elsrbueno

I still think we can sign both. Lugo to play second and Gonzalez to play short.

Tavarez belongs in the bullpen. If someone else wants him as their 5th starter and gives good value for him than he's tradable. In a pinch, he's an ACCEPTABLE spot starter but if this guy takes the mound every fifth day in the AL East that team is not making the playoffs unless the other 4 guys are ace material.

I'd rather have Youk hitting first and Lugo hitting second pushing Pedroia to the back end of the lineup. Youk has proven more than Dustin that he can get on base and until the back end of the lineup starts producing the goal here is to have as many people on base for Manny and Ortiz. 1. Youk 1B 2. Lugo SS 3-7 same 8. Crisp CF 9. Pedroia IF Drew and Lugo are added that's my preferred lineup.

I'm not sold on Matsuzaka, but I'm also not sold on Zito. I just have this feeling that he'll get LIT UP if he starts pitching in the AL East (Zito that is), and it's in his best interest to go where there's big money and a good chance to succeed-- and that's with the Mets.

That doesn't make sense to me. There has been absolutely no official announcement that the Sox are winners of the Matsuzaka sweepstakes, so announcing the deal now does nothing. With the fanbase and the media, it's the LATEST big announcement that dominates the imagination. If that was their motivation they should have waited until after a contract was signed. I'm still not convinced anyone won the bidding until there's an official announcement anyway. My guess is that the Yankees pulled the trigger because they were convinced this was the best package they could have received for Sheffield.

FWIW.... here's the Yankees' press release. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061110&content_id=1738698&vkey=pr_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

This is a more attractive package than Scott Linebrink alone.

This looks like a good deal for the Yankees Claggett and Whelan put up good numbers in the low minors and Sanchez is decent. The concern for the Yankees is obviously that the Claggett and Whelan continue to produce and that Sanchez becomes a contributer sooner than later. Sheffield's got wrist, shoulder, and back problems and is a real a-hole. If healthy he can really make the Tigers lineup dangerous in the short term but to me that's a big if.

Drew wasn't worth 11 million when he signed with the Dodgers before, and I don't think he's worth it now. That having been said, he's a very talented player on both sides of the baseball and he's worth keeping an eye on. I'm sure whoever advises Drew was telling him that this is an extremely thin market for hitters and thought he'd get a better deal. Personally, I don't believe he will because of his injury history and the fact that he's never lived up to expectations. If the Sox sign him (which I'm not opposed to) let's hope there's a backup plan in place. I think the Sox were interested in Drew IF they had moved Manny-- which of course they didn't do.

I don't know the answer to that, but Selig has apparently asked all teams involved not to even say whether or not they bid-- which is stupid IMO. Just stating the facts. The name of the winner isn't supposed to go public unless the offer is accepted. It happened that way with Ichiro, too.

a700 is right. The guy's a decent player, but he really stinks offensively and defensively is nothing special. Terry Francona raves about his intelligence on the field but he really doesn't have the talent. Terry's in love with him-- this is why this move was made. Also, Riverside is right-- this isn't that big a deal. They obviously either want Pedroia playing everyday at the MLB level or in AAA. They don't want him being the utility guy and I agree with that. This guy is a second baseman and it would hurt his development to sit on the bench. Mark DeRosa might have been a more offensive-oriented option, but I haven't seen the guy play defense so I can't compare him to Cora. The bottom line is what everyone already said-- if Cora gets a lot of at bats this team is in trouble. If he's a utility guy he's good enough-- albeit overpaid.

It's not up to him just yet. The Seibu Lions have to accept the offer before it goes officially public-- that could be Tuesday at the latest. The winner has already been decided and sent to Seibu-- it's in their hands now.

Doesn't Bagwell have arthritis in his shoulder? He missed all of last year and most of 2005. He was a solid performer in 2004 but I don't imagine he'd be much better than Kevin Youkilis right now.

For your reading pleasure, here's an article attempting to predict Akinori's contribution next season. It's rough at best because there aren't a whole lot of players who switch between leagues and the smallish sample size makes for a complicated process, but it's probably as good a guess as you'll see. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/projecting-akinori-iwamura/ .290/.348/.446 would be an improvement at second over Loretta (.285/.345/.361) and comprable to Lowell (.284/.339/.475) I say he's worth persuing as a second baseman and as a potential backup at third in case the market for Lowell heats up.

I'll admit I have never seen Iwamura play, but one thing I do know: Except Kaz Matsui, other position players who come from Japan are fundamentally sound, hard-nosed, GOOD ballplayers. Granted, they seem to put lesser numbers than in Japan so I think expectations have to be curbed a little bit. But Ichiro, Matsui, Iguchi, and that guy who plays for St. Louis whose name I can't remember-- are all guys I'd take on by ballclub any day. If Iwamura can play GG defense right away (and I don't know if he can) he can probably be a COMPRABLE player to Lowell and Lowell can be shopped. I'd say make a bid on this guy. WORST case senario is he's your second baseman, but he seems willing to do that and his offense looks sufficient forsecond.

Here's the article on Foulke. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2653191 The Red Sox won't pay him $7.5 That was obvious. He's got until Friday to exercise a $3.75 player option or receive a buyout. He could be back next year (or traded) if he picks up the option.

Seems like a mutually beneficial move. The Guardians have Andy Marte who they consider their third baseman of the future and were weak in second baseman. They tried to convert Trever Crowe but that experiment went horribly wrong. Only question is: Who's San Diego's immediate second baseman? They've got Bellhorn and Walker as potential short term solutions but I'm not at all familiar with their minor league system.

Oakland may or may not be a pit, but is it worse than Detroit? Perhaps the Tigers will move to Harbor Springs? Just kidding-- obviously the motivation here is financial-- MLB apparently considers San Jose Giants' country so it'd be interesting if they increase their fanbase by moving closer to San Jose. Usually attendance increases right after building a new stadium then trails off a bit, so that shouldn't be a reason for building a new stadium.... I'm not fluent enough in the business of baseball to truly understand why move 25 miles south and spend $300 million... unless they anticipate increased revenues and an increased fanbase as a result.

Why do we have to choose between Lugo and Gonzalez? If it were my team I'd sign them both, play Lugo at second and Gonzalez at short. Lugo's an upgrade from Loretta and would provide good defense. The Red Sox retain one of the better defensive shortstops in the game. I'm just plain not sold on Pedroia-- he could prove me wrong but he just seems like a low-production kind of second baseman, and with our corner infielders not putting up the numbers we can't afford an infield of Lowell,Gonzo,Pedroia,Youkilis. Remember-- Pedroia's PEAK is Loretta. Scaffolds is right-- we need to trade either Lowell or Youkilis and get a corner infielder who can HIT.

Also Alejandro Machado who made his debut with the Red Sox in 2005 was signed by the Nats today (and 19 others-- they added a bunch of borderline talent).

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the following 2 players will have dissapointing seasons: NYY: Wang I'm really not sold on this guy as a top-end pitcher. 226 hits in 214 innings last year and his 3.47 ERA low considering his previous minor league numbers. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but Wang in my mind just doesn't miss enough at bats for me to consider him legitimate. If he keeps pitching well and proving me wrong so be it-- but he's my pick. BOS: Youkilis This is a hard pick because Crisp, Nixon, Beckett, Varitek, etc all played far below expectations-- Schilling's an easy choice because he wasn't a dominant ace last year. Also, with second, short, and right field undecided, the everyday players are down to Manny, Ortiz, Crisp, Lowell, Tek, Youkilis. I honestly think we'll get more of the same from Ortiz and Manny, and that Crisp and Tek will improve from last year. So, the corner positions are the two with potential. I think Lowell's been around long enough where he won't have a problem with pitchers figuring him out and he'll pretty much match his 2006 numbers in 2007, which leaves Youkilis. He's an average player who put up average numbers in 2006, but with just one full season under his belt, this will be the season he either proves he can make the necessary adjustments to be a career .300 hitter or he bombs because pitchers figure out how to get him out. His high strikeout totals worry me especially for a non-power hitter, so he's my pick to dissapoint.