beck72

If the sox go w/ 7 guys, which they should, Cotts should be the long man/ situational lefty [his stellar #'s in keeing IR from scoring shows this is good role for him. Then Munoz could a situational LHP as well. I like Munoz, as long as he's back in the pen like he was in 2003, esp in winter league. Let's hope the Sox experiment having Arnie work on his pitches pays dividends.

I agree in part, esp w/ Cotts and Adkins. But the vets we've gotten haven't lit up the world. the sox need improvement from the vets mostly--Marte, Vizcaino, Politte, Hermy, and Shingo to stay solid BTW-Adkins OPS allowed was a horrible .862 [.504 slg, .358 obp]

I still think Baj was hurt last yr, and I'd watch out for him to make an impact this yr [though he may start in AAA as closer] His numbers and the Twins Jesse Crain are eerily similar. ip h hr bb k's era Baj 53.2 31 5 14 67 1.51 crain 50.2 38 5 17 64 2.49

Looking at some stats between the sox and Twins bullpens, the Sox need guys to step up in 2005 to be better than the Twins. Adding up the OPS's of the top 6 guys in each 'pen, the sox avg OPS is .705 The Twins is .627 Takatsu .550 Nathan .516 Marte .666 Rincon .530 Vizcaino .724 Crain .551 Hermanson .748 Romero .634 Politte .755 Balfour .681 Cotts .784 Mulholland .852 While I think guys like Marte, Vizcaino, Hermy and Cotts will improve, they better to match the Twins 'pen. With Crain and Balfour, the Twins have young guys ready to step in. The Sox need their vets to improve and some surprises from the 7th man, either Diaz, Munoz or Bajenaru. I like Cotts as the long man/ LOGGY. Bajenaru as a rally killer in the 6th, 7th inning. If Baj is healthy, his numbers fit in like Crains and Balfours did from AAA. Let's hope he has a solid ST and makes the club

Wouldn't Iguchi also work out for MLB teams? I just haven't seen any press reports talking about it

I don't know if this was mentioned, but does anyone know if Iguchi worked out for MLB teams? If so, how many teams watched him? I thought I read it somewhere, and it was for like 10, 11 teams

Everett has plenty of value. I wouldn't have said that before big money contracts were being handed out like crazy. Politte will stay. A young guy will leave, esp as the Sox have guys who can take Adkins' place in long relief [Diaz, Munoz, Grilli] Adkins was lucky to have such a low ERA most of the yr with guys hitting over .300 off him. I can only see Garland going if the sox traded for a #1 or #2, not likely. Harris I agree. But I don't think the Sox could get fair value for him

PK will likely DH and Gload play 1B like the end of the yr. Everett has a lot of value even at his $4 mill. It's just the Sox can't afford to that out to a PT player. A corner OFer with pop from both sides of the plate is valuable. AZ wants Shawn Green for RF at $16 mill?! The Cubs want Hollandsworth and DuBois to play LF?! Everett could fit on plenty of teams. The sox could get AAA guys who could step in in case of injury for minor league depth.

Shingo made $1.4 mill in 2003. The sox signed shingo to a $1 mill contract in 2004. Kaz Matsui made $2.9 mill in 2003. The Mets signed him to $6.7 mill contract Iguchi made $670,000 in 2003, $2.25 Mill in 2004. The sox $2 mill a yr offer was in line with the one they made Shingo last yr. The Mets offer was off the charts

Interesting that Iguchi's 2004 salary was $2.25 mill. from Baseball Guru. I wonder what Shingo made in 2003.

My prediction, in order of likelihood of being traded 1] Everett 2] Adkins 3] garland

I think Iguchi could be a good fit. I don't know what other teams are interested in him. Once his agent sees not many teams willing to pay $6 mill a yr, the sox will come up a little, they'll come down a lot [somewhere near the $3 mill a yr figure [$2.5 in 2005, 3.5 mill in 2006] I think Cora could get an everyday gig somewhere else. Why be a backup at age 29? that the Sox seem to be going after Iguchi [who'd cost more than both Cora and Cairo] is a good thing. He's more of a risk. But also has a higher upside. Harris should stick around [your bias notwithstanding ]. He has upside as well, even if it's coming off the bench, pinch running and hitting vs RHP. Whether his ego will let him do that is another matter. I wouldn't trade Harris now [though it depends on who the sox could get] He could have more trade value during spring, or midseason, esp. if a 2b goes down on another team.

Except you of course. And the class you bring to this board....

Mariotti's gotten more and more vindictive about Reinsdorf in the past yr. It's way beyond facts and figures and it's mostly personal. Seeing how the Bulls and Sox provide a good bit of revenue for the radio station, having a pissing contest between a mediocre talk show host and one of its major cash streams isn't good business. If you were paying the bills, wouldn't you try to use some influence? Nor did it make for good radio. Mariotti is a bomb thrower, who never has to face the consequences of what he's said and written publicly. He contradicted himself so many times, he seemed like a guy with multiple personalities. Carmen DeFalco [wasn't that him who co-hosted with Jay for awhile?] questioned Mariotti, pressed him to go beyond his talking points, and Jay couldn't say anything coherent. That was good radio. But it exposed how weak and petty Mariotti's points were. And showed him to be a guy trying to settle a personal grudge, by spinning his tales, regardless of the facts

Probably. If AZ goes the money route for RJ, getting lesser prospects and more cash from NY, they'd have to pitch in a lot of cash spinning Vazquez off to a 3rd team. I read somewhere that AZ didn't really like Navarro and Duncan. AZ sounds like they have idiots in charge of talent there. Their track record in trades certainly indicates that. Maybe the Sox could get away with trading less talent than Anderson, esp as he's so close to the majors

I don't see a big market for Iguchi. Most teams are set at 2B. Esp. the "playoff contenders". Even the Red sox who were mentioned as interested have Belhorn who had a .899 OPS vs LHP last yr, and they got Ramon Vazquez as a UTL guy [who hits RHP well]. With Cairo, Cora and Iguchi out there the sox should get someone decent.

If the sox could deal just w/ NY a deal could get worked out. But AZ likes the rock too much [What else can explain the fascination in getting Shawn Green and his $16 mill a yr contract?]. There likely won't be a deal for Vazquez [unless its at the trade deadline and AZ is 20 games back]

I see the AL staffs [with RJ going to the Yanks] stacked up this way: 1. NYY 2. Bos 3. Ana [could step back to near middle of the pack; but starts the yr near the top] 4. Sox [must get consistency and starts from Jon, Jose and Orlando; could be in the top 3] 5. A's [sP will prob. surprise people; has a lot of upside, esp in the pen with Cruz, Calero, Dotel, Bradford, etc.] 6. Minn. [Questions in 3rd-5th spots, and set up guys in 'pen. Mays and Lohse don't cut it for me. Silva should have an ERA near 5.00. Have to get rookies to step up]

Good riddance. I always thought Mariotti was a hack sports journalist, and his radio show just confirmed that: he was factually inaccurate; had faulty assertions; weak arguemnets; would easily jump to conclusions; wouldn't accept anything less than perfection from others yet his facts/ opinions were based on mostly grade school logic and vendettas. Mariotti actually thinks he's "telling it like it is". He isn't. He's a hack writer who doesn't do his homework and spreads misinformation. I'm surprised he's lasted in Chi. for this long

With Chicago a big tourist magnet anyway, having extra tourists visit the cell for Sox games makes sense. Coming to see an everyday Japanese player, as well as a closer, may factor in

From the NY Daily News: "The Yankees and Diamondbacks renewed negotiations last night on a deal that would put Randy Johnson in pinstripes. Sources said Diamondbacks executive Jeffrey Moorad contacted Yankees president Randy Levine to restart the talks that had been aborted last week when the Dodgers pulled out of a potential three-team trade. It is believed the talks are back to a 1-on-1 between the Yankees and Arizona. The deal is expected to be a Johnson-for-Javier Vazquez exchange, with the Yankees adding prospects believed to be pitchers Brad Halsey and Melky Cabrera, in addition to cash." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If a deal like this comes down, no way do the Sox deal for Vazquez w/ the dbacks. They'll want to trade Vazquez for a kings ransom just so they won't look stupid getting little for RJ. The dbacks would ask for far too much in return for Vazquez. Plus they'd likely pocket the cash from the yanks, w/o paying any of Vaz's salary.

I can see signing Iguchi to a $2.5--3 mill a yr deal; [his career numbers in Japan are more in line w/ So Taguchi's [who made $1 mill last yr] than either Kaz Matsui [$6.7 mill] or Hideki Matsui [$7 mill]. It sounds like he was completely healthy the last two yrs, where he hit .340/.438/.573 in 04 and .333/.399/.549 in 03. His career numbers in Japan of .277/.349/.471 are very low compared to his last 2 yrs. Iguchi is prob. trying to get a deal like Kaz Matsui's based on his last two yrs. Yet it isn't likely. Kaz had a career of .309/.361/.486 when he came to the US. Hideki had .304/.413/.582 when he came over. So Taguchi in Japan hit .277/.333/.387 for his career. He's hit in the US .290/.339/.440 Looking at Iguchi a little closer, if his defense is solid, his bat would be a good fit. He has more power than Kaz, less speed than him, though more SB's than Polanco, Cora or Cairo. Esp if Iguchi hits closer to his last 2 yrs, he should be able to hit .280+ with a solid OBP near .350. [i'm going on how both Matsui's did in the two yrs prior to coming to the US--and how they had some dropoff. Iguchi had better avg's than both Hideki and Kaz, higher OBP than KAz but lower than Hideki; and lower SLG than both] Interesting that KAz had SLG % of .617 in 02 and .549 in 03. Hideki had SLG of .617 in 01 and .692 in 02. But I could see signing/ trading for a C, after getting someone for 2b and calling it an offseason [Yet if Vazquez's asking price drops they'd likely go after him]

I saw this from an early Dec. article talking about the Red sox interest in getting Iguchi: ---LaRocca credits winter ball in Mexico last year as giving him a good start in Japan. “I saw a lot of off-speed stuff in Mexico because they figure you can hit a fastball. So when I got over to Japan I was facing a lot of the same pitches.” --- --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sox sure can use a guy who can hit offspeed stuff. It would be a nice change of pace from the Jose Valentin '3 pitches and out' AB's.

I think Timo's injury [which wasn't talked about until after the season] really hurt his production. At first glance, he seems very avg. Ozzie and Kw, for some reason, have both talked up timo, even if they didn't have a lot of stats to back them up. Yet I'll give Timo the benefit of the doubt that he'll improve on his 2004. I'm fine with Davis as a backup. Yet if the sox didn't sign Davis, that would have left the sox w/ a 34 yr old journeyman C who was hitting under .230 in AAA when he was called up last yr. Davis' $1 mill contract is low enough that the sox can still improve this position, either before the season or during

I guess you didn't read everything I wrote. I said that Phi. would probably send cash in a deal [say $1 mill]. The Sox like to trade talent [guys who prob. wouldn't make the sox 25 roster]. If Phi can get talent in return for Polanco, they should include cash in a deal. And $4 mill for a veteran starting 2b, who can hit #2, and play multiple positions, isn't a bad deal. He's insurance at 3b and SS. If Crede or Uribe go down, the sox would pay far more than $4 mill in terms of talent or salary to find a replacement So get over it. BTW-I don't see many C's out there. so it looks like the Sox are staying put. So spending money at 2B is doable. [And I don't see Everett and his $4 mill staying around. His $4 mill is as "insurance". It doesn't seem to fit the sox MO] And Valdez is a SS. He's a guy who has a decent glove and can prob hit .240-.250. He's not better than Polanco. Valdez is a UTL man at best