Orange Juiced

Pap was great - superb numbers, durable, brought the attitude, everything. Unfortunately, he didn't want to stay with the Red Sox so he's no longer in the picture.

See my previous post here (http://www.talksox.com/forum/talk-sox-forum/17323-hanrahans-injury-5.html#post838783). Tazawa *has* been getting guys out in pressure (high-leverage) situations. In dominant fashion, actually. As for Bailey, he's been great this year and I want him back ASAP. But I'm not at all confident that he'll be back when you say he will. This tweet from Gordon Edes is not encouraging: "Bailey said he played light game of catch Thurs, has no idea how soon he'll be back, but implied won't be ready to come off on May 14"

I understand. But he's been terrific in high-leverage situations. This year, here's what he's done in high-leverage situations (as given by b-ref): 21 plate appearances 2 hits, 2 walks, 4 total base-runners opponents hitting .105, getting on base at a .190 clip allowing opponents to hit .506 ops So he has been pretty dominant in hi-lev situations this year. I am willing to bet that he'd transition nicely into the closer's role. Of course, if the Sox never have a close lead in the 9th we'll never know.

I really think Tazawa has what it takes to be a really good major league closer. Live fastball, excellent control. Let's look at his numbers the past two seasons: 2012: 44.0 ip, 37 h, 7 r, 7 er, 1 hr, 5 bb, 45 k 2013: 15.1 ip, 13 h, 5 r, 5 er, 2 hr, 3 bb, 19 k TOT: 54 g, 59.1 ip, 50 h, 12 r, 12 er, 3 hr, 8 bb, 64 k, 1.82 era, 238 era+, 0.98 whip, 1.2 w/9, 9.7 k/9, throws 70% of his pitches for strikes Those are TREMENDOUS numbers. He's just 27, makes peanuts, and won't become a free agent until 2017. This is the guy you want as your future closer.

True, but I doubt this group will be fully together at the same time really at any point in the season. Someone will always be injured, I suspect.

Ok thanks for the clarification.

To whom is this post addressed?

I didn't forget about him, but he's not ready yet. I included only guys that are ready to contribute NOW. It's entirely possible that Bailey is back pitching here before Morales can even help out at all.

A bullpen consisting of the following guys wouldn't be bad at all: Mortensen (long relief, mop up) Miller Wilson Breslow Uehara Tazawa (closer) Still lots of power arms, two lefties, good versatility. That bullpen should be a solid major league bullpen. I'd run it like this: Mortensen is the long relief, mop up, we have a huge lead and don't want to burn the rest of the bullpen guy. Wilson is our major we're down but still in the game in the 6th-8th inning guy. Miller is our lefty specialist. Breslow and Uehara are our 7-8 inning tie game or we have a lead guys. And Tazawa is our closer.

The answer to the original question is this: I think the Red Sox should make a minimally competitive offer for Ellsbury. He's a pretty good baseball player, but nothing more than that. Even factoring his ridiculous 2011 season, which seems more and more like an abberation, here are his per-162 game averages: 162 g, 107 r, 15 hr, 72 rbi, 53 sb, .296/.348/.439/.786, 106 ops+ Career dWAR of +2.7. So definitely a pretty good player, great speed, above average defense. But other than that crazy 2011 season, doesn't hit for power, and doesn't really even get on base all that much for a leadoff guy. Plus the injuries. Maybe it's just been bad luck. But it does come into play. So we're talking about a Boras client that will be 30 at the end of this season, looking for huge money, who is a pretty good, but not great, player. What's a guy like that worth? Like I said, I'd be minimally competitive. Definitely they should be talking with him and explore the options, but I wouldn't go too crazy trying to re-sign him.

Yep. My concern for Clay is not that he'll get "caught" cheating or anything like that, but rather that this will mess with his head.

Pitchers do this all the time. They prespire, wipe their fingers across their arm or forehead, or, standing behind the mound, lick their fingers, and apply rosin. Combination of wet and rosin. All Buchholz does is apply rosin to his forearm and wipe his fingers across that. It's the same thing, but he doesn't have to go to the back of the mound to apply it. If rosin is LEGAL - and it obviously is, because every mound in MLB has a rosin bag there - then it's LEGAL for Buchholz to use it.

I really, really cannot believe this story has any legs. It's amazing that there continue to be actual stories from major organizations (like ESPN) on this.

Yes, clearly not everything sucks. It was a sucky weekend, but over the course of a long season, you're going to get some of those. Even the '27 Yankees (110-44) had some bad stretches: - lost 4 out of 5 from May 20-27, to Cleveland and Washington - lost 3 in a row from June 25-26, to Philadelphia - lost 4 in a row from August 19-22, to Chicago and Cleveland So, yeah, if the '27 Yankees can experience this, the '13 Red Sox sure can. Sucked, but it's over with. Probably will happen a couple of more times this season. But all in all, it's been a great start so far. Couldn't be much happier.

That was about a crummy a sports weekend for Boston fans as is possible. - Bruins lose their playoff game - Celtics lose to the Knicks and get eliminated - Sox get swept by Texas - Sox' closer gets hurt (not much of a surprise there, but still) Well, glad it's over with. Time to move on. It would be a good day for Clay to come up real big and start a new winning streak against the Twins.

The Sox have played 27 games at a .704 clip (114 pace). We are 1/6th of the way through the season. AL Cy Young - Clay Buchholz. A number of good candidates, but there is only one choice here. Buchholz has been, simply put, the best pitcher in baseball so far. 6-0, 1.01 era, 0.96 whip, 9.5 k/9, averaging 7.4 innings pitched per start. AL MVP - Chris Davis. Stats: .337/.436/.705/1.141, 9 hr, 28 rbi. He's been an absolute monster so far. NL Cy Young - Matt Harvey. Again, lots of good options here, but Harvey has been a revelation. 4-0, 1.56 era, 10.3 k/9. NL MVP - Bryce Harper. .337/.427/.705/1.133, 9 hr, 18 rbi. He's been a force so far. Surprise Team Good: Boston. Most folks thought they'd be bad. Some thought they'd be ok. Very, very few thought they'd be the best team in baseball. Surprise Team Bad: Toronto. Most folks thought they'd be terrific, after the deals they made in the offseason. But Reyes got hurt, their pitching has been very disappointing, and they've struggled mightily so far.

It's amazing, with the talent they have on that team, that they're 9-16.

One other long-lost name to mention: Anthony Ranaudo. Obviously very talented, was one of the top prospects in his draft class. But he's pitched poorly ever since he became a professional. I still hold out hope that it'll click with him at some point. Through three games this season, he's looking very good in Portland: 3 g, 15.2 ip, 9 h, 2 r, 2 er, 5 bb, 17 k, 1.15 era, 0.89 whip, 9.8 k/9 Obviously he has a long way to go still, but maybe, just maybe, he can eventually become what the Sox hoped he'd be. Certainly he has the tools - big frame, excellent stuff.

Agreed 100%. I'd rather have Kershaw than Justin Upton, because I think BTR's reasoning is, in general, correct. But Webster has one major league start under his belt - one in which he was really good and showed a lot of promise, but one that also was not dominant. He did give up 3 runs in 6 innings, after all. Stanton is everything you said but more, because he is cost-controlled for a while still. He's a stud power hitter that probably could top 50 hr a year playing half his games in Fenway. But he is costing the Marlins just over $500k this year, and cannot become a free agent until 2017. I'd give an AWFUL lot for him. And I'm pretty enamored with Webster.

I'd love to have Stanton in the worst way. Webster looks like he has the goods to be very, very, very good though. Tough call, and an interesting trade proposition.

The only downside, it would seem, about getting involved with her is that when the inevitable breakup occurs, she's going to write a real nasty song about you. And on this theme, here's something pretty funny:

FWIW, I like Taylor Swift too.

What or who is BTR? EDIT: Oh, BornToRun and the gamethreads. Well, I'm not saying to stop doing something if things are going well..... ;-)

Well two things are obviously true: (1) Me (or anyone else) saying something on a message board has zero causation on a baseball game being played many states away. And (2) at some point Sox' starters are going to give up a crapload of runs. Can't play 162 games without that happening, no matter how good your rotation is. That said, let's enjoy the ride as long as it lasts, and let's continue to hope that it lasts through tonight at least. Then tomorrow we can hope for the same thing.

He wasn't brought here to catch. He was brought here to play first base.