Dipre

The sarcasm is unwarranted, for one. I'm not trying to be a dick but he's entitled to his opinion, and while he is exaggerating, he has a point. Kotchman is simply not a very good player, and shouldn't be starting even for a limited time on this ballclub.

Baiting attempt denied. Please refer to my earlier post about the measures that need to be taken about your mindset. It is your opinion, and you're entitled to it, but that doesn't give you an escape clause for the instances when it is incorrect and you are called out on it. Btw, you're bashing UZR, and i'm nearly 100% positive you don't know how it works.

Stats......

Statistically and logically, there is a much higher chance for success for Buch and Dice-K than Joba and Hughes, and the main reason is Dice-K, who has proven he can pitch an entire season effectively, and last year, Buch showed better command and stamina than Joba as a starter, whose endurance is in question. As for Hughes, he wasn't even fully stretched out to be a starter. It's not about underestimating abilities, it's about who has less question marks when it comes to the possibility of getting positive results, and the answer is clearly Bucholz and Dice-K. You're taking things out of context. I never spoke of a guaranteed decline, i spoke about their ages because natural regression is impossible to stop, and some decline from either or both of them could help even the odds, and it was all just to bring me to the point that Jacko speaks of "Father Time" for Red Sox players on a constant basis, but Yankee players are not impervious to it, so why does he never take it into account? Some objectivity is required on both of the subjects i have touched on this post.

I'd more easily put my money on Dice-K's health than on Joba's.

Even if father time doesn't catch up with them, if the Sox sign Beltre and play Cameron in CF, they're the better defensive squad. No ifs or buts about it.

It's not bias. I didn't say you said Dice should improve. I did. Because he should. When we talk about which couple of starters would be more of a "sure thing" we're talking about the ability to produce at the higher level, anyone except you would probably take Buch-Dice-K over Joba and Hughes. It's that simple, even with all of the issues the four of them face, it's fairly easy to see that a full productive season out of the Boston pair is more likely than the Yankee pair. Where's the bias again? This is not meant to be a dismissive or inflammatory post, he's entitled to his opinion, but seriously........

You are correct, typo on my part. Still: 4.11=/=3.61. Just sayin'.

He plays in the NL West, for one. Also, Cain, Lincecum, Kershaw, Haren, there are plenty of above-average pitchers with good stuff in the NL West, you also keep using the NL argument incorrectly. Pitchers are more dominant because of the weaker lineups, but a pitcher with good stuff is a pitcher with good stuff. Besides, OP meant .350 at Fenway Park, expecting him to hit .350 over a full season is probably not a good idea.

Maybe there's more than meets the eye about the state of Matsui's knees.

I actually made a mistake here, fueled by wrongfully assuming Joba had started all of his games in 2008, when he only threw 65 IP as a SP. His actual line is a 4.31 ERA as a starter with a 1.48 WHIP.

V-Mart.

Weren't you talking yesterday about "baseball discussion" while i wasn't here? This is your typical contribution while i wasn't here too. Please, grow up.

The problem with that is that we have already concluded that Joba's problem is not stuff, but endurance. If you give him nearly 30 IP of one-inning stints, you're giving him a sizable advantage. Also, his WHIP and K/9, while "comparable" are still worse. Not to mention the variations in stuff from inning-to-inning and inability to go deep into ballgames.