elsrbueno

Great defense does you no good when you lose a good portion of your rotation, your bullpen collapsed, and your lose your top 2 hitters for significant periods of time. Lowell would probably fetch a mediocre reliver in trade, and the Sox already have plenty of those.

I'm sure it's part of the thought process, and we should wait until a reliable source says something about the logistics of the trade, but chances are there's more coming from the Yankees than just Melky Cabrera for Gonzalez. However, in this market, if you can get a hard throwing lefty for a 4th outfielder you do it 10 times out of 10. Like I've said 100 times on this board, Melky Cabreras are a dime a dozen.

I don't see this signing as that big a deal. It's a minor league contract with an invite to spring training, which to me means he's injury insurance. It says on MLB.com that he'll compete for a job in the bullpen, but so probably will Bob Stanley and Mark Lemke-- because there really isn't a bullpen right now. If he comes to spring training and looks good he'll get some innings. If he doesn't or gets injured, what does he really cost the team?

Like I've said, one mediocre season in the big leagues doesn't prove anything. My point is not that Melky Cabrera is better or worse than Dave Murphy. My point is that they're both 4th outfiielders and should be valued as such.

In all fairness, Pedroia looks better at least statistically than Loretta. At 23, Loretta's final full season in the minors he hit .286/.333/.397 (in AAA) Pedroia in 2006 at 22 years old .305/.378/.426 (also in AAA). Loretta's only other full season in the minors showed an OPS around .700. Pedroia's OPS has been consistenly higher, even when he struggled after being promoted to AAA in 2005 he still had an OPS of .738. Pedroia's no Giles, who was in the mid-upper .800s in OPS at a similar age and development, but he's better than Loretta at least at this stage of his career.

From Merriam-Webster: Melky Cabrera in 2006 showed an on base percentage far above his typical performance. When Brady Anderson hit 50 homers in 1996 it was an anomaly. Until Cabrera proves that he can do that on a consistent basis, I consider Melky Cabrera (or ANY rookie, take a look at MY historical post record if you don't believe me) suspect. Cabrera is no exception. I also stand by my assertion that in another lineup he doesn't hit nearly as well. When you've got Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi... etc in the same lineup, as a pitcher you're going to give him a LOT of good pitches to hit. On the flip side, guys of All Star caliber (like the people surrounding Melky Cabrera) are given the green light in favorable (3-1, 3-0, 2-1, 2-0) counts. As a manager, I'm giving Melky the take sign every time because I want his ass on base for the big guys. In Pittsburgh, he'd settle in with another bunch of crappy hitters and revert to his crappy hitting ways. Not that he was a tremendous hitter in the first place: he's still a corner outfielder with a .391 slugging percentage and a .748 OPS despite his above average OBP (for him).

Not so fast. Penny has a very low strikeout rate despite playing his entire career against inferior competition (NL East and NL West), pitching in low-pressure environments and great pitchers' parks (Florida and LA). This guy in my opinion is WAY overrated and would get eaten alive in the AL. I said this when he was rumored to be headed to the Sox for Manny, and unless he proves me wrong I'm sticking to my guns on Penny. That having been said trading a mid-level starter for a setup man is a bad idea-- and with Saito and Broxton on the fold Otsuka would be a setup man. There are plenty of teams looking for closers-- he's got more value trading him there.

They also have Saito who was pretty effective as their closer last year.

Hinske as a rookie: .279/.365/.481 with an OPS: .846 Melky as a rookie: .280/.357/.391 with an OPS: .748 The fact that Melky is a rookie could actually work in his favor. He's an unfamiliar commodity which means there's no book on how to get him out. There are tons of rookies who make it to the big leagues and have 1 great year and suck after that. Melky has proven only that he can hit in a lineup full of All Stars when people would rather give him pitches to hit than walk him and face the rest of his teammates with him on first-- and before the league's figured out how to get him out. Once the league adjusts to him let's see how he does-- it's the same thing that happened to Hinske. Hinske at this point in his career is 29 (hardly past his prime years) who can play first, third, and both corner outfield positions. ORS has already shown that he's not declining, he simply played his best statistical year in his rookie season, which countless others have done.

I don't see how any self respecting GM can have a hard on for Melky Cabrera. He's OK but corner outfielders who can slug in the low-to-mid 400's are a dime a dozen. He's young and cheap, which is a plus, but this guy's completely overrated in my opinion. I like his plate discipline, but let's face it: Melky Cabrera in the Yankees lineup is going to get some pitches to hit. Melky Cabrera in the Pirates lineup just isn't the same. He scored a ton of runs and knocked in 50 last year, but again, this was in one of the best lineups in baseball. Cabrera as a replacement for Jones is a joke. He'd be an improvement over Langerhans, but that's not saying much.

I think absolutely nothing should be read into this. The Red Sox have bigger fish to fry. Coming into the offseason they had to find a shortstop, right fielder, improve the rotation and bullpen, and sure up the bench. They've made some progress with these, but Clemens is on the back burner. Why? Because the dude's 44, wants BIG money (otherwise he'd just go back to Houston), and will probably only pitch half a season. The Red Sox WILL make an offer but to expect that this guy will have a sub-3 ERA in the AL like he's had with the Astros is ignorant at best. AND, Roger probably won't sign until April at the earliest. When it comes to crunch time with Roger, he'll be contacted and offered a contract by the Red Sox. He'll also be offered contracts by the Rangers, Astros, and Yankees (at least). Why waste time now on Roger when the clock is ticking on Matsuzaka and the other team problems? Roger is at BEST a #3 in the AL East.

The major problem here is that Drew - power = Trot Nixon. If the injury rumors that are floating around are true (that the shoulder problem he's got could take his power away) than that's reason enough to void the contract and sign a much cheaper alternative or go after an Aubrey Huff or a lesser hitter. IF Drew is not signed, Huff is probably the #1 backup plan for the Sox since they seem to have always coveted him (along with Lugo) in any trade talks with Tampa. He was a little off last year but still hit 21 homers. I am not high at all on Alex Rios. They guy has has basically one good half season after huge expectations, and he slugged a whopping .411 after the all star break. He in my opinion is no #5 hitter. Pena has a ton of potential but his plate discipline is horrendous. If he doesn't improve that he'll be a career .250 hitter. Sure, he may victimize the Royals and Devil Rays and end up with 30 homers, but is he adequate protection for Manny? I'd rather play Pena than give up a ton of talent for Rios (like a mid-rotation starter the Blue Jays are asking for) but I'd rather have Huff or Drew (assuming Drew is the 25-30 homer threat he is when healthy) with Pena filling in for his miscellaneous injuries right now, and I think the Red Sox brass agrees (why else would they give Drew $70 million?)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4202 Romero's stats. Another guy who's trending in the wrong direction. His K/9 dropped slightly from 2004-2005, then dropped off again last year. Seems like the Red Sox are stockpiling mediocre arms.... sounds a lot like Tavarez, Seanez..... I hate to sound negative, but a JC Romero signing doesn't excite me.

I honestly don't like the idea of trading Crisp for Gonzalez. In my mind, you're buying low on Gonzalez because of his arm injury (assuming he's healthy). The whole idea of buying low is giving up less than what he's worth. Because Crisp is at a low point in his value, selling low on him (IMO) is a bad idea. It would be smarter to hang on to him for a year, have him spend a healthy full season in Boston (and he'll be an excellent player IMO) and THEN if Ellsbury looks ready trade him when he's at a much higher value. If Ellsbury isn't (which is a possibility), keep him since he's signed cheaply. I still think the Hinske+mid-level prospect for Gonzalez is fair value on both sides. That having been said, the Pirates should probably hold onto him and do the same thing I suggested above-- let him start the season healthy and (in theory) effective and either trade him in July or after a full season-- when he'll be back up in value.

I don't think anyone should be all that excited about this particular move but it doesn't exactly kill the Red Sox. Seibel was a 27 year old who barely cracked AAA last year so he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's going to dominate down the road. On the other hand, Donnelly's trending in the wrong direction and while he should eat innings and be better than Seanez, there's no way he's the relief ace (if the Sox expect to make the playoffs next year).

Ethier is solid, and he may have had decent stats last year, but until he shows some semblance of sustained success, he could just be Todd Hollandsworth all over again. I've said it on this site and I've said it again, Brad Penny is not an All Star pitcher in the AL East. He gives up too many hits and doesn't log enough strikeouts in the weak NL West, let alone having to face the Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays and Devil Rays 3 or 4 times each. I'd rather have Manny being Manny at $20 million than Penny being Penny for $7.5 million.

Packaging Penny and Ethier should bring in a bat like Richie Sexson or comprable but nothing close to Manny.