Monday, January 12, 2009
Lost Out On Tex. Built up our pitching
We added Smoltz, Penny & Saito. Plus resigned Kotsay and added Baldelli.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Latest on Teixeira
We saw the damage that Mark Teixeira could do with the Angels in his 54 games with the team down the stretch. Batting in front of Vladimir Guerrero in the lineup, the switch-hitting first baseman mashed to a .358 batting average and a .632 slugging percentage, and he had a .449 on-base percentage. If the Angels bring him back as part of a payroll of about $120 million, he could help lift them to another division title and another run at a World Series title.
We know what Teixeira would do, probably, if he were to sign with the Red Sox. Presumably, if Boston were to sign Teixeira this week, the Red Sox would trade Mike Lowell, then shift Kevin Youkilis from first base to third. And with a payroll of about $135 million, they would field a lineup that would look something like this:
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Bay, LF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Jason Varitek, C?
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
That's a lineup you can win a championship with, for sure. Even if David Ortiz's production were to continue to decline, the Red Sox would have enough depth in their lineup, with Teixeira, to fill the void.
So it makes sense for the Angels to pursue Teixeira at a time when the bidding figures to fall somewhere in the range of $160 million to $200 million. It makes sense for the Red Sox to consider giving Teixeira what figures to be the second-highest financial package for any position player in the history of baseball. We get all that.
We know what Teixeira would do, probably, if he were to sign with the Red Sox. Presumably, if Boston were to sign Teixeira this week, the Red Sox would trade Mike Lowell, then shift Kevin Youkilis from first base to third. And with a payroll of about $135 million, they would field a lineup that would look something like this:
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Mark Teixeira, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Bay, LF
Jed Lowrie, SS
Jason Varitek, C?
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
That's a lineup you can win a championship with, for sure. Even if David Ortiz's production were to continue to decline, the Red Sox would have enough depth in their lineup, with Teixeira, to fill the void.
So it makes sense for the Angels to pursue Teixeira at a time when the bidding figures to fall somewhere in the range of $160 million to $200 million. It makes sense for the Red Sox to consider giving Teixeira what figures to be the second-highest financial package for any position player in the history of baseball. We get all that.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Congrats Dustin!
Boston little man Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP award Tuesday, becoming the first second baseman to earn the honor in nearly a half-century.
Pedroia easily beat out Minnesota Twins slugger Justin Morneau and added to his ever-expanding trophy case. Generously listed at 5-foot-9, the Red Sox star was the top AL rookie last year while winning a World Series ring.
"I'm not the biggest guy in the world. I don't have that many tools," Pedroia said on a conference call from his home in Arizona. "If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn't think I'm a baseball player."
Nellie Fox was the previous second baseman to become AL MVP, in 1959 with the Chicago White Sox. No position has produced fewer MVPs overall -- just 10 overall since the AL and NL awards were first presented in 1931.
Pedroia drew 16 of the 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America and finished with 317 points.
It was a scattered ballot, with five players receiving first-place votes. Pedroia was even left off one ballot, while Morneau and Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis were listed on every one.
Pedroia and his wife originally planned to leave early this week for a vacation in Mexico. But with the MVP vote looming, a Red Sox official suggested he delay the trip by a day or two, just in case. I really didn't know what to expect," Pedroia said. "I wasn't nervous or overly excited."
Pedroia was driving to his daily workout when he got the phone call telling him he'd won. Right away, the calls and text messages from teammates began pouring in.
"It's unbelievable," he said.
Morneau got seven first-place votes and had 257 points, and Youkilis and Twins catcher Joe Mauer each got a pair of first-place votes. Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels drew the other first-place nod and came in sixth.
Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the AL wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases. Earlier this month, he also won his first Gold Glove.
Pedroia quickly became a fan favorite at Fenway Park with his meaty swings and scrappy approach. In a lineup depleted by injuries to David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew and the midseason trade of Manny Ramirez, Pedroia took his hearty hacks wherever needed -- while he usually batted second, he also hit leadoff and cleanup.
The 25-year-old Pedroia was the fourth second baseman to win the AL MVP award, along with Fox, Joe Gordon (1942) and Charlie Gehringer (1937). Six second basemen have won the NL honor, with Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan doing it most recently.
"When I first got called up to the major leagues in 2006, I didn't know what to expect," Pedroia said.
"I had to overcome a lot of things to prove people wrong, and so far I've done that," he said. "I have to find a way to have that edge."
Pedroia became the 10th Red Sox player to take the award and first since Mo Vaughn in 1995. He is also just the third player to become MVP the season after earning the rookie of the year award, joining Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard.
Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP winner, hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBIs in helping the Twins reach a one-game playoff for the AL Central, which they lost to Chicago.
Pedroia easily beat out Minnesota Twins slugger Justin Morneau and added to his ever-expanding trophy case. Generously listed at 5-foot-9, the Red Sox star was the top AL rookie last year while winning a World Series ring.
"I'm not the biggest guy in the world. I don't have that many tools," Pedroia said on a conference call from his home in Arizona. "If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn't think I'm a baseball player."
Nellie Fox was the previous second baseman to become AL MVP, in 1959 with the Chicago White Sox. No position has produced fewer MVPs overall -- just 10 overall since the AL and NL awards were first presented in 1931.
Pedroia drew 16 of the 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America and finished with 317 points.
It was a scattered ballot, with five players receiving first-place votes. Pedroia was even left off one ballot, while Morneau and Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis were listed on every one.
Pedroia and his wife originally planned to leave early this week for a vacation in Mexico. But with the MVP vote looming, a Red Sox official suggested he delay the trip by a day or two, just in case. I really didn't know what to expect," Pedroia said. "I wasn't nervous or overly excited."
Pedroia was driving to his daily workout when he got the phone call telling him he'd won. Right away, the calls and text messages from teammates began pouring in.
"It's unbelievable," he said.
Morneau got seven first-place votes and had 257 points, and Youkilis and Twins catcher Joe Mauer each got a pair of first-place votes. Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels drew the other first-place nod and came in sixth.
Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the AL wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases. Earlier this month, he also won his first Gold Glove.
Pedroia quickly became a fan favorite at Fenway Park with his meaty swings and scrappy approach. In a lineup depleted by injuries to David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew and the midseason trade of Manny Ramirez, Pedroia took his hearty hacks wherever needed -- while he usually batted second, he also hit leadoff and cleanup.
The 25-year-old Pedroia was the fourth second baseman to win the AL MVP award, along with Fox, Joe Gordon (1942) and Charlie Gehringer (1937). Six second basemen have won the NL honor, with Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan doing it most recently.
"When I first got called up to the major leagues in 2006, I didn't know what to expect," Pedroia said.
"I had to overcome a lot of things to prove people wrong, and so far I've done that," he said. "I have to find a way to have that edge."
Pedroia became the 10th Red Sox player to take the award and first since Mo Vaughn in 1995. He is also just the third player to become MVP the season after earning the rookie of the year award, joining Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard.
Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP winner, hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBIs in helping the Twins reach a one-game playoff for the AL Central, which they lost to Chicago.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Rangers-Red Sox deal in making
This makes sense, I just hate trading Pitching.
The Rangers need pitching and have catching to deal, which makes them the ideal trade partner for the Red Sox. Quite simply, there is no better fit. Texas has four catchers on its 40-man roster -- Gerald Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, and Max Ramirez -- and one major league evaluator recently suggested that the Rangers would be willing to deal two of them (so long as Ramirez is one of the two). That leaves Laird, Teagarden, or Saltalamacchia as the centerpiece of any deal. Clearly, if the Sox wanted Laird, they easily could get him. The defensively skilled Teagarden (who is also blessed with power) and the hyped Saltalamacchia are more desirable targets that will cost more, though Epstein and his baseball operations staff understand the difficulty in finding good young catching. If the Red Sox ever were to give up a top pitching prospect like Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, or Justin Masterson -- the last is unlikely -- this is precisely the kind of deal that would inspire them to do it.
Coutesy: Boston Globe
The Rangers need pitching and have catching to deal, which makes them the ideal trade partner for the Red Sox. Quite simply, there is no better fit. Texas has four catchers on its 40-man roster -- Gerald Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, and Max Ramirez -- and one major league evaluator recently suggested that the Rangers would be willing to deal two of them (so long as Ramirez is one of the two). That leaves Laird, Teagarden, or Saltalamacchia as the centerpiece of any deal. Clearly, if the Sox wanted Laird, they easily could get him. The defensively skilled Teagarden (who is also blessed with power) and the hyped Saltalamacchia are more desirable targets that will cost more, though Epstein and his baseball operations staff understand the difficulty in finding good young catching. If the Red Sox ever were to give up a top pitching prospect like Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, or Justin Masterson -- the last is unlikely -- this is precisely the kind of deal that would inspire them to do it.
Coutesy: Boston Globe
Yankees intend to blow Sabathia away.
Gee, What a shocker.
CC Sabathia does not need the Yankees to flirt with him. He knows their intentions already. All things being equal, Sabathia wants to go home to California and play in the NL, where he can hit. But as a friend of Sabathia's said yesterday, "he is mature enough and realistic enough to know that the Yankees might not make it close. And if it is not close - no matter how much he likes the West Coast and likes hitting - he is not going to walk away from $25 million. This is not rocket science. It is about how much more the Yanks will spend than anybody else." One Yankee executive said, "we have to separate ourselves." Translation: They must divest Sabathia of his dreams of the Pacific and the batter's box by going to a financial region relatively quickly that no other franchise would even consider, especially in this plummeting economy. That means a bid north of the six years at $137.5 million the Mets bestowed last year on Johan Santana. My gut says six years at $150 million sounds about right to force league-wide surrender before the bidding really even gets
CC Sabathia does not need the Yankees to flirt with him. He knows their intentions already. All things being equal, Sabathia wants to go home to California and play in the NL, where he can hit. But as a friend of Sabathia's said yesterday, "he is mature enough and realistic enough to know that the Yankees might not make it close. And if it is not close - no matter how much he likes the West Coast and likes hitting - he is not going to walk away from $25 million. This is not rocket science. It is about how much more the Yanks will spend than anybody else." One Yankee executive said, "we have to separate ourselves." Translation: They must divest Sabathia of his dreams of the Pacific and the batter's box by going to a financial region relatively quickly that no other franchise would even consider, especially in this plummeting economy. That means a bid north of the six years at $137.5 million the Mets bestowed last year on Johan Santana. My gut says six years at $150 million sounds about right to force league-wide surrender before the bidding really even gets
Angels: We're moving on without K-Rod
The Angels feel the they could spen their monet else where. I think that they might try Shields as a closer.
If they lose out on K-Rod & Tex, they might go after Manny.
If they lose out on K-Rod & Tex, they might go after Manny.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Washington's Trade
I think the Nationals made a good move acquiring Olsen & Willingham from the Marlins, who are reducing payroll again.
Olsen is young and a good pitcher. Willingham could either be traded or added to their OF.
This remained quiet because of the Holliday trade, but the Nationals made a nice move.
Olsen is young and a good pitcher. Willingham could either be traded or added to their OF.
This remained quiet because of the Holliday trade, but the Nationals made a nice move.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)