TheMino007

I think he'll sign with the Mariners as a DH. The Yankees have too many players that really need to be a DH next year- Posada, Damon, Matsui. A part of me thinks he'll get a one year deal to stay in NY though. Basically, who do Yankee fans want more, Damon or Matsui? When Holliday/Bay sign on to play LF, someone has got to DH. Posada isn't getting any younger behind the plate.

good deal for both sides. Angels keep the consitant Bob Abreu and Bob Abreu doesn't have to wait to about the day before Spring Training starts to find a job.

To change things up a bit, would you consider trading Jacoby Ellsbury if the right deal came along for a young ace or power bat? Would you be willing to give up that range, the flashy plays, the 70 steals, and progressivly getting better bat and eye for a Felix Hernandez or Adrian Gonzalez? But then what would you do in CF? Could Drew be moved to CF? Sign Abreu to play RF and have Bay/Holliday in LF? OT: Why doesn't Carl Crawford ever play CF?

Totaly agree, the guy walked way to many guys this year. For the first time in his career his WHIP was over 1 (1.15). Paps really was a cardiac closer out there this year. How many appearances did he have where he had a clean 1-2-3 ininng? Not too many. I'm not saying we should dump Paps because he blew one playoff game. I'm saying that it might be smarter to trade him now and get something valueable for him instead of letting him walk in two years, b/c I think Theo has made it clear that he isn't paying Papelbon the big money he is looking for. Wagner and Bard couldn't be substancially worse than what Paps did last year. Bad season or not, Papelbon isn't coming back to Boston after he is no longer arbitration eligible and can hit free agency.

This is almost a month after that Papelblown blow up that cost us game 3 of the ALDS and ended the Sox season early. Question is, do we feel that we have to trade Papelbon? Probably not, you can't just give the guy away, even if he is beginning to show decline. Its just frustrating because Paps just needs to stop throwing fastballs right down the middle and start throwing more splitters again and work on a slider or a moving fastball or something. Anyway, is it possible that we could in fact trade Papelbon? Having him say he is gonna test free agency doesn't help, but there a couple teams that could us a closer. Could Paps be traded to Tampa for Carl Crawford? That solves the problem in LF. How about to the Phillies? If the the Phillies had a reliable closer this year they would have won the World Series. We could trade him for that SS prospect of theirs, Donald I think it is? We could keep him and have take over full time in 2011 or use him as a chip to get a big bat. I wish Wagner would come back, we could make him a closer and have Bard waiting in the wings just in case and be a setup man in the 8th inning.

Both Youkilis and Lowell declined in their defensive play at 3rd this year. Lowell's decline was drastic and obvious to the eye, and the numbers bear this out (8.0, 15.6, -9.8 UZR/150s in the last three years). The decline certainly has something to do with his hip surgery the past offseason, as the drop in UZR was entirely due to decreasing range. He seemed to both get better as the season went on, and as he got more rest at the end of the season, so there is hope that his defense could improve relative to last year's if he continues to recover, though he will be a year older, and improvement from -9.8 will still yield a bad defensive 3b performance from Lowell. Youkilis, on the other hand, didn't decline nearly as drastically as Lowell did. At 1b, UZR actually has him increasing in performance relative to 2008 (10.3, 4.0, 7.8 UZR/150s the last three years) largely because he was more surehanded (a small increase in RngR, a larger increase in DPR and ErrR). Youkilis declined at 3b (6.9, 22.6, -3.7) to a level which was still better than Lowell, but still disappointing. Again, his decrease was due to decreasing range (0.8, 4.6, -2.8 RngR the last three years).Fielding numbers are notoriously subject to sample size/individual interpretation, and some people really only like to look at them over three season blocks. However, the numbers match my own observations that Youkilis wasn't as good at 3rd this year, while looking fine at 1st. If there is a decline, it could be due to bad luck (in which case he'll be good at 3rd again next year), declining skills (he won't, though I don't really have an explanation as to why a player of Youkilis' age declined so drastically in one year), or some other factor. He might also improve at one position by playing there more regularly, since he split time almost equally between 1st and 3rd this year. Is Youkilis' decline at 3rd real, and if so, does the benefit of having him at a more valuable defensive position outweigh the loss in defense? If you think it's real, does he continue to decline next year, or does he have a bit of a bounceback? Should the team be giving up defense for offense in the first place? Most importantly, should the team really consider moving Youkilis to 3rd full-time and going after a 1bman, or should they instead go after a 3bman, and use Youkilis more as he was used in 2008 (occasional games at 3rd to give the 3bman days off)? Should the Sox just stick with Youk at 1st, and sign somone like Figgins or god forbid someone like Adrian Beltre to play 3rdbase? Could the Sox then sign a big bat and put them at the DH spot, pretty much ceasing Ortiz's AB's next year? Can Lowell be traded for something worthwhile or should we simply hang onto him for the last year of his contract?

oh, sorry. This can be closed or deleted, or w/e

For Hernandez I'd be willing to trade Clay. But would Bard have to be traded? I think in any package deal for Hernandez, Gonzalez, Halladay, etc. Josh Bard's name would have to be brought up as part of the package. Would you send Clay to San Diego as part of a deal for Adrian Gonzalez, or to Milwaukee to get Prince Fielder?

Both Youkilis and Lowell declined in their defensive play at 3rd this year. Lowell's decline was drastic and obvious to the eye, and the numbers bear this out (8.0, 15.6, -9.8 UZR/150s in the last three years). The decline certainly has something to do with his hip surgery the past offseason, as the drop in UZR was entirely due to decreasing range. He seemed to both get better as the season went on, and as he got more rest at the end of the season, so there is hope that his defense could improve relative to last year's if he continues to recover, though he will be a year older, and improvement from -9.8 will still yield a bad defensive 3b performance from Lowell. Youkilis, on the other hand, didn't decline nearly as drastically as Lowell did. At 1b, UZR actually has him increasing in performance relative to 2008 (10.3, 4.0, 7.8 UZR/150s the last three years) largely because he was more surehanded (a small increase in RngR, a larger increase in DPR and ErrR). Youkilis declined at 3b (6.9, 22.6, -3.7) to a level which was still better than Lowell, but still disappointing. Again, his decrease was due to decreasing range (0.8, 4.6, -2.8 RngR the last three years).Fielding numbers are notoriously subject to sample size/individual interpretation, and some people really only like to look at them over three season blocks. However, the numbers match my own observations that Youkilis wasn't as good at 3rd this year, while looking fine at 1st. If there is a decline, it could be due to bad luck (in which case he'll be good at 3rd again next year), declining skills (he won't, though I don't really have an explanation as to why a player of Youkilis' age declined so drastically in one year), or some other factor. He might also improve at one position by playing there more regularly, since he split time almost equally between 1st and 3rd this year. Is Youkilis' decline at 3rd real, and if so, does the benefit of having him at a more valuable defensive position outweigh the loss in defense? If you think it's real, does he continue to decline next year, or does he have a bit of a bounceback? Should the team be giving up defense for offense in the first place? Most importantly, should the team really consider moving Youkilis to 3rd full-time and going after a 1bman, or should they instead go after a 3bman, and use Youkilis more as he was used in 2008 (occasional games at 3rd to give the 3bman days off)? Should the Sox just stick with Youk at 1st, and sign somone like Figgins or god forbid someone like Adrian Beltre to play 3rdbase? Could the Sox then sign a big bat and put them at the DH spot, pretty much ceasing Ortiz's AB's next year? Can Lowell be traded for something worthwhile or should we simply hang onto him for the last year of his contract?

That instead of having one massive other sports forum that the other New England Sports Teams could have their on forum called, Other New England Sports Teams, and then the other forum be called Other Sports in General? I think it would be better to raise discussion about the C's, B's, and Pats instead just posting all the info in one thread about each of the teams.

Have the Jets won a game since acquiring Edwards?

If everything in the regular season and playoffs pan out the way the way we should, we could have one of the best NBA Finals matchups ever in the Lakers vs. the Celtics. The NBA and Stern would jizz in their pants if that was the case.

The Celtics have started hot every year since the big three was assembled. I'm not surprised by this at all. Unlike last year, the C's have everyone healthy, and legit bench, minus a backup PG maybe. Rasheed has been all he has been cracked up to be, and guys like Williams and Daniels are contributing nicely. Big Baby will be back in about a month, so the depth only gets better. Maybe the C's can find a backup PG off the waiver wire like they did last year with Step. C's are by far the best team in the East.

Like I said, contract is bad in terms of years. In two years Raask will surpass him. The Bruins will never a Stanley Cup with Tim Thomas, he isn't a playoff goalie. The offense can't score and Thomas has given up many s*** weak goals this year. The Bruins always lowball players, but we couldn't offer Kessel what he wanted b/c of Thomas' money being tied up. Kessel is gonna score 40+ goals for many years to come and even though he is soft he deserved to make his money. He is worth what Toronto is paying him, but simply trading Kobasew as a pure salary dump still wouldn't have been able for us to re-sign Phil. Still, for the future this deal is amazing. Toronto could be one of the three worst teams this year, maybe even the worst. Depends on how Phoenix, NY Islanders, etc. do. Problem is once that pick developes who knows where the B's will be. I don't think Savard will be here much longer, and who knows down the road for how long Chara will be around. Last years team was so good and balanced, it really pisses me off that we didn't reach the Finals. That was the best Bruins team we will see for years.

Depends on what? If we sign Lackey I'm assuming Wakefield will be out of the rotation and will probably be retired. That leaves us with no spots in the rotation, unless the Sox trade Clay Buchholz....

1. Agree with the Bay/Holliday. We can't lose any more production in this lineup. Bobby Abreu wouldn't be the worst option in the world, but we need another big masher in this lineup. 2. Agree- keep Gonzalez at SS. Theo shouldn't make the same mistake again like he did back in 06 when he replaced Gonzo with Lugo. For 6 mill for one year I can't complain. Plus that plus gold glove caliber defense and hits better in a Red Sox uni. 3. Adrian Gonzalez, totaly agree. Its time to trade these prospects and get a big bat. Lars Anderson will never be as good as him. Bowden sucks. There aren't really must keep guys in the farm right now. 4. We can't sign both Lackey and Harden. Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Dice-K, Buccholz... oh snap crazy good.

There is no reason why the Sox shouldn't have 95 wins and be back in the playoffs next year. The Rays aren't getting any better. The Yankees probably are because money is no objective to them. If the Red Sox stand pat and keep Lowell at third and have Bobby Abreu playing LF and signing no other starters then it will be struggle to make the playoffs and we will lose in the first round again. The AL Central sucks and the Angles are the only good team out West, well the Rangers are pretty good too. Lets see what they do this offseason. If the Sox can sign a number three starter, (Lackey) and get a big bat to play 1st or DH (Gonazlez, Fielder, Cabrera??) and re-sign Bay or sign Holliday then we can and will contend with the Yankees.

I like the deal in the above post. Until Beckett can pitch like a top pitcher in the league again and avoid stretches of injuries and 3 game stretches where he is absolutely terrible, he doesn't deserve to 20 mill/per year. If he goes out and has a monster year this year, like he did in 07, signing him to 4/74 won't seem that expensive.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

congrats to the New York $$$$$$$$ on "winning" the World Series. I guess the price of winning a championship is 3 hired guns and $450 million. Its kinda pathetic when a team with the highest payroll every single year by far has only one championship in almost a decade.

Those are going to have to be some major tweaks my friend.

Lackey I wouldn't mind. I'm not to fond if signing Rich Harden for the obvious injury reasons I explained in other threads. We can go out and sign a pitcher, we don't need to gut the farm for a SP b/c the need at SP isn't as great as it is as this teams offense.

If he accepts a home town discount of sorts and is willing to sign an extension, which I believe the Sox are talking to him about right now, I would love to have him back. But is Josh Beckett worth 20 mill a year? For a guy who when healthy is a top 5 pitcher in the AL? Yes. But that is not always the case, Beckett always seems to be hurt at the worst times and over the last two years we haven't really been able to rely on our ace in the playoffs. IF we trade for a Halladay or a Felix Hernandez and have them locked up for years to go along with the others guys in the rotation, I could see Beckett leaving. He could go out and find top dollar else where.