riverside sluggers

Its foolish for people to still bash the Red Sox for not giving Pedro the contract he wanted

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061128/news_1s28padres.html

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/11/28/nl_teams_warm_up_to_idea_of_a_ramrez_deal/ While the Herald says the Sox have backed off of hot pursuit of Julio Lugo, the Globe is reporting that the Sox have made an offer to him. It also goes on to say that they project Lugo & Crisp forming a speedy combination at the top of the order.

Jus thought Id do an update on the top 50 free agents. Newly signed are in red, the rest is where I predict them to go 1. **Daisuke Matsuzaka... Boston Red Sox 2. Alfonso Soriano... Chicago Cubs 3. Aramis Ramirez... Chicago Cubs 4. Barry Zito... San Diego Padres 5. Barry Bonds... San Francisco Giants 6. Jason Schmidt... Seattle Mariners 7. Roger Clemens... Houston Astros or retirement 8. Carlos Lee... Houston Astros 9. Gary Matthews Jr... Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (still hate this name) 10. JD Drew... Boston Red Sox 11. Tom Glavine... New York Mets 12. Vicente Padilla... St. Louis Cardinals 13. Frank Thomas... Toronto Blue Jays 14. Ray Durham... San Diego Padres 15. Jim Edmonds... St. Louis Cardinals 16. Jose Guillen... Philladelphia Phillies 17. Akinori Iwamura... Tampa Bay Devil Rays 18. Mike Mussina... New York Yankees 19. Greg Maddux... Los Angeles Dodgers 20. Julio Lugo... Boston Red Sox 21. Andy Pettitte... Astros or early retirement 22. Moises Alou... New York Mets 23. Adam Kennedy... St. Louis Cardinals 24. Gil Meche... Toronto Blue Jays 25. Kei Igawa... Chicago Cubs 26. David Dellucci... Cleveland Guardians 27. Ted Lilly - New York Yankees 28. Jeff Weaver... St. Louis Cardinals 29. Jeff Suppan... New York Mets 30. Luis Gonzalez... San Diego Padres 31. Juan Pierre... Los Angeles Dodgers 32. Nomar Garciaparra... Los Angeles Dodgers 33. Frank Catalanotto... Texas Rangers 34. Dave Roberts... San Francisco Giants (pending official release) 35. Woody Williams... Houston Astros 36. Trot Nixon... Seattle Mariners 37. Kenny Lofton... Texas Rangers 38. Adam Eaton... Philadelphia Phillies 39. Randy Wolf... Los Angeles Dodgers 40. Mark Mulder... Baltimore Orioles 41. Kerry Wood... Chicago Cubs 42. Eric Gagne... Cleveland Guardians 43. Jose Valentin... New York Mets 44. Rich Aurilia... San Francisco Giants 45. Mark DeRosa... Chicago Cubs 46. Joe Borowski... Boston Red Sox 47. Aubrey Huff... Houston Astros 48. Craig Wilson... New York Yankees 49. Ryan Klesko... DetroitTigers or retirement 50. Kevin Millar... Baltimore Orioles Not Listed in Top 50 Miguel Batista... Arizona Diamondbacks Danys Baez... Baltimore Orioles Mark Loretta... San Francisco Giants Justin Speier... Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Alex Gonzalez... Cincinnati Reds Chad Bradford... Baltimore Orioles (pending official release) Jamie Walker... Baltimore Orioles Scott Schoenweiss... Boston Red Sox Mike Stanton... Cincinnati Reds David Weathers... San Francisco Giants (pending official release)

http://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/495258/detail.html Lucchino has made an offer to Matsuzaka that he calls "fair and comprehensive, and offers a great deal of security and a substantial level of compensation."

The Boston Herald is reporting that the contract could very well be 5 years/$75 million. The deal could be held up right now because of a physical Drew has to take

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-os1127,0,5860222.story?track=rss Bradford is close to signing a 3 year contract with the Orioles. Setting themselves up to have a strong back end of the bullpen Jamie Walker, 3 years/$11.5 million Danys Baez, 3 years/$19 million Chad Bradford, 3 years/?? So FO what is our bullpen gonna look like?

if said is true D-Rays beef up with good pitching, we say farewell to another Red Sox killer leaving the division

"TedWilliams", the Sox dont need to go searching for a 2nd baseman. Pedroia's in line to be the starting 2nd baseman. All rookies have their bumps and bruises, he's gonna be a very good asset to the 07 team

Where did I say anything about Mike Lowell? He was a salary dump, nothing more, the Sox had to take him to get Beckett. Anyways, I cant state an opinion that Beckett will not always have a 5+ ERA for Boston? I apologize sir. Where did I say I thought Sanchez would tank for Boston? I said he would not come close to the same success he had for Florida. Is that also wrong for me to suggest sir? He had a 2.87 ERA and threw a no hitter in the National League.

Bump Yet another tuseless thread, started by GOM, with main goal being to spark up again a Red Sox vs Yankees fight... Who cares about the GMs that run the teams. Each GM is credited with bad moves along with good moves. Concerning the Beckett trade (ludicrous IMO Yankee fans are predicting Beckett will have a 5 ERA rest of his career)... this happened 3 weeks after Theo went on his journey to "find himself". He was kept in the loop oh sure, but the main people who made this trade were John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and the 2 junior GMs Again... Anibal Sanchez wouldnt have come close to the same type of success in the tough hitting AL East. The Sox traded him because they did not want to part with their top pitching prospect Jon Lester. Sounds like a common decision to me

Can the Sox at least get Joe Borowski? Did I just say that? Plain and simple, the Sox are set to be picking among the trash heap free agents like theyve done before

So our expectations should be that he will be decent or below average for Boston this season?

Before 2006, Matthews was a career .249 hitter. And as MANNYHOF24 said, he's nearing his mid-30s. Not a good long-term investment by Moreno

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/25/GIANTS.TMP Dave Roberts is set to sign a 3 year contract with the San Francisco Giants. Rich Aurilia is also close to signing a 2 year contract with the Giants. Remaining busy they are said to be in serious discussions with former Padre Mark Loretta, and David Weathers to be the 8th inning set up man and next in line closer for this season.

Dont tell me people were actually banking on idea that the Sox were going to gun hard after Soriano & Carlos Lee?? Even before Drew opted out, it was a forgone conculsion that right field didnt rank among the top priorities for the Sox.

One of the easiest predictions for the top 50 free agent list EDIT: Why do you say "another one bites the dust"?

Im trying to not get to much excited here, but it just keeps looking more and more likely D-Mat will be in Boston this spring. http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061123/capt.xkk10611230900.japan_baseball_matsuzaka_xkk106.jpg http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061123/capt.xkk10811230857.japan_baseball_matsuzaka_xkk108.jpg Ok here Matsuzaka is giving his farewell speech to the Seibu Lions in his home park http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061123/capt.xkk10711230859.japan_baseball_matsuzaka_xkk107.jpg Here Matsuzaka is being seen thrown up in the air by his teammates... as a celebration of his transfer to the major leagues

He'll (Hopefully) get his chance the home opening series, facing Seattle... Just think about it, Matsuzaka's Fenway Park debut as a Red Sox... his first pitch is for Ichiro

Where did you read that Cora is going to be the starting shortstop of 07? He was signed to be a bench player. Trust me, the Sox will go through a long list of shortstops before handing the job to him.

Look up at the Morneau & Jeter Tied thread. Justin Morneau won the MVP without leading in any offensive category whatsoever