jacksonianmarch

221 of Joba's innings have come as a starter. Also, 18 of his 31 starts went 5+IP. By the end, they f***ed around with him so much that he just flat out lost effectiveness. His August and Sept numbers were beyond horrible. I expect his endurance to be a bit better this season

I agree that there are options. I just think that Theo might actually put Kotchmann out there. See, Theo comes and goes in waves. He starts to value defense before baseball people value defense, then he'll value OBP, then SLG, then pitching. He ebbs and flows based on what failed him in yrs past. This yr, he's going back to the 2004 blueprint of improving the D. And Kotchmann is a GG caliber 1b. Would not be surprised if he breaks camp as the starting 1b. Now, he might not stick there, but his glove is huge. To be honest with you, I love Tex's bat, but his glove made a massive difference. Moving Youk to 3b will help and keeping a GG caliber 1b could save a few errors and improve team D.

Buchholz has thrown a total of 190.2IP in the majors spread across 3 seasons. His career ERA is 4.91 and his career WHIP is 1.50 and his career K.9IP is 7.6. Joba has thrown 281IP in the majors over 3 yrs. His career ERA is 3.61, career WHIP is 1.38 and his K/9 is 9.1. Gloss over it all you want. Prior to the time when they started monkeying around with him in August, Joba put up a very solid line. Buchholz also put up a solid line in his 92IP of big league work. Both have the stuff. One has pitched a full yr as a starting pitching. One has not. And, prior to 2009, Joba had a very successful stint as a SP. It is ALL about the endurance and the capacity to repeat the delivery for 150-200IP. Both have had troubles with that. Joba just has gotten more reps against the big boys.

right now he is. I understand that there is a significant likelihood of an upgrade. But as of right now, Beltre is looking like less of a possibility and an AdGon deal looks more detrimental than beneficial.

DiceK was hurt most of the yr with a shoulder injury and Buchholz has yet to throw a full season in the bigs. They are as much of a crap shoot as Joba in yr 2 and Hughes in fist full yr #1

Bay gave you 36 homers in 2009. Varitek gave you 14, VMart gave you 8. Lowell gave you 17. Gonzalez gave you 5 and Nick Green gave you 6 from the SS position. Are you saying that, between Cameron, Scutaro, Kotchmann, and VMart for 2010, you are going to make up 86 bombs? A full season of VMart should be in the 23-25HR range. Cameron probably in the 25HR range as long as he keeps it up. Scutaro, aside from 2009, was more of a 7HR per yr kind of player. And Kotchmann is more of a 12HR guy. So, between all the new acquisitions playing out a full yr, you are still short about 17-20 homers, not to mention a lot of SLG. Lets be honest here. The sox improved significantly in the rotation. They have taken a pretty significant step back offensively. And they have improved their defense significantly depending on their positioning (Cameron in CF and Ells in LF would be much better than the reverse)

Your rotation is better, I agree with you there. But not as much as you may want to portray. I am going by consistent contributors here. CC, AJ, and Pettitte vs Lester, Beckett, and Lackey. You guys take 2 of 3. The back 2 spots are crap shoots for both teams.

Go ahead, analyze it Dipre. You ran off in a tiff, claiming that everyone wanted you to leave. I did not. I actually sent tex a PM stating that your departure would hurt the site when you initially left. But, as it turns out, your leaving for 4 days turned into peaceful banter. And someone else noted it as well in one of the posts. Reciting history is not a flame. If you cannot handle the truth, then you need to buck up.

I actually gave you a reason, though. Ellsbury makes some great catches, but his defensive metrics show that for 2009, he was not a very good CFer. Could it be a fluke? Yes. Could it be an error in the evaluation. Always possible. But his UZR was horrible. Kinda like saying Jeter has deserved all of his GG's. There have been tons of better defenders when Jeter won his GG's, but the popularity and the flair plays out more than consistency. On to ORS. Per usual, he uses no attempt to debate, just to flame. Now, if I go on a rampage calling someone a douchebag, I have a feeling, I'd be banned for a few days. I did not. I even gave ORS a chance to rebut, he did not. Here is the deal, it is difficult to debate that NY is anything but superior to Boston for 2010. When that topic is brought up and the comparisons are brought to light, some just cannot handle it. ORS fits into that category. He's been nothing but an inflammatory troll since the yankees won the WS with everyone, sox and yankee fans alike. I for one, am sick of it.

Again, brilliant addition to the post ORS. You paint yourself as this smart, well-informed poster on this site, but you are nothing but a troll. And the funny thing is, you contradict yourself constantly. Then when you get called out for it, you deny, deny deny. Even when proof is provided. y228 had you dead to rights, the only thing that persistently saves you is the fact that this is a sox board. So the populace puts up with your crap. I see no harm in this thread. Its in the yankee forum, which was created for any and all yankee discussion. A good thing happened today from a yankee perspective, and most of the yankee fans here like it. No need to be a dick and rain on the parade. That being said, if you have any further stunning or enlightening analysis, feel free to share. Your contribution has been most inflammatory thus far, but I am sure you can turn it around champ. BTW, for the mods, does his inital post exhibit an example of an inflammatory post? Shouldn't that require a short vacation for our enlightened friend?

Good to see you brought something to this post ORS. I have come to expect this type of BS from you.

The inevitable comparison, might as well start it. Strictly offense now... 1. Jeter vs Ellsbury- Jeter, no question 2. Johnson vs Pedroia- Push- Pedroia offered a bit more power in 2009, but Johnson crushed him in OBP, which as a 2 hitter is probably more important than SLG 3. Teixeira vs Martinez- Tex, no question 4. Rodriguez vs Youkilis- Push. Youk had a slightly better yr in 2009, but ARod has a clean bill of health now and after his initial adjustment period (which was his ST since he was hurt), nobody was better 5. Posada vs Ortiz- Push. Ortiz sucked in the first 2 months while Posada was as consistent as they come. Career, Ortiz is the better hitter and both are due to decline as age becomes a factor. 6. Granderson vs Drew- Drew is the better OBP machine, Granderson was the better power hitter last season. Granderson brings more to the table in terms of overall game, but a .900OPS cannot be ignored 7. Swisher vs Cameron- Swisher has it. Both hit for low averages, both his 20+ homers and both K a ton. Swisher is more versatile as a switch hitter and hits for a little more power and walks a little more. 8. Cano vs Kotchmann- Cano by a lot 9. Cabrera vs Scutaro- Push. The battle for the tallest midget is on. Neither should be expected to be offensive forces. Scutaro comes off the better offensive yr, but Cabrera is 9 yrs younger and has more offensive potential. Regardless, their questionmarks offset each other to a push

This might be the best lineup we've had in a LOOONG time. I fully expect Granderson and Johnson to out-WAR Matsui and Damon at a fraction of their total cost.

So the lineup is probably finalized. Here's my take on it... 1. Jeter SS 2. Johnson DH 3. Teixeira 1B 4. Rodriguez 3B 5. Granderson CF 6. Posada C 7. Cano 2B 8. Swisher RF 9. Cabrera LF R-L-S-R-L-S-L-S-S. That's a nightmare of versatility. Plus, going over the numbers for these guys is just flat out ridiculous. Tex will have a runner on base 66% of the time when he comes to the dish. The chance of a 1-2-3 inning in the first is right at 20% with Johnson there and lower if Tex regains his .400OBP. Every 6th game or so, NY will lead off the game with runners on 1st AND 2nd. Johnson's OBP combined with his contact skill in that #2 hole will be a f***ing nightmare for opposing teams. He also hits lefties better than righties, so platooning isnt needed unless they just want to get someone ABs. Man, I love this move assuming they can keep him healthy at the DH spot.

Personally, I dont think he will. He's shown flashes of power and good contact skills, but he is just way too streaky. But he's also 25, so he's still young. I won't rule it out, but I wont hold my breath waiting. He'll get one more season in the 9 hole to prove he can play in the bigs as a regular. Otherwise, I'd cut bait

Xavier is gonna look for a starting gig, something we arent and shouldnt offer. Melky and Gardner made strides last yr, and cutting them completely out of our plans means not maximizing value of two potentially important commodities. I think they get one more season. If Melky doesnt get that OPS to .800 or Gardner doesnt take the reigns and have an OBP in the .360+ range, then we'll make a big signing next FA period (like Crawford). But if one of them pans out, then we wont need to

I am very intrigued as to which Joba shows up. He showed flashes of sheer dominance against good teams. Then he'd lay up against some horrible offenses. The inconsistency was maddening. If he shows any sign of consistent stuff start to start, he'll be one hell of a pitcher. I think with the Joba rule soon to become the Hughes rules, we should see less variation with Joba. I just hope we dont make the mistake of moving him to the pen for a subpar starter. Unless we get Sheets or a top notch pitcher, then moving Joba to the pen only hurts us in the long run.

AdGon is not gonna hit .350. He's never shown that capability.

Yes, I find it very hard to believe. Actually, incredibly hard to believe

We arent getting Ankiel, he's gonna be expensive, AND, he's redundant as another LH hitter. I think this move here makes Jamie Hoffman much more likely to stick around. Lots of LH hitters in positions that he frequents. Gardner, Granderson, and Johnson in the lineup may mean a lot of PH and spot starting opportunities for a RHH who kills lefties

His highest BA in a season was .304 in 2006. He just came off a career yr where he hit .277. You really think he's gonna gain 73 points based on park factor in 81 of his 162 games? That seems illogical

Gom, I think NY saw Granderson as being a replacement for Matsui offensively. Left handed power hitter, and he came cheaper due to his recent poor season. Johnson is a #2 hitter due to his contact and OBP skills.

twitter, but thus far he's been spot on. 1yr, $5.5 mil pending a physical. This is a gold-mine type signing so long as he stays healthy in the DH role. A guy who put up a .426OBP last season would be dynamite in the 2 hole in this lineup.

The 8 games doesnt take into account that it was as high as 10 games in September and we hadnt put a full effort out there since the beginning of September. Plus, the Sox had a 5 game lead on the yankees prior to them getting all their pieces back. The difference after Posada and ARod came back from injury is more in the 15 game range. Now, I expect the sox to regain some of that with Matsuzaka being healthy in 2010. But, when it comes to Buchholz, take a look at this.... Buchholz 16GS 7-4 92IP 91H 43ER 36BB 68K Wakefield 21GS 11-5 129.2IP 137H 66ER 50BB 72K That really comes out to about 3-4 starts over a full rotation slot for the season. And since Wake is getting pushed out of the rotation for Buchholz, you can make this comp. Their composite numbers shake out to... 37GS 18-9 221.2IP 228H 109ER 86BB 140K. Anyone think Buchholz slotting in full time into that slot in the rotation is going to replicate these numbers? I dont think even the biggest Buch supporter expects him to reach 200IP and win 18 games in 2010. The biggest difference for the sox will be replacing Penny, Smoltz, and other BS in the 5 hole with Lackey. That's the difference maker. Onto the offense. Defensive drop from AGon to Scutaro, but offensive improvement. Defensive improvement but offensive drop from going with Lowell/Youk at the corners to Youk/Kotch at the corners. Massive offensive drop in LF, but significant defensive improvement going from Bay to Cameron, although LF in Fenway doesnt need to be a defensive position. Overall, your offense suffers here. Losing Lowell, Bay, and Gonzalez for Scutaro, Cameron and Kotchmann is a massive, massive dropoff. I dont see how you think you gain games with the latter three.

What you believe and what the scouts believe are two different things. Both Richard and Poreda are young, so they'll be inconsistent. But in SD, both will be starters and I think one of those two ends up replacing Peavy atop their rotation. If Hoyer and Co. do things right with the Adrian Gonzalez deal and get Buchholz plus, they are gonna have a hell of a rotation. Buchholz, Young, Poreda, Richard, Correia is going to be a pretty good 1-5 in 2011 and beyond IMO