So… much… pitching…

I love it!

The Red Sox have pitched their way into the #1 record in the MLB.

Starting with Daisuke and his shutout 6 2/3 innings last weekend, and finishing off with Lester’s no-no, Masterson’s first win and a promising start from and old Cy-Young winner, we have now rattled off 6 in a row.

Let’s not forget that Curt Schilling is still in the background, and Buchholz is out with a broken fingernail, which once healed, shouldn’t hinder him at all. Add in Masterson and any spot starts he can give us, and this team is not only loaded with pitching, but loaded with GOOD PROMISING pitching.

And don’t shake your head and throw your arms in the air in disgust next time Lester, Buchholz, Masterson, or Wakefield get knocked around a little. It’s baseball, losing happens. We are built for the long haul, and built to be dominant in the post season. These are our 3, 4, and 5 guys! I mean hey, we could be throwing out Kyle Kendrick, Brett Meyers, or Adam Eaton if that makes you feel any better. (See: Phillies Rotation)

April baseball brings… May Baseball!

April is over kiddies. It was a fun month. In recent years I’ve realized how much April really doesn’t matter. April is like pre-season games that actually wind up on your W-L record. Nobody is “out” yet, even if your team is struggling. Let’s look at what happened in April, good points, bad points, and what it could mean for the rest of the season.

We opened the season in JAPAN! We went 3-1 with the A’s on that road trip before getting swept by the Jays. Fatigue, jetlag, whatever you want to say happened there, the Jays outplayed us. Thats going to happen sometimes because news flash, Baltimore, Tampa and Toronto aren’t the pushovers they have been. No, I don’t expect any of them to make the playoffs, but they will make it closer. If the Yankees or Sox falter a little, you could see one of these teams finish 2nd.

The Sox may not be in first, but we are damn close, and standings sure as hell don’t matter yet. I saw so many things this April that made me extremely excited about our team.

We bounced back from the Jays sweep by winning 12 of 14, including an 10-1 stretch. We battled the flu and still were able to churn out some W’s. We were bested by Tampa bay on a tough trip down there, getting swept by them for the first time ever in a 3 game series, and sending a losing streak to 5 games, longer than any in 2007. Well… It had to happen sooner or later. On the upside, 2 of those losses are wins 90% of the time. You give me a 1 hitter into the 8th, and tell me we only allow 2 runs? Thats a win most of the time. A career high 13 K’s for Beckett? Win most of the time.

How about 6 players batting above .290? Papi had his little slump, and yet both him and Manny have 20+ RBI, keeping them on pace for 120ish on the season. We have… wait a minute… that cant be right… TWENTY stolen bases on the year. Twenty.

Strikeouts seem to be a bit of an issue (186), but I think for the most part those will drop at least a little as players get into the season more and start seeing the ball better.

Matsuzaka seems to be getting a handle on this USA baseball thing, as we have won in all of his starts. You can whine about large pitch counts all you want ESPN, but I like this guy and I think he is going to be a fantastic #2 guy for us all year and for many more years to come.

Beckett missed a few starts, and I think it’s no big deal. I think it’s really just part of this team’s newer philosophy of making sure guys get rest and stay healthy, especially early in the year. It’s a long season, and Francona knows that. He wont let his guys hurt themselves. Beckett has shown signs of brilliance and dominance. Love this guy.

Wakefield is Wakefield. You should know how I feel about him by now, as I constantly am praising him. He will do his thing.

There’s been concern about Lester and Buchholz not going late enough in to games. I say whatever. Again, it’s just April folks. They have had some good outings and have in fact gone longer into games when the situation warrants it. They are growing well and we are going to have a banging pitching staff come October.

We have EIGHT wins where we came from behind in our last at bat, including the two recent walk offs at Fenway.

This team is strong, and built for the long haul. This team can be dominant and has the talent to win the big games. I see no reason why we can’t win another Division title and make some noise in the playoffs.

May brings us the AL Central as we get series with the Tigers, Twins, and Royals. Throw in a few division games with Baltimore and an early interleague series with the Brewers and we’ve got ourselves a month!

Baseball has truly arrived.

Hold up!

One of my favorite, most underrated statistics in baseball, is the hold. I run a fantasy league every year, and Holds are always a statistic that I add to the league. I feel it give some validation to a middle reliever and counts accomplishments the way wins do for a pitcher or saves for a closer. Middle relievers aren’t usually factors in decisions, unless they blow it or the offense just happens to come alive while they are pitching. As a result the W-L record of a reliever isn’t really an important bit of information to have.

That’s why the hold is great. It’s a middle relievers save. The hold is a relatively young statistic, maybe 9 years or so, but I think it’s definition could use a little revamping.

A hold is currently defined the same way a save is, except that the pitcher does not finish the game, and that your team does in fact win. A pitcher must record at least 1 out to get a hold.

1) Enter’s the game with a 3 run lead or less, leaves game with lead.
2) Enter’s game with tying run in the on deck circle, leaves game with lead.
3) Pitches 3 innings, regardless of lead, leaves game with lead.

I think that there should be a 4th condition in which a hold may be earned. Tie games. Last night the Phillies and Mets went 12 innings before the Mets eventually won it. I think there were 6 pitchers that did their job to the quality that I expect when I think a reliever should be getting a hold.

JC Romero, Brad Lidge, and Rudy Seanez pitched the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings respectively for the Phillies. Each pitcher pitched 1 full inning and allowed zero runs.

Billy Wagner, Joe Smith, and Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 9th, 10th and 11th innings respectively for the Mets. Each pitcher pitched and inning or more (1.0, 1.1, and 1.1 IP), and allowed zero runs.

None of these pitchers factored in the decision, as it was a tie game when they entered, and when they left. I feel that they should be awarded a hold for this performance. My proposal for the 4th condition on a hold is…

4) A reliever enters the game with a tie score, and does not allow any runs (inherited or not). The pitcher records at least one out and leaves the game still tied. The pitcher may not be involved in the decision for this hold to count.

This would increase the frequency of holds a little bit, but in the essence of what I think a hold should be, I don’t think it needs to be defined strictly by the constraints of what a save is. Those 6 pitchers each held the game in the state it was in and gave their team a chance to win. They should be credited for it.

No Worries

Ahhh Baseball. So happy that you are back. Sorry that I haven’t been writing in this recently, but it hasn’t been part of my routine for a while but I’ll try and get back into it now that the season is here.

So the Red Sox seem to be off to a bit of a “slow” start this year. I already hear cries of panic that the Jays swept us or that we lost a game to the (at the time) 0-7 Tigers. I have 2 words for all you nay-sayers, “Calm down.”

The Sox have had an intense travel schedule with Japan, West Coast, and Toronto. I’m not saying it is an excuse for them losing last night, but it has certainly not allowed our players to get into a nice little groove. As for the Tigers, come on now, did anyone actually think they would go 0-162. This is a team that 90% of the baseball universe thought was going to the playoffs 2 weeks ago and I see no reason why they still can’t. Yes, we lost to an 0-7 team, but they are still a good team.

I suspect our bats will wake up in about a week or so. As we get into this every day swing of things, players will see more pitches, get more at bats, and get some hot streaks going. Papi isn’t going to hit .100 all year, Lowell is going to get hot.

It’s April people, we aren’t out of it yet.

Formatting Error

I apologize for the 1 paragraph style of my last post. I have tried to fix it but the software does not seem to want to accept my carriage returns. I think it has something to do with the length of the post. I will keep trying to fix it but know that it is not intentional. 

Offseason Updates

I apologize to those who have been checking for updates and haven’t seen any in a while. I have been following everything in baseball, I just have not had time to write about it. In any event, I thought I’d do a little catching up. Mitchell Report I’d like to start by expressing my huge excitement that nothing in the Mitchell report tainted in any way the Red Sox World Series titles. For those who don’t know, the only connections that the Red Sox had to the report were Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Brendan Donnelly, Eric Gagne, Jose Canseco, Paxton Crawford, Jeremy Giambi, Steve Woodward, Josias Manzanillo, Chris Donnels, Mike Lansing, Kent Merker, and Mike Stanton.Donnelly and Gagne were the only members of either World Series team. Donnelly was injured for the majority of the season, and clearly nobody can make the argument that the 2007 Red Sox won because Gagne allegedly juiced. In any event, both players were in the report when the players were elsewhere. Clemens is still fighting his name in the report, but regardless of how that turns out, he hasn’t been a Sox player in long enough, nor has he been since the years he was allegedly involved. On a side note, Curt Schilling really needs to keep his mouth shut on this one. I don’t need to hear that he is disappointed in Clemens. Unless Schill knows something that we don’t, leave it be, it’s not his place to speak publicly about it. With little to no major contributions from any other players, the Red Sox and the Mitchell report will likely never be closely related, and probably never talked about together. Thankfully the Sox are clean on this one, and I would like to believe they still run a clean organization. Offseason MovesAs I noted in my end of season post, the 2008 Red Sox will look much like they did in 2007, except improved. (I know, it’s great to think they are lined up to be BETTER.)The resigning of Curt Schilling and Mike Lowell to 1 and 3 year contracts respectively will help our club greatly. Curt brings veteran leadership and will help the young guys regardless of his on field performance. Without the status of the “ace” in 2008, I think Schillings pitching will be much more appreciated this year, and if he goes 15-8, I’ll be very happy with 15 wins, much like my year in, year out attitude with Wakefield. I expect him to miss a few starts this year, but I’m okay with that as it will allow someone to step up for a few spot starts.I view the Lowell signing as even more important. We don’t have any top prospects lined up for third base, and most of the Lowell alternatives involved moving Youkilis to third. I think that would have been a poor choice, as Youk has clearly found some comfort at first base. His defense was excellent this year (no errors in the regular season, as well as making some spectacular plays) and his on field play did not interfere with his offensive production at all. Keep him there because it was working. Very happy to know that Youk and Lowell will be our corners for a few years.One year extensions were exercised for Tavarez and Wakefield. I fully expected them to sign Wake, as the organization recognizes what a value he is. Tavarez surprised me a little bit, but I am really happy that they did. Tavarez has shown time and time again he can start with only a few hours notice, which can be very handy to have around. He will once again fall in that middle relief role but his flexibility will help us through the season in spot starts, extra inning games, and any games where a starter is knocked out early.Catcher Kevin Cash was outright sent to Pawtuckett, and declined the assignment and thus became a free agent. Don’t worry though, our catching prospect re-signed shortly after and has an invitation to spring training. He could be Wakefields catcher if Mirabelli doesn’t wind up in a Sox uniform again.Timlin has been signed to a 1 year deal as well, and I can’t say I’m disappointed about that. I love his composure on the mound and love the way he rebounded in 2007 after everyone (myself included) had given up on him. A healthy Timlin can only help us. The Team As Is Youkilis, Pedroia, Lugo, Manny, Drew, and Varitek are extremely likely to keep their spots on the field, pending some blockbuster trade. Ortiz is obviously the DH. Crisp and Ellsbury are both in the picture for a job in center field. My guess is that right now Crisp has the job. I do think Crisp is on the trade market, but like usual, Epstien will not pull the trigger just to pull it. He has to get something that is valuable to him.The rotation looks like you would expect. Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Wakefield, and a # 5 starter. The five hole likely belongs to Lester right now, as it should, with Buchholz looming in the background. Unless Lester winds up in a trade for Johan Santana, I see him in the starting rotation and Buchholz starting the year in AAA.As for the Santana trade rumors, Lester, Buchholz, and Ellsbury have all been put into the trade rumors. Personally I think Buchholz and Ellsbury are untouchable, even for Santana. If that deal goes through I think we would see Lester and Crisp in that deal. I find it hard to believe Epstien would agree to something else.Papelbon will be the closer once again, and I only see him becoming more dominant as he gets stronger and develops his other pitches a little more.Okajima and Matsuzaka will be interesting to watch as they start their second seasons in the USA. I find it hard to believe Oki will be as dominant as he was, however, I still see him being very effective and a great 8th inning guy and an excellent back up for Papelbon. I expect Matsuzaka to improve greatly as I expect him to mature in his second American League season much like Beckett did in his second season with the Red Sox. I think we will see many more 7+ inning outings from him.  Get ready because the 2008 Red Sox are on their way, and they are looking stronger than ever. There is no way that this team doesn’t make the playoffs.     

2008 Red Sox: What They Should/Could and Will Look Like in the Future

2007 is over. The Red Sox were the best team in baseball, best regular season record and a World Series ring. The best part about this is, 2008 is going to look largely the same. Here is a position by position analysis of what the 2008 Boston Red Sox will look like, and what they should and will likely do with any holes that may exist.

1st Base: Kevin Youkilis
Does anyone else realize that was his SECOND full major league season? Only his second season as a full time player and he was absolutely spectacular. Youkilis is going to put up another big season, and will be a spectacular on base machine again. I also expect his power numbers go up.

2nd Base: Dustin Pedroia
Look at this, another fantastic youth produced by the Red Sox organization. This guy was fantastic May through October. His sophomore year is going to be fun to watch. Still calling for ROTY ‘07.

Short Stop: Julio Lugo
This guy has 3 more years on contract with the Sox, and I pretty much expect them to give Lugo another chance. He showed several signs of promise this year, and hopefully the Sox can stick to their guns and let Lugo get a second year in with a little less pressure on him. I think he can come through and be a great speed guy for us for the next three years.

3rd Base: EMPTY
There are a few options here.

Option #1: I vote Mike Lowell. Lowell is looking for a 3-4 year deal before he retires. GIVE IT TO HIM! Lowell is a great guy and offers so much to this team. With the youth movement the Sox are moving towards, Lowell could be a great veteran guy to have around for a few more years.

Option #2: Alex Rodriguez. I don’t see this happening at all. Mainly because I see the Sox agreeing with me on the resigning Lowell. There is one and only one situation in which Alex Rodriguez comes to Boston. Boston would have to TRADE Julio Lugo, and play A-Rod at short. I’m so confidant in the Sox signing Lowell that this is the only way A-Rod comes to Boston. The Red Sox are going to put a price tag on A-Rod, and they will not go above that. They will not overpay. My guess, is that they won’t pay more than 26 Mil a year for him, which is insane in the first place. Someone is going to bid higher, or Boras is gonig to demand more, and A-Rod will not wind up in Boston.

Option #3: Move Youkilis to third. I say not, an errorless season is good enough for me. Keep him over at first.

Left Field: Manny Rameriez
One more year on the contract, I see no reason why this changes.

Center Field: ?

Hard call here. Jacoby Ellsbury or Coco Crisp? I think it’s time for Ellsbury! Let Ellsbury start the season there and give him a real shot at the majors. I in no way think Crisp should be let go though. Let Crisp be a bench player for one year. Let him play every few days, do a 4 man outfield rotation to a certain degree. Coco can be a great player on the bench and can be used as a defensive replacement for Manny late in games, and can also be a great Dave Roberts type weapon. Manny has one more year on his contract, keep Coco for that year and start ‘09 with an outfield of Coco, Ellsbury, and Drew.

Right Field: JD Drew
Everyone keeps referring to the JD Drew signing as a failure by the Sox. I say nay. Drew had a poor year in general, but he started fantastic, and ended fantastic. Drew could be an great bat in this lineup and I think, like Lugo, a second year in Boston would drastically help him.

Rotation:

Josh Beckett: Is there any question now that this guy is #1?
Daisuke Matsuzaka: Tagging this guy to start #2. He’s had a whole season of AL ball, I look to him to improve in year two just as Josh Beckett did.
Jon Lester: I want this guy in my 3 hole. Game 4 was great, he can perform, give him the chance to do it for a full season.
Tim Wakefield: Take this $4 million option once again! This is why I wrote about him being tremendously valueable. Let him take 30 or so starts, he will win a good number of them and take innings away from everyone else. This also means keeping Mirabelli around.
Clay Buccholz: Let the rookie regime begin.

Yes ladies and gents, Curt Schilling is not in my ‘08 rotation. Curt, I want you to retire. I know you said one more year, but please, finish your career as a Sox and go down in the books with a ring. I don’t want to see you go anywhere else and I really think the Sox are going with youth here and are not going to resign you. Call it quits, I love you and I love your hall of fame career. Go out with some pride.

Closer: Papelbon
Quite possibly a few more postseasons from being considered one of the best closers of all time, right up there with Rivera. This guy is fantastic and he is going to keep being so. With the team the Sox have build, expect Papelbon to have plenty of chances to prove himself as a Rivera level closer.

Bullpen:

Okijima: Of course they keep him around. Big part of the team this year.
Delcarmen: This is your year little Manny, step up and be a fantastic 7th or 8th inning guy for us. You have the stuff to make it happen.

Bench: Alex Cora

Keep this guy around. Great utility infielder.

I’m not going to bother with the other bullpen or bench slots because there’s nearly no chance to get them right. Those are a few slots where Theo will chose what our best options are and I do not have enough information to really know what those last few players are.

2008 is going to be a fantastic year for the Red Sox in which I think they can easily put up another 95 wins, and a legitimate shot at 100 wins.

Barry Bonds: I want one more year

2007 was big for Barry Bonds. Records were broken, set and talked about. Barry Bonds home run counters were everywhere, and most people hated it. I for one, didn’t want to be told by sports center how many minutes it had been since the last Barry Bonds home run.

In fact, 2 years ago I was hoping he would get injured, or he wouldn’t get a new contract. I wanted him to be DONE. I wanted him out and I wanted Aaron’s record in tact.

Well here we are, the Giants and Barry Bonds have cut ties. He has expressed interest in still playing but for the most part I think nobody will sign him. Hes old, his body is getting fragile, and I’m sure he will be demanding a good amount of money and most teams wont pay it with all the steroid talk.

This could easily mean the end of the Barry Bonds era, and most people are probably happy about that.

I’m going to be the first to say BARRY BONDS PLEASE PLAY ONE MORE YEAR!!! Take a pay cut and play for what a poor team can pay you!!!!

Okay, I realize the ridiculousness of that statement, but don’t kill me over it yet. I want the Pittsburgh Pirates to sign Barry Bonds. Think about it, he has already broken the record, all he can do now is put up a few more. One more year, he might spend some time on the DL, but for the most part it would be an eventless year without much attention on him.

I say this not because I actually want him to play again, or because I care what he does on the field. I say this because it would be huge for the Pirates. Barry Bonds is a marketing gem, and his ability to bring in money to a weak Pittsburgh team is huge. He would finish his career where he started and would be a huge boost to one of the weakest teams in the league.

No, I didn’t say that he would help the Pirates directly win anything. This signing would NOT improve their chances of making the playoffs at all. All it does is bring in income in which they would be use to better their club in the 2009-’10 seasons.

I would love to see this happen, there is no downside to this, other than dealing with one more year of seeing Barry Bonds on SPORTSCENTER.

2007 Baseball Awards

It’s over ladies and gentlemen. 2007 was a great baseball season filled with records, magic, underdogs, and juggernauts. Now it’s time to take a look back and pick my Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and MVP awards. These are my picks, not the actual winners, though I’m hoping they closely align.

 AL Cy Young: Josh Beckett
This is a lock, I’ve been saying it since August. Nobody beat Beckett when it mattered this year. 4-0 in the postseason (which isn’t supposed to count in voting) and the only 20 game winner, which he did even while missing a few starts with that “evulsion” earlier in the game.

NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy
In my mind, this is another no brain-er. I know San Diego didn’t make the playoffs, but they were right there. He had more K’s than many of the strikeout kings of Beckett, Santana, Kazmir etc. His ERA was almost .5 runs lower than the second place guy, at an amazing 2.54 runs per 9. He finished with 19 wins, most in the NL and Beckett’s 20 was the only thing keeping him from a pitching triple crown. His one weak resume point was game 163 when that super hot Colorado team was in their fantastic run to make an amazing playoff appearance. I don’t think that one loss is enough to discount what he did the rest of the season.

AL Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedroia
Do I need to explain this one? After this kid hit less than .200 to start the season, the media and fans around Boston were calling for his exit. Terry Francona stuck to his guns, backed by Theo Epstien, and this guy was amazing all year. He was able to lead off, hit second, get on base, and hit a surprise home run now and then. In 520 at bats, he only struck out 42 times.
NL Rookie of the Year: Troy Tulowitzki
.291 Average, 24 HR, 99 RBI
Those are the numbers you expect a grizzled veteran to put up. Combine that with his excellent defense and you have a guy who is destined for good things with Colorado.

Manager of the Year: Terry Francona
I say this not as a Red Sox fan, or because his team won the World Series. I say this because of what he has accomplished with this club. The environment he has created allows each and every player to continue to learn and develop, wether they be a veteran or a rookie. Sticking with Pedroia in April can be looked at as one of his best moves all year, right up there with his fantastic bullpen management. Papelbon and Okajima did very well through the postseason and were able to pitch multiple effective innings strictly because of the way Francona handled the team. These players are just a bunch of guys having fun out on the field, not worried about consequence or failure. They can go out there day in and day out and just have some fun, and it’s all to the credit of Terry Francona.

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
Doesn’t even need to be discussed. Everyone already knows it.

NL MVP: Matt Holiday
I almost picked Ryan Howard for this one, it was very close. Holiday beats Howard in RBI by one, and average .340 to .268. Their OBP are about the same, but Howard has 11 more home runs finishing in at 47 dingers. At 26 more runs scored, 74 more hits, and almost twice as many doubles, I have to go with Holiday here. He was a better all around player.

Red Sox Gold Gloves:
Kevin Youkilis - Perfect. Enough Said. No regular season errors.
Jason Varitek - Not just his glove, but the way he handles pitchers and calls the game. I think that should be counted in gold glove discussions because it’s how he plays his position.
Dustin Pedroia - He might not actually win it, but he absolutely could have. He made amazing plays and highlight reels all year. Polonco had a fantastic year at second and very well may win it over Pedroia.
Coco Crisp - “Did you see that game where Crisp went horizontal and made that game saving catch?”   …   “Which one?”

DH: Use it or Lose it

The Designated Hitter. It is the one huge element keeping the two Major League Baseball Leagues apart. We all know what “national league” ball is, the style of manufacturing runs, and more small ball than its AL counterpart. The AL is famous for the big guys, the David Ortiz’s of the world getting paid to focus on hitting. It causes higher scoring games and inflated ERA’s across the board. So which one is better? Is one set of rules better than the other?Is the National League at a disadvantage year after year having to face these teams whom are built to pound the ball? I say yes, and there needs to be a change. NL adopt it or AL lose it. Get these leagues on the same page.

I say the NL should adopt it. Why you ask? Because pitchers can’t hit. They don’t work on it, and they are just flat out bad. We are never going to see the next Babe Ruth. The game is different, pitchers will never be so well rounded to be an all start hitter and an all star pitcher. If players could still do that, I’m all for letting them hit. Show me a pitcher that instills fear into the other team and I’ll reconsider this point. It just won’t happen. Get those .152 averages out of the lineup and get on a level playing field with the AL.