Konichiwa!

Alright you no-writin' bastards, it's time to resuscitate the forum - Daisuke is signed, sealed, and delivered and the rotation is now looking somewhat more than sturdy for '07. Notwithstanding the mega-scratch involved between the posting fee and the subsequent contract (rather light considering the Meche and Lilly contracts), I think it's a great move. If he has half the form that's being reported, this dude is going to be a formidable presence in the arsenal. Although the jury is still out with respect to Drew and Lugo, the Sox are clearly pulling out all the stops this year. I think that the fact that Schilling and Wake are getting a bit long in the tooth is playing into the emphasis on this year but it seems like the team's folding at the end of last year has just as much to do with all of this. If they can find a halfway decent closer (which seems to be the ceiling of what's potentially available), they are going to be a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the foul lines. There are still some question marks, of course, but with this 3-4-5 lineup and predominantly young hurling staff, the sky's the limit. It's too early to tell what the reaction will be from NY and Toronto, but I suspect that their britches were slightly soiled with today's developments.
So what are your thoughts at this early juncture?

Baseball kicks ass!

Not being especially interested in the NLCS series, the Megster and I basically surfed all night only keeping an infrequent eye on Game 7. I felt that the Mets' choice of starting Perez - statistically the worst pitcher ever to pitch in such a series, let alone the vital game 7 - more or less sealed the deal for the Cards. Well. In the 6th after pitching a 4 hitter yielding a 1-1 tie against Jeff Suppan, Perez walked Edmonds (his first BB of the night) with 1-out. Willie Randolph came out - ostensibly to yank the cord - when he inexplicably decided to stick with his starter. The very next pitch, Scott Rolen drove a deep shot to left when some guy i've never heard of (Endy Chavez?!) leaped and stole a certain 2-run homer, having the werewithall to throw it back to first to double up Edmonds for the inning-ending out. In a matter of seconds, the game see-sawed from one side to the other. I guess that's why I love the game... you can never predict the amazing shit that you might see at any given moment amidst the routine.
I am recording the rest of the game to watch from that point when I get off the computer. Who knows what will happen, but if the Mets win - thus going to the World Series - this play will have massive ramifications. Pretty cool!

3 beers for the Tigers!!!

Thank you, Detroit Tigers, for beating the Yankees in the playoffs and making the sportsworld right again! I really thought the way those 2 teams played down the stretch that that was the worst matchup if you wanted the Yanks to lose. I wanted them to have to face the Twins pitching in the first round and then the winner of Detroit and Oakland in the second round. But when the Twins took the Division on the last day of the season, I was not at all optimistic the Tigers could get it done, especially after they looked overmatched in game one. I love it when I'm wrong. Congrats Coach Dave!

The Bruins looked pathetic, losing 8-3, in their opener but managed to beat Tampa last night. So maybe they won't be totally awful. They're young and lack depth of talent though.

The Dolphins played up to their potential and gave the Patriots a tough game today (kinda knew they would) but the Pats got it done and are now 4 and 1. I see improvement in the WR's but I'm not sure they have enough...defense needs some depth too.

Year in review, year in preview (open thread)

Even though our youngsters didn't all turn out to have as good a season as some hoped, I think we're on the right track. Here's to hoping a full recovery for John Lester. I also don't think Hanson sucks as bad as he has. I'm not sure what's with Beckett but I still like the trade. I would like to see more depth of position players with a future but I'm willing to be patient.
It will be an interesting off-season. I expect Theo will stay the course (he he) but I also expect at least one big splash trade.
Congrats to the Portland SeaDogs on winning the Eastern League championship. No surprise they did it the year I didn't get to a game. LOL Your opinion as to who on this team has a bright Sox future?
Open thread means help me out since I don't have enough for a full post!

littlecuz-

I don't see this year as a total bust, there were some bright spots. Papelbon and Big Papi being the obvious. The one suprise I think we may see next year is Julian Tavarez as the 5th starter in the rotation. He seems to be renewed in the starter role and since he has one year left on his contract I won't be suprised to see the Sox start him in spring training next year and test the waters. The thing to watch in the off season is whether the Sox pick up a closer. Papelbon has expressed interest in becoming a starter, but that won't happen unless a new closer emerges. Quite frankly I don't Hansen is ready at this point, so unless a miracle occures over the winter he won't be the closer. This means the Sox will have to look outside the organization for a closer. It seems that we will have another new short stop again next year, even though Gonzalez played a gold glove caliber short and hit above expectations, I'd love to see him come back, but the rumor mill has him leaving for free agency. This theory is gaining momentum with Padroia getting some playing time at short now.

Of course the speculation that Trott is heading out of town after the season will sicken the southern cousin, especially if he stays in the American League East. I'm thinking that the O's would be a good fit for him, they seem to be looser with the purse strings lately. Of course I hope Trott can stay, but I see the negotiation going much like Pedro and Damon. The Sox will put a figure down, and if he wants to stay he'll take it, other wise thanks for the hard work and good luck. I think this is especially true with Willy Mo Pena in the mix.

That's my two cents.....

The Trade open thread

So now almost a full year after the trade of Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, and the day after Sanchez' no-hitter, do you or do you not want a do-over?

Ramirez has been better than I thought he'd be, especially this year. One no-hitter in half a season as a starter looks impressive but doesn't a career make.
Lowell has been much better than we could have hoped he'd be, and Beckett has been a disappointment compared to his past and expectations.

My vote: If Lowell's gone after this year and Beckett remains inconsistent, I want a do-over and take my chances with the still largely unproven youngsters; but who's to say that next year and beyond Beckett doesn't return to his old form or, better yet, lives up to his promise and the kids don't fully pan out.

Another weekend, another sweep.

We could talk about the injuries real or otherwise, the poor play - offensively and defensively - around decent starting pitching, the hamstrung management... but what's the point? We can't even take a game from the frigging Mariners.
At least the Pats looked good.

Ick.

It's been a while since i've had this taste of bile in my mouth. What a horrible and grueling weekend. What went wrong? Well, pretty much everything. (I say pretty much because Manny was out of control and both Schilling and Wells actually pitched quite well.) The paucity of timely hitting, the 3 dreadful starts, the gruesome bullpen numbers - this is some of the worst collective baseball i've seen in longer than I care to remember. They pretty much have sucked since they were swept by the Royals a couple of weeks ago but this series was the icing on the cake. Taking into consideration the rapidly dwindling number of games left and the general play of the teams with whom we're competing, the hurdles we need to negotiate in order to even have a chance at playoff possibilities seem virtually insurmountable.
Never has Varitek's importance been more apparent, especially in regards to the bullpen. Long the bedrocks of our pen this year, Timlin's - and to a lesser extent Papelbon's - struggles seem to have coincided with Varitek's absence. If you throw all of the other struggling young arms used to his guiding presence into the mix, you start to recognize his incalcuable value to the team. Just an observation.
I have no idea what the next few days will show but the team is battered after not only the crushing defeats but also the interminable games of intense baseball themselves. And to add further insult to injury, now they have straight late games on the west coast over the next 6 nights.
It ain't looking good, kids.

Sox trade for Hinske, sign Pena

So the Sox need pitching help in a bad way, so what do they do, go sign two first basemen......WTF!!!!????

Hinske Trade

Carlos Pena

It's beginning to look a lot like 2003. We've now got like 4 first basemen/DH types. I'm not sure what the plan is, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Your thoughts???

I guess their made of not good pitching.....

At least in the first inning. I can remember only 2 occasions in the last 3 weeks where a Sox starter pitched a clean first inning and only a couple more than that where the opposition was held scoreless. Granted the starter has gotten in a groove and ended up pitching into the 5th, 6th or later innings in all those games, but putting your team in a hole like that is not a great way to start the game off, especially when your missing key offensive guys like Nixon and Varitek. I was tempted to point to the lack of Varitekish preparation, but this trend started before his injury. It comes down to not making the pitches when needed.

Beckett talked last night in the post game interview about his theory of pitching. He said he thinks that basically the difference in any game is 5 key pitches. You make the good pitch in those 5 situations and you win the game, you don't and you lose. He pointed to 3 of the five key situation last night where he didn't make the pitch he needed to. So it's not that their not thinking about it, it's not they don't have a plan, and it's not lack of prep. It comes down to lack of execution.

If they don't start executing soon, it will be along September and short October......

Now we'll see what this team is made of...

After a frequently closer-than-comfortable sweep of the O's (but a sweep nonetheless), the Tigers come into town with still the best record in baseball... yet also coming off a five game losing streak. With the Sox only one game out and Detroit fighting to keep a comfortable lead in the central, much is at stake for both teams. One thing is certain - Detroit will be here ready to play. We must be prepared to respond in kind. All three Tiger starters have ERAs under 4 so we're going to have our work cut out for us. We counter with Beckett tonight, Schilling tomorrow, and Wells on Wednesday. All three have to work out their recent kinks and bring their A-games if we're going to stay in the hunt because the most important series of the year looms ahead on Friday: 5 games against the Yankees.
By this time next week, things should be pretty clear on where we are going to end up. I think it's safe to say that we have to win at least 5 of these next 8 games to feel comfortable about our long-term chances.
One thing's for sure - it's going to be an exciting week of baseball!