Dipre

"Winning" or "Losing" have nothing to do with the quality of a pitcher's performance. The streak you speak of (4 straight losses) consists of the following: An implosion against CWS (4.2 IP, 7 ER) A ND (7.2 IP, 0 ER) against Boston Another ND against Toronto (6 IP, 3 ER) Loss against Oak (8.0 IP, 3 ER) Another implosion against Boston (5.0 IP, 9 ER) Loss to TB (6.0 IP, 3 ER) Two bad starts surrounded by a bunch of good ones. Come on now, let's not behave like the Yankee fans we so love to criticize.

In regards to AJ, let's be fair here, he had pretty decent numbers (4.04 ERA, 195 K) his WHIP was a bit high (1.4) but that had much to do with some start-of-season wildness. He was effective during crunch time and in the playoffs. As for the fifth spot, that's a spot that's very easy to fill.

You should've known your argument was a winning one when Mr. Extra Chromosome there resorted to name-calling and numbers residing in fantasy to "create" an argument. Anyways, this is the same yearly attempt to put down the offense. Remember last year? It was going to be a much much weaker offense, with Beltre not providing league average offense, and several other players taking a step back due to nitpicky reasons. How'd that work out?

And the ORS hammer hits Jacko square in the forehead yet again.

Calm down Plump. After a tough 2010, it's normal the kids are excited about the upgrades to the team. Welcome back, my friend!

WE HAVE PLUMP!!!!!!!!

Met both a fat metro and a fat emo. Came to the following conclusions: Emo and fat don't match. Metro and fat don't match. Proceeded to lower head, facepalm, and wonder when everything started going wrong with the world.

And the Doiji hype machine continues! Wake me up when he plays enough to : 1) Make an accurate assessment of his offense. 2) Make an accurate assessment of his defense. 3) You stop pulling stuff from out of your ass. I'll be waiting.

Good call.

I think i'm never going after a girl again, since i don't think i can get it up with all the loads i've blown this offseason.

Minor league high: 13 in 497 AB's.

Don't put words in my mouth. My "demanding medical reports" has more to do with proving the point that none of us have any info about either player's health status and that any and all affirmations are speculation, as you've just proven. The only indication we have as to how each player's status is viewed for 2011 are statements made by the FO, by which statements i will ask the following question: Do you think you know better than them? Also, on the "hitting for power" front, i love SSS. Kid has a legit OBP/gap power tool set, but was never a power hitter in the minors, but now he hits a couple dingers in 2010, and some people are touting him as a surefire 20-HR hitter. I like to keep my expectations in reality, and overselling a Red Sox player's abilities is akin to the Yankee fans we all love to criticize. I'd like to see the kid maintain an 11.4 HR/FB% for more than 171 AB's in order to see the legitimacy of his power.

It doesn't. It'a all about AAV.

I call ********. There was just as much a chance Lowrie was traded. (He was mentioned in Gonzo rumors several times). The Sox gauged interest on both of them. I call ******** again, since Scutaro demonstrated he can produce while injured, something Lowrie has been unable to do. I'll call ******** a third time. I've never said Lowrie won't take over the starter's job, but that they want to break him in slowly, which absolutely makes sense for both his and the organization's long term plan for him. It's common sense. Simple. Why risk finding out if the kid is indeed injury prone by throwing him into the fire when you can both break him in slowly and build a healthy Scutaro's trade value? Common sense. Also, i love the "Lowrie> Scutaro" crowd, when he hasn't even played half a season yet. Don't get me wrong, Scutaro is a terribly average SS in every sense of the word, but he's at least demonstrated durability and production. I didn't even like the signing and criticized it publicly and ate crow when he performed like he did with all those injuries. But again, none of us are talent evaluators or know the actual health status of Lowrie. Double-guessing the Fo seems like an exercise in futility to me.

Again with the overselling. Anyways, i'm going to throw this out there, just for the sake of discussion. The Red Sox Fo and their manager view Lowrie as the utility and Scutaro as the starting SS. Can you provide me with reasons why your evaluation of his health and possible performance is superior to that of the FO? Because as far as i'm concerned, neither of us is a talent evaluator or has real insight to his health situation, therefore, the FO's judgment has to be worth something, right?

That's exactly what i'm talking about when i say "overselling". Lowrie has the potential to be a consistent .800+ OPS player, but he hasn't demonstrated that he is yet, and you speak of his .800 OPS like he's been doing it in the league for years. Anyways, i'd keep him on the bench as an extremely valuable member on the bench and break him in slowly until he proves he can handle the rigors of everyday work (as i've said before). There is a ton to lose, because if he's not physically ready and gets injured, you lose an extremely valuable member of your bench. Why not play it safe? It's not like he'll rot on the bench anyways.

I don't mean to be a dick, but for the love of Jesus Christ, could you take fifteen seconds to create a coherent sentence and use spell-check on it? Your posts are like crossword puzzles.

Doiji, Olivo is not that good, but Martin certainly hasn't set the world on fire the last two seasons either. A Slg% under .350 is downright pathetic. I think the Sox view Martin as a high-upside signing that, even with the hip issues, is an overall better defensive catcher than Olivo, (whose 2010 i believe was an outlier except in the throwing baserunners out department), and he's more versatile offensively. However, your tendency to oversell player's skills (See: Nava, Daniel) really hurts what is otherwise a solid argument.

Absolute ********. Both the Yankees and Rangers have continued with their normal off-season schedule signing some players and extending contracts to others. Any GM who can't fill the holes on his roster waiting for one guy should be fired. Not to mention that because Lee is the jewel of the pitching market, and two teams are bidding aggressively for him, and keep upping their offers, he's not going to sign until he gets the max offer teams will extend him. And it makes complete and total sense, because initially, neither Yankees nor Rangers wanted to go to 7 years, and they're already there. I'm sorry, but that's how negotiations work. You're just pissed 'cause "You want him and you want him now". Even worse, it's December 10th, and most FA's are still out there. Make an argument with more holes plz.

Actually, i was wrong, his OBP vs lefties last year was .355, but i think the point still stands.

I don't rate Martin as high as Doiji does, but i think you're seriously overselling Olivo here. His defense is not that great. He has a cannon arm, but he's not particularly mobile behind the plate, and he's a PB machine (he's lead the league in passed balls four times while not even being a regular catcher). If you ever want to call a season an outlier, then Olivo's 2010 was an outlier, and he still gave up 10 passed balls, not a good thing when you're handling a staff with so many guys with big, looping breaking balls. His offense against lefties is also not that awesome. Sure, he has an .821 career OPS against lefties, but he has a .318 OBP to show for it, and an even worse .298 OBP against them last year. All things considered, he's just not that good.