Rdsxmbnt

are you making the DFA Pena part up? I doubt they would do that

Rewind to the 2006 offseason where Hanley was coming off of a meh 2005 season for AA Portland. High ceiling but disappointing performance after a good start in AA the prior season. He was the #10 prospect by BA in the 2005 offseason and fell to #30 in the 2006 offseason. Then there's Sanchez who was another good prospect, #40 by BA, but the third best pitching prospect in the system behind Papelbon and Lester. Now we were getting a 25yr old ace who was also a WS MVP, and for a team that needed pitching this was really a no-brainer. Hanley didn't project to arrive till around 07' and trading Sanchez also to get Beckett was again a no brainer. Fast forward to the 2007 offseason, where it didn't look good from our side. Hanley skipped over AAA completely and won ROTY with more than 50 SB and an .800+ OPS out of the SS position. Beckett on the other hand wasn't a very good SP, his K rate dropped and his HR rate was off the charts. Lowell the "throw in" put up a very nice season also, playing fantastic defense and posting an OPS of .814. Sanchez had a nice season for the Marlins after skipping AAA (a move that I think will have terrible effects moving forward) however his peripherals were bad and not surprisingly he didn't pitch all that well when he was healthy this season. And fast forward to now where the deal seems to have evened out. Beckett, after changing his pitching stance and working with John Farrell, is a legit Major League ace. He has one of the best curveballs in the league and an explosive fastball, but now he's locating these beautifully, his walk rate is fantastic as is his K rate. His 4.55 K/BB is among the league leaders and his HR is back in line with his career norms. He has all the intangibles also, he's a fierce competitor and can go deep into games. Hanley is now one of the best SS in baseball, after a solid rookie campaign his offensive game took off even more. He's currently leading the NL in batting average, and numbers that rival in SS. His defense is bad though, bottom tier in the league, but his offense is all-star caliber. Lowell continues to have an even better season, hopefully he doesn't have a 2nd half swoon late in the season here but his OPS is above .850 also and depending on what the Red Sox do with him, he'll net two draft picks if he leaves. IMO it looks to be a win-win deal, the Red Sox got a franchise ace that will anchor this rotation for years to come (along with an all-star 3B) and the Marlins got a franchise SS who will be there for a while. I'd really have no problem with either side of the deal, but I like our side since SP is what wins championships, but I'd have no problem with Hanley either. Call it the Beckett/Hanley deal I suppose.

cora! beautiful play

leadoff double very nice

Another fantastic start for Masterson: 6 IP, 4 hits, (2 runs) 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 7-1 GO-FO All hits were singles, amazing he's completly dominating AA. This was his 2nd 10 K game for Portland, and he's gone 6+ innings in all of his starts. On the season now: 39 IP, 19 hits, 9 BB, 45 K, 1.38 ERA That's 10.38 K/9, 2.08 BB/9, 5.0 K/BB, 0.23 HR/9. And an insane GB/FB ratio

why is it always so hard in safeco??? awesome win though, nice job DiceK especially

phew, that happened fast

10 K for dicek, nice game for him

Nice job getting out of the jam. How bout we start that Okajima-Gagne-Papelbon thing now

great Ichiro hits are like a disease here

what he said

timlin blows the game again

Manny....nope

timlin blows it

ugh timlin what the heck are you doing out there

nice inning

wtf come on Manny

nice Papi! 2 RBI already this game

HR Papi!

who are these scouts that say this?

2 IP: 2 hits, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K since his first start: 6 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

How does he do it??? He has 10 IP and only one earned run, but he walks 10.8 batters per 9 innings and his WHIP is 1.70. Combine his Boston stats and hes pitched 30 innings with a 2.40 ERA to go along with a 1.87 WHIP and a whopping 27 walks. He cant sustain a 102% LOB but man he's been getting into trouble and getting out of it all year

SP Jose Capellan is having a nice season for the Lowell Spinners. 47 IP, 37 hits, 7 BB, 47 K, 3.26 ERA, 1 HRA 9.0 K/9, 1.34 BB/9, 6.71 K/BB, 0.19 HR/9

dye with another HR 13-9

Wake tied for first in the AL in wins now