italstallianion

Do we at least save any space, seeing that Pauley was on our 40 man or does the deal not even help us in that regard?

I don't know about this. I mean it seemed like two teams exchanging each other's garbage. I don't see either being of any value or importance. Other than get rid of Pauley (albeit by taking on Beird) what does this do for the Sox? Is this able to help with the spacing issue if we can get Beird to sign a minor league deal? I just don't see the use/relevance for this trade.

Why is he/she a Yankee fan that you think may bother me, or a Red Sox fan that makes a living trying to oust the Token Yankee fan? Remember I haven't been here that long so you should teach me the ropes around here....

For the record, I'm not trying to get jackson banned or anything. He's nice to me as far as I'm concerned and I've got nothing against anyone here. I was just interested in the concept of a Token Yankee fan in most Red Sox fan message boards.

To be honest, and call me crazy if necessary, but I wasn't into all the hype for Ray. Granted, his first 2 years were good, borderline excellent, with ERA's of 2.66 and 2.73 in 05 and 06. Last year however, his ERA ballooned to 4.43, and only had 16 saves. That and the fact that he didn't pitch at all last year makes me wonder about him. I'm in no way giving up on Ray or soliciting trading him or anything, but the O's can use the depth of good pitching, so unless they can get a piece that they actually need, I don't see a purpose/reason to trade Sherrill, regardless of Ray's resurgance in 09.

I've gone against the Cardinals the past 2 rounds and have been wrong, so at this point it wouldn't surprise me if the Cardinals actually do win. I don't like/dislike either team so it doesn't really matter to me.

Go Jaguars.

Good thing I didn't bet on the playoffs...seeing that my team didn't make the playoffs I didn't have much to lose in whoever won this game. I have some Philly roots, but the fact that Arizona is going to the SuperBowl is no less entertaining. I'm also glad that the Eagles made a game out of it, although I probably wish that they'd have won.

Assuming they land in Chicago that is...

Plus what would we do without our Token Yankee fan?

Yeah, usually Boras is screwing over the teams and the owners, not the players and his own clients. Malpractice lawsuit anyone?? j/k

No way...cmon I still see it. We need a good side by side comparison. I promise you that I'm not crazy...or mentally altered. In THAT particular picture I swear that Lars looks like Pedroia. But in all fairness I wasn't expecting Lars to look like that from the other pictures that I've seen of him.

Agreed, I was thinking that they weren't going to lock him up earlier and a team may be able to make a steal. I think that's a great deal for Baltimore for a great player.

It's cool, I just assumed that you were Scottish...

I'm not sure how to exactly define decent, but compare the previous rankings I gave for 3rd basemen to the fact that only 1 catcher is in our top 20, being Exposito at 12th. Wagner is 23rd, Lavarnway is 31st, and Kottaras at 33rd. I guess it's not that much different, but keep in mind that we had recently graduated Lowrie who would have helped the 3rd baseman cause given his versatility. I guess it's also not seen as that much depth since it's not necessarily ready for the majors, and given the lack of depth in the major league level for catching it would make our system look that less stacked. In other words, I think the lack of depth in our catcher prospects is highlighted by the fact that there is a drought of elite catchers overall and the drought of a great catcher on our team. Although in all fairness that point doesn't really mean that much, but it's a point nonetheless.

If only we had that many decent catchers in our system.

Although in all fairness Almanzar is our 6th ranked prospect according to soxprospects.com. It's no baseballamerica or baseballprospectus or anything but it's all right. Anyway, I think Almanzar is that high because of his cieling or whatever. Our 24th prospect overall (Middlebrooks) is also a 3B and is in Lowell, but we do have Jorge Jimenez who's ranked 34th, and Oscar Tejeda (17th-formerly 9th) has also gotten time at SS. And Lowrie can play third as well, so there are many possibilities of fine tuning and micromanaging the defense and offense. I wasn't trying to argue against your point that we are weak at 3B in terms of our younger players, but I'd be surprised if we produced a great 3rd-baseman in the next set of years.

I don't think there is a rule saying such, or at least governing the use of a possible contract clause. Considering Schilling's contract, and the weird extraneous details of many baseball contracts I wouldn't be surprised if something like that crept it's way into Varitek's contract. I'd support it, afterall we're looking for the production from the plate (amongst other things) and that extra bit of motivation would be helpful in bringing the desired results. Maybe we can add something about the cERA into the contract.

I agree. It's not like Pedroia or Youkilis are in their mid to late 30's and are putting up 1 good year before they revert to a life of mediocrity. Outside of a beginning cup of coffee, Pedroia has been brilliant, although not consistently within the season, he's been consistently brilliant between seasons. (if that makes sense) Sure Youkilis seemed to have a statistical outlier this year, but with all of his walking numbers going down and his power numbers increasing, his numbers make sense. It's not as if pitcher threw him better pitches than other batters or it's not that the ball necessarily bounced Youkilis's way. I personally predict that Youk may take a step back in 2009, but he seemed to change his philosophy at the plate which has seemed to improve his power numbers. I don't see Pedroia taking a step back however. He might not hit as many homeruns, but I think he'd have another great year. Both players give it their all and I see them having full and reasonably (knock on wood) above average numbers. I don't really see Pedroia taking a step back, he may even move forward if he can spend less time in that super funk he occasionally winds up in.

Plus keep in mind that Pedroia and Youkilis are probably steroid users and wife-beaters so we shouldn't have any business signing them in the first place. And you can't forget that they are communist spies that give the Yankees information about the Red Sox so the Yankees will win.

Plus the fact that he can play a good 3B makes him all the more useful to our team. We can mix and match with righties and lefties or give players days off easier. I'm definitely glad to have him locked up for a few more years.

Yeah, although his walk numbers are down and swing and miss numbers are up, I'll take the increase in power and OPS. Looks like he's swinging at his pitch instead of letting it go by. Plus he seems to have the quintessential Red Sox attitude and persona, so he seemed important to the core to lockup. Ditto Pedroia, and ditto Lester (soon enough). Perhaps Papelbon as well etc...

Likewise.