example1

Jeter == Peralta OPS: .836 .885 VORP: 66.3 58.2 Jeter got almost 200 more at bats than Peralta. I think these numbers, along with the ones above, indicate that Peralta is likely going to be one of the great next-generation shortstops. Will he be as good as Jeter? Well, Jeter is a likely hall of famer so its hard to project that highly. Trading Marte for Peralta is a no brainer for the Red Sox right now. The Guardians have no interest though, nearly every team would want Peralta.

No actual mention of plans to send him to beantown though, huh? That's too bad. Hall at SS, Reed in CF, plus Marte, Pedroia, Lester, Paps, etc. would be a great core moving forward.

His career OBP against is .354, not BAA. That's .291. .354 is a little high, compared, say, to Timilin's .314 career OBP. It still doesn't seem exceptional. In either case, I'm all for having added depth in the pen.

What do you mean he isn't a very good player anyways? He hasn't even been tested in MLB yet, but is consistently seen as one of the best prospects in baseball. He's certainly NOT Manny Ramirez, but to say outright that he's not a good player seems to be jumping the gun a little bit. A future infield of Shoppach Marte SS (Lowrie?) Pedroia Youk with an OF of Ellsbury, Milledge and FA with a good pitching staff is an interesting proposition. Add to that team that tendency for the sox to sign good FA's (thereby reducing the players above by about half) and you've got a great team. Anyway, don't trade Manny for prospects. Just don't.

Yeah, I gotta disagree with this too ksushi, sorry man. Crisp would be a great pick up for this team, easily the best CF option out there not named Jones, Edmonds, Hunter, etc., As our team gets younger we're going to need experienced but YOUNG players to be the foundation. I'm thinking Crisp, Beckett, Papelbon and Youkilis could be the core of players. I know its been analysed over and over again, but Crisps numbers last year, at the age of 25-26, were really quite good. If we could get a .300/18/80 CF with decent speed for the next few years that would be great. Especially if it doesn't cost us a top prospect to make it happen.

My thoughts are that their best pitchers wouldn't get the ball enough. I can see your point though.

Well put. Also, you can see why the red sox would give a little more thought to letting go of type A free agents, as they clearly view those draft picks as precious. (who wouldn't if you could land a Felix Hernandez, craig hansen or Mark Prior!!)

It's an attempt to balance out teams in a way that a salary cap might in other sports. It basically means that, while small-market teams may end up being like MLB farm teams for the most part (able to keep a player only as long as they can afford him before BOS or NYY or NYM come along), they should be ensured that they CAN keep being that farm team by getting draft picks in return and constantly having first shot at the best talent. So, if the Yankees or Red Sox come along with their massive checkbooks and sweep Aubrey Huff away from TB, and if TB has offered Huff arbitration, then TB gets those first round and/or sandwich picks. If TB doesn't offer Huff arbitration it indicates that they don't want him and they do not get the picks when they lose him. That's the basic theory of it. Comparing it to a salary cap might not be accurate, but it is a way of trying to create parity in the league.

"LIKE OMG"??? Seriously? Are you trying to belittle everyone on this site who happens to think Andy Marte is a good prospect by making us sound like a bunch of valley girls? That's weird.

You would think that guys with that much skill, popularity and money would get good looking women! I mean, come on! One word: damn. damn, damn, damn If she demands a trade, I'm askin for a trade.

Lots of infidelity? I'm not sure. It could be that she just hates Boston and has wanted to leave throughout and Manny has gone public with it.

Is any of this true? What sources are you talking about? I have heard these things, but never seen a single source saying this is why manny wants to leave. In fact, from what I've heard and observed it seems that Manny likes playing in Fenway and for Boston. He sure smiles a lot and rubs heads with everyone in sight. That's not the sign of someone who doesn't like their job. I heard this alluded to on WEEI. I believe that this is more likely. It would explain why we never hear Manny dissing Boston/the Sox, but why he still asks to leave. Manny is probably well aware of how fans are in every city. Why would we assume that he is more ignorant of the coming and goings of MLB than we are, given that we are mere fans and he is a HOF caliber player. I bet he knows how the Philly fans are. That being said, the stupid Phills-Sox rumors were a hoax, so its all moot.

I can't help but wonder: does Reed count as a "very good" center fielder? I wouldn't think so. When I hear very good I think Beltran, Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter... not Reed. Perhaps Coco Crisp, but not Reed. I wouldn't mind reed, but this raises my interest considerably.

yeah, but the FO just. does. not. care. Dumping Clement and his contract would be nothing but a way of saving money. Getting Abreu is as close to equal value as the sox are going to get... perhaps they have a way of swinging Abreu for Tejada or something... who knows. That interview was questionable at best, since manny denied it the next day. I would love to have Manny back, absolutely love it. however, I can understand why the FO would be looking for deals. The problem with Abreu is that he's a LHH, meaning any LHP would likely find great success against the sox. So, that means another year of frustrating games against the likes of RJ and Ted Lilly. I'm sick of ted Lilly wiping the sox on the ground. Anyway, there is no reason to think this deal is happening. some person on the phillies board has garnered 105 pages of responses and occasionally comes on to add stupid tid bits. If the deal happens I won't be devistated. the sox wouldn't get equal value in a single player but, as with the garciaparra trade, they could get a number of valuable players out of the deal, or youngsters they could trade for other good players. Finally, you just can't argue with Abreu's OBP and speed. It is hard to believe that he gets as many SBs as he does or that he has as much speed as he does with his body size.

Because the sox aren't going to let manny dictate what they do. Why should manny's whims have any impact on what their FO does? He is essentially their property (non-trade clause aside) and they have wanted to free themselves from his huge contract for a long time. Manny demanding a trade was little more than saying that the FO should be slightly more active in trying to move him.

I wouldn't rather have Reed than Crisp (although I'm open to an attempt to change my mind), and I wouldn't want to give up Marte and Mota for Crisp OR Reed. I'd rather give them up for Crisp though, if it is in the cards. Crisp had the 4th best VORP for AL LFs last year (39.3), Reed had a 4.9 in CF. While its not entirely relavent, Crisp's 39.3 would have placed him 3rd as CF, behind Sizemore and Damon, and ahead of Vernon Wells, Dejesus, Hunter, Kotsay and Rowand. Again, its not completely translatable like that, but it should give an idea of Crisp's potential. he's young (26) and has lots of tools.

I think the original rumor was Mota + Marte to get Crisp. If the sox could get a decent prospect (or player) in return that may be worth it. I really hate the idea of parting with Marte, I really do. I also really like the idea of Coco Crisp in the OF for the next few years. The guy is young, he can lead off, he's a good fielder and has speed (not to mention a pretty good bat). I would rather we were able to trade just about anyone but Marte (Lester, Papelbon, Ellsbury, Pedroia and Hansen not withstanding). Signing Tavarez though is a pretty good move. He's a late inning veteran with enough pride to not go out and walk the bases loaded. Sometimes that's all ya' need.

No offense taken riverside, none whatsoever. I think that the hope is that Reed can become a leadoff hitter, given his speed and the lack of ANYONE with speed on the sox roster. I understand that he isn't a leadoff hitter yet but put him there because I really dislike the idea of Youkilis as our leadoff hitter. We need to have someone who can score from second (or third) on a single most of the time.

It could either be a great deal or a horrible one, we'll have to see (if it is even remotely true). We would still lack a CF and would have three power hitting corner outfielders. Again, completely speculating, but I can't help but wonder if this would lead to a Nixon to Seattle deal for Reed. Total speculation. Burrell K's a whole lot, and Abreu's 2nd half drop was somewhat concerning (though his .376 OBP in a DROPOFF is pretty impressive). One thing that makes me think this deal has legs is that the salaries exchanged would be essentially the same: Abreu + Burrell: (13.1 + 7.25 = 20.35m) vs. Manny: 19m plus future considerations.... I don't know about this. Assuming we get Reed here's a potential lineup: Reed CF Loretta 2B Abreu RF Ortiz DH Burrell LF Tek C Lowell/Youkilis/Marte 3B Youkilis/Snow 1B Anyone with a glove SS The top 2/3 are very solid. It isn't as explosive as Manny+ Ortiz, but it would be an adequate replacement. I'm interested to see how this plays out. It probably won't, but its fun to think about a new rumor for the first time in weeks!

Well, he wasn't pitching to the Yankees, mostly the Sox, Toronto, TB and Tor. I'm not sure how those 4 teams were statistically, but its not the same as someone coming to TB, TOR or BAL. Just to be fair...

This topic has really devolved... geez. Beckett is better on many fronts than RJ, particularly health, age and build. Statistically they were similar last year... Beckett should continue getting better, Johnson should continue getting worse. I hate it when someone keeps pointing to the number of WINS a pitcher has, or the number of INNINGS he threw. Johnson needed to throw innings last year; he's getting paid tons of money to anchor an old and injured, tired staff. So of course he got innings. And of course he got wins, he pitches for the YANKEES! Very few pitchers could NOT win at least some games with that lineup behind them. You neglect to mention that RJ was pretty average away from the house that ruth built (ERA 3.13 vs. 4.64), he gave up 32 HR (vs. 14 for Beckett). I didn't mean for a whole debate to start by arguing against Johnson > Beckett, I just am happy to have Beckett and would rather have him than Johnson, both for this year and for the 6-7 years in the future that he will be a productive pitcher in this league. (FWIW, Beckett also had poor home/away splits, slightly better than RJ). Johnson is in a decline. He will be tough in a big game, as their best big game pitcher. In a playoff round I think Johnson vs. Schilling or Johnson vs. Beckett would be a wash pitching-wise. Of course, the Yanks can't throw Johnson both days so we'll have to see what they do otherwise. I would be too optimistic about the Yanks pitching staff.

I don't. Beckett still throws hard and is intimidating. RJ does not and is not. Beckett is currently a better pitcher than RJ and I think any team would rather have him.

Payton would be okay. He doesn't answer the leadoff quesiton though he does have some decent pop. I just looked at his numbers and he didn't actually do that well last season. It felt like I was always hearing his name in Oakland games, but his .302 OBP with Oakland indicates otherwise... He did have 13 HR and 42 RBI in 69 games though. That would put him on pace for a .270/.310/.450/760 or so, with about 20 HR and 85 RBI. Not bad, not good. Bellhornish. That seems like the textbook definition of a stop-gap CF replacement to me. We could do better, in time. Right now though, I would almost rather have Dave Roberts than Payton. Roberts had a .784 OPS last year, scoring 65 runs. He stole 23 bases too, but with 12 caught stealings you have to wonder if he has the same speed as his 38/3 stolen/caught ratio from 04. In any case, he (unlike Payton) was a crowd favorite, a guy that has forever etched himself into Sox lore and he would be able to leadoff. If he could repeat his .356 OBP the sox would be fine (compare with Damon's .366). He would still come around to score pretty often and could be a pesk up at the top of the order. Roberts Loretta Ortiz Manny Tek Nixon Lowell Youkilis SS (Pedroia/Cora/???) Not a horrible lineup either. 7 good veteran hitters, 1-2 younger guys being asked to contribute for the first time... could be good stuff to watch. EDIT: proofreading my bad math.

I just won't argue with 6 gold gloves in our defensive replacement/veteran 1b option. I imagine Snow has plenty of experience with things like, moving runners over, sac flies and bunts etc., but I can't be sure... I like experienced guys who are not going to collapse under pressure.

Now would be a good time to deal for Crisp if the sox are really willing to part with Marte. He (Marte) is a great prospect, there is no doubt about that. The sox have a farm system that I thought was great even BEFORE they got Marte, and after they traded Hanley and Anibel. If Manny is indeed staying then Crisp would be a great CF replacement, he's young and has shown great skills. I would be much more in favor of Marte for Crisp than Marte for Lugo or anyone else. I doubt it will happen, and I"m happy about that because I'm excited about Marte. But if Manny stays then the whole restructuring thing becomes much less important. Our offense, except for a leadoff hitter, is pretty set.