SCM33

I think the question will ultimately be.....is this guy worth the posting fee + the deal to get him here. If you ask me, I say no....but the Sox cant walk away from this and embarass not only RSN, but the United States and MLB for their dumb ass posting fee rules and regs. I guess Scott Boras has to ask the question of whether or not he wants to truly go through this and possibly sever ties to Japanese players, bc i think this hurts his reputation as an agent in Japans eyes bc he didnt get it done.

Juan Diaz says hello!

http://www.talksox.com that should pretty much answer your question.

You have to think Garland is a bargain if Maddux is getting 10M this year. I dont get it.

If Manny stays, I think its a great deal. 14M is alot, but what could you expect with this ridiculous market this offseason? Typical Sox/Theo type hitter.....can hit 300, get on base, solid OPS, walks a ton. While this team probably wont put up quite as many runs as they did a few years back, they will have a solid lineup. Things to look for: Crisp having a season similar to those solid ones he had in Cleveland. Varitek having a rebound season, he cant possibly hit worse than he did this year. Lowell putting up solid numbers. Lugo providing more offense we have gotten from the SS position since Nomar left. ANY contribution out of 2B. The infield defense takes a little hit, but the atrocious OF got a little better. WMP coming of the bench to spell anyone is a better option than Gabe Kapler, although Id still like to have him back for defensive/baserunning situations.

:papelbon:

That just about sums it up. Look guys, its going to get done. There is no pitching on the market. We control the best guy out there right now and Theo understands this. You didnt think Boras wasnt going to try to squeeze us like he does with every player every year did you? Its frigin Boras, of course they are way off. The frigin Yankees are way off in terms of Boras asking price.

I would rather see it spent on arms than .267 career hitters. After Lee and Soriano Jones will demand close to 20 million per year. Dont think he wont either, because somebody will pay him. You know whats sad? I had a talk with my grandfather the other day and its truly sickening. He played minor league ball with Pittsburgh before he was drafted in the Korean war. I asked him "How much money did you make?" "What was your batting average?" "How many homeruns did you hit?" You know what he says? That stuff wasn't important back then. All that talk about the elder members of RedSox nation finally dying with a smile on their face is ********, because people who played the game like my grandfather didnt give a s*** because baseball is not baseball anymore, certainly not when a .267 career hitter will demand over 15 million and probably get it. Sorry for the rant, if it came down to it I would take Wells over Jones any day of the week but no ballplayer is worth that money. I can understand 10 million a year, although thats still sickening while I bust my ass in law enforcement to make 45,000 f***in dollars. 20 million to play a game is ridiculous. Like HOF Bob Lemon once said, "Baseball is a kid's game that grownups only tend to screw up." So much for the market coming down...

ugh....im tired of hearing about Theo being creative. Manny Ramirez is not going anywhere. Its pointless to talk about it everyday. Todd Helton played his whole career at Coors. I would not call anyone who plays there an "offensive juggernaut. Walker was a good player, but not the same when he left, and certainly not the same before he got there http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/walkela01.shtml. Same with Bichette http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bicheda01.shtml Same with Ellis Burks http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burksel01.shtml, and the same really with Galarraga http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/galaran01.shtml. Same with Vinny Castilla http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/castivi02.shtmlBig cat could always hit, but discovered mysterious power in his years there. I don't think anyone who plays in Coors can be predicted outside of the friendly park. Not to mention he makes a pretty penny, and will look for more soon....and we dont even know how he will perform outside of Colorado. Mike Sweeney has nothing left, and can't play 1B anymore anyway. He played exactly 0 games and 0 innings at 1B last season. Vernon Wells: Carlos Lee just got 6 years, 100 million. I cant imagine what it would take to not only acquire.....but hold on to Vernon Wells. Plus, I cant imagine the Jays dealing him anyway since they probably feel they have just as good of a chance as anyone on opening day....AND the Sox are in the same division. Crede: Had a career year last year, Mike Lowell has a longer track record. They both play good defense. Crede has zero on base skills. All or nothing hitter. Id rather stick with Mike Lowell than Crede. Ibanez: Unless he learns to play RF he has no value here, because Manny Ramirez is not going anywhere. I dont think the former 1B is capable of playing RF at the Fens. I do like the suggestion though, he is pretty solid. Actually hes very solid. Sexson: I dont like him very much, never have. I think we could just as much out of WMP because they are similar hitters. Andruw Jones: Ive always liked him, although I always thought he was an overrated offensive player. He doesnt hit much for average, hes average in terms of OBP, hes got a pretty good career OPS, we all know about his defense. Again though.....Jones is a lot better than Lee, and Lee just got 6 years 100 million dollars. We all sit here and bitch about Manny's contract and cant wait to get rid of it, so why take on another one? Dunn: We all know about his power. Very good on base skills. Strikes out a ton (averages 183 per year) and plays TERRIBLE defense, and i mean Terrible. .968 career fielding percentage for a LF which is pitiful including 12 errors and a .960 clip last season. We all complain about WMP (.965 in RF) but WMP plays a solid CF (.988). Overall, I wouldnt like many of those options. Ibanez is solid, but again Manny is not going anywhere. Maybe Ibanez can go back to 1B? Helton's track record suggests a positive but I wonder how much Coors inflated him. Sweeney...no, Jones and Wells will cost a fortune and we have a cheap Coco and WMP right now. Sexson and Dunn both scare me and I think we are better with Lowell than Crede. Your ideas make some sense, but there are too many question marks as well. I dont think the OF changes much. It will be Manny, Coco, and WMP until WMP proves otherwise. I like the idea of Ibanez coming here to maybe play 1B, or Helton if COL eats some of that contract...assuming Helton will be the same Helton. -SCM33 Edit: Added Vinny Castilla to the COL list.

No he doesnt.

What are the chances of Mirabelli taking a minor league contract? If he loves it here so much, why not. Then bring in another catcher, maybe Mirabelli rubs off on him a little bit, and Dougie eventually goes?

I know it, just thought id pass it on. I think theres no way in hell, especially with Clemens 15 wins away from Warren Spahn, and the fact that they would pay him 20 million to close out games, since there is no "discount" with the Rocket.

I saw this on another board I used to post at, and thought it would be a pretty good idea. Take a look at the points the poster made: Quoted: I still see a lot of evidence to support how smart a move the 6 man rotation is. - It allows Matsu to stay in what he is confortable with - Schilling has great 5 day rest numbers - Clemens and Wake are +40 and would surely benefit from the extra day - Becket's skin gets an extra day of rest in an effort to minimize blistering - Papelbon gets extra rest as he transitions to starter. In weeks when they have off days, Wake moves to a role in the pen." END QUOTE Add in the fact that there have been rumors about Wake in the pen, Theo meeting with Adam Eaton, and the continuous Clemens rumors and we could very well see a 6 man rotation or at least a variation of it.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/11/17/ramrez_still_talk_of_the_town/

Well, the Nachos may make you s*** your pants.

While most are in agreement that losing Loretta is not a team breaking transaction, I just hope they do replace the little things he did do while he was here. We could have done a lot worse and I am not sure at this point if Pedroia is the better offensive player. This is in no way declaring that Loretta was a star or even an above average offensive player, but he was solid. I hope Pedroia can contribute offensivley in the little ways which Loretta did because if he can't, the team is weaker regardless of Loretta's talent level. We knew that Loretta would go in to this season a year older, and we all predict he would most likely not perform the way he did in 06, but the real question is whether or not Pedroia in 07 will be better then Loretta offensively speaking.

This is somewhat embarrassing if you ask me. All year everyone from the AL trashed the NL saying how much better the AL was and blah blah blah. The Cardinals squeeked in with 83 wins and really manhandled the Tigers. I mean I do give credit to the Cardinals but man did the Tigers lay an egg.

That bullpen looks awful. Holy s***, its like shitbum central.

You won't be hated. There are some Yankee posters who I don't mind here at all. I dont consider myself simply a sox fan, but a baseball fan in general. Sox have many different things they can do to try and improve this team, or change this team (3B, SS, 2B, 1B, RF, Manny) but the one thing that does seem evident is the need to be creative and bring in some pitching help. The market is thin, so thats why I say Theo needs to be creative. I have been a defender of his all along, and this offseason is an important one for him and his security here. I think he will put together some 3 or 4 way deals to bring in some help (no idea who, so I wont speculate). He has a knack of going under the radar and doing things that nobody expects so it will be interesting.

Lets take a look here: Holy s***, you are dumber than I thought. First off, you fail to see the obvious sarcasm about Kevin Millar playing SS for the Redsox. I mean jesus buddy, senile setting in? Maybe a little alzheimers? Second off, I was so sarcastic with my remark because your original claim was that Millar never had a regular starting position when he in fact played 280 games at First Base for the Sox over three years. I call that a pretty regular starting position. Your responses to my sarcasm are baffling.