jacksonianmarch

the only painful addiction I have is work. I havent slept since about 5am yesterday. It really is kinda sweet. Falling asleep standing up is kickass.

so wanting to sign a reliable starter in an offseason when 50 mil comes off the books is an outrageous want, fillable only by the richest (obviously not the second richest) team in baseball? Thats downright stupid

I just dont get how he continues to show a solid ability to hit and a solid patience yet never get a chance even in a place like Pittsburgh

I have always liked Hoffman

There is a difference between wanting something and then refusing to root for your team. I dont think anyone here aside from Gom would pull away from their fandom if a certain off season target wasnt entertained. But you must admit that relying on rehab projects to fill out a rotation spot is not ideal and with what was available this offseason, is kinda unacceptable considering the sox current financial advantage

So you'd rather tow the company line and be excited about the fact that your team decided to sign 2 rehab projects to fill our your rotation when other, more reliable options were available?

So, the yankees signed AAAA player John Rodriguez, a guy we signed as an undrafted FA and held onto from 97-04. He should fill in as a starting OFer in AAA and be available as a possible starter should one of our corner OFers go down. I dont know about you guys, but I really like this move. JRod has shown the capability to hit at every level and his career MiLB OPS is .837. When he got his shot in StL, he OPS'd over .800 both seasons he was their 4th OFer. Throughout his minor league stay, he's shown a knack to have an OPS over .800 and I have a feeling he could give us that production should he be pressed into action. I still am not sure why he never got a gig in the bigs. He isnt terrible in the OF, he plays all 3 OF positions and the guy hits for good average, gap power and patience. He does K a massive amt, maybe thats his detriment, who knows. I do think that his acquisition adds sufficient OF depth to make a deal of Nady or Swisher more palatable. Because offensively, he isnt as big of a dropoff as Matsui/Damon/Swisher would be to a guy like Gardner or Melky right about now. He'd be able to step right in and continue the patient approach. I think he should also get a shot to start the yr in CF. We'll see, but I like this move alot for a minor league deal.

He's posturing now too. Houston is not a team that is willing to offer a lot of money right now and the idea that Andy would get more than 10 mil from a team in this market is stupid. Maybe Andy is upset at the size of the offer from the yanks. But it will be the best offer he gets. And after saying all along that he wanted to throw one more yr and start off in the new stadium, he's beginning to look like a hypocrite. I dont care if we get him back. But I hope we do get a player capable of throwing 180-200IP on a short term deal. I'd call up Randy Wolf and see what he'd take on a 1 yr deal and let Andy rot.

BUUT DERREEK LOW WAS BAD IN 2004!!!111! HE COUNDT HAVE IMPROOOVED!!11!!

Totally agree for once. Smoltz is gonna be ready by May at the earliest. We are likely talking June. By June, either Brad Penny is useless or is filling the role well or someone else is hurt. If you throw enough s*** against the wall, something will stick. And if you wont sign a reliable SP, might as well get a few injured guys for one spot and see if one of them can be healthy enough to put a respectable season together

I dont think example is understanding what is going on here, as usual. The Red Sox 2008 team had a lot of people who achieved last their prior performance. Does that mean they are in for a regression? Who knows. But it certainly doesnt guarantee that those players perform at that same level Pedroia's high .800s OPS and MVP season. Is he gonna repeat that success? Youk jumping 100+ points in SLG, can he repeat that? Lester going from marginal #5 starter to post season ace. Can he repeat that? Those were three major driving forces for the sox winning as much as they did. Now, you get to deal with the questions about Bay needing to reproduce what Manny was doing. Well, nobody can do that. Manny's worth goes beyond his numbers. His protection of Ortiz and presence in the lineup forced teams to game plan around him. Now that he's gone and Ortiz looks like a shell of himself, this lineup isnt as intimidating. And when you consider that the catchers slot is due to be a disaster, the CF slot has a kid who regressed something fiece from June on last yr and the SS slot is gonna be a battle between Lowrie and Lugo, and there is a significant chance that the sox have 3 holes in their lineup. Throw in the fact that Lowell regressed from his uncanny 07 back to his career norm prior to getting a serious injury to a major weight bearing joint and Ortiz' bat looked very slow and the offense has some serious concern without much help on the way this yr. Granted, if everything breaks right, the sox O could be solid. But with so many question marks, shoring up that lineup would have been a good idea. Especially with this being a significant buyers market outside of Tex and they didnt do it. Now throw in the fact that we add Tex and Swisher as well as a full yr of Nady to our lineup. We might have Posada back as full time catcher, which fills a massive offensive void and we should see Matsui back at some capacity in the DH role. If we get anything close to their career norms, then we should dominate. The questions are actually the exact opposite from our end. Is there a rebound in store for those who slumped in 08? Cano, Jeter, All CFers, even ARod didnt have his typical yr. I do think that with a more balanced lineup as well as the best 3-4 combo in the game with ARod and Tex, we are gonna be a much more dangerous team. Throw in the additions of CC and AJ as well as likely a full yr from Wang and we'll be really tough. Theo said it, if you arent getting more dynamic, you are falling behind. We did. The sox didnt. The question is, did the sox fall behind 6 games? Time will tell

We do have some concerns about our #5 starter. Thats obvious. And last yr we thought we had depth oing about 8 or 9 deep in the rotation when you consider the hot shot rookies. Well, the two most durable AAA guys went down with injuries, then our most durable starter went down after the two kids who started the yr in the rotation went down. It was amazing the amount of pitching injuries we had so adding depth isnt too bad. I just dont think adding useless depth helps. One thing that concerns me is the innings caps. Joba threw 100IP last yr (and his career max is 120IP), Hughes threw somewhere in the 110-120 range (while his career max is 146IP). That means that both will be on innings caps, both likely in the range of 150IP. They said they would get creative to reach those caps. By creative, I think they'll be skipping a few starts. If you assume that they average 6IP per start, thats 25 starts to get to the cap. That leaves 7 starts per turn up for grabs. If you assume the trio of Sabathia/Burnett/Wang miss 6 starts all yr (which is conservative to say the least) that menas our 6th starter will start 20 games in 09. This is why we need PEttitte

here's the thing about that extra cash that I find kinda funny. The sox are all about growth of their farm system and what better way to grow your farm than to sign players in the FA market to fill short term needs instead of trading away talent for those same stopgaps. This offseason was the perfect opportunity to sign players. And the sox come away from this offseason with a new 4th OFer and 2 rehabbing pitchers coming off shoulder injuries.

I see the comment about Smoltz returning from injury before. That was TJ, something that has become a right of passage nowadays. Smoltz had rotator cuff surgery, which is a deathknell for many a pitching career. Especially for a player as old as Smoltz. That being said, its a move to provide depth, and depth is good. I guess the sox are hoping that either Penny or Smoltz could be the #4 in the rotation and if both come back as useful players then so be it. I do think there is a 50/50 likelihood that neither come back well enough to be useful.

If healthy, he is a solid acquisition. I just find his re-diagnosis in the offseason of his free agency a bit contrived and questionable. That being said, I do find a couple issues with the signing if he is the same guy the Rays had at the end of the yr. The biggest thing is his role. If he truly is gonna be the 4th OFer yet cannot play on consecutive days, than its gonna be a problem. The sox dont need him to be a twice a week kind of player. They need him to be able to fill the void when Drew hits the DL. That might mean sporadic PT and then 2 consecutive weeks of being an everyday player. If he isnt capable of this, then he isnt really worth it. It isnt like they are signing him to be part of a platoon since his capacity to handle CF seems to be diminishing.

and nobody is truly sure what kind of stuff he has and how he'll take to the bigs. I've seen reports that he throws as hard as 97 mph consistently or that he starts out in the low 90s and by the end of the game, he's throwing mid 80s. I have also seen reports of plus offspeed stuff. And other reports where they call his stuff minus. Nobody is truly sure what kind of pitcher he is, and he is absolutely not ready right now for the majors since he isnt a Japanese veteran. He would have been a Japanese rook.

now comes the fun part. What will be Tex's numbers in a full time pennant race and with that short RF porch? I'd have to think he'd continue his upward trend of performance. How about .310/.420/.580, 38 homers 130RBI? A yankee fan can dream cant he? And imagine what ARod will do now that he has help. This lineup is gonna be LOADED as we now get to take the best 3-4 combo in baseball title from the sox.

Watch, he'll be comeback player of the yr.

a lot of owners are publicly saying one thing and then privately doing another. Until every team increases their payroll by what they get in revenue sharing and then still cannot compete, then I will believe that the yankees are hurting the sport. But when you have teams like the Rays making the world series and owners whose payrolls are less than what the yankees and sox are giving them in revenue sharing, then nothing will change. And when baseball profits have skyrocketed since the 98 HR chase, it would be a difficult argument to prove. I honestly think that the only way a true salary cap is enacted is if the profits take a serious hit.

manny and dunn will sign for >10. That being said, in this economy, not offering Abreu arbitration was probably the right thing to do

I do find it funny. We dont even have a AA spot to offer him. Assuming we sign a veteran for the #5 hole, this is what we will have sitting in AAA and below AAA 1. Hughes 2. Kennedy 3. Coke 4. Aceves 5. Kontos 6. Hacker- maybe to pen AA 1. McCallister 2. Pope 3. De la Rosa 4. Horne 5. Garcia A+ 1. Betances 2. Brackman 3. Bleich 4. Heredia 5. Mitchell A 1. Marshall 2. Phelps 3. Banuelos 4. Vizcaino 5. ---------> You have to go all the way down to A ball to find an open slot in one of the rotations and I dont think Johnson is even good enough to beat out the pitchers in that league

the top offensive FA this offseason received a 23 mil a yr deal for 8 yrs. If the yankees are in the bidding next yr, you better believe it will be a big offer. Dont fool yourself and dont think that this fact will not be brought up by Bay's agent when the sox invariably call his client to the table for a chat about an extension.