Lord Snow

BJ's career numbers are inflated due to 2007 & 2008 when he was actually a good hitter. But that was 5 seasons ago now, and he was 4 seasons removed when he signed his contract. His highest full-season OBP between 2009 and 2012 was .331, and went down to .298 last season. His high OPS was .752. The Braves just ignored his stat line and paid him for his raw tools, not how he utilizes them. The days of having 2 corner outfielders who hit 25+ HRs are gone. The steroid era is over, it was something I think we all took for granted. Now it seems like teams are lucky if they got 3 guys in the line-up capable of hitting 20+ homers. I mean look at this Red Sox team, I think we have 4 players with double digit home runs, and to the best of my knowledge Ortiz is the only guy with 20+, and its looking like we will finish the season like that. Think back to '03-'04 I think the Sox had 7 guys with 20+ homers.

BJ Upton was terrible before this year. Isn't his career OBP like .310? Atlanta was stupid to give him that kind of money.

No way he is a September call-up. The Sox are definitely going to want him to have postseason eligibility. He will be up soon, as other posters have pointed out, maybe this week.

Haha. I think the Cubs will be in the mix on Ellsbury. He was one of Theo's draftees and Theo LOVES a lot of the guys he drafted and brought along. I could stomach the Sox guaranteeing him up to $90M. But Jacoby Ellsbury is not a $100M player, he doesn't have the durability or the consistency.

I'd be very happy keeping Ellsbury on BJ Upton money. 5-72.5? Sounds about right, and good to me.

Why is everybody so keen to move Jackie Bradley? He will either be our center fielder of the future or our left fielder, if we hold onto Ellsbury. Also, 5-100 for Ellsbury? I don't see that happening. Unless Ellsbury finishes with 20 HR and beasts in the postseason. Carl Crawford is an Ellsbury-type and the contract the Sox gave him was viewed, almost unanimously, as horrendous around baseball. Crawford got 7-142. Last year when Michael Bourn, another Ellsbury-type, hit free agency and nobody wanted to touch him so he signed for 4-48. I think Ellsbury will be somewhere in between on the guaranteed money. Somewhere between at $12.5-$17.5M per year and 5-6 years.

It doesn't change the fact that the Sox are paying $13 million for a .750 OPS. Are 1 & 2 making $13M+ per year? 4-10?

He stared at strike 3, or at least a pitch that way too close to take with 2 strikes. He's lucky this umpire has been inconsistent all night.

If we can't score off Wright we're not winning this game. This guy sucks. Is he only in for Ellsbury?

How much straight 91 MPH heat is Ellsbury going to stare at?

+1 The game isn't over yet fellas and Houston's bullpen sucks.

Red Sox posting a donut against HOUSTON?! Give me a break.

Very true. I don't see Iglesias becoming a bust because he has such a strong glove. He will always have some value to a team. At the very least he has a career as a bench utility player. I think thats why Detroit bought him. His defense at short, a super-premium position, is second to none. Detroit's line-up is packed with hitters so they can manage with Iglesias's bat even if he starts for them and hits 9th for the next 3 years I don't think they'll regret the move.

Napoli has been as advertised. An .860 OPS post-ASB I say leave him where he is.

Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, Dustin Pedroia...

Bogaerts will be in a Boston uniform soon enough. They're probably waiting until he gets comfortable at 3B. He has what? 6 or 7 starts under his belt at the position? Between the departure of Jose Iglesias and the current platoon there, September looming, he is going to be called up any day now. The Sox are going to want him to be post-season eligible. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he starting for the Red Sox by next weekend.

There's no question Gomes was brought in for his clubhouse presence. He's drawn a lot of comparisons to Millar, at least personality-wise, Millar was actually an okay hitter too. Last year's team had way too much negativity surrounding it. The expectations were sky high, Bobby Valentine was, and is, just a blowhard idiot (I'm still not sure how he get the job) which didn't help things at all. This year nobody is on a contract that is painfully bad (good riddance Carl Crawford). I was horribly wrong about John Lackey's ability to recover, and he has been great this year. Even if he sucked he would have been the team's only terrible contract. Victorino & Dempster are overpaid but nobody cares since the team is winning. The addition of Peavy means Dempster can be put on a short short leash. In fact, I don't really see how Dempster isn't the odd man out when Buchholz returns. Dempster should be out of the rotation now. He's made one quality start since June. I'll take Workman please! But if the #5 starter is my biggest complaint I'm a pretty happy guy.

I think it all depends on how the market shakes out. If Ellsbury is willing to sign for $15M/year or less I think he stays. If somebody decides to give him Carl Crawford money then he is gone gone GONE!

Hey! Hey! At least I gave some love to our current, and effective, closer Koji back in December! This thread wasn't a total train wreck! Gomes has played about as well as I expected him to. I mean his slash line is .230/.329/.407, he hasn't been DFA'd yet, I was wrong about him being cut by August, and he has made some stellar defensive plays this week, but besides that he's still a $10 million cheerleader. Note: Gomes isn't even hitting lefties this year. He has a .743 OPS vs LHP.

The Teixeira deal isn't looking great for the Yankees right now, but it was still a good signing by them. As another poster pointed out he helped them win a World Series in 2009 and has had decent production for the Yankees when healthy. When its all said and done it will never be viewed as a "bad" contract. Most of the long contracts (6+ years) that get signed are not worth it for the team and I think we are going to see the frequency of them start to decline due to the Pujols deal, and A-Rod's latest contract. So few players ever come close to making their contract worthwhile.

I don't quite know what the deal is with Buchholz. I'm starting to think he has the J.D. Drew 'I can't play unless I feel 100%' attitude which is just impractical for any athlete, especially ones who play a sport that lasts 162 games + playoffs. I love Buchholz when he is on the mound, but it's getting ridiculous now. Missing 2+ months over shoulder inflammation? Not only is it annoying me as a fan, but Clay pissed away a very good chance at a Cy Young campaign.

I don't see Papelbon getting moved, and especially not to the Sox. The story of the 2013 Red Sox has been all about clubhouse atmosphere. Papelbon can be a bit of a punk, as his recent comments proved, even though he was a great fit when he was a Red Sox and as much as I would LOVE to see Boston add him I don't see it happening because of Pap's mouth. EDIT: His mouth and SIX blown saves on the season

He was "not the answer at SS" because the Red Sox currently have the best shortstop prospect in baseball at AAA in Xander Bogaerts. They have Dustin Pedroia at 2B and just signed him to a long extension, and Will Middlebrooks is up-and-coming at 3B. Even struggling with his bat Middlebrooks has more offensive potential than Iglesias and the defense, at 3B, is a wash since Middlebrooks is a good defender. The Sox needed to add an SP due to the Buchholz muscle cramp that is requiring a 4 month DL stint, so they dealt from a position of depth to fill a position of weakness. Iglesias is a good player and showed flashes of his potential with the Sox.

I hate attitudes like this. How can you not be over the moon with the Peavy trade? For all intents and purposes it was a steal by the Sox. You could argue that Texas got ripped off for Garza, depending on how much Mike Olt bounces back, at the very least they paid market value. Can you honestly say you would have been happier if the Sox dealt Jackie Bradley + prospects for 10 Garza starts instead of Jose Iglesias + junk prospects for 1.5 years of Jake Peavy? The 'Peavy is always hurt' argument doesn't hold much water here either since Peavy, apparently, has a fixed shoulder and Garza is becoming deputy mayor of the DL.

After tonight's game I'm really glad the Sox added Peavy. Jon Lester is just lost. I hate to admit it because I've been a fan of his since '08, but Lester may be washed up. He got off to a great start this year, then fell off in a big way, and I thought he was on his way back. But today, against the D-Backs, a mediocre NL team, should have been a cakewalk for him, not a 4 inning outing. Lets look for Peavy to right the ship tomorrow. I like the acquisition. As other posters have pointed out he doesn't have the pressure of being an ace. I think his transition to Boston will be seamless. 7 innings and 3 runs or less tomorrow I'd be happy.