Where I try to talk you off the ledge and into Gregg Zaun…
The Red Sox are still going to be in good position to challenge for the AL East title and/or the wild card. It’s just going to be a rougher road. Seriously, they’re not going to go from one of the top teams in baseball to battling in the basement with the Blue Jays because they missed out on one free agent. And a free agent that plays the same position as a guy that is coming off an MVP caliber year.
While it might not seem like the Sox are doing much this offseason because they didn’t get Mark “I let my wife pick the team I’m going to play for” Teixeira (your move Kris Benson) they have focused on addressing their needs. Teixeira was a want for the Sox, they still need a catcher but they also needed another bullpen arm, a 4-5 starter and a fourth outfielder.
The Sox got the bullpen arm they need in the Coco Crisp trade picking up 26 year old righty Ramon Ramirez. Ramirez went 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA, 70 Ks and 31 BBs in 71 2/3 innings, for the Royals, so those are pretty solid numbers especially when you consider the run support he got in KC.
The Sox also added Brad Penny, who I talked about in my last post, to be their second attempt at the Bartolo Colon experiment. Personally I think Penny for 5 million is a great deal for a guy like Penny, who should be able to bounce back well enough to fit the role the Sox have him pegged for. Honestly did you really want them to shell out big bucks for D-Lowe to come back and be the 4th starter? It’s pretty clear that Beckett, Lester and Dice-K are your 1-3, so it makes more sense for the Sox to save some money and go with Penny then try to resign Tek for two years and make a play for a guy like Taylor Teagarden.
They also got a break glass in case of emergency catcher in Josh Bard. I highly doubt he’s going to be a starter, like I said before he’s the 2009 version of Kevin Cash. I just hope he learns how to catch the knuckleball. I’m not sure another police escort Doug Mirabelli entrance will do.
Clearly the team’s most glaring need is a catcher. Ideally you’d love to see them resign Tek so they can have him groom his eventual replacement and his ideal replacement would be someone like Teagarden, unless they really think they can make a push for Joe Mauer when he becomes a free agent.
Another option the Red Sox have been reportedly exploring is bringing in Gregg Zaun. Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Gregg Zaun is as good a signing as CC, Burnett, Teixeira or even Pat Burrell but he is certainly a capable starter.
Zaun’s old but he’s played in the AL East for the last five seasons and his numbers really aren’t all that dissimilar from Varitek’s.
Zaun 2004-2008 w/ Toronto
Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OBP SLG
2004 107 338 46 91 24 0 6 36 .269 .367 .393
2005 133 434 61 109 18 1 11 61 .251 .355 .373
2006 99 290 39 79 19 0 12 40 .272 .363 .462
2007 110 331 43 80 24 1 10 52 .242 .341 .411
2008 86 245 29 58 12 0 6 30 .237 .340 .359
Varitek 2004-2008 w/ Sox
Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OBP SLG
2004 137 463 67 137 30 1 18 73 .296 .390 .482
2005 133 470 70 132 30 1 22 70 .281 .366 .489
2006 103 365 46 87 19 2 12 55 .238 .325 .400
2007 131 435 57 111 15 3 17 68 .255 .367 .421
2008 131 423 37 93 20 0 13 43 .220 .313 .359
Tek’s numbers are better, but not by as much as you would think, especially over the last two seasons. Now to be fair to Tek, who again I hope will be back, he played in way more games and had way more at bats than Zaun did. Realistically Zaun would be the perfect fit for the spot that Josh Bard is set to occupy but offensively you’d probably see similar results from Zaun and/or Varitek.
Once again though Tek’s value is more important behind the plate. The pitchers love throwing to him and it can only help the staff to have him behind the plate again. If Manny Ramirez isn’t generating much interest from teams I really can’t imagine anyone is offering all of King Midas’ silver for Varitek.
I really hope they resign Tek because I’m not sure if I can keep talking myself into Gregg Zaun.
(stats courtesy of baseball-reference.com)
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Friday, May 4, 2007
A Day at Fenway
Sox game last night was awesome, granted Dice-k didn’t pitch all that well and Papelbon sat out a save opportunity the game was still one of the best I’ve ever attended. So good in fact that I’d say it was the second best, just behind the only Pedro game I saw in person. That was a walk off win courtesy of an Orlando Cabrera double that hit the top of the scoreboard and allowed Johnny Damon to score from first in the bottom of the ninth.
That game notwithstanding last night was pretty incredible. Both Manny homers where the kind that you could feel coming. That’s my favorite part about Manny and Big Papi, sometimes you can just tell they are going to do something amazing. I’ve seen plenty of Manny blasts on TV but watching him just flip the bat and stroll to first live was awesome. He knew it was gone and so did everyone else.
It was really something to behold, I know that sounds a little bit too biblical for a sporting event but that’s why I love sports so much because you never know when you’ll see something incredible. It was almost as if he was feeding off the crowd too, after a long at bat and hearing 36,000 people chant “let’s go Manny” he just decided he was going to give us what we wanted, a bomb over the bullpens.
After seeing Manny send a souvenir into the stands I was thinking we’d get to see Papelbon in the ninth but Tito stuck with Brendan Donnelly (who is the odds on favorite to be my buddy Jon’s favorite player by mid May – his other fav’s include Brian Daubach and Mike Lowell) until he walked the first batter then to my surprise went with JC Romero. Now Romero has been lights out on the old xbox 360 and he’s been solid for the Sox but I was surprised to not see Paps. Anyhow he got a big double play ball then got Richie Sexton to hit a chopper to Lowell to end the game.
Ok that’s enough recapping you get NESN, the Globe and have internet access you know what happened. Here’s my take on all the things you can’t get from the broadcast.
First and foremost, since it’s the name of this blog, the red seat. Holy shit! 502 feet is so far. I’ve seen it before but I forgot how much of an absolute bomb Ted Williams’s homer must have been. I took some pictures and I’ll put them up once I get them off of my camera so you can see how far it is.
I’ve been into the city three times in the past week, Wolfmother and Paramore concerts (which were awesome) and last nights game. Twice I took the T, which I happen to really enjoy. I’m not really sure why I enjoy it after all most of the stops smell like piss and 45 year old axel grease but I guess its just part of the city experience since I live 25 minutes outside of it. There is something cool about riding in and listening to everyone talking about 400 different things, seeing little kids with there gloves and Sox hats and the sound, look and feel of the trains or street cars, depending on which line you are riding.
With that said I have a small issue with the old MBTA. What’s with the Charlie cards? I ask this question for two reasons. One – I like the tokens they added to the rustic, vintage feel of the subway and you didn’t have to figure how to buy them from a BALCO ATM. I’ll get over the coins though; it’s not really that big of a deal. My main issue or the main issue is the fact that the fare system is now on Charlie cards. I don’t know how common knowledge the origin of Charlie is, not that I’m some great genius or something I just wonder if people know the connection between Charlie and the MBTA.
Well if you don’t I’ll enlighten you. The Charlie card comes from an old song, 1948 to be exact (and it was redone in 1959 by the Kingston Trio), called ‘Charlie on the MTA’ or ‘the MTA song’ (Thanks Wikipedia!). Anyhow the song is the tale of a guy named Charlie who got on the subway in Boston and couldn’t get off because he didn’t have enough money to pay the exit fare. It cost a nickel to get on and a nickel to get off back then.
The song goes on to talk about Charlie’s wife who passed him a sandwich everyday. Now this is where my problem is. Why the hell didn’t she just give him a nickel? Seriously according to the song the guy never got off the train so in the entire lifespan of this guys wife she couldn’t figure out that she should just toss him a nickel. That’s almost as dumb as Brian Adams saying he bought his guitar at a “five and dime” no you didn’t broseph you are from Canada, they don’t have dimes.
I mean it’s certainly not that big of an issue and in actuality it’s kind of cool that we have something like that in Boston that has that cool kind of history to it (one of the reasons Fenway should never go). But come on, she couldn’t toss him a nickel? No one on the train could help him out? I guess we really are massholes.
As most people can probably tell I’m a bit of a history buff especially when it comes to baseball. I was a history minor in college (a.k.a. last year) and I’ve always been fascinated with baseball history, mostly due to my relationship with my grandfather. One of the reasons I love Fenway and why David Halberstam’s passing actually hit home for me, when most of my friends just disregarded the news when we heard it on the radio. Not that they are bad people they just had no interest in him where as I did. ‘Summer of ‘49’ and ‘the Teammates’ are two incredible books and ‘the Teammates’ is one of my all time favorite books.
I was turned onto ‘the Teammates’ by a friend of mine, a Yankees fan actually, who after reading five pages told me I’d love it and wouldn’t be able to put it down. He was right. I read it twice in the span of a few weeks. It’s just an amazing chronicle of four of the Red Sox greatest players, playing during a time period that I’ve always been fascinated with. Every Red Sox fan proudly spouts the fact that Ted Williams is the greatest hitter who ever lived but to get a glimpse of his life before, during and after baseball and to have Halberstam doing the story telling is something else. Being at the game last night really got me thinking about this because Fenway is full of little nostalgic bits and pieces.
I already talked about the red seat but there is also Pesky’s pole, Fisk’s pole, the row of retired numbers, the bullpens, Yawkey Way and Landsdowne Street. Yes even the seedy underbelly of the stadium. It’s an incredible experience to take in a game at Fenway and I hope it’s something every sports fan has the chance to do. I mean I had standing room only “seats” and that didn’t faze me at all. 36,000 people singing along to “Sweet Caroline” even after the song was cut by the stadium PA to allow for a batter, it’s an awesome atmosphere. Hmmm…Sweet Caroline, Dirty Water…when can we add Shipping Up to Boston to that list?
On thing that I do have a problem with at Sox games and just in life in general. Why oh why are we making and selling home white Red Sox jerseys with names on the back. I’m glad you’re a fan and you want a Big Papi jersey and those are cheaper, amen to cheaper, but they don’t ever have names on the back of their home white jerseys. Why even bother making them?
Ok that’s enough semi-coherent rambling for today. I’ll just leave you with a few more thoughts before I sign off.
If you like baseball and have any interest in its history go get ‘the Teammates’ it’s an incredible book by an incredible author. If you aren’t down for that then I recommend ‘the Education of a Coach’ about Bill Belechick another one of Halberstam’s great sports books. One of the things that make his sports books so cool is that he was world renowned for his reporting on major issues and sports books were like his vacation. They were a pleasure for him to write and they are a pleasure to read.
I can’t wait for the De La Hoya – Mayweather fight. I will definitely have something about that after Saturday. It’s a real life Rocky 3…Floyd Mayweather Jr. = Clubber Lang the similarities are crazy. Also I think we need Eric Cartman to run around the streets yelling race war before the fight.
Mayweather has met some serious adversity but because he’s studied the Clubber Lang manifesto he’s getting hated on bad core for being a “thug”. I don’t follow boxing closely enough to pass judgment but I hate seeing race as such an issue. I’m not Martin Luther King Jr. or anything I just wish race didn’t have to be at the heart of everything. I wish we could accept that we have cultural differences but work to get rid of all the crazy race issues we’ve had lately.
I’m no expert on black culture that’s for sure but if you want to read further on some of this stuff I recommend Scoop Jackson , LZ Granderson , and Jemele Hill (yeah even if she said Kobe was better than Jordan)
Big thanks go to Adam 12, the finest radio DJ in all of Boston, for giving me the idea to write about changing Papelbon’s entrance music and for giving me a shout out on the air about it. It not only killed a couple of hours at work but also got me fired up to write more and more on this blog.
Post Script – Adam 12 is on weekdays from 9-3 (love that extra hour by the way) on the rock of Boston 104.1 WBCN. Check him out on bcn and at www.djadam12.com
That game notwithstanding last night was pretty incredible. Both Manny homers where the kind that you could feel coming. That’s my favorite part about Manny and Big Papi, sometimes you can just tell they are going to do something amazing. I’ve seen plenty of Manny blasts on TV but watching him just flip the bat and stroll to first live was awesome. He knew it was gone and so did everyone else.
It was really something to behold, I know that sounds a little bit too biblical for a sporting event but that’s why I love sports so much because you never know when you’ll see something incredible. It was almost as if he was feeding off the crowd too, after a long at bat and hearing 36,000 people chant “let’s go Manny” he just decided he was going to give us what we wanted, a bomb over the bullpens.
After seeing Manny send a souvenir into the stands I was thinking we’d get to see Papelbon in the ninth but Tito stuck with Brendan Donnelly (who is the odds on favorite to be my buddy Jon’s favorite player by mid May – his other fav’s include Brian Daubach and Mike Lowell) until he walked the first batter then to my surprise went with JC Romero. Now Romero has been lights out on the old xbox 360 and he’s been solid for the Sox but I was surprised to not see Paps. Anyhow he got a big double play ball then got Richie Sexton to hit a chopper to Lowell to end the game.
Ok that’s enough recapping you get NESN, the Globe and have internet access you know what happened. Here’s my take on all the things you can’t get from the broadcast.
First and foremost, since it’s the name of this blog, the red seat. Holy shit! 502 feet is so far. I’ve seen it before but I forgot how much of an absolute bomb Ted Williams’s homer must have been. I took some pictures and I’ll put them up once I get them off of my camera so you can see how far it is.
I’ve been into the city three times in the past week, Wolfmother and Paramore concerts (which were awesome) and last nights game. Twice I took the T, which I happen to really enjoy. I’m not really sure why I enjoy it after all most of the stops smell like piss and 45 year old axel grease but I guess its just part of the city experience since I live 25 minutes outside of it. There is something cool about riding in and listening to everyone talking about 400 different things, seeing little kids with there gloves and Sox hats and the sound, look and feel of the trains or street cars, depending on which line you are riding.
With that said I have a small issue with the old MBTA. What’s with the Charlie cards? I ask this question for two reasons. One – I like the tokens they added to the rustic, vintage feel of the subway and you didn’t have to figure how to buy them from a BALCO ATM. I’ll get over the coins though; it’s not really that big of a deal. My main issue or the main issue is the fact that the fare system is now on Charlie cards. I don’t know how common knowledge the origin of Charlie is, not that I’m some great genius or something I just wonder if people know the connection between Charlie and the MBTA.
Well if you don’t I’ll enlighten you. The Charlie card comes from an old song, 1948 to be exact (and it was redone in 1959 by the Kingston Trio), called ‘Charlie on the MTA’ or ‘the MTA song’ (Thanks Wikipedia!). Anyhow the song is the tale of a guy named Charlie who got on the subway in Boston and couldn’t get off because he didn’t have enough money to pay the exit fare. It cost a nickel to get on and a nickel to get off back then.
The song goes on to talk about Charlie’s wife who passed him a sandwich everyday. Now this is where my problem is. Why the hell didn’t she just give him a nickel? Seriously according to the song the guy never got off the train so in the entire lifespan of this guys wife she couldn’t figure out that she should just toss him a nickel. That’s almost as dumb as Brian Adams saying he bought his guitar at a “five and dime” no you didn’t broseph you are from Canada, they don’t have dimes.
I mean it’s certainly not that big of an issue and in actuality it’s kind of cool that we have something like that in Boston that has that cool kind of history to it (one of the reasons Fenway should never go). But come on, she couldn’t toss him a nickel? No one on the train could help him out? I guess we really are massholes.
As most people can probably tell I’m a bit of a history buff especially when it comes to baseball. I was a history minor in college (a.k.a. last year) and I’ve always been fascinated with baseball history, mostly due to my relationship with my grandfather. One of the reasons I love Fenway and why David Halberstam’s passing actually hit home for me, when most of my friends just disregarded the news when we heard it on the radio. Not that they are bad people they just had no interest in him where as I did. ‘Summer of ‘49’ and ‘the Teammates’ are two incredible books and ‘the Teammates’ is one of my all time favorite books.
I was turned onto ‘the Teammates’ by a friend of mine, a Yankees fan actually, who after reading five pages told me I’d love it and wouldn’t be able to put it down. He was right. I read it twice in the span of a few weeks. It’s just an amazing chronicle of four of the Red Sox greatest players, playing during a time period that I’ve always been fascinated with. Every Red Sox fan proudly spouts the fact that Ted Williams is the greatest hitter who ever lived but to get a glimpse of his life before, during and after baseball and to have Halberstam doing the story telling is something else. Being at the game last night really got me thinking about this because Fenway is full of little nostalgic bits and pieces.
I already talked about the red seat but there is also Pesky’s pole, Fisk’s pole, the row of retired numbers, the bullpens, Yawkey Way and Landsdowne Street. Yes even the seedy underbelly of the stadium. It’s an incredible experience to take in a game at Fenway and I hope it’s something every sports fan has the chance to do. I mean I had standing room only “seats” and that didn’t faze me at all. 36,000 people singing along to “Sweet Caroline” even after the song was cut by the stadium PA to allow for a batter, it’s an awesome atmosphere. Hmmm…Sweet Caroline, Dirty Water…when can we add Shipping Up to Boston to that list?
On thing that I do have a problem with at Sox games and just in life in general. Why oh why are we making and selling home white Red Sox jerseys with names on the back. I’m glad you’re a fan and you want a Big Papi jersey and those are cheaper, amen to cheaper, but they don’t ever have names on the back of their home white jerseys. Why even bother making them?
Ok that’s enough semi-coherent rambling for today. I’ll just leave you with a few more thoughts before I sign off.
If you like baseball and have any interest in its history go get ‘the Teammates’ it’s an incredible book by an incredible author. If you aren’t down for that then I recommend ‘the Education of a Coach’ about Bill Belechick another one of Halberstam’s great sports books. One of the things that make his sports books so cool is that he was world renowned for his reporting on major issues and sports books were like his vacation. They were a pleasure for him to write and they are a pleasure to read.
I can’t wait for the De La Hoya – Mayweather fight. I will definitely have something about that after Saturday. It’s a real life Rocky 3…Floyd Mayweather Jr. = Clubber Lang the similarities are crazy. Also I think we need Eric Cartman to run around the streets yelling race war before the fight.
Mayweather has met some serious adversity but because he’s studied the Clubber Lang manifesto he’s getting hated on bad core for being a “thug”. I don’t follow boxing closely enough to pass judgment but I hate seeing race as such an issue. I’m not Martin Luther King Jr. or anything I just wish race didn’t have to be at the heart of everything. I wish we could accept that we have cultural differences but work to get rid of all the crazy race issues we’ve had lately.
I’m no expert on black culture that’s for sure but if you want to read further on some of this stuff I recommend Scoop Jackson , LZ Granderson , and Jemele Hill (yeah even if she said Kobe was better than Jordan)
Big thanks go to Adam 12, the finest radio DJ in all of Boston, for giving me the idea to write about changing Papelbon’s entrance music and for giving me a shout out on the air about it. It not only killed a couple of hours at work but also got me fired up to write more and more on this blog.
Post Script – Adam 12 is on weekdays from 9-3 (love that extra hour by the way) on the rock of Boston 104.1 WBCN. Check him out on bcn and at www.djadam12.com
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Countdown: Six
Six days, six days until the Red Sox open the 2007 season. To tell you the God’s honest truth I really wasn’t that excited for this year’s edition of my absolute favorite team. I felt a little lost really. I think it was all the off season spending, obviously I wanted the Red Sox to get the best players, I didn’t have a problem with the Red Sox paying Dice-K and Julio Lugo but the terrible wrap that JD Drew has gotten of the years made me stop and think a bit.
I felt like going with Drew, a Boras client, was the final straw in the dismantling of the 2004 Red Sox. Getting ready for this season felt weird, it was like going through the motions. I still filled my day with plenty of SoSH, Dirtdogs, Bill Simmons and I found some great new info thanks to Schilling’s blog and Bradford on Baseball. I listened to WEEI everyday and watched spring training highlights. It just didn’t feel the same as it has in the past.
Maybe at first it had to do with the fact that I’m almost a year removed from college and that I won’t be skipping class to watch the 10:05 Patriots Day game or anything like that. That couldn’t have been it, the people I work with still talk Sox everyday, I’m back home and all my old friends are Sox fans and we still talk about them and on top of it all I’m not in New Hampshire anymore. Being back home means I’m 20 minutes from Boston again. What was it that made me feel so lackadaisical and halfhearted about a team and sport that I’ve loved watching for years?
Like I said before I’m convinced it had to do with all the money they spent in the off-season. But like any fan I always want my team to have the best players and that often costs the most money. Prior to spring training I sent an email to good old Joe Reynolds discussing how I didn’t feel great about the 2007 Red Sox, I said I was almost more excited to wait a year and see Jacoby Ellsbury and a fully recovered Jon Lester. I’ll admit I’m really excited for Ellsbury, I have nothing against Coco, I just really like seeing homegrown/Sox drafted players make it. That’s one of the reasons why I love Youk so much, more on him later, and why I am really pulling for Pedrioa this season.
Of course as the season started to get closer I stopped caring about big money signings and what not and I began looking forward to the season. That all culminated with me realizing that I love the Sox and the fact that they spent a bunch on money and seem to be heading down that Yankee outspend everyone road is not going to change that fact.
For some reason Red Sox fans like the think that Boston is this grass roots organization and that the 2004 Red Sox were this lowly, ho-hum team that defied all the odds to win the World Series. They did defy all odds, since they came back from 3-0 in the ALCS but still let’s not act like they had a 75-million dollar payroll. Granted they hit the lottery with Ortiz and guys like Millar, Mueller and Bellhorn pulled more than just their weight but that team certainly didn’t come cheap.
According to USA Today (circa 2004) the Red Sox had the second highest payroll in Major League Baseball at 127,298,500 dollars second only the Yankees, who had and 184,193,950 dollar payroll. I like to include the whole figure so we can all realize how much money that is. Seeing those numbers also makes you appreciate guys like Youk and Papelbon who are being paid about 45,000 above the league minimum.
When you think about that and the fact that the Sox payroll is around 160 million this year there is really no point in trying to pretend that the Red Sox are totally unlike the Yankees in the financial department. Besides if we as fans want the organization to field a competitive team, wait forget competitive we want them to field a championship contender year in and year out that is going to take money. The Red Sox are also one of the most marketable brands in the world, thus making them one of the most profitable teams. Why not spend that money on improving the team by getting better players.
Spending money is the reason the Red Sox were able to get Schilling (that had a lot to do with Francona too according to Schill) and Manny. I might not have been high on JD Drew a month or two ago but I’m certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, if he stays healthy and plays up to potential he’s not only an upgrade from Trot Nixon but who cares if he cost 70-million, it’s not my money.
Now that I think about it I can’t believe I was in such a malaise about the 2007 team and that really hit me on Sunday afternoon at about three o’clock. Let me explain. The NCAA tournament was going on, the Elite Eight Oregon-Florida game to be exact, myself and two friends stopped by the 466 to grab a beer and watch some of the game while we waited for the pizzas we ordered. As we sat at the bar watching Oregon-Florida I couldn’t pull my gaze from the Red Sox Spring Training game against the Marlins. I glanced over and saw one Josh Beckett fastball and that was it. Both of the guys I was with are big Red Sox fans but they were into the Florida game (one of my buddies mothers is a Florida grad) I don’t know what it was but I was memorized by the Sox game.
I’ve watched a couple of innings of ST baseball but for some reason Sunday I was drawn in for the first time this year. Maybe it was the fact that it was baseball in HD, which I don’t have at home, or maybe it was just the colors of the green grass and the why the players moved, seeing that it was real or something. It was probably less poetic then that, but either way seeing the dirt jump off of Varitek’s glove after each fastball woke me up.
Six days, six days and I can’t wait. I’m excited about the 2007 Red Sox, I think they have the potential to have a monster year. Schilling seems like he will be good for 15-18 wins, Beckett is ready to be the Josh Beckett we expected him to be, Dice-K is going to be special, Papelbon is back in the closer role. As far as pitching goes the Red Sox have all the components of a championship squad and their lineup is looking top self as well.
Let’s take a look at the lineup. Lugo is an offensive upgrade from Gonzo, he’s going to get on base and he can run and he’s got Ortiz, Manny and JD Drew hitting behind him. I left Youkilis out of that sentence for a reason, he needs his own. Youk has been a full-time major leaguer for just over two years and is going to have a monster year hitting in the two-hole. Mark Loretta hit well there last year and he’s not the on-base guy that Youk is. Youkilis, batting second is going to work wonders for the Sox, he is an on-base, ‘moneyball’ guy and batting in front of the most feared three-four combo in the league is going to give him an opportunity to see some great pitches because opposing teams aren’t going to want to give up a walk and put two runners on (potentially) with Papi and Manny coming up. It’s my firm belief that Kevin Youkilis is going to the 2007 American League Batting Champion. In fact I’m going to call it right now.
Big Papi and Manny Ramirez need no introduction they are going to be a great duo once again. With the numbers they put up it seems like either one could win the MVP in any given year. Thank you Minnesota, to think in 2003 Ortiz was fighting for time in Boston with Jeremy Giambi.
Drew should be a huge addition to the line up. He’s really only had two healthy seasons, so if he can stay healthy he’s going to be fun to watch. Mike Lowell turned out to be a great throw-in as part of the Beckett deal, even if he costs 9-million, you can’t beat his defense and he hit 20 homers last year and was a doubles machine. If Lowell can just keep pulling his weight and hit .275 with 15 homers he’s a great six or seven hitter.
Tek remains a question. Schilling claims he was hurt all last year and that this year he is healthy and ready for another Tek like year. He’s struggled in ST but if he can stay in the lineup and hit at all he will be ok. He’s invaluable to the pitching staff and even if he struggles at the plate and you have to hit him eighth he’s going to help more then hurt.
Coco is a guy that needs to step it up. He got off to a good start but got hurt so I’ve refrained from judging him. I’m really hoping he turns it around and plays at least the way he did in Cleveland, he’s an exciting player and a guy that goes out and has fun everyday and when those guys are playing well they are the most fun to watch. As for Pedroia, anything you get from him is a bonus. As long as he plays solid defense and hits better then he did at the end of last year he will be fine. Boston isn’t a great place to be thrown into the lineup, I love the way they brought Youk along with Billy Mueller, giving him time to get ready. It will be tough for Pedroia but with the lineup the Red Sox have he isn’t going to be looked to for any kind of unrealistic offensive production. Hey, who ever heard of Mark Bellhorn in 2004 and look what he did.
Six days, six days and it’s almost here.
I felt like going with Drew, a Boras client, was the final straw in the dismantling of the 2004 Red Sox. Getting ready for this season felt weird, it was like going through the motions. I still filled my day with plenty of SoSH, Dirtdogs, Bill Simmons and I found some great new info thanks to Schilling’s blog and Bradford on Baseball. I listened to WEEI everyday and watched spring training highlights. It just didn’t feel the same as it has in the past.
Maybe at first it had to do with the fact that I’m almost a year removed from college and that I won’t be skipping class to watch the 10:05 Patriots Day game or anything like that. That couldn’t have been it, the people I work with still talk Sox everyday, I’m back home and all my old friends are Sox fans and we still talk about them and on top of it all I’m not in New Hampshire anymore. Being back home means I’m 20 minutes from Boston again. What was it that made me feel so lackadaisical and halfhearted about a team and sport that I’ve loved watching for years?
Like I said before I’m convinced it had to do with all the money they spent in the off-season. But like any fan I always want my team to have the best players and that often costs the most money. Prior to spring training I sent an email to good old Joe Reynolds discussing how I didn’t feel great about the 2007 Red Sox, I said I was almost more excited to wait a year and see Jacoby Ellsbury and a fully recovered Jon Lester. I’ll admit I’m really excited for Ellsbury, I have nothing against Coco, I just really like seeing homegrown/Sox drafted players make it. That’s one of the reasons why I love Youk so much, more on him later, and why I am really pulling for Pedrioa this season.
Of course as the season started to get closer I stopped caring about big money signings and what not and I began looking forward to the season. That all culminated with me realizing that I love the Sox and the fact that they spent a bunch on money and seem to be heading down that Yankee outspend everyone road is not going to change that fact.
For some reason Red Sox fans like the think that Boston is this grass roots organization and that the 2004 Red Sox were this lowly, ho-hum team that defied all the odds to win the World Series. They did defy all odds, since they came back from 3-0 in the ALCS but still let’s not act like they had a 75-million dollar payroll. Granted they hit the lottery with Ortiz and guys like Millar, Mueller and Bellhorn pulled more than just their weight but that team certainly didn’t come cheap.
According to USA Today (circa 2004) the Red Sox had the second highest payroll in Major League Baseball at 127,298,500 dollars second only the Yankees, who had and 184,193,950 dollar payroll. I like to include the whole figure so we can all realize how much money that is. Seeing those numbers also makes you appreciate guys like Youk and Papelbon who are being paid about 45,000 above the league minimum.
When you think about that and the fact that the Sox payroll is around 160 million this year there is really no point in trying to pretend that the Red Sox are totally unlike the Yankees in the financial department. Besides if we as fans want the organization to field a competitive team, wait forget competitive we want them to field a championship contender year in and year out that is going to take money. The Red Sox are also one of the most marketable brands in the world, thus making them one of the most profitable teams. Why not spend that money on improving the team by getting better players.
Spending money is the reason the Red Sox were able to get Schilling (that had a lot to do with Francona too according to Schill) and Manny. I might not have been high on JD Drew a month or two ago but I’m certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, if he stays healthy and plays up to potential he’s not only an upgrade from Trot Nixon but who cares if he cost 70-million, it’s not my money.
Now that I think about it I can’t believe I was in such a malaise about the 2007 team and that really hit me on Sunday afternoon at about three o’clock. Let me explain. The NCAA tournament was going on, the Elite Eight Oregon-Florida game to be exact, myself and two friends stopped by the 466 to grab a beer and watch some of the game while we waited for the pizzas we ordered. As we sat at the bar watching Oregon-Florida I couldn’t pull my gaze from the Red Sox Spring Training game against the Marlins. I glanced over and saw one Josh Beckett fastball and that was it. Both of the guys I was with are big Red Sox fans but they were into the Florida game (one of my buddies mothers is a Florida grad) I don’t know what it was but I was memorized by the Sox game.
I’ve watched a couple of innings of ST baseball but for some reason Sunday I was drawn in for the first time this year. Maybe it was the fact that it was baseball in HD, which I don’t have at home, or maybe it was just the colors of the green grass and the why the players moved, seeing that it was real or something. It was probably less poetic then that, but either way seeing the dirt jump off of Varitek’s glove after each fastball woke me up.
Six days, six days and I can’t wait. I’m excited about the 2007 Red Sox, I think they have the potential to have a monster year. Schilling seems like he will be good for 15-18 wins, Beckett is ready to be the Josh Beckett we expected him to be, Dice-K is going to be special, Papelbon is back in the closer role. As far as pitching goes the Red Sox have all the components of a championship squad and their lineup is looking top self as well.
Let’s take a look at the lineup. Lugo is an offensive upgrade from Gonzo, he’s going to get on base and he can run and he’s got Ortiz, Manny and JD Drew hitting behind him. I left Youkilis out of that sentence for a reason, he needs his own. Youk has been a full-time major leaguer for just over two years and is going to have a monster year hitting in the two-hole. Mark Loretta hit well there last year and he’s not the on-base guy that Youk is. Youkilis, batting second is going to work wonders for the Sox, he is an on-base, ‘moneyball’ guy and batting in front of the most feared three-four combo in the league is going to give him an opportunity to see some great pitches because opposing teams aren’t going to want to give up a walk and put two runners on (potentially) with Papi and Manny coming up. It’s my firm belief that Kevin Youkilis is going to the 2007 American League Batting Champion. In fact I’m going to call it right now.
Big Papi and Manny Ramirez need no introduction they are going to be a great duo once again. With the numbers they put up it seems like either one could win the MVP in any given year. Thank you Minnesota, to think in 2003 Ortiz was fighting for time in Boston with Jeremy Giambi.
Drew should be a huge addition to the line up. He’s really only had two healthy seasons, so if he can stay healthy he’s going to be fun to watch. Mike Lowell turned out to be a great throw-in as part of the Beckett deal, even if he costs 9-million, you can’t beat his defense and he hit 20 homers last year and was a doubles machine. If Lowell can just keep pulling his weight and hit .275 with 15 homers he’s a great six or seven hitter.
Tek remains a question. Schilling claims he was hurt all last year and that this year he is healthy and ready for another Tek like year. He’s struggled in ST but if he can stay in the lineup and hit at all he will be ok. He’s invaluable to the pitching staff and even if he struggles at the plate and you have to hit him eighth he’s going to help more then hurt.
Coco is a guy that needs to step it up. He got off to a good start but got hurt so I’ve refrained from judging him. I’m really hoping he turns it around and plays at least the way he did in Cleveland, he’s an exciting player and a guy that goes out and has fun everyday and when those guys are playing well they are the most fun to watch. As for Pedroia, anything you get from him is a bonus. As long as he plays solid defense and hits better then he did at the end of last year he will be fine. Boston isn’t a great place to be thrown into the lineup, I love the way they brought Youk along with Billy Mueller, giving him time to get ready. It will be tough for Pedroia but with the lineup the Red Sox have he isn’t going to be looked to for any kind of unrealistic offensive production. Hey, who ever heard of Mark Bellhorn in 2004 and look what he did.
Six days, six days and it’s almost here.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Things to think about while Don Orsillo is resting his voice
Fastjoey9: I don’t want to watch sports until the baseball season starts.
That sentence pretty much sums up my feelings right now. The Pats-Colts game has been digested, throw up, re-eaten and thrown up again. I’m done talking about it, I’m done thinking about it. It sucked…a lot but now it’s done.
Let’s just say thanks to Fox for prison break and 24 (and I don’t thank Fox very often) since without those two shows I would have watched the Celtics lose the Spurs for the 18th straight time (they haven’t beaten San Antonio in 10 years). I can’t wait to see Kevin Durant in a C’s uniform next year.
“I don’t want to watch sports until the baseball season starts” that quote keeps circling in my head. Especially since it came from one of the biggest Boston sports fans I’ve ever known. I don’t blame him for saying it, I know a lot of people that feel the same way. It felt just as crappy when the Red Sox have lost as it did the other night, but I think it was a little different because it felt unexpected, after all it was Tom and Bill.
I haven’t turned on ESPN since Sunday. I haven’t even picked up the sports page of the globe, but I did flip on NESN briefly to catch some Celtics highlights (I shut it off before the Patriots Year in Review) and I saw a commercial that reminded me of Joey’s quote.
Don Orsillo sat at a desk with a cup of tea steeping by his side. He picked up a stack of note cards and held them up to the camera.
They read.
RESTING MY VOICE
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
TO MANY WALK OFF WINS
Then I saw a montage of Big Papi swings and home plate celebrations, and smiled. It’s almost time for the Red Sox again. The Sox have made a lot of moves this off season but they still have some lingering questions, some that will be answered in the next month leading to Spring Training and others that will take more time to be worked out.
What’s the deal with JD Drew?
It’s been 48 days and counting since the Red Sox and Drew agreed, in principal, to a five year, 70-million dollar contract. At first I was down on this move big time, Drew just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who fits with the Red Sox. He seems like a me first guy that doesn’t play up to his potential and is oft injured.
In thinking about all of that I wonder how much of my opinion has been formed by the bad rap that he has gotten over time, especially since his whole ordeal in Philadelphia
Side note: He sat out the 1997 season after he and agent Scott Boras guaranteed he wouldn’t sign for less than 10 million.
I’m willing to give Drew a chance. However I hope that the Sox are smart about the contract language, which is the supposed reason why it’s taking so long to sign him. If he goes down with an injury the Sox should make sure that they are protected from paying him for not playing. Trot is gone and Wily Mo’s not quite ready yet, but I’m ready to give JD Drew a chance.
What about Dice-K
What will Dice-K bring to the table in 2007, I have no idea. I will probably stay safe and say he’ll go something like 16-9 or 17-10 with an ERA around 3.00. Assuming he’s the number three starter and Beckett and Schilling pitch well then Matsuzaka is a solid third starter. He’s also only 26 and never pitched in the majors, so you can’t expect him to go 23-4 with a 1.78 ERA in his rookie year.
I think he’ll be good and I think he will come out of the gate strong. He’ll struggle with some things but overall I think he’s going to have a good rookie year. The unfortunate thing is that Boston is a fishbowl. If Schilling and Beckett don’t pitch like they are expected to and Dice-K struggles then the fans will be unforgiving. If those three pitch well we’ve got a great top three, probably not better than 2004 (as far as the playoffs go) but certainly a top tier three man rotation.
If Matsuzaka pans out and pitches like people think he can then the Red Sox will be looking good in the pitching department for the future, granted you can NEVER have enough pitching, but Beckett, Dice-K, Papelbon and Lester are all young (under 28) and could make up one of the top rotations in the league.
Who’s the Closer?
While we don’t know who the Red Sox closer is going to be in 2007, I’d love to see Papelbon but I doubt they’ll risk him getting hurt again, there is one thing that is for certain. Closer by committee doesn’t work. The Sox have added a number of bullpen arms but no designated closer. I have confidence Theo will figure things out before spring training starts but if he doesn’t add another arm, who will emerge as the closer?
Right now the front runners are Joel Pineiro and Brendan Donnelley. Doesn’t inspire much confidence but Craig Hansen hasn’t proven he’s ready yet, Mike Timlin is more suited to the set up role and Julian Tavarez wasn’t very good until the games didn’t matter. Right now I’d say Donnelley, with Pineiro being more of a long or middle reliever.
How about some love for the offense?
Obviously a large portion of the offense falls on the shoulders of Manny and Big Papi, those two can definitely give the Sox a chance to win any game on any given day. To make another run at the World Series they will have to get some help from other guys. Guys like Youkilis and Lowell have showed what they can do.
Wily Mo Pena will hopefully give the lineup some extra pop when he is playing, while Julio Lugo should add some speed to the line up which could lead to scoring runs with Papi and Manny hitting behind him.
Lugo and Drew (if they sign him) will be the biggest question marks and people will be expecting them to make an immediate impact. Anything you get from Dustin Pedroia is a bonus as far as I am concerned. The guy who I’m looking for to step up is my boy Coco Crisp. I think Crisp got a bad rap last year because he struggled and Damon did so well in New York.
Crisp got off to a great start and really looked like he was going to be a good replacement for Damon, he’s a different player but he adds speed and some power (Damon’s power numbers are helped by Yankee Stadiums short porch in right). I think he will have the biggest turn around; after all he missed a ton of time with that broken thumb. I see Crisp hitting over .300 with 15-20 homers and a solid number of RBI’s.
He’s not a stellar lead off hitter but with Youkilis and Lugo up top the Red Sox can move him down in the line up which adds speed to the part of the line up that will feature Drew (maybe), Varitek, Lowell and Pedroia. A lot of people will be expecting an immediate impact from the new guys but I think Crisp will have something to prove this year and I think he will do it.
Whatever happens in 2007 it’s sure to be another roller coaster ride, so rest your voice Don. I have a feeling Big Papi and the Sox will have a few more walk off wins for you and Jerry.
That sentence pretty much sums up my feelings right now. The Pats-Colts game has been digested, throw up, re-eaten and thrown up again. I’m done talking about it, I’m done thinking about it. It sucked…a lot but now it’s done.
Let’s just say thanks to Fox for prison break and 24 (and I don’t thank Fox very often) since without those two shows I would have watched the Celtics lose the Spurs for the 18th straight time (they haven’t beaten San Antonio in 10 years). I can’t wait to see Kevin Durant in a C’s uniform next year.
“I don’t want to watch sports until the baseball season starts” that quote keeps circling in my head. Especially since it came from one of the biggest Boston sports fans I’ve ever known. I don’t blame him for saying it, I know a lot of people that feel the same way. It felt just as crappy when the Red Sox have lost as it did the other night, but I think it was a little different because it felt unexpected, after all it was Tom and Bill.
I haven’t turned on ESPN since Sunday. I haven’t even picked up the sports page of the globe, but I did flip on NESN briefly to catch some Celtics highlights (I shut it off before the Patriots Year in Review) and I saw a commercial that reminded me of Joey’s quote.
Don Orsillo sat at a desk with a cup of tea steeping by his side. He picked up a stack of note cards and held them up to the camera.
They read.
RESTING MY VOICE
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
TO MANY WALK OFF WINS
Then I saw a montage of Big Papi swings and home plate celebrations, and smiled. It’s almost time for the Red Sox again. The Sox have made a lot of moves this off season but they still have some lingering questions, some that will be answered in the next month leading to Spring Training and others that will take more time to be worked out.
What’s the deal with JD Drew?
It’s been 48 days and counting since the Red Sox and Drew agreed, in principal, to a five year, 70-million dollar contract. At first I was down on this move big time, Drew just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who fits with the Red Sox. He seems like a me first guy that doesn’t play up to his potential and is oft injured.
In thinking about all of that I wonder how much of my opinion has been formed by the bad rap that he has gotten over time, especially since his whole ordeal in Philadelphia
Side note: He sat out the 1997 season after he and agent Scott Boras guaranteed he wouldn’t sign for less than 10 million.
I’m willing to give Drew a chance. However I hope that the Sox are smart about the contract language, which is the supposed reason why it’s taking so long to sign him. If he goes down with an injury the Sox should make sure that they are protected from paying him for not playing. Trot is gone and Wily Mo’s not quite ready yet, but I’m ready to give JD Drew a chance.
What about Dice-K
What will Dice-K bring to the table in 2007, I have no idea. I will probably stay safe and say he’ll go something like 16-9 or 17-10 with an ERA around 3.00. Assuming he’s the number three starter and Beckett and Schilling pitch well then Matsuzaka is a solid third starter. He’s also only 26 and never pitched in the majors, so you can’t expect him to go 23-4 with a 1.78 ERA in his rookie year.
I think he’ll be good and I think he will come out of the gate strong. He’ll struggle with some things but overall I think he’s going to have a good rookie year. The unfortunate thing is that Boston is a fishbowl. If Schilling and Beckett don’t pitch like they are expected to and Dice-K struggles then the fans will be unforgiving. If those three pitch well we’ve got a great top three, probably not better than 2004 (as far as the playoffs go) but certainly a top tier three man rotation.
If Matsuzaka pans out and pitches like people think he can then the Red Sox will be looking good in the pitching department for the future, granted you can NEVER have enough pitching, but Beckett, Dice-K, Papelbon and Lester are all young (under 28) and could make up one of the top rotations in the league.
Who’s the Closer?
While we don’t know who the Red Sox closer is going to be in 2007, I’d love to see Papelbon but I doubt they’ll risk him getting hurt again, there is one thing that is for certain. Closer by committee doesn’t work. The Sox have added a number of bullpen arms but no designated closer. I have confidence Theo will figure things out before spring training starts but if he doesn’t add another arm, who will emerge as the closer?
Right now the front runners are Joel Pineiro and Brendan Donnelley. Doesn’t inspire much confidence but Craig Hansen hasn’t proven he’s ready yet, Mike Timlin is more suited to the set up role and Julian Tavarez wasn’t very good until the games didn’t matter. Right now I’d say Donnelley, with Pineiro being more of a long or middle reliever.
How about some love for the offense?
Obviously a large portion of the offense falls on the shoulders of Manny and Big Papi, those two can definitely give the Sox a chance to win any game on any given day. To make another run at the World Series they will have to get some help from other guys. Guys like Youkilis and Lowell have showed what they can do.
Wily Mo Pena will hopefully give the lineup some extra pop when he is playing, while Julio Lugo should add some speed to the line up which could lead to scoring runs with Papi and Manny hitting behind him.
Lugo and Drew (if they sign him) will be the biggest question marks and people will be expecting them to make an immediate impact. Anything you get from Dustin Pedroia is a bonus as far as I am concerned. The guy who I’m looking for to step up is my boy Coco Crisp. I think Crisp got a bad rap last year because he struggled and Damon did so well in New York.
Crisp got off to a great start and really looked like he was going to be a good replacement for Damon, he’s a different player but he adds speed and some power (Damon’s power numbers are helped by Yankee Stadiums short porch in right). I think he will have the biggest turn around; after all he missed a ton of time with that broken thumb. I see Crisp hitting over .300 with 15-20 homers and a solid number of RBI’s.
He’s not a stellar lead off hitter but with Youkilis and Lugo up top the Red Sox can move him down in the line up which adds speed to the part of the line up that will feature Drew (maybe), Varitek, Lowell and Pedroia. A lot of people will be expecting an immediate impact from the new guys but I think Crisp will have something to prove this year and I think he will do it.
Whatever happens in 2007 it’s sure to be another roller coaster ride, so rest your voice Don. I have a feeling Big Papi and the Sox will have a few more walk off wins for you and Jerry.
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