Collective Sigh of Relief!!!

Yes, you heard it when the news came out, all of the Red Sox fans around our great country and the world let out a giant sign of relief when it was announced that Eric Gagne has declined the offer of arbitration from the Boston Red Sox!!!

How excited are you about this? Isn’t this just the best news you could ever hope for?!?!

On the downside, due to his horrendous performances with the Red Sox this past year, he was downgraded from a Type A to a Type B Free agent, so what this means to the Red Sox is that instead of getting 2 Draft Picks next year, they only get 1 “sandwich pick” which is a pick in round 1A which takes place in between the regular round 1 and round 2. If he had remained a Type A they would have gotten a First Round pick as well as a sandwich pick.

Well, C.C. Sabathia wins the Cy Young this year. He deserves it, but at the same time I think Beckett deserved it just as much, if not a little bit more.

CC had him beat on IP, CG, K and ERA, but barely with ERA.

Beckett/CC
Games: 30/34
IP: 200.2/241
W-L: 20-7/19-7
ERA: 3.27/3.21
K: 194/209
BB: 40/37
HR: 17/20
WHIP: 1.14/1.14
BAA: .245/.259

What I have heard rumored was that this came down to run support. Beckett only won 1 game this year when he gave up 4 or more runs, and that was when he gave up 4 to the New York Yankees. Sabathia got 3 wins this year when he gave up 4+ runs to the opponent. Sabathia did have the advantage in games lost where he gave up 2 or less runs. Beckett had 3 loss or no decision games when giving up 2 or less runs in the game, compared to CC who had 8 such instances, including 1 3 hit 9 inning shutout performance that his team lost in extra innings.

It was close, but I thought that hitting that 20 in mark and being the only pitcher to do so this year, and the first since 2005, might give the edge, but it wasn’t.

Well congrats C.C. and enjoy it, this will certainly give you some bargaining power with your Free Agency at the end of next year, and hopefully this will fuel the fire in the belly of Beckett for next season to obtain what he barely missed this year.

So it is now 8pm, and we have 4 hours until the Red Sox time limit on exclusive rights to negotiate with Mike Lowell are coming close to an end.

I am hoping that he is able to be signed, however I have a feeling the 3 years I have heard being offered to him, is not the 4 years he is looking to get from the team he ultimately will sign with, which is going to cause him not to be signed by the Red Sox. Sad to see him go, but that is baseball nowadays.

While this is tragic and a blow to the team, I think it is what is going to happen, I hope I am wrong though.

But…

Assuming I am right, what do the Red Sox do?

The most obvious option would be Arod. Good as far as defense and offensive production, as well as being a slugger that the would be able to take over once Manny leaves. However, I am not a fan of the reputation he has in the clubhouse, and his track record in the playoffs, on top of the money he is demanding(30-35 million/year for 8-10 years). We finally got rid of that fake bambino curse, do we really need to bring in a new fake curse of arod?

Miggy Cabrera is a trade option, and the Marlins are looking to deal him. He has 1 year left on his contract with Florida, so it would be a 1 year trade unless a contract can be worked into the trade deal. I think this is a great option due to his age, and potential long term contract for a good third baseman who has good offensive stats. The potential downsides, the Red Sox could be forced to give up too many good prospects to the Marlins, on top of that there is the National League to American League transition problem that may or may not be a factor.

Joe Crede is also a trade option from Chicago, I can see it happening, depending on what Chicago is looking for, but his offensive numbers are just not that great, and to make up for Lowell just doesn’t make me like him. He would benefit from The Green Monster, but that is only half the season, the other half would be in the same parks where he hits .260, and never had 100 RBIs in a single season, and all of this on top of a season shortened by an injury with back surgery.

Those are the main transactions outside of Lowell that I see happening to get a third baseman.

Then we have possible “internal” changes that could change what their search will make them look for in the off-season.

Moving Youk over to thirdbase.

Now if they make this change, then it opens up some interesting options for the Red Sox.

There are some free agents who would fit well, one of these is Eric Hinske, who has been on the Red Sox for the past year and a half after a trade with Toronto. This would work well I think, he has fairly good stats, and I think with more playing time he would be even better, and he already knows the Red Sox, their organization, and most of the players.

Another option would be to bring up Lars Anderson from the minors and throw him into the mix, not really sure how that ould really work out, but he has been good in the minors and I am expecting to see quite a bit of work out of him in Spring Training this upcoming year.

Well, those are the options, and my personal preferences in order…

Lars coming up, AND sign Hinske as well.
Sign Hinske straight up
Trade for Miggy and get a 5 year contract for him.

and not to sign arod, not a good business decision to sign him from my point of view.

As it has become standard every winter since the new ownership took over the Red Sox, there are changes going on at the sacred grounds we all know and love, called Fenway Park.

I have traveled around and been a fair number of other parks, both minor league and major league, some old, and some of the newer stadiums out there such as Coors Field in Denver, Chase Field in Phoenix, Jacobs Field in  Cleveland. None of these parks give you the same feeling as Fenway. I am sure that Wrigley may give me a similar feeling, but I don’t know yet since I have yet to go to a game there. There is something magical about Fenway that no other field can capture, even if they do have cupholders at every seat, gourmet food, beer in the stands, fancy restaurants, and unobstructed views. It cannot be fully described, but it is there and you know it when you feel it.

Anyway, before I drift off into a melancholy state…. Fenway is changing yet again this winter. The major things that we will see change in Fenway when we go back next spring:

1- They have ripped out all the bleacher seats and are replacing them with new ones, not sure if they will be any bigger, but they will be new, and probably have cup holders in them. Gotta keep up with the Jones right?

2- The old green garage door in centerfield will be gone. I am not sure where they are going to keep the batting practice nets next year, probably down in the left field garage door area, but the center field area is becoming a resaurant. Probably cost you $15 for a burger, but it will be there none the less, and open year round not just during the summer or during games. In fact, they are not even sure if it will be open during games or not due to the fact that the windows will be in direct line of sight for the hitters. So we may see green shades drawn for the games, however people will be able to watch batting practice and other such events through the windows.

Those are the major changes, some other changes are ficing the roofs above the grandstands which are rusting and rotting away, as well as fixing up some of the boxes and upper stands which were put in back around the time of the All Star game in 99.
For a full story on what is going on at Fenway:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2007/10/25/fenway_eatery_on_the_menu/

As I have stated before, I like Dustin Pedroia as a player on the Red Sox, I think he could definitely be the one who gets the description of a “grinder” when it comes to playing the right hand side of the middle infield on the Sox.

He was off to a very rocky start this year, and after the month of April, if you thought he had any shot at the Rookie of the Year Honors, then you were either a die hard believer, or you are just straight up lying.

However, after a significant improvement over the sumer and with his manager sticking with him through the rough adjustment in the beginning of the season, we now have the first Rookie of the Year given to a Red Sox player since Nomar got it 10 years ago.

Dustin Pedroia, your 2007 Major League Baseball Rookie fo the Year!

Well, I am a huge fan of Dustin Pedroia aka Dustroia, after seeing him play up in Portland in 05, and then in Pawtucket, you could tell he was a gamer. He brings it all on every play of every game.

So it is being reported by a few different sources that he played the final month or so of the season, with a broken bone in his left hand. Fortunately for all of us Sox fans, this was not his throwing hand, but his glove hand. The bone that was brone is the hamate, a wedge-shaped bone at the base of the hand. Supposedly this is an injury that is rather common, and the bone is just removed from the hand.

It was discovered during an MRI on his hand on September 10th, and he played through the rest of the season before he decided to have it taken care of with Surgery.

I am not sure when this injury happened, but I am guessing it probably was right around the time when he was hit by the pitch in the Tampa Bay game in August, and he just played through it and then finally got it looked at when it got worse.

Some mornings, and especially on cold nights he had the most problems, and actually had trouble holding a bat to hit with, but he adjusted his grip and his swing to accomodate the pain and help him continue to play for the team.

So a thank you to Dustin for working through the pain, and thank you also to Tylenol for helping him with some of the pain.

A link to a story about it:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1043783

While we are all still enjoying the afterglow of the Red Sox World Series win this year, we need to realize that there is next year as well and it can’t be shrugged of until next year when pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in February.

There are a few major changes going on with the Red Sox, pardon the behind the curve information that is in these.

The following players have their contracts expire with the Red Sox:

Curt Schilling, Matt Clement, Mike Lowell, Mike Timlin, Bobby Kielty, Doug Mirabelli, Eric Gagne, Eric Hinske, Kevin Cash

On top of these guys there also a few who have ’08 club options which means the Red Sox can choose to keep them, or just release them into the wild while a buy-out of some amount, there are only 2 this year I am aware of, Wakefield and Tavarez, both of whom have had their options picked up by the Red Sox for the 2008 Season.

I am honestly happy about both of these pick ups, Wakefield is a workhorse who may be a bit off on some days with his pitching, but in his 13 years with the Red Sox he has been an overall effective pitcher, as well as a true team member willing to do whatever he has to do for the best of the team. Whether it is taking a seat on the bench and sitting out the World Series due to shoulder and back issues, or if it is walking out to the bullpen in the 14th inning to start warming up because we are almost out of pitchers, even if he did pitch the night before. He does whatever is needed.

As far as Tavarez goes, the man is a bit of a lunatic, but I like him. He has a great attitude and rarely seems down, no matter what is going on in the game. He is also a fairly versatile pitcher who can be long relief of a starter when need be, he is no staff ace, but he is a very servicable 5 starter for the club who can come up with big innings when he needs to if he comes in in relief – remember that 19 inning game against the White Sox in 2006 where he pitched 4 innings of 1 hit baseball only to have Seanez blow it is a couple of innings later? Yeah, he is a guy you want to have around in my opinion, also he is still relatively young, he may look like he is in his late 40’s, but he is really only 34 years old. Compares to Paps and Buchholz he is an old man, but he is young when you compare him to someone like Wakefield.

As far as the free agents go.

Curt Schilling has already re-signed with the Sox with a 1 year deal, so he is in for next year.

Matt Clement is, well, he is Matt Clement. I think he will go elsewhere, or else sign a rock bottom contract(2-3Million) with the Red Sox as long relief. He has not been the same since he got beaned by a line drive back at him in Tampa in July of ’05. Then he had the surgery on his shoulder last year, and only really threw for the first time in September just prior to the end of the season. I think that was mostly posturing to try to get something to negotiate with for a new contract with the Red Sox, or another team. I don’t see him signing anywhere close to a contract like the one he had with the Sox which paid him 9.5 million this year, even though he never threw a single pitch in a game or even spring training.

Mike Lowell, World Series MVP(not bad for a forced throw in for the Beckett trade), and all around like-able guy. He has so much bargaining power right now, and he knows it. I hope that he doesn’t get too greedy and he looks at things realistically. He is 34 years old, and while he has made a huge impact on the team, both on the field, as well as in the clubhouse, he is too high a risk for the Red Sox, or any team to sign for more than 3 years at 12-13million a year. I could see a team going for a 3 year guarantee, with a 4th year club option, or even a 5th year option, but no more than 3 guaranteed. I really do hope that the Red Sox and him are able to work out a deal that everyone is happy with. I think based on his personality, he may be willing to go for a 3 year deal for 30-34 million with a 4th year option for the Sox, only because he sees how much the fans like him, and how much he is appreciated by the fans. I hope I am right.

Mike Timlin and Eric Gagne, I don’t see either of them coming back to the Sox next year. Timlin has been good and essential to the World Series wins the Sox have had in 04 and 07, however his performance has been steadily dropping off. I like to refer to him as the King of Inherited Runners scoring, anytime I see him coming into the game with men on base, I just assume they will score before the end of the inning. Gagne, well, for lack of a better way to put it, he flat out sucked while on the Red Sox. He filed for FA, and is looking to be a closer somewhere. I wish him luck, he got his ring, but he is nowhere near the type of closer he was 4 or 5 years ago and was capable of 50+ saves and winning a Cy Young. Don’t let the door hitya where the good lord split ya Eric.

Then we have Cash and Mirabelli, the sox need to sign one of these guys. Why? Because of Tim Wakefield. We know Tek can’t catch him reliably, so we need someone who can, and it is one of these guys. Mirabelli has been Wake’s catcher for many years now, and Cash is used to other knucklers from down in Pawtucket. I think Mirabelli probably is a bit tired of playing second fiddle to Varitek, so that is why he went right to free agency, and I think Cash is tired of playing in the Minors so he is going to try to find a regular spot on an MLB team for playing time. Of these two guys, I think Cash is the better option, I think he has more potential for offense than Mirabelli, even though he was something miserable like 2/25 in August and September, I think it was mostly growing pains and lack of playing time. Time will tell if he can hit, but look what time did for Dustin Pedroia at the start of this season?

This now brings us to the last two, Bobby Kielty and Eric Hinske. I like both these guys, but the Sox need to sign one of them, they are great platoon players who can fill in at any time. They have decent bats and are capable of big hits when needed – who can forget what turned into the world series winning HR by Kielty? I think it is a tough call on which one, but both are cheap and unless the sox want to see what they can bring up from the farms, then we will see one of these guys.

As far as other free agents, I don’t see the Red Sox as part of the market this year for anyone. Starting pitching is solid, bullpen is pretty much solid, and all the positions except backup catcher will be taken care of once we(hopefully) sign Mike Lowell.

Trades are possible, and Coco Crisp may be on his way out, but that will likely be for a platoon player or some real good prospects if the Red Sox decide to bring up Ellsbury full time for centerfield next year.

Now the real long term question – Who will be the next big slugger for the Red Sox? We know Manny’s time is limited, and with Manny gone, it will open up Ortiz to a lot of walks. So who is the next big name to step up and into those shoes?

Only time will tell….