jacksonianmarch

A year and a half of Price for a 23 yr old middle infielder with power who struggled in 102 games in the majors as a 22 yr old and a 25 yr old lefty who was lights out in the pen last yr and had been a solid starter in his first extended taste of starting in the bigs. Smyly is a huge get. Powerful lefty pitcher who is just coming into his own and has 4 more yrs of control. Franklin was being asked for all season, and the Rays got him. He's a potential power hitting middle infielder who hasn't done it in the bigs yet, although he is very young. Regardless, the get for Price was pretty good.

The Yankees are set to have the 17th pick in the draft (they're tied for 16th worst record, but the Stros get the #2 pick). This would be the highest we have picked since, well, last yr. Before we gave up 3 picks by signing shitbums. Time to change the plan a little. No big QO signees. Go after Lester who doesn't have a pick attached. Go out and get Tomas for the middle of the order. Maybe go after a few other guys who aren't attached to draft pick comp. Offer KRob a QO and let him walk. If you have the #17 and a 1st sup while running through the draft in the 16 position, you should add a lot of talent.

Curious, Bradley isn't fast enough to be a punch and judy infield singles hitter. He needs to hit line drives and hard ground balls, not slaps around the park

You don't have a rotation, at all.

If you go with pitching and defense, you need pitching and defense. If you go with offense, you need offense. It seems like your team is full of one or the other, but not both. At the beginning of the yr, you had a 3b (Bogaerts) at SS, a 1B (Middlebrooks) at 3B, and a corner OFer (Sizemore) in CF. You had the pitching in the top 2 spots, but your 3, 4, and 5 s*** the bed completely in Doubront, Peavy, and Buchholz. By the time Drew and JBJ were regulars, you were out of it and Lester, Lackey and Peavy were gone. It seems like this yr was not well planned out. That being said, the sox have a unique opportunity coming up. You have a lot of talent, although not a full team. You can either cave to the masses and burn your cash this yr or you can add slowly and develop your kids. The former will have you rebuilding again in 3-4 yrs. The latter will have you building for another 2 before a goo 5-8 yrs of success.

Montero had better offensive numbers for the most part. At age 20, he split A+ and AA with an OPS of .951. At 21, he had an .870OPS in AAA. Bogaerts never had a .900OPS over a full season in the minors. And Bogaerts in AAA had an .822OPS in 60 games. Regardless, both hit well, Montero was the better minor league hitter. That being said, Montero was a f***ing butcher with the glove where Bogaerts likely projects as a pretty good glove man at a corner IF spot. The big kicker is that Bogey was 18 in A ball. At 19, he split High A and AA. At 20, he split AA/AAA and MLB. Now, at 21, he is failing in the bigs. He probably should have spent Age 20 ripping up AA, 21 ripping up AA and coming up midway through next season, as opposed to him debuting last yr and flailing all yr this yr. He has the raw skills and talents to be an excellent hitter. He just seems to lack that mental fortitude that the great hitters have. For that matter, so did Montero.

If Stanton hits the open market, he's a Yankee

The Marlins have the money and if they don't make an effort to bring their payroll up to snuff, they'll be penalized by the MLB

They're shutting him down due to lingering hand and wrist issues in his surgically repaired hand. He's potentially headed for another surgery. He says it's been bothering him the whole yr. Hands and wrists are vitally important to hitters and injuries there can lead to long lasting declines in the player. Tex is one example and now Pedroia is the other. There's a chance he's never the same

That's the funny thing. I'm not angry. I'm a little sad but otherwise apathetic. This team almost has no soul. They've been boring to watch all yr, aside from when Pineda and Tanaka pitched

Now we can focus on 2014 being the end of the era. The end of the core four. The end of Derek Jeter and his incredible run of success as the leader of the Yankees. I have said it many times this year, but we're cooked, done, finished. No matter how hard Detroit or Seattle try to give it back to us, we don't deserve it. It's over. 99% of the way, I am upset at how it's gone. In a small way, I am a little glad it came to this. Here's why. Jeter is the last remnant of the reason as to why we won it all 5 times since 96. We augmented brilliant development and drafting with solid trades and free agent acquisitions. We have had one championship yr pioneered by FA acquisitions (09). The rest were filled with home grown players and dotted with veterans who we either got the last bit of performance we could get out of them (Brosius comes to mind) or whom we got on the cheap. Once we started chasing the Giambi's and the ARod's and the Teixeira's, it was the beginning of the end. It is time to re-focus and draft wisely, scout the s*** out of the third world islands and make smart signings rather than just using the wallet to club the competition. Instead of signing the next hot ticket, we should focus on keeping players who have proven worthy in the uniform. Letting a home grown future HOFer in Robby go was a mistake. For all the nostalgia, we let Robby go and replaced him with duds. The entire premise was we'd replace his production by spreading the wealth on offense. Well, we spread the s*** instead. Robby got an insane contract, no doubt. $240 mil is far more than what he is worth. But if we saved the money or spent it wisely, I'd understand. Instead, we spent $85 mil on McCann, $155 mil on Ellsbury and $45 mil on Beltran. Right now, $140 mil of that looks wasted. If you consider that money sunk cost, Robby seems like a bargain at $100 mil. I know he didn't hustle or didn't listen all the time, but f*** it, the guy is amazing and will be in the HOF, probably wearing a Mariners hat. Sad.

The book isn't written on either guy yet. As for Bogaerts, people had him as an MVP candidate this yr, which is f***ing laughable. His MiLB career OPS was .862, which is very good, but doesn't scream superstar as most big league superstars OPS over .900 in the big leagues. The only thing on his side was the fact that he was doing it at such a young age. What they should have been doing is giving him more time to mature in the minors instead of rushing him. Bradley, to be honest with you, is showing that he's a 4th OFer

1. Waivers only works if a team takes his entire salary, which wont happen. If the sox take on some salary, they have to do it in a trade. 2. As a veteran signed to a big league contract, the only way he can be sent to the minors is with his consent 3. The sox are likely to let him recoup his value next yr, and if they aren't contenders, get something for him at the deadline. Otherwise, they'll let him play himself into zero worth and release him

Brock Holt had an unsustainably hight BABIP. He's back to what he is, a scab with heart

The fact that he wasn't claimed off waivers shows you what he's worth

You can't get a decent return. You can't give him away. He is overpaid significantly and underperforms.

The funny thing is, the sox were quietly billing 2013 as the "bridge yr" and they ended up winning it all. It set their rebuild back. 2014 turned into the re-set yr after dealing away their major pitching assets. You don't replace your #1 and #2 quickly, especially when you had a need at 3, 4 and 5.

Cespedes is a FA after 2015. Rusney is gonna get his shot, but is far from a sure thing. RF will be split between two injury prone guys on the downside of their careers. You have a kid at SS who has underperformed. You have a kid at 3b who is likely headed for the DFA pile. You have a backup catcher starting because of lack of depth at the big league level. You have the capability to have Betts and Holt be akin to what the Yankees are doing with Prado. Find a way to get each into 130 or so games next yr without either of them holding down a regular spot in the field

Long leashes for title winning managers, especially title winning managers on teams that should have been .500. Cherington isn't going to load him up with what he needs. He has too much youth and inexperience in the field and on the mound. You aren't going to forge an entirely new team this offseason. I think 2016 is when Cherington can really make his bones. He should have an idea how the kids look and should have enough pieces to deal for something of value or open the checkbook. Think about the acquisitions you would need to be top dog next yr. 2 starters, in an offseason where the Yanks neeed starters too, at least in the rotation. You have a rookie or unproven young player at C, SS, 3B, and CF and you have a RFer who has recurring ankle and foot issues in Craig. Throw in the fact that Ortiz will be one yr older and Pedroia has shown some wear and tear this yr, and you'd need to spend an ungodly amount of money to win. That being said, if you give 2015 to the kids and see who blossoms, then you can fill those spots internally and fill the rest externally.

Well, I am unsure of our direction. I think it hinges on proven players performing up to career norms. I wonder if Prado moves to 3B, Arod to DH, Beltran to RF, and if Refsnyder can win the job in ST, take over 2B long term. I honestly don't think we're doing a whole lot of offensive upgrading without a major trade occurring, aside from SS. And I am not sure of which overpaid guy would be dealt away. I think one area we will spend is in the rotation. The current guys under contract for next yr are Tanaka, Pineda, Phelps, Greene, Sabathia, and Nova. We know Nova will likely miss the first half of the season. We don't know if Tanaka will pitch at all next yr, based on if he gets TJS. Phelps is also coming back from a recurring elbow injury, and if his rehab stalls, he might end up with surgery too. Of the 6 guys under contract, 4 are currently injured without guarantee they will suit up at all in 2015. Pineda is an injury risk as well, although he is currently healthy. The only guy on the list above who isn't an injury risk is in the midst of his rookie season in Greene. I don't feel very comfortable with him leading the rotation, although I am perfectly fine with him being in it for 2015 as I think he is pretty good (aside from last night that is). There is a good chance we see at least 2 rotational acquisitions, with one being big ticket (Lester, Scherzer, etc).

The sox are tied for the 6th worst record in baseball, meaning they should get the 7th pick next yr (Houston didn't sign Aiken, so they get pick #2 next yr). The sox are 7 games up on the worst team (Texas) so they cant really catch them. But they are only 1.5 up on Houston and 3 up on Arizona. A full out tank gets them a top 5 pick

Let them come. This Yankee team has ZERO chance of winning a title. I don't want them to shoot the sherbet and get spanked in a wild card game. This is Jeter's swan song, there is NO chance he is sitting.

The funny thing about Jeter is that he is posting his best UZR/150 since 2011. Depending on what site you believer, Jeter is either a replacement level player or below replacement level this yr. The thing that is so glaring about Jeter is the fact that his offense has died. And it isn't bad luck. His BABIP is exactly .300. He has no power at all and because he isn't fearful in the batters box anymore, he isn't drawing walks. This season and last were the goodbye's to the generational talents in the Yankee dynasty yrs. After Jeter, there isn't a single player who holds sentimental value on the Yankees.

The Sox are finally putting that final nail in the coffin. Good. That means we should stop f***ing around with our injured pitchers and make the right decisions in shutting them down. Let Jeter close out his final season at SS. There is no harm in it at all. They made their bed when they gave him a raise coming off his shattered ankle. He's a shell of himself, but he's the only marketable thing going for this team right now.

You can be on a mound in 12 months and face hitters, but it takes a good 15-18 to get back to commanding your stuff and being able to handle a big league workload