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Funny how Lincecum was lights out in post season relief roles but still seemed to lack confidence when he had a chance to start. His relief stints were very encouraging for him though. I think Johnson is just going to attract so much attention and so far our FO guys don't seem to be guys that are going to do well when a guy draws interest from multiple teams. I would love to think we have a good shot at him but I just don't think so. We would probably have to act decisively to get him and that does not seem like the strong suit of this FO at least to date. Seems more like the FO guys get to talk to somebody then come back to report to the mother ship, then go back out to talk to the player again. That just takes to much time when competing with a bunch of other teams.

Boy I am not sure he did well enough to see that kind of money......He may go looking for it but it sounds like you are making the years 3-5 or something like that and that would be more than I would pay for Sanchez. I could see paying them both $15 or maybe Peavy gets his $17M which I think would be his actual 2013 number. I don't see where he has done enough to suddenly be a $20M per year pitcher. He can look for that kinda money till hell freezes over but there are not more than 10-12 starters in all baseball makin' that kinda' money and he can't even carry the jocks for the guys that are overpaid at those numbers.

I like Peavy alot. There are some guys I like better but I just don't think the Sox can get them. Peavy might be the best of the guys that the Sox can realistically get their hands on. If the difference between Peavy and Sanchez is $22-$24M vs $8-$10M I could see that difference in money making Sanchez kinda' appealing but Peavy is probably already at the top of his earnings per year at 31 years old. I don't know what Sanchez would want but the closer that number got to Peavy money the less interested I would be in Sanchez and the more appealing Peavy would be. Heck Peavy and Sanchez both would not be a terrible idea if in fact Sanchez money is half Peavy money. They are both RH pitchers for one thing and I worry about the Sox getting to many LH pitchers in the rotation pitching in Fenway. I think we keep Lester and hope that one of the benefits we get outta' Farrell is a better shot at a Lester turnaround. While I would not want the Sox to spend their trade money like drunken sailors pitching is valuable commodity. Peavy is a proven guy and at a guess Sanchez money might just be half Peavy money. Heck if that is the case, both of then together would be about what the Yanks are about to pay ARod....I don't think I am ever going to tire of saying that. Yanks paying ARod $30M per year....has a nice ring to it doesn't it.

You guys are worried about the AL East that was not the AL East that is. The AL East is no longer even the strongest division in the AL. The AL and most particularly the AL East has power hitting for offense but that is all it has. All pitchers need to do with teams that only have power hitting to generate offense is treat them like a boxer would treat a slugger in a prize fight. Get inside him. Don't let him extend his arms and beat him to the punch. Once pitchers really figure out what is going on these days in the AL East we are going to be sitting around wondering what the heck happened to our vaunted AL East. As for the AL East champs....if they could resurrect the teams of Bernie Williams and Paul Oneill, they would beat this year's AL East champs like the mangy curs that they truly are, as if the have not already proven to be a bunch of mangy curs.

The way hitting is regressing in the AL, I for one am no longer as reluctant to bring pitchers across from the NL. At one point I was just livid at Red Sox hitters for the regression I was seeing but eventually had to admit that this is more an AL thing than a Red Sox thing cause I saw the same habits in other hitters on other AL Teams. We now have hitters that: -swing at anything that looks like it might be a strike with an 0-0 count...a travesty of hitting -do not look for specific pitches in specific locations even when the count favors doing so -do not protect with two strikes -insist on continuing to try to pull regardless of whether it is right for the count or the game situation -can't go the other way to save their skin -can't lay down a successful bunt if their life depended on it Sanchez may or may not be right for the Red Sox but it is high team we pulled our heads out of the sand and realized that our hitters are now simply making it to easy in the AL East and in the AL generally. I would not fear bringing a guy over here from the NL at this point.

Well for one thing....it should be pretty obvious to us that PED use is still going on in MLB....I don't know by what measure we could possibly judge it to be less or more but we certainly can see enough to know that it is still with us. So roids are way to simplistic an explanation for what is happening here.Yes there is ebb and flow in this game. The elements that have an impact on offense and other aspects of the game are dynamic. However these are not numbers that are spiking. They are trending and have been since at least 2006. Runs are down significantly and trending in both leagues. Batting average is down and trending in both leagues. The only difference is that the NL numbers are not coming down as quickly. 2012 BA finished at .253 for the NL and .255 for the AL. 002 points of BA in spite of the fact that pitchers are batting in the NL. The AL has lost 20 points of BA since 2006 and the NL has lost 12 points of BA since the same year. Runs scored on average per team down to 721 for the AL and 683 for the NL way off their peaks of the early 2000's. Starting pitching is making yet another come back in the numbers of quality starting pitchers. Only this time starting pitching is coming back at a time when relief pitching has been fully developed. We now have relief pitchers slotted for virtually every inning of a game from long relief though specific 7th and 8th inning set up and closer. We have had other instances in baseballs history of pitching coming back to prominence recovering from down periods. Some down periods are the result of expansion for example. Expansion thins the pool of good pitchers. In other instances rules changes have caused a regression in pitching with pitchers ultimately recovering whatever was lost to them in the rules changes. However I do not see any expansion on the horizon that would significantly thin the ranks of quality pitchers and I don't see rules changes coming either. In my view and I have said this before we are going back to the 1960's style of baseball where pitching truly dominates and defense is once again an more important element of the game. We may not get all the way back to the 1960's but the trend is clearly there and I don't see changes coming in the elements that would forestall a continued decline in the importance of power in wining games when confronted by teams that feature equal pitching, stout defense and multidimensional instead of one dimensional power offense. Defense will return to importance because the ball is going to stay in the yard more often giving fielders more opportunity to shine. AL teams are simply to one dimensional, to dependent on power to generate offense and power happens to be the easiest thing for good pitching to shut down! if we are satisfied as AL proponents with seeing our teams beat each others brains in only to get waxed in the WS where the focus and intensity are through the roof then fine....we can go on just like this. However if getting to the WS and then getting waxed there is not appealing to us, then the AL needs to change. The AL teams are all of a feather, virtually all to one dimensional in their pursuit of offense and the one thing that distinguishes them from the NL is the DH. The nature of the beast is to employ the DH the way AL teams employ them and that has created this bias toward power in pursuit of offense. It is hard to miss. You can't really be telling me that you believe that the Yanks were the only AL team in the post season that featured such piss poor plate appearances. As I said before the O's/Yanks series was a travesty, an exercise to determine which team was the more futile....although I have seen folks describe the "action" in that series as "dramatic". I don't know what is dramatic about seeing hitters swinging and missing over slider after slider insisting on trying to pull pitches that you can't pull! The increased focus and intensity of the post season makes the post season a preview for play in the regular season. Shortly I expect NL teams to start waxing AL teams in regular season inter-league play. So again if we are content seeing our AL teams beat each other to death only to make embarrassing showings in the WS, and eventually in inter-league play we don't have to change at all.

I think Selig is in a box here. He does not have a "legitimate" means to up the offense. You are not going to see rules changes that turns baseball's history into a shambles...not going to happen. In anything the DH may have run its course. AL teams are increasingly one dimensional offensively and are relatively weak defensively. They can match their NL opponents in pitching but it is simply to easy for good pitching to shut down teams that either mash or lose and all to often that describes your typical AL team. Pitching has declined in periods of expansion when the resulting number of pitchers was not sufficient for the number of teams initially and via rules changes. However I don't see any expansion on the horizon and I don't see any rules changes that will salvage offense without making a shambles of baseball's history. I do see the quality of hitting going down the tubes as hitters are simply not prepared for good pitching. They are not selective enough and they do not follow the principles of good hitting that have been there since the beginning of time. They swing 0-0 at anything that looks like a strike. They do not protect the plate with two strikes. They do not try to go to the opposite field nearly enough when they are being pitched that way. Hitters have simply grown to used to pitchers leaving mistakes over the plate and so now they swing based more on the law of averages than anything else. Look at how feeble the Yanks looked both against the O's and Detroit...continually swinging over sliders, insisting that this slider was going to be the one that flattened out conveniently for them. Well the Yankee hitters never got that slider against Detroit. Is it any wonder that the only two Yankee hitters, Ichiro and Jeter, that went to the plate hitting the way good hitters all used to go to the plate faired much better. Is it any wonder that the only other Yankee hitter that did well, Raul is a guy in his forties. The only change that I think may be due is the end of the DH. It has become a burden that makes it very difficult for an AL team to beat an NL team in the post season when the focus and the intensity is through the roof and the AL team simply does not have enough tools to win. Either mash or lose works AL team against AL team and in the regular season but it does not work after that.

This is becoming progressively more embarrassing for the AL. Tigers need to really start mashing cause it looks like the only thing they can do to win a game.

Right you are kaps....the Tigers have the unfortunate problem of a couple of their RH hitters actually fairing worse against LHP (at least with regard to BA splits)! That really tips the scales when there is a LHP on the mound cause you are really stuck regarding LH/RH match ups. Does not take more than a couple of those anomalies to make it really tough. If they keep playing like this though they are going to have to pound out wins to overcome their rather obvious lapses in fundamental baseball and how typical is that of an AL team. Even the player demeanor is somewhat disconcerting to me and frankly typical. Although that might be because I watch to damned much AL baseball. Varlander gets into a bit of a snit in game 1 cause the home plate ump has the audacity to call a ball a ball and not a strike just because he is pitching...oh the injustice of it all. He starts throwing meatballs up there as opposed to working harder to hit his spots....that really disappointed me as it is so reminiscent of Mr Aceves when he gets snitty on the mound. Then Smiley comes in last night, could not find that plate with two hands and a hunting dog and starts asking "where was that pitch".....what do you expect Smiley...to be rewarded for being only a few inches off the plate as opposed to the foot off the plate, where most of your pitches were going? How often have we seen that kind of behavior particularly in the AL this season? When you see how good the Giant pitchers are as hitters, not good but not terrible either and look at what is now only a 2 point dif in BA between the two leagues (.255 for AL and .253 for NL) you really have got to wonder if the advantage of the DH in "excitement" is really nothing more than a perceived advantage now that BA and hitting is down generally and pitching seems once again to be headed to where it was in the 1960's. Is this really more of a burden to the AL than it can bear? The pitchers become more isolated from the rest of the team because they don't bat. The teams end up seemingly to dependent on bashing and for what?....2 points of batting average????

$13.3M, thanks for the correction....I thought it was $14M but the math still works and I think you guys are right. I was really talking about the same math but was using $14M. So, I don't think we can use the argument that what the Sox did for 2012 limits what they should or could do for 2013/2014. Look I don't like Papi's continue use of the press to negotiate his contract but like I said earlier at least he delivers on the back end. I do think that he should cool it on the "this is my clubhouse" s*** and anything like it. If that has been his clubhouse....his clubhouse sucks! He should just stop. Fortunately we have not heard stuff like that from Papi in the last few months but I don't know if that means he has stopped or he has just not had a good opportunity to fit that one into his current schtick.

Nobody on these AL boards wants to hear this and it pains me to say it but the Tigers are playing what has unfortunately become typical sloppy AL baseball. The AL DS and LS games looked like the Saturday Afternoon Beer League compared to the NL games. The O's/Yanks series was an outright embarrassment. This might not even get to Verlander for game 5.

How stupid does this feel Tigers. Have not had a sniff at a run scoring opportunity since you dunce capped your way out of the 2nd inning and now it is late innings and the Giants have last bats and a guy on with nobody out right now. Tigers may win this game but they are so far being outplayed by a wide margin by the Giants.

Well Tigers have done one thing right tonight. Fister has pitched inside and has not allowed the Giant hitters to just settle in and have their way with him.

No excuses now Mr K. You already told us you are healthy! Poor guy,,,probably going to live to regret the whole experience by the time we are done with him.

Ya' but you are going to hit some shots at guys...that is just part of the game...that is also why you can't just squander your opportunities foolishly. Just don't get them all night long....another nice play on the base paths by the Tigers.....

Tigers are playing such stupid baseball. Lamont never should have sent Fielder. What is he doing...playing for one run? You want to rally with base runners on and no outs, not risk an out and a baserunner to score one! Fact is as we reported here many times, the AL teams played such poor fundamental baseball in their post season series while the NL teams settled down and played much better fundamental baseball in theirs. I hate to think this is turning out to be a factor but this AL team is just playing lousy baseball so far in this WS. Lousy baseball got the Tigers past the lousy competition put up by their AL rivals...not going to cut it here.

Well I don't know that we can say that the Achilles is not an issue. He blows out his Achilles and his career is over. I think fear of same is likely what prevented him from playing again last year. He was not 100% and the risk of blowing the Achilles out was not offset by any sort of reward that mattered to him. Seems like the Achilles will likely be a sensitive issue for him for the remainder of his playing days. I posted earlier that presuming he is signed I would recommend that the Sox tell him/ask him to take it easy on the base paths. They don't pay him to go tearin' around out there at his age. Maybe they can put him in some customized footwear that will help him support the Achilles as well...might slow him up (maybe not a bad thing) but might also help keep from injuring the Achilles or putting more stress on it. Once these guys get older, they are going to suffer more stress related injuries. Jeter's ankle shattered on a play that you would not have expected that sort of damage but in reality I think the wear on the ankle just got to the point where it did not take as much to just have it crumble. For a multitude of reasons though, I think the two years is OK...not as OK as 1 year and a vesting option for the 2nd year but as I suggested earlier, what kind of message does playing hardball with Ortiz send to a guy like Pedey who we would hope would be a life long Red Sox.

Giants in 6 is becoming a popular pick. I hope we see a tight 7 game series. Posted on another board earlier today that the Tiger pitchers have got to start to gain some command of the plate as the Giant hitters are just excavating the batters box, digging in and are very comfy at the plate. Tiger pitchers have got to start to pitch inside and move the Giant hitters around a little, both to gain the outer edge of the plate and to keep the Giant hitters from digging in and getting so comfortable. MLB Network talking heads just made the same point and used the Zito hit last night as an example of just how comfy the Giant hitters are. Commented that it is rare for a pitcher to settle in the batters box and be able to reach across to the outer edge the way Zito did but Zito hitting without fear just like the rest of the Giant hitters. Will be interesting to see if the Tiger pitchers are more aggressive tonight.

The current media story is that the Sox have agreed to two years but have not finalize the amount yet. In addition, somebody I guess from the Ortiz camp has leaked that he would take 2/$25 which is as much as admitting that he will take less than $25M. I don't think the Sox will drive the number below 2/$20 and if they do then that would look like a pretty big win for them. For example 2/$18 for a guy they were paying $14 for one year would be a huge win I think....2/$20 would still be a win for the Sox I think. I think what has changed is that there seems to be a rumor out there that Ortiz can get two years from somebody. Remember the Sox really took the issue off line last year by using Arbitration which was still available to them on Ortiz last year. The Sox could tell Ortiz to go test the market and tell us what you have been offered...we will match it or not but I just don't think the Sox think it worthwhile to go down that road IF, they can get a two year number that works for them.

There is one factor in the whole Ortiz negotiation, two years vs one year etc that might actually be relevant that nobody talks about. Now I totally understand the argument that the Sox might not need to throw two years out on the table for Ortiz because the market for a 37 year old, dedicated DH with a spotty achilles is going to be pretty light. But I don't think it is completely out of the realm that somebody else gives him his two years.....I think it boils down to the difference between a one year deal at max $$ and a two year deal at a number that is attractive to both parties....maybe 2/$20 is that number. The one thing I don't see mentioned is that the Sox actually have two players that you might want to be mindful of in this regard, one is obviously Ortiz and the other is Pedroia. Is it really worth it to the Sox to show a guy like Pedroia, who has not cost the Sox a fortune, who is the player they are building around that at the end of his career, they will very likely reward him for nothing? That they might very well base their offer to him entirely on his market value to another team. I don't think I would want to lay the groundwork in Ortiz for that sort of thought process to leak into Pedey's thinking. As long as the price per year takes this two year deal into account and provides the Sox with a meaningful difference in $$ per year, I think it may just serve the Sox purposes to go ahead and do Ortiz for two years. I heard today that Wes Welker has put his Boston Condo on the market. Wonder if he is fed up with the way the Pats have handled him and if he is just preparing for the day when he gets outta' here.

I could not believe my ears either. Although I think the number was 15. Still amazing whether 15 or 14. Really disappointed in Verlander tonight. Regardless of who we cheer for we want the games stars to comport themselves like stars, to perform like stars. You could see Verlander working himself up into a snit not because the ump was calling strikes balls but because the ump was not calling close balls strikes, something Verlander has grown used to I guess. Instead of bearing down and working harder to hit his spots he basically started to leave meatballs about belt high catching way to much plate. Unfortunately as Sox fans we all know why we have become familiar with this sort of behavior. Clearly Verlander could not get his curve over for strikes either and he could not get the Giants to swing and miss at his curve either. This might be the best thing that can happen to the series. Probably would have been tough to have a tight, exciting series if Verlander took two games off the table leaving the Giants to try to win four of the remaining five. Now the Tigers have to recover from seeing their ace undressed and have to get crackin'. If they do, we will probably relish the ebb and flow. If they don't and just crumble, it will likely leave us dissatisfied.

Leyland is going to have nightmares about these early endings to ALCS going into WS. Second time that his Tigers have looked a little dreamy while the other guys have clearly been ready to play.

So far Verlander has responded very badly to this ump not giving him his usual 4' wide strike zone. He has been visibly miffed by it and started to really get wayyyyy to much plate with his pitches. I think the Tigers are caught somewhat off guard watching the Giants pound out hits off their ace.

Why you thinkin' Tampa? I have always thought of that as a pretty sleepy community over there.

So far, lady luck seems to be with the Giants.