Kenny Hates Prospects

Having a true lead-off man would be great, but our two biggest weaknesses this year have been our team defense and pitching (4th and 5th starters and the front of our bullpen minus Carrasco). With having 5 actual Major League starters all better than #5's, we should be able to fix the starting pitching problems and also become far less reliant upon the bullpen guys we really don't want to pitch in tight situations. This should help our team defense too because more well-pitched games means a faster pace and a more alert defense. If we can get an above-average defensive RF we'd get a LOT better on the road. If Adrian Beltre can be had cheaply then I'd also like to move Beckham to 2B and deal Chris Getz. Actually, what about signing Beltre to a cheap 2-year deal and then dealing Getz to the Marlins (95% chance they trade Uggla this year) for Cody Ross? Cody can play CF and RF, has a strong and accurate arm, has speed, and a is a lefty bat. He's not the best hitter in the world when it comes to average, but he can draw a walk (OBP at .323 despite hitting .267) and has some pop (20 HR this year, 22 HR last year, .483 career SLG). Our OF offense would take a hit on paper, but with a return to form by Quentin and just career average performance out of Rios it will still be a lot better than this year's performance. With a D like that we'll actually be in position to out-pitch and out-defend many of our opponents which is a HUGE key for winning road games which we've sucked at.

Thank you Steve9347! I was worried I might have to shake the crimestick at you hooligans!

AWESOME posts! Someone needs to post the "Dream of a Lifetime" sketch where they try to be like the Make a Wish Foundation and end up making that kid "snow" out of frozen cola and noodles. Oh and the NAMBLA: We're not Killers! bit too. Damn, every f***ing episode of that show is classic. Thanks for these videos.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 8, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) Torres, Nunez, Hernandez, Link, Egbert have 24 major league innings combined between them. What gives anyone the right to just write them off immediately? I don't think Torres really have a spot on this team next year unless someone gets hurt. Freddy should be back in the rotation, and if not, it'll probably be Hudson. Carrasco has the LR spot on lockdown, and Torres doesn't exactly have the stuff to pitch out of the pen unless it's a LR role, especially as a righty. If Torres was a lefty it would be a different story because we have ziltch as far as lefties go. Nunez should have a chance to compete for a one-inning job in the pen, same with Link, but Nunez looks like he's passed Link on the depth chart. I'd say the same about DRod too. Both Link and DRod could be gone after the year. Hernandez is supposed to have a very nice change, but he lacks the velocity to really interest the Sox as a righty. Kenny loves the harder throwers with sink and Fernando is probably out of the picture for next year, and I think there's a very good chance Fernando is with another team in ST next year. Egbert probably had his shot too, as brief as it was. There would have to be several injuries or the complete implosions of several veterans in the pen for Egbert to get another shot. With Peavy back he'd be no better than 8th on the starting depth chart, and he could easily be behind Harrell, Hynick, Cassell, and Ely as well, and possibly even Whisler. Egbert could easily be the 14th starter right now, and as a long man he's in about the same situation because the others in front of him in the rotation pecking order are probably ahead of him in the LR pecking order also. Egbert being moved back to the rotation after the failed relief experiment is very telling when it comes to his future here. I'd bet on the Sox waiving Egbert over the offseason to clear a 40-man roster spot to protect a couple guys from the Rule-5. IMO, this is how it should shake out if we keep Jenks and don't bring in another veteran: 5th starter "competition": Freddy, Hudson, Torres, Hynick with Freddy having to be HORRIBLE to lose the job. Torres and Hynick will just be there to push Freddy and Hudson a bit. One 6th inning RHP spot in the pen: Hudson (first crack), Nunez (second crack), with Omogrosso, Harrell, Santeliz, and Nathan Jones making up the majority of the competition. Link, DRod, and Hernandez could bring up the rear, but all could be gone by next spring. Link IMO has the best shot of the 3 at staying in the organization. Secondary lefty competition: Kenny will bring in a bunch of nobodies, maybe he picks up a couple guys with legit arms. Randy Williams could return on a minor league contract, but he probably gets dropped from the 40-man. Whisler might be off the roster too, it depends on how many guys the Sox have to protect and what other moves they make, but if Whisler is dropped he could also sign a minor league deal and compete for the spot. If this competition is full of a bunch of sorry asses then Charlie Leesman and Santos Rodriguez will be brought in to push whoever is there. The odds are very long against either of those guys making the team, but if the lefties Kenny brings in are as bad as they were in 2006, there's always that chance. As the season moves along, if Hudson starts in the pen, the Sox will slowly groom him for a regular late inning role. If Hudson gets comfortable there and does very well, then Torres/Hynick/Ely/Shirek/Harrell could be the main options if we need a spot start or if a starter goes down.

I'm a huge Mr. Show fan so I love Bob Odenkirk, and that made me watch the show a few times. I didn't care for most of what I saw, but I remember a "friend arbitration" sketch where some guy shot his friends dog or something and Bob was the arbitrator. I laughed my ass off at that one. I don't how how much influence Odenkirk has on that show, but I think he's a producer or something. With Mr. Show most people either seemed to love all the sketches or hated most of it, and I was one who loved just about everything they ever did. Maybe this show is kind of similar, but there's no way it can reach the heights of Mr. Show EVER. Mr. Show = best P4P skit comedy show ever IMO.

As I see it, 2010 is when the window of contention that we've been building for officially opens. IMO, Freddy in the rotation with Huddy in the pen gives us the best chance of winning in 2010.

Yeah, I think Hudson just might be one of the answers we're looking for in the pen for 2010. Then if something happens to one of our starters, we can put Hudson into the rotation and stretch him out. I don't see why Hudson would have to spend the full year as a starter to properly develop either. Working on the side with Coop while getting to know AL hitters shouldn't hurt him. And BTW, just think about this: next year, if we bring back Freddy as a #5 and he's healthy (which he should be), then we'll have 5 guys in rotation capable of pitching 200+ innings for us. Add in a very effective LR in DJ Carrasco. If we keep Jenks then we've got our closer, and Thornton is our primary lefty and 8th inning guy. If Hudson can step up and fill out that late-inning righty setup role, then the first 6 innings are taken care of and so are most of the 8th and 9th innings. That means we can look at both Pena and Linebrink as 7th inning guys instead of relying on them as late go-to guys. Pick up a lefty specialist and we might actually end up with a well-rested and above-average bullpen next year.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Sep 7, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) I'm not talking about Anderson's surgery. I'm talking about the "I wanna fight Roy Jones", the "Marquart/Henderson should fight each other first", the "I wanna rest". Wasn't this the same guy that said he wanted to fight as much as he could? As for your points on Rampage. 1. So dude went insane for a bit. 2. He's already said he's doing this for the payday. 3. I'm pretty sure there's been much worse done to represent the sport. 4. I can't blame you on that, but to put a positive spin on it...this will give much more publicity to the sport. Yeah, Rashad is talented but he's still overhyped by people to me. He almost lost to Tito, which IIRC Tito wins if he doesn't hold onto the cage. Barely beats Bisping. I'll give you the Liddell KO, beats an overhyped Forrest & loses to Machida. Until Rashad gives me a performance worthy of his hype. I'll continue to pick the guy who's done it before. Yeah I don't get the fascination with wanting to box RJJ either. I really hope this never happens. Anderson should be calling out Fedor or something if he wants a challenge without having to fight Lyoto. Granted Fedor is in Strikeforce, but at least that's better than calling out a boxer. Or maybe Anderson could call out Melvin Manhoef or something. Anderson wanting Hendo and Nate to fight for the #1 contender makes sense to me because he finished them both. Plus, I'd love to see that fight anyway, and with Hendo wanting to go back to 205, this might be the only chance we get to see Nate and Hendo go at it. Ha, I like how you can just write off Rampage's insanity spree like that. Yeah, okay, so he thought he was Jesus for spell, so what? Don't we all have days like that? Rampage is fighting Rashad for the payday? Why wouldn't he rather headline a PPV in a title fight? I think deep down he knows Machida would whoop his ass and he'd rather put that off. I mean, why would ANY fighter other than possibly Fedor pass up on a shot at a UFC belt? That's the top of the mountain and the most cheddah grows there. You make a great point. Joe Son, Lee Murray, Justin Levens, etc. have all done far worse things than Rampage did. In some ways I think you're right on the fourth point, so I'll concede that one too. It pisses me off though and it takes away a lot of the interest that will be built through the airing of TUF. In the process he's screwing his fans, Rashad's fans, his own hometown, the TUF viewers, as well as the UFC. Rashad just keeps getting better. I agree on the Tito fight that Tito probably would have won had he not kept grabbing the fence because Rashad wasn't exactly putting on a wrestling/GNP clinic in that fight. He looked terrible. He looked gun-shy and pretty much scared of the spotlight. But, that was also his first real high-profile fight. The TUF finale and the fights afterwards are a lot more low-key than a Tito fight. The Rashad that had fought prior to the Chuck fight never really was all that exciting, and I don't think he had it come together for him yet. Other than the head kick KO of Sean Salmon he wasn't extremely impressive IMO. But he has just gotten better and better since then, and I see him as a pretty complete fighter at this point. I don't think Forrest is overhyped either. Forrest is what he is. He has great cardio and leg kicks and tons of heart. He keeps his distance well and looks to turn everything into a battle of conditioning and intangibles, and if he can do that then he'll usually win. He used to brawl in his earlier days, but he doesn't have nearly enough speed, accuracy, or power to do that at a high level. Against Rashad, Forrest was doing great until he fell into a trap of doing the same things over and over again, then Rashad caught his kick and put him out from there. Against Anderson, Forrest looked like a nobody, but Anderson has done that to a ton of guys. And the Forrest that fought Anderson also decided to come forward and try to brawl with Anderson more like the old Forrest, which is about the dumbest gameplan anyone can take. Had Forrest fought the way he had been fighting in his more recent fights I think he would have made it to the 2nd round at least before getting destroyed, but there was just no way for him to win that fight. As for Rampage-Rashad though, there's only two advantages I can think of right now for Rampage. One is that Rampage is a much better starter in a fight while Rashad typically starts the first and sometimes second rounds slowly. The other is that Rampage has the tighter boxing IMO, but I don't think that will matter much because both guys LOVE to brawl. IMO if Rampage wins it'll probably be early in the fight before Rashad gets comfortable, and it'll be because Rampage presses the fight from the start and keeps Rashad moving, with Rampage backing Rashad up near the fence, but then being conservative in the exchanges and looking use straight punches to counter Rashad before backing away. I think if Rampage looks to make it a point fight early, when Rashad is usually having difficulty finding his range, then he'll be able to land some shots and force Rashad into a brawling mode where Rampage will be able to pick him apart with his boxing and finish him. But what I see happening is Rampage looking for a brawl right away, with Rashad moving well and countering, mixing in kicks, and then frustrating Rampage, making Rampage get wild, and then Rashad beating Rampage to the punch. Either way, I see this fight ending the same way Rampage-Wanderlei 3 and Rashad-Chuck did, with both guys standing in front of each other until someone goes down.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 10:32 PM) Especially considering that Kenny just picked up Rios' contract, which is even worse. I actually think Rios can be great bargain. Even with career lows in terms of AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS this season weighing his numbers down, Rios is still a career .282/.332/.447/.778 hitter. All his current numbers are waaay below those figures (.250/.298/.404/.702) and if he can just get back to his career lines, as a very good defensive CF with speed on the basepaths, and with a propensity for making a lot of contact (his Sox K numbers are also waaaay out of line for a healthy player with his track record), then he is definitely worth his contract IMO. Beyond that, he has the potential to be worth a lot more, and his deal takes him right through his prime. I'd much rather take on another Rios than give the same amount of money over 4 years to Figgins because at least with Rios he's a big plus in the field, he's younger, and he has the potential to well outperform his salary if he can get back to the player he was in Toronto in 2006 and 2007. With Figgins, you're paying what he's worth at MAX value, and then hoping his legs don't give out as you're paying him to get older. Rios was only given the length of deal he got because Toronto wanted to have him at below-market throughout his prime, and Rios took it for security.

QUOTE (son of a rude @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 09:27 PM) Read basically all his scouting reports. He has a great slider. Freddy relies more on location now that he has lost velocity on his pitches. I'm not sure how you can say he has better stuff than Hudson just because you haven't seen Hudson pitch. FutureSox has his slider as above-average to plus, and yes, I'd like to view it before I call it "great" or "filthy." Freddy has 5 pitches he can throw for strikes and he changes speeds on just about everything. He has a split and a curve that can make very good hitters look foolish and he also uses his change well, although he's still working on getting that pitch down more. I've said this a thousand times, but this is Freddy's Spring Training right now. Of course Freddy relies on location with this fastball, all pitchers do, but few guys can pinpoint a fastball, so keeping the opposition off balance is important, and Freddy does that very well. Freddy doesn't need to throw mid-90's to get hitters out, and Hudson doesn't even do that anyway. The video I saw on him before seeing some of him with the Sox said he was low-90's before fading a little later in the game. As for other scouting reports, I've been reading about Hudson since he came into the system and I've yet to read something that makes him out to be more than a #3 starting prospect which is exactly where FutureSox puts him BTW. Freddy was a #3 pitcher the last time he was healthy, even after having lost velocity on his fastball, because of his repertoire, and so I wouldn't expect to see a rookie Hudson fare any better in 2010 than a healthy Freddy Garcia. And I just did another search on his slider BTW, and the best thing I could find about his slider was the mention that it was a plus pitch grading 60 on an 80 scale (50 is average), but this was also from back when he was at Old Dominion before he came into the organization where they made changes to his delivery. That report also said he was tipping his curveball, which was just a hanger, and that he had no feel for his changeup. So I'll wait and see for myself on that one before I gush about how great and filthy his slider is.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 08:43 PM) I should of figured that once Penn/Sanchez was put on the card that Rampage was taking the movie role. I'd rather have him delay a fight for something like this instead of "needing time to rest" *coughs* Anderson Silva *coughs* BTW, I fixed your quote. Anderson had elbow surgery. We'll have to wait and see on that Rampage-Rashad fight then. Both are strong counter punchers, but I think Rashad has the quicker hands, is faster and quicker on his feet, has become better defensively, has more weapons in his arsenal (kicks especially, which Rampage STILL leaves himself wide open for), and Rashad also has enough wrestling to cancel out Rampage's wrestling if Rampage actually did feel like doing something other than standing there trying to box. I also think Rampage gets out of his game mentally too much. In the last year and half or whatever, he has done all of the following: 1. He went on a fast, which was apparently recommended by a leprechaun who was stealing money from him, and in the process, while thinking he was Jesus Christ, he got into a monster truck with his own likeness painted on it, then proceeded to get himself involved in a police chase where he rammed other motorists and almost got his ass sued. 2. He gets a shot at the title but then decides he'd rather go on TUF AGAIN to settle some stupid score against a former champion. 3. He represents the sport by making the news for dry-humping a reporter. 4. He finally gets the Rashad fight that he wants, and in his OWN HOME TOWN, but then he decides he's going to delay it because he'd rather play Mr. T in some s***ty movie. I don't see Rashad ever doing any of those things. I see Rashad busting his ass the whole time training for this fight and not worrying about anything else.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 08:22 PM) And I think you're highly overrating Freddy Garcia. Freddy is a fraction of the pitcher he used to be. He has lost the majority of his stuff, while maintaining a decent feel for his breaking stuff, and admirable placement on his fastball. He still tends to leave the ball up high in the zone, but has experience success due to some great location work, and some fantastic game calling from the catcher. The way I see it this: Daniel Hudson is a kid who is sky rocketing up this system. He'd experienced success at every level, and right now, he reached the pinnacle. He's in the big leagues. Hudson has the raw stuff to get anybody out. His fastball is a plus-pitch, his slider is filthy, and everything else in his repertoire seems to be developing quite nicely. It's natural to assume Hudson is going to struggle at some point either this year or next year, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's to be expected The simple question is this: say both Freddy and Hudson have good years next year: who has more value to this organization? The 34-year old World Series hero with maybe another year in front of him, or the 22-year old fireball with his whole future ahead of him? I think the answer is easy, even if Hudson fails I think the answer is easy. Call me a blind optimist, but I think Hudson has a hell of a future in this rotation. Putting him back a year in exchange for Fat Freddy is delaying the inevitable. I disagree on Freddy losing his stuff. It looks to me like he's getting it back as he gets stronger. I've yet to see this filthy slider from Hudson. If he gets a start then I'll make sure to watch it. If both Freddy and Hudson have good years next year, of course Hudson has more value to the organization going forward. But that's not the point. If we let Freddy go then we've got Torres, Ely, Hynick, Egbert, etc. as our next option if someone goes down. Hudson has the fastball and control to do well out of the bullpen, and I could even see him filling out that setup role for us while getting experience. Then if someone goes down we can put Hudson in the rotation instead of relying on the pitchers named above. I disagree that we'd be holding Hudson back by starting him off in the pen. This isn't another McCarthy. With BMac the guy didn't have the fastball and he had to get his change and curve over for strikes in order to work off that fastball. Hudson can go out there with one pitch, locate, and get hitters out in the process, so putting him in the pen isn't setting him up for failure or holding him back at all IMO, it is allowing him to take advantage of the strongest part of his game and find success with it.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 08:34 PM) This is how they calculate a player's worth, "Wins above replacement player converted to a dollar scale based on what a player would make in free agency." I understand that it's not realistic, but it is based on a player's actual production. The point of my previous post is that I think Figgins would be worth signing. He's a runs machine and now possesses a plus-glove. I see, and thanks for pointing that out because I've seen some of these numbers before and I had no idea how they were coming up with them. I think the problem giving so much money for Figgins is that if he loses his speed then he loses a ton of value, and I think 4 years is probably a lot to offer because it is paying him to use his legs through his age 35 season. He does do a lot of great things though. He steals a ton of bases, sees a lot of pitches, makes a lot of contact, walks a lot, and he's versatile defensively. I'd go 4 years on him only if the 4th year was a vesting option that exercised itself upon hitting certain benchmarks in plate appearances, batting average, and stolen bases. But it's unlikely that happens and Figgins almost certainly gets guaranteed money from someone, and I'm guessing it'll be the Angels again.

I'm disliking Rampage more and more by the day. I'm sad he's delaying his fight with Rashad because I think Rashad is going to KTFO him, and I can't wait to see it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 08:15 PM) That is exactly the kind of contract I'm talking about. Are you saying 4/$44 is a bad deal to give Figgins? Because if so, I agree.

D2's batting average is down to .243 now. Drew O'Neill is having a solid season in most areas where it matters: 51 hits in 60.1IP, ZERO home runs, his GO/AO is an awesome 3.41, and righties are only hitting .199 off him. He needs to really cut down on his walks, especially against RH. Against LH O'Neill is struggling. Lefties are hitting .323 off him and walking at a 6.06 BB/9 rate. But, his GO/AO vs. LH (4.13) is actually a lot higher than against RH. Otherwise, the 35 K is no problem because he's not a strikeout pitcher, and the BAA vs. lefties really shouldn't be much of an issue either because he's a righty specialist prospect as it is. So where it really counts, O'Neill is doing great all-around, he just needs to really cut down on those walks vs. RHP. If he does get to the Majors with the Sox then hopefully Ozzie has learned from his misuse of Wassermann and will put O'Neill in a role where he can succeed.

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 07:38 PM) The perfect reason that any stat site should be taken with a grain of salt. I don't know what Fangraphs' calculations are based on, but it's not reality.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 05:40 PM) See, I think this is a really interesting question. Are we rebuilding? By a lot of measures this was a rebuilding year, and a preliminary sketch for 2010 shows only two gaping holes to fill (Corner OF, Pen), at the same time, given the success we’ve experience with what I like to refer to as the, “rapid rebuild.” I don’t think having Hudson as our #5 is really out of the question anymore. Also, you know how I love my power arms, DA. Okay, explain these things to me: 1. How does Hudson have better stuff than Freddy. I counted a better fastball, that's it. 2. How is Hudson a power arm but Freddy is not? Freddy works about 88-92 when he's not taking something off, Hudson reportedly about 91-94. Freddy has an assortment of breaking stuff that can be nasty, mostly that curve and splitter. Hudson has supposedly a pretty good change and a slider which personally I know nothing about, but I've never seen it rated highly. In the FutureSox interview Hudson basically says he uses his fastball to both get ahead and put people away, with his change being a primary weapon against lefties. And Hudson himself doesn't even think he's a power arm, he actually says he's in between being that and a finesse guy. I think you're way overrating Hudson and way underrating Freddy. Hudson is not your typical power arm, nor has he shown better all-around stuff than Freddy. Hudson appears to be a great find for us and he has enough to succeed in the Majors, but to expect him to come out and out-pitch a guy like Freddy as a rookie is nuts. Have you seen some of the swings Yankees and Red Sox hitters were taking at Freddy's breaking stuff? If Hudson shows me something like that I'll be all for throwing him right into the rotation. Otherwise, Hudson is a confident pitcher who throws strikes with an above-average fastball, and that sounds like the kind of guy we could use in our bullpen. Hudson says in his interview that he hasn't been using his curve as anything other than a show-me pitch every once in a while, so put him in the bullpen and let him work on that while he's there. Plus in the pen he can pitch off his fastball and changeup which is what he's most confident in anyway. Just because Hudson is ready to pitch in the Majors doesn't mean he's ready to get MLB hitters out 3 times through the lineup on a consistent basis. I like Hudson a lot too but I think we're getting carried away here.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 06:22 PM) Perhaps you guys need to add some ingredients... 1. Go to Comerica Park with a large cauldron. 2. Add the following ingredients to the cauldron: 3 toads feet 1 cup shredded leather from Brandon Inge's glove from the 2006 World Series 1 brick from the old Tiger Stadium 25 Bobby Higginson rookie cards 1 pint of Dontrelle Willis blood 1 oz. Jair Jurrjens pubic hair (good luck shaving those balls, you'll need a f***ing weedwhacker) 25 newspapers with references to Rob Deer being a good hitter 3 oz. Gary Sheffield urine 3. Kill 3 Detroit-area crackheads, drain their blood, and add this to the soup. 4. Bring to a rolling boil, then simmer for 25 minutes. 5. Steal a game-used hat from Allan Trammell's house from his managing career, then use the hat to scoop out the liquid, forming a large circle in the parking lot outside of Comerica Park. 6. Inside this circle, light Neifi Perez on fire. Just let him burn for a while. 7. After Neifi is nice and charred, but still wiggling around in the fetal position, scoop three more hatfuls out of the cauldron and toss them at Neifi to put out the fire. 8. Turn to the East, then chant three times: This is what you get you f***ers! This is what you get you f***ers! This is what you get you f***ers! And that should about do it. Expect a 15 game losing streak to begin immediately. Caution: casting this spell most likely leads to the 2009 AL Central Champion Minnesota Twins.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 6, 2009 -> 08:07 AM) Does anyone want to give me a proper explanation for Garcia over Hudson, other then nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake? Why wouldn’t we want our top pitching prospect as our #5, rather than an aging, injury-prone vet who seems to be getting by more on guile then stuff? Here are 15 reasons. 1. Because "new" isn't always better. 2. Because counting on rookies can easily lead to disappointment since there is no track record to speak of. 3. Because Freddy does have that aformentioned track record. 4. Because Freddy has his fastball back and his breaking stuff is coming back, and we all saw in 2006 what he can do with the same stuff he has now. 5. Because this "injury-prone" comment is actually a gross misrepresentation, as prior to undergoing TJ, from which he has now recovered, Freddy has worked at least 200IP in every season since 2001. 6. Because Danny Hudson has the stuff and command to be a huge asset for us while gaining experience out of the bullpen. 7. Because Danny Hudson is not exactly Phil Hughes or Tommy Hanson and it's not like we're exchanging a #1/#2 for a #5. Freddy is still capable of being a #3 and if he stays healthy he should at least be a #4 out of the rotation. 8. Because it's better to have extra depth than none at all. 9. Because Carlos Torres and Brandon Hynick are probably not anywhere as good as Sox fans think they are, and if they are going to be considered options then John Ely is right there with them too. 10. Because although Freddy does indeed continue to get older whereas young players are frozen in time, Freddy is also 34 and not exactly in his late 30's or 40's. 11. Because there's no reason to fear Freddy's age to begin with. People look at age for pitchers generally because they are concerned about injuries and loss of velocity. Well, Freddy has already had his injury and has come back from it, and his velocity is already down from where it had been in his prime. But Freddy has actually gained velocity and gained command through his recovery, and I have no idea why an 88-92mph fastball version of Freddy would be expected to drop velocity as he gets stronger. 12. Because a $1M, one-year deal for what could be one of the best 5th starters in baseball is not exactly a waste of money. 13. Because even if something happens and Freddy gets lit up next year, we can dump him easily without having to pay him to play for someone else. 14. Because Freddy knows American League hitters and how to pitch to them. 15. Because Freddy has game balls.

Here's my stab: Sign Figgins, Beltre, and Damon Trade Alexei, Flowers, D2, Hudson and Getz to SD for Adrian Gonzalez and Everth Cabrera Trade Paulie for salary relief, and prospects if we can get some (SF? LAD? ATL?) Trade a minor leaguer for a young lefty reliever who is ready L Figgins CF - 3 years $30m, $10M per R Beckham 2B - $400K L Gonzalez 1B - $4.75M R Quentin LF - arb L Damon DH - 2 years $12M, $6M per R Rios RF - $9.7M L Pierzynski C - $6.25M R Beltre 3B - 2 years $12M, $6M per S Cabrera SS - $400K Rotation: Peavy - $15M Buehrle - $14M Floyd - $2.75M Danks - arb Garcia - $2M Bullpen: Linebrink - $5M Thornton - $2.25M Carrasco - $1M Pena - arb Jenks - arb Mystery lefty reliever - $400K In-house rookie reliever - $400K Bench: 4 guys at the league minimum - $1.6M Total = $87.9M + arb to Quentin, Danks, Pena, and Jenks. This should bring us to about $100-$106M or so in 2010 depending on what CQ and Danks get.

That blows. Swick-Kampmann could have been another FOTY candidate. Instead, though I like Semtex, expect Kampmann to get him down and make short work of him. What also sucks is that if Kampmann wins then I assume he's still getting GSP, which is kind of dumb because beating Paul Daley doesn't exactly make one worthy of a GSP fight. And then GSP will crush Kampmann, same old same old. At least with the Kampmann-Swick fight we would have gotten to see one possibly great fight out of the two.

With time, the same way it improved in the DBacks organization. He's only 23 years old and was extremely raw until a couple years ago. There's no reason to believe players can improve their games at every level of the minors but not once they are in the majors. MLB pitchers are going to exploit whatever the scouting reports say his weaknesses are until he proves he can adjust. Allen is a guy I think can adjust. And all I'm saying in this thread is that I think he has potential beyond what seems to be the consensus, and also that we sold low. From a Sox perspective, what Allen does or does not do in his career is irrelevant from here on out because he's already gone. All that matters is if we could have gotten something a lot better than Tony Pena, which I think is the case.

QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 05:08 PM) Not sure I see how shirek is a better prospect than john ely considering he's older and has less impressive numbers. My top 5 is the same as KHP but after that it gets fuzzy. Shirek IMO is the guy with the better stuff and higher ceiling while Ely is the kind of guy that could be an overachiever. With 4 starters under control, an option on Freddy, and Danny Hudson knocking on the door, it's probably unlikely either end up in Chicago unless it's out of the pen, and both would be facing a numbers game in that scenario. Kenny will probably trade them both.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 04:54 PM) You can't leave out Christian Marrero. I won't include him until you at least tell me why I should during your next edition of the highly-anticipated JPNese blog.