Dear Theo: Thank you for not trading Jon Lester

Posted by jayman |  May 20, 2008 – 11:00 am

There are so many ways of thinking about Jon Lester’s no hitter against the Royals last night. Most obvious is the angle of the cancer comeback.  And if Lester’s World Series game 4 didn’t do it, his no-no must certainly label that comeback officially complete.  Let this be the last time that the phrase “Jon Lester, cancer surviving major league pitcher”   be typed anywhere.

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But the most interesting angle to me is how Jon Lester was almost traded away for Johan Santana.  And if so, this no-hitter and the all good feelings that are coming with it never would have happened.  Crundy and I debated that trade over countless emails and instant messenger sessions.  In all honesty, we both came to the conclusion that the Theo proposal Lester, Coco, and Bowsden/Masterson for Johan Santana deal was one that was indeed in the best interested of the Red Sox.  After all, we’re talking about Johan-freakin-Santana.  Easily one of the five best pitchers in baseball.  Combining Santana with Beckett simply made the Sox an unstoppable force at the front of the rotation. 

But it wasn’t a conclusion I truly loved.  As much as I crave the Sox being a world series contender year after year, there’s no question that it’s much more satisfying when those victories come with the young talent that is result of a fantastic organization.  One of the things I love most about Sox fans is that we’re not only interested in how players like Daniel Bard are progressing in Single A Greenville, but as Sox fans we can actually have that discussion.  We’re not just obsessed fans of the current 25 man roster.  We’re obsessed with every single aspect of the organization.  From how our beloved Fenway has improved year after year to how our recent draft picks progressed in the Cape Cod League.  Yes, there are more discussions about a 3 day weekend series with the Yankees, but the the evolution of Justin Masterson’s off speed pitches gets its fair share of air time. 

The contributions of players that came through the Sox farm system on last year’s championship team was certainly one of the most rewarding elements of 2007.  And Jon Lester winning game 4 made it even more special.  And now the beat goes on.  Jon Lester throws a no-hitter and the defensive play that makes it happen comes from Jacoby Ellsbury.  Tonight, Justin Masterson makes his second major league start.  It all feels so good and, among other people, we have Theo to thank for keeping them around.

Because admit it, a no-hitter thrown by Jon Lester at Fenway is 100 times better that the same performance by Johan Santana in a Sox uni.

Posted by jayman | Categories: Farm System, Pitching | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Manny’s catch, hi-five, and throw to get a double play

Posted by jayman |  May 15, 2008 – 5:07 pm

This is about the only good thing that has happened with the Sox this week.


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Check out this Wire News

Posted by crundy |  May 14, 2008 – 1:28 pm

May 14 10:26 AM PT11:26 AM MT12:26 PM CT1:26 PM ET6:26 PM GMT-Van Every is scheduled to make his major league debut Wednesday as Boston’s starting center fielder against the Orioles.
Analysis: The Red Sox recalled Van Every from Triple-A Pawtucket after placing Clay Buchholz on the 15-day DL Wednesday because of a broken nail on his right middle finger. The 27-year-old Van Every was batting .287 with six homers and 20 RBIs in 40 games with the Paw Sox. He was signed as a free agent in December after spending seven seasons in the Cleveland Indians’ organization.

Which is more interesting? The unknown guy or the fact that clay bucholtz has a hang nail?

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Bye Bye Julian - What dumping Tavarez means for the Sox

Posted by jayman |  May 12, 2008 – 2:12 pm

Sox just designated Julian Tavarez for assignment.  Most unique thing this means is chances of a pitcher rolling the ball to first place to get an out have pretty much dropped to zero.

But it also means Sox are going to give Craig Hansen a serious shot.  Most obvious thing to do with Sean Casey coming off the DL was Hansen heading back to Pawtucket.  But that didn’t happen.

Also means that sox have confidence in Colon’s ability to start games.  And they believe in Justin Masterson as part of their starting pitching depth.  Since the opener, Sox have now dumped Tavarez and Kyle Snyder - both guys who would be considered for starting pitching duty in a pinch or if starter had to go on the DL.  Out with the old, in with the new.

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Time To Start Thinking About ‘08 Roster Moves

Posted by jayman |  May 12, 2008 – 12:22 pm

The season is 40 games in.  One quarter of the season is now behind us, giving us a large enough sample size to think about how to tweek the roster in order to solidify the Sox as the 2008 team to beat.  Certainly, there’s nothing I’ve seen in the first 40 games that says “hit the panic button,” but there are some definite weak points that could use some improvement.

Lugo has to go 

I’m pretty much done defending Julio Lugo.  I’ve given him benefit of the doubt before and have exerercised plenty of patience.  Fact is, he was singed to the team to be a lead off spark plug and now he’ll never get out of the #9 spot in the lineup.  And finally, there is no place for a shortstop who doesn’t want the ball hit to him.

I’ve seen enough of Jed Lowrie to be believe that he is a major leaguer now, not later.  Question is, can he be everyday shortstop?  Pretty sure that’s the question Theo & company are trying to answer as I read this morning that he’ll playing SS 6 days a week at Pawtucket.  And he’s going to get a crack at some first base, too. 

I figure sox are trying to quickly determine in the next few weeks whether Lowrie can be an everyday shortstop or whether he needs to share the role.  A lot depends on how that works out.  We’ve previously had talks about Lowrie sharing time with Cora or trying to obtain Omar Vizquel from San Francisco.  Either of those make sense. 

Somewhat suprised Sox aren’t saying that Lugo’s concussion merits a 15 day DL stint.

Keep Coco

Coco Crisp might be the most valuable 4th outfielder in the majors.  I see no reason to trade Coco this year.  The way Francona has been shuffling him into the lineup has been perfect and as we move into the August and the fall - when lineup shuffling amongst the outfield spots is less frequent - Coco still has a critical role as the guy off the bench to get a steal when we need it (the forever branded “Dave Roberts Role”) as well as late inning defensive.  Unless the perfect, can’t-say-no trade proposal for Coco comes along, promoting Brandon Moss or Bobby Kielty to the 4th outfielder role would be a downgrade this year.

Middle relief needs a lot of help

This is definitely the Achilles heel of the 2008 Sox.  The bullpen ERA through 40 games is almost double what it was last year at this time.  Manny Delcarmen has simply not become the pitcher we hoped he would.  Father time seems to have caught up with Mike Timlin.  What the sox should do is give Craig Hansen a shot in the 7th and eight innings.  Justin Masterson is also worth a middle relief try out.  Even Devern Hansack would be worth checking out in middle relief.  My point is to see if we can solve these issues from within the organization before trying to acquire a pitcher in a trade or off the scrap heap.  Pitching is always a premium at the trade deadline and it rarely seems to work out in a good way.  See Jeff Suppan and Eric Gagne as recent example of pitchers acquired at the deadline that didn’t work out. 

What’s Colon’ Role?  What About Schilling?

No way either of these guys goes into the bullpen, but where do they fit in the 5 man rotation?  Does Wakefield lose his turn?  Is it time for the kids - Lester and Bucholz - to take a few weeks off in order to keep their innings count down?  Over the years, I’ve started to believe that all starting pitchers should take 2-3 weeks off at some point in the year in order to keep their arms fresh for the fall.  Beckett did a 15 day DL stint last year and I believe that it played a role in him being dominant.  Perhaps Dice-K should skip a couple starts this summer.  That’s one way Colon could be worked into the rotation.

As for Schilling, I actually don’t believe he will be a contributing starting pitcher this year.  I’m not saying he won’t make it back.  I’m saying he won’t be effective.  Most intriguing possibility is that Schilling becomes an 8th inning setup guy for Papelbon.  Sort of like how he volunteered to be the closer in 2005. 

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Omar Vizquel

Posted by jayman |  May 8, 2008 – 2:11 pm

Since Gammons started us thinking on this…here’s some quick thoughts regarding possiblity of Sox trading for Omar Vizquel and having him share the SS duties with Jed Lowrie

On the surface, I like the idea.  But it makes for a crowded roster of infielders with Lowrie, Vizquel, and Alex Cora all pretty much in the same role.  Does Cora still have a role on this team with Lowrie and another shortstop around?

Also, Vizquel has been hurt all year.  Has yet to play a game.   He’s making $5 million this year.  Becomes free agent at the end of the year.  Lugo is making $9.25 million this year with a couple years left.  Love, love, love the mentoring Vizquel can provide Lowrie.  But we already know Cora can do provide this as he helped Pedroia a lot last year.

So if you send Lugo plus $5 million to the Giants for Vizquel, would the Giants take it?  Seems pretty enticing to them.  They have a SS for the next couple years.  A guy who can possibly provide some offense (of which they have absolutely none) someone in their order. 

Second question.  Should sox do that?  I say yes. Vizquel and Lowie share SS this year.  Next year, Lowrie becomes full time starter.  Though still can’t figure out what becomes of Alex Cora. 

But why can’t the position sharing happen with Cora and Lowrie?  We’re talking about our #9 hitter.  What’s required is rock solid defense at SS and a batting average of minimum .260, which is around what Lowrie is hitting now. 

Here’s my best argument AGAINST trading Lugo.  Possibility of the double steal this season becomes dramatically diminished. 

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Did Lugo Cost Us A Win?

Posted by jayman |  May 7, 2008 – 8:49 pm

I was tracking the 9th inning of the Red Sox - Tigers game tonight via refreshes to mobile ESPN on my Treo.  A game that Papelbon couldn’t close out after a nice comeback from a 4 run deficit. But saw that there was a Lugo error in the midst of that 9th inning.  So is that a game that Lugo is the scapegoat for?  Is WEEI going to be full of callers pleading for the inclusion of Jed Lowrie in the everyday lineup at shortstop?

By the way, I say that the Blue Jays lost not one, but two shortstops to injury in a single game the other night.  Is it possible that we can trade Lugo to Toronto?  Is there anybody on that team that we want that Toronto might be willing to give up for Lugo?

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How Does This Line-up Make You Feel?

Posted by crundy |  May 1, 2008 – 9:08 am

If the sox end up with injry plagued seasons from jd drew, mike lowell and coco crisp the sox typical starting line up would look like this:

cf ellsbury - rookie
sb pedroia - 2nd year
lf manny - old
dh ortiz - old
1st yuke - medium young
rf mossy - rookie
c tek - old
3rd lowrie - rookie
ss lugo - medium young

And the starting pitching:

beckett - medium young
dice k - medium young
wake - old but doesn’t matter
lester - prob qualifies as a rookie
clay - so young he’s dating a penthouse pet - sidebar - what are the vet sox wives saying about this? is she participating in the wives charities? what type of suggestions is she making? Have the other sox players all looked at the pics of her on-line? Is it a team joke? Are the old guys pissed? I need answers.

And if any of them goes down you know Justin Masterful is in the wings…

That’s a whole lotta young on this team. And the amazing thing is that NONE of the 1st or 2nd year guys really worry me that much. I like having them up in key situations. They seem to really relish the moment and not get caught up in it. I remember when Yuke was a rookie - he looked like he was going to pee his pants for three straight days during a late summer series in NYC. Now, the young guys coming in seem completely comfortable with the biggest stage. On the roster above the only guy who scares me is Lugo. I’m not saying everyone is destined for stardom, but they all seem to be gamers.

And that’s cool.

Heck, the only two guys I’d put behind JD Drew on my “Need a clutch hit” list are Lugo and Moss and Moss may pass him this year is he gets enough playing time. He’s certainly more clutch in the field.

So for the first time since the mid-80’s the Sox have soo much home grown talent that they are going to be stocked for the 5-10 years. This means that during this time we will be able to target the big free agents and bring in the heavy hitter we need to put us beyond over the top. I guess the Yankees could out-bid the Sox if they want to on every free agent but seriously, right now, if you were a free agent, where would you rather play? There’s some seriously bad mojo in Yankeedom right now and the Sox are the model franchise.

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Fake Bill Simmons’ Twitter Updates for 2008-04-30

Posted by Fake Bill Simmons |  April 30, 2008 – 11:59 pm

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Take it from Bob Marley

Posted by jayman |  April 30, 2008 – 4:00 pm

“Dont’ worry.
About a thing.
‘Cuz every little thing gonna be alright”

- Bob Marley

Thanks to fantastic pitching performance from Jon Lester (and by the way, Roy Halladay, not Johan Santana, is the premier starting pitcher in baseball today) the Olde Towne Team ended their 5 game losing streak last night.  Being on the west coast, it’s difficult to tell how worried the folks back in Boston were about losing 5 in a row, including a sweep at the hanks of Tampa Bay, but my spidey sense tells me there were more than a few concerned people dialing up WEEI and venting some frustrations.

But I’m hear to say that we shouldn’t be worred about what’s been going on.  I’m not even going to zero in on the minor injuries that are piling up.  Nor am I going to focus on the flu bug that was passed around the clubhouse.  By the way fellas, the Mitchell investigation could care less if you’re loading up on Thera Flu so have at it. 

If you haven’t figure it out yet, pitching is the centerpiece of championship teams.  Over the course of the year, hitting has its ups and downs.  Sometimes, the lineup will be hot.  Sometimes, it won’t be.  Consistent starting pitching is the element that carries teams through the ups and downs a lineup goes through during the course of a 162 game season.

That said, there was a lot to like in our starting pitching during the last week.  Especially in the young arms.

Justin Masterson makes his first major league start…gives up only 2 hits in 6 excellent innings.

Clay Bucholz pitches a gem against Tampa Bay…8 innings, 9 K;s.

Josh Beckett strikes out 13 in a 7 inning, 107pitch outing on Sunday. 

And last night, Jon Lester may have pitched the best game of his life.  Keeping the sox in the game by dueling with Halladay.  One hit in eight innings.

The sox may have lost 5 in a row.  They may only be tied for first place, but look at what the young pitchers are showing us.  The yankees would kill for similar performances from Hughes and Kennedy.

Is anyone even wondering when Curt Schilling is coming back?  Do we even care?

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