bigred3535

I don't know if it's been posted yet, but ESPN.com says Wade Miller has signed with the Red Sox for $1.5 million plus up to $3 million more in incentives. C'mon Kenny, you couldn't scrape together $4.5 million for a pitcher about as injury prone but with a much bigger upside than El Duque? I would much rather have seen Miller in a ChiSox uniform for the same price as El Duque. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1951927

Awesome...

It's interesting to look at how weakened our lineup is going to be without Carlos and Mags, though. Especially if the Sox can't sign a replacement for Harris and Davis/Burke.

Even if Hernandez pitches exactly the same as he did last year (8 wins over 84.2 innings) that's more wins than we got out of the fifth starter spot last year. If we assume that whoever then replaces an injured Hernandez (whether it's Hermanson, Grilli, Diaz, etc.) is good for three wins, that's eleven wins out of the fifth starter spot, which is very acceptable, and might be enough to push the Sox into first place.

I just got a subscription to Baseball Prospectus, so I thought I'd put it to good use. I was looking over their VORP stats (Value Over Replacement Player) and here's what I found for next year's projected lineup - in parentheses are their ranks behind other mostly everyday players (at least 450 PA, and about 350 for catchers): C - Jamie Burke 9.0 (7th in AL behind Pudge Rodriguez - 63.1, 18th in MLB behind Pudge) Ben Davis 0.2, he's so far down I don't feel like counting 1B - Paul Konerko 48.1 (2nd in AL behind Mark Teixiera - 52.6, 8th in MLB behind Pujols - 103.5) 2B - Willie Harris 5.2 (14th in AL behind Alfonso Soriano 39.8, and just behind Tony Graffanino, tied for 27th in MLB behind Mark Loretta - 76.2) 3B - Joe Crede 1.2 (26th in AL behind Melvin Mora 73.6, 39th in MLB, behind Adrian Beltre - 89.1) SS - Juan Uribe 32.1 (listed at second base, 4th in AL, 12th in MLB) RF - Jermaine Dye 23.3 (6th in AL behind Vladimir Guerrero, 14th in MLB behind Guerrero) CF - Scott Podsednik 19.3 (12th in NL behind Jim Edmonds - 88.9, 22nd in MLB, behind Edmonds) LF - Aaron Rowand 50.0 at CF (2nd in AL behind Johnny Damon, 3rd in MLB behind Jim Edmonds) note: Carlos Lee was 3rd in AL at 46.8, 6th in MLB DH - Frank Thomas 34.2 (4th in MLB behind David Ortiz - 71.3) Remember, these are subjective based on average statisitcs at each position, so just because Joe Crede is at 1.2 doesn't neccessarily mean he's less valuable than Willie Harris.

Another guy who was pretty good last year is Amaury Telemaco from the Phillies, although the Sox seem to have a bounty of bullpen arms as it is. If Kenny can't pick up another starter, siging Telemaco and inserting Hermanson into the rotation might be a good idea.

I'm curious to know what you all would think about the possibility of the Sox signing Jose Lima to compete for the fifth starter's spot. I haven't heard anything about it, but he doesn't seem to be generating much interest anywhere else, so he could come cheap. Of course the downside is the possibility of him getting shelled in the Cell's homer-friendly confines, like he did when Houston moved to Enron/Minute Maid.

Maybe a bullpen coach or a manager, but typically pitching coaches are former pitchers...which makes sense if you think about it...

I found this kind of funny. From Rotoworld:

Even so, that still means he would have to be designated for assignment, clear waivers, and accept assignment to AAA to ever pitch for Charlotte, doesn't it?

He has a guaranteed contract, so he won't pitch in Charlotte unless he wants to, which is rather doubtful. I'm not saying he earns a bullpen spot over Hermanson, I'm saying that the bullpen could be full without him, so the Sox should use him as a starter.

How is this not a solid bullpen? Shingo Marte Politte Vizcaino Walker Adkins Cotts There's not even a spot for Hermanson in the bullpen unless the Sox decide to drop Adkins or Cotts back to Charlotte, which I doubt. I'd say this bullpen is much more reliable than any we've had in recent memory. We can depend on both Adkins and Cotts for improvement, and Politte to be a little more reliable. Plus, the Sox have a lot of arms in AAA (Diaz, Munoz, Bajenaru, etc.) to experiment with if any of these guys fall through.

It seems to me the Sox are loading up on bullpen arms, so I can only make the assumption that if Kenny can't pull in another starter, he's going to want to give Hermanson the first shot at becoming the fifth starter. He didn't say that when Hermanson was signed, but don't forget that Kenny is playing his cards close to his chest these days, thinking he lost Vizquel because he let word out that he was interested. Personally, I think the Sox could do a lot worse than Hermanson at the fifth starter spot, especially if he's only slated to make 20-25 starts like another thread stated. He's only had one bad season in the last eight years (since he became a full-time big league pitcher), and that was playing in Fenway Park, so it could be assumed the Green Monster contributed, and over twelve appearances, so injuries probably contributed, too. According to ESPN's ballpark adjuster, the Cell is the third best hitters park in the league, and SBC Park in San Francisco is the eighth best, so there shouldn't really be a major impact on his stats by switching parks. I'd like the Sox to sign Perez, but if it doesn't happen I think that Hermanson is still better by leaps and bounds over what the Sox had for the fifth starter last year. Hell, a donkey that shoots the ball out of his ass would do better than most of the starts the Sox got from the fifth starter spot last year.

I was thinking about it, and I was wondering who you all thought has the best chance to make the team out of Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, right now. If we didn't have so many outfielders, I would say Alex Escobar, since he has so much natural talent and has already spent a couple years in AAA. At this point I'd rather the Sox take a chance on him than Borchard. However, I don't see that happening, so I'm going to say B-Mac if the Sox don't sign a fifth starter.

He sounds kind of like early Jaret Wright (good arm, can't harness stuff, overweight) crossed with a milder version of John Rocker (a little bit loco, but killer if he learns how to pitch). If he can ever put it all together sounds like it could be a great pickup.

But since he's leading off the occurences of hitting in a run scoring situation are going to be relatively low. He had only 80 at-bats with a runner only on first-base, and figures to have about the same amount with Ben Davis hitting ahead of him. Let me restate my point, though, just to be clear. I'd rather have Carlos Lee, but Podesednik is more valuable than most numbers reveal.

Why this trade isn't as terrible as everyone thinks: Scott's numbers from last year look kind of terrible at first, especially the all important OPS (.677?!). But I'll tell you why he's more valuable than that: stolen bases. I'm sure people have pointed this out before, but I don't know if anyone's looked at it the way I do (and I don't feel like reading the whole thread). Scott's 70 steals represent an extra 70 bases not calculated in slugging percentage. When those bases are counted he comes out with a slugging percentage of around .520 which is roughly in the Lee/Konerko area. That's why a guy who hits .244 can score 84 runs. I think Podsednik will hit somewhere between .244 and .310 in 2005, which would result in an increase in his OBP, as well. Now, I still would rather have Carlos roaming left, but this trade isn't all that horrible, especially if the prospect we get turns out to be a good one.

Keeping it positive's fine by me. It was a lighthearted comment, not something made with serious hate in mind.

I'd just like to say that Arizona is undefeated in the Mike Stoops era.

I wouldn't have, but it was to netscape and not some random site, so I was confident they wouldn't pass it out or charge me without reason. However, I do kind of doubt I'll be getting a free iPod.

I've got a category: who are we most glad is no longer with the Sox? A couple of nominees to start it off - Billy Koch Nardi Contreras Dan Wright (I think techinically he's still on the forty-man roster, but he won't be pitching for quite some time) Brian Daubach Jerry Manuel Old School Special: Jaime Navarro

OK, I signed up. Here's the deal for anyone who's curious. You don't have to give a credit card to the actual freeipod site but I did have to give one for the partner site I signed up for, which was Netscape. Then after that you have to refer five people to the site in order to get an iPod. If anyone wants to sign up here's a link and you can be one of my referrals, and help me get one: http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=8694526 I'm not trying to be a dick and open up some can of worms and get people posting all kinds of this stuff on soxtalk, because this is an awesome site (despite the fact that I've been too busy to get on it much recently, haha) and I don't want that to happen. So if the moderators don't want this post up they can feel free to take it down and I won't be pissed off or anything.

Does anybody know when he's going to get into Chicago by? I want to see him pitch as soon as I can. Hopefully he'll be here by tonights game.

I found an article on it from Wired magazine and it seems like it's pretty straightforward. Here's the link for the story if anybody wants to read it: http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614...tw=wn_2culthead I think I'm gonna give it a shot. What the hell, right? Worst thing that happens is I don't get a free iPod...unless AOL starts stalking me and slashing my tires because I won't pay them or something.

I know all the Chicagoans don't give a crap, but I gotta represent for the Arizona Wildcats. Onward with the Stoops era! The first game's in about 4 and a half hours, and I'll be there front and center.