jacksonianmarch

3 more outs and this thing is over. Paps is gonna shut s*** down in the 8th and 9th.

He couldnt get out of his own way against the Guardians. He was lucky to get out of that game. This is different. DiceK is just dominating right now. And btw, the WS is just a formality this yr, the champ was crowned when the sox took game 7 of the ALCS. This is like watching the 27 yankees face the 62 mets.

you know the Rockies suck when they get dominated by DiceK.

There are two "experts" on record thinking that one of the yankees duo of Hughes and Chamberlain is better than Buchholz. Keith Law thinks Joba is better than Buchholz Jim Callis thinks Hughes is better than Buchholz I am still doing a lit search, but I would assume that the new wave of predictions will be coming around this offseason. Gammons thinks Joba is head and shoulders better than any rookie in the game. He went as far as saying that Chamberlain has the best stuff in all of baseball, major or minor league.

Moss is exactly the kind of kid that the sox will trade. Unless he comes out with Howardian type numbers, I am not really sure they will be willing to give up a power position to him. That being said, I think he is a sleeper who could be a solid player one day.

Lets be honest here. In terms of young players on each team that are not prospects... Yankees: Cano, Melky, Wang Red Sox: DiceK, Beckett, Pedroia, Papelbon Take a look at that list. The biggest trump card in that list is Beckett. That is what we cannot match even with the veteran club. In terms of Papelbon, we can at least match him with a veteran for now. Beckett is your trump card. There isnt much comparison in the above crew. Cano is probably a better bet than Pedroia because of his power. Wang is not Beckett, but is probably a better bet than DiceK at this juncture. Melky will probably be a fine CFer on both ends. But what we cannot match is that lights out, shut down starter that has guaranteed you guys victory after victory in postseason play. We dont have that. We might develop it, but we currently dont have that. But when I use the term prospects, I exclude the guys who have a bit of a track record. So. Lets play a match game with the top prospects in the system... Yankees vs Sox Joba>Buchholz. Lets not be naive here, Joba has once in a lifetime stuff and dominated all levels of the minors as a starter and then was absolutely untouchable in relief. Buchholz did the same thing by throwing a no-no. But, on stuff alone, this isnt even close. Hughes>Lester. Another no brainer. Hughes K'd 8 per 9IP and walked around 3 per 9. His WHIP of 1.28 in an injury plagued season as a 20 yr old is also damn good. Lester, OTOH, had more walks, less K's, and more HRs allowed in fewer innings. Kennedy>Masterson. Lets not pull any punches here. This isnt even close. Masterson projects as a reliever, while Kennedy looks about as solid a bet to be a mid rotation starter and has already had MLB success. Ellsbury>Jackson. Ellsbury rocketed through the system and caught fire in the bigs. His projection is limited in terms of power, but he certainly looks like the real deal. For us, Austin Jackson went from being the young kid with a lot of unrealized potential, to the highest rocketing OF prospect in baseball. He is a true 5 tool talent who will likely be starring in AA to start and could be in the bigs in 08. Horne>Bowden. Again, not very close. Horne was the EL pitcher of the yr and led in nearly all categories, while Bowden had a tough time adjusting to the league In terms of Jed Lowrie, we dont have an upper level infielder with much pizzazz, so that one is a given. Might be different once we see this Angelini kid, but you sure have an advantage in M-IF prospects. more to come

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3082251 5yrs 150 mil extension on top of the 3 yrs 27 mil per yr he will get? Holy f***, that is WAY too long.

I was mostly speaking of the rookies this season and the farm in general. But I see your point. In terms of rotation, I dont think anyone can argue with the fact that we have the best farm system pitching prospects in the game. Hughes, Kennedy, Joba start off the list and it continues pretty darn far. But at the same time, none of them are Beckett right now and therein lies the trump card. Also, Papelbon is a nice trump card to have too. He is a dirty closer and will be for quite some time.

the good young talent is squarely in our corner. Where we cannot match you at this point is the lights out ace that you guys now possess.

Ortiz was right in saying that Lowell was your team MVP this season. As much as Papi and Manny carry this team, it always seemed like Lowell was the one who made the big play, got the big hit, drove in the big run on nearly a daily basis. Without him, you guys would be in trouble. If you lose him, you would need a suitable replacement, and not a run of the mill kind of guy you can find on the scrap heap. Maybe, just maybe you move Youkilis to 3rd and bring up Carter from AAA who absolutely mashes.

seriously, Theo, sign the man right the f*** now!!! (alterior motive: the sox would be out of the bidding for ARod and would likely mean he doesnt opt out).

That is total speculation. Yeah he might be. Or, he might let Cashman and Oppenheimer run the development and baseball decision while he steps into the background as the figurehead. To answer your second question, he didnt want to be in the baseball business. He was set to run George's major business (i believe it is in shipyards). He's a businessman who may or may not have George's fervor for the big ticket item. That will help for now, but may be a problem later on.

the future of the franchise is very solid. It is the short term that is on rocky ground.

I really didnt get the whole 2 yr thing either. At 33, he still might have 2 yrs of all star type performance in him and maybe a few yrs of good performance after that. This isnt as cut and dry as it is with Schilling and his obvious showing of age. Lowell seems to be turning back the clock.

I could be playing 1b for the sox in Colorado and the sox would still win. The sox are heads, shoulders, knees and toes above the rockies. This thing ends in Colorado on Sunday.

if it is a 1 yr deal, then things may change. If he comes back and plays like s***, then there isnt as much consequence of asking him politely to hang it up. But I have a feeling Curt can parlay this into a 2-3 yr deal.

do you think that is kinda up to him though? Some players want to have the uniform torn off them after having a few poor seasons at the end. The art of being the GM is trying to determine when that decline is coming and avoid it. And with Curt, yeah, he is the balls right now, but you have the evidence before you. What is worse, having him finish his career in Philly or having his career end in Boston after posting a 6+ ERA.

I'll weight in now. I think the sox did the prudent thing. Yeah, I'm a yankee fan, whatever. But Schilling showed serious signs of breakdown this yr and his arsenal now hardly reaches 90mph. Sure, he is adapting to it now mostly because he has always been around the plate and he is smarter than most any other pitcher in the game. But at some point, the stuff slips and no matter where you put it, the balls get crushed. This happened with Mussina and it will eventually happen with Schilling. He gave you everything he possibly could this season and it was enough to win a world series. But do you think he has enough to get through another season of AL East baseball? Where he'd have to face the yankees at least 3-4 times, where they just dismemeber him? Can his shoulder last? I think the answer is in his stuff and the example is right down I-90 to I-84 into NYC. We held onto Moose because he showed poise in the face of declining stuff. But the stuff declined further over the offseason and he came back useless for multiple yrs at a high price tag. The sox face the same dilemma here. If Schillings 88mph FB right now becomes an 85mph FB in April, is he worth having around? I dont think so. So let him walk, offer him arbitration with the agreement that he doesnt accept it and watch him decline slower in the NL. Take the picks and thank him for all he gave to you.

example, he was willing to accept the 1 yr extension in March, what changes now?

Yeah, he did nothing of the sort.

We swept the Guardians twice during the regular season, then they put a hurtin on us. The regular season really becomes meaningless right about now.