diony

Sureeeeeee, because Clement is way better than Mauer. :thumbsup:

He's a good defensive OF and can also play 1B. I don't see how he's going to get playing time with Baldelli and Kotsay, but is a good signing I guess.

He was the same pitcher in 2008 that he was in 2007. K/9 2007: 8.7 2008: 8.88 BB/9 2007: 1.79 2008: 1.76 K/BB 2007: 4.85 2008: 5.06 BABIP 2007: .316 2008: .327 Career BABIP: .301 ERA compared to FIP 2007: 3.27 - 3.08 2008: 4.03 - 3.24 That's two straight seasons of bad luck. Not worried about Dice-K? Don't get surprised if he can't reach 180 IPs and finish with an 4ish ERA

He didn't had that contract back in 2006, so that's a stupid argument and is completely irrelevant. The Sox could've easely afforded his arbitration years. 2006: $2.75 mill 2007: $3.8 mill 2008: $3.95 mill The Sox can't afford that? Lugo, Drew, Dice-K. Oh and you guys gave $8 million to Schilling to stay home the entire season Oh and let's not forget the Sox COULD afford this guy a year before. http://www.rotoworld.com/images/headshots/mlb/2675.jpg He is easily replaceable? Hey how's that going. Look at your 2006 rotation David Wells, Jason Johnson and Kyle Snyder did an amazing job. They could had a cost controlled Arroyo for 3 years AND the three kids. Those guys were drafted after Arroyo was traded, except Buchholz. Well you ended up with the three of them, one of them is just a middle reliever, and the others are nobodies, brilliant. Arroyo's 25/2 deal looks bad on this market, but not 3 years ago. Plus I'm pretty sure Super Theo would've signed him on a better deal. I mean he's good at locking guys to friendly contracts. They're barely healthy. So I don't see your point. Smoltz and Penny won't combine to pitch 200 IPs, and that's something Arroyo can do. You were saying Arroyo's performance in the AL East could have been worse, and what about Penny and Smoltz?

What about Swisher in RF? With Nady as a 4th OF. He has been great against lefties on his career. You know one of Matsui/Damon would eventually go to the DL, so both Nady and Swish can easely get 400 ABs each. With Abreu there's no flexibility, he can BADLY play RF. Swish can play both corner OF, 1B and CF in a emergency. Nady can play both corner OFs too. I think that's important.

I laugh at people here calling Cashman an idiot for not offereing arbitration to Abreu.

Amazing offseason for the Rays. Pat Burrell: 2 years, $16 million. Gabe Kapler: 1 year, 1 million Brian Shouse: 2 years, X million Joe Nelson: 1 year, 1 million Acquired Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson. That's doing so much for so little.

Arroyo is a good #5 starter pitching in the wrong ballpark.

I'm sure he can, he's not a 4 ERA pitcher. No way. That's a big question mark. Maybe Saito. But I'm not sure about Penny and Smoltz. Well he can't be worst than last year. I doubt it. He'll bounce back, but not at 06-07 levels. Maybe he'll hit for more avg and get less Ks. Probably, but he could have a few more years as good as last one. I doubt it. They signed Baldelli for a reason.

Are you serious? Red Sox Catchers in 2008 Varitek 120 GS: 1041.1 Inn Cash 42 GS: 372 Inn (Oh, that's the biggest sample size EVER) Theres your 162 games. Both Sox catchers combined for 1413.1 Inn behind the plate. Tek played 74% of those innings at the catcher position, Cash only 26%. Can you notice the sample size is bigger for Tek than for Cash? The difference is about 669 Inn. So you can't compare the Soxs starting catcher with Wake's caddie using ERA. And the difference is? 4.77 with Tek and 4.66? And Neyer is using ERA to say pitchers do better without Tek when the sample size is so small. I don't remember Cash replacing Tek when either Timlin or Aardsma came into the game with their ERAs over 5, it was always TEK! It was also Tek that catched Buchholz. But yeah I assume you think is Tek's fault that THEY SUCKED. And Cash was Wake's catcher, so he catched his 30 starts and his 181 IPs with a 4.13 ERA. While Tek mostly handled the rest of the staff. ASS

There's your 'catcher of the future'. 2 years, just in time for Joe Mauer

2 years? Boras did it again.

Oh geee and Kottaras played 2 games in September! Brown can provide better defense, and he can actually throw runners out, that's what you want from a backup. Kottaras? Well, Pawtucket Sox will need a catcher, again.

That's not a valid point. SD's farm system wasn't so impressive back then. Plus prospects not always pan out, they call them a bust. He's not even among the top 15 catching prospects in baseball right now. He can't be a backup because of his lack of defense. I wouldn't want to see that young pitching staff on the hands of a catcher with no experience. Brown looks like a better backup to me.

Kottaras won't be able to translate that 13.9 BB% to the majors. They throw strikes on this league.

Projections based on Milb numbers, sweet.

.220/.313/.359 Oh wow, I love .672 OPS Catchers Tek is a better defensive catcher than Kottaras, right now. If he replicates those numbers, he'll be first in line to be DFA'd when the Sox sign a FA next offseason. In 70 games last season Kottaras threw out around 19% of baserunners, or 15 of 80 and had 10 passed balls. Catching Wakefield? Win :thumbsup:

No, I talked s*** because Theo offered $5 million to a player like Tek on this market. He doesn't deserves it. 300k rookie? Who? The Sox don't have a MLB-ready catcher that can fully replace Tek. Brown and Kottaras are full of question marks. What the hell is this "......................."?

Just a hint. He has been in AAA since 2006.

There's a portion of the salary, I don't remember how much.

Arbitration money is not guaranteed, they can cut him on ST.