Fried Neckbones

So? It's called building a team, not fielding a group of All-Stars. If Pedroia can turn out like Eckstein or Loretta I for one will be happy. Someone who does the little things, the sac hits, playing hard, working counts, etc. That's all I want, and that's what we'll be getting.

Thanks. I'm pretty hung over, and the coffee has yet to kick in.

It was more a comment on the fact that the best pitcher in the 'pen does not have to be the closer for the 'pen to be effective. You can get by with a solidified closer who is not the stud reliever on your team - the Tigers with Jones, the Angels with whoever the hell was closing when K-Rod was their set-up guy. I was trying to demonstrate the point that the Sox don't necessarily need to go balls out to land the top closer on the market, just someone who is competent.

Honestly, I think the bigger distraction is Nike and Phil Knight. He is the biggest U of O booster, and reportedly is pretty heavy handed in the athletic department there. The AD and coaches are so busy worrying about Phil and his $$$$$$, and so concerned with getting new facilities and unis from that $$$$$$, that they kiss his ass and let him meddle. The program suffers. Zero bowl wins since Joey. :thumbdown

I'm not saying that he would be a bad closer. He would be a really good closer. But in my opinion, he has more value to the organization as a starter than as a closer when there are other ways to structure a bullpen. And I agree about Hansen. Someone who looks as terrified as he did last year has serious question marks attatched to him.

Yeah, I used to think that Paps was the closer of the future, and that his talent would be wasted in the rotation. Now, I'm not so sure. A couple of things to consider. There are ways to structure a bullpen without an ace closer. Look at the Tigers with Tod Jones and Zumaya. Yeah, Zumaya is a huge stud and will probably close in a year or two, but Detroit could also be seen a a prototype new bullpen - the closer by comittee that actually works. Also, picture this scenario. 5th inning, 2-1 Sox lead, Paps on the hill. Runners on the corners, no outs. Paps steps off the mound, looks at the ground, takes a deep breath, and switches to "closer mode". Thousand yard stare, fist pumps, the whole nine yards. Strikeout, strikeout, feeble pop up. Inning over. Now that's something that I could live with in a starter. Keep the man in the rotation. That being said, I have no idea who can close at this point. The upshot is that, IMO, they don't need to land an absolute stud closer. Just someone who won't freeze up in Boston and crumble under the considerable pressure.

I think the sausages could whip both of them.

I agree a700. I've posted this same thought elsewhere here, but it bears repeating. With revenue sharing/mandates that money be spent on players, the general insanity of the FA market, and the anyone can win state of the postseason, teams are going to start taking a more proactive approach to their stars, i.e. signing them to long term deals the year prior to them hitting free agency (or before other teams can get involved). Aramis, Wells, Bonderman. Baseball is actually getting closer to parity these days, and the way to stay competative is by locking up the "franchise guys" while their price is still (relatively) low. This won't be an AL only phenomenon, and most of the top young players are in the NL right now. Right now the AL is the better league, but I think the NL can close the gap in the coming years.

I agree with the point about pitching, crunchy. Which is why the trend in baseball of locking up young studs is going to continue. Let's face it, free agency is going to get insane for even the most marginal players (*cough* Gary Matthews Jr *cough*), and even moreso for pitching. But look at what the Tigers just did. Lock up one of their best young arms a year BEFORE he hits the FA market. The combination of revenue sharing and a wide open playoffs is going to change the way in which teams look at holding on to talent. Mid-market teams like the Tigers, Twins, Reds, Pirates, Rays, etc are going to try and hold onto their stud young guys like Bonderman, like Santana did a couple of years ago. Most of those stud young guys are pitchers, and with good pitching, you can win any year if you can get in.

But with the way that the playoffs are structured now all you need to do is to get in. With three rounds now the eventual winner isn't always the best team any more - it is the team that gets hot at the right time and catches a few breaks. The past several WS winners have all had some moments in the playoffs where they caught a break or two, and that is often the difference. I agree - a Colorado WS win would probably put me into shock for at least a week. But if they win the West and get into the postseason, then anything is possible in today's MLB.

He doesn't even have 30IP yet (outside of college). His numbers, while good, don't scream "total dominance" yet. A total of 20 hits, 28 k, 11 bb in 29.3 IP is good, but it was at Lowell and Wilmington. His ERA is really good, but his other numbers look like he'd benefit from some more time on the farm. He is not the answer for '07.

After his first 20 games last year, he was hitting .137. After the final 10 (no PA in his last game), he was up to .191. He had one multi-hit game his first 20, 3 in his final 10. Not a bad improvement, especially for a guy who was hit in 5 different spots in the lineup, and was dropped in as a pinch hitter about a quarter of the games he appeared in. At age 22. Once he gets some consistent playing time, a steady workload and a spot in the order, he'll be fine.

Exactly. He has to rely on hard work, hustle, doing all the little things. That's how a "slightly pudgy, undersized player with no obvious skills" managed to become a very good player at every level he has stopped at. I mean, he's a friggin' 9 hitter. Seriously. He hits 9th. Let's not panic here, people.

I agree, Barajas would be better. But someone will take him as a starter. As far as spending sprees, they are going to be right up against the luxury tax cap - I can't see them going over because of a backup catcher (and we still need someone to close).

Hall would probably be about a mill + cheaper/season, though.

Holy crap, we ARE obsessed. :thumbsup: EDIT: I clicked on it, BTW.

I'm with you in regard to the win total and the ERA - 14 and just over 4 sounds reasonable. As far as the strikeouts go, in the video of him vs the MLB "all-stars" in '04 he was getting a lot of contact outs - mostly ground balls. I know that's a small sample, but it seems indicative that he can adjust his style based on who he is facing. I think MLB hitters swing a bit more freely than NPB hitters, so his k's could be somewhat below what he usually puts up. And for innings, I think we can expect 200+ out of him - his delivery and mechanics are so smooth (he has worked with Japanese scientists to figure it out for cripes' sake) and he knows what he is doing, so I don't think the FO will baby his arm as much as they would with a younger "rookie" starter.

Don't know about the Coliseum per se, but his career numbers against the Sox are pretty similar - 5 and 5 with a 4.78 ERA in 13 starts. Here's the link if you want to stat-geek out. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/psplit.cgi?n1=zitoba01&year=00

Here you are, sir. G GS GF W L S CG SHO IP ERA H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP 5 5 0 2 2 0 1 0 31 4.65 36 17 16 3 13 0 24 2 Sorry about the crappy formating.

It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, but as the offseason progresses it becomes more and more worth it to the Sox. Think about it. If this falls through, the only other real pitcher on the market is Zito (and Clemens, yes, but that will be another mid-season signing where ever he goes). Zito's flaws in a place like Fenway have been discussed at length here. With the other viable options now off the market, the value of getting a pitcher like Matsuzaka is increasing, making the huge deal that they are going to eventually sign that much more palatable.