jd98

Exactly. He's considered one of Baltimore's top prospects. Why? I don't know. Certainly not based on performance. I think sometimes teams just hype a guy as a top prospect for no reason, so then they can trade him for a good player and the other team thinks they are getting a top prospect.

Craig has been a very good hitter every year all the way back to 2007, until this year in which he has been really bad. It's bizarrre. Just a one year fluke or start of a trend? They either gave away Lackey for nothing, or got a good hitter for him. I don't like the trade in either case, unless the rumors are true that Lackey refused to pitch next season for 500k, which would make him an ******* that I wouldn't want on the team anyway. Kelly is worthless in my opinion. I'll be shocked if he has an ERA under 5 for Boston.

Wow. They're also sending Oakland money. WTF. They just love to piss away money. I need some money, send me some too.

Joe Kelly sucks. He's managed a good ERA sometimes, but his peripherals are terrible, even in the minors. He'll get destroyed in Boston.

Or just high. The Lester deal looks worse and worse as the day goes on. I'll post why I think so later when I'm less annoyed, and more is known about the Lackey trade. Not that anybody cares, but just to vent some.

I assume you meant the top 2 in scoring were the top 2 in OBP by a long way. But they were also the top 2 teams in SLG. Last year the top 9 in SLG were in the top 10 in runs. 10th in SLG was 11th in runs, and StL was 3rd in runs and 12th in SLG. There were 7 top 10 in OBP that were top 10 in scoring. Two just missed (11th, 12th) and one was 17th. The three top 10 scorers not in OBP top 10 were 12, 15, and 19 in OBP. I wouldn't argue with anybody saying OBP is more important than SLG, but I would argue against it being significantly more important, such as the 40%. I just can't see it. It sure doesn't bear out with the team scoring.

I'd disagree with both parts of that statement. OPS is half OBP and half SLG. SLG is almost always higher than OBP, so maybe you could say OPS slightly favors SLG, but 'wildly understates the O' is a huge exaggeration. OBP and SLG are both important. I'd even lean toward SLG being more important, and certainly not OBP 'much more important'. Looking at team stats for this year, the top 10 teams in runs scored are also the top 10 teams in SLG (not in the same order). The top 6 teams in scoring are in the top 10 in OBP, but then it starts to vary wildly. Pittsburgh is 1st in OBP, 11th in runs. I don't know if that proves anything, we'll probably have to agree to disagree.

Edgar Martinez isn't a much better player. I'm assuming you're basing that mostly on WAR. I look at WAR no different than college football computer rankings. It's just somebody's best guess using a formula they made up. They are very similar. Martinez was a better hitter, walked a little more, struck out a little less. Ortiz has more HR and RBI. OPS is about the same, as is everything else. The main thing is Ortiz isn't finished. He's not a hall-of-famer now, but if he has 1 or 2 more good years, then that's the question.

until yesterday

I'd love it if after Ortiz's next homer vs Tampa, he very gently and slowly places the bat down beside home plate.

He's not an OF, and hindsight is 20/20, but how nice would it be to have Jose Abreu thru 2019 for $7-$12 million per year. I think the front office felt obligated to sign Napoli since they cancelled his original contract. Even worse, Napoli making $16 million this year, Abreu and Nelson Cruz combined making $15 million. Could have took the $10 million wasted on Drew, given Cruz an extra million, and Abreu $9 million more overall, still saved money, not had Drew killing the team for 6 weeks, and possibly Xander is still a productive SS instead of one of the worst 3B ever. That's probably the difference in last place and first place. So they're not that far off, just can't miss out on the potential bargains.

Why not? He signed the contract knowing full well that it was a possibility. He got paid over $15 million in 2011 for being the worst starter in the league, then another $15 million in 2012 for not pitching at all. He knows that he owes the Sox next season at 500k.

Absolutely. I just posted on the rebuild thread that they probably could have traded him to the Tigers for 2 top prospects. They should still be able to get 1 top prospect from another team.

That's not at all what I meant. I was saying they probably could have traded Koji for 2 top prospects.

The Tigers gave up 2 of their top 5 pitching prospects for Soria. Was that another missed opportunity from the Sox front office? I don't see any other contenders desperate enough to give 2 top prospects for relief help.

I'm curious as to why an injured hand has made him slower. Seriously, what's up with his stolen bases this year.

and Drew's been much improved lately, but he still should be on the bench vs lefties

why not try to bunt? just get it past the pitcher, it's a single and rbi

save some for tomorrow

Wow. Looks like Drew, JBJ, and Bogaerts may be out of their funk now. Starting pitching has improved with Buchholz not sucking and Rubby replacing Doubrount. If they keep it up for another week, I may have to un-give up on this season.

Why Carp over Napoli today?

I'd say he's at a minimum a solid back of the rotation guy, with the potential to be great. He didn't look particularly sharp yesterday to me, but he kept the ball in the park and runs off the board. It's a good sign to only give up 1 run when you don't have your best stuff.

Lineups are in. Same ol' crap. Doesn't mean they can't win, but still dumb. Vazquez has been excellent (small sample size warning), and in his first start with Buchholz, Clay pitched probably the best game of his career, so yeah, make sure Vazquez is on the bench for .176 hitting Ross who has struck out every at bat vs Shields. Betts wasn't the immediate spark the team hoped for, but he hasn't had much of a chance either, and if he's gonna be an outfielder, then he should probably be playing every day in the OF somewhere. He'll get sent down when Vic is back, so at least he'll be back to playing full time . Yay for baseball, makes me so happy.

I'd expect him to regress, but don't see why he'd turn into a pumpkin. He hit over .300 at every level of the minors (I know the new age thinking doesn't like batting average, but I still think it's important. You can't drive a guy home from 2nd with a walk). He could be a .300 hitter, decent amount of walks, mostly doubles power, some speed, and can adequately play every position. That's not too bad.

Looking at next year, since I'm bored and given up on this year, here's what the team could look like without any trades or signings. DH-Ortiz, C-Vazquez, 1B-Napoli, 2B-Pedroia, SS-Bogaerts, 3B-Middlebrooks/Holt, LF-Nava/Holt, CF-JBJ, RF-Victorino SP-Lackey, Buchholz, Workman, DeLaRosa, Doubront? RP-Mujica, Tazawa, ??, ??, ??, ?? The offense is not much different than this year, which could be bad since this year has sucked, but it wasn't supposed to suck since it's not much different than 2013, so who knows. Pitching needs to replace Lester (maybe with Lester), and much of the bullpen including closer. The good news is that the above team is about $67 million less than the current team (Nava, Doubront, Tazawa, Herrera, and Carp are arbitration eligible, so I added about $5 million to keep the first 3). Plenty of money to sign a top pitcher, fill out the bullpen, and still add a big bat. Also, over $55 million possibly coming off the books after next year (even keeping Ortiz for $10 million), in Napoli, Victorino, Buchholz (team option), Mujica, and Adrian Gonzalez. But also lose 500k Lackey. We'll definitely see how good the front office is these next 2 years. Tons of flexibility. One problem is the team seems to be totally against Bogaerts at SS, so then they'll have to acquire (and overpay) a SS. I wouldn't be at all surprised now if they resign Drew. Edit: I guess they could play Holt full time at SS, but then would lose his versatility.