babybearhater

I know my mom wouldnt rely so heavily on her splitter

he hasnt played a full season every year he has been in cinci, I hope you are kidding. he is as helpful to the reds as maggs was to us this year

but in all honestly, if I would want one big FA pickup this offseason, he would be mine. I think he is the perfect player to build this team around. He doesnt need to be the vocal player on this team, because Ozzie does enough talking for everyone. PLus he plays the game the way it should be played

I never said add Roger Clemens (3.00 1.16)

sorry, I retractd that post once I saw how close our starters were to Oakland's. Maybe it is our bullpen that has been hurting our ERA, def not the wins though

garica (3.86 1.21)-buehrle (4.12 1.32) contreras (5.84 1.50) Pavano (3.11 1.21) Garland (4.99 1.39) Mulder (4.13 1.30) Hudson (3.36 1.25) Zito (4.35 1.40) Harden (4.06 1.34) Redman (4.81 1.49) Sox = Collective Avg ERA 4.384 WHIP =1.326 A's = AVg ERA =4.142 WHIP = 1.356 Barring that Freddie's ERA has gotten alot higher since he started with the sox. And the fact that Pavano plays in the national league, and could be a fluke. The lineups look pretty even as far as how they have produced this season. The records arent nearly as close, but he may have a point here

Add to those very very young prospects that arent going to be ready for about three years, the prospects that we traded over the past three seasons to "make a run at it." If you dont make those moves, and keep bringing along the talent. I think we woulda contended by 2005 or 2006 at not only the division but the whole thing. Nowadays, I think we are pretty much very devoid of talent in our minors, as evidenced by our lack of top tier prospects.

Rock Raines accepted a job with the expos, sorry

Im against inking anyone, you want to win the division, and content for the Crown????? Dismantle this whole team, lets rebuild our farm system with picks and prospects, get younger, and hope they turn out in five year. Cause at this point, our team doesnt work, we traded a majority of our prospect over the past three years to kill alot of our future. Face it, we are in a deep deep hole, with only one way out, go the other way.

He is a bad clutch hitter. The only clutch hit I remember was a homer in the pouring rain in the first month of the season. In my opinion, he reluctance to make clutch hits is the reason why he was leading the league in solo homers by a large margin, he tends to only hit when there arent runners on base. There is no reason that Gload should have better numbers with runners on base, than our supposed star player

If they get beltran, I could live with our rotation. We have three quality starters, and some ok back of rotation players. With beltran, this would make our outfield one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous in our division.

and who would face closer more often this year. A pinch hitter or a starter who often gets taken out in the later innings for pinch runners. In all seriousness, you cant deny that trading paulie for pieces of the puzzle that this team needs. I am addressing what this team needs to win, not trying to argue the significance of stats. I have been to almost every home game this year, and have seen how many times this offense has sat down and slumped instead of grinding it out with singles. In my own opinion what I stated would help the team, and trading Paulie for an actual impact player, would help.

No thanks anyway, we could get a much more valuable player than another 2b. In all honesty, we need a SS or another pitcher more than an ok 2b. Hes not even really a lead-off hitter, he hits well in the 2 hole, because there is some nice power behind him, and the pitcher is usually worried about Pierre on base. If they are going to get rid of their most powerful hitter, they better get a solid starter at a crucial position in return. I mean, you are saying that power-hitting 1b are a dime a dozen. Well there arent too many players that have 40 bombs, last time I checked there were 8 in the MLB while 2 are 1b. Paulie is def going to hit 40 this year, which maybe will only include 10 players in the entire league. I think if you are going to trade him, he will bring more value than maybe that 4th or 5th best player on a second place team

Splitting hairs and judgement calls are always a good way to argue yourself into nothing. If we are going to say that Paulie has a disadvantage for playing more and "seeing different pitchers" then we should evaluate if thats true. Is it harder to only bat once a game, or to see the pitcher repeatedly, and finally get the solo homerun that delights the crowd. It was a nice argument, but the word roughly, means just that, its not exact. I was using stats to show that PK is not a clutch hitter, because he isnt. Why would he have 35 homers and not break the 100 RBI border??? His K's and GIDP are way up from where this particular team is headed. And in no way did I say that Gload is a better hitter, because he isnt. But if you can get a starting shortstop, or a top of the rotation pitcher for him, and put Gload, who is a good contact hitter, into his spot. That may greatly increase the production of this team. And thats what we are trying to do, make this a better TEAM, not homerun producing 2nd place joke year after year. Everybody seems to forget as well, that Paulie was not a stud before he came to the sox. In fact, he was almost an afterthought. Im ready, as are many fans, to turn this team into a contender, and this lineup is not going to do it. Regardless of how many times the fireworks go off in centerfield, the Twins are still kicking the s*** out of us year after year. Its time to change the formula IM out!!

I will go out there and say I disagree with your post. First off im my opinion, this line up has been built for wowing the basic fan with exactly what you used as an argument, home runs. We have consistently been in the top tier for homeruns hit, but have not reached the playoffs consecutive years in a row. I understand the every time Paulie hits a solo shot, and the fireworks go off, alot of fans are in awe of his worth as a player. Consider this.... why has Paulie hit so many solo shots, this is in part to his lack of being able to situationally hit. When there are runners on base, he is more prone to hitting into a DP than scoring the runners with a single. As well he has 46 k's with runners on, and 28 with runners in scoring position with about half the at- bats. Also he has about half as many homers with runners on base in roughly the same amount of at- bats. As much as I love paulie, he does not fit into Ozzie's system as being a contact hitter with speed. I believe the reason alot of people are backing Gload as the everyday 1B is because his stats with runners on are significantly better than with the bases empty. Hitting over 322 with 32 Rbi's and only 15 k's. Im not saying he is a superstar of any means, but at this point Paulie might be more valuable to the club as trade bait for a decent lead-off man, a shortstop, or a top of the rotation pitcher. And as for whether or not we should keep valentin, come on, I shouldnt even have to touch on that one.

wow, nice implode

Ah yes, this is why it was so easy to see Johan Santana coming, my bad, I know that minor league prospectus make major leaguers----thats why we have so many aces coming through our system

Sell The TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe Phillip Morris is looking to buy a baseball team in chicago, they have the money. Maybe if we could out spend everyone we could at least make the playoffs

did anyone notice that its supposed to be el Caballo not cabio????

That is true, but Borchard was also picked as one of our best prospects in our entire system. Im not sure that their stats in the minors translates too well, especially on charlotte, who did not have such a great season. I think he has osme good pitches, some major league experience, and could possibly at least go .500 for the season

I can def see him as a depth guy. Where you have about a 50-50 chance that he will be on for that day. In all fairness, who I really want to see up there in that slot is BMAC, but until then, I still feel uneasy with Garland. I understand that he is a sinkerballer, but it seems like everyone can hit it. Maybe he will flourish with another team, and that is a chance I am willing to take, because at this point, watching him take the mound makes me very very nervous

BTW, cruising?? just like last year when we were cruising...and then got swept by the twins and finished 4 games out. Come on man, this team folds late in the season every year.

twins, no doubts at all, in fact, they are my pick to win it all

I'll add one more to that list. Since the sox are trying to be a pitching and fundamentals team, that will be focused on "Ozzie ball" lets move the damn fences back, and not 3 feet, lets move them way back. If we want to give our pitchers a chance to win games for us, and possibly win us into the playoffs, we need to give them a chance. Lets make the park bigger so that mis-hit flyballs dont soar over the left field fence, they stay in play, and they are out. Just a thought, but if we are going to change focus, so does this little league field.

In all honesty, at this point, im more comfortable with Grilli as my 5th starter than Garland. This is just my opinion, but it seems to me that he just has better stuff than John. His curve drops off the table, and his fastball seems to have some nice pop to it. Im not sure if this is because i've just grown sick of watching Garland fold every season, or if I just see better stuff in Grilli. I am not sure which one it is, but I am sure that someone out there wouldnt mind taking a risk on garland, maybe give us some prospects?? what do you guys think??