Dipre

Papelbon wasn't being "trained" to be a starter in neither '07 and '08, and he enjoyed spectacular success in both seasons. What you propose has no factual grounds to back it up. Papelbon's problems stem from diminished stuff and control, something that a different approach (in terms of control) may help solve, but "training him as a starter" simply means stretching him out more, not necessarily widening his arsenal. During '06, for instance, he worked on his entire repertoire during ST, and was a two-trick pony during the entire season.

Is Crawford overpaid? Absolutely. Is it a reflection of the current market, specially with the contract the Nationals gave Werth (which will undoubtedly be worse than the Crawford contract)? Yes sir. My take: The Sox figure that the market will explode again, specially with the talent pool in Free Agency thinning out in the next couple of years, and that stupid contract Werth received, the aggregate value of Crawford's production may just be around what he's actually going to be paid, specially with the likelihood of the dollar value of a win increasing in the next couple of years (thus increasing his WAR as well, just to address that argument.). Pros: - He's in his prime, he's an elite defender and base-stealer, as well as a dynamic player who can do everything well, although he doesn't excel at anything but speed. Added bonus: f***ed with the Yankees, since they would have gone after him if Lee hadn't signed. Cons: - He's close to a platoon player, specially when his wheels begin to go, much of his value relies on speed, whose future development is unpredictably, he's not very good at getting on base, and he doesn't like leading off. Tail-end of the contract a major concern.

Dude......are you for real?

Lol ok. Ignore peripherals and overall numbers and let's focus on the fact he's overweight. I'm giddy now because i'm sure CC Sabathia is going to suck ass next year. He is fat after all.

And that's why you don't use ERA as the be-all, end-all indicator of a pitcher's effectiveness....

Palodios, Jenks is a superior reliever to any of the RH relievers that have signed for three years thus far. Not only do his peripherals show that, but remember that he wasn't pampered with lefty/righty matchups or brought into the seventh inning of blowouts. He was a successful closer who ran into a bout of bad luck last year. I'll say it again, years in contracts of relief pitchers matter, because you don't want to find yourself contending with multiple years of sunk cost.

I said in the Hot Stove thread that signing something as volatile as a mid-tier reliever to a three-year contract is a really dumb way to construct a baseball team, because of the likelihood of an ineffective reliever becoming a sunk cost. Got killed for it, because "if the Sox weren't aggressive with money and years, they'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel" well look now, not even 24 hours later they sign arguably the best right-handed reliever in the open market for less years and comparable money than middling relievers like Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier. This FO knows what it's doing. Just sayin'.

Now sign a lefty reliever, make a couple more depth signings (some s***** BP arms, and journeyman infielder and catcher) and /offseason.

Signed. Just so you know, Jenks is an excellent reliever who had extremely bad luck last season, as evidenced by an unsustainable .368 BABIP. His 2010 FIP and xFIP stand at 2.59 and 2.62, respectively. He induces ground balls and strikes people out by the boatload. All indicative of a dominant pitcher. He's a fantastic option, but you have to delve into his numbers to see why his ERA wasn't that good last year.

Yup, i mean who the hell does he think he is? It's already December 16th and this dude has the gall to not have completed this roster yet? The nerve!

Well s***, looks like they weren't sitting with their thumbs up their asses after all.

Jacko, where do you get mid-90's for Zambrano? His average fastball velocity dipped for the fifth year in a row to a career-low 90.7 MPH. He barely hit 94 a couple times last year when reaching back.

Not "me" the Red Sox FO. They were apparently willing to move Papelbon off the closer role when they made that offer to Rivera. Who's to say they wouldn't do it if they were legitimately interested in Soriano?

So? The Sox can keep Bard in a setup role for as long as they have control of him.

Kottaras, really? I think i've got a nervous tick in my left eye.

Did you expect anything else? Also, i don't why Drew (whose 2010 against LHP is nothing short of an outlier) can't return to a decent level of production against lefties. He had a .262 BABIP against them last year, and his BB% was 5% lower than it has been at any point during the last five years. Maybe he needs some magical pinstripes? 'cause if he was a Yankee, i'm pretty sure we would have already heard about how this year was a fluke and he was sure to do better next year.

Actually, it is. You say that you don't "expect him to maintain it" then make the point about his offensive pedigree or whatnot, which is absolute ********. It takes 20 seconds to go and check his minor overall stats and see that his offensive ceiling is not nearly as high as you paint it to be. It's not that i don't like the kid, it's that i like to live in reality. (I'll be mentioning reality several times throughout the post so you can get the hang on the concept). Let's see if my reading comprehension skills are correct: "John Valentin" type numbers amirite? That is possible. But not a given, he has the OBP skills to do, but averaging 18 HR a year? Color me skeptical. Pedroia is not a good comparison (using regular logic at least): Dustin Pedroia minor league OPS: .844 Jed Lowrie minor league OPS: .825. And this is where you say "wait a minute, those numbers are really similar!" Until you notice that Pedroia was younger at every minor league level than Lowrie. The problem with your "posting style" is that while you sometimes set realistic parameters for the players you like to hype (which are many, and usually flameouts, Hunter Jones comes to mind) but you make absolutely out of this world predictions about what their actual talent levels and possible production could be. Lowrie has a "good" not "great" offensive toolset. He has excellent OBP skills, but has never flashed the power (except in an SSS last year) that you hype him for. Maybe you set the "Power vs LHP" bar a bit too high in MLB The Show '10, and simulated it through a whole season? :dunno: If you make the effort to live in reality, the "basic reading comprehension" (which you don't seem to do before you post your usual dabble) will become a whole lot easier.

Or Weth with the Red Sox, or Adam Dunn with Detroit, or V-Mart returning to the Sox, or Adrian Gonzales staying put with the Padres, etc etc etc. You speak the truth.

And how do we know exactly what they're doing? That's basically my point. What if they trade for someone then overpay for another guy? What if they're targeting two people we don't know off and are convinced those guys are good enough for the "going rates"? Gotta wait and see.

He had a 1.023 OPS against lefties last year. If you expect him to continue that and not be called out on overselling, you're nuts.

Ortiz and Drew couldn't possibly be worse against LHP if they tried. I actually expect Drew to somewhat improve against lefties, since he's always hit them relatively well and last year seemed pretty at odds with his usual production, specially OBP-wise. There's no reason why Cameron wouldn't perform right at least around his career numbers against lefties (if healthy) taking advantage of Fenway. If Tito's smart, he plays Cameron instead of Ortiz against lefties, and that leaves you with three lefties, and only one of them (Crawford) is particularly weak against LHP. Why do i play Crawford instead of Ortiz against lefties you ask? Quite simple, if you ask me, since Ortiz is basically a singles hitter against lefties anyway, why not take advantage of Crawford's speed on the basepaths when he does get on base? I'd conclude that the Sox are a bit weaker than in recent seasons against LHP, but they can hold their own.