The Official 2011 Boston Red Sox Thread

It happens sometimes. I do question why is Nunez even playing last night. I realize Lester is on the mound but I'd rather stick Jeter at SS, Jones at DH and Gardner in LF (with hopes he can reach base and use his legs to create runs).

 

No I don't think you can say he's breaking down. Last year with his foot was a freak injury which has carried over this year due to the screw still in the foot. The knee injury occured when he landed wrong going after I ground ball I believe, so again just a freak injury.

 

I'm shocked the Sox won last night due to the pitching match ups but that's what makes baseball so great. I loved see Ortiz hit that HR in the first after all the non-sense I read and listened to on WFAN all day about Ortiz's bat flip etc. The Sox are playing with house money tonight but I'd love to see Beckett continue to build on his bounce back season. Should be a good/fun game though.

 

Well right now he's not having surgery it's just a possibility and I agree I don't like seeing guys having surgeries but if he has the knee surgery it seems like a pretty minor thing. The timing of this seems strange especially since it hasn't looked like Pedroia had anything wrong with his knee, especially since he's been continuing to run on the base paths a lot. I'm not going to worry until there's something to worry about.

Ortiz's comments were great. I thought the whole bat flip thing was way overblown by both Girardi and the NY media. I mean really Joe why don't you focus on something else than a silly bat flip. If the Yankees don't like it when do something about it, like get Ortiz out next time. I mean WFAN was "Bat Flip Gate' all day yesterday with callers screaming and yelling about how Ortiz should be drilled etc. Just silly nonsense.

 

Wow I didn't except that 7th inning last night. The Sox just beat down the Yankee starting pitching, I think they gave up 18 ERs that series. Ellsbury and Ortiz were just on fire. The Sox need to keep up this good play and not let up this weekend against Toronto although they will probably be dead tired tonight since they probably just got into Toronto an hour or so ago.

 

Also nice to see Anthony Rizzo get called up by San Diego and go 1-2 with a triple and 2 walks. I'm rooting hard for the kid, I think he's going to be a good one. And by the time Adrian Gonzalez's contract is up Rizzo will be a FA, go figure.

 

Hard not to be excited to see if Andrew Miller has finally turned the corner. Tonight's start should be interesting for sure. I'm not expecting much but IF the guy finally solved his control problems this could be a big boost for this team in the rotation as his stuff is by all reports still there.

 

Yeah its obviously the best situation for him. Personally the only thing I'm going to be looking for in this start is his ability to throw strikes.

I am also excited to see Anthony Rizzo come to town. I'm really rooting for him to do well (just not in this series).

 

I thought Miller pitched ok, it was encouraging as he obviously still has stuff, especially his change up. He put too many guys on base (3 with walks) but there wasn't a lot of solid contact being made. 1 pitch really hurt his line but it was definitely an encouraging outing. I'd be interested to see what he can do against AL line ups though.

 

I think #1 on Theo's list of Trade Dead Line moves will be getting a RHH OFer either a starter or 4th OF because Mike Cameron and Darnell McDonald just flat out suck. Cameron looks done, McDonald just isn't very good and as Peter Gammons has stated numerous times it looks like JD Drew has retired in his head already. But there should be a bunch of those guys available (there always are) even if it's not a star type someone like Ryan Ludwick, Juan Rivera, Carlos Quintin (if CHW falls out of the race), Jeff Francoeur, Josh Willingham, Conor Jackson, Jason Bay, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, Alfonso Soriano, Reed Johnson, Carlos Lee, Matt Diaz, Xaiver Nady, Gabe Kapler, Marcus Thames, and Aaron Rowland will probably all be available of course depending on if their respective teams fall out of the race and obviously some guys like Bay, Lee and Soriano won't be moved because they're just making stupid money but as you can see there are plenty of options available. It's too bad someone like Juan Carlos Linares got hurt in Triple A because he was really hitting when he hurt his ankle and had to have surgery in May or I bet he would have been up in the big leagues by now. But I'd find it extremely hard to see how the Sox will carry McDonald and/or Cameron all year, they just suck. Especially Cameron who seems to be playing like it's February still, half assing it and a total lack of hustle.

 

I like Beltran the most but he's going to be expensive and you won't get any draft picks back for him since his contract says the team can't offer him arbitration. Rivera and Thames both can't play defense and asking either to play RF at Fenway would be a disaster. I actually surprisingly wouldn't mind getting Francoeur (shocking I know) but as a platoon player I think he'd help the team out at the plate and his defense won't kill you either.

Ludwick and Bell and possiblt Mike Adams should be absolutely moved by July 31st and I think Hoyer is smart enough to realize it. Not sure how much San Diego can get back for Ludwick but Bell and/or Adams should net them at least 1 good prospect.

 

But he's going to cost the team getting him both prospects and money (about 4.5 million come July 31st unless the Mets chip in). A lot of teams will be going after him, the Mets just aren't going to give him away.

No on Francoeur he was a former Brave, Met and Ranger.

I'd absolutely trade Mike Adams if I were San Diego. Relief pitchers are just so unpredictable that next year he could be absolutely terrible. He's having a career year and has been historically good but he's over 30 years old and I do think the home ball park helps out to make the numbers look better than they are.

A lot of teams could use bullpen help, I don't think there's one contending team that doesn't need the pen help. Bell should be dealt and I'd bet he will be because it just doesn't make sense for San Diego to hold onto him.

Beltran has been pretty durable this year, while I agree his knees will scare teams away from giving him a long term deal, I think a lot of teams are going to go hard after Beltran during the deadline.

 

There's language in his contract that states the team cannot offer him arbitration at the end of his deal (thus will not get draft picks for him if he leaves for another team via free agency), therefore it wouldn't matter whether he's a type A, B or non type free agent.

But yeah he probably would be a Type A free agent.

 

Right but there are going to be other teams in the mix too so it all is going to depend on how badly a team needs/wants Beltran. If your team is the only game in town then yes I agree with you, you play hardball. I don't think Beltran is going to command a top level prospect but I think a team is going to have to give up some talent in exchange. Plus you're dealing with smart front office people, not Omar Minaya here.

Of course the Mets can also hang onto him until August and put him on waivers that way. I just don't think Beltran is going to be a give away like Billy Wagner was (thanks for Anthony Ranaudo, Omar!).

 

Gammons was on WEEI and stated Lackey may need TJ surgery. At the rate he's been pitching the last year and a half it might not be the worst thing in the world for him. Sox do have other SP options that could produce as much as Lackey has this year (or lack of).

 

.232/.330/.326

 

Yeah probably. He's talked about it a lot. He's had a pretty good career, made a lot of money.

Also I finally got around to listening to Gammons' interview, nice job by the media to totally talk exactly what Gammons said and spin it. Awesome job guys, once again.

 

The Mike Cameron Era is coming to an end today. Thankfully. I respect how he tried to play through his injury last year but the guy has been a total bust for the team, it's a shame Theo didn't (or couldn't) ship him out during the offseason. 14 million bucks down the sink on that deal.

I do wonder who's coming up though, especially since whoever it is (or Reddick) will be shipped out when Crawford is back. Maybe Navarro or Lin as both players are RHHs.

 

Mike Cameron just got released. No word on who's taking his spot.

 

I feel like calls like that that ended the game tend to even out during the long year. Like you said I'll surely take it though. A win is a win.