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SoxSport

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  1. SoxSport
    Re Kotsay, the Mets have been awfully quiet, considering all their injuries. I guess Wilpon isn't in a spending mood after getting milked for millions in bad investments. If the Phillies get Halladay, they'll be the WS favorites, even over the Yankees. Epstein seems to have drawn a line in the sand about trading young talent?? for established stars, and that could hurt.
  2. SoxSport
    The Orioles just played dead in NY. Hopefully they will remain so in Boston.
  3. SoxSport
    Of course Drew is overpaid. That's what you get for dealing with Boras. He sets the bar at the NY level, and you have to jump over it. But Drew has paid some dividends at times. He has had some timely hitting streaks and playoff hits. He just isn't durable enough to command his salary. That's just Borasinflation.
  4. SoxSport
    After what happened with Henry re Tex and the Yankees, I would expect him to be holding his cards close.That means don't believe everything he says a week before the trade deadline. I don't see much of a fit for Adrian G. until next season. I do think there is still a chance the Sox will trade one of their young pitchers for Halladay or maybe Haren. Right now, I would rather have one of the two latter pitchers than Buchholz. Epstein may be overvaluing the farm system. Of course, I'm not paying their salaries, and the homegrown products are much cheaper.
  5. SoxSport
    I wonder if the Red Sox are short suiting themselves by building a stable of starters who can't go over 100 pitches because they aren't conditioned to go much more than that. That may be the downside of pitch counts. Soundness and conditioning are the two most important elements for an athlete--just like racehorses.And they are independent. If you want a guy to go 7 innings, you have to condition him to go 120 pitches, not 100 pitches. If you have a pitcher who isn't sound, you aren't going to get much bang for your buck.
  6. SoxSport
    I'd like to see the Sox get Halladay, mainly because if the Yankees or the Phillies get him, or even the Dodgers or the Mets, the Red Sox will have a very tough time beating those teams in the playoffs. One ace pitcher can make a difference in the post-season. If the Sox added Halladay to Beckett and Lester, it would make them the team to beat. What more could you ask for? Epstein is walking a tightrope, trying to balance the present with the future. Clearly, there has to be a mix of both. If Lajoie hadn't made that trade for Beckett and Lowell a few years back, the Sox wouldn't have won in 07. They say Theo would not have made that trade. He would have saved some money, and now would have a great SS, but he also would have one less championship on his resume. Big money ballclubs have to emphasize the present, as the Yankees learned last year.
  7. SoxSport
    Duncan had some serious neck-disk problems the last couple of years which undoubtedly affected his performance. He is coming back from an disk operation, and sometimes it's a slow process to get back into form. He'll probably spend the rest of the year in Pawtucket
  8. SoxSport
    Why isn't LaRoche in Texas? At least to wake up that lineup.
  9. SoxSport
    LaRoche has hit .300 the 2nd half just about every season he's played. I didn't notice that. You'd think the Mets would have gone after him. The Sox picked up his 2nd half salary and didn't have to give up any good players--good deal for Epstein. Another good one getting a potential hitter, Duncan, for Lugo. Do mistakes like Lugo show up on Theo's performance reviews?
  10. SoxSport
    I think the Sox did not count on Dice-K effectively missing the season up to this point, and that has complicated things. It has put more pressure on Penny and even Smoltz. You put a right Dice-K into the equation, and things look different. When you consider their top 3 starters stunk in April and May, they are lucky to be where they are. On the other hand, they'd be far ahead if their top 3 had pitched as was expected.
  11. SoxSport
    Maybe Wake does one for the team again. Who knows. 43 yo pitchers spend more time on the DL than 34 yo pitchers, so maybe it was inevitable. But Wake has already earned his salary this year--in April and May. So now, Clay gets his chance. They need him now, and I hope he is up to it. I can't believe they'll trade him, not with the way Penny and Smoltz are pitching, and Dice-K on the DL. Bowden is next.
  12. SoxSport
    The trouble with pitchers like Wake or Penny is you need to score a lot of runs to win. And the Sox aren't scoring on the road, so it's tough to win on the road with those type of pitchers. I won't put Smoltz in that category yet. Buchholz has the potential to be a high rotation starter like Beckett and Lester, and needs the chance. He showed that in Toronto. I saw something on realGM about Adrian Gonzales coming to Boston--no sources. Then I see something this morning in the Globe? that says the Sox won't trade Buchholz unless it's for a "premier young hitter." mmm...
  13. SoxSport
    On Minaya, I think the record shows that the Mets have signed a high number of Hispanic players since Minaya became GM. That's because Minaya is also Hispanic, and he has an advantage attracting Hispanic players. That's important, because Hispanic players are pretty much dominating baseball right now. The Phillies, by the way, also have an Hispanic GM, and maybe he was instrumental in getting Ibanez to sign with the Phillies.
  14. SoxSport
    You have to wonder if the Red Sox have their 12 best pitchers on the roster. They have at least two guys in Pawtucket who are probably better right now than Penny or Smoltz. In fairness to Smoltz, I think they are asking too much of him to go more than 5 innings right now. The guy is off arm surgery, and he's 42. Maybe he should be in the bullpen. Their policy of not working guys into the rotation from the bullpen is hurting them right now.
  15. SoxSport
    I don't know if I believe it. The NY media is always floating rumors like this. And Heyman is one of them. Also, Wilpon has lost millions in the Madoff scandal and the Mets have stopped buying salary dumps. Actually, it looks like a good deal for the Mets--which is the tipoff. P.S. RealGM is floating an unsourced story that Adrian Gonzales will be traded to the Red Sox. Don't believe that, either. The Sox won't be trading their young pitching, with Dice-K down and Penny/Smoltz not showing much lately. I see the Yankees won their third 2-1 game in a row tonite. They are winning even when they don't hit.
  16. SoxSport
    The easiest path is to play Lowrie at SS and get a LHd hitting first baseman, enabling Youks to play 3B. Overbay would be good if he's available, but Nick Johnson isn't bad. Johnson is an upgrade over Kotsay offensively. He's a Fenway doubles hitter with solid OBP. They have Bates and the other kid in the minors long-range for 1B. I don't think they want anybody who puts Lowell on the bench at this point. They still owe him a lot of money for 1.5 years.
  17. SoxSport
    I read somewhere (Gammons?) that it will take more from the Sox or the Yankees to get Halladay than for a NL team like the Phillies. That doesn't make much sense if you are Toronto, but that's what happened with Santana. He got moved to the NL for less. Maybe the Yankees got the picture and sucked up the big 3 FAs pre-season quickly while they could for top dollar.
  18. SoxSport
  19. SoxSport
    So the Yankees view themselves as the last word on every big ticket free agent or salary dump? " We reserve the right to top your best offer." Maybe that should be written in the Players Labor Agreement rules.
  20. SoxSport
    The Sox have 2 weeks to break their logjam at SP and shore up their corner IF offense/defense. They have to make some decisions if they want to improve--which they might have to to beat NY. That means Penny gets dealt. Frankly, I'm not impressed with a pitcher who only goes 5-6 innings and gives up 3 or so runs. That's about a 4.50 ERA, and that isn't good enough to win consistently. Wakefield overall is about the same kind of pitcher, but he saved them in April-May when Beckett and Lester were pitching poorly. Smoltz has a much higher capability, and hopefully he'll show it the next couple of starts. I'm hoping they will trade Penny and bring up Buchholz and maybe even Bowden. You can't count on Dice-K for this year--looks like he blew the season pushing too early in Japan. You would think the Sox would have controlled his regimen in Japan. They are so careful about that with their pitchers--but apparently let Dice-K get out of their hands. I don't think that will happen again.
  21. SoxSport
    Scalabrine didn't play that badly last year, but he isn't worth anything near his $3+ mil salary. Danny's worst signing. I also think they're ready to give up on TA, who has trouble staying healthy. With Daniels coming off the bench, I would not be surprised to see Wallace starting at center over Perkins. That would be a devastating starting 5.
  22. SoxSport
    Their hitting is hurting them right now--especially on the road. Ortiz is better, but he isn't the hitter of a couple of years ago--yet. Bay is in a slump. Is the contract talk a distraction? Tito continues to hit them in the middle of the order. I think sending Buchholz down is a mistake. He needs another start or two before the trade deadline. AAA starts will not solve their rotation issues. Penny does not look like a top of rotation starter at this point, and is expendable for some hitting help. Buchholz has that potential, and needs the starts.
  23. SoxSport
    ..and meanwhile, the Red Sox still can't figure out who should be in the starting rotation. They have too many options, it seems, and not enough time to the trading deadline. The Yankees have been the better team lately--and their pitching overall isn't as good.
  24. SoxSport
    The Yankees can outbid everybody else on any player because they have the most money and there is no salary cap. So they can use their cable money as leverage. They did so this year signing 3 big ticket FAs. They are pretty desperate to win. The media's team--so to speak. They can get Bay if he is on the open market by simply outbidding the Red Sox--as they did with Teixeira. But Tex also wanted to play in NY. Maybe Bay wants to play in Boston. If so, the Sox should give him his $14-15 mil for 5 years, and keep him off the open market.
  25. SoxSport
    The Sox have a real dilemma with their starting pitching. I think they create their own problems with their policy of not allowing rookies to earn a rotation spot in the BP first. My view is you carry your 12 best pitchers. Forget the starter or reliever labels. Specialists, except maybe for closers, should be developed in the majors, not the minors. You start a kid as a reliever and let him earn a rotation spot. That's the way it used to be done--and still is, with some teams. Masterson is one kid who has done both, and that's to his advantage. I wish they had done the same with Buchholz. Bard looks like a classic closer. So, now Buchholz looks like a stud again. He might well be better than Penny, Wake and Smoltz. You are in a dogfight with the Yankees. You send him back to AAA? What I would do is put him in the bullpen, make him show some consistency, and trade Penny at the deadline if he does.
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