jacksonianmarch

Well thought out, good post

Gonzalez is a GG caliber 1b as well. Moving Youk over to 3b actually INCREASES his value since he is an average defender but a plus offensive player from that position. And, Gonzo is a better offensive player at this point in his career than Youk is, so you upgrade offensively on 2 fronts and you keep the same defense (well since Beltre has been horrd at 3b thus far, Youk cant be any worse, right?). The sox have enough chips in their minor leagues to make it happen without it affecting the big league squad all that much. Now that Buchholz has inserted himself into the rotation long term, Kelly isnt as integral. Put Kelly, Anderson, Reddick, and Kalish into the conversation and I am sure a team like SD would have to think about it. Granted, it would be in the offseason since SD looks pretty tough right now and might have enough chutzpah to keep it close by the ASB. Close enough to try and contend

The Yankees signed tall RHP Erik Olivo out of the DPL last week. He's 19 and will jump right into DSL ball. He apparently throws 90-94mph with some pretty good offspeed offerings. The Yankee brass loved him as well. He was considered one of the top pitching arms in the DPL this yr. He signed for 300K

ORS, that is interesting that you are taking the bridge theory up so early, but then again, you typically are a bit ahead of the curve. Do you think the pitching and defense mantra was just a smokescreen? And, if this is a bridge, what big name will they be adding by 2012, in your opinion, that snaps them out of the bridge realm?

Yankee farm system coming through. Hughes looks like the ace of the staff right now, and the staff all in all is doing pretty well aside from Vazquez. Cano is probably the AL MVP right now, he is not missing anything. Not sure what he did in the offseason, but he needs to keep doing it. Gardner has just shown a massive maturation. His strike zone discipline has improved immensely, AND he has changed his swing. Instead of trying to get loft, he is trying to slap the ball, which fits his skillset a lot better. It's turning him into one of the league's best pests. Loving what I see. Also, Tex has 6 hits in May, which is more than half of what he had in April. He's heating up. Now, all we need is for ARod to start hitting again and for Grandy to come back healthy and we'll be an unstoppable force.

SD isnt dealing right now anyway. They are winning

The prize of this yr's class is Luis Heredia, a 6'4" righty from Mexico who throws hard and has shown plus potential of three off speed pitches. He is expected to get Inoa type money. Two other guys I have heard of are Edwin Moreno and Vicmal DelaCruz. They are both OFers with 5 tool potential, although Vicmal is very small. Here is a link to some of the dominican guys. dplbaseball.com. This is considered a pretty thin class. Just a handful of top prospects with a pretty thin middle

Dude, you posted that in 2 other spots. Give it a rest

That's the interesting thing. He goes out and says that the team is in a bridge period, then signs a starter with injury questions for 5 yrs during the bridge? That makes no sense.

I know wins isnt the best marker of pitcher performance, but 17 wins is not garbage. Saunders is a pretty darn good pitcher.

I have an interesting idea. Tek hasnt slowed a bit from the right side, but his LH splits have been abysmal the past 2 yrs or so. How bout ditching the whole switch hitting idea and he hits primarily from the right?

Dont forget Beltre's player option. If he continues to play shoddy defense and shows a total loss of power, then he might take the sox up on that 5 mil player option

Papelbon is not the problem, but this time next yr, he is not on your team. Book it now. Fearless Jacko prediction! If the sox continue their mediocrity, he gets dealt for a big return at the deadline. If they stay in it, then he's dealt over the offseason. Paps is a great player who has revered to being very good for the time being. But, he is entering his last season of arb and the sox have an obvious closer candidate setting up. Theo is all about value, and dealing Papelbon would bring back the most value for the least amount of team harm.

Hey y'all. Jet lagged like crazy, currently 3am where I am. For the sox, we all saw the 7-2 run and every game was a massive struggle with some serious level of luck factor. Some people were heartened by the wins saying that a good team pulls out games that they shouldnt technically win. Others were a bit more realistic and saw that that run masked a bigger issue. Namely, no part of the sox team is playing well. First of all, I have never really been a proponent of the locker room cohesion theory. But having some of your stars from yesteryear sitting for new guys who arent producing could be a problem. Lowell forced from 3b to a platoon DH role. Papi forced from full time DH to platoon. Vtek pulled from the starters ranks. While they might be pissed or they might not be, you lose that level of leadership on the field. Getting together and singing kumbaya in the lockerroom is not necessary. Having leaders on the field capable of keeping their cool in key spots, buying into the team philosophy, and getting big hits is a big part of a well led team. The sox dont have that right now. The offense is hit or miss, and seems to be keeping up with the same problem from last season. You hit average to bad pitchers well, but cannot hit above average to good pitchers at all. Even as some players start to heat up, that trend continues. The Brad Bergeson's and Dana Eveland's of the world face your wrath, but the Millwood's and even the Brett Cecil's skate by with minimal problems The SP is starting to come around. Beckett and Lester threw solid outings and Lackey fought through a tough outing to minimize damage. DiceK was miserable. That being said, you got 2 losses out of a 7IP 3ER performance and a 7IP 2ER performance. That is not acceptable to a team like the O's. And now the pen is starting to lose its cool now that the SP are starting to work their way into the season. And now, 7 games back of the Rays and 6 back of the Yankees in the L column and heading into one of the most difficult stretches of the season, the sox find themselves in a precarious position. Start winning, or be turned from buyers into sellers at the break. From a Yankee fan perspective, I must say that this is the most disjointed sox team I have seen since Tek went down with a bum knee in 2006. Theo has his work cut out for him, cause TB and NYY are not letting up

Hughes dominant again. So glad we didnt deal him

This isnt like he is pitching below average. He went from being one of the best pitchers in the game last yr to a guy whose ERA is over 9. Something is wrong. DL him with a phantom injury and see if he can work it out in a rehab assignment. He is like Wang last yr. Pitching like this, he is no use to us

Chalk up another run to umpire f***age

Cano=beast

Same Pettitte. Pounding the zone. 2 bloop hits, a YS flyball HR, and one hard hit ball for a double. It happens

Missed that one. Beltre with 45 EBH? That would be a pretty big dropoff. Not really fearless. He had 35 last yr after missing 51 games and having his worst yr of his career. Even in his worst full Seattle season he had 56.

There is no coming back from this in a baseball sense. If he even makes contact with a minor league pitch, then that's a miracle

These are the kind of players who I do not care about roids. Seriously, the guy is a fringe big leaguer and without the juice he may have never made the bigs. Remember, one AB, one inning, one anything to put your name in a boxscore secures you a lifetime pension and benefits. Making the big leagues is really, really important to fringe players

You saw what happened when you rushed Lars before. He tanked. Now, he is hitting again and moving up the ranks. Don't annoint him as a Red Sock just yet. Lets see if he can hack it in AAA before thinking he'll be in Boston this yr.

One more day actually. Today is the last day of April