The Official MLB Offseason Topic

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

But then who will the Sox get to replace Manny?

[Guest Anglesault]

I'm sure they can find someone equally lazy and obnoxious somewhere. Just teach him how to hit.

[KingPK 0]

I heard on the radio today a trade idea that would send Manny to Texas for A-Rod and Nomar to Anaheim for Garret Anderson. I don't know if that would be plausible or not.

[Guest Anglesault]

I heard on the radio today a trade idea that would send Manny to Texas for A-Rod and Nomar to Anaheim for Garret Anderson. I don't know if that would be plausible or not.

Oh fuck me.

[KingPK 0]

Hey, Blame Aaron Boone and Grady Little for pissing off the Sox management so much that they would go to Steinbrenn-ian heights to win a championship.

[Guest Anglesault]

Hey, Blame Aaron Boone

Fuck Aaron Boone.

[KingPK 0]

Never thought I heard a Yankee fan say THAT. Hell, that homer pretty much earned him that extension. Lord knows he didn't do anything else to.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Question for Yankee fans (specifically Anglesault). Is there a better third baseman the team could've gotten this upcoming season?

[Guest Anglesault]

Lotta good that homer did us.

 

Oh, and his 800 errors and his .1-something BA in the world series were just a pleasure.

 

Oh, and he's the reason Weaver even got INTO that damn game.

 

I reiterate. Fuck Aaron Boone.

[Guest Anglesault]

Question for Yankee fans (specifically Anglesault). Is there a better third baseman the team could've gotten this upcoming season?

No.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Foulke is supposedly signing with Boston by Sunday.

 

The Garrett Anderson thing I heard on the radio too but I don't see it going through. Reason? Anaheim needs offense. If the Angels sign Colon they are willing to trade Jarrod Washburn or Ramon Ortiz for offense so one deal that could occur for the Sox is Nomar to Anaheim for Adam Kennedy, Brendon Donally, and Jarrod Washburn. They could then go trade Washburn for prospects to get the Farm System going again.

 

Oh and if we lose Manny there are plenty of good cheap OFers to go after...like Juan Encarnacion, Jose Guillen, etc

 

Out of curiousity I just wonder how much it would piss off AngleSault if the Sox went into the season looking like this

 

CF Damon

3B Mueller

LF Encarnacion/Guillen

SS A-Rod

DH David Ortiz

1B Millar

RF Trot Nixon

C Varitek

2B Adam Kennedy

 

Rotation;

Pedro

Schilling

Lowe

Wakefield

Kim

 

Bullpen

Timlin

Embree

Mendoza

Donally

Williamson

Foulke

 

then random players for a bench

[Guest Anglesault]

Actually, and this may just be me, but that pitching staff doesn't exactly strike fear in my heart.

 

Kim isn't very good, Wakefield's PS performance makes him seem better than he really is, I consider Lowe to be beatable, time on the DL (or at least missed starts) has to be factored in for Pedro's phantom injuries/temper tantrums, and who knows how Schilling will work out.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Check the splits, Wakefield is basically just as good as Vasquez (minus the strike-outs)

 

Also Kim was mis-used last year. Dumbass Grady would have him throw 3 innings of relief and then start 2 days later.

 

Pedro has been fine, last year he may have missed 2 starts total. They put him on a pitch count and let the revamped bullpen take over and things are fine.

[Guest Anglesault]

Check the splits, Wakefield is basically just as good as Vasquez (minus the strike-outs)

 

I'm not comparing him to anyone, I'm just saying he's not the unstoppable force he was in the ALCS.

 

For Christ sakes, going into the series, HE was the door mat of the staff.

 

Kim was misused.

 

Taking a guy that kind of sucks against the yankees and puting him on the Sox is misuse.

 

I thought we had more than two of those "1)Pedro loses a game 2)the next day: Well, he didn't really lose because he didn't pitch well, he actually played through a hurt ____ 3) Pedro misses one start to recuperate" deals

 

Whatever.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Pedro lead the league in ERA and the bullpen blew 7 leads for him

 

he could have easily had 20 wins with a better bullpen

[Guest Anglesault]

Uhm, okay.

 

You'll have to excuse me. I have no sort of related kind of random fact to match yours.

Edited December 6, 2003 by Anglesault

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

An average pitcher makes 32-36 starts in a season. A #1 should be somewhere around 35. Pedro made 29, so he missed around 3-6 starts during the season.

 

Schilling's injuries last year were non-arm related. A batted ball struck him, and he had an appendectomy. Nothing there to indicate unusual future problems. He hasn't topped a 4.00 ERA since 1994.

 

Wakefield's got a 2:1 K/BB ratio. He's an innings eater, and a good guy to have on the back end of a staff.

 

I'm a big believer in Byung Hyun Kim. You have to remember he was only 22 during that fateful World Series. He's got a career 3.24 ERA (which, btw, equals Vazquez's ERA last year) and he's got a career K/9 ratio over 9 (K rate is generally the best indicator of future pitching success).

 

I actually agree with you on Lowe. He doesn't strike out enough batters, and his walk rate was up last year.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

I always considered Wakefield to be the kind of average guy who plays extremely well in the postseason, something which you can trace back to his days with the Pirates in the early nineties when he'd go 8-8ish in the regular season and yet be the only Pirate pitcher to pull out a win.

[Guest Anglesault]

Schilling's injuries last year were non-arm related. A batted ball struck him, and he had an appendectomy. Nothing there to indicate unusual future problems. He hasn't topped a 4.00 ERA since 1994.

I've heard (Through conversation, no facts listed somewhere) that his Fenway ERA is kind of shitty, but that may not be the fairest way to look at that because that's where he played in his early days.

 

An average pitcher makes 32-36 starts in a season. A #1 should be somewhere around 35. Pedro made 29, so he missed around 3-6 starts during the season.

 

I guess that sounds right.

 

Wakefield's got a 2:1 K/BB ratio. He's an innings eater, and a good guy to have on the back end of a staff.

 

Hey, you know more than me.

 

I tend to rely more on hunches and gut feelings than real facts. Before this ALCS, I was never *worried* when we had to play Wakefield.

 

I'm a big believer in Byung Hyun Kim. You have to remember he was only 22 during that fateful World Series. He's got a career 3.24 ERA (which, btw, equals Vazquez's ERA last year) and he's got a career K/9 ratio over 9 (K rate is generally the best indicator of future pitching success).

 

Do you have his vs. Yankee numbers?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

sometimes Pedro went 6 days between starts though. He wasn't on the DL but they just gave him the extra day...something which makes Tim Wakefield even more valuable since as a knuckleballer he was able to go on 3 or 4 days rest

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I've heard (Through conversation, no facts listed somewhere) that his Fenway ERA is kind of shitty, but that may not be the fairest way to look at that because that's where he played in his early days.

 

His Fenway ERA is 6.04, in six games (four of which were starts). Only one of those games came within the last three years however, which he won. His peripherals look great in any case, which indicates to me the ERA is a result of bad luck and small sample size. In any case, 25 innings, many of which came his first three years as an Oriole, are hardly an indicator of the future. So you're right, its not the fairest way to look at it.

 

Do you have his {Kim's} vs. Yankee numbers?

 

Keep in mind these don't include the postseason. Against the Yankees, he's pitched 8 games, 9 IP, with a 4.00 ERA. That includes a 3:10 BB/K ratio, which is good. You'd want better, but that an indication that he's not getting murdered out there.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

sometimes Pedro went 6 days between starts though. He wasn't on the DL but they just gave him the extra day

 

Still, by whatever method he missed 3-6 starts.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Reports say the Braves are interested in acquiring Jacque Jones. Whod do the Braves have to give up? Hopefully starting pitching.

[Cartman 0]

FrigidSoul...

 

As much as I think that lineup and pitching staff would be pretty nice, I still think it's stupid to reduce your big time hitters to 1 instead of 2 in the middle of the lineup.

 

What I mean is, right now you got Nomar and Manny one after the other. Tat is one of the more feared one-two punches in baseball when it comes to opposing pitching. If you take them out and replace them with A-Rod and some 5 Million dollar Free Agent like Guillen or Encarnacion you are severely losing out of that fear by opposing pitching. Sure Ortiz could become a feared hitter like Manny was, but who knows? He, Mueller, Millar, etc. all had seasons that were far above their usual. I believe that they were this way because of the overall strengh of the lineup as a whole.

 

Last year's offense will definitely not be duplicated this coming year because your taking 2 really great bats and one pretty good bat(Walker 2B) and replacing that with 1 great bat(A-Rod), 1 good bat MAYBE(Guillen/Encanacion/whatever else), and 1 OK bat(Kennedy). So before my fellow Red Sox fans go claiming greatness over the Yankees I advise you to think of these things. As of right now the Yankees linup is FAR better than the Red Sox. Their pitching staff is better too IMHO.

 

Lets compare, shall we?

 

Pedro vs. Mussina - Even matchup for the most part yet Mussina is more durable and pitches deeper into games usually. EDGE: Push

 

Schilling vs. Vasquez - I assume Vaz will be their #2 unless Pettite re-signs, which looks kinda unlikely. As good as Vaz is and as much as I wished the Sox got him, Schilling is still the better of the two in many ways. EDGE: Sox

 

Lowe vs. Jose Contreras - Lowe has shown the past 2 years that he is no fluke winning 38 games. Contreras showed something in the second half of last season but I believe will be exposed by patient hitters. His splitter is nasty but if hitters hold off like the Sox did against him they can draw walks like crazy. EDGE: Sox

 

Wakefield vs. Lieber - Wake is solid but not great by any means. One great thing about him is he is consistent. You know what you get when he hits the mound, 7-8 innings of finger crossing. Liever was real good before his injury and it remains to be seen whether he can return to for this year after missing a year and a half. EDGE: Push

 

Kim vs. Weaver - They both suck. Weaver used to be good before he had to pitch in front of actual crowds. Kim was good for a year or too closing games for Arizona. As a starter Kim didn't impress me this past season first going 1-5 with Zona, then coming to Boston and pitching OK but not great. His problem from my observation is that he throws junk just enough to fool some hitters but never blow them away completely. That resulted in LOTS of his pitches being fouled off causing his pitch count to rise very fast each game. As a starter he will be a 6 inning MAX pitcher. EDGE: Sox

 

Williamson, Timlin, Embree, Arroyo, Mendoza, Foulke(assuming the reports are true)

 

vs.

 

Rivera, Gordon, Quantril, Karsay, Hammond

 

NY's bullpen is much improved with acquiring Flash and Quantrill, while Boston's will be greatly improved by Foulke id they should get him. EDGE: NY

 

CF - Damon vs. Matsui - Damon is a better fielder, Matsui is a better hitter. EDGE: Sox

 

RF - Nixon vs. Sheffield - As much as I love Nixon and as much as he is important to my team, Shef is just better, period. EDGE: Yanks

 

LF - Guillen/Encarnacion/Whatever vs. Williams - Assuming Williams is moving over to Left or DH as I hear. Bernie is washed up in my opinion, so almost anyone the sox get to replace Manny would be better. EDGE: Sox

 

3B Mueller vs. Boone - Not many differences between the two. Both average defensively, both decent at the plate. Don't expect Mueller to put up numbers like last year though. EDGE: Push

 

SS A-Rod vs. Jeter - No Contest on either side, offense or Defense. EDGE: Sox

 

2B Kennedy vs. Soriano - Kennedy is solid on D while Soriano is terrible on D but Incredible with the bat. Although Soriano will probably be in CF ultimately. EDGE: Yanks

 

1B Millar vs. Giambi - Lets not be foolish here. EDGE: Yanks

 

C Varitek vs. Posada - I am one of the biggest Varitek fans. That being said I think overall these two are the best in the AL by far. Tek calls games better than anyone in the game, and Posada showed a nice bat last year. EDGE: Push

 

DH Ortiz vs. ? - I think Bernie will be here ultimately, sharing time at DH with Giambi once the Yanks get J.T. Snow. Ortiz showed some clutch and some nice power last year, he should be able to keep it up somewhat. EDGE: Sox

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Some more minor Transaction news from Dec. 4th & 5th. Credit ESPN.com

 

December 4th

Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed pitcher Salomon Torres.

 

St. Louis Cardinals re-signed catcher Chris Widger.

 

Florida Marlins re-signed infielder Mike Mordecai.

 

December 5th

Arizona D-Backs signed Carlos Baerga to a 1 year contract.

 

Florida Marlins re-signed Lenny Harris to a minor league contract.

 

Atlanta Braves signed pitcher Jaret Wright to a 1 year contract.

[Mik 0]

Are we still calling the Marlins a terrible franchise that was going to firesale the entire team again? They've done ALL that they could to bring back nearly the entire team, including making a good enough offer to Pudge.

 

I wonder what Choken One has to say, since he was claiming firesale since before they even won the series.

[Cartman 0]

I never thought there would be a fire sale. The owner that pulled that garbage is long gone thank god. I can't spell the bastards name so I won't bother trying. I think the Marlins could finish 2nd in that division again next year but behind Philly now.

[Guest Anglesault]

I didn't think there'd be a fire sale.

 

I just don't think they'll be nearly as good this year.

 

The novelty of the big goofy retard guy will have totally worn off by then, and he's half their pitching.

[sfaJack 0]

Pettite is close to signing with Houston due to that being his wife's wishes.

Give a source for this, please. Your posting of random "facts" or "breaking news" seemingly from nowhere is really quite annoying.

 

None of the sports news sources in town (KRIV-TV, 610 AM), have said that Pettitte has even received a counter-offer from the Yankees yet, which is almost sure to beat, by several million, whatever Houston offers. None of these sources are optimistic about Pettitte coming here at this point, either, and in fact have reported nothing new on the Pettitte front.

 

Hell, according to the Houston Chronicle, Pettitte has only had two actual meetings with the Astros, one of which was informal and arranged by Texans' owner Bob McNair, of all people.

[Guest Anglesault]

Pettite is close to signing with Houston due to that being his wife's wishes.

Oh fuck THAT.

 

If he does I'd seriously consider getting my ass to Houston and figuring out a way to hurt him for the season.