mar_022

i dont think jackson was trying to antagonize at all here...chill out kilo. In fact, he's right...if daisuke struggles at first, the fairweather sox fans (not us, as Jackson credited us) will get down on him immediately

the hold up is on the money. the sox want more money for a prospect, but the rox dont want to kick any more in, yet they still want a spect. linkie: http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_5112213 i realize this may just be a rumor, but it would make sense

just a note...Helton's home/away splits can be partly attributed to two things. Obviously coors boosts his home splits, but the rest of the NL west parks he plays in hurt his away split. In fenway you should be able to expect something in the middle, if not slightly higher, plus you have to factor in the other hitters in the sox lineup and how they'd help him

so from that article, it sounds like MDC, Lowell, and Tavarez get it done. I love MDC, but i think the sox are better if they make this trade. I'm actually surprised theo hasnt pulled the trigger...goes to show how adamant he is about not trading young pitching after last years blunders. maybe he also thinks MDC has a ligit shot at being the closer and doesnt want to trade that away

Ortiz, Manny, Drew, Helton is as close to a modern day murderer's row as you will find. I was worried when i first saw the rumor on espn, thinking the sox would have to give up too much young talent. But if we could swing Lowell, Tavares, and Hansen/MDC i'd be all for it. that would be an amazing deal for us, especially considering the rox would still kick in some salary

miguel cairo what a fker... one of my favorite manny moment is when he robbed cairo's homer in 04 in NY...cairo rounded the bases thinking it was a dinger and when he found out manny caught it, manny gave him his patented two finger point...priceless. I dont know what it is about cairo, whenever i see his face i just get pissed off

i'm also interested in these threads, i just dont feel like i have much to add. i dont post much, but i love reading these, thanks and keep it up

there is a big difference between who i'd want and who will be in the pen. as mentioned, the major league contracts play a big role as to who is on the roster. I'd like to see this to start the year: LR: Tavares MR: MDC MR: Breslow MR: Okajima SU: Donnelly SU: Timlin CL: Piniero I think it will be: LR: Romero LR: Tavares MR: MDC MR: Okajima SU: Donnelly SU: Timlin CL: Piniero

i think dustin's defense at second base will come around. He won the NCAA Defensive Player of the Year Award at Arizona State at SS, so we know he has the ability to play solid infield, i think its just a matter of him amassing enough reps at second (a relatively new position with some different footwork) to where he feels comfortable. I'm not worried about his D.

im with adam123, i really think coco will break out next year. For this reason i hope he doesnt get traded, because we will definitely be selling low.

hopefully he comes back around the AS break, we give him a spot start or two, and sucker someone in for a deadline deal

he may have HAD the stuff to be a number three, but no one knows if he can even throw right now. his surgery, which was supposed to be exploratory, turned into a major reconstruction...aka his shoulder is effed up

http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=171334 sweet

jetah, cano

already a thread...exactly the same

i'd like dotel somewhere in the pen as well, but he is believed to go somewhere where he is pretty much guaranteed the closer job...ie Kansas City

Foulke out, Dotel in? Posted by Tony Massarotti at 1:07 pm While agent Dan Horwits has confirmed that reliever Keith Foulke has turned down salary arbitration, the Red Sox are one of the finalists currently in the hunt for reliever Octavio Dotel. And the should have their answer tonight. According to sources, the Sox are one of two or three teams to have made an offer to Dotel, who is expected to decide tonight where he will play the 2007 season. Dotel underwent elbow surgery in 2005 and pitched briefly for the Yankees at the end of last season, and will likely end up with a one-year deal in the range of $3 million with considerable incentives. Along with the Sox, the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals reportedly have interest in Dotel. The Yankees are interested in Dotel as a set-up man to Mariano Rivera while the Sox and Royals are eyeing Dotel as a closer. In that way, the Sox and Royals would seem to have an advantage. For Dotel, who was closing for the Oakland A’s before his injury, a one-year deal makes the most sense. He could close for a season and prove his health to clubs, then hit the market again next offseason for a more lucrative contract. A 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, Dotel is 37-31 with a .375 ERA during his career. He had a career-high 36 saves in 2004, when he pitched for the Houston Astros and A’s. It is unclear whether the Sox would continue pursuing other options in the bullpen if they are able to sign Dotel. If they have any questions about Dotel’s health and/or effectiveness, signing another reliever would give them depth, if nothing else. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This confuses me. I don't understand why the FO would be pursuing Gagne and Dotel...although i kinda like the idea. You'd think one of them would return to somewhat good form, and the other should at least be serviceable, but this would be a strange move by the FO

from Ian Browne at Redsox.com Lugo, SS Kevin Youkilis, 1B Ortiz, DH Ramirez, LF Drew, RF Mike Lowell, 3B Jason Varitek, C Coco Crisp, CF Dustin Pedroia, 2B The Red Sox think that Youkilis is a better fit near the top of the order because of his ability to get on base, and the speedy Crisp would be more free to run near the bottom when he wouldn't be taking the bats out of the hands of Ortiz and Ramirez.

Now that the FO has filled out many of the holes, we actually have an idea of how the lineup will look. My guess, and not that i'm claiming i came up with it, most of this is pretty obvious: Lugo Youk Papi Manny Drew Lowell Tek Coco Pedroia I think coco is better suited towards the bottom. Don't get me wrong i like crisp much more than most and feel that he will rebound next year, i just feel like his speed can be more utilized in the 8 spot than the 2 hole, where Tito doesnt like to send him with Papi at the plate (and rightly so). Plus, youk will more-than-likely continue to have a higher OBP, which is what we want to set the table for our version of Murderer's Row. I'd also think that Youk would bat leadoff, with crisp second, when cora subs for lugo. I guess i just want to see people's opinions on Youk v. Crisp in the two hole, and if anyone is ambitious enough to make some projections, have at it.

i like our chances of getting gagne now that CLE has signed borowski...they were seen as our main competitor for Gagne

i was just giving some examples of the caliber of the players on the market next year...and even if we did sign jones for 18 mil a year, and traded manny for spects, that would essentially be like trading manny for Jones and prospects...not too bad in my mind

At this point, i think the sox, with a little pen solidification, will be a very serious contender and an upper-echelon team next year. I think we should just keep manny and try to win a world series next year (im sure gom will laugh at me even suggesting this as a possibility), and if the team doesnt turn out like we envision it now or becomes injury-riddled and fall out of contention, we should offload manny at the trade deadline to a contender for some prospects. Next year's FA market is inexplicably better, and with the money we'd save by trading manny could be spent on a Torii Hunter/Andruw Jones type player.