SchillingIsTheNatural

One thing I'll say about all this talk with Manny's production...You don't have to replace him with one player. You can improve on other hitters throughout the team and make a more competitive lineup. If you send Manny away for someone like Beltran then you take a hit obviously. However Beltran is a step up from Damon's defense and hitting. So there is one improvement. You can almost guarantee the Red Sox will get a better hitting 1st baseman and replace Manny in the field with an adequate batter. The other thing about Ortiz production is that teams won't give him as many pitches to hit but you should recognize the hitters around him will get better pitches. If you stick Beltran in front of Ortiz he will do much better than he did with Floyd covering him. Not to mention someone like Huff or Konerko could be behind Ortiz. All of the players on the Red Sox can hit....so I'm not worried about scoring runs. Our defense could be greatly improved through a trade which in turn would help out our pitching considerably. My preference would be to trade Manny for a top pitcher but we are limited to teams we can trade with when it comes to a contract like Manny's.

I'm pretty sure Beltran wouldn't be the lead off hitter but I also think he is a better hitter than he showed last season. I don't know what happened to him but throughout his career he has been better than that showing. Carlos Beltran oozes with talent...he has speed, a fantastic glove, switch hitter, hits for power, steals bases.....he can dominate. He seemed prepared to be one of the best players in baseball after the playoffs with the Astros then fell asleep. Another problem I have is the number of years left on his contract and how his money increases every season. We save some money this year but as time progresses we only save like 2 million a year. Thats not much of a change. It might be enough for a short term player to take over for money the next couple of season like Brian Giles who I keep going back to. If that were to occur we would then lack one key player...a power hitter which would be located at 1B in the form of either Konerko or Huff. By the way this is a better batting lineup than we had this season I just don't know if I see THIS many changes happening. 1. Dustin Pedroia ® 2. Carlos Beltran (S) 3. David Ortiz (L) 4. Paul Konerko ® 5. Brian Giles (L) 6. Edgar Renteria ® 7. Trot Nixon (L) 8. Kevin Youkilis ® 9. Jason Varitek (S)

Now I don't get that. Why would you settle for a #3 / #4 or #5 guy. I want a whole team full of ace caliber pitchers. Now signing those guys are tough so the best way is to get young talent who can become top pitchers....that sounds like a better idea to me then just settling for an average pitcher who can eat up some starts.

I found this on boston dirt dogs site. Sounds like the Sox are really interested in this guy. They claim that Japanese pitchers do well here but I guess Takatsu is the exception. We deffinitly need a lefty and he would come much cheaper than BJ Ryan. That is if the Sox truely feel he can setup at the major league level. I only found the stats they posted on dirt dogs which show he can strike guys out. Anyone know anything about this guy? How he throws and what types of pitches he throws? He is only 28 years old which is nice to see but I think with the Sox bullpen the way it is they need to add a sure thing. I would be nervous bringing in guys who have not proved themselves when this team really needs a couple guaranteed stoppers. By the way...the team he played for is the Yakult Swallows hahahahaha

Sometimes the umps do make the right calls....last season they didn't make the calls based on emotion or the town....they made the right calls. I'm refering to game 6 2004 ALCS in Yankee stadium when the umps got together and made the right call twice. I would have liked to see more of that where the umps get together and discuss what just happened. They all have different views and typically when you have that many umps...majority will make the right call.

Trust me we know the feeling. Dave Roberts will forever be loved in Boston.

I agree. When I think of Torri Hunter I think of one step up from Mike Cameron. Both good in the outfield but pretty average hitters. What you can call them really is just great athletes. Thats what help them make it in baseball. Some players are great athletes then there are guys like David Ortiz who is a tank that can crush a baseball. The Red Sox don't have a lot of "athletes" and if they wanted to add one...place him in CF. We hit the ball so well I would risk sacrificing some of that to add defense and speed on our team. ....they do say if you want to build a great defensive team it needs to be the guys up the middle....CF, SS, 2B. I know I know I know...Edgar Renteria had a ton of errors...chances are he comes back and does better next season when he is healthy...add Torri Hunter and have any of the following Cora, Graff, or Pedroia and you have one hell of a defense up the middle.

If the Sox were to trade Manny to the Angels...get young guys like Kotchman, Ervin Santana, Brandon Wood.....maybe you could sneak Scott Shields out of there but I doubt it. I would love to have Kotchman be at 1B...the only thing is you can forget the Sox replacing Manny's bat with anything close...the best hitter on the market is Konerko and if we got Kotchman well.... I think I would still keep Manny though. Sox should focus more on replacing Damon rather than Manny. I would love to see Torri Hunter in CF at Fenway

Thank you. Everyone can say what they want about Millwood but he is his 30s and he had a good season in the AL Central where a lot of his games come against the Twins, Kansas City, and Detroit....I mean talk about offensive power house teams. Compare that to having to play against the Yanks, Orioles......just no The Sox should stop bringing in older pitchers...get younger or if you want an older pitcher...you get guys with the abilities of Schilling or Johnson....even then I would say wait until the right trade comes along for a dominating pitcher....not Kevin Millwood

Still....with Schilling, Papelbon, Wells, Clement, Arroyo, Wakefield, and Miller....is Millwood that big of an upgrade?

Kevin Millwood would end up fitting into the older-average pitcher group which we have plenty of. The only starting pitchers we should consider getting are young ace potential pitchers or already ace pitchers. I don't think I see Kevin Millwood being an ace to our staff despite his good season. He would be another #3 / #4 starter.

Not only that but if they don't wrap him up the Yanks will....the Red Sox can't afford a strong figure like Theo to move to the most hated rival.

I like the deal cause I like the idea of continuing our young growing infield. He does hit the ball well and he is a righty so....just going by his stats his fielding looks good too. If he can be the real deal then that could solve 1B for years.

Latest team to possibly be interested in Manny is the LA Angels. Now thats a team loaded with options. They have prospects, players, and pitching I would be interested in.

At 25 years old I'm not going to say Ryan Howard will be the next Mark Bellhorn. Lots of guys get better the more they play and tend to read pitches better...which leads to less strikeouts. I'm going for Howard over Tracy....also.... I really hate it when people are so 100% confident guys won't be traded. In major league baseball not one player is guaranteed to stay on a team...especially not Howard (although I think he is real good) there are plenty of players out there the Phillies would love to get there hands on who would make a huge difference in there team. I dont think hitting is there problem.

It seems unlikely the Phillies would trade him but what will they do with Howard and Thome? Jim Thome seems to present a huge problem with the fact he has a big contract that nobody would want to pick up for an older injured 1st baseman. Since this is an NL team its not like one of them can DH and I've talked to a few people I know in Philly....neither has a chance playing in the OF or any position other than 1B. Now we are all going to talk about Huff, Konerko, Overbay, Tracy....etc...obviously someone is coming to Boston and playing 1B. I would love to get my hands on this guy though. For those who saw Ryan Howard play this season you were probably intrigued by him as much as I was. Does he not look like the 2nd coming of David Ortiz? This kid is a tank with a great swing and lots of power. At 25 years old he is going to be a 40 HR hitter at some point. He came up with some huge hits for the Phillies this season at crucial moments...this just leads more to the fact the Phillies wouldn't trade him....but at what lengths would everyone go to aquire him??

This is how I see it.... Clearly pitching is the key to victories and its the one area the Red Sox have always had issues. It is not easy to add ace caliber pitching if you look at most teams they develop these guys. You deffinitly see more Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Barry Zito, Mark Prior guys come up through the system rather than a young Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. Power hitters are uncommon and typically skill position players develop while in the league and see more pitchers in the MLB. They continue to grow and normally peak at the ages of 27-31 right when they are hitting there prime. You see more of those guys hit free agency and they are a little on the easier side to trade for. My guess is Theo has a vision of packing the farm system with pitching. Then you can also look at the free agent pitchers lately....last season the top free agent pitcher was Carl Pavano...this year its AJ Burnett.....this is not anything to go crazy over. I can see Theo trying to fix the pitching of the Red Sox through the farm system and adding skill position players through free agency. That being said...down the road I'm seeing Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon being a sick 1-2 combo. Both have great stuff and one being a lefty the other being a righty. Anibal Sanchez took huge strides this year and between Buccholz and Bowden...they have a chance to really do something. Meanwhile Craig Hansen is going to be one hell of a closer down the road. He already showed glimpses of it this season while having a tired arm. Just imagine when he gets that slider working and possibly develops another pitch. If you can trade anyone I would say Hanley, Pedroia, Moss, etc....you can find skill position players in free agency and up for trades.

Cora did an excellent job and is signed for this year. Most believe Pedroia is ready now. If we lose Damon then Pedroia seems like a good candidate to be our leadoff man. Tough to jump right in and play 2B while leading off for the Boston Red Sox....but you gotta learn sometime and why not do it at the beginning of the season. If we are going with Youkilis then I would go with Pedroia as well and let these young guys take over. If would be fun to see them develop as the season progresses and possibly showing signs like the Guardians did.

Even if our starting rotation is the exact same.....you can almost guarantee Curt Schilling and Wade Miller will be more prepared. Both had injuries that were not going to be 100% in the course of last season. Those injuries would not be fully healthy until after this winter. Once that happens these two will be much better than last season. Next Jonathan Papelbon doens't need to wait for someone to move on in the rotation....he will take someones spot. If Papelbon has more velocity and a better arsenal of pitches than others he will start. The best pitchers take the starting jobs cause you want your best pitchers to log the most innings. Its like asking....do you want Schilling closing and logging 80 innings or starting and logging 200 innings....get it?? Here is something else to keep in mind....if we had a healthy Curt Schilling this year and he won say 15 games.....we just won the AL East, probably had homefield advantage and he would have started game #1 as opposed to not making an appearance in this years playoffs.

Trade Manny to the Yankees????? Thats just people saying stuff to get everyone talking. Never ever ever would happen. Let them have Sheff, A-Rod, Giambi, and Manny....why don't we just give them Ortiz plus Schilling and call it a day. Unless we are getting Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds in that 3-way deal...no thanks

Well if the D-Backs trade Schilling for....Casey Fossum?? and trade Randy Johnson for Javier Vazquez...who knows they have deffinitly done some strange things. At least we know they will trade with us since we also made that stupid Hillenbrand for Kim deal.

So I'm reading Chad Tracy's name....FINE sign him up. That would be expensive but with a young infield including Youk, Pedroia, and Tracy...yeeeaaahhh sick. D-backs would want pitching, pitching..and maybe some more pitching. Holy crap we have pitching...sort of. In the forms of a million starters. Lets take Clement and send him back to the NL and stick Arroyo with him. Give the D-Backs Vazquez, Webb, Clement, Arroyo, and Russ Ortiz. Thats a starting rotation that should get them far in the crappy NL West

With Mel leaving and now Michael leaving...I wonder if any of this will lead to Cashman leaving...if Cashman leaves then Torre would probably leave.... This is slowly turning into one hell of a hurricane...I wonder if George can stop the bleeding and basically just shut his mouth...maybe tell the guys, who run his organization for him, that they are a big part to the teams success. I mean they have one countless AL East titles and more World Series in the past 10 years than anyone.

I live in NY....I work with tons and tons of Yankee fans....they are all complaining about Steinbrenner and how he handles the Yankees. A majority of people in this environment read the NY Times. The big discussion today was about Mel and how he ripped Stein. While most of them were getting on Mel's ass this year about how crappy the pitching staff has been they have now switched to saying he is a hero for saying what he said about George and hate that he decided to leave. ...they were all saying A-Rod was the best player in baseball this year... now they hate him ....Ortiz wasn't unstoppable in our playoff series....but I sure don't hate him....MVP

He was absolutly killer against the Angels