th outfielder type role, he'd be a good fit here. Here are the problems: Health. He's obviously got an issue spending time on the field. He's played more than 100 games twice in the past 5 seasons. He isn't the same player defensively that he used to be (when he was a perennial gold glove threat) and he's got a big salary ($12.5 million last year). However, for the most part, he's hit when on the field (OPS from 2000 to 2005: .898,.794,.936,.864,.945). The man would be an upgrade offensively for Boston, no doubt about it. The problem of course: Where to play him? We've got Crisp in center, Ramirez in left, and Nixon in right. Then again we also have the best DH in the game in David Ortiz, so he can't play any of those positions. However, if he could occasionally spell each one of those 3 players, he could get 300 ABs and 300 ABs of .900 OPS is certainly better than what you'd get from a Gabe Kapler/Dustan Mohr/Willie Harris/FILL IN BENCH PLAYER HERE. I'd even go so far as to have him get some work in at first base to potentially get him at bats. Perfect insurance IMO in case Youkilis or Lowell don't hit. In an ideal world, I'd call Krivsky and offer him financial relief by offering him junk prospects in return for Griffey and 20% of his salary (meaning we pay 80% of what's left) and bring him in under the premise that he's got to earn at bats. If he stays healthy and hits, he could take RF next year from Nixon or play left if Manny is moved..... OR play first if either Youkilis or Lowell tanks. That's just my dream world-- I understand that it's never going to happen.

For what it's worth, the Reds signed Dunn to a 2 year extension today ($9 mil per) with an option for a third year (2008). Just like Arroyo, this gives him more trade value because he's locked in at a certain price (granted a high price) which takes the mystery out of it and means there's no hastle worrying about arbritration every year. There's a part of me that would love to see Ken Griffey Jr in Boston. Granted, it's not the logical part of me because he's not the player we used to see when he was in Seattle (when he was IMO the best player in the game at the time). Of course he has no spot here with Ramirez/Crisp/Nixon in the outfield already and Ortiz DHing... so again it's not logical. The Reds should seriously consider moving Griffey though. they're not a contender for the forseeable future, and this guy is really a DH at this point in his career. He doesn't have a ton of value right now talent wise, but if someone else would pick up most of the tab that alone would help a mid-market team like Cincinnati add talent.

I know very little about this Alex Cabrera guy, but from what I've heard he seems like a prick. For a guy who's proven NOTHING at the major league level, he won't come over without a guaranteed contract? He also apparenltly said he wouldn't play in the WBC unless he was guaranteed a starting spot.

This seems like the most logical bench setup, ORS. The Sox have too much invested in Stern to let him go for the sake of 18 days, and with guys like Harris and Mohr signed to minor league deals, they can be easily sent to AAA. Cora and Snow are givens, and Graffanino is a pretty solid utility guy. He can play any position on the diamond (except catcher or pitcher) in a pinch and that is very important. I'd like to see Josh Bard win the backup job. I like the youth he'd bring and he seems to have the best bat of the bunch. The problem with trading Clement or Wells NOW is two fold: 1. We're assuming everybody's healthy and effective-- a bad assumption IMO. 2. Everybody's got high hopes for youngsters/cheap signings right now. They might be saying "Why give up prospects for Wells when (fill in bargain starter here) should get the opportunity to do the job?" Bottom line is one of the following will happen: Schilling or Beckett will be injured/ineffective and we'll be glad we habe extra starters. OR One of the west coast teams (Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransisco) will have problems with their starting pitching and step up their offer for David Wells. I still think the most likely trade to happen for the Red Sox is David Wells. It probably won't be until the end of Spring Training when teams figure out what they do/don't have. I seriously doubt BOTH Wells and Clement get dealt. I bring the following 11 pitchers north (assuming no injuries): Schilling, Beckett, Wakefield, Clement, Arroyo, Papelbon (earned a MLB spot-- even if it's in the bullpen), Foulke, Timlin, Seanez, Riske, Tavarez. No lefties on the whole staff which is a little strange, but really the options (Alvarez, DiNardo) aren't really better than any of the above. The lack of a true dominator in the bullpen is a little scary to me (so we've got to hope to hell Foulke comes back dominant) but it's deep enough to keep guys like Seanez and Timlin from being overworked. This is another reason why Papelbon in the bullpen makes sense. He'll be biggest strikeout threat and potentially the most dominant arm in the bullpen if he stays there. His future is in the rotation, and he'll get a fair amount of starts, but especially if he starts in the bullpen he might be fresher (and thus better) late in the season if he's in the rotation by then (which I think he will be).

Update: With the Sox purging their minor league system a bit this offseason, Luis Soto is up to #11 on the prospect list. Scouting report according to soxprospects.com A toolsy player who has yet to put up big numbers as of yet. Probably will start in A ball this year but at 20 years old still has time to develop. He's my adopted prospect from 2004-- really there's no news surrounding this guy.

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/5317510 OK-- I don't like Ken Rosenthal's writing as a general rule, but as I do when I read anything, I take it with a grain of salt. I would expect Krivsky to at least rekindle any talks that bring back prospects, and trade some big names. Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr, Ausin Kearns to name a few. I would also expect that by the trade deadline we'll hear names like Kent Merker, Eric Milton, Rich Aurilia, and Dave Weathers thrown around as well. No real specific rumors here... at least not yet.

Fenway Park, Detroit at Red Sox. I remember Frank Viola started for the Sox (which means it was either in 92 or 93), we got a really good look at Tom Brunansky in right field (which means it was 92) Cecil Fielder made a few errors and Red Sox shortstop Luis Rivera made the final out (in the field). The Red Sox won the game pretty easily.

Olympic Stadium

And apparently the Red Sox people believe Coco Crisp will be one of those guys who's going to thrive. Orlando Cabrera was one guy who came to Boston (from Montreal which was WAY WAY worse than any other place as far as fan support) and simply TOOK OFF. Trust me, Montreal was BAD. I've been to a bunch of games up there living in VT I'm only a couple hours away and they sold 5,000 tickets on a GOOD day.

Even still. Mark Loretta's SLG in an extreme pitchers' park (and a hand injury): .347 Edgar Renteria's SLG in a hitters' park: .385 Assuming Loretta's healthy (like he says he is), he should easily get that slugging as high as Edgar's last year if not higher. Plus, with David behind him, he's going to get pitches to hit.

exactly. Why pay $15mil+ for another David Wells? 12-15 wins, 4.0ish ERA-- David can do that WITHOUT the $15mil price tag.

I'm pretty sure Loretta's a free agent after this year. Which gives Dustin Pedroia the starting job next year at second.

Who compared Alex Gonzalez with David Ortiz? If they did first of all I missed it, second they're over optimistic. I stand by my Alex Gonzalez in Boston predictions: 35 doubles, 10 homers, 60-70 RBI, .270 AVG. Nothing special no, but he'll be good enough in this lineup.

Dan Duquette didn't have a problem paying Manny. The new ownership has been trying their asses off to move him ever since they took over.

Some fun facts about Roger Clemens: He was 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in September last year (with the team searching for a playoff spot) and allowed opponents a .294 BA. This guy's a mediocre pitcher in crucial games and does have a bit of a habit of exiting early. He made $18 million last year. Is this guy a better pitcher than he was in NY? NO. He's facing lesser competition and no longer has to face the DH. His ERAs in NY (3.91, 4.35, 3.51) are much closer to what you should expect as a player in Boston, in fact possibly even higher since a) he's older, and he'd pitch home games at Fenway rather than Yankee Stadium. When I first heard that the Red Sox were working to get Roger Clemens, I thought-- Yes! a co-ace to back up Schilling, a mentor for 2 young guys who idolize him (Beckett and Papelbon), and a great story of a former ace coming back to where it all started-- a future hall of famer putting the finishing touches on his career... Then I really started to THINK about it. Realized what we'd really be getting in Clemens which is an egomaniacle a-hole who doesn't travel on road trips when he's not pitching..... for $18+ million! It does seem like Roger wants to create a media circus upon his "unretirement," which is why he waits until February to announce whether or not he's coming back. Also, he lets teams like NY, Boston, and Houston convince themselves that they really want him so he can drive the price up. I would sign Clemens under a few key circumstances: (please keep in mind that I don't THINK it WILL HAPPEN, but these are the circumstances under which I'd add him to the 2006 Red Sox) 1. He signs a $5 million, 1 year deal with incentives that make it worth $10 million. Here's the kicker-- most of the incentives relate to playoff performance. Roger needs that motivation in September and October more than anything. 2. He's with the team full time-- none of this preferencial treatment bullcrap. 3. A trade is already in place for David Wells-- we don't need 2 40+ starters in the rotaiton. The Yankees and Rangers (and probably even the Astros) will offer more, and I'm OK with that.

DiNardo's got to be the favorite, but I've had this feeling all offseason that Abe Alvarez will give Lenny a run for that spot. Craig Breslow (acquired recently) probably has a spot, and it could be a matter of time before Jon Lester gets a chance. The Red Sox may do with Lester what they did with Papelbon-- get his feet wet in the bullpen-- although using him as a lefty specialist probably is a waste of his ability. I agree ksushi-- If we have a righty who gets lefties out (Riske), why do we need a lefty to get lefty's out?

This deal is pretty bad. Juan Rivera might be a temporary left fielder as a throw in, but as a major piece in a trade for Manny Ramirez it just plain doesn't make sense. Escobar is a decent backend starter and better in the short term than Matt Clement and probably Arroyo, but he wouldn't seem to have a place in the overloaded pitching staff. Shell is very unimpressive to me, his K rate dropped dramatically going from A to AA last year and his walk rate went way up. Two very bad signs. All three of these guys are under 30 and arguably have their best years in front of them, but as far as a package for Manny Ramirez is concerned? No thanks.

In truth though, is there really a high probability Roger comes back to Boston? He's from Texas, and has the opportunity to sign a LUCRATIVE deal to stay in his home state either with the Rangers or after May 1 in Houston. If he stays in Texas he's closer to his family, and he's in a place where he's beloved by fans and hell-- he has the chance to play with his SON. Money's no concern, pride may be a little bit, but what makes Clemens happiest (IMO) would be to win in Texas. I say he signs with Houston after May 1st and becomes a MAJOR second half force for them.

Example1 said it perfectly. Manny goes boom: Read it. I think any baseball fan can get SOMEthing from the book. I too read it a bit late (after hearing a TON about it) and I couldn't put it down. The book absolutely fascinated me. Why? Because it not only showed some nuances of running a major league baseball team, and described the power stuggle between "old and new" theories of evaluating talent, but it was just plain entertaining. A great read (IMO) and worth sitting down and reading for any baseball fan. It's a pretty good introduction to the world re-evaluating the statistics we use and even creating new statistics that better measure what a player brings to the field.