jacksonianmarch

Gammons is saying that Manny will be dealt by the weekend and the likely suitor will be the white sox, which really makes little sense to me, but hear me out. The White Sox have a terrible left fielder and a terrible centerfielder. They have a stud 3b in Crede and a top prospect in Fields. There have been rumors about the Angels dealing Ervin Santana and Chone Figgins to CWS for Freddy Garcia and Joe Crede. Then the white sox could pair Ervin Santana and a few other prospects to go to the red sox for Manny. That would move Wake to the pen and give the sox a rotation of Schilling, Matsuzaka, Beckett, Papelbon and Santana. That would be a solid rotation, but the offense would be flat out pathetic. And dont even give me the JD Drew BS, he cannot hold Manny's jockstrap and Papi would become a non-factor unless the sacks are packed. Then again, young pitching is like gold and hitters can be bought. So what they may give up this season in hitting, they can likely garner next offseason and what they have in pitching will likely last a long time. Smart coup if they can do it, BUT it is only solid if they pony up some cash for a big basher next season.

they compared Manny's #s to Drews on the radio and it was not even close. Every other yr the guy dips down to 100 or less games played and guess which yr is coming up? (Hint he played 140+ last season).

apparently they arent being kept secret at all. The sox ownership group is flying to Japan, likely to ask Seibu to kick some of the posting fee to Matsuzaka to finance his journey to BOS. This is a shady move IMHO and should not be allowed. They posted the fee, now they get the opportunity to use it one the guy who is about to be signed? That goes against the very nature of the posting process. Here is to hoping that the process gets obliterated after this yr. For the link, check rotoworld, the cpu is quirky here.

two rather contradictory points there. You are expecting people to believe that Beckett wont continue how horrible he was last yr and you expect Anibal to tank if he was in the ALE. Glass half full eh? Or is it just sour grapes. Hanley for Beckett right now is a terrible trade for the red sox, not to mention the solid Sanchez and the two fireballers they gave up as well. Dont give me the whole Mike Lowell was part of it talk, as he makes too much for his production and has been on the block since the first day they got him.

I am going with the wait and see approach on both. I am just following the trend of the guys labelled as the "best pitching prospect in baseball." Recently, those have been pretty damn good.

http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=169222&srvc=sports It looks like Boras is asking for 15 mil a season and the first offer was for 7-8mil a season. It is starting. The also go on to say that this is altering their chances of landing other needed parts. It is obvious in the bullpen where guys like Speier, Walker, Weather, and now Baez have agreed to deals. The worry in the herald is that this will also take time away from the Lugo negotiations which is considered by some to be the sox negotiations to lose. Very interesting stuff.

I think the more than expected is in terms of attitude and average. Nobody thought he'd continue the power argument, but I dont think anyone thought he'd improve his average. As for Hughes, nobody truly knows. Just like nobody truly knows about Matsuzaka and just like nobody though Wang would be top of the rotation caliber. For the past few yrs anyway, most scouts have been pretty good with the top pitching prospects in the game. The past 3 were King Felix, Liriano and now Hughes. The first two turned out alright in performance thus far, but nobody truly knows.

It was a rotoworld speculation, I did not pull those numbers out of my ass. They said the last thing they heard was 4yrs 56mil, but that was before the ridiculous Mathews, Soriano, and Lee deals. Their speculation was 5yrs 75mil. As far as how reliable that article was, we shall see. Apparently the globe thinks this is much further from fruition than John Heyman thinks. BTW, it is rather funny how the globe is all about dealing Manny and the herald is all about keeping "the best run producer of the last 50yrs". I find it very interesting as the globe is intermingled in the management of the sox and they are all over the dealing him aspect of this.

i thought the same thing. 4yrs 60 is the most I'd go for him. If he wants 5yrs, he would have to accept 65, not 75.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/11/25/redsox.drew/index.html Speculation is 5yrs 75 million. This would be a very risky signing, but if he stays healthy, he'll be a solid player. Expect the power to drop a bit in the fens though.

precisely something that a contending team needs. The relief ace, or closer, is a necessity in todays game.

"bullpen by committee" is code for "My GM got tired and didnt finish my team".

His last season in which he relieved significantly (30 games) and started (15 games) 2002 btw), he had an era out of the pen that was a full run higher than it was out of the rotation. Consider that he is now not as effective as he once was (he had a sub 3 era that yr) and consider that he will not have a catcher who can handle him (most likely), the signs dont point towards him being very effective out of the pen.

wakefield in the pen is a completely horrible idea. If you dont have a catcher for him, then you essentially hand him the ball with games on the line and give him a catcher who is an automatic passed ball. Face it, the sox can maximize his value by starting him. If he is in the pen, he will be a total disaster.

while I agree with you example in most part, Lilly has not gotten pounded lately.

again, there is NO WAY the rangers give up Teixeira for Manny, let alone Young as well. Teixeira is young, switch hitting, and a gold glover. Stop dreaming.

The Mets will have no place to put Manny. Alou and Beltran are LF and CF. They still have Shawn Green and Manny cannot play rf.