SoxFanForsyth

This sounds like a story you'd hear from the Pirates, not the Red Sox. Unless of course he turns out to be a star. I gotta say though, if we're hittin up New Zealand for softball catchers, our farm system was totally overrated at #11. (joking)

No I was joking. I don't talk s*** about anyone but Dipre. And that's only when he disagrees with me about something. I've actually been called Statham before, and consider it a compliment. That dude is a badass and he banged Amy Smart in public in front of a bus of kids.

Dude RSFFL. I talked SO MUCH s*** about you while you were gone. Good to have you back KD.:thumbsup:

Take it easy, Durant. Anger management. :harhar:

s*** my bad. I thought LaRoche was a 1 year deal. Although the Nat's could get creative, go 8/240 at a rate of $16mm the first year and $32mm the last 7, or $23mm the first year, $31mm the last 7, to get around the payroll juncture. Who knows. All I know is a team that pays $126mm over 7 years for Jayson Werth has some money at their disposal. Wouldn't surprise me to see them get creative with Pujols. Sounds like Lerner is wanting to win now, and he's willing to pay to do it.

Don't count out the Nats. They have money to burn, as they showed this offseason, and may be one of the few teams that would go 10/300 for Pujols. You get Pujols, Zimmerman, Werth, and Harper(if he's as good as projected) all in the same line up with Strasburg, and maybe an Oswalt if he doesn't resign with the Phils - that's a pretty dangerous team.

From reports, looks like the Cards/Pujols talks are going nowhere and it's looking more and more like he's going to hit free agency. Where does he go if he hits FA? Obviously the Sox won't make a play at him (imagine the line up with Pujols, Gonzo, and Youk in it, though, and they'd just be even with Yankees in terms of salary, clearly it won't happen and in no way am I suggesting that it will), you can never really count the Yankees out, but you can pretty much count them out with Tex locked up at 1st base. I don't think they would sign a $30mm DH, and if they did, that would be ridiculous. If he doesn't go back to STL, I'd say the Angels could be a big player, that would be my guess, but then again I don't know how much Tony Reagins would want to dish $300mm on a player.

How do I put this as my sig? :thumbsup: No but I understand - OBP and defense aren't your typical attractive stats like HR, RBI, Avg, etc. On the topic of sunk cost - what you're describing sounds more like realized gains or losses. You've got a $70mm sunk cost invested. But, you've received (according to Fangraphs) $57.1mm in terms of production from Drew over the first 4 years of his contract. So far, you've paid $56mm of the $70mm contract, so, essentially, you've realized a $1.1mm gain (or 2% ROI) on the investment in Drew. So while you've sunk $70mm of cost into him, you can still see an ROI. From what I understand, that sounds more like what you're talking about than the term "sunk cost".

I edited that post because I took a while to write it because I'm at work, and by the time it posted, you had written something else so I just decided to axe it. Doesn't matter. What you wrote came across as being a smart ass comment in that I was stupid for calling JD Drew's contract a sunk cost, but if that's not how you meant for it to be conveyed, then that's fine no big deal.

Well I haven't seen him discussed on this board before since I just joined and it's been all Gonzo/Crawford. Other than last year, I'm ok with his contract, I don't mind paying a guy $14mm if he gets on base 40% of the time. To me, OBP is an incredibly undervalued aspect of the game, plus he puts up 20+HR and 80+ RBI's a year, crushes righties. All I was saying was that his contract has already been signed, I'm tired of hearing people cry about it every offseason. If we pay him too much, it's marginally too much. But it doesn't matter. Now we need to worry about getting max production from him.

First - you asked how Drew is a sunk cost. Then Italian told you exactly what I meant. Then you claimed that's not what I was saying. You were being a pretty big smartass to only be truly asking what my real opinion about the matter was.

@ Dipre, just to further prove my point, since I'm sure you won't admit to being wrong. I literally have looked over this multiple times and cannot fathom how you could possibly ever consider this to say "JD Drew is a sunk cost". I was literally as clear and articulate as I could ever possibly be about it being specifically his contract that is a sunk cost. It's incredibly aggravating when I write something, you question it, someone answers you with exactly what I wrote (basically), and then you say "That's not what he meant"

I never said JD Drew is a sunk cost. I said his contract is a sunk cost. Meaning we cannot go back and say "Hey Drew, you've played at about an $8mm level, so we're going to reduce your salary". Everyone's contract on the team is a sunk cost, which is why I've never understood the mindset that you HAVE to play someone every single game because they're getting paid so much. If you get the most production out of a player by hitting them vs RHP and playing them 125 games, then regardless of their contract, by all means, play him 125 games and get maximum production out of the player. Basically - if we're just paying Buchholz 425k this year, do we expect him to be a 6th inning middle reliever that posts a 4.27 ERA? No, not at all. Every year, payroll is a sunk cost once the season begins. You can't change anything about it. Contracts are set. Money is guaranteed barring a trade. So at that point, you make your team the best it can be regardless of how much each player is being paid. I never said that JD Drew, as a player, is a sunk cost. Not even close. Please read my posts before putting words in my mouth.

Surprisingly, Drew has had an easy offseason off in terms of worrying by Sox fans. One thing that I think is going to benefit Drew incredibly this year is sitting him vs solid to tough lefties. He'll still get his 130 games in this year, but borderline platooning him with Cam will keep him healthy and productive. When you platoon Drew and Cam, you get a RF that has a career .921 OPS vs RHP (Drew) and a guy in Cam who hasn't had an OPS vs LHP of less than .950 in the past 3 years. I know a lot of people complain about JD Drew's salary and think if we're going to pay him 14mm, he needs to play more than 130 games. I completely, 110% disagree. To me, his contract is a sunk cost. Its in the past, we can't do anything about it now. All we can do now is maximize his contributions to the team, and that comes in the form of 120-130 games vs primarily RHP.

They have officially signed him, or agreed to principle to a milb contract.

So....hey has anyone seen Black Swan? I hear Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman have a sex scene.

http://www.nesn.com/2011/02/dustin-pedroia-challenges-all-critics-in-new-balance-video.html#comment-6a0115709f071f970b0148c857d774970c That is a freaking sick commercial. I love Pedey.

Someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on. We have agreed way too much lately, Dipre. :harhar: A true sign that Spring Training is just around the corner I guess.

Also - Just to go along with what Dipre said - 2008 levels would be great for Beckett. Although a 4.03 ERA would win more than just 12 games with the line up and bullpen as constructed right now. He would be a 15-16 game winner with our offense and bullpen that can actually hold leads. Beckett went 9-4 in 2008 when allowing 3 or fewer earned runs. He also had 4 no decisions in which he allowed a combined 6 runs in 27 innings (2.00 ERA). You can expect that to change in 2011.

The problem with Beckett is that it seems like something is always nagging on him. Inflamed elbow and strained oblique in 2008, came back in 2009 and threw well, then sidelined early last year with the back issue. I'm not sure if he's concentrating too much on one area during his conditioning training or what, but it seems like right when he cures one injury, another one pops up. I will say this, though. I had some back problems growing up, mainly with the muscles in my lower back always being too tight, and when it is acting up, you almost arch your back backwards to compensate for it because it hurts so bad. Bending over is not an option. If his back was anything like that in 2010, his follow through would have suffered significantly, as well as his control.

From Pete Abe - Boston Globe. Maybe Pap is really going to take this season serious. Hopefully we will see 2008 Papelbon.

It's pretty ridiculous to compare the Yankees rotation to the Sox. The Sox won 89 games last year with massive DL stints from their top players. If Pedroia, Youk, and Ellsbury were healthy during the season, the Sox make the playoffs last year. Not to mention the fact that it was the Sox bullpen that was the biggest problem, accounting for 23 losses, which is 6 more than NYY and 7 more than TB. The Sox have revamped the bullpen this year so that's no longer an issue. By the way - the Sox 1-5 SP last year (Lester - Buch - Beckett - Lackey - DiceK) combined for a 3.98 ERA. And that was with Beckett throwing like dog s***.

Some good news, though. With the additions of Colon, Garcia, and Prior, the Scranton Yankees AAA affiliate has become the hands down favorite to win the International League.