Dan Shaughnessy vs. The Man

As you all probably know by now, Coco Crisp has been traded to the Red Sox, and Johnny Damon has been officially replaced. But everybody's talking about that now. What's really grabbed my attention this weekend was Dan Shaugnessy's Sunday column concerning the Red Sox and their television broadcasts of Friday Night Baseball on the Boston UPN station. Or rather, the broadcasts they used to have on Friday nights, because they won't be doing them any longer.

If you're not from the region, you probably didn't know that the Red Sox broadcast the majority of their games on the New England Sports Network (NESN), which is owned in part by the club. It's a cable station available on most basic cable plans in New England. Fans as far south as New Haven, Connecticut are able to watch most every Sox games, and those not on NESN are usually on FOX or ESPN. For some time now, however, the Friday night Sox games were broadcast in the Boston market on UPN 38, a channel requiring no cable subscription. The broadcast and graphic presentation styles differed between the two networks, and for fans here in CT, the Friday games meant missing the first pitch or two of numerous ABs after returning from a commercial break. For fans who couldn't afford cable service, Friday night baseball became the one way to see tthe hometown Sox on TV, the closest thing to getting baseball's most sought-after ticket.

The Red Sox have apparently decided to end their agreement with Channel 38, and as Shaughnessy accurately points out, this decision leaves a very specific group of Sox fans out in the cold:

We tend to think we live in a world in which everybody has cable television and personal computer access. Well, it's not everybody. In the Boston market, 6-7 percent of homes do not have cable television. The majority of those households make less than $50,000 per year.

Folks without cable? You know who they are. Probably your elderly aunt in Cohasset, the one who still has a rotary phone. She loves the Red Sox. Recently, she's loved them on Friday nights when she can watch for free. It's the same in a lot of hospitals, shelters, and religious residences. Not everybody has cable.

According to Scarborough Research, there are 589,635 adults in the Boston market (Eastern Massachusetts from the Cape to Southern New Hampshire and as far west as Worcester) without cable or satellite television. More than 20 percent of the non-cable population is nonwhite and 51.8 percent is made up of households earning less than $50,000. Nineteen percent of the non-cable/satellite people are over 65.

The elderly, those on fixed income, and minorities end up in those hung out to dry by the Sox brass.

What is incredibly striking is the stance publicly taken by the ownership. Although the Theo situation's beginning demonstrated a front office hellbent on spinning every possible situation, and the close to Theo's debacle featured the beginnings of a tight-lipped policy, this Channel 38 issue has shown a lack of grace and tact on the part of the Red Sox. Here's Tom Werner:

''We don't want to exclude people who can't afford cable, but we don't want to give free tickets to people, either. We have to balance that concern. Ninety-five percent of people in Boston have cable.

Wow. That's a winner, let me tell you.

The amount of insensitivity shown to the fans by this front office is amazing. Don't want to give free tickets? No need to worry about that, tickets to Fenway are the hardest and most expensive to come by in all of baseball. You either have to have been a season-ticket holder since 1940, or you need to know somebody who know's somebody. And chances are, that somebody is one of the innumerable corporate fat cats indulgently occupying the boxes around the infield.

The Red Sox are one of baseball's oldest franchises. Year after year, they sell out home games in that little band box of a ballpark. Despite ridiculous merchandise sales, their own TV network, advertising, and promotions, ticket prices continue to rise. The only seats under 20 bucks aren't even seats, they're standing room only. A day at the ballpark for 2 people, after tickets, concessions, and maybe one souvenir, can hit $150. But people still come. The Sox continue to add seats, but they're high-end seats only the very moneyed businessmen can afford. All the boxes go to corporations, for guys who couldn't give a rat's patootie about whether or not the Sox fare well. Heck, it's all a reward for them being such stand up guys. Meanwhile, in small houses and apartments all over New England, senior citizens, children, and teenagers talk to their television, do the wave inside their living room, and set up their own concession stands at the kitchen table. Why? Because they love this team. Sox fans are blessed in that their announcers have such rare chemistry, they make the radio and TV broadcasts special experiences in their own right. The fans love the history, they love the culture, they love the passion, they love the triumph and the tragedy. The Red Sox set the pace of most every summer's day, and it's becoming harder and harder to actually see those beloved Sox.

By eliminating Friday night games, the FO is going to take away the only "free ticket" a lot of less fortunate fans have. Tell me it's a business, tell me it's so we can compete with the other monsters of the league, tell me it's because they want more people to come to the ballpark.

I'll tell them it's a load of horseshit, and they can stick it where the sun don't shine. Go get 'em, Dan.

Mr. Sosa Goes to Washington?

Big mistake. This is just another example of why Jim Bowden shouldn't be allowed within 300 feet of a front office.

The reasons are rather glaring. First, there's the fact that he's an aging superstar (37 years old) who has poor defensive capabilities and couldn't DH in Washington. Second, there's the steroid haze now surrounding his entire career, a haze that begins to solidify when one looks at the sharp decline in his offensive statistics between 2004 and 2005, when MLB began its testing in earnest. His OBP has been in a sharp decline since 2001, when he posted .328, which is OK, and it ended last year at a whopping .295. Ouch. He also hasn't posted a SLG at .400 or higher since 2001, which maybe could be linked to the fact that he's struck out an impressive 656 times in his last 5 years. This only fuels the steroid controversy and leads one to question: how many of his numbers stem from actual ability, and how many from possible enhancement? Third, there's the fact that RFK is a pitcher's park, and if Sosa could only manage 14 HR in 102 games during 2005 while playing in the low-fenced band box that is Oriole Park, then chances are he won't be able to regain his power status in the chasm of RFK.

But let's forget all of those empirical reasons against the signing. Looking at Sammy Sosa to fill the shoes of Brad Wilkerson or Preston Wilson reeks of desperation. Go for the star name, go for the glitz and glamour. Only Sosa is tarnished, damaged goods. His evaporation and ugly exit in Chicago, his nonpresence in Baltimore, both have merely made him a has-been. I don't see how you could possibly argue that signing Sammy Sosa would make the Nationals more competitive. They need youth, they need pitching, they need organizational strength from their farm system. They do not need a geezer, just like they don't need a selfish, "I'm not going to play center field because you're not the Yankees and they never should've traded me" crybaby in Alfonso Soriano. Bowden needs to grow a set of stones and take one on the chin. Prove to baseball fans in Washington and nationwide that the Nationals are not simply the Expos of recent years with a new name and glitzy uniforms. Prove they're a whole different team, from rookie ball to the top. Give fans and politicians a reason to come to the ballpark, to support a new stadium.

Of course, maybe they Nationals will have a real owner by next October. And maybe he or she will have the balls to do what Bowden won't.

THC Inaugural Podcast

It took roughly 8 hours of fiddling with recording software, microphone hassles, and my own computer ignorance to to it done, but here it is, the charter podcast of The Hot Corner! I'll admit, it's pretty rough, but I was so pumped to just get it out I couldn't help putting it up. THC January 25, 2006

The Value of Hustle:

What do players like Cal Ripken, David Eckstein, Mike Timlin, Jason Varitek, Bill Mueller and Red Sox prize Dustin Pedroia have in common? Hustle.

In today's baseball world, the celebrity is large, the money is larger, and the contracts are guaranteed. Gone are the days where players needed to bust their butts to get to October, where were ignored unless they were debilitating. Gone, too, are the days when a World Series share would help offset the bills in the winter and take some of the burden out of the required offseason employment. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Ballplayers are exceptions athletes, and they are exceptional entertainers, sacrificing their minds, bodies and families for victory in some strange city for people they don't even know. They deserve to be paid and paid well. Their contracts should be guaranteed. But is the era of free agency and high paychecks all good for baseball? When does the bonus baby become a bonus burden?

Manny Ramirez. I love the guy. He hits like no one I've ever seen, but he fields with little interest in being the best leather-lasher he can. He's got so much natural talent that the Red Sox rewarded him with an absurd contract when they signed him. All he needs to do now is show up to the ballpark, and he can collect his paycheck. Numerous times over the last few years Ramirez has opted out of the lineup for shady, ambiguous reasons. A phantom quad injury, a grandmother that has died probably 4 times in the last 3 years, a cold: all of these have kept Manny out of the lineup. Don't misunderstand me when I say that maybe if he knew his paycheck was dependent on his dedication and all-out effort, he would be inclined to play when his tummy hurts.

Again, guaranteed contracts are good for the player, and baseball players had been shafted for near a century before they got the authority they deserve. Nowadays though, it is becoming a rare event to witness a player who sacrifices day in and day out, despite the aches and pains and soreness. It is rarer still to see a player that has that all-encompassing sense of team, of 25 men working as one interdependent unit instead of a mass of independently functionining individuality. My favorite players are the David Ecksteins, the Jason Variteks, and the Bill Muellers of the game, the ones who know that they're there to play ball and that everything else is just dressing. The most exciting sight in my eyes is the undersized, light-hitting scrapper running out every ground ball, throwing himself at every play, pestering the hell out of pitchers and elevating pitch counts just because he knows it all helps the team.

Why is it someone like David Eckstein, who fits that mold perfectly, who inspires this kind of affection and admiration? He's not the fastest, he's not the best basher, and he's certainly not the tallest player on the field, but maybe it's because of his conventional baseball shortcomings that he is so great. Everyone looks at a player like Eckstein and says that he can't hit, can't get to a lot of balls, can't lead off, and can't throw from deep in the hole.

Tell him that.

Every put-down is just another reason to prove people wrong and be the ultimate team player. To me, there is nothing more enjoyable on a daily basis during the stretch of the 162-game marathon than to witness a guy that give it his all every night. That's the kind of player I can root for without reservation, no matter what team he's on. (That being said, he annoyed the crap out of me when he was in Anaheim batting against Boston, but now that he's on a team I like I am vocal in my admiration).

I'm not saying that something official needs to be done to change the mindset of the players and punish those who don't subscribe to this belief. Nor am I saying that the other players, the pure hitters, are less of a player because of their attitudes. (Again, I love Manny.) I'm just saying that maybe some manager should take a stand against indifference and indolence. Play the Dirt Dog and sit the Superstar. Maybe with enough time it could change the way we view the game.

Wake up Cincinnati, your GM is gone...

In the front offices of one of the league's oldest ballclubs, changing is in the air. New ownership, in the shape of Bob Castellini, has stepped into the box and decided to shake things up, beginning with the firing of Reds GM Dan O'Brien. "Hooray!" cry the Ohioans. Maybe now they can get back to building a ballclub good enough to merit the beautiful ballpark they've got over there. But what's this? There are already candidates for the GM job? And one of them is *gasp* JIM BEATTIE! Why?!The same thing happened in Boston when Theo left. As soon as there was a vacancy, possible candidates popped out of the ground faster than jackrabbits after a flood. I guess that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that the "leading candidates" were always middle-aged balding white guys with terrible GM track records, and the first name of Jim. Beattie, Bowden, both of them have run franchises into the ground. Baltimore, Washington, both were just pile-driven into oblivion by these guys. Their advantage didn't make sense when there was a spot in Boston, and they still don't make sense in Cincinnati.

What would make sense, in my opinion, would be someone different, someone outside the convention GM mold. Someone young, someone who isn't as whitebread as they come, a woman! Can anybody give me a legit explanation as to why Kim Ng was not given serious consideration in Boston as Theo's replacement? She's relatively young, she's Asian, and she's a woman! Think about how great that would be. Finally there would be someone with a whole different perspective, with the ability to shape a ballclub and not succomb to the pitfalls of their predecessors. Cinci should do their darndest to get someone of this caliber, maybe promote someone from within their own FO, or even pursue Ng and others. Heck, I'd say even Jed Hoyer or Ben Cherington would be stellar replacements for O'Brien. And since they just got screwed out of the GM post in Boston, I'm sure they'd love to get the chance to jump back in the ring.

Meanwhile, at 1 Yawkey Way...

At some point last Thursday night, Theo Epstein slipped through the unlocked door, hung up his coat, and turned off the light that had been so lovingly left on for him at the Red Sox front office (which in my head at this moment looks a lot like my grandma's old pea green, linoleum-lined kitchen). Yes, that's right Sox fans, The Boy Wonder has re-entered the building.

Truth be told, this probably doesn't mean a whole lot other than we all can sleep a little more soundly at night because we know Theo is at the helm. Or is he? What's going to happen with Larry? Nothing, says J. Henry. Ben and Jed? Your guess is as good as mine, they say. All we know is that he's going to be full time in baseball operations, and that more details will come this week. Realistically, he's not going the be renamed the GM, since that was his old place and if he wanted his old place, then, well, why leave in the first place? More on this after the press conference.

Ranking just after Theo's return is the rumor that the Sox have all of a sudden figured out how to fill the vacancies they have in CF and at SS. Coco Crisp anyone? He's the apple of the Boy Wonder and Dynamic Duo's eyes and it now appears he's going to be in a Boston uniform before the week is out. Unfortunately, it's going to come at the cost of Andy Marte, the top prospect we picked up from the Braves in the Renteria debacle, and Guillermo Mota, the wunder-reliever from FLA that came over with Beckett. Marte's stats are listed in an earlier post, but let's take a quick gander at Crisp and Mota.

COCO CRISP: Batting
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
2002 22 CLE AL 32 127 16 33 9 2 1 9 4 1 11 19 .260 .314 .386 49 3 2 0 0 0
2003 23 CLE AL 99 414 55 110 15 6 3 27 15 9 23 51 .266 .302 .353 146 7 3 1 0 4
2004 24 CLE AL 139 491 78 146 24 2 15 71 20 13 36 69 .297 .344 .446 219 9 2 4 0 8
2005 25 CLE AL 145 594 86 178 42 4 16 69 15 6 44 81 .300 .345 .465 276 13 5 1 0 7
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
4 Seasons 415 1626 235 467 90 14 35 176 54 29 114 220 .287 .332 .424 690 32 12 6 0 19
*www.baseball-reference.com

COCO CRISP: Fielding
G PO A E DP FP RNG THR
LF/CF Career Total 404 896 14 11 4 .988 97 84
*baseball-reference.com; Baseball Encyclopedia

GUILLERMO MOTA: Pitching
Year Ag Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP IBB BK ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
1999 25 MON NL 2 4 51 0 0 0 18 0 55.3 54 24 18 5 25 27 2 1 243 3 1 2.93 4.70 161 1.428
2000 26 MON NL 1 1 29 0 0 0 7 0 30.0 27 21 20 3 12 24 2 1 126 0 1 6.00 4.64 77 1.300
2001 27 MON NL 1 3 53 0 0 0 12 0 49.7 51 30 29 9 18 31 1 1 212 1 0 5.26 4.62 88 1.389
2002 28 LAD NL 1 3 43 0 0 0 11 0 60.7 45 30 28 4 27 49 2 3 256 6 0 4.15 3.79 91 1.187
2003 29 LAD NL 6 3 76 0 0 0 18 1 105.0 78 23 23 7 26 99 1 0 410 4 0 1.97 4.03 204 0.990
2004 30 TOT NL 9 8 78 0 0 0 18 4 96.7 75 33 33 8 37 85 4 5 393 6 0 3.07 4.13 134 1.159
LAD NL 8 4 52 0 0 0 11 1 63.0 51 15 15 4 27 52 2 5 259 5 0 2.14 4.14 193 1.238
FLA NL 1 4 26 0 0 0 7 3 33.7 24 18 18 4 10 33 2 0 134 1 0 4.81 4.10 85 1.010
2005 31 FLA NL 2 2 56 0 0 0 24 2 67.0 65 38 35 5 32 60 1 4 293 7 0 4.70 4.02 85 1.448
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
7 Yr WL% .478 22 24 386 0 0 0 108 7 464.3 395 199 186 41 177 375 13 15 1933 27 2 3.61 4.20 116 1.232
*baseball-reference.com

The Sox are interested in Crisp for a couple of publicized reasons, but mainly because a. he's young, b. he's under control of the FO for the next few years, and c. he is a good leadoff hitter and defensive outfielder... or so they say. He's only posted a career OBP of .332, and while he is fast, he's not necessarily the best defender. Don't look at the errors, because as we all know, errors is a poor stat. Instead, look at his range (RNG) and arm strength (THR). Interpret those numbers (from the Encyclopedia) by taking 100 as the league average, and anything lower as worse, higher as better. His range is just about league average, but his throwing is terrible, and compared to Johnny Damon (which is what this is all about isn't it? trying to replace Johnny?) he's honestly not too bad. Johnny's career RNG is exactly 100, and I'm pretty sure I have a better THR because his is 74. Ouch. Okay, so Crisp can cover ground ok, and is marginally better with his arm than Caveman. But can he hit?

Johnny's offensive prowess needs no discussion, but the belief is that Crisp can hit pretty well, and that he's really improving. It's honestly not a bad assertion, what with his last two seasons being .297/.344 and .300/.345, respectively. He'll probably hit around 20 HR give or take a few every year, and score his share of runs. The real question is, can Coco lead off? His reputation in Cleveland was that of a clutch hitter more than a leadoff guy, but you never know.

The things we'd give up for Crisp are significant, in that Marte's potential ceiling is much higher than Crisp's, and that the Red Sox bullpen is much better and much deeper with Guillermo Mota in it. If you think about it, one of the biggest weaknesses of the 2005 Sox was the bullpen, and in this offseason they've signed 3 very solid to very good relievers to bolster the back half. Along with Julian Tavarez, Mota provides a killer set of relievers before Foulke takes the mound. With Tavarez signing a multi-year deal and having the nutjob mentality and intensity required to pitch out of the Boston bullpen, Mota does become expendable. There are several young arms waiting in the minor league wings to come up and help out the Big Club, and Mota's departure would make room for them.

I guess what I'm saying is that this is not necessarily the worst trade in the world, as Crisp is a legit player for CF. It just makes me a little uncomfortable to know that when we traded for one of the best position prospects in the major leagues, we became willing to ship him and a great reliever away for an above average CF who's not even an All-Star. Should we do it? I don't know. I honestly could go either way on this.

INTERESTING: Bronson Arroyo loves Boston so much that he accepted a 3 yr/12 million dollar deal with the Sox during the middle of last week, a deal that ran contrary to his agents' desires as it is below market value. This is the kind of thing that I miss in baseball. Bronson says he wants to finish his career in Boston, and he actually has the balls to prove it, knowing that he's getting guaranteed money and the chance to stay in the plays he wants. Makes people like a certain center fielder and a certain Dominican pitcher look foolish when the say they want to finish their career here but leave because a few million more dollars. The downside to this trade is that it makes Arroyo more attractive to smaller clubs, as he's below value and locked up for a few years. He's legit trade bait. I will be ridiculously sad if they trade him for somebody, anybody. These are the kinds of players I want to root for. They help me forget about the nasty business side of this, our national pasttime.

Oh yea, and Alex Gonzalez? JUST SAY NO (unless he plays for cold turkey sandwiches...)

Rotating Redbirds

I said earlier I'd put up a look at the off-season moves of the St. Louis Cardinals, and so here we are. Trouble is, I don't live anywhere close to St. Louis, so my knowledge of the Cards as an organization is nowhere near as complete that of the Red Sox. I probably won't go over every move, but I'll give it my best, so here we go.

Let's begin with a handy look at who's come and who's gone (special thanks to www.cardsclubhouse.com, a great message board and Redbird fan community):

In:
Junior Spivey (2B)
Juan Encarnacion (OF)
Brian Daubach (U)
Sidney Ponson (P)
Deivi Cruz (2B)
Braden Looper (RP)
Ricardo Rincon (RP)
Gary Bennet (C)
Larry Bigbie (OF)

Out:
Einar Diaz, CLE
Reggie Sanders, KC
Mark Grudzielanek, KC
Abraham Nunez, PHI
John Mabry, CHC
Ray King, COL
Larry Walker, Retired
Cal Eldred, Retired

Probably the biggest reason for the Cards' collapse last season at the hand of a team like the Astros was injuries. Scott Rolen was injured the majority of the regular season, and their corner outfielders really showed some wear and tear as the season progressed. Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders are both very good players, but they're both very old. Walker in particular looked like a very old man in the field. Turning 40 this coming season, he's just too old to continue at the level he maintained for the majority of his career. Sanders is also extremely old, and while he tore up the cover of the ball agains the Padres in the NLDS last year, a collision in left field at the beginning of the NLCS left him badly banged and bruised. Of these two OF positions only one of them has been filled, by the acquisition of free agent Juan Encarnacion, formerly of the Dodgers and Marlins. Although his career OPS is only .756, he put together an OK year in FL, batting .287, a .349 OBP along with 16 HR and 76 RBI. While the numbers may not jump off the page, let's not forget that St. Louis is a different kind of baseball town than Miami. It's entirely possible that, even though Encanacion appears to have been picked up for his age and his glove, he could end up with the kind of turnaround that Orlando Cabrera underwent in the middle of the 2004 season when he moved to Boston (see, even here the Sox find a way in). Larry Bigbie appears to be the other OF in line to patrol the ramparts of the new Busch Stadium. Bigbie (he of I-Should-Have-Been-In-Boston-But-Someone-Goofed-And-I-Got-Stuck-In-Colorado fame) is miserable offensively, but his glove is surprisingly good, posting only 3 errors and a .996 FP over 4 years. Let's not forget he could be Larry Walker's son (if Walker had a kid when he was like 14). So the Redbirds have filled the worn OF treads of Walker and Sanders with the young, springy steps of Encarnacion and Bigbie. Onwards...

Mark Grudzielanek, the 2B that came over from the Cubs last year and was one half of the great STL middle infield combo with David Eckstein, left during the one week the KC front office decided to do something other than be terrible. In his stead comes Junior Spivey, the 2B dealt to the Nationals in the middle of 2005, but who in 2006 will be wearing the bat and birds. Spivey is nothing spectacular with the glove, but he's young, and he gets on base (.354 lifetime). He steals a few bases a year, but he won't be tearing the basepaths apart anytime soon.

The biggest acquistions for the Cards this offseason have come in the shape of pitching arms. Ricardo Rincon, the reliever with the Athletics, found his way to the gateway to the West, as did Braden Looper, the former closer with the Mets (who I'm sure would love to forget (only 27 SO in almost 60 IP). The big news was Sidney Ponson, who, if you can pry the bottle out of his sausage fingers, could be a decent starter... but nobody's figured out how to do that long enough for him to be consistently effective. Ponson showed moments of brilliance in Baltimore, but poor physical health and lack of off-field discipline culminating in several minor jail stays prevented him from making the top of the Oriole rotation his. Tony LaRussa doesn't seem like the kind of manager that will deal with any guff, and maybe the fact that most clubs don't want to get anywhere near the guy will inspire him to try and redeem himself (a modern day Bernie Carbo?).

These two actions have nothing to do with one another, but Ray "Burger" King was disposed of, and the Cards picked up one of Red Sox Nation's all-time favorite dance partners, Brian Daubach. He's 34, and borderline major leaguer, but is definitely a certified AAA all-star. I hated to see him go the Mets last year, but now that he's with the Cardinals there's a chance Dauber will here his name shouted once more from a living room in Connecticut.

On the road to Cooperstown...

(originally posted January 10, 2006) Tomorrow is the big day, the day when this year's inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY are announced. It's an interesting year, as much of the media is spewing forth garbage about how there are no really worthwhile candidates this year, which apparently opens up the case for players like Jim Rice and Andre Dawson. They're almost always grouped together as players who are "on the cusp" of induction. I really can't say why Dawson hasn't gotten in, as I think his numbers, Gold Gloves and MVP, in addition to his character, provide a heavy case.

Rice, though, is the thorny outsider. A black superstar in a city that is still trying to shake the stigma of racism and isolationism, on one of the last 2 clubs to put a black player on the roster, Rice wasn't exactly the mediaman's daydream. A quiet man, he was constantly viewed as aloof and arrogant, though nobody really minded when he came through for the club. Here's his career line:

1974-1989 Boston Red Sox (American)
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
2089 8225 1249 2452 373 79 382 1451 4129 670 1423 58 34 .352 .502 .298
*source: mlb.com

Rice led the league in HR during 3 seasons ('77, '78, '83), RBI in 2 ('78, '83), aw heck, his 1978 season was great, which is probably why he was the MVP. The point is, Rice was one of the legitimate power hitters of his era, touching a career peak of 46 in '78. I mean, cmon. 46 HR? That sure is a bunch.

Another one of the big arguments against, albeit one of the least legitimate, is that Rice DHed for a significant time (530 games exactly). In reality, however, Rice spent about 3 times that many games patrolling the grass at the Fens (1543 games), so he spent his time in the field. Granted, his career RNG is slightly below average (94) but he had a great arm (125).

The point is this guy was a legitimate threat when he played the game, and without him the Red Sox would've been a less potent offense. I say, let him in.

New Year, Same Problems

(originally posted January 1, 2006) So here we are, January 1, 2006. Outside the snow has blanketed the grass, the ground is rock solid, the trees are little more than a bunch of sticks trembling in the cold wind, and inside the Hot Stove is burning. Yeah, I know, you've all heard that metaphor a million times. We New Englanders are a little more nervous this time around than we were last year: the warm fuzzies of the 2004 Red Sox WS victory have well since worn off, and the hangover that was 2005 is for the most part forgotten. Still, the 2006 Red Sox have made us all sick to our stomach, and they haven't even set foot on the field. Let's recap, shall we?

1. October 31, 2005: "Boy Wonder" Theo Epstein announces he is leaving the Red Sox (and possibly baseball) because of personal reasons. Speculation has it that a power stuggle between Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino and the young GM created the division in the upper echelons over on Yawkey Way, and a Dan Shaughnessy Sunday column is credited for driving the stake through Theo's fragile heart. He's gone. Rumors swirl and simmer even now that Theo will be back, and Sox fans continue to believe.

2. November 3, 2005: Mike Timlin resigns with the Sox. Well, at least we know what we're getting.

YEAR TEAM W L Pct. ERA WHIP G Hld. Sv.-Opp. IP H R ER HR BB-IBB SO Avg.
2003 BOS 6 4 .600 3.55 1.03 72 17 2-6 83.2 77 37 33 11 9-3 65 .239
2004 BOS 5 4 .556 4.13 1.23 76 20 1-4 76.1 75 35 35 8 19-3 56 .259
2005 BOS 7 3 .700 2.24 1.32 81 24 13-20 80.1 86 23 20 2 20-5 59 .277
*stats taken from The Sporting News 2006 Baseball Register

Over three years with the Red Sox, Timlin has shown that he can still get batters out even though he'll be 40 come March.
He's a contact pitcher, as he averages less thank one strikeout/inning. This fact makes his rising WHIP and Opp. Avg. somewhat frightening. Still, there's no reason to think he can't still come out of the pen and be an effective reliever/setup man.

3. November 25, 2005: The Red Sox send Hanley Ramirez (SS), Anibel Sanchez (P), Jesus Delgado (P), and Harvey Garcia (P) to the Florida Marlins for Josh Beckett (P), Mike Lowell (3B), and Guillermo Mota (P). The biggest pieces of this trade are obviously Beckett and Ramirez, so let's take a look at their stats.

JOSH BECKETT:
Year Age Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
2001 21 FLA NL 2 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 24.0 14 9 4 3 11 24 1.50
2002 22 FLA NL 6 7 23 21 0 0 0 0 107.7 93 56 49 13 44 113 4.10
2003 23 FLA NL 9 8 24 23 0 0 1 0 142.0 132 54 48 9 56 152 3.04
2004 24 FLA NL 9 9 26 26 1 1 0 0 156.7 137 72 66 16 54 152 3.79
2005 25 FLA NL 15 8 29 29 2 1 0 0 178.7 153 75 67 14 58 166 3.38
*stats from '06 Baseball Register and www.baseball-reference.com

HANLEY RAMIREZ: (just his 2005 AA Stats, since he was 0-2 in 2 AB's at the Major League level)
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS AVG
2005 PORT 122 465 66 126 21 7 6 52 179 39 62 26 13 .335 .385 .720 .271
*from minorleaguebaseball.com

Pos. G E FPct.
SS/2B/3B/DH 122 22 .957
*from '06 Register

The big questions with Beckett are his health, as he's never pitched 200 innings in a season, and he has repeated blister problems, resulting in numerous DL stints over his short MLB career. Regardless, Beckett is considered one of the premier NL pitchers, and when you package him with a steady reliever like Guillermo Mota, even the downside of Mike Lowell can't take the shine off this deal. Geting rid of Hanley Ramirez, Boston's prized SS prospect, can.

Ramirez was really nothing spectacular in Portland, either with the glove or the bat. While he remained in AA the entire season, his 2B counterpart Dustin Pedroia took off like a rocket, debuting at AAA Pawtucket midway through the season. For all the hesistation to part with a much-hyped prospect like Ramirez, Pedroia seems to have taken his place as top fielding prospect, and again, we picked up a few legit MLB players. Besides, Edgar Renteria was locked up through 2009 at shortstop... at least, until:

4. December 8, 2005: The Sox send SS Edgar Renteria and $11 million to the Braves for 3B prospect Andy Marte. Gulp. OK, so, who's going to play SS?

EDGAR RENTERIA
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP
1996 20 FLA NL 106 431 68 133 18 3 5 31 16 2 33 68 .309 .358 .399 172 2 3 0 2 12
1997 21 FLA NL 154 617 90 171 21 3 4 52 32 15 45 108 .277 .327 .340 210 19 6 1 4 17
1998 22 FLA NL 133 517 79 146 18 2 3 31 41 22 48 78 .282 .347 .342 177 9 2 1 4 13
1999 23 STL NL 154 585 92 161 36 2 11 63 37 8 53 82 .275 .334 .400 234 6 7 0 2 16
2000 24 STL NL 150 562 94 156 32 1 16 76 21 13 63 77 .278 .346 .423 238 8 9 3 1 19
2001 25 STL NL 141 493 54 128 19 3 10 57 17 4 39 73 .260 .314 .371 183 8 6 4 3 15
2002 26 STL NL 152 544 77 166 36 2 11 83 22 7 49 57 .305 .364 .439 239 7 5 7 4 17
2003 27 STL NL 157 587 96 194 47 1 13 100 34 7 65 54 .330 .394 .480 282 3 7 12 1 21
2004 28 STL NL 149 586 84 168 37 0 10 72 17 11 39 78 .287 .327 .401 235 6 10 5 1 14
2005 29 BOS AL 153 623 100 172 36 4 8 70 9 4 55 100 .276 .335 .385 240 6 5 0 3 15

ANDY MARTE
Year Team Lvl. G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
2005 RICH AAA 109 389 51 107 26 2 20 74 197 64 83 0 3 .372 .506 .275
2005 ATL MLB 24 57 3 8 2 1 0 4 12 7 13 0 1 .227 .211 .140
*minorleaguebaseball.com and baseball-reference.com

Fielding (3B)
LVL. G E FPct.
AAA 109 15 .950
MLB 24 3 .857
*'06 Register

So what've we got? An All-Star SS traded away because he made a league-leading 30 errors in 2005, even though his offensive numbers were more or less on par with the rest of his career, and we picked up YET ANOTHER corner infielder. Granted, Marte is considered one of the best prospects in the game, but again, a prospect is just a prospect, while a Show-ready player is just that. This trade may have made a bit more sense had the Sox not traded away their prize SS prospect only a month before. And poor Kevin Youkilis just can't catch a break.

5. December 20, 2005: The Yankees sign free agent center fielder and the newest Boston villain Johnny Damon. I'm not going say anything other than check out this good article by John Brattain over at The Hardball Times : http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/its-not-the-second-advent-in-the-bronx-people/

And, well, here we are. Oh yea, I forgot to mention that we traded Doug "The Thug" Mirabelli to the Padres for 2B Mark Loretta, and Larry Lucchino named Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer as "co-GMs" and stated that the light is on in the window for Theo Epstein, whatever the heck that means. All we know for sure is that we have no CF, no 1B, no SS, 50 million 3B, and a despotic CEO. Mmm, tasty. Stay tuned for a review of the moves by the other team I follow (granted at 1/1,000,000 the intensity of the Red Sox), the St. Louis Cardinals.