Rdsxmbnt

welcome

welcome

tough crowd, i thought they were pretty decent

First off I'm assuming they still go on sale at Fenway itself right? (for some reason I thought I heard they stopped doing that a couple years ago but never knew if it was true or not). Anyway I went down back in early 2004 when they went onsale. I thought I heard (Idk where I hear these things) that they were doing a lottery to discourage camping out so I showed up around ~9-9:30 ish and there was a good size line and of course there wasn't a lottery, first come first serve. So thus started a long (but enjoyable) day at the park. They seated the first (hundred?) people who showed up in the .406 club and the rest in the HOF club and other sections. As you got closer to your number you got called up to go wait in the .406 club. Gabe Kapler showed up, so did Larry Lucchino so it was pretty interesting and they had other various forms of entertainment. Anyway it took about 6-7 hours or so but we finally got down to the ticket windows. People were concerned that since it was getting late in the day that there would be nothing left. But we were assured they had set tickets aside for those waiting all day (they did). Free choice of games for the most part (including Yankees) IIRC. So anyway I'm guessing tickets have gotten a lot harder to get since then, and I have no idea what has happened to the process since I went there now that the club is open and such. Friday night at 5 should be perfectly fine. Good Luck!

hi

i picked up two pairs for a DET and LAA game

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-santanaupdate120507&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I believe I read somewhere that Kennedy has plus-plus plus command

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/the-johan-santana-meetings/ that is big if it's true

Sox willing to deal Ellsbury or Lester but not both: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3138088 EDIT: Beaten by CD's but there are the main important parts of the update

Red Sox have possibly upped their offer: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3136495

Did you yourself hear it or going by the post on sosh?

This is interesting, last line in particular: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3136495

Yankees willing to trade Hughes http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/11/30/2007-11-30_yankees_decide_to_offer_phil_hughes_in_p-2.html

id rather have santana

Wait, then what's he going to be doing in AAA for the first month or two? Nothing? Having irregular start patterns and once he reaches the majors then he will have to adjust to the riggor of the 5 man?

I'd like either, but I wouldn't trade Buchholz for Haren. Haren is more of a 3.75-4.00 ERA guy than low 3's. He had quite a bit of BABIP 'luck' in the first half and was a 4.00+ ERA pitcher when that went the other way. Definetly not bad too have at all, but I wouldn't surrender the type of talent you would give to get a top 5 pitcher in baseball like Santana which I'm worried may be the price given the season he just had.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/11/14/bc.bba.yankees.rodriguez/index.html

Hasn't this been known for a really long time?

You can't honestly fault the Red Sox for not sticking with Carlos Pena. That's not realistic at all, and if any team thought he was going to have the season he just had he probaly would have gotten more of an offer than what TB presented him.

Yes Sanchez spent a large portion of 2006 in AA and considering the benchmark for for SP jumping for AA to MLB is one spot start from Abe Alvarez, it would seem Sanchez was destined for AAA and at a bare minimum was probaly looking at 8-10 less starts in the majors, and even then the chances of him matching anywhere near his NL production in the AL is probaly slim. Similar with Hanley, if the FO was seriously considering giving him any consideration to start 2006 as the starting SS, I think he would have gotten more than 2 AB. Again consider the bench mark during this FO's tenure, where ZERO position players have ever been given a starting a spot directly from ST out of AA. Given the FO's tendencies for calling up prospects, his .720 OPS in AA probaly meant he was staying in AA for at least the start of 2006, and probaly called up to AAA mid-season and gotten his cup of coffee in the majors towards the end of the year much like Youkillis, Pedroia, and Ellsbury have all done. Point is you have to consider how this organization deals with young players, and the fact that it is quite different from the Marlins. I think there is reasonable doubt that Hanley and Sanchez in 2006 do not provide nearly the value they provided the Marlins in 2006, and I've stated my reasons for that. I'm of the opinion that given the way things were constructed for 2006 AND the injuries that occurred that we were not going to win the World Series that year. This whole Beckett and Lowell trade IMO was a very good move. Someone could easily point out that Beckett was the ALCS MVP and Lowell was the World Series MVP while Hanley played for a last place team and what would be the counter for that? But it extends past that, and this trade will reap the benefits of having Josh Beckett and possibly Mike Lowell for long past the "two obligated years." Josh Beckett's extension is so cheap compared to the 100+ mil he could get on the open market because the Red Sox had exclusive negotiation rights and Josh Beckett wanted to be on this team because he knew what came with being a Red Sox and liked it. That is a benefit of the trade. If Josh Beckett stays with the Marlins and becomes a FA, there is zero chance he signs a 3yr 30 mil deal on the open market, no chance. Same with Lowell, IF he signs a deal worth 3/39 or something in that area, that is in large accounts a home-town discount given the year he just had. He could probaly get a 4 or 5 year deal with more money per year, and he may very well. However if he does sign that deal then this trade enables you to get 5 years of production from Mike Lowell and the reason he signed that cheaper deal was because he experienced being on the Red Sox and was willing to take a paycut to continue it. We've harped back and forth about extensions being parts of trades, and you are of the opinion that they are completely seperate. However from what I can see this organization thinks quite a bit deeper than that when making deals.

However you can't really pencil Hanley and Sanchez's production into the 2006 Red Sox because there was a very good chance that neither even got called up to the majors. Hanley in 2005 in AA had a .720 OPS, there was a chance he repeats AA for a while, or starts in AAA. But the chances of him being in the majors, putting up a 7.5 WARP were basically slim to none since he probaly wouldn't have even had the chance. Same with Sanchez who was going to start the season in AAA. EDIT: Arroyo too was probaly a large product of pitching in the NL, I don't think he could be counted on for anything more than a 5.0 WARP for 06'.