jacksonianmarch

If he cannot pitch well in Single A then what makes you think he will pitch well in the majors? That guy would have been an early casualty. Hoffman, OTOH, helps a lot. WHY? Because he's an above average defender with above average speed, average power and a very good eye. Now that all sounds nice and all, but the biggest asset is his handedness. Him batting right handed gives the yankees the option of starting Melky in CF and Hoffman in LF vs lefties, thereby eliminating Curtis Granderson's biggest weakness. Gom actually called it. Right handed outfield bat with some pop who can be a platoon mate for Granderson. We got him.

Ramirez is a good piece to get back assuming he is healthy. He has always been older than the league, but most MiLB leagues he's been in, he's dominated. Has a very good 2008 that ended in a cup of coffee in the bigs, then 2009 saw him go completely off an offensive cliff in AAA. If Theo thinks he can get him back to his pre-2009 form, he could be very useful as a 25 yr old catcher. Now, initially, a couple yrs ago I had heard he was the best defensive catcher of the Texas trio, but there was significant talk of him moving to 1b for defensive reasons toward the end of this yr. Not sure why that is. We'll have to see, but he certainly is an intriguing option for the sox

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2009/12/09/rangers-interested-in-lowell/ Looks like Lowell momentum is picking up. Just in time to welcome Beltre to town. A downgrade offensively from Lowell but an upgrade defensively.

So, the yankee payroll for 2010 sits somewhere near $185 million right now if you consider that NY started the offseason right at 170 or so and Grandy + Pettitte adds 15 mil to the payroll. We might be at capacity, or we could be players for Holliday. Choices, choices

3....reliable....starters. Plus a much better offense.

They could, but it would require a lot of luck

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/baseball/2009/12/09/12100096-sun.html Saunders, Aybar and a MiLB CFer for Halladay. I dont know if anyone can beat that deal right now.

You have to give him the chance. Thats the thing. Prior to when they started monkeying around with him, he was very solid. sub-4ERA, WHIP around 1.4. Not great, but very solid for a #4 and thats with him missing his plus fastball for most of the yr. He's stronger, a yr older and a yr more experienced. I expect a big yr

Joba is heading into full season #2 as a starter and Hughes showed a lot last yr. I have said many times that I expect a big season 2 from Joba.

The sox won 95 games last yr and now you are losing Jason Bay. You still think they win 95 games?

I have said many, many times that you need 3 pitchers in your rotation that you can count on to take the bump 30+ times and average 6 innings per start. We now have that, and not many teams do. Chamberlain as a #4 starter is also very nice and Hughes as the #5 should outperform the standard #5 in the AL. Now that we have Pettitte back, I think we might be done in the rotation. We just need to have some contingency plans should someone not work out. I like Gaudin in the short term and Wang in the long term to fill that role.

Actually, it might be the Mariners. It has its own thread because Harden was considered a target for Boston at least initially. If there is any link to either NY or Boston, then it should probably be posted separately

Another interesting stat... Home 2009- .230/.307/.338 with 10HRs for a .695OPS Away 2009- .267/.345/.516 with 20HRs for a .861OPS Comerica robbed him it seems since Grandy really is a fly ball hitter

1 yr $7.5mil with an $11.5 mil option for 2011 http://trsullivan.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/12/rangers_close_to_signing_rich.html

Granderson has more power than O'Neill and more range. O'Neill was the much better contact hitter and after he got to NY, he was the much better hitter vs lefties

Its a losing strategy. If the sox do not resign Bay and let Holliday walk while not filling the offensive hole then you are essentially giving up on the season. A season where you have Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, and VMart in their primes while also having a top two in the rotation that is ace1 and ace2 and a lights out closer. The sox dont need a major overhaul, they just need some reinforcement

this has been debated ad nauseum. Couple things. This is likely either an initial salvo that Theo never had the tenacity to get through, or this is another tweak from the sox through the media to appease Red Sox fans.

Overall, I am happy with this winter meetings and we could theoretically go to war with the team as is and win 100 games. Andy Pettitte was the key to this offseason. I have said all along that you need to have 3 reliable starters in your rotation. Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte are those guys. We proved last yr that you can win 100 games with 3 reliable guys, one inconsistent guy and one scrap heap guy int he rotation. I think we'll be even better in 2009. A couple of starting pitching suggestions.. I know we are non-tendering Wang, but re-signing him to a smaller deal with incentives may be prudent. I would also tender a contract to Gaudin, who actually was better than advertised. You put those two in the #6 and #7 roles respectively and you are talking about big league caliber arms as starting pitching depth behind CC, AJ, Pettitte, Joba, and Hughes. In the bullpen, there are a few ways to go. First of all, dealing away Bruney and Coke opens up a few doors. Rivera stays at closer. Marte and Robertson slot into the setup roles. I think Mike Dunn comes up as the second lefty out of the pen, something Girardi was pretty keen on as the season went along. Alfredo Aceves goes back to the setup/swing/everything guy in the middle of the bullpen. That's 5 pitchers slotted into a likely 7 man pen. The means Melancon is pretty much guaranteed a full season spot and a guy like Gaudin or Wang could be carried on the 25 man (obviously once Wang proves he's healthy). Not bad. Or, we could make a deal with Atlanta that gets us Rafael Soriano which would push everyone down a notch sans Mo. I think the pen can be top half without an acquisition, but with a marquee acquisition, we could be top 5. In terms of the lineup, I think Girardi got what he wanted. Flexibility. The top 7 in the lineup is pretty formidable with 8 being Melky and 9 being a mishmash of utility guys and offensive minded minor league players. Adding Granderson also essentially guarantees one hell of a defensive outfield. The lineup as it stands right now is.... 1. Jeter SS 2. Granderson CF/LF 3. Teixeira 1B 4. Rodriguez 3B 5. Posada C 6. Cano 2B 7. Swisher DH 8. Cabrera RF 9. Gardner LF/CF Now the potential lineups are myriad. You could move Swisher to the OF, push Gardner to the pinch runner/defensive replacement role and push Juan Miranda to DH. You could put Ramiro Pena in as a 3b here and there, moving ARod to DH and moving Swisher to the OF while replacing Gardner. You could get Cervelli some time at catcher, moving Posada to DH. Tons of possibilities. And on top of that, we still should be a 900 run offense, especially if Granderson benefits from yankee stadium and the yankee lineup like some people think. Regardless, like the team for 2010 as is. I dont think we are done yet. But a lot of questions have benn answered in a 24 hour period and a lot of fears allayed.

They probably could not have gotten Halladay for this. Jackson is by most accounts the Yankees #2 or#3 prospect in the system behind Romine and Montero. Also consider the fact that we still have Hughes, Dunn, Melancon, Joba, and Robertson after this deal. So we didnt give up TOO too much. The only question I had was whether Jackson was going to be better, which he very well may be.

which is another reason why I think Halladay will eventually get traded for a lot less than what is coming out to the media.

every thread turns into a Gom vs Dipre s***-show. Cmon guys, put a tampon in, take a midol and stop bitching

Either the Tigers wanted nothing to do with Boston, or Silverman was given this gem from the Sox FO to cover the fact that the sox didnt get involved. I think the latter is more likely.

I expect it here. It shouldnt be a part of a website that is supposed to be impartial

That doesnt make much sense. That's like saying you dont want to deal at all