LorfTVP

where are you in new york?

 

If you're anywhere below 50th street, i know what you mean.

 

I can handle the 70's because central park is really nice. I really like up in riverdale where my school is.

Below 50, that explains it. It's not that I can't handle the city...it's just that I'm not a fan of something that big, where the air you breathe is undoubtedly fresh out of someone else's lungs...where you can get pregnant just by holding a subway pole. But hey, I survived, had a good time...guess that's all that counts...doesn't change my opinion of the city though.

:lol:

 

Yes, it's true, they are taking a closer look at things and considering asking Boras to put clauses into the contract to protect the team should Drew miss significant time, or should his power numbers fall off the table. I'm sure they feel obligated to pay the guy now, but why not just scrap the whole thing if you have that many concerns about the guy's health?

 

A really cynical person might say they just used Drew to get Boras feeling all warm and fuzzy before the Matsuzaka negotiations.

You mean Plow? I don't give much merit to these "plots" that everyone is attributing to the Red Sox. But as for Drew, I wouldn't mind this issue knocking a year or two off his contract.

Lorf: "Drew is being overpaid some and that last year or two might hurt"

 

jranieli: "I do believe the JD Drew signing was horrid. They over payed for an over hyped player."

 

Didn't see anybody, though, who said it was a good signing.

It's one of those signings that could be good if he lived up to his full potential but for right now...we're paying an unproven (in Boston) outfielder more than we're paying David Ortiz, the heart, soul, and face of the Red Sox franchise. I don't see Drew or Lugo as the face of the Red Sox at all. But hey, I'm still in the camp that thinks Drew can perform, just not at that price.

I guess it gives them a chance to resign Bernie Williams...hmm, wonder how that outfield will work out. I agree, it's stupid to make this trade, especially after the Yankees starting playing smart again. Outfield can always be filled though, it's not like they're trading Cano. I guess he's expendable in that respect...plus it also means that you can deal from your strength of hitting to bolster your bullpen without giving up any of your young starting pitching prospects.

By the way, Plow, I hate New York...I'm here right now and the streets are too big, there are too many people, the bums are smarter...c'mon!

dont talk about being a bandwagon fan

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

i agree, he could put up matsui numbers... thats fine except this goes back to my first point. Matsui signed a 4 yr 52 mil deal. Drew got 5 yrs 70 mil. Meanwhile, we all knew what matsui could do in new york and there werent many vairbales. Also, matsui is overpaid.

There are only so many players in the majors that can do what he does though. Plus with Matsui you have gained marketing revenue and opened a new market for more bandwagoner Yankee fans. It's worth the extra couple of million for him.

Oops, somehow I lost third base...and of course you win with Alex Rodriguez vs. Mike Lowell. We'll win defensively but with A-rod most likely surpassing his "off season", there's no doubt who the more valuable player will be. Dammit, baseball can't come any faster.

Do you think Drew had no idea the Sox were interested in him when he walked away from 33 mill with the Dodgers? Can anyone say collusion?

 

Regarding D Mat, the Sox are going to make the 50mill up in marketing him over the next 3 years and as someone said theres no salary cap hit. Good deal, John Henry's not stupid (which leads me to believe it's Epstein who loves Drew)

I still think Drew will be at least as good as Hideki Matsui next year with both hitting about .300 with 20-25 HRs, 100 runs and RBI, and a .390 or so OBP which wouldn't be an absolutely horrible deal. The Sox have always had a love affair with both Drew and Lugo so it's no surprise that both have been signed. I have regained my respect for the Red Sox brain trust after the brain cramps of last offseason. Theo has made some bad moves but it remains to be seen how the farm system pans out since the new ownership hasn't been around long enough for their waves of draft picks to make it to the major leagues.

Wow, can you say rigged!

 

Closer- K-Rod

Starter- Santana

Postseason moment- Endy Chavez' homerun robbing catch in game 7

Hitter- toss up between Pujols and Howard.

Defensive play- Endy again given the situation... if not Aaron Rowand's face plant.

Granted people have to take these with a grain of salt...but it's sad seeing these sort of results.

I was having this argument with Plow, how fair do you think these outcomes are. I admit all these players performed admirably but I believe that the size of the Yankee fanbase led to biased totals and that these results in no way reflect the deserving winners or baseball fans as a whole, just those who are proactive enough to vote.

Closer

Winner - Mariano Rivera 26.7% - 34 saves, 1.80 ERA, 55 Ks, 0.96 WHIP

Jonathon Papelbon 21.1% - 35 saves, 0.92 ERA, 75 Ks, 0.78 WHIP

Francisco Rodriguez 11.3% - 47 saves, 1.73 ERA, 98 Ks, 1.10 WHIP

Trevor Hoffman 10.6% - 46 saves, 2.14 ERA, 50 Ks, 0.97 WHIP

Joe Nathan 10.3% - 36 saves, 1.58 ERA, 95 Ks, 0.79 WHIP

All these guys are deserving but for Rivera to win with those statistics when he didn't even pitch a full season? I'm not exactly screaming for Papelbon to win but I do think that the statistics there show that Rivera won either because of Yankee fans or name recognition because the rest of those guys surpassed him in at least two of the four categories there. Of course this isn't even mentioning Ryan, Saito, or Putz.

Starting Pitcher

Winner - Chien-Ming Wang 47% - 19-6, 3.63 ERA, 76 Ks, 1.31 WHIP

Johan Santana 17.6% - 19-6, 2.77 ERA, 245 Ks, 1.00 WHIP

Chris Carpenter 12.2% - 15-8, 3.09 ERA, 184 Ks, 1.07 WHIP

Justin Verlander 5.1% - 17-9, 3.63 ERA, 124 Ks, 1.33 WHIP

Roy Oswalt 3.6% - 15-8, 2.98 ERA, 166 Ks, 1.17 WHIP

Brandon Webb 1.3% - 16-8, 3.10 ERA, 178 Ks, 1.13 WHIP

Now this one is just a joke...how does Wang, despite a good season, get almost half of the votes over the phenomenal season of Johan Santana? Then again, how does the NL Cy Young winner only get 1.3% of the vote? Despite a good ERA and a great win total, Wang's WHIP is nothing special. I guess he got the wins which is what counts, but ability to keep the runs off the board, for instance Santana's era almost one full run beneath Wang's, should be considered too. This is the best piece of evidence I have for how biased these are.

Postseason Moment

Well, there's no doubt about this going to Xavier Nady's catch of Rolen's HR.

Defensive Player

With a .987 fielding percentage at third base, Mike Lowell won this award with 21% of the vote to Beltran's 18.8%. Now while there's obvious bias in the fact that the top two are a Red Sox and Met, Lowell may deserve this more than you think. He committed 6 errors as part of a record breaking Sox defensive infield, had a 70 game errorless streak, and his .977 fielding percentage is the best among third basemen who have played at least a 1,000 games. I know you can argue for Chavez but he wasn't on the ballot despite winning the gold glove at the position.

Setup Pitcher

Joel Zumaya at 32.3%. I can't argue with that.

Hitter

Winner - Derek Jeter 21.7% - .343 AVG, 14 HR, 97 RBI, 34 SB

Albert Pujols 17.4% - .331 AVG, 49 HR, 137 RBI (Spent time on the DL)

Ryan Howard 14.7% - .313 AVG, 58 HR, 149 RBI

David Ortiz 14% - .287, 54 HR, 137 RBI (Spent time off with heart palpitations)

Travis Hafner 4% - .308 AVG, 42 HR, 117 RBI (left season with injury)

Lance Berkman 4% - .315 AVG, 45 HR, 136 RBI

Granted Jeter did win the Hank Aaron award, but his stats pale in comparison to some of these typical power hitters. Just the three guys immediately beneath him would anchor any heart of the order. I just think that the fact that some of these players with phenomenally dominant seasons should get the credit more than Jeter. I know it's not all HRs, and I may have Ortiz bias, but even Howard and Pujols, I think, deserve it more than Jeter. Damn Yankee fans.

Defensive Play

Here some of you might actually agree with me. The winner of the play of the year is Melky Cabrera robbing Manny Ramirez of a homerun in one of the first games of the season. C'mon! In a season with Gary Matthews Jr. making the web gem of the year in center field, Cabrera's play doesn't hold a candle to it. I'd throw in Coco Crisp's Mays like catch in center field but stupid Boston voters chose Lowell's dive into the stands as a better play which I disagree with. Still, Cabrera's HR robbing paled in comparison to some of those by Gary Matthews Jr., Andruw Jones, the Twins triple play, and Aaron Rowand running into the fence.

I have no complaints with blooper (Sean Casey), rookie (Francisco Liriano), Individual Performance (Albert Pujols), and Manager (Jim Leyland).

My simple point to this long piece is that I think that Yankee bias tainted the voting and that the Yankees have no clear cut winner, and while you can argue for Rivera and Jeter, Cabrera and Wang are just an insult to the game.

It's nice having some support. But anyway, I hope the best for your young arms but prospects and potential are just that, prospects and potential. It remains to be seen how they do in the majors, it takes some sort of intestinal fortitude to have immediate success and maintain it. Other than Hughes, none of your pitching prospects rank in the top 100, though with the mass influx of prospects into the majors in the year 2006 the current prospect rankings remain to be seen. But with the failures, rather struggles, of top pitching prospects like Hayden Penn, Yusmeiro Petit, Craig Hansen, Adam Loewen, Anthony Reyes, Jon Lester, Chad Bilingsley. It's quite difficult to get a Verlander, Liriano, Papelbon, Sowers, Zumaya, etc. I just want to say that you can only count on prospects so much and these guys aren't of the can't miss variety. Anyway, right now we have Papelbon and Lester earning nothing and the likes of Buchholz in the wings. Question, Plow, is Andy Pettite worth one million less than Daisuke Matsuzaka?

i wasn't talking about zito. You avoided my question!

Well, you mentioned how much Matsuzaka was getting overall and I think that in a market where Meche is getting five years 55 million for 11 million a year and Zito will probably at least match Matsuzaka's 17 million a year overall pricetag, that Matsuzaka, if he performs as advertised, which I have every reason to believe he will, will be in line with market value. JD Drew has undeniable talent but an attitude problem...I think that he'll like Fenway Park, knock a couple of doubles around, and hit well with a strong team around him. Hitting behind Manny and Ortiz should provide plenty of RBI opportunities, granted the Bash Brothers don't hit HRs. Drew is being overpaid some and that last year or two might hurt but for his ability to get on base but considering that he is almost identical to Hideki Matsui as a player with potential to boot, price-wise, he is right in line as well. (Drew-14 million, Matsui-13 million, Abreu-13.6 million...granted I don't know their current contract breakdowns, Matsui and Abreu could be paid slightly more this season.) Lugo as well is being paid in line for shortstops of his caliber as well...look at his comparables of Orlando Cabrera (8 million per) and Edgar Renteria (10 million). Of course he is going to be a lot more valuable in terms of money than Mr. Rafael Furcal (13 million) which is just plain silly. In my mind, the Red Sox are taking risks perfectly in line with today's market value. Deny that.

how do you all think Mark Charles Teixeira will look in pinstripes in 2008?

Granted he'd demand a heavy pricetag but I honestly wouldn't be surprised. That's sort of painful, man.

Hey, whoever signs Zito will probably get a worse deal than the Red Sox got with Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka has the skills to be a bona fide ace while ex-Cy Young winner Zito's peripherals have been falling the last couple of years and while he's not nearing mediocrity, he also isn't improving significantly with age. Zito will at least match Matsuzaka's overall 17 million dollar a year pricetag. I really do wonder how Zambrano will do next year if he doesn't resign with the Cubs.

I do think the baseball season is too long though. It'll never happen, but September should be when the playoffs are played. I know about all the traditions and that stuff but October is starting to get too cold for the fans, the players, and there are plenty of rainouts too.

 

What's the point of even thinking about it, it'll never happen. Maybe once I go through a real thrilling September then my thoughs will be changed.

You had a pretty thrilling October, though.

I sent a question into the Rangers Mailbag and they answered it on the site. Makes me a little uneasy really.

I love the concept of franchise players and it just kills you when their allegiance wavers. You've had your Nolans, (excuse me for not knowing more, I'm not well versed in Rangers history) the Yankees have had their Ruths, Dimaggios, Gehrigs, Mantles, and Jeters and we've had our Williams', Yastrzemskis, Fisks, Doerrs, Garciparras, and now Ortiz. I hope Michael Young stays as the face of the Rangers for a long time.

yeah what beckett needs to learn is his 96 mph fastball right over the heart of the plate can be caught up by hitters in the AL East, he's not pitching to pitchers and Endy Chavez anymore.

 

scouts say wang has the nastiest sinker in the game. He doesn't pitch for k's, he's pitches for quick outs. He should be solid.

Can't deny that. I would still prefer Boston's rotation though. Time will tell how our predictions work out. Hmm, maybe I should check last year's predictions and figure out how our arguments turned out.

when you say age and potential i know what you're talking about. But i'd rather have age and developed talent, something i like to call chien ming wang. Yeah the 26 yr old kid who finished 2nd in Cy young voting last year

Experts never deny that Beckett has great stuff and I feel that he has had success in the past and you can't count a guy out. It's stuff he needs to learn...not really a lack of ability. As to Wang, I expect more great pitching, but the performances of sinkerball pitchers can vary from year to year. I'd be more afraid of Randy Johnson than Wang right now.

Soon we can do our annual Red Sox vs. Yankees roster matchups. Well, wtf, I'll do it now as far as I can.

C - Varitek vs. Posada / Yankees

This should be a lot closer but it goes to the Yankees because of Varitek's wondrous year last year. Hope is that the lack of the WBC should enable Tek to play better this year but his collapse last year was so sudden that nobody is really sure.

1b - Youkilis vs. Phillips* / Red Sox

With his ability to get on base and hit for superior average, Youkilis should win this battle. Granted Phillips has yet to see consistent playing time...but most people think that the Yankees will sign an offensively adequate defensive first baseman to fill in the spot and we'll see then. As of now, Youkilis > Phillips.

2b - Pedroia vs. Cano / Yankees

Cano is just a plain better player right now. While the Sox hope to atone for their sins with the under five foot club (David Eckstein) by playing Pedroia, he has to go through some growing pains and it'd be a lot to hope for him to match Cano.

SS - Lugo vs. Jeter / Yankees

Wow, you're winning a lot of these in a rout...I don't like that. Lugo will fill in the offensive hole that Gonzalez left but can't hope to match the 18 million dollar player that Jeter is. What he will provide is good speed, tolerable average, and bordering on double digit power.

LF - Ramirez vs. Matsui / Red Sox

Finally, a rout in our favor. Ramirez is clearly one of the best hitters of the generation and will continue to be so. Last year he finally started hitting for average again and an actual #5 hitter in Drew will mean more pitches for Manny to hit. Matsui will hit .300 with 25 homers, 100 runs, 100 rbi and a .370 OBP or so but he's coming off of an injury and has yet to dazzle in the states. Still, that's a solid player to have.

CF - Crisp vs. Damon / Yankees

Damon will continue to be one of the best leadoff hitters in the major leagues, getting on base often and stealing bases. While a healthy Crisp should steal as much or more as Damon (especially considering he'll be at the bottom of the order), Damon will hit for more power. Both provide solid outfield defense with arms made out of wet spaghetti.

RF - Drew vs. Abreu / Yankees by a slight margin

Other than speed, these players are remarkably similar. Drew has the slight edge in power while Abreu will steal about 20 more bases. Both players will walk a lot and have high OBPs, leading to lots of runs if the bottom of the order delivers. Both players also have a reputation for taking the walk instead of reaching out to produce so we'll see if they change their styles change any.

DH - Ortiz vs. Giambi / Red Sox

As good a player as Giambi is, he doesn't hold a candle to David Ortiz. Okay, I lied, but Ortiz still wins. Giambi seems to have forgotten how to hit for average though he still has one of the best eyes in baseball. Ortiz, who had more walks than Giambi last year, will reach base at an equal clip though because of "intentional" walks.

Both lineups are solid through and through but the Yankees win out this time. Numerous players will be coming off of injury plagued seasons so it remains to be seen what Crisp, Varitek, and Matsui will deliver. Both teams are bound to lead the league in OBP and runs though.

As for the pitching rotations.

Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Papelbon, Wakefield vs. Mussina, Pettite, Wang, Johnson, Igawa/prospect/Pavano

Okay, I'm tired now...so I'll give the Sox rotation a slight edge because of age and the potential of Beckett, Matsuzaka, and Papelbon. The bullpens have yet to be fully developed, but the Yankees win that too because of a set closer. I'd love to go into pitching more but I'm hungry and food > you. These two powerhouses remain close though, which always makes for great stories.

190 RBI in a season. I think the hit streak is breakable.

Players have had 100 rbi at the break before...Juan Gonzalez, Manny Ramirez I think.

I understand where the sox are coming from, but the same guy they don't want to toss money at they just threw 51 million dollars at his team, you can't hand over that kind of dough just to negotiate and then low ball the player, not only is it not practical it just ain't right.

 

But yeah, thats a heck of a staff if Mtsuzaka becomes what everyone thinks.

Paying a guy three times his current salary for six years on isn't lowballing a guy. Matsuzaka had two years and 6 million dollars left on his contract with the Lions. Anyway, if his dream is to really pitch int he major leagues, as he so often claims, then money shouldn't be the biggest issue.

Lorf, i also thought the Sox did it to block the Yanks. As for wanting 15 mil on top of the 51, the player doesn't get any of that money so he shouldn't accept that as an argument. Now i'm not saying he won't be overpaid for a pitcher who has never played in a, MLB game, but if they're gonna pony up 51 mil for the rights to him, they should have been prepared to pay him.

I think by now everyone should know how the Sox brain trust works. They're smart guys who won't give in. Granted, in hindsight, that hurts with the Damon negotiations long in the past. If any team predicted this sort of market, things would be different. The Sox would definitely have resigned Damon to that now reasonable deal...but then again, their fears with Pedro proved true so we'll see with Damon. Anyway, you can't blame a team for not immediately tossing money onto a guy. I'm in the camp that believes that the Sox have an upper hand in the dealings while Boras is just being Boras. And hey, if the reported deals are true, they've agreed to a 6 year 52 million dollar deal which is quite satisfactory and a lot better than immediately tossing him 15 million dollars a year. For me though, the selling point is the years. Take that, Boras. To have a young Matsuzaka leading a staff of Papelbon, Beckett, and Lester is beautiful. I'd love to sign someone else next year with the money saved from Schilling's retirement, but fuck, imagine how much money Carlos Zambrano is going to get!

I also like the fact that baseball has more than two dimensions, more than two sides, two goals. Hockey, basketball, football, and soccer all involve two teams going back and forth. If anything, at least baseball is refreshing in that sense.

ichiro has a shot maybe.

But he can't touch the highest BA at .440. Nobody can.

BOSTON -- Daisuke Matsuzaka headed to Boston on Wednesday with Red Sox officials, a sign Boston had reached a preliminary contract agreement with the star pitcher.

 

"They all took off together," Red Sox owner John Henry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

 

Team president Larry Lucchino said shortly after noon ET that the plane was leaving California.

 

In prior days, agent Scott Boras had said he would not allow Matsuzaka to travel to Boston for a physical unless the sides had reached a preliminary agreement.

 

Boston officials flew to Newport Beach, Calif., on Monday on Henry's plane and said they would return Wednesday with or without Matsuzaka. The team and Matsuzaka have a midnight Friday ET deadline to reach an agreement.