KW was interested in Randy Johnson a few years ago. He could be a 1-2 stopgap to allow Danks, Gio, etc to mature. Johnson could make the staff better than last season if healthy.

Not for his price.

 

He wants to be in Arizona anyway, he has a home there.

Not for his price.

 

He wants to be in Arizona anyway, he has a home there.

 

 

 

no no no- Danks will win more than the unit.

D-Backs will not want the entire salary. He would probably take a place closer to home but would want a contender. If back healthy, this would be a major type move that KW loves to make (if not Clemens). It would also make more sense to the McCarthy move to open up a rotation spot for a year until the prospects are ready.

No, No, & No....

 

He is too old, too creaky, and WAY too pricey....

 

I would take my chances elsewhere...

 

Not to mention...He is the ugliest man in baseball...

I'll pass on Johnson.

 

His innings and K's have continued to decline over the last couple of years, while his ERA, Walks, and BAA are going up. Those are all bad trends.

In the NL, he can be a god again.

ESPN alluded to the fact that the Yanks are looking to drop some salary and Johnson is a move they would like to make. Think they may want to replace him with Zito? If so and it only cost someone like Broadway, I think the Sox would do it in a heartbeat. Right now the bandwagon and media have the Sox in the middle of a fire greater than that created by a cow many years back. This is a KW move if ther ever was one. THE SOX HAVE MONEY TO SPEND!!!!!! This and Clemens are one year gambles. If Clemens or Johnson flame out, there is a parade of young arms ready, willing and able. Tell Johnson to meet the team at the next destination and enjoy a couple of days at home between starts, same with Clemens.

 

If this team does nothing and wins only 85 games the bandwagon will be gone and point at this. KW can not sit pat I believe there is a greater move out there. I think there will either be a big extension for Buerhle or big trade.

i'd do it in a heartbeat. a 1 year stopgap before these youngsters are anywhere close to being ready makes perfect sense.

 

but i'd only do it if New York picked up 1/2 his salary. Thus the Sox would be responsible for $8 million or so (Freddy Garcia savings).

 

17 wins in each of his past 2 seasons aren't bad. He had a poor 2006 with a 5.00ERA, but he'd still be our #3 or #4 starter.

I fail to see why we'd want a 43-year old starter that posted an ERA of 5 last year for somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 mil.

 

If we were going to do that we might as well have kept Freddy, it just makes no sense...

I fail to see why we'd want a 43-year old starter that posted an ERA of 5 last year for somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 mil.

 

If we were going to do that we might as well have kept Freddy, it just makes no sense...

 

Throwing money out of the equation as the Sox had money before the Garcia trade and have it now.

 

5 spot in the rotation; Garcia or McCarthy v. Johnson, Floyd, Gonzalez, Masserat, Danks, Haegar

 

He is a gamble but the reward is greater. Remember it is for one year only and he can be anywhere from a 1 to 5 in our rotation.

That move seems to be the opposite of the philosophy KW is currently pursuing. I don't think it would be a good move.

Throwing money out of the equation as the Sox had money before the Garcia trade and have it now.

 

5 spot in the rotation; Garcia or McCarthy v. Johnson, Floyd, Gonzalez, Masserat, Danks, Haegar

 

He is a gamble but the reward is greater. Remember it is for one year only and he can be anywhere from a 1 to 5 in our rotation.

 

The same could have been said for Garcia, he only had one year left on his deal as well, and with all the s*** we gave him he still out-pitched Johnson last year.

 

Johnson is just not the same pitcher he used to be, that's probably not going to help us, and it'll cost us a lot of money and at least one real prospect to take that risk.

That move seems to be the opposite of the philosophy KW is currently pursuing. I don't think it would be a good move.

 

I agree with you 100% but it is only for one year. If the six guys that are in the running all s*** the bed at AAA then we have a problem. Chances are two will be needed next year and can succeed while Johnson is the insurance policy that should they all suck we still have 5 MLB seasoned pitchers right now.

Money is not an object for KW when he wants to make a splash. Johnson would allow patience for Danks, Floyd etc.

 

Johnson, Floyd & Gio >>> Garcia

 

Yankees may want a run at Clemens (to reunite with Pettitte) and would need to clear rotation spot & salary. This would make the Sox who are willing to spend money the ultimate trade partner for Johnson.

I would think it would all depend on what the Yankees were asking for. Its amazing people think Johnson and his 5.00 ERA are done, but Buerhle and his 4.99 ERA is an automatic turnaround in 2007. I don't know how you could trade for Johnson before he shows if his back surgery did him any good or not.

I agree with you 100% but it is only for one year. If the six guys that are in the running all s*** the bed at AAA then we have a problem. Chances are two will be needed next year and can succeed while Johnson is the insurance policy that should they all suck we still have 5 MLB seasoned pitchers right now.

I'm with you, I really am, but I don't think The Unit is anywhere near where he once was. If the Sox picked him up, even if only for one year, he'd give us a year of hit-or-miss pitching. He wouldn't be the sure-fire consistent guy we'd be looking for in the #5 slot. I think we'd have to give up too much for what we'd be getting.

I would think it would all depend on what the Yankees were asking for. Its amazing people think Johnson and his 5.00 ERA are done, but Buerhle and his 4.99 ERA is an automatic turnaround in 2007. I don't know how you could trade for Johnson before he shows if his back surgery did him any good or not.

 

I think there are two reasons for that:

 

1) Age, and that's a big one. Johnson is about 15 years older than Buehrle. It's a lot more likely that Randy is simply done at 43 than Buehrle at 28. Plus given Randy's performance decline from 2004 (he went from dominant to decent to terrible awfully fast) that seems even more plausible.

 

2) Pitching style/velocity drop. Randy was always a guy that depended on bringing serious heat and throwing a hard slider to get you out. He simply doesn't have that anymore, his fastball is in the low to mid 90's now while his slider is still in the high 80's but without as much bite. Buehrle is also a little down (more like 85 IIRC), but he never really threw harder than 88 to start with. A year of rest and some refinement can get him back on track, while it's a lot less likely that does the trick for Randy.

Edited December 26, 200619 yr by ZoomSlowik

I think his back is about done, which is huge on a guy of his size and stature. The only thing worse would be the knees.

I can think of no circumstance where I'd be willing to give up both a player from our team/system and $10-$16 million next year (depending on what the Yankees throw in) to get Randy Johnson. I think he's currently worth neither the money he's being paid nor the talent it would take to get him, and I really don't care what that talent is. I wouldn't want to deal Jacob Rasner for Johnson at this point.

If the Yanks want to just unload him, fine. As long as we are talking about like a Jerry Owens for Johnson deal (we only have him for one year) and a couple million cash. I see absolutely no reason to give up anything worth while for Johnson.

If the Yanks are seriously looking to trim some payroll, maybe they will be still looking to dump A Rod as well....

If the Yanks are seriously looking to trim some payroll, maybe they will be still looking to dump A Rod as well....

If the Yankees do trade Johnson, I seriously doubt they are doing it to trim payroll (hell they'd probably be paying half or more of his deal anyway just to move him). If they do it, they're doing it because they have Philip Hughes and Humberto Sanchez, both of whom are probably ready to step into their rotation, and at least one of which (Hughes) looks to be incredibly good.

 

Right now their rotation is Mussina, Wang, Johnson, Pettitte, Hughes, Sanchez, Pavano (if he's even alive any more). They have 6 pitchers, 7 if you count Pavano. That leaves them some room to deal, and if they want Hughes in their rotation this year (Which they're crazy if they don't), then Johnson is probably the one they'd like to move the most.

I'm a big Johnson fan, ( ) but I wouldn't trade anything of great value to get him.

 

Yankee Retreads "R" Us.

FWIW, according to ESPN Arizona supposedly offered a 3-player package including one major leaguer, and San Diego also made an offer with Scott Linebrink as the centerpiece.