lospunchados

The answer to your question is very simple. They gave him seven years because, he is the hardest working player on the team, he's earned it and he came up to his agent, even with two option years left, and said i want to be a lifelong redsox. his agent said it was financially stupid, he didn't care.overpaying for him at 12 an 13 million at his last two years not that bad really.thats even overpaying at all compared to crawford, gonzalez pujols or a-rod. those are bad contracts. I feel like you used the wrong word, did u mean great contract.

If They trade for Peavy he also has a player option of 15 million for 2015 if he makes it to 400 innings(in 2013-2014). seems a little bit of a long shot but worth noting.

exactly

This is exactly what i've been saying. If someone wants to be stupid and overpay for him by a lot that is the only way Ben is trading him.

They would never do that deal. Bradley is an untouchable for them. In almost every mid season prospect re ranking he is the number one pitching prospect in baseball.he is generally ranked from number 6-10. Its not like the Diamondbacks view him as a few years down the road, he will be in there rotation next year. If Bradley was in A ball or high A it might work as he would would be farther away from contributing. Then getting back two pitchers in your deal we would crowd the rotation with more arms blocking a chance to see what Rubby or someone else could do. The two pitchers in the majors both have a minimum two years left on there contract. I'll tell you what though if we can get Bradley and someone else for Lackey, middlebrooks and some mid level prospect sure i'll do it. The reason i listed Castellanos is because almost every team that would need something already has someone they view as a next year ready top pitching prospect.

And if anything now people are more reluctant to trade prospects. If we wanted to get the most prospects for Lackey they would deal him now as he would be the best available arm. The Jays gave up a lot because hockey season was potentially going to be cancelled and there was a wide open AL east, with many perceiving that the Orioles couldn't do it again, the Redsox and Yankees weren't as strong as they normally are and the Rays would be good but traded away there second best pitcher in the off season. They blew up there Farm system to try and contend this year. So to trade Lackey in the off season you need a team with a stacked farm system and close to contending or already contending and need one pitcher to put them over the top. The Jays could give up d'Arnaud as he has a big injury history and was blocked at the major league level, as they viewed Arencibia as a good enough catcher for the future so d'Arnaud was worth a lot to someone else not as much to them. They viewed Sanchez as the best of there three young pitchers so Syndergaard was traded instead. If you can get a blow you away offer like the Shields deal or close to the Dickey deal you have to look at it but both of those deals involved at least one top ten prospect coming back. If you look at midseason rankings the only team that is close enough for that deal to make sense is at 15 with the Tigers and Nick Castellanos, so Castellanos and another prospect from the tigers is probably the best you could get. Saying that dickey is a 36 year old knuckleballer, true but he had a three year average from 2010-2012 of 2.95 era 1.15 whip 156k's 205 ip. A lot better numbers than Lackey's over a three year stretch. No one expected Dickey to have a sub three era switching from the NL east to the AL east but a mid three seemed reasonable to expect.

I really don't think we would get enough value back in prospects or major league talent to warrant trading him. he is due to make an average 8 million per year. If some team wants to offer us two top 100 prospects like the jays got for Dickey , sure maybe then you take a shot, but i highly doubt that will happen. You also have to look this off season on teams it would make sense to do this deal and how stocked there farm system is. You can't trade him to the AL east. Most of the teams that dominate the top prospect rankings don't make sense to deal for him ( Marlins,Twins and the Redsox ). Remember what we gave up for Schilling, not much at all and Lackey isn't nearly the caliber of pitcher Schilling was.

I don't care how long it took to resolve, if he comes back healthy and for the stretch run, that's when we need him for. Through his entire career when he has pitched 100% healthy he has been a top tier pitcher, when he has nagging injuries he has been average at best. I'll hope that this extra rest will give us a healthy Buccholz, and more of the Clay we saw in the first half.

Lest er would get us very little for prospects in a trade now or even in the off-season, because if he pitches really well in the second half they wont trade him if he doesn't they won't get anything for him ( they also have to sign his club extension in the off season for about 15 mil or release him). If they wanted to trade him they should have made the trade last off-season when the braves were willing to give up Julio Teheran and a low level prospect or two for him. Trading Lackey would be insane now or in the off-season. I can't see anyteam giving up multiple high end prospects for someone coming off a major arm surgery, and if you don't get that for him trading him is stupid. Why would you trade a guy that reasonably could have a 3.40-4.00 era who will average out making 8.25 million?

Many reports this year say that Xander could actually stick at shortstop and at least for a good chunk of his career.

Biggest surprises-pitching- Lackey and Doubront. I don't think anyone knew what to expect form John Lackey this year, and even the biggest optimist couldn't have predicted this big of a turnaround. The 2015 club option he has signed for league minimum looks pretty good if he maintains even 80% of what he is doing now. Doubront started the year with diminished velocity and looked terrible. Though the velocity is still down a ways from last year he has managed to be really effective for the last ten starts. Hitting- Nava and iggy- Nava has had a spectacular first half and forced his way into the lineups most days. At the very least he has shown that he is worthy of a platoon role as his numbers are fantastic against righties. Iggy is coming down to earth a bit but everyone always said if he could hit .260-.270 he could play because of the glove so hopefully he can keep a decent average and work a little more on plate discipline. Biggest dissapointments so far for me would be Middlebrooks and the two "closers" we had to start the year.

Jose Fernandez is a given to not be traded and was just not mentioned on the list.the marlins wouldn't trade him for anything short of a godfather offer. he would cost more than stanton.

I understand Buccholz somewhat wanting to be 100 percent. The redsox are winning and there have been alot of pitchers over the years who mess up there mechanics, don't throw properly and then need shoulder or elbow surgery because of it.

Workman looked pretty good out there on sunday. Between him Ranaudo, De La Rosa and Webster we should have some solid pitching help down the stretch. Even Alex Wilson was pretty good before his last to outings ( and then he went on the dl).

I agree. With the expected cost of another starter i don't think its worth trading for a starter unless they want virtually no prospects from them. I think the odds are way better getting someone on the team turning it around or Webster,de la Rosa or Ranaudo giving them a boost. I'd much rather give one of those guys a shot then sell the farm for Lee or just rather have them pitch them trade for someone like Bud Norris. If Garza came at a reasonable price ( seems unlikely though) then he'd be someone worth looking at.

he's earned it hopefully Hanrahan will get it together for the eigth inning

This thread is hillarious. Obviously Hamilton is a better player, that isn't even a question. Though, for everyone who says watch how Nava fades down the stretch how did Hamilton do last year in the second half ? Nava is a better fit and is needed a lot more than hamilton on the redsox. Nava is a great guy to platoon and grind out at bats against pitchers and has a great swing for Fenway. Hamilton will probably put up his usual monster numbers by seasons end, but is he worth the big cash for the last two years of the deal, who knows if his body can hold out. I'll take Nava,Carp,Victorino, Gomes and Napoli as the #4 or 5 bat that Hamilton would have been for this year, and figure out the next few years later.

i couldn't believe when i read this.

I'm not sure what basis you are going on but Hughes was above league average for era in 2010 and 2012. hughes does have a lot of parallels with Bucholz though. Both have had trouble staying healthy and can look very dominant at times. Both aren't huge strikeout pitchers, and Hughes had his best year K's wise ( and era wise)in 2009when he was predominantly a reliever. Hughes has been mostly average as a starter but showed much higher potential as a reliever. Bucholz, in different seasons has been great, above average, average and bad as a starter. His problem has always been himself, either by toomany walks or staying healthy.

Lillibridge might have more "talent" than nava , but he's not a better player. his stat lines suck it's amazing Lillibridge got anything. Nava is a good bench guy and yes lillibridge could play the infield, but not very well. He rated way below average everyone in the infield excpet when he plays first base. Nava works counts and gets on base, seems like a good guy to come off the bench once in a while.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another Drew. But , he was the best SS available and, though overpaid, it is fantasticallt only a one year deal. They obviously don't believe in Iggy or Ciriaco or they wouldn't have made the signing.

I totally agree. I don't mind the redsox becoming a respectable over the next few years and giving the farm a little more development time.

I just read again something i forgot about. John Lackey had a clause in his contract that said if he missed any significant time due to injury he automatically added a 6th year for league minimum to his contract. I'm not sure if i'm happy or i hate this.

There's an espn article that says that J.D. Drew's contract wasn't officially finalized till 52 days after his agent announced it so we'll see, i'm not jumping to conclusions yet.

I'm not sure about where he gets the innings projections from but some of the era ones seem possible. The redsox got better defensively and if they trade salty they will throw out a lot more than the 18 out 98 baserunners that Salty threw out. that would help the pitchers era a decent amount ( Ross has a career 38.8% caught stealing rate) Last year he didn't project well for redsox starters but he has been very close in other years.