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| Find a place for this man
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Great news for Sox fans: Toronto's free fall now has the Red Sox in first place! Not so great news for Sox fans: this team still has problems and the Yankees are surging. Everyone knows about Papi's struggles, but how about the rotation? Only Tim Wakefield has an ERA under 5.00, with Beckett (5.01), Lester (5.91) and Penny (5.96) all giving them less than everyone expected and Dice-K (10.32 in limited play) standing as a big question mark at the moment.
Unlike every other team with problems, however, the Sox seem to have some easy fixes available, all of which fit together nicely for the overall picture. Fixes like plugging in one of Clay Buchholz (3-0, 1.30 ERA, 49K in 48.1 IP) or Michael Bowden (2-2, 1.64 ERA) to the rotation and trading Brad Penny and a reliever for a corner infield bat that could provide some Papi insurance. If that's not enough -- or the target is big enough, like say, a Victor Martinez -- one of the young starters could be dangled as well.
Guys like Nick Johnson and Todd Helton are reportedly available now, and Matt Holliday is likely to come available soon. Maybe they aren't people for whom you give up a promising young arm -- especially Holliday, who will be a free agent after the year -- but something has to be done to (a) replace a David Ortiz who looks done; and (b) make room for one of the Pawtucket arms, and how much better would it be to make the deal from a position of relative strength -- in the catbird seat in baseball's toughest division -- than when times get more desperate as the season wears on?
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Right now the not getting Texiera is looking really bad! Making Lowell the DH to save his hip and moving Youkilis back to third would look good if Todd Helton came over. I would rather send one of the arms to the National League than over to the A's. Because where would you put Halliday? I don't think that he is a first baseman? Eventually maybe? But the outfield looks good now with Bay hitting the cover off the ball (Manny who?) and Jacoby is off to a much better start and looking comfortable at the plate. Bring in a good hitting first or third baseman and put Lowell as DH!
Of course Lowell at DH is better than Bailey at DH, but he's still not a good enough hitter to DH on a championship-caliber team. A lot of Lowell's value is in his defense, so they've got to keep him at third for as long as possible.
Not getting Teixiera is still working out for the Sox. Yes, it would have been a big bat in the lineup but it also would have tied up an exorbitant amount of money. Instead, the Sox put that money into signing Pedroia and Youk to long term deals and picked up low-cost, low-risk, high return players in Baldelli, Smotlz and Penny. Penny has recently showcased himself to traded to a team in need of a possible 3rd or 4th starter in return for a bat to help lift up the Sox offense.
As bad as things look we are in first place, ahead of toronto, ny, and tampa. Things arent as bad as they look. yeah the eras are up. papis not hitting the ball right now. its only june things will change. papi hit a hr last week, and big relief is coming off the d/l soon. we sox fans need to stand behind and not crusify our team. things will get better. and as far as texiera goes.....arent the yanks losing? doesnt look like he helped them much!!!
Yep, they're losing... 2 out of last 13? Wow, at that rate they will 52 and 8 in the next 60 games... guess they are glad to have Texiera after all. :)
Pa , don't be a ass. This is not a yankee column.
Frankly, the poor pitching from the starters makes me LESS interested in trading away a future starter. Beckett has been average or worse since the '07 WS, and maybe he damaged himself permanently in some way that has not been publicized. Lester can not be relied upon this year, as historical numbers show that big jumps in innings pitched are really bad for young arms. Hopefully they will manage his innings better this year and get him back strong next year, but a lot of these overworked young arms never recover. Dice-K is never going to be better than a 3 or 4, despite his stuff, because he pitches scared and does not (like all Japanese pitchers) challenge hitters. Penny is way above average as a 5. They can't rush Buchholz because he has proven to be psychologically fragile, and Bowden has been underwhelming at the big league level and needs another pitch. The best chance for the Sox this year is if Smoltz can pull a rabbit out of his very old hat and put together a stong second half. I think the odds of this are good. All that being said, if they can deal a middle relief pitcher or two for a better OBP guy than Papi (love him - and he should never pay for another meal in Boston - but it's over after the wrist injury and the psyche-out he has done to himself...unless he is willing to suck up his ego and go to Pawtucket for a month where he would be away from the media pressure) that would be a good move. They have too many good pitchers in the pen and can't possibly keep them all active and fresh, but Helton is too old and has numbers inflated by Coors Field, and Holliday has proven ineffective against the much better pitching in the AL. I don't know much about Johnson, but he wasn't good enough for the Yankees so I am not high on him either. Martinez would be good, but why would the Indians trade him? So...a decent OBP guy for a couple bullpen arms, a 6-man rotation (1-Beckett, 2-Lester, 3-Smoltz, 4-Dice-K, 5-Penny, 6-Wakefield) when Smolz comes back so that Beckett and Lester can rest and hopefully improve, with them going to a 5 arm rotation near the end of the season or sooner when Wakefield, who has not pitched a complete good year in a long, long time, takes the expected turn for the much worse. Keep the twin B's in AAA this season to work on their pitching and their heads with an eye on next year. I think that gets them to the postseason, where anything can happen. But they will need to be hitting better by the end of the season to win, although one has to remember that Pedroia and Youk have both missed time already this season, so maybe their batting numbers are not quite as bad as they look to this point. Lowell has been fantastic and is a great guy in the clubhouse, and I am so glad they did not bring in a soulless merc like Texiera. The got lucky that his hip has healed so well, but the point above about moving Lowell to DH has to be a consideration on who they pick up - he should be able to play first in case they end up moving Youk over at some point if the hip starts flaring up again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but due to his service time the only way he could go to Pawtucket is through the waiver wire since he's out of options. Even with his horrible year, some team would put a claim in for him and would prevent him from going to the minors.
Unfortunately it's a shady trip to the DL or more days off for Ortiz.
when was the last time u checked the box scores!! The Yanks are winning and Texiera is hitting. Go Yanks!!
Yanks can always beat the weak teams; they are in third with the biggest payroll in all of MLB. The next WS ring that A Rod gets will be his...
FIRST
yes beating all those "weak" teams
won 2 of 3 against Det, LA, and Tor. 4-0 against MN and 1-0 against TX. The only two top teams they have a losing record against are Bos and Philly.
The Yanks are also in 2nd place, not third.
If you are going to make comments, at least have the deceny to look up your info since it's all readily available.
Good for you. To the Boston fans. It not even June yet and you worry about the Yankee's. You are always wai
I think the yanks are 0-6 against Boston and not much better against Toronto. The good teams. They can't buy enough pitching, STILL. They STILL don't have pitching. It's hillareous how horrible cashman and company is in evaluating pitching talent. AJ, CC.. they suck. Cy young my ass, Becket as a 20 game winner got screwed. I think Cash just reads the newspaper to determine who a good pitcher is. Their pitching payroll alone puts them in the top 5 teams in baseball for payroll..... and Mo is just about done.... He looks like a BP pitcher sometimes now..... There will be many more Jason Bay failures for Mo this and the next few years. He's got maybe a year or 2 left. Then what... 80 IQ crazyman Chaimberlain as top reliever throwing at people's heads and walking the side.... that would be hillareous. Their mid relief is AA ball. The sox have them crushed in pitching talent in every way. No matter how many roids Texiera and A-rod eat, it's not going to be enough without pitching.. like last night at Cleveland, the yanks blew that game with poor late inning pitching......or even in a bandbox new yankee stadium where the fences say 375 but they are in reality 345, especially to right. Shanks to right for HR's..... kind of silly. Damon might hit 30 as he's got at least 10 already..... His routine fly balls to right that go out..... like Swisher..9HR's at home, 1 HR on the road.. That's really silly.
cgardner you are right that its too early to worry especially for a team in first place. But you should probably check the standings because the Yankees have won 12 of 14 and are a whopping 1 game behind your Sox. And Teixeira is a big reason why.
yeah texieramay be a reason why but the biggest reason is Arod.....on his return may 8 the yanks were 14-15, today they are 26-16, 10 over 500! without arod the yanks werent winning. now that he is back you are seeing more from him because pitchers arent pitching around him to get to arod. btw not trying to start a redsox/yankees argument. but our crappy pitching puts My REDSOX at 5-0 vs Yankees this season, and guess what NO AROD. just so my argument is clear the yanks and sox will win the east and wildcard. not predicting who. but they are clearly once again the cream of the crop. and both teams side by side are the same, loads of offense production and no pitching. aside from C.C., and Beckett on good days not alot to look forward to. We are in the same boat. Should be an interresting year. Looks like well be watching to see whos on the d/l, versus whos gonna have the better season.
Don't forget John Smoltz is on the horizon to bolster their rotation.
I'm a Braves fan and Smotlz fan, but at this point I would be highly, highly skeptical of his being able to contribute much. He'll come back, and for one or two starts he'll snap off the nastiest stuff you've ever seen -- fastballs with movement, sliders that defy description -- and then you'll be watching a start and notice that he's changed his arm slot. The announcers will talk about how Smoltz is so tricky that he can get guys out by giving so many different looks. And he will get guys out, too! But then the pain will become too great and he'll be on the DL again.
And I don't mean that as any kind of a slight on Smoltz. He's a warrior, and he's so good that he'll get guys out even when hurt (he never throws fat pitches and gets shelled as a sign of injury). But humans can only stand so much pain, and he's in a lot of it most of the time anymore. As such, I can't feature him making a strong run of it.
I think he should be in the bullpen. At his age and history of injuries, starting isnt a good idea...plus 3 good arms, papelbon, smoltz, and delcarmen, may give the starting rotation a boost to know that if the have a quality start, someone will be there to finish the job, plus a bad outing you have more depth to get them through!
While I like a Manny Delcarmen for Nick Johnson trade that has been rumored and certainly would live V-Mart to join th sox, the team's biggest need right now is a SS. Lugo has been dreadful both in the field and at the plate since he signed with the Sox. Nick Green's fielding is not good enough for him to play everyday and Lowrie, recovering from a wrist injury may not be ready to really play effective baseball this season. I would most like to see a defense first SS brought in to plug that hole and Papi relegated to a DH platoon with Lowell or Baldelli. I think the rotation will improve as the season goes on, but Buchholtz deserves a spot in their somewhere.
And Bucholz lost a perfect game in the 9th last night in Pawtucket. The bullpen is incredible. Beckett and Lester are coming off great performances. Penny has been solid after looking bad in his first 3 starts.
Lowell is still outstanding at 3B you can't DH him. Youk is an outstanding 1B. Adam Dunn was the one that looked good to me this winter - not Teixeira
Ortiz is on the his final downslope of his career and Lowell is not getting any younger either. Boston needs to go after a quality hitter like a Todd Helton, Ethier from the Dodgers, or Miguel Cabrera. Or maybe go after the young Hofpaur from the Cubs. With his tremendous power, he may be available for young pitching which the Cubs definitely need.
So A-Rod has not won a world series ring yet. LOL when you guys get into double digits in world series championships you can boast about who does or does not have a world series ring. It took Boston a hundred years to win a world series. Now shut up sit down and enjoy the season and the best rivalry in any sport period. The Red Sox are a great team and the Yankees are a great team. It's the rivalry made for the ages and whether it is Babe Ruth being sold to the Yankees, Texiera signing with them instead of Boston, Carlton Fisk waving that home run fair, or Big Papi coming back from his bad start, it's all part of the most intense rivalry in sports. Don't hate it and don't hate the other team. Be a pro and enjoy it for what it is. Without the Red Sox dominating the Yanks the last few years or the Yanks beating the Sox in the strike shortened season, none of those things would happen if both teams weren't as good as they both are. Maybe it is getting me older but I absolutely love the rivalry the tension during games and the desperation shown by both teams when they lace em up! I tip my hat to the Red Sox and hope Big Papi comes back to major league form soon. But it is The Yankees I Love!
Took them 100 years to win a world series? What?
The Red Sox won the first World Series ever played in 1903 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won four more by 1918, had the famous 86 year drought, then won 2 more in this previous decade.
The Yankees have their 26 titles, but please tell me how many they have won in the 21st century?
Sorry...u can't tip ur hat to the bosox and love the Yanks. Life don't work that way..
Face it if were discussing the heath of the sox and what they need, the same can be said for the yankees. look at the D/L for both teams so far this year! They both need relief and a lifeline!!!!
JayP5 -- and let's not forget that Boston also won the AL pennant in 1904 but the gutless NY Giants refused to play them.
Something is not right with Papi. His confidence is at an all time low, 1 HR in 162 AB. We need a hitter, what about Lar Andersen in the minors. He is hitting well in Portland--- maybe Papi to the DL for a bad eye socket, or an LOA for some personal issues may be in order. As far as trading a pitcher, The Sox need a catcher for the future. I think 'Tek is solid and a good mentor, Kottarras will be okay, but what about Penny and a reliever for Saltamacchaia or another young catcher?
To the Red Sox Nation. It's only May 26. The Yankees are in second place and yes we do have winning records against except for Philly and Boston. Don't worry you won't be looking down at us for long. You will be looking at the Yankees in First Place. Your problem is pitching. It is going to catch up with you by July. ONE QUESTON? What kind of a Nation are you? You appear to be a Third World Nation.
You know its funny yankees fans always have a smart ass comment to make about something. Blah blah blah.....The yankees are winning now, so freakin what. lets not forget how many old ass players there are on that team or how many players have taken a stint on the d/l. face it. and you say our problem is pitching? DUDE c.c. is the only ace you have. and please dont say what about Joba. come on 41 innings of work. he is a loose cannon, with a big mouth and 1 pitch. he has pitched 8 games averaging 5 innings a game. adding insult to injury....6 players on the d/l. And furthermore the Yankees management sucks, i mean come on the moron let Swisher pitch. Thats desperation, whats next? THE YANKEES ARE A JOKE. please yankee fans look at whats going on in the east. toronto is losing, tampa is losing, baltimore never showed up this year. The yankees are on a high note since arod came back. Amazing what roids can do to a team huh? so it took aroid and 3 out of 5 teams in the east losing, for the yanks to come up to 2nd? Man the yankees suck!!!! Then this moron Tim-626781 come out and makes a joke about redsox nation. I mean seriously i know the yankees have long time die hard fans that grew up with parents that were yankee fans, but lets be real, you give the yankees a close to 90 year drought with out a w/s ring and lets see what happens. they become dodger fans or sox fans. half the yankee fans probally think the yanks are made up of jeter and babe ruth. Third world nation my ass....idiot....do the nation a favor.....next time you jump on a wagon, just jump under the damn thing!!!!
Dude... YOUR problem is pitching, not ours!!!>. How funny..... you're dreaming.... Becket has had a couple of great starts and is better than anyone you have on his best day now, Lester is becoming the great Lester with 12k's last outing, Wakefield and Penny are better than anything you have right now as both AJ and CC are sitting on past laurels and in CC's case totally undeserved past laurels. You have no other starters. Chaimberlain is a headcase bust who has lost his fastball. You have AA ball middle relief. And Mo is just about done, he's got a year left from retirement.... We have the best mid and save relief in the game. No one is close.
The Red Sox do NOT need to make a move "quickly", and Theo was right to shoot down the Nick Johnson for MDC trade. The team has had incredible problems - starters, DH, SS - and yet they are in first place. First thing they need to do is swap Papi and Drew in the lineup. Keep the Lefty-Righty sequencing but get a high OBP bat in front of Youkilis while Papi can try to figure it out in a less "in the spotlight" spot in the lineup. The reality is that with that change, they should be able to give Ortiz the month of June (give or take) to see if he gets it together or not. Once he does, move him back to the three-hole and the offense will rake consistently.
As for the starters, no change needs to be made quickly here. Beckett and Lester have pitched better recently, and Dice-K's return was actually encouraging if you consider how much more efficient he was this time. Penny can't be moved until June 15 anyway, let him take his three or four more starts, as he's been pitching well enough for a five starter anyway, and there are plenty of teams that would express interest by the time the Sox have to make a decision, provided he doesn't start stinking up the joint, or top out at 89.
Buchholz and Bowden can continue to bide their time - remember that Theo likes to have "planned" breaks for his starters to keep them fresh. So you may see Lester on the DL when Smoltz is ready to return, rather than a trade of Penny. The Killer B's will get their chances soon enough.
But at this point there is no reason to start sending any young pitchers away to fix things that may not need fixing. Which reminds me of another positive on the horizon: Lowrie may be back sooner than expected. No doubt he'll get most starts once he's healthy, and regardless of whether he hits, the defensive help can only be a major positive.
Classic skankee fans booing teixeira and c.c in april. And claiming theres nobody better in may. what a joke!!
Lets get it right , PLEASE ----- It's RED SUX -----
And it's not BIG PAPI, it's DONE PAPI -------
FIRST PLACE BABY...and it aint the Red Sux....
DUDE!..... I'm trying to figure out how many WS the yanks have won in the new milleneum.... none.. that's right, none!!!!... so funny.... this isn't 1997, 1999 sitting on past laurels, dude... it's been about decade (2000?.. old millenium, officially)and you're spent almost as much money as Obummer on bailouts and you have nothing to show for it.... and it's also about time Ol Derrick stops playing SS.... he can't get to any balls anymore.... grounders up the middle or in the hole are now basehits. Your average team age seems to be 40. You have no pitching, AJ and CC are busts... You have high school caliber other starters and your mid relief is AA ball.....Cashman is no judge of pitching talent.. never was.... and Mo is about done. I love seeing him get shelled now. It almost makes up for Papi!!.. WHO is done. Was it roids???
that it...... Papi's got Papiroids, actually lack of there of.... and they are hurting us like hell.. especially when he comes to the plate... he only knows of the dinner plate now.