jacksonianmarch

And with Abreu coming off the books next year, do you think the Yankees would even consider allowing the red sox outbid them? If the Red Sox want a player that good, they will have to overpay, and Theo does not overpay for anyone, hence he will always be a comfortable second on big FAs.

Fact is, nobody in that pen save Papelbon have been good since the AS break. Maybe they should try Seanez one more time. ... ... nah man, I'm just playin, lol.

Verlander will start on Wednesday.

Thing is, every single pitcher in the rotation is between 4.9-6 in era since the AS break. So, essentially every spot in the rotation has been horrid of late.

http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/images/services_goldstar.gif

The matchups are. Robertson vs Beckett Bonderman vs Schilling ??? vs Wells. Likely to be Verlander, but they havent finalized it yet. All three of these pitching matchups will have the tigers starter having the better ERA (barely in the schilling matchup). Robertson is a lefty who is having a great year. The sox don't hit lefties very well (.269/.357/.443/.800) compared to how they hit vs righties (.288/.365/..467/.832) so they will have a disadvantage there. Beckett has trouble with good hitting teams, but he is better against inpatient teams, and the tigers are very impatient. Bonderman and Verlander have been aces and should pose a huge task for the sox offense.

well, the sox pitching will need to step up, or the ground you just gained will be replaced and doubled before you know it.

well I certainly think that Wily Mo has earned a spot in the lineup every day for now. I think Crisp is the one who should be the odd man out for now. By the way, Johnny really was better.

See, Schilling has not been that great either. Since his stellar outing against Oakland, he has started 5 games. In those 5 games, he has this line. 3-2W/L 32.1IP 46H 21ER 6BB 25K 5.84ERA 1.61WHIP and 14 more hits than innings pitched and he has seen his era rise from 3.42 to 3.89. Yes, he won 3 of those 5 starts, but that is not ace material, especially when you consider that those games were vs TEX, OAK, LAA, TB, and KC. He should be better against those guys too. As a matter of fact, here are the era's of the pitchers after the AS break. Lester 4.91 Schilling 4.81 Johnson 5.82 Wells 5.09 Beckett 5.45 That just isnt getting it done. BTW, a gold star to whomever can guess which pitcher currently on the red sox MLB club has the lowest ERA since the AS break.

Doesnt it all depend on how well Coco plays? If Coco plays well, the WMP should be in RF and Nixon to the bench. But if the sub .700OPS Crisp is hitting, well like the sub .700OPS Crisp, then shouldnt they try WMP in CF and have Nixon in RF, then use Crisp as a late inningdefensive replacement in CF?

Holy Rosey colored glasses batman. We'll see I guess.

I hear ya. Lester is also being pushed. I would like to assume that he is well over his career high in IP, but he is needed so they really are stuck.

I am not sure that it infers how good tek is, it could just be that the inevitable happened. Papelbon was a closer in college, was converted back into a starter and then back into a closer. He is not used to the workload of a major league closer on a playoff caliber team. I thought he would nosedive before, but he is still holding his own. I just have this feeling that he is gonna divebomb soon, though. We'll see.

Well, the sox broke out of their funk and took 3 in a row against the putrid Baltimore Orioles. They did it by scoring 28 runs in 3 games against quite possibly one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball (actually 2nd worst in team ERA in the MLB at 5.37!!). In doing so, they gained two games on the yankees and now sit 2 games back in the loss column. At the same time, the yankees are playing their nemesis in LAA and have one more game to go against them before they get to play the Baltimore cupcakes. So all seems to be right in Beantown right? Well, no. The Red Sox got lucky these last 3 games. Had they played a team that could actually pitch or could actually hit, then they likely lose the series 2-1, but instead took the sweep. Why do I say that? Well take a look. Here are the pitching #s over the last 3 days against the Orioles, who are 10th out of 14AL teams in scoring. 28IP 18ER 36H 11BB 20K. 5.79, 1.68WHIP, .316BAA That is completely and utterly PUTRID. The sox have turned into the Texas Rangers of old. All hitting, no pitching. If they can outbash you, they will win, if their hitting isnt stellar, they will lose. Make no bones about it, if this pitching were against any other team, namely against the next 2 opponents the sox will be facing, then they would lose both series. In a time of optimism for the sox, one must look at the underlying way they won to see how much trouble this team is actually in. If one thinks that the sox can actually pull this off against the Tigers [7th in AL in scoring, 1st in ERA] or the Yankees [4th in the AL in scoring, 5th in the AL in ERA] then you are deluding yourself. The pitching must improve or this short term good feeling for sox fans will turn back to sour quickly.

fair enough. Good points.

that is true, but to say he is "not that good anymore" when you already acknoweldge he is hurt is counterintuitive. If he were healthy and put up a 6ERA, then I'd agree, but he is hurt and is way above his baseline performance in terms of ERA. I'd like to think a guy with 5 solid yrs under his belt has earnethe right to have a bad season when he is injured and is not actually "not that good anymore." You preach patience with the young kids, but have no patience for guys who underperform due to injury. Seems a little hypocritical if you ask me.

ah, ok I mistook what you were saying. Good point.

ut Kay and Waldman in a boat, send it off the sea, and then fire torpedos at it.

Kerry Wood is going to convert himself to a reliever.

I don't get what you mean? Wily Mo is a defensive downgrade from Coco, that isnt a question. But, are we talking a Lowell to ARod downgrade (bad) or a Loretta to Cano downgrade (not so bad)? That will be important.

The fraying of the labrum is normal for anyone who has ever played competetive baseball. The inflammation of the cuff is worrisome. Once the inflammation comes down, there might be a tear hidden under there. Well, at least that is what I hear from every baseball tonight when they go over a pitchers MRI, lol.

see, you say you want to have patience with players, then you come out with this line. You have said he has arm problems, okay, hence this year is a wash. If you take out this year, being the one that he has missed the majority of due to his shoulder injury, he has had a fine career to this point. Last yr he was great in the NL as he was in OAK. If this is a one year thing then he is a solid 2 on any club.

all good points. One thing I want to point out though is that this FA class, pitching wise, will beone of the best in the last 5 years. I dont get where people are getting off saying that it will be poor after we have watched the last 2 FA periods be highlighted by the Carl Pavano's, Matt Clements, and AJ Burnetts of the world.

that is a fair point, but we are talking about 2 middle relievers here. It isnt like they are asking for another starter or a position player prospect. They are talking about 2 relievers. One who cannot find the plate currently and is old for a "prospect" in DelCarmen and one who batters just seem to love facing in Hansen. Aces don't come available very often, and if you could ship 3 prospects for a young ace, you do it. Now, I am not sure how old you are, but were you for or against the Pedro trade when it happened. The sox gave up 2 top pitching prospects and one other guy for a young ace with a small frame. Those two pitching prospects have been nothing but mediocre from day 1. Pedro will be a HOFer. See what I mean? Prospects are like lotto tickets. Current aces are like solid gold. I'll take solid gold over the potential to get solid gold any day of the week.

Jsing, you are a hypocrite as red seat pointed out. Now, will you get it through your thick skull, I am not knocking Lester. I think he will be a good pitcher one day. But, look at the aces in the major leagues right now. Lets go team by team NYY- Mussina,Wang (emerging).Johnson has fallen off the list due to age and performance. BOS- Schilling. Beckett has fallen off the list because of ineffectiveness BAL- Bedard (emerging) TB- Kazmir TOR- Halladay CWS- Contreras DET- Verlander CLE- Sabathia MIN- Santana, Liriano KC- none OAK- Haren, Harden. Zito is not an ace, but a solid 2. TEX- nobody ANA- Weaver, Santana. Both are emerging aces SEA- Hernandez is emerging NYM- Pedro PHIL- Myers is emerging ATL- Smoltz. Hudson has fallen off the list. FLA- Johnson (emerging), Willis WAS- nobody HOU- Oswalt, Clemens, Pettitte STL- Carpenter CHC- Zambrano. Prior has fallen off the list. PIT- nobody MIL- Sheets if he ever stays healthy could be an ace. CIN- Harang? LA- Penny SD- Peavy when healthy COL- Francis is emerging a solid 2 ARI- Webb SF- Schmidt. That is 30 teams with 32 guys who I could consider "aces" or emerging aces. Of that list, the only guy who really draws a distinct parallel in stuff to Lester is Francis and he is an emerging #2 type starter. Other than that, everyone on the list either is power all the way or has one pitch that is so devastating that they can use it as their out pitch. Guys like Wang, Webb, and Harang use an absolutely filthy sinker to get people to pound that ball into the ground. A can stretch their appearances out, and all can go the distance on any given day. The other guys are essentially power pitchers. Feel free to add or subtract from the list all you want, but the fact is, the elite pitchers in the game all either have a signature pitch that is unhittable even when you know it is coming, or they are a mix of power and finesse and can get you with any of 2-3 pitches. Lester is a guy without the power FB. I forgot about his cutter, sorry, but even so, the cutter needs a counterpart. For the guys who use the Pettitte analogy, he used the cutter as an out pitch after he was able to set people up with a hard fastball (which he doesnt have anymore) and a devastating curve. Lester doesnt have the hard fastball and his curve isnt there. So, at this stage, I don't think he has the stuff to be an ace, per se. We will see if he proves me wrong. But, I think his stuff is perfect for a #2 style starter. The one guy on the sox who would project to be a lights out ace though, is the closer. Papelbon and Lester could be a great 1-2 punch for yrs to come if they decide to bring him in from the pen. Just please get this straight. Lester for Oswalt shouldnt even be a consideration. Oswalt is an ace, Lester is a current #4-#5 type starter with potential, in my opinion, to be a #2. No knocks, just what I see. I'd welcome any criticisms on my point, but lets keep it civil, okay.