Dojji

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090626&content_id=5541876&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos So what does this even mean? He won't be sitting in the dugout for one game, is there ANY other repercussions of this? What does the hitting coach even DO during a game?

I think he can work out his issues and be effective at the top of the order, and if he can, I like him much better there.

That's assuming cashman still has his job next year. if the Yankees miss the playoffs for the second year in a row, and especially if the Sox make said playoffs, after the money he spent this offseason, I have my doubts he will.

3/7 in an 4 team pool is very good odds. Plenty of room for something to go wrong of course, but it's way better than average odds considering you're dealing with at least 2 of the 3 other best teams in the league.

So what kind of prospect return do you think the Pirates would take for Adam LaRoche? He should be available for a decent price as he's making a lot of money for a Pittsburgh guy ($7M), and he's a half decent first baseman. Put LaRoche at first, Youks at third and we have a solution if Lowell goes down. I imagine the Pirates could consider Michael Bowden fair compensation for LaRoche's services. Since I think laRoche has one year of arbitration control after this one, I might do that.

You don't play that kind of game with the negotiations if you don't think you can deal with the worst case scenario. In this case, the worst case scenario happened -- Teixeira in pinstripes. We seem to have dealt with it pretty well, all things considered. With Drew, Bay and Youkilis all producing, the need for a bat of Teixeira's caliber isn't that great. anything Ortiz and Lowell can add only drives the point further. I think we might be in trouble if Lowell is gone for the entire rest of the season, but we can pick up a 1B in trade easily enough in that event. They're not that hard to come by. And anyway, Lowell was only counted on to be, at best, our 4th best power hitter this year so I don't think we're as desperate for middle of the order power as you guys are making it sound.

I'm all for replacing Lugo and Kotsay with better players. And if Lowell goes down I'm all for making a trade for a good replacement. That doesn't really have much to do with Teixeira. Piling up depth behind Lowell in the event of his injury is reasonable. That's probably why Travis Denker is in Pawtucket for example. Replacing him with a mammoth contract and selling low on him? Not so much. If nothing else, that's a move which would have some consequences when we go after FA's in the future as it doesn't exactly demonstrate a lot of respect for the players and their desires. Show me one time in the last 5 years where a team deliberately traded away a veteran player in order to sign a big name FA. It just doesn't happen very often. Even the Sheffield thing, probably the closest to it, was the result of a trade.

Best record in the American League despite a highly competitive division and multiple West Coast swings agrees.

And the "smart money" was on the Yankees breaking the bank for Teixeira too. where are we going with this again? Also, where were the Sox aggressively pursuing Plan B if the need was that likely? You think the Sox would go toe to toe with the Yankees for a position of need and not prepare for failure? When was the last time the Red Sox and yankees both wanted a guy enough to bid aggressively for him and the Sox got him? Open bidding only, please. I don't think you can just assume that if the sox spent just a little more, Teixeira would be here rather than there.

Anything to back that up or is it just one of those things where if I call on it you fall back on calling something opinion though it was originally stated as fact?

I was operating under the assumption that it was a given that Lugo would go when Lowrie returned. either way, I really think Teahen could replace Kotsay on the roster and we'd be a stronger team for ut.

You're selling Teahen just a bit short, there. He's actually a pretty decent defender at third, and provides good defense and a very good arm as a corner outfielder. Also, other than the one debacle year in 2007 where they kept jerking him around all over the field to make room for Alex Gordon and Jose Guillen, Teahen is not a disaster with the bat and has maintained a good OBP with a bit of base stealing ability. I see Teahen as a very versatile and useful roleplayer and a guy you'd bring in to shore up Lowell rather than replace him, which isn't happening for the life of Lowell's contract at this point.

Well I never did the Mrs. Teixeira thing. I don't tend to pay attention to that stuff, But the rest of it is pretty accurate. i felt that blunted the value of acquiring a guy like Teixeira to the point that he wasn't worth the money. Frankly I still feel that way. I just didn't want the guy. Pity. Woulda been a good move. I think the best value as a short term fill-in guy is still Teahen. DeRosa is going to go to a contending team that needs a starter somewhere I think, unless the Yankees go after him to shore up their situation with Alex Rodruiguez. And we have some injury issues looming in right field, trying to look forward, and Teahen can help us with that too.

Good idea. Really good idea. I wouldn't mind at all if this is what the Sox do. But if you look at the numbers there really isn't much to choose between DeRosa and Teahen. DeRosa does offer more flexibility and a bit more power, but I think I'd take Teahen instead if only because Teahen provides a platoon advantage that makes it easier to convince a guy who's used to playing every game why he should be sitting on the bench. Jacko: DeRosa a middle of the order bat? Really? I love him as a bench bat but the guy has 20 HR's just once in his career. I just don't see DeRosa continuing this power tear of his much longer. This besides the fact that DeRosa is actually older than Lowell. If the price is that high on DeRosa, I'd definitely rather see the Sox go after Teahen. Or if they really want to blow the doors down, they could go ahead and trade with the Mariners for Adrian Beltre. his defense and sporadic power would be worth a goodly price, and the Mariners probably wouldn't mind clearing his contract.

The irony here is, of course, that Gardner beats Ellsbury's OBP by a whopping .003

Well, if he's trade bait, at that age at that level he's pretty decent trade bait, and I could see teams being interested if we need a roleplayer of some kind.

Because that was my entire argument at any point in the discussion. I know it's the simple path (read: intellectually lazy path) to harp on the weakest part of someone's argument, but Lowell being a competent 3B was only a part of the reason I was content not to get Teixeira. You don't spend that much team resources swapping out an above average player for another above average player. Having a top prospect 1B close to the big leagues was another part, i notice you tried to skewer me on that as if it was my whole argument too. Also, i don't think any but the blindest, most delusionally partisan fans on this forum knew that beating the Yankees out for a guy they want at a position they need was a longshot, although a lot of us hoped differently, and hoped very loudly. It all combined to a realization that I'd better get over Teixeira before I even started.

I'd love to hear your better idea. And no, woulda-coulda-shoulda arguments do not qualify as a better idea. Teahen as a bench guy is actually a very good fit for us, he as a LHH is a natural platoon partner for Lowell, and would be of assistance if we start running into problems with Baldelli and Drew again. i understand experiments with Teahen and 1B didn't go very well but he might be useful there in an emergency as well.

And then the yankees offer him $10M more than that, and then where are we? The Yankees were "in for a penny, in for a pound" with Teixeira as it was anyway, you think they'd balk at adding another increment any more than you think we should have? When we try to go toe to toe with the Yankees for free agents, we lose at least 85% of the time. When it's for a position they actually have a hole in, we lose 100% of the time. Mark Teixeira was never, ever, ever going to be a Red Sox. Ever. Period. We were in the negotiations at all to force the Yankees to pay more money. That became clear when we didn't get the chance to match the last Yankee offer. Move on.

What a stupid question. Would I like to have Teixeira in Boston? in a vacuum, yes. But he was never coming here because he's a mercenary type who wants to be paid well and he plays a position the Yankees needed to fill. Any thought of Teixeira in a Sox uniform when he was a major Yankee offseason priority is delusional. the Sox thrive by working around the Yankees, not going head to head with them for free agents. Now can we please deal with the question at hand, rather than looking back at a player we never would have acquired.

And combined with the fact that Hank Steinbrenner was going to spend what it took to bring Teixeira to New York, that is why he was very unlikely to ever be a Red Sox. No matter what, Hank was going to make an offer theo couldn't or wouldn't match. That's just what it is.

Maybe we could make a deal with the Royals for Mark Teahen. He'd be useful to have around as a platoon partner for Mikey anyway and would be better at what Kotsay does than Kotsay is. And teahen is expendable because the Royals have Alex gordon.