jacksonianmarch

no, they cannot.

what does linda think of your use of viagra?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-os1208,0,5860222.story?track=mostviewedlink they really are the scum of the baseball universe.

no, the money is automatically returned once the clock strikes midnight on that deadline.

you keep forgetting that this kid is 24 frickin yrs old and is an ace closer. Yeah, go ahead and hang onto whiffin wily and that middle relief bombout prospect while the nats are perfectly content with their young closer winning the only games that they get a lead with.

Lets not assume the yankees didnt have problems in their rotation either. Cmon now. Schilling and Beckett both got close to 200IP or surpassed it. Wake still got to around 150. It is not like you had a 2005 yankees on your hands.

Pettitte 2005 6.6IP/start 2.39ERA 4.1K/BB 1.03WHIP Pettitte 2006 post AS break 6.2IP 2.80ERA 3.2K/BB 1.23WHIP similar, but he was definitely better in 2005, but he made strides in every single category after the AS break last season. 2005 was more of a career yr as it was his first yr that he had less hits than IP sine 97. His WHIP in NY hovered near 1.33 his last few yrs, so his last half last season would likely be on par with his AL equivalent. Listen, I am not saying the guy is going to post an era under 3 here. I see him as a guy who uses what he is given extremely well. This is Andy Pettitte. He will be given a 6 run lead and win you a game, not caring if he gives up a few runs, or he is the guy who has one run to work with and he wont bend. This is where he differs from Clemens. Pettitte is not in this thing for stats. But if you need him to hold the fort he will. He may not give you a shutout when your team scores 9 runs, which looks nice but is meaningless, he will win you that game, which is all I care about, and he will eat some innings. I could easily see a 1.3ish WHIP, an ERA around 3.8-4.2, 210+IP and 17-20 wins just by virtue of how he pitches.

there is a major gap inbetween the teams assuming everything goes as planned on both sides. You have to be blind to not see it. The Yankees were the MUCH better team last season. Their offense and bullpen were sound and at the end of the day their rotation was much better over the entire season and that was with Jaret Wright and a MASH unit pitching in the 4 and 5 hole respectively. Remove those guys and add in Pettitte, Igawa, and potentially a healthy Pavano (lolololol, I cannot stop laughing when I put healthy and Pavano next to each other, HAHAHAHAHAHA, sorry) and the yankees are in business. Consider this for a second. The yankees top 3 in the rotation last yr threw 620IP. That is solid. Their 4 and 5 spots averaged something like 130IP per slot. That is 70IP per slot that went to the bullpen. If the yankees get out of Pettitte what they should get and Igawa is able to at least reproduce his durability, then the yankees will have what they have yearned for for the past few seasons. Not a lock down, ace loaded staff, but a staff that can eat innings. The offense is going to push 1000 runs again, something they would have accomplished last season if not for injury and now, this season, they will get a full season of Abreu and Matsui when last season they got 2 months of each. The bullpen is loaded, but is not terribly capable of being heinously overloaded. Hence adding rotation durability is very important and something that should have been alleviated with Pettitte and Igawa coming on board. As for the overall +/- for 2006, the yankees dealt away or lost 2 months worth of Sheff, 137IP of Wright, a horrible outing by Dotel, the infamous Bubba Crosby, and likely Ron Villone. As of right now they have added Pettitte, Igawa, Britton and 2 top tier pitching prospects and one long range guy. The only holes remaining include a lefty reliever (potentially Marte) and a defensive right handed 1b. Nothing big. The 25 man is essentially complete with 12 spots of the pen essentially secured. If everything bounces right in the yankees rotation, then the staff will eat 1000IP and that bullpen will have an absolutely MONSTER season with the lessened workload. As for the sox, their rotation last yr was awful with injuries and ineffectiveness of the like. Schilling showed his age late as he finally started to show signs of breakdown (rather than freak s*** that occured in 2004). Beckett showed ZERO signs of turning it around. His lack of a second pitch will be his undoing in Boston and right now he is not that good, at all. Wakefield is the guy I think will do the most for this pitching staff. When he is right, he goes 200+IP of 4.5ERA ball and wins half his decisions. A #5 like that is invaluable. Papelbon may or may not bust as a starter, there are plenty of cases of guys who are tried as starters after closing and flat out blow up. Plus shoulder concerns will be monitored carefully. Matsuzaka is a guy who apparently has lights out stuff, but his durability is something that will be questionable. If everything bounces the right way for the sox, they may have a 5 man rotation that is very very good. They may have 3 guys who surpass 200IP and have 2 others who they are very careful with as the mainstay of the future. But who do they hand the ball to? Last season they had the 21st ranked bullpen in baseball with a 4.51ERA. Remove Papelbon and you have a bullpen era that stands near 5.10. That would be good for 28th in the MLB in front of only KC and Baltimore, two teams that ironically got a whole lot better in the pen this offseason. And what have the sox done to fix that? The Keith Foulke situation was a disaster and he left in a tizzy. But the funny thing is, his era was 4.3, remove him and that era soars up to the 5.25 range. The resigned timlin, but his post AS break ERA was 6+, that is HORRIBLE. They got a matchup lefty in Okajima, but how much can that guy really help when the team may ask him to face both lefties and righties? There is no closer, the setup man had a 6+ ERA in the second half and their only hope is Hansen and DelCarmen? Two kids who have shown no ability to handle the pressure at all and now they will have a serious, strong role in a bullpen in arguably the most rabid sports society in the entire world? Man, that is BAD news. We wont event talk offense. Lugo and Drew will return then to the top 10 in the majors in total offense, but they arent fixes to the problem. There is still a possibility that their 7-9 will be a black hole which is something that no yankee fan or fan of any other AL team in 2004 would have considered them at the time. They are ploddingly slow, and they K a ton. The blend that made 2004's offense so special has been replaced with a mysterious mix that may work, may not. Either way, ksushi, the yankees started out with the better team this offseason, nobody can dispute that. You added Matsuzaka (maybe), Okajima, Lugo, and Drew. The Yankees added Pettitte, Igawa, and a bunch of kids, plus maybe the ability to get a full season out of Abreu, Matsui and Pavano (LOLOLOL). I think the gap is very wide unless Hansen comes up and closes it shut. Matsuzaka is someone who will have a small impact on your overall win %, Hansen will be more important, and that is scary. But who do they hand it off to?

I think you are reading far too deeply into this. I think Jones is firmly on the block, but I have a feeling he wont be lacing up in Boston. Think about it, Jones is a boras client. Dont think for a second that he wont force Jones to go to FA next yr where he could make 20 mil a season.

Edes is reporting that the sox are likely out of the Gagne bidding. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2006/12/sox_not_likely.html

that is why he has an agent. Boras is well aware of the money being spent and from the sounds of it, Matsuzaka hasnt even been a part of these negotiations.

yeah. He still has a lot left in that tank.

That is what Richard Justice thinks. Essentially, now that the stros lost out on Pettitte, they likely wont be able to retain clemens. The sox, not being able to sign a closer, may be okay with moving Paps back to the position after 2 months of the season, which is when old man clemens would want to return.

NICE!!!

oh no. I think the sox need to add more than just wimp and a prospect.

that is one thing that I find can translate rather well. A closer is not affected by the AL to NL switch as much because no closer will ever face a pitcher in a save situation. So he avoids the inherent advantage that AL hitting teams have.

They are both about the same, I just like Cordero better. Cordero is one yr older, hasbeen a closer for half a yr more than Street and has 30 more saves than him. Both have blown a significant amount though, but Cordero's % is better.

Hinske is more expensive than Kevin Thompson. And after seeing both of them, I am not so sure you are right.

btw, reports out of washington say that the Nationals have NO INTEREST in dealing Cordero to the Red Sox.

well, gordon edes is reporting that the three finalists for Gagne are CLE, TEX, and BOS. He speculated that the big right hander will decide today, and it looks like the Guardians and rangers have the upper hand as both are rumored to have offered more guaranteed money.

The Yankees, after being spurned by Villone and not going after any other lefty reliever, are believe to be trying to nab Damaso Marte from Pittsburgh for reserve OF Kevin Thompson. This is from George King's article today. Marte would bring the yankees their left handed set-up type player that they are losing with the departure of Villone and would allow Mike Myers to stick as only a matchup lefty rather than a full inning reliever like he was used later in the yr as Villone was faltering. Here is the quote.