Boston's Lineup

Looking at the Boston lineup the last two days I can't help but feel their offense has really takken a big step down the last few years. The still have the big duo of Ortiz and Manny so they will always score runs but in order for their offense to be elite those guys HAVE to be great, not just good. Really look at the lineup from today;
Pedoria
Youkilis
Ortiz
Ramirez
Lowell
Moss
Varitek
Crisp
Lugo
Besides Manny and Ortiz that lineup is pretty weak. Even if you swap Ellsbury for Crisp and Drew for Moss its a lienup you can pitch to. Their pitching has to be very good or they might be on the outside looking in this playoff season. ....

A Look at the Enemy

Since Spring Training is well under way I thought it would be a good idea to check out arch rival the Boston Red Sox and see what their spring stats reveal;

• Both Jed Lowrie and Jacoby Elssbury are below the Mendoze line(.086 and .194 respectively)
• Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp are both banged up (6abs for Lugo and 4 for Coco)
• Buchholz is getting hit(9.35era)
• Once super prospect Craig Hansen sucks(13.50 era)
• Okajima is still getting lucky(7ip no runs)

Red Sox Perception

Tyler Kepner has a short piece in the times on Theo Eptein. Theo is quoted as saying;

"If someone wants to compare us to the Yankees based on winning and results, that’s an incredible standard,” said Epstein, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. “If they want to compare us to the Yankees in how we do things, that’s a little off base.”

Tyler goes on to give credit to the boy genius for all his shrewed moves and his continues investment in developing players.

"Homegrown players contributed directly to the title, including closer Jonathan Papelbon, second baseman Dustin Pedroia and pitcher Jon Lester, who won the clinching game."

I decided to take a look at the Boston team and compare the postseason(ALDS) 25 man roster to that of the Yankees and see where each player was originally acquire; drafter/signed to minor league deal, Trade or Free Agency. Here are the results;

Boston - 10 Free Agency, 9 through Trade, 6 Drafted/Signed
Yankees - 12 Drafted/Signed, 7 Free Agency, 6 through Trade.

So here is where some recent contributions from some young players creates a little bit of false perception. The truth of the matter is the 2004 Red Sox team was built almost completely on imported players and just recently have they begun to produce anything of substance. However, for Theo to imply that the Red Sox do things differently because they give young players more of a chance is just plain wrong. Also, the Yankees might have a starting rotation next year built completely with homegrown players (Wang, Pettitte, Joba, Hughes, and Kennedy) so who relies more on homegrown players again?

The Curse of Papelbon's Dog

Today a new curse of the Boston Red Sox has officially begun. This curse is not caused by the selling of the world's greatest athlete to fund a marginal musical; this curse is caused by a grossly overinflated sense of entitlement. Those same lovable idiots(ok I puked in my mouth a little) of three years ago now value the World Series ball from their latest championship so little they let their pets use it as a chew toy. The bet here is that the baseball gods won't look too kindly on this.

With the Red Sox, the Celtics and the unbeaten Patriots, the city of Boston has clearly made a deal with the devil. This deal will come due soon enough when the curse of Shithead begins.

What the...???

Ok, I am officially ticked off. Why is it that the Yanks have to offer not just a little bit more, but A LOT more in trades than do the Red Sox in order to get the same players? The Johan thing is a perfect example...we offer Hughes, and they want Jackson and Kennedy too. They are supposedly 'close' with a package centered around Jon Lester and Ned Lowrie. Well, seeing as how Phil Hughes has been the #1 pitching prospect in baseball for the past 24 months, Lester must be da man, huh? Let's take a look at their minor league numbers side by side -

Lester has 6 seasons minor league experience to Hughes' 4.

Age -
Lester - 1/7/84 - 24 on opening day
Hughes - 6/24/86 - 22 on opening day

W/L
Lester - 32-31 in 102 games started
Hughes - 25-8 in 53 games started

ERA
Lester - 3.33
Hughes - 2.03

K's/9
Lester - 8.31
Hughes - 10.18

BB/9
Lester - 3.78
Hughes - 2.16

HR/9
Lester - 0.56
Hughes - 0.20

Hits/9
Lester - 7.99
Hughes - 5.56

The numbers go on and on and on! Hughes is a potential ACE; Lester is a potential #3 (AT BEST!). It's not even close!

Some might then say, "Lowerie is going to be a great player, and that makes the Sox' offer as good if not better." Lowrie is a career .291 hitter with ZERO power (20 HR in 3 years). The Yanks were prepared to give up Melky Cabrera who in 3 MAJOR LEAGUE seasons has a .275 average and 15 HR. The argument that Lowrie has more upside is crap too; they are both 23 - Lowrie was born April 17, 1984, and Melky is a whopping 116 days older (Aug. 11, 1984). Melky has stats in the majors that are almost identical to Lowrie's in the minors! Assuming Lowrie hits AAA pitchers better than major leaguers (gee, ya think?), this tilts hugely in favor of the Yanks' offer as well.

So what the hell? Why is it that the Yanks have to offer SOOOOO much more than the Sox to get the same player back?

An argument could (and should!) be made that the most comparable offer the Yanks could make to the Sox' offer of Lester/Crisp/Lowrie/Masterson (23, 3.74 era in 2 minor league seasons)would be:

*Alan Horne (AA pitcher of the year, at least an equal to Lester, probably better)
*Melky (better, younger, with more upside and cheaper than Crisp)
*Alberto Gonzalez (24 yr old SS who hit .304 @ SWB last yr - a plus glove with upside, comparable to Lowrie)
*Russ Ohelndorf (a more major league ready pitcher than Materson).

When you compare offers this way it is obvious why the Yanks pulled out...why should we get so totally fleeced when the next best offer is far less than ours?

Hank - hold tight! Johan is good, but if the Twinkies really liked the Sox' offer more Santana would be in Boston already!

Fun With Google - Yankees Style

Since it is a slow news day I thought I would use google's Keyword tool to see some of the popular Yankee related seraches. We already know Latroy Hawkins sucks but what else can google tell us?Lets look at some Yankee keywords and see what it reveals;

What? - Derek Jeter

• "derek jeter cologne" - please people you have to be kidding me
• "derek jeter jessica biel" - ok, I won't judge
• "derek jeter hurricane" - this is the batting machine he plugs
• "derek jeter dating"

What this tells us? Jeter is a whore with women and for money. Who can blame him? Its his world and we just live in it.

What? Alex Rodriguez

• 6 of the top ten searches are picture related
• "Alex Rodriguez contract" - no shock here
• "Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez"-Boston fans I guess
• "Alex Rodriguez wife"

What this tells us? Arod has a huge contract, a popular wife and people love looking at him. The picture thing kind of shocked me. His picture searches and his searches in general seemed larger then Jeter's which surprised me. Also, I expected Alex Rodriguez sucks to be a lot higher.

What? - Joe Torre

• "fire joe torre" - third on the list

What this tells us? Good luck in LA, you won't be missed.

What? - Yankees

• "yankees suck"
• "damn yankees"

What this tells us? People love to hate the Yankees.

What? - Red Sox

• "alex rodriguez" - the 15th most popular red sox search term was Arod
• "babe ruth" - 17th on the list
• "johnny damon" -11th
• "yankees" -5th
• new york yankees"-12th on the list

What this tells us? Despite their recent success Red Sox nation still feels inferior. They can win twice in four years but little has changed. In the end, they will always be losers and can only think about their team in the context of how they are stack up against the Yankees. Thanks google for reminding me we are THE TEAM and no matter how many times the Red Sox win that will always ring true.

Shoot me now....

From espn;

"If the Red Sox get Santana," said an executive of one NL team that's grateful to be in the other league, "they might be the best team in the history of the frigging universe."

I could not handle the year-long Red Sox lovefest a Santana aquistion would create.

Johan Santana Waiting Game Continues

The Johan saga drags on as there is word that the Yankees and Twins could be meeting into the night to discuss a deal. Also, as this thing plays out I think it is clear that the Red Sox are in this just to try and keep Johan from the Yankees. When they wanted Beckett they went at him hard and the same for Schilling. Also, with Bedard and Haren on the market if Theo really thought he needed a pitcher would he say he was content to let this thing play out as long as it needed to?

The question is how to react to that from a Yankees perspective. My immediate response is the Red Sox are trying to manipulate the prince of Santana up but then I came to another conclusion - they fear him on the Yankees. They will stay in this all the way to the end so they get a chance at matching the Yankee offer and possible keeping him from playing here. As a Yankee fan that should make me want Santana very very badly. He is clearly a player who will take a team from World Series contender to unstoppable juggernaut. The Red Sox know this and they want nothing more then to disrupt this deal enough so it does not happen, drive the price up just enough, create just enough confusion and hopefully Johan stays out of the Bronx is their thinking. My gut says it won't matter, by this time tomorrow I expect to be hearing of a contract window and then a whole new waiting game will start albeit an inevitable one.