Dipre

The Sox tried to acquire him this past deadline which, you know, has absolutely nothing to do with the current offseason. Other than this single "tweet" there has been no evidence of the Sox pushing for Wood, unlike guys like Guerrier and Crain, not to mention that the Sox were "linked" by at least one of these tweets to every other relief pitcher available, which sounds more like doing due diligence. Give me evidence that they were seriously interested in Wood. I'll wait here.

That's a fantasy baseball site. lol.

However Adrian Gonzales, Carl Crawford, Bobby and Dan Wheeler did take the Sox money. Not to mention they were never interested in Wood. What was your fallback plan?

I'm not sure if this is a porn category, but if it is, i'm sure you're the right person to find some videos that feature it.

This isn't a court room. This is a matter pertaining a gentleman's agreement. You know, the kind you hold up when your word means something. Oh, how the gentlemen from England have degraded.

It wasn't a lefty, but it was a quality reliever. Come on now, be a man of your word.

Not "early picks" but "picks" in general: Clay Bucholz, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Dan Bard, the prospects used to acquire Martinez and Gonzales were all drafted and developed by this team. This team has an excellent track record of translating draft picks into either productive major leagues or trade bait. Teams that have a good talent evaluation system value draft picks highly because of the likelihood of acquiring talent that will feed the ML club or be used in deals to acquire outside talent.

Sweet use of the quote function there, Mr. Glittery gay vampire.

Next season with salary cap incorporated sounds pretty awesome to me.

So far.

BUMP! Accepting members and suggestions now that the NFL re-draft is over.

You're such a f***ing idiot. No one defended the Hall acquisition on this board more than me. Anyways, why don't you try actually adding something to the discussion for once instead of glittering, gay vampire?

I like Rich Hill as a dark-horse candidate for lefty specialist. He's held lefties to a .687 OPS during his career (mostly as a starter) and could probably be more effective on a relief role limiting his exposure versus righties. I also like Andrew Miller's potential if he can ever get that wildness under control.

That would make the Red Sox the first team to have a 26-man roster since the institution of the 25-man roster rule, since they're going with a twelve-man pitching staff.

Physical issues not only affect a pitcher's velocity, but can screw up their mechanics as well. Otherwise, i don't see a viable explanation for him tripling his BB/9 from '08 to '09, and then adding another .60 increase from '09 to '10. @BSN07: This "saving himself" argument makes no sense. He threw more split-fingered fastballs (which are death on the forearm/elbow) and sliders than any other full season he's spent in the Majors, and at a higher average velocity . Theory and numbers simply don't correlate in this instance. Something must be wrong either mechanically or physically, but there 's simply no indicator that he's not leaving it all on the field.

That's what initially got me suspecting there may be something wrong with him. I've also noticed (and this i don't have a reference) a sharp decline in his control when he's used in consecutive appearances.

Don't worry, people will stop "fabricating conflicts out of thin air" with you as soon as Lars Anderson, George Kottaras, Daniel Nava, Hunter Jones, Jed Lowrie, Tug Hullett nad Yamaico Navarro all make their 10th consecutive All-Star appearance. We will then all admit you were right and give you the respect you (think) you deserve!

So that jump in BB/9 (Papelbon's main problem) from 1.04 in '08 to 3.18 in '09 and 3.76 in '10 can be justified by his not training to be a starter? Not buying it. There has to be something else wrong with the guy. And that's exactly my point about the starter training (stretching him out) he can still throw hard, but what if the problem's physical (shoulder) ? You could easily aggravate it by increasing his workload.

2008. Best statistical season since his flukey 2006 (.237 BABIP). No starter training.

Actually BSN, your statement is utterly and absolutely incorrect. Here's why: After a 2009 in which Papelbon lost the "feel" for his splitter, (which can happen for long periods of time, just ask Jose Contreras), he had his lower percentage of fastballs and highest percentage of breaking balls and splitters thrown career-wise. Check out the difference: 2009: FB%: 81.5, SL%: 9.2, SF%: 9.4% 2010: FB%: 69.5% (career-low), SL%: 9..3% (career-best since becoming a closer), SF: 21.2% (Career best). Disclaimer: There are an amount of pitches deemed unrecognizable by the system, and these pitches comprise the difference between the actual percentage and the amount needed to reach 100%. As you can see, last year, he threw more breaking balls than ever before, but the velocity in his fastball, while still there, doesn't represent the same challenge when it doesn't have any movement, and couple that with a splitter that hitters are laying off more than ever, is a recipe for disaster when it comes to Papelbon.