Palodios

What seems to damn Ortiz is the history of contracts for his position. The highest cost a player who is solely a DH was Hafner at 13 million. I just don't think a 36 year old can justify asking for 25% more than the highest paid player at his position ever. When Hafner got that contract, he had hit 1.000 OPS for pretty much his whole career at that point, and was coming off a year with 1.100 OPS season with 40+ HR and 117 RBIs. Did I mention the .440 OBP? He had beastly numbers at the time he signed that contract.

Reports say that there has been no progress between Ortiz and the Red Sox. I wonder if I can get this streamed live during work tomorrow

The last two years, Burnett was 10-15 and 11-11. If the best lineup in the majors, and an elite bullpen loses him 11 and 15 games, how on earth do the Pirates think it will happen? If they want a guy who pitches to a low 5 ERA in the AL East who eats innings, Wakefield is still a free agent, and cheap I hear.

Teams need more than one setup man. From the last few seasons, it seems like having four reliable bullpen arms(meaning three setup) is a must.

The problem isn't the #5 spot. There are ten different guys for that spot. Cook and Padilla are the most likely candidates for that spot-- and considering that they both pitched in hitter's ballparks most of their careers (Philly/Texas/Colorado), and have been all-stars at one point, one of them(or the field) should be okay at Fenway. Wilson/Doubront/Tazawa may surprise. They also need to find a setup man somewhere, and I think Jenks is an unlikely candidate. Where the problem lies, is when those guys get hurt. Essentially, what this team is looking for... is two needles in one haystack. I'm not sure if they're that lucky.

I would suspect that the problem is that if a good number of the posters who post here, post there as well, it spills over. There is a very tight community here, and the regulars generally know eachother fairly well. You'll notice that there are vendettas started... Fred gets bashed for his days as a Dodger fan, and a700 and E1 very often disagree about the quality of the front office/GM/success of the organization. It happens. I have had many heated discussions with some of the best posters around here, and I would imagine that the kind of freedom you're hoping for would cause more problems than it would solve--especially considering many arguments ARE simply about baseball, and need no further conflict.

I'd also go Weaver/Kershaw/Cano. Crawford is probably not going until later in the draft-- good outfielders are not hard to come by.

We've been agreeing a lot lately. Strange. That being said... I do think this is a good team. I think they're one move away from being World Series contenders again, but I think that getting that other pitcher is absolutely 100% crucial to the season. We're looking at the same problem we saw last year-- replace a good player with a league average player, and you don't lose much for production. However, if you replace a guy like Buchholz with a guy like Kyle Weiland, not only do you lose most games with him on the mound, but it also kills your bullpen. That's just as big a problem, because it not only means you lose games with the bad pitcher on the mound, but you wear out your bullpen for when your quality pitchers are out there. In 2010, the Red Sox's starters pitched 6.24 IP per game. In 2011, the Red Sox's starters pitched 5.80 IP per game. Going into 2012, they replace their durable closer with a closer who will need rest, and move their setup guy into a starter role where he'll actually be contributing to the problem-- overworking the bullpen. During Weiland's starts, he average 4.333 IP. During Bedard's starts, he averaged 4.70 IP During Miller's starts, he averaged 4.84 IP During Aceve's starts, he averaged 5.02 IP Lackey and Wakefield? Both around 6 IP. Even if they keep you in the game for those innings, the bullpen has to pitch 4-5 more innings after they leave. These are similar to the numbers we'll see with guys like Padilla/Cook/Doubront/Tazawa out there. It will be a fundamental issue that is going to wreck havoc on their bullpen.

Bonjour.

I buy tickets at Redsox.com with my debit card all the time. Do they use a different system for this promotion?

It is the day before the Ortiz arbitration hearing, and Roy Oswalt has yet to sign with any team. If the Red Sox win it, and save themselves the 4 million, what are the odds they increase their offer? They are continuing to sign scrap heap pitchers....

I did mention the idea before, sure. The problem is, Bard wants to start, so they're going to give him the shot. That being said, if Oswalt is the #4 pitcher, that would mean that Bard would have to earn it... and watching him dominate as a starter would be pretty neat too.

These are always fun. I actually had Adrian Gonzalez as our starting first basemen before the trade happened last year, so let's hope my prediction come true again this year 1B: Adrian Gonzalez 2B: Dustin Pedroia 3B: Kevin Youkilis SS: Aviles RF: Cody Ross LF: Sweeney CF: Ellsbury DH: David Ortiz C: Saltalamacchia Bench: Darnell McDonald Kelly Shoppach Nick Punto SP1: Josh Beckett. SP2: Jon Lester SP3: Clay Buchholz SP4: Daniel Bard SP5: Roy Oswalt RP: Melancon RP: Bailey RP: Aceves RP: Cook RP: Morales RP: Albers RP: Doubront RP: Bowden Darnell/Bowden/Doubront/Morales/Albers are all out of options. They'll be playing for their jobs early. Darnell will probably get DFAed once Crawford comes back. Padilla doesn't get paid his 1.5 million until he's called up, and with his legal issues possibly interfering with spring training, I'm skeptical to see him on opening day.

I agree completely. But I think its clear that ownership gave Cherrington very little to work with this year, and he filled in a lot of holes. The problem was-- he had too many holes to fill, and some of his trades opened holes. Considering what he had to spent, I think he did well.

The pirates can't afford to hold onto their own players, and yet they're willing to take on 10 million dollars for one of the worst pitchers in the American League? Seriously, contract them out of the league, they're a joke.

Just to be clear-- I have said multiple times that I absolutely do not want him back on this team. What I've been trying to prove is that despite how bad he is... the rest of the options aren't really that great either. It would be one thing if they needed one of the garbage heap to succeed, but they're relying on everyone being healthy and TWO of those guys succeeding. I have no problem hoping for the best at times, but they've left this team very very thin-- to the point where Wakefield may be better than some of the options they have.