Dojji

I want to wait to see how this season pans out. I'm still not really sold on Lee -- not that his last 2 years have been anything other than excellent, but he's been up and down a bit over his career. It would be a shame, and typical, if we got him just as he was going to hit a downswing anyway and Beckett signs with someone inconvenient and does much better.. I have no problem with bringing him in, since even his downside is pretty danged solid, since even in the worst case scenario he's a durable lefthander with elite control, but Becks... I feel he's earned a certain loyalty from me and I just want him to stay. 2007 was not that long ago and I think the difference between Beckett and Lee in an already great rotation aren't worth the risks involved in bringing in a new guy. As long as Becks doesn't flame out or get critically hurt I'd rather just keep him. This is all just MHO.

I think Halladay would have to win 22 or get an ERA of like 1.5 to qualify as a breakout.

I'm not against Lee, but I wonder what you think Lee provides that Beckett wouldn't, considering we already have Lester for our rotation lefty.

http://38pitches.com/2010/02/08/why-you-sign-josh-beckett-today/ Schill apparently isn't counting Daisuke there. Probably understandable. Regardless, Beckett is certainly at least as likely to take us over the top as anyone we brought in to replace him. A strong endorsement from a player also well known as a man who would reach deep down and give you his last drop of blood.

Long as he can bring it at 96, I dun care how tubby he gets.

Not that much better. His best years are around .860 OPS, well within any reasonable margin of error.

Mostly 'cuz he's not going to get the reps he's used to IMHO. That and he's 38 and declining fast.

Dude, for like the last page we've been talking about Pena. Don't talk to me about keeping up with you when you change directions faster than a whitetail deer. If Adrian Beltre puts up a higher OBP than Mike Lowell's 2009 next year, which is I guess the standard you put out, and puts up his usual half decent power numbers, then I'll be happy to admit I'm wrong.

The guy has a career .355 OBP. I'm not going to post a mea culpa if he has a below average season.

If he hits .270 or better, I'll post a mea culpa.

Signed with Cleveland.

Well sure, but we all have our little prejudices anyway. I know I like to make a judgement call on a guy and then stick with it until I have a reason to change it. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with that. Since I'm always open to the possibility of my being wrong, even when I don't think I am, I have to say no harm, no foul.

Like to know where you got your number. I got a .752 OPS v. left from Baseball Reference.. that's just 2009 numbers. If you're talking about a reliever's home/road splits in a single season sample you really start dipping into small sample size a bit too deep for my taste. The guy allows an overall .338 opponent OBP. That's pretty danged bad relative to his ERA.

He's still the absolute worst possible kind of pitcher for Yankee Stadium. A righthanded pitcher with a high opponent OBP and a pronounced platoon weakness against lefties is going to have very limited usefulness in a park that exaggerates lefthanded power as much as NYS does.

I certainly wouldn't mind bringing in Pena next year to replace Beltre. I'd guess you'd be in favor of that as well. I just think that that kind of hitter can be very volatile. Kinda a personal prejudice on my part I guess.

Well yeah, and he's definitely a very good player as long as he keeps hitting for elite power and taking plenty of walks. That .220 AVG is a definite weakness though.

She'd bonded to Ben, she can like other people but there's always going to be a special relationship there.

Considering that we have 3-4 young catchers with at least solid backup potential coming along over the next 3 years, I'm not too bothered about the fact that our starting catcher will need the occasional break from behind the plate. Consider also that we're very well situated to deal with V-Mart's need not to be the fulltime catche and still get his bat in the lineupr this year. Whatever you think of Beltre's overall talent level, he's coming off a bad year made worse by injury and surgery and he should probably be encouraged to take 40 games or so off over the course of the year anyway, probably when Verlander, Greinke, and other particularly tough righthanders are on the mound. When that happens, V-Mart takes first, Youkilis takes third, just like last year, and Varitek comes in behind the plate. Not optimal, especially the Varitek part, but it does take a RHH out of the lineup and puts an ostensible LHH in his place. What we do next year is utterly dependent on whether the Twins get something done with Mauer. I fully expect Boston to fight New York over Mauer and win if he's available. they've got too much money coming off the books, and New York has too much NOT coming off the books plus a strong catching prospect in the wings. They will go after Mauer, but it'll be the Teixeira situation in reverse -- New York will know they don't really NEED him, while Boston knows they really do. If Mauer's not coming to Boston, then they sign Victor Martinez and wait on the development of one of Wagner, Expo, Fed or Lavarnway. Personally I suspect Wags is our backup next year unless something goes hideously wrong at the big league level or amazingly right with one of the other 3. I don't think Varitek's here past this season.

I disagree on Pena. He's not a candidate to break out in any meaningful sense of the word. He's a great candidate to produce excellently and maybe even improve on prior years, but I don't see where he can really go from here, especially since he's nearing the far end of his prime. I actually have Pena as a collapse candidate if he can't improve his contact rates a bit. The guy is an Adam Dunn among Adam Dunns.

For that matter, BJ Upton is past due to really put some good seasons together.

Mea culpa. I got him mixed up with Hong-Chih Kuo

.750 OPS against lefties. .715 OPS against overall. In the National League. Mostly in the national League West. This guy's new nickname will be "David Ortiz' Chew Toy."

oh, I need an MLB pick. I'm going with Alex Gordon of the Royals.

Aeod? New Greek poet?