jacksonianmarch

I agree with the premise that there should be only one young kid in the rotation mostly from a durability standpoint. But as documented above, I think that guy should be Joba. Hughes impressed me with how he bounced back, but I am concerned about the new onset wildness. I think he could benefit from a yr being the injury starter in the bigs and getting the ball every 5 days in Scranton. Build the innings, work on stuff and command, and in 2010, after Pettitte goes away, have him take his rightful slot in the rotation

The Yanks arent finished with their rotation. They still have one more spot to fill and if they dont, then I'll be a bit disappointed since we'd be relying on two kids with significant inning caps in the #4 and #5 slots. That means that our #6 starter (who is also a young kid) would get a lot of starts even before you go over the fragility issues of Burnett, Hughes and Joba. But they're still talking with Pettitte. He isnt fielding any other offers and which team really would offer him more than 10 mil for a season in this economy. I think there is a fit there and adding Andy would solve a ton of problems. He's not an ace anymore. But he's a guy i can reasonably expect to pitch 180-200+IP with an ERA under 5 and the yankees will win about 60% of the games he pitches. So I'm content with him in that 4 hole. That means Joba gets to be the standard #5, getting skipped every time there is an offday or a chance to do it and Hughes gets to have a few cups of coffee as the injury starter or as the IP cap relief when Joba is coming up against it at the end of the yr. For me, 2009 will be successful from a pitching development standpoint if Hughes and Joba throw 150IP each and neither misses significant time. I'd rather they not both be in the rotation to do that because it leaves about 100IP open for Aceves, who right now is the #6. As for the rest of the baiting and the arrogance, I wont get into it. There are a lot of people on this site with a ton of baseball knowledge, both as former players and as people who have invested a ton of time in the history and statistics of this game. Mostly on these messageboards, you get to see how to manuever an argument and how to use stats to back things up when needed. The idea that you should just throw out a ridiculous claim with no backing (like saying someone has more baseball knowledge, etc) is stupid since there is no way to quantify this and it only sparks inflammatory responses. And I wont sink to that level with this guy. He isnt worth my time

as do most teams. I think the question is, do you want to rely on them? I think the sox are trying to do enough on a 1 yr basis to shield them from being pressed into big league duty so they can get their innings up and get their stuff in order, confidence back, etc. I am just not sure that they did seeing as Smoltz is really a wing and a prayer to even take the mound and be effective. If you take his name off the list, then you're down to 5 guys with significant concerns. And if you remember, last yr we started with 2 guys we thought would be innings eaters in Wang and Pettitte and then had 3 durability concerns. Well, Moose proved us all wrong, Wang went down with a freak injury and the other two durability cases proved to not be durable. And neither did the rest of the guys we brought in for that matter

Getting back to the topic at hand. The Sox plan B was to go out and sign 4 reclamation projects. I like the Saito signing simply because they dont NEED him to produce and if he is somehow able to stay healthy, then their top 3 of Saito/Oki/Papelbon will be tough to beat. Granted, I dont think there is a chance in hell he performs at his prior level of ability or lasts the entire yr. But the upside of this deal outweighs the risk. I dont think the sox did enough with their #4 spot. You have a guy in Beckett who misses time regularly, you have DiceK who doesnt give a lot of innings and has broken down at some point in each of his 2 MLB seasons, you have a guy in Lester who just surpassed his prior IP limit by 80, which is concerning, and you have Wake who hasnt been the picture of health over the past few yrs. I do think that the idea of getting 2 injury prone guys for the spot was better than 1, but overall, there are just too many ?'s in that rotation, especially when a guy like Lowe could have helped. That being said, it would have to be an incredible stroke of un-luck for all those pitchers to be out at once, but hey, stranger things have happened (see 2008 yankees). In terms of the OF, the sox sign Baldelli and resign Kotsay. Not sure what the reasoning is there. Kotsay fits the prototype of a 4th OFer. He's durable, plays good D at all 3 positions and can get on base. Baldelli isnt a good 4th OFer. He cannot play on consecutive days in the field and he's lost a ton of speed. So the sox are now carrying 5OFers and the two guys on the bench really dont add much in terms of SB opportunities. The sox lost out on their prize offensive acquisition and now need to hope for a repeat of career yrs for some and a bounceback from injury/ineffectiveness from others. And the C position still remains an issue. There's the plan B. Nothing all that attention grabbing. We'll see how things work out for them

its a good deal for the mets although anything with Garcia is a risk. They can use him as depth, but they cannot count on him. This makes for a bit of a dicey situation with where he fits. Is he a AAA player until a hole opens up? Do they dedicate a spot in the rotation to him? This is the kind of thing that turned me off to the yankees signing him. We spent all this money this offseason, might as well get someone who you know will throw 180-200IP and Garcia isnt that guy anymore,

agree. Kent's in. Arguing any other way is dumb

First of all, the title of this thread is grammatically incorrect. The comma is unnecessary and why did the N get capitalized? Makes no sense. Second, why the hell would a franchise give up? Especially when they have a revenue stream that would make Donald Trump proud. I just dont get the need for this post or this blog. This gets a JM seal of disapproval

So listening to EEI, it sounds like Varitek has nowhere else to turn. Nobody else is interested in him especially with the type A classification and the sox are playing it cool, acting as if they dont even want or need him. One interesting thing that was brought up in terms of Varitek declining arb is that he didnt think he'd have a spot with the team if he did that. That brings up an interesting dialogue. Because arbitration cases are not necessarily guaranteed contracts until the season starts. So a case can go to arb, the player can get what he wants and the team can cut him prior to opening day and only pay a fraction of the cost. Is this Tek's excuse for royally f-ing himself. I highly doubt the sox would cut their captain of 4 yrs if he accepted arbitration. Regardless, I see him retiring if he doesnt get at least 5 mil a yr. I think the 2 is a slap in the face to a guy of his leadership stature, at least from his end. But what is he worth? His offense would make one think he should be a backup catcher. And the typical backup catcher is what, 750K-2mil a yr? I think Tek is gonna end up back in Boston. He'll probably get a 2 yr deal at 4-5 mil per and then ride off into the sunset as a coach in the minors somewhere

Kent is a first or second ballot HOFer. He wasnt a very good 2b, but his resistence in moving off the position will gain him entrance into the HOF. As a 1b or a 3b he'd have a little bit of a harder time getting in because those are expected to be power positions. But being the career leader in homers as a 2b while being an offensive beast for over a decade is something to be hall worthy. He's in.

Is this gonna be your argument if we take the title back to NY this offseason. But..but..they were over budget and...and... they asked the taxpayers to fund part of their stadium. I dont care. If banner #27 hits the facade on opening day 2010, I wont care how much we spent to get it or whose money it is.

from sox and pinstripes blog... I know this is just coincidence, but it is kinda funny.

You keep counting those pennies example, one day Theo might have enough to buy a shiny new franchise pleayer for your team. Cause he whiffed on this one.

depends on what you'd have to give up for Berkman

Not what I am saying at all. I am saying, if things break right and Joba shows he can handle the load and AJ shows he can be counted upon a reasonable number of times, then we'd be going after a guy who might cost 75 mil to talk to and another 75 mil to sign so he can occupy our #5 slot in the rotation for the next 4 yrs. And when you have a system that is as pitching rich as ours is (our offense is lacking save 3 or 4 guys) and when you have guys who should be ready by 2010 for a full go at the big league level, locking up all 5 starters to long term deals isnt really all that practical. That being said, if Joba cannot handle starting or a major injury were to occur, then Darvish would be ours, no questions asked. I dont see Hank allowing us to be outbid if a top tier pitcher is another serious need come the end of 2009.

PC, Tex has improved his performance over the last 3 yrs. He has closed the gap over the past 4 yrs and over the past 2 yrs he's been the better offensive and defensive player. I am saying that, right now, the better bet going forward is the younger player who has passed the elder player in performance over the past 2 seasons. For me, I take into account the yrs rather than the money. Both our teams really dont need to care about the money, just the amount of time they are buying. I do agree that Berkman on a 3 yr deal has much more flexibility and is the lesser commitment should something go horribly wrong. But at the same time, you are talking about a player who is still putting up top 10 offensive numbers but is slipping from his incredibly high standard. That being said, my point is, over the next 3 yrs, which would be Tex's prime and Berkman's slide from his prime, who will have the better offensive numbers? I think Tex will. Throw in his defense and he's a more valuable player

Not necessarily. At least with Teixeira, you are locking up prime yrs. With Berkman, you are locked into his age 33, 34 and 35 yrs right off the bat without getting the benefit of his age 29-32 yrs. I do agree that the back end of the yankee deal is worse than that of any Berkman deal. But the yankees arent paying for Tex for what they think he can do as a 37 yr old. They're paying him for what he can do through the next 3-4 yrs of his prime and likely the last 3-4 yrs of above average play

Freddy Garcia belongs in the same bin as Penny and Smoltz. A guy I cannot trust to get through 180-200IP, which is something we need. If he can, then god bless him. I just dont like the bargain bin move here by Cashman if we do sign him. We have a rotation with notorious DL repeat offender AJ Burnett and Joba whose arm couldnt handle the yank around last yr. If you add a guy who is about 18 months post reconstructive shoulder surgery and he flames out, we'll have to dip down into our farm system once again. A farm system that could REALLY use a yr to gain innings and mature in the minors after bringing them up too quickly over the past 2 yrs and watching them get hurt. My ideal scenario for this rotation is to have... 1. CC 2. Wang 3. AJ 4. Innings eater 5. Joba. That rotation would essentially guarantee that we'll protect guys like Kennedy and Hughes so they can build innings while allowing them spot starts when Joba needs a rest or when AJ decides he needs the DL. I just dont want to get into May or June and have to lean on Hughes at the MLB level or lean on Joba to be anything more than a 5th starter

As always my friend, when talking about big market clubs, the cash goes out the window

If things break right, we might not even put a massive bid in on Darvish. The expectation is that he'll be posted by the end of 2010 or sooner. Lets say he gets posted at the end of this yr, we'd have CC, Burnett, and Wang under contract for big bucks. If Joba turns out to be able to handle the load in the rotation and Hughes dominates AAA like I expect him to, Darvish may not be necessary. Obviously if Burnett takes his sabbatical to the DL and Joba can't handle the workload then a ton of NY dollars will be getting converted to yen for this guy

also, Kurt is the kind of guy who needs talent around him. He isnt a player who can take marginal talent and turn them into all pros. He can take all-pro talent and turn it into MVP caliber talent. He makes good players great. But he cant make average players good

How many QBs have quarterbacked 3 SB teams, won at least one of them, and earned 2 MVPs and not made the HOF. You could have made a case for him to be the MVP this yr. Yes, his bad yrs were bad, but the championship and the super bowl appearances count for a lot when talking about a QB. He'll get in, not first try, but he'll get in

not really. They gave him market value since I would say he's at least 10% better than Jenks.

If I were Dunn, I'd wait and see what he Mets are planning on doing. They have an obvious hole in LF and have said that they dont want Manny. Dunn is the second best offensive player left on the board aside from Ramirez. He'll either get a 8-10mil for 1 yr deal or get something close to what Bradley got out of the Cubs.