jacksonianmarch

Why couldnt you just K Jeter? Seriously, he f***ing sucks this yr

misses another pitch that he usually drives. Jetes isnt seeing the ball well

Jetes misses the pitch right down the cock

good start to the inning

Lester isnt gonna have to do much. Fat Sid is missing his spots by a mile and the sox seem motivated to actually hit the ball for once.

Ponson is what he is. He's a replacement player. Problem is, we have two of those guys in our rotation. THIS IS WHY WE NEED WASHBURN

get em warming

he looked out

Its Ponson. Sweating gravy is baseline

Jeter and Abreu hit the ball hard. ARod with a near miss.

that is dumb

you do know that a salary cap would kill the sox too, right? You do know that the 2 highest priced World series teams were from Boston, right?

I think you might be overstating Bowden a bit

Take a look at what Ramon Vazquez is doing. He's hitting .309 with a .859OPS as the Rangers starting 3b

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/scorecard/mlbnews.asp?articleID=237175 Lookin good. He's in Toronto right now, so he is only a short flight away

This is the gravy game for us. All we need is 5 out of Ponson, then our pen can do the trick

I think it also helps that we got the prize of the Abreu deal back in FA.

Right now, the Rox have everyone bent over if a deal for Holliday was going to come around. He is under Rox control for awhile and he is putting together another season for the ages (although the splits show he isnt all that great outside of Coors). I dont see the Rox missing out on one of the duo of Masterson or Buchholz. That is how it will start. Then likely Lowrie. Those two at the top would be a good headline. Then guys a bit lower in the system. To be honest with you, if the sox and rox got together, I could see a massive deal coming together with Fuentes being dealt as well.

you put them in the same category? They couldnt be more dissimilar. Manny is a tempermental nutcase with extraordinary talent who throws temper tantrums to get his way and tries repeatedly to piss on the game and the red sox. Manny wants to get exactly what he wants as well as being left alone. ARod is a greedy diva who embraces the spotlight and wants to be the talk of the town at all times. ARod wants to get as much money as possible and he wants to be in the spotlight. These guys share only greed.

Now that we are two yrs past this draft, lets take a look... 1. Ian Kennedy- shot through the system in his first full yr. Made it to the bigs last yr where he was good in 3 starts. Started the yr in MLB where he struggled early, then got hurt. He is now in AAA, dominating once again and should be the next option for callup should one of our other starters go down. Great pick 1a. Joba Chamberlain what is there to say, came up to the bigs as an elite reliever during a playoff run in yr 1, and now is turning into our ace before our eyes. Great pick 3. Zach McCallister was a HS signee. 6'6" kid with a big frame and some power. He has seen his FB velocity jump this yr to mid 90s and is seeing a jump in effectiveness. He dominated Charleston and is now dominating Tampa. He could very well be brought up to AA before the season ends, and if all things work out, he could be a rotation option as a 21 yr old by Sept 2009. Great pick 4. Colin Curtis was a college draftee who reminded some people of David Murphy. Solid bat, not plus power but a good stick, good D and decent speed. He dominated the lower levels and dominated Tampa last yr. It is AA he is having trouble with. As a college draftee, he has limited time to prove himself and the clock is ticking. He's expected to restart in Trenton next yr and if he stalls there again, he might see himself in another org. TBD 5. George Kontos was another college draftee who just turned 23 this yr. He was a dubbed a reach by some, but he has shown them all wrong. Rumored to be part of the Nady deal, I am glad he stayed. His delivery is full tilt and his mechanics are still not totally refined, but nobody will doubt his stuff. Now in AA and continuing to show power will see his stock continue to rise. His future, though, looks like its out of the pen. Good pick 6. Mitch Hilligoss was a college draftee as well out of Purdue. Noted for his ability to hit anything, he made a name for himself last yr when he set a then MiLB record with his 38 game hitting streak. This yr has been a different story. After his promotion, he isnt hitting and this is a problem for a guy with a decent but not spectacular glove, good speed, but no power or eye to speak of. If he doesnt turn it around in Trenton next yr, he could be in another org. Granted, his name was included in Johan talks, so he does have some value TBD 7. Tim Norton was another college draftee with a huge arm. he showed up in SI and dominated. Unfortunately, he blew out his shoulder, needed recon surgery and should return by ST next yr. But he likely will have been passed by a lot of players and his relevance and big arm may be a thing of the past Shoulda done your homework pick 8. Dellin Betances was the big money HS draftee who thus far is showing that there are some growing pains associated with being tall. 6'9 and 230 pounds, the kid has power. He can throw the ball high 90s and already possesses a plus curve. But repetition has been his issue. He has K'd 10 per 9 this yr and has a BAA less than .220, but the walks are killing him right now. But tall guys take a long time to get it right and this kid is no exception. He'll be in Tampa and his upside is still top of the rotation. Great pick 9. Mark Melancon was another big money closer who everyone knew needed TJ. He got it, and is back now, throwing harder than he ever did. He also possesses 2 plus off speed offerings and is in Trenton. The Nady deal should open up a roster spot for him in Scranton and we may see him in NY this yr. Great pick Picks 10 and 12 are pretty much irrelevant now. #11 was Fortenberry, who smacked 20 homers last yr in Charleston, but is now so bad in Tampa that he is a parttime player. 9-11 were poor selections 13. Daniel McCutchen was an interesting college pick. He was a senior who was 24 at the time of draft. He came into SI and dominated, but lost 50 games due to ritalin (he didnt get it cleared through the league first). He came back the following yr and dominated Charleston and Tampa. Started this yr in Trenton and dominated there. Was called up to AAA where he initially struggled, but since has been dominating as well. He was a big part of the deal that sent Nady and Marte to NY. In terms of return on investment, this was an Exceptional pick Picks 14 and 15 arent even with the organization anymore. 16. Paul Patterson is a tall, lean reliever who dominated SI and Charleston. Unfortunately, he went down with an injury (I think it was a pretty serious leg injury) and is out for the yr. I expect him to be back next yr in Tampa as a reliever. For a 16th round selection, he has a pretty solid chance of making the bigs with his size and repertoire. TBD 17. David Robertson was a draft eligible sophomore and signed late. He started last yr in Charleston but didnt stay there long. He finished the yr in AA. His combined ERA that yr was 0.96, and he had these eye popping numbers. 84IP 45H 113K 32BB. he started this yr off with a bang in Trenton and eventually made his way to the bigs. Thus far, he has appeared in 11 games, throwing 12.1IP and compiling a .167BAA, walking 4 and striking out 14. Great pick 18 was Del Howell, who we drafted as a tall lefty pitcher, but we lost him to Alabama where he sucked as a pitcher and is now trying to hit. From 19 on, we dont have anyone worth mentioning. But this was one hell of a draft class.

I still think they need a dominant pen arm to add to their pen. If they can change the pecking order, they can be effective. But they lack that one shutdown reliever that they can bring in prior to Paps when trouble is on the line. As is, their best middle reliever is Oki and he is awful at holding inherited runners.

I agree

Well, since I made this post: Okajima has posted 9 consecutive scoreless appearances. This spans 7.1IP. Aardsma has now thrown 2 innings this month. Lopez is finally reverting to the mean, a WHIP of 2 this month. Delcarmen has now allowed 9ER in his last 9IP Hansen has now allowed 7ER in his last 5IP Timlin has now pitched 6+IP and allowed 1ER since he got back from the DL

and JHB, remember. The yankees pay significantly less in revenue sharing once we start paying for the stadium. As long as we pay that lease, we pay only a fraction of what we were paying into the revenue sharing pot. The competitive advantage is coming back.