example1

Yeah, cause there are so many aces available via trade these days...

I say a 4 year deal with an automatic kicker clause for a 5th year if Drew, say, makes 3 all star teams or wins a WS MVP or an AL MVP or something like that. Offer him 4 years for 60 million with that clause, and a team option for the 5th year.

Estrada is a good player. Too bad the Sox can't get him.

Wakefield does not have to start IMO. He's got bullpen experience and is expendable in the rotation, if you're talking about adding a guy like Schmidt. Of course, another option would be to leave Papelbon in the pen. I know they're moving him to the rotation for health reasons so him in the pen is not ideal, but I haven't written it off as a possibility in the next few years depending on his success as a SP.

The sox are so far from finishing their team, both player wise and time wise. They won't have Cora starting at SS and they won't have MDC as their relief ace. Let's just calm down a little bit and not respond to provocation from Yankee fans on this board. Okay... that's out of the way. I was thinking about this today, with the FA market as it is currently for offense, is there any chance the Sox make ANOTHER move for a SP like Schmidt to load up their rotation and then trade from that position of depth?

It could be because Zito isn't as good as the salary he's asking for. I would be much more concerned if the Yankees got Schmidt than Zito. Too many walks, not good enough stuff.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/11/25/progress_made_in_drew_talks/ The sox are still going strongly after Drew and a deal could happen in a few days, says the globe. We'll see...

Absolutely. Chad Cordero? I'll take it.

You're too hard on him and you're not giving his potential enough credit. He made a few really bad plays last year, but you shouldn't let the particular ugliness of those plays effect the reality of his overall performance. It's the same with the strikeouts. Sometimes a player can strikeout a lot and still be productive. Pena looks like he has the potential to be that type of player. He's never going to be Manny, but at 24 he's got a good upside DEPITE the 5 errors you personally saw him make last year. Ya got to have a longer-term view here man. He made 1.25 million last year. He could go to the freaking minors or be a career bench player (which we currently lack), instead of just throwing him away. Getting rid of him for nothing fails to use our resources to their potential, or at all for that matter.

Papelbon is a horse. He's going to through a lot of innings in his MLB career. I don't worry about that too much.

Dude, is your main argument that Papelbon is an injury waiting to happen or that he's not going to be effective or that his arm is going to fall off mid-pitch? I don't get your point, other than to argue that Papelbon isn't a good bet despite him saying he's healthy, the team saying he's healthy and his performance last year? It just seems like prideful razzing if anything.

I'm convinced that Alou was on roids to go with his pee-hands and tha the has since stopped. Or it could be that he's 72 years old. I've just never been a big Alou fan in either case.

Rotoworld is reporting that the Pirates and Rockies are discussing a swap of Paul Maholm and Brad Hawpe. I like Hawpe a lot and would love to see him as the Sox RF. Why not try to package a few players (like WMP perhaps) for a deal including Hawpe?

I'm confused... Papelbon rolls loose joints and this concerns people? Or was it Papelbon's mother? I always suspected something was making Hansen overly mellow in the bullpen and I guess we know why now. seroiusly though, who cares about loose joints? Until Papelbon is out for 2 consecutive seasons a la Mr Pavano I won't start to complain about his durability.

I have to say, your analasys seems a little off to me. All your player analysis was good, but just because there is some prevailing tendency toward overpaying for players does not mean the Sox should just hang up their checkbooks for the offseason or next few years. The fact is that if Lee is getting his 16+ million a season, then yes, Andruw Jones or Vernon Wells would get 18m or so. So what? It seems to me that the Sox should be one of the teams that could pay that for a player of Wells' or Jones' caliber. To me it just means that other teams will be forced to pay a lot, not that the Sox should stop spending. The Sox have had to pay alot for a bunch of players over the years and now will be no different.

Schilling: 17-9, 4.25 ERA, 200+ IP Beckett: 19-9, 4.18 ERA, 200+ IP Matsuzaka: 16-5, 3.20 ERA, 200+ IP Papelbon: 13-8, 4.15 ERA, 200+ IP Wakefield: 13-11, 4.70 ERA, 180 IP Some lofty predictions, yes, but I think the amount of runs scored will stay up and that the days of "a 2-something ERA is what a GOOD pitcher has" are over. Now, any ERA in the threes is pretty darn good, until they raise the mound again. Papelbon won't be as good as a starter, but he will have some dominant games and will have lots of quality starts. Just not as dominant as a 1 or 2 starter would be. I'm convinced Matsuzaka will have a good year and will come in 3rd for the Cy Young voting.

A nice cultural/historical look at Matsuzaka. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2669791&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos2

Why couldn't they afford Drew? It just seems like they need to sign him so they should. Put the guy on a competitor, pay him a rich sum, promise him the starting gig, whatever. Unless they have something else up their sleeve (a Manny trade, for instance).

Of course you really think Theo could blow this. There are a few people on here who see Theo as a worse-than-average general manager who manages to mess-up everything. DESPITE his winning the Schilling-stakes a few years back. DESPITE him getting Keith Foulke, the one closer who shut other teams down in the 04 playoffs. He has had the second and first best drafts the last two drafts respectively. He correctly managed to NOT resign Pedro Martinez, much to the chagrin of much of RSN. He correctly traded Nomar, when he was starting to suck. Does he do everything right? No. Does brian cashman? No. Does any GM? Nope. Would just about any GM be able to sign Matsuzaka after posting the highest bid? Yes. If the owner is willing to open the purse strings anything can happen and clearly that is the case. That doesn't mean he lowballs Boras, but they certainly deal wth respect. They're all professionals. What will you say when they sign him then? I'll give you the quadruple thumbs-down when the obvious signing happens and all this freaking-out looks stupid. At that point would he be a GOOD GM? I think the sox will find a way to get a fair deal for the 4 years they're looking for, as Seibu should pay a good portion (say, 3 million a year for the first 3 years), they can get creative with incentives and options and whatnot. Those of you who say that Boras only wants a three year deal seem to forget that there are only a limited number of teams that Matsuzaka could sign with as a FA pitcher asking for 18 million a season in 3 years. The Red Sox are one of them. In other words, I imagine that if the Yanks had won the bidding people would expect Boras to let them sign him for longer than 3 years. I think the same is true of the Sox. They may also sign Matsuzaka to a longer deal during the duration of his 4 year contract.