Bay’s agent says Jason’s ‘moving on’
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 10:01 pm on December 12, 2009
Filed Under 2010 Season | Leave a Comment
News from Jason Bay’s agent Joe Urbon is that he has rejected the latest contract offer from the Boston Red Sox. There’s no word yet if this contract was the 4yr/$60m that was offered previously or a revised version of that.
“We don’t agree with their evaluation of the player,” Urbon said. “Frankly, we have other offers on the table that are of greater interest to Jason.”
I didn’t have high hopes for Bay re-signing with the Sox after he put up such monster numbers last season. Truth be told, I’m fine with that because his defense is horrendous and his strikeout rate is getting a little bit out of hand. Boston’s stat genius Bill James came up with this projection chart on the rest of Bay’s career. The numbers are alright but definitely not worth what he is bound to get paid this offseason.
I guess it’s time for the Sox to start seriously looking elsewhere and I’m not sure Matt Holliday is the answer either. A transition year before prospect Ryan Westmoreland reaches the majors could be in store.
2010 Preview!
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 7:24 pm on October 12, 2009
Filed Under 2010 Season | 5 Comments
It’s been approximately 24 hours since the Red Sox were swept out of the playoffs and right into the harshness of an early off-season. I’ll probably do a season wrap-up sometime this winter but for now, all eyes on the future..
- The Houston Astros dumped their manager and are looking for a replacement. They’ve received permission from the Sox to talk to coaches Tim Bogar and Brad Mills. Both are potential candidates and could benefit from everything they’ve learned in the Red Sox organization.
- Cleveland is also without a manager and it only makes sense for them to consider a man with Indian ties, pitching coach John Farrell. They’ve been granted permission to speak with him from Theo Epstein but early rumors are that Farrell is happy in Boston and not interested in leaving (especially not for a team that finished below the Kansas City Royals last season.)
- The outfield might look drastically different next season as both Jason Bay and Rocco Baldelli are free agents in less than a month. Bay and Boston seem to enjoy each others company but he’ll probably, at the very least, dip his big toe into free agent waters. Baldelli spent another season injured and seems less likely to be granted a return trip back to Fenway.
- Alex Gonzalez wants to anchor down the SS position but the front office is a huge fan of Jed Lowrie. If they think that Lowrie can stay healthy for a full season, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Gonzalez sign somewhere else.
- While Jason Varitek has yet to activate his option for 2010, one of the things talked about in today’s press conferences was who will be the starting catcher. Theo drove a nail in the coffin by saying that Victor Martinez is THE catcher for next season, and he’s “about as good as it gets.”
- Clay Buchholz has done his time in the minors and will be in the rotation next year. Beckett’s option has vested so the sure members of the staff look like this: Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, and Matsuzaka. Tim Wakefield is going to have surgery later this week and is expected to return next year and make “some starts.” It sounds kind of like he’s going to fill a Paul Byrd type role.
- Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito are likely not coming back. This leaves a large hole in the bullpen, especially with the late-season struggles of Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen.
- The most depressing part of the press conference (other than the whole losing the ALCS thing..) was when Theo Epstein said that 2010 is likely the last chance for the core Sox players to “make a run” at a championship. This sounds to me like the wallets are closing and some rebuilding years might be in the future but I could be wrong.
I guess that’s about it for now. I’m heading back to my bottle of 151 and my punching bag.
Viva la Red Sox 2010!
Curt Schilling is a prophet
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 10:20 pm on October 9, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | Leave a Comment
I generally try to ignore everything Curt Schilling says. He’s not going to convince me to become a right-wing political nutjob and I already know that Barry Bonds is a jerk. What could I possibly learn from him, right?
Well.. if I DID listen to him, I would have known to expect terrible umpiring before last night’s ALDS game 1. When asked about the staff for the series, Schilling responded with:
Joe West is a pretty decent umpire. Greg Gibson and C.B. Buckner? They suck. They’re horrible, horrible and they are not the only ones. The first thing that comes to mind is, on a merit system or an achievement system to be in the postseason.
His assessment was pretty spot on. Joe West made a few terrible calls behind the plate last night but that’s to be expected in a 9 inning game. What isn’t to be expected is the complete mess CB Bucknor made at first base last night. He blew two VERY obvious calls and Lester had to throw an additional 15+ pitches because of it.
Both blown calls were made on Howie Kendrick at-bats. ‘Play A’ involved Youkilis tagging him (and being ruled a no-tag) and ‘play B’ involved Youkilis beating him to first-base (and being ruled in favor of Kendrick.)
If you take a look at the picture I posted, you can clearly see that Youkilis got the tag down on ‘play A’ and even contorted his body in a way that would allow Bucknor to see the play taking place. Play B was something that Little League umpires couldn’t even screw up.. yet this professional umpire managed to get the call wrong.
CB Bucknor was voted the worst umpire in Major League Baseball by the players in 2003 and 2006. Both times he received over 20% of the vote. Why is a guy like this working in important games like the playoffs?
I guess Schilling got it right for once: “They suck. They’re horrible, horrible and they are not the only ones.”
Yankees win the division
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 9:05 pm on September 27, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | 2 Comments
We all saw this coming when the Sox were struggling to stay in games with their anemic offense and back-end of the rotation (Smoltz and Penny particularly.) It’s cool though, 2 more wins and Boston rolls into the postseason as the wild card.
It’s with that knowledge that I feel comfortable posting this video of a 2007 office prank on a Yankees fan:
Guide to ‘09 Sox facial hair
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 1:25 pm on September 18, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season, Baseball Miscellaneous | Leave a Comment
It’s getting close to the end of the season and each game seems to mean more and more. I could give you some in-depth analysis on the recent struggles of our bullpen (and our offense) but it’s more fun to present Rob from The Bottom Line’s guide to the Red Sox 2009 facial hair:
Bye bye Penny
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 12:46 am on August 27, 2009
Filed Under 2009 Season | 1 Comment
After being told to “hold tight” when his spot in the rotation came and went, Brad Penny has finally asked for his release from the team. Theo Epstein, in all his infinite wisdom, granted Penny’s request. This will open up a roster spot for newly acquired relief pitcher Billy Wagner.
Penny’s time in Boston was nothing but a pitching rollercoaster. He would look good for 1 game out of 4, but managed to string together a few good performances. At one point he had 5 wins and an ERA below 4; this made him what most people would call ‘perfect trade bait.’ Theo didn’t see it that way and couldn’t/wouldn’t make a deal by the deadline.
It’s because of this that Brad Penny has ended his Red Sox career with a 7-8 record and a 5.61 ERA. Another failed Epstein experiment of an injured pitcher not being able to return to his former glory (Wade Miller, Eric Gagne, Bartolo Colon, and John Smoltz to name a few others.)
keep looking »
