jacksonianmarch

one other thing that is a good predictor of some success. Rasner 5BB in 20IP Karstens 11BB in 42IP while Gabbard 16BB in 25.2IP Pauley 6BB in 16IP I am not saying Karstens or Rasner will be ace material. They will likely be asked to be #5s if they make the team at all. All a #5 needs to do is log innings and limit baserunners. Good control will help with that. Gabbard and Pauley didnt have that.

can you blame them. This is utterly deplorable. I watched a lot of O's games last yr. Britton was a guy who could be counted on until he hit a rough patch in August. He was the O's version of Proctor. He was used a TON. He throws gas, has some control issues, but not too bad and has good enough off speed stuff to get by. And to think, they gave up something of value for a guy who was going to be bought out today and would have become a FA.

if you are going to trade him, this is the offseason to do it. The middle relief market is horrible. It is Speier and then the rest of the retreads. Tavares is a name that would perk ears up in the NL as he was a damn good setup man in StL. That is why it is so surprising that the O's gave away a power middle reliever in a yr when the middle relief market is so poor.

Arroyo and Wright do not even belong in the same sentence. Jaret Wright is a pitcher who posted a mid 4 era and took the bump 30+ times last yr. That is the good side, but check out his average innings per start. He barely averaged 5 innings per start. He is a huge reason why Scott Proctor pitched 100 innings last yr and he flopped in his most important start to stave off elimination. Also, Wright was useless out of the pen in a swing role. The yankees have some young pitchers who impressed late in the yr. They also have Pavano coming back, but he cannot be counted on. Assuming Wang, RJ, and Mussina are still the top 3, this now leaves 3 pitchers for 2 spots with the potential for the yankees to nab one more pitcher on the market. They have Pavano, Karstens and Rasner ready for the rotation. Karstens started 6 games, went 2-1 with a 3.80ERA and averaged over 6 innings per start. Rasner went 3-1 with a mid 4 era in 3 starts and 3 relief appearances and the guy is dominating winter ball. Rasner is 25 and Karstens is 24, both guys are better bets to have a good season than Jaret Wright. Also, Wright was expected to be bought out at 4 mil and let go as a FA. Hence, the yankees bought him out and were given a 23 yr old power reliever as a gift.

here is the link http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles12nov12,0,7218437.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball

Cashman does another raping. Wright, who was scheduled to be bought out, was sent along with cash to the Orioles for 23 yr old reliever Chris Britton. Britton had an era in the low 3's last yr in the bigs, but was demoted in August because of a rough stretch of 6 games. Here are his stats. Baltimore MLB 0-2 3.35ERA 52G 53.2IP 46H 17BB 41K 1.17WHIP He throws gas and is only 23 yrs old. Why the f*** would the O's make this deal for 5 inning Wright? Damn.

anyone able to cut and paste the top 10 scouting reports to the post?

The tigers offensive window is very small. Maggs, Pudge, and nobody else in that lineup. They are nto that far off and adding sheff is adding 3 yrs of credibility to the middle of the order.

I am keeping no hopes alive. I just want this thing to end. This is the first domino to fall. MANY will start to fall further. Matsuzaka's destination will be huge in determining where Zito goes.

dont throw matsuzaka there yet.

It is called good management (for once).

I petitioned for him to be left in AAA last yr and not be brought up, especially after he had poor initial debut in 2005. But instead, Tito decided to go to the kid in every single clutch chance he had, and the kid got Carmona'd. I hope he can gather his talents and put a good career together, but he just had that deer in headlights look. In KC or in PIT, that would be fine, but in the NE, that is trouble.

RJ is going to be in the rotation for one more yr. Mussina will be in the rotation for 2 more yrs. Pavano will be on the team for 2 more yrs. Is there anything else I need to say?

you dont have his #s from 2006. They were real impressive. Here they are. AA 5-3 1.76ERA 71.2IP 47H 86K 27BB .190BAA AAA 5-3 3.86ERA 51.1IP 50H 43K 20BB .260BAA and he was shut down with a tired arm.

he wants to play in ari.

They gave up one of the best pitching prospects in the bigs who has dominated high levels of the minor leagues. I do not understand your pessimism. This was a raping by Cashman.

I think Hansen needs a change of scenery. He looks like defeated every time he takes the bump. He should be a good one, but I am not sure if it will be in Fenway.

First off, I have never pledged my allegiances to any team publicly. I am on many team sites as a different name of each. To be honest with you, I am a fan of the AL East as I think it is the best division in baseball over the test of time, but you'd be surprised to find out my true allegiance. My "simplistic" view is the way you need to look at it. You cannot say that barring injury Buchholz will make the majors, nor can you say Bard will. I have seen scouting reports on some pitchers who essentially should be Cy Young incarnate. Then, the kid disappears and goodbye. Buchholz and Bard have pitched no games above single A. It is very likely that they will come to AA and dominate, but that is the proving ground. It is also possible that they could go to AA and bomb out. For example, if you buy the hype on the yankee side, they will eventually have a staff of Wang, Hughes, Sanchez, Clippard, Chamberlain, Betances, Garcia, Kennedy, etc etc etc. Wang is the ace. Sanchez has proven he can handle AA and could even handle AAAwhile injured. Hughes dominated AA. Clippard dominated AA. That is my proving ground. Of those 3, Hughes and Sanchez seem to be high likelihood to make the majors and stick in the rotation. Clippard's stuff is suspect, but control can get you to the bigs. Just ask Maddux. But to be honest with you, none of those guys are a guarantee, but I'll take them right now because they are higher in level. If you continually hype every single prospect as the next ace of the staff before they get above single A, you will drive yourself crazy. For every Carlos Zambrano or John Papelbon, there are 10 Bill Pulsipher's and Paul Wilson's. If you werent around when those guys plus Izzy were coming up with the Mets, then you dont understand what I mean. Isringhausen, Pulsipher, and Paul Wilson were Mets prospects who were billed as the big three, but none delivered. Pulsipher became a minor league journeyman. Isringhausen was dealt to Oakland and he was converted to a closer. Paul Wilson didnt right his ship until he was in Tampa Bay and he never lived up to his #1 overall status. Just because you have the stuff, doesnt mean you will harness it. For now they are all ???'s. I'll just take the ones who have dominated the league where the best prospects in the game reside, rather than just acting like the big fish in the small pond in single A.

Either way. That list is Ellsbury and nothing higher than AA (aside from Hansen mind you and we know what he is). I was advised by someone in my youth when I'd get excited about prospects to say essentially, 60% of the top 10 pitching prospects in an org will bomb out and never make the bigs, most of them before they hit AA. Of the ones that make the bigs, only half will stick regularly. AA success has a high correlation with progressing to the major leagues. Right now, the sox have one guy in the minors for 2007 who has success in AA and who is a legit MLB prospect and he only throws a ball when one is hit to him. Until then, Bard, Buchholz, and Bowden are lottery tickets, so dont get excited over them until they show their true stuff in AA. That is why I wrote in another post that the yankees farm is set. They have 3 top 10 prospect starters who dominated AA and a AA closer who was lights out. Right now, the sox are about 1-3 yrs away from that potentially happening.

His market will certainly be assessed. He had a very good debut as a starter and if the sox can drum up enough noise to get anyone to take his contract and give anything more than a used condom or a dirty jockstrap then they should consider it.