Will617

This is not correct. First, if he continues to hit a ton of line drives it's very possible that he'll have a BABIP north of .300. Second, there are players that have similar numbers and higher batting averages (McCutchen has a 16.5% SO rate, and a .306 BABIP, but a .277 average, Fielder has a 14.6% SO rate and a .297 BABIP, but a .292 average, etc). Also, it seems intuitively doubtful that someone can strike out 15% of the time, hit for an above average BABIP, and only have a .256 average.

The Yankees don't need HGH...they've got the RF porch in Yankee Stadium.

I never said Ludwick's value was equivalent to Beltran's, what I said was that when you compare the difference in their values and what the Cardinals got for Ludwick, it shouldn't come out to a major piece like Reddick for Beltran. The year Ludwick was traded, he had 2.1 WAR in about a half a season for the Cardinals. He then played terribly with the Padres (-0.2 WAR), but at the time he was a decent player (about 10.1 WAR in the 2.5 seasons he played before getting traded). If Beltran were moved to San Diego, he probably wouldn't be accumulating 6.5 WAR at the end of the season. Of course, he also isn't likely to collapse as terribly as Ludwick did unless his knee fell apart or something.

Sure, there's a chance that Ranaudo turns out to be a bust. There's also a chance that Beltran accidentally slips in the outfield tomorrow and breaks the entire left side of his body. The point is, because you don't know which of your prospects will pan out, it makes a lot more sense to hold onto as many of them as you can. If the Sox hadn't, chances are players like Pedroia or Youkilis might be playing for other teams.

And this is the reason why we sign busts like Penny, Smoltz, Hermida, etc etc. Because these moves cost the team almost nothing, and some of them pay off. If Aceves was pitching with a 5 ERA, I'm sure we'd be hearing a ton about Theo's incompetence, needing to get an experienced replacement, dumpster digging not working out, etc. All I'm saying is, the next time we bring in a low-cost signing, and it doesn't work out, it's not a sign of incompetence. Some of these signings don't work out, but they don't cost the team anything, and sometimes we'll get a good player like Aceves for nothing.

Umm, Ike Davis is pretty good 1B...if Lavarnaway turns out as good as Ike (hitting-wise), I think the Sox would be plenty happy with that.

The only way the Mets are getting a blue chip prospect for him is if they eat his entire salary.

Reddick has fixed the main problem (the caveat is small sample size) that plagued his status as an MLB player - plate discipline. His improved plate discipline doesn't just allow him to walk more, he also strikes out less and makes much better contact as a result. Kalish is not "vastly superior defensively", both project as corner OFs that could potentially play some CF. Just because Kalish is better defensively, does not mean that Reddick is bad defensively; I would imagine he would be pretty good in a corner outfield spot, and he's got very good advanced fielding metrics for such a short amount of time played (caveat again is small sample size).

I think Ortiz gets resigned to something like 2/16-2/20. I think he still has a couple more years of .800+ OPS production in him, and if he's genuinely improved as a player (through batting adjustments or whatever), then I wouldn't be worried about drastic decline.

It doesn't matter in terms of who they put in for next year. They can try both Reddick and Kalish out and see if they have the ability to stick, without hurting their playoff chances significantly. They don't have the need to acquire a proven player to shore up the rest of the offense.

I don't think that this is true. Just because other people have played less games in the field than Ortiz, does not mean that there are a ton of DHs that can play good defense (I can't remember a non-interleague game where Ortiz was the first baseman). Of people with minimum 50 PAs as a DH, Michael Young wasn't signed to be a DH (and isn't a good fielder regardless), V-Mart was signed to DH and be an occasional catcher, Hafner is definitely a no-glove DH, Butler was moved to DH after Hosmer was called up, Kubel is terrible defensively, Giambi does play some first (but isn't really a DH since he plays for the Rockies, all the DH at-bats probably came from interleague play), Damon plays for the Rays and they do weird stuff, Abreu is no longer a good fielder, Thome only DHs, and Posada/Guerrero/Matsui can't really play anything besides DH at this point. Basically, everyone on the list was either pushed out of their position by a better player, or is terrible defensively (or plays for the Rays). I don't see any concerted move towards DHs that are considered good defensively, and I'm not surprised, since teams would have to pay extra to sign those players (while they can lowball players like Guerrero and Ortiz since they provide no defensive value).

I remember that game...one of the best games of baseball I've ever seen.

What? I have heard nothing that even hints at something like this. No surgery, bruised nerve in the left shoulder, it sounds like it might take awhile but nothing close to being done for the year...

Too early to talk about him being another Lester. He's a completely different pitcher as well. I think that he'll stick (or should stick) as the number 5 starter this season, and should hopefully build on his numbers. His control will be the defining factor of whether he goes beyond that as a starter. It's improved tremendously from before, but it still needs a lot more work before he can move past being a back-of-the-rotation (for the Red Sox, at least) pitcher.

It's a really sweet ballpark. Unfortunately, no one ever attends the games. Hopefully with a strong showing this season, and development of their talent they can become competitive and fill up those seats.