jacksonianmarch

You know the look that Hansen had on the mound when he came into a game? The deer in the headlights look? That is what Contreras had in NY. When he came back and dominated, he looked like a horse. If you show the other team you are defeated before the game begins, you will not win. Baseball is a very mental game, likely the most mental as it is the toughest game in the world to master. A quarter inch is the difference between success and failure most of the time. If you doubt yourself and show it, it psyches the other team up just enough to beat you. Ask anyone who has played at a high enough level to have something riding on their games. If you go into a baseball game defeated, you will end up that way. Contreras was defeated in NY before any games began.

that guy predicted the sox rotation to have 71 wins, or the equivalent of the rotation that averages 14-15 wins a person. That is funny.

wow. WOW. LOL. 20 wins for Papelbon and a sub 3 era? Those are CY numbers. How's about this, I will just do ERA's as wins are a tough stat to predict and since the sox offense is not done yet, it is not possible. Schilling low to mid 4's. He broke down last yr and he is 40. He doesnt have the heat once had on a regular basis and if you want precedent take a look at a certain lanky lefty from 200 miles west to see what happens to power pitchers as they near the grave. Beckett mid 4's era. Improvement over last yr no question, but I still think his lack of confidence in his curveball will continue to cause pitches to fly out of park and guys to be walked. Matsuzaka high 3's era. First yr, the advantage is to the pitcher. That era will likely sit in the low 4's as he ages, but low 4's era and 200 innings is ace material in baseball these days. Papelbon mid 4's era, injury shortened season. I can just see that shoulder being a problem. I'm no doctor, but subluxing a shoulder to me screams instability and that aint a good thing. Wake. High 4's era 200 innings .500 record like clockwork. That is a solid rotation, but the wins will depend on who is closing and who is hitting.

nobody is going for him yet. He is a tier C FA. They still have the B's to rip through before he gets any consideratin. As much as anyone on here rips on him, he is still an upgrade over what the sox have now, which is saying more about the status of the sox pen than it does about Foulke himself.

McCarthy is a 6'6" pitcher with lights out stuff who has been nasty thus far in his limited time in the majors.

Gom, are you seriously going to tell me that he was outmanaged in 2001? He handed the ball to Mo in game 7 with a lead in the 9th inning. He did everything he could against a team that had 2 stud ace pitchers that the yankees couldnt seem to beat. How about 2000, smart insertions of sojo and vizcaino led to game winning hits. He never needed to burn his pen out before because he had guys like Clemens, Wells, Cone, Pettitte etc who were reliable for 7, 8 sometimes even 9 innings. Now, he has a stable of old guys who can go 6 and then are done on a good day. He doesnt have the tools, and this is where he cannot adjust. He works very well when he has the tools that suit him. This team does not suit him, it is time for a change.

WONT HAPPEN. Please, stop throwing Teixeira and Young anywhere. The only way Tex moves is for an ace, not for an older version of himself in Manny. Both Tex and Young are worth more alone than Manny is at this point.

My question for you is, if all of the accounts of Matsuzaka having 4 plus pitches are correct and he can locate all and he has the presence and yada yada yada. Then if he proves this, he will significantly up his worth. If he is locked into a deal after he proves he can do it here, it will not be to his benefit.

So you advocate having 6 pitchers under contract, the next one to be highly paid?

max value is not possible with his client still having a bit of the unknown in him. He will be worth santana money if he comes in and dominates for 3 yrs.

jsinger would better answer that question, but the sox have a lot of lower level prospects. Bowden, Bard, Buchholz are all promising arms, but none have sniffed AA. That likely means that they wont even touch the majors until 2009 if they arent pressed into duty, like they were with Lester.

agreed. He is still overpayed, but which one is worse? Clearly Mathews.

length is the problem, and Matsuzaka is not Schmidt's size. He has to see that Matsuzaka's career will be shorter than a big framed pitcher. Boras is not an idiot.

lots of speculation. 3/4 of those guys wont even come close to moving. The only guys I see moving would be Wells in a late winter deal, Manny in an early december deal with Helton potentially being attached and Burrell in a dump. Jenkins is likely to be dumped too, but no team will want him at that price.

not just that, he is coming off wrist surgery and he seems to get hurt at first all too often. He is like a bull in a china shop.