marklmw

Yeah, WMB isn't going anywhere and certainly not for a #62 prospect. I would deal Gomes and put WBM in left before I would trade him. The problem with signing Drew even for 2 years is that it undermines Bogaerts. It is standard operating procedure to move a SS to 3B as the player ages but moving Xander back to SS after playing 3B for 1-3 years is a different story. Drew imo would be a negative signing.

I looked up Nicolino ... not a chance in hell do the Sox trade WMB for this guy. We have 5 pitchers in the minors who are better prospects.

There are needs and there are luxury ... Kemp to the Sox is a luxury, Kemp to another club very well meet a need. Why trade a 30 HR guy in WMB at 500K per year for a 30 HR guy in Kemp at 15M per year?

Me too!

What is your thoughts on WMB for 2014?

There is no certainty in baseball and players with history of injuries cannot be counted on. What makes Kemp so darn attractive is that we have seen him at his best and his best is pretty darn good. I would not part with Cecchini however, I think that I made myself clear about that. Cecchini is the type of player that should his power increase he can become a Trout lite. I remember the days when Cabrera was referred to as a Pujols lite.

There must be an accounting program where you plug in a professional athletes schedule and it spits our the tax obligations by state, perhaps by city too. For Cities that have an income tax I would imagine that they want their share if the stadium is within city limits.

Has WAR been accepted as the new standard? I happen to be a big OPB and OPS guy.

Dupree is clearly wrong about members of this forum wanting Kemp ... the desire for Kemp here is non existent and I can understand why. To clarify my position I will say that I never would agree to sending a top prospect to LA for Kemp. Also, that it would cost the Sox no more than 15M per over the 6 remaining years. These are two fairly firm qualifiers. We will need to eventually replace the power bats of Nap's and Papi but it just might not happen this off season. I have read nothing but good things about Cecchini and if they are true he might just become our next long term 3B. We will have the flexibility to move WMB to LF in 2015 should Cecchini progress well in 2014. Nap's is here for 2 years but WMB is good enough an athlete that we can keep him at LF or move him to 1B to make way for a LF. At the end of the day whoever the FA is that player comes with one thing or another than makes him less than perfect. Maybe I am being unrealistic that Kemp can stay healthy going forward. Another thing is that Kemp wants to stay in LA ... if there were questions about his attitude at a place he loves playing it may not be such a good idea to bring him to a place that he would prefer not to be.

I would hope that he watches the tapes of him striking out and taking notice of the pitch and location. Don't you think that his cheerleader girlfriend will come to Boston ... I do not know anything about her ... is she a professional cheerleader? maybe for the Cowboys or Texans.

You guys kind-of messed up signing Ellsbury and letting Cano walk didn't you? Do you know what the final offer for Cano was?

Very nice ... what will the Yankees do with Garza?

Dupree ... I think that only you and I would welcome Kemp. For me I am not limited to Kemp. If I had a choice between Kemp and Tanaka I would take Tanaka. I would like the Sox to add one impact player this off season to compensate for the loss of Ellsbury. The LT is 189M in 2014 ... I am curious where we are right now. If the goal is to stay under and we do acquire Kemp we can hopefully shed 5M on Gomes and 10-13M on Dempster. Approximately the amount equal to Kemp.

I do not think WMB's problems are physical ... they are all mental. Just waiting to see if he can figure things out ... once he starts working the counts in his favor a lot can change. I would imagine that he was pressing like crazy last season which only makes matters worse. Big league catchers know this.

No doubt ... agree completely ... nice to have an extra infielder but does it need to be Drew. Signing Drew means that WMB starts the season on the bench does it not. Will Drew sign as a bench player? ... I don't think so ... Again, love to have Drew as a back-up but not a starter over WMB. Furthermore, I would rather do a deal for Kemp assuming a cost of 15-16M per over 6 years than sign Drew at a cost of 10M. Kemp minus Gomes = 10M in 2014.

The hole you are talking about is easy enough to identify ... the entire right side of the plate plus 6 inches off the plate

but you do realize that a strikeout is just another out.

There are too many other players on our team right now to worry about over injuries ... Papi, Nap's, Victorino, Buchholz come to mind.

No doubt ... WMB makes Napoli look like a contact hitter. He needs to strap on the elbow guard and get on the plate like Victorino does ... he is a sucker for the outside breaking ball off the plate ... every catcher in the league knows this now.

Absolutely amazing. We have a player with a very high ceiling, at a very affordable price and fans are talking about trading him away. You would have to narrow the field down to players with 35+ HR potential and how many are there?

Dupree needs to bring it back a little ... 20 - 30 is more like it. No Davis or Cabrerra in our line-up. But Bogaerts, WMB, Papi the Big, Napoli, Kemp,

Sounds fine ... but you are responsible for the tip!

Good point. Hitters pad their stats in games that are already decided. In the playoffs you are not facing the #4 and #5 SP's but you are throughout the regular season. Many of the 4's and 5's on lesser teams would not even be on the roster for the better teams. If you have heard Xander in an interview you will see that he is relaxed and he seems to play relaxed as well.

In basically one full season based on games played Middlebrooks has 32 HR's. This is including a very sub-par 2013 for the youngster. Drew is slightly above average in the field and from what I have seen Bogaerts has greater range. How many plays at shortstop are game changers ... the difference between a win and a loss. Not very many. Now how often does a HR make the difference in a game ... more often I think. Middlebrooks is twice as likely to hit a HR than Drew. He costs 1/20th of what Drew will cost and Drew like his big bro is fragile. People have a short term memory of last season regarding Drew and Napoli. Most all players have ups and downs throughout a season ... WMB and Bogaerts will as well but the potential is there.

I like the way you think Dupree ... Let me buy you a steak dinner!