ksushi

It isn't like he is the only one mashing down there. Bailey ain't doin' to shabby either. I like to see a guy like that come up from time to time. Chris Carter still has a chance to be a good major leaguer though. At 29, for bailey.... not so much. I wonder why they moved Baily off catcher if he can rake like he has been this year or if this year was kind of unexpected.

I think comparing the gagne and the beckett deal together in that sense is a fairly condescending attempt to de-base an arguement - a pretty valid one at that. To say you don't mind giving up great talent, to acquire very good ready-now talent that fits well into you're teams puzzle for winning a world series is not neccessarily wrong. Maybe you're in favor of keeping the prospect. Obviously, that would not have been a bad course to go. Theo is in your camp too. I, for one, will trade great hitting for great pitching. That is what we got, a great pitcher. Comparing the acquisiton of Josh Beckett to that of Eric Gagne is a total joke. Beckett picked us up off our asses in Cleveland and had one of the best post-seasons on the books for a starting pitcher. Isn't that why we got him? The big game? To compete in october you NEED formidable starting pitching, spinning a young a hitter to get that is one way to acquire an ace. Aces don't come by very often, and I think when one is available you explore every possible avenue for acquiring the guy you need. Sure, at the time, Lester would have easily replaced Hanley in the deal. But also at the time, we thought we had an ace prospect in Lester - as a matter of fact, the jury is still out on that, so we can't really judge that yet either - but I would trade a great position player prospect for a great pitcher any day.

Yeah. Questionable call. He really looks like he needs to be in there and get some kind of rhythm going. He isn't exactly tearing the cover off the ball right now. Does Will Carroll have the MRI info? His MRI was today. Regardless, that would be great if that is the time table.

Ortiz and Tek are kind of a given to be sitting right now.

How about a little Debbie Clemens mojo? No? Ok.

To me, if Hanley is a major part of a world series win in florida, that makes this just about the most even possible. If hanley is the cornerstone of a dynasty-esque run, then yeah, they win big time. We gave up a young stud who went on to develop into one of the best players in the bigs. But we got the corner infielder we need and he became a great fit here, and we got our staff leading 20 game winning ace that helped us hoist the world series trophy last year. I honestly don't think things could have worked out any better, no matter what numbers you can spin to say otherwise. Even if the marlins do go on a tear and destroy the MLB for the next five years, I'll still be ok with it. In 2000 if you had asked any one of us if we would trade our best prospect away for a guaranteed world series win, even if the other team would assuredly go on to win at least two or three, every one of us would take that hands down. I think its fine.

95+ with a great slider and an alright change. Electric fastball, good build, questionable delivery. Overall, I think he'll be very good in the rotation.

For the next turn, probably. Long term, no. Buchholz will slot in, almost positive.

Beckett and Cabrera in this one. May Beckett rebound and Manny notch #500 in a Sox win. Beckett: 5-4 4.43 era 61.0 IP 11 BB 65K .237 BAA Cabrera: 5-1 3.70 era 73.0 IP 30BB 42K .236 BAA It's going to be important for Beckett to step up with DiceK likely out a while. This staff needs an ace, and he's it. WIN. Dead bird mojo? http://www.birdlife.org/images/sized/400/e_dead_bulgarian_birds.jpg.jpg

Bradford reports Dice is headed to the DL with a mild strain of the rotator cuff. Pretty bad news. Jeff Bailey is called up, but I imagine Masterson will make his next start and Buchholz will slot in as soon as they feel he is ready.

If DiceK is out for an extended period of time right now that leaves us with : Beckett, Colon, Lester, Wakefield and Buchholz all at the major league level and I feel 100% comfortable with that rotation. All major league quality arms, all capable of giving us a chance to win night in and night out, and until we are told otherwise, all are healthy. If you're going to argue about Clays fingernail.... well, I'll just assume you won't and give you the benefit of the doubt. I guess I just don't see eye to eye with you here. I think given the depth of our farm system and that of our current roster, we can easily afford to put Masterson in the bullpen. All of your speculation is under the assumption that DiceK is out for a long time when we don't know that is the case, but even if he is we have 5 major league quality arms to fill the rotation not counting masterson and the potential return of schilling. It is a move we can afford to make and most likely will. I'll take you're skepticism as a sign of fear that the sox can right their bullpen. My biggest concern about the sox as currently constituted is the offense.

This year he has not been because as I mentioned in my post, magadan changed his approach to attempt to make him more aggressive at the plate. Swinging at more pitches, taking less pitches. Look at his numbers last year, to say he is not a patient hitter is pretty misleading. His approach last year was pretty patient. There was nothing wrong with his approach, I think magadan is a selfish coach to attempt to mold a players approach to the game to have his finger prints all over that players success when the player was already successful. But thats just me.

I was pretty mad about that. Lowell is routinely having bad at bats and is having trouble covering the plate. Not good.

Right, obviously, he hasn't been in AA for long but the early results are good and his fastball is crazy. Hit 101 earlier this year. Freak.

The cause for concern isn't with Pedroia. It's with Magadan for changing pedroia's approach to be a more aggressive hitter. His approach was perfect and I think it was a selfish move of magadan to try to get his finger prints on a great hitter like Dustin. That said, I'm not worried about it. Last year Pedroia had one of the best swing and miss percentages in the majors, I don't see something like that changing so drastically from year to year when the hitter in question is well under the age of 30. I'll go with minor blip. He had a GREAT may last year, but I don't think slump busting is an exact science. If you're a slow starter, you could turn it on in may, june, or even in the 2nd half. Pedroia has been a slow starter his whole career, I think he gets back to his old approach (and his old reputation of being uncoachable which in this case would be a good thing) and he will put together a streak where he tears the cover off the ball.

Bowden owned today. 6.2 0ER 5/2 K/BB. Brings his ERA for may down to 1.22. 2.20 overall on the season. My friends at school were down on him coming into this year, and I'm glad I stuck to my guns, makes me look like I know stuff. He learned a lot and took a lot from his beatings last year. He'll be in pawtucket making noise soon.

I think we need a third solid reliever. It could be one of those two, but I don't know if it is MDC or bust and if we're looking down the barrell of Hansen or Bust, I don't think we're a playoff team. Wake and Masterson can both be put in the bullpen. Initially, Masterson projected as a reliever, a short-term conversion to that role wouldn't keep him from starting in the future. They did it with Pap with all intentions originally of having him be a starter, it gave him experience in the bigs (and playoffs), which helped his development for sure. It also gave the club a major boost. Masterson could be similar. This is a long shot to say the least, but, if Daniel Bard toys with AA hitters like he did in A, a swift promotion to AAA could be in order. A 100mph fastball, when spotted, is effective at any level. But, like I said, serious long shot. I like Hansen and MDC to turn it around way more than I like Bard to make it to the bigs, but I wouldn't say its 100% out of the question yet. MDC was nice last night, so all this might be moot.

i love womens volley ball? hahah thats awesome. And I don't think its either. Matsuwalkza? something like that. edit: im slow. meatspin? haha wow, im an ******* and i should take that out of there. the person who was formerly known on this site as "i love womens volley ball" put my sig together when i left myself signed in on his computer, but i left it alone. thats fantastic though. nothing wrong with being into chicks with photoshopped dicks.

Buckholz? Really? Pun or poor spelling? Maybe I'm wrong in my perspective, but I kind of look at wake as pretty damn expendable at this point. It hurts me to say that, because I like him, but a soft tossing 40+ year old doesn't do as much for me as someone like Masterson or more likely, Buchholz, would learning on the job. The results would be very similar and the time spent with the big club would go a long way for either of them. Masterson needs a little seasoning, but I think Buchholz can handle the bigs despite his tough beatings before hitting the DL. Keep his innings down in AAA, and when the time is right, I wouldn't be shocked in the least if he took over wakes role. I believe Buchholz will be a number 1 type starter as soon as next year, and more big league experience would only make me more confident in that.

Please stop. It hurts us all.

I wore mine to sophmore pinning. Lawl.