Bobby Kielty's Wily Mo Valuable than Pena

The Oakland A's released outfielder Bobby Kielty today, meaning the Red Sox can help plug some of the leaks in their rickety offensive consistency even after coming up aces at the deadline this afternoon for the bullpen. Kielty isn't an All-Star and he isn't going to be a great everyday player. What he will be, though, is better than Wily Mo Peña.

Peña has been a disaster all year as a platoon player in all of the outfield positions. He's an adventure defensively, and at the plate he can't hit anything besides mid-90s, arrow-straight fastballs. He's rockin' a pretty stellar .229/.294/.407 line after showing some decency in 2006. The knock on him in Cincinnati was a lack of plate discipline, and while he claims to have rectified the situation I'm pretty sure he just goes up to the plate and alternates swinging and taking pitches. Wily Mo has managed to strike out so much (54 K in 140 AB vs. 12 BB) so frequently that he's become an automatic out. Even pitchers with average to below-average breaking and offspeed pitches can fool him.

Given that this lineup can be shut down by solid pitching, it makes sense to try and upgrade (however marginally) Peña's spot on the roster. When the big guns aren't firing, you need someone to go to the plate with some sort of approach. I honestly think Wily Mo is too dim to perform such an act.

Banner Day in Beantown

First, the news on the court: the Celtics picked up Kevin Garnett to put themselves far ahead of where they used to be in the Eastern Conference.

On the field, the Sox picked up Eric Gagné from Texas in exchange for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, and Engel Beltre. his deal is, essentially a tour de magie in the vein of "win now without sacrificing the future."

In limited service with the Red Sox Gabbard has managed to pick up 4 wins over his seven starts, holding down a 3.73 ERA and 1.12 WHIP over those 41 innings. With the return of Curt Schilling to the rotation after his final AAA rehab start tonight, the Sox rotation had some fat able to be trimmed. Gabbard, as the latest "lightning in a bottle" AAAA starter to grab wins for the big club, will be of value to Texas as a groundball pitcher in that hellish rotation, but is definitely not carrying enough overall stuff to regret too much.

David Murphy, a left-handed outfielder who posted forgettable numbers with the Sox last year, was posting .283/.348/.429 at Pawtucket. His best upside is likely along the lines of David Dellucci with more defensive promise.

Engel Beltre, a seventeen year old outfield prospect with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox, will assume a similar position inside the Ranger system. In rookie ball he's only hitting .215 and getting on base at a .314 clip, but Beltre has such a physical presence that his upside (granted 4 or 5 years from now) could be very significant.

Together these three players managed to net the top closer in the National League from 2002-2004, and one who was able to reconstruct the foundation of his career in Texas after two years out with injury. Gagné proved me and a number of other pundits who thought Texas would be his final resting place. He's averaging almost eight strikeouts per nine innings, and his WHIP is barely over one (1.05). That Gagné has been able to translate his abilities from the National League (and Dodgers Stadium) to the American League and the worst pitcher's park in baseball is, I feel, indicative of how far he has come from the injured pitcher that weighed on the Dodger payroll for two years.

Theo managed to bolster what was already one of the top bullpens in the American League by turning some glorified spare parts into a premier closer-turned-setup-man. And for those of you who are scared that every member of the Sox staff could be struck by lightning, leaving the club to limp into October behind Devern Hansack and a rehab-rushed Matt Clement, fear not: we'll always have Kyle Snyder.

Dye-ing to Know Why

ESPN's Jayson Stark and other media outlets have the Red Sox looking very intently at White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye, in hopes that the addition of his bat will give the offense the extra thump it's been looking for. For the record, I don't think Boston is going to pay Chicago's reportedly high asking price (likely Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester or Clay Bucholz), and I don't blame them.

Dye has a whole boatload of negatives dragging down his value. First of all, he's 32 years young. Additionally, he's not quite as good as everybody thinks he is. 2006 was by far Dye's best year, posting .315/.382/.622 and swatting 44 home runs for what was every fantasy player's wet dream of a successful season. Unfortunately, his next best season came with fewer power at .321/.390/.561 back in 2000 with Kansas City.

Any one of the top three prospects in the Sox system is more valuable in the long run than Dye as a plug for a righthanded outfield platoon player.

Here's hoping for an inexpensive Mark Kotsay.

Manny Being Anything but Helpful

This really is one of those times where criticism is deserved. A lot of the time the bloggers, the writers, the Joe Fans out there dish it out without any true gripe. This time Manny deserves it, and Coco, too. In a 1-0 game, when your staff ace is holding off one of the best teams in baseball, you do what you have to for the win.

They didn't.

Manny's responsibility as the on-deck hitter is to make sure anyone coming in from third base has a report on the action in the field. It was his job to make sure Coco knew to run hard, right? Right. Then again, shouldn't baseball players and athletes in general always try their hardest? Of course they should, but they don't. When they do they endear themselves to the same Joe Fans and bloggers spending their hard earned money on merchandise, tickets, and webspace to follow their favorite team. Youkilis, Pedroia, Wakefield, Varitek, Lowell, Papelbon, Ellsbury... every one has permanently won over the hearts of Red Sox Nation by leaving it all on the field. When we win, it's fantastic, but when we lose, there (I believe, at least, though some may disagree) is less agony because there is comfort in knowing it was all left out on the field, that they tried their hardest.

But when you lose a 1-0 game behind your ace because your speedy centerfielder jogs home and your star space cadet decided not to signal from home plate, there is nothing but heartache.

Heading into the Break

It seems appropriate that I check in just before all of baseball heads off to the All-Star Break. I'm getting married this weeekend, and my fiancée and I have been settling our new place, so the site has really taken a back seat. I thought I should at least put up a post before I hit the actual wedding and honeymoon.

So at the halfway mark the Red Sox are exactly where I left them last, up a ridiculous amount on the rest of the American League East and firing (for the most part) on all cylinders. With any luck this success will continue into the second half, but I'll feel much better about it if a few things fall into place. Here they are:

1. Curt Schilling: He's been out for some time now with his shoulder soreness, and his return needs to be complete to get the full boost to the rotation. The good news is that his injury was nothing too serious, so a little rest seems to be the right prescription. The bad news is that he's no spring chicken, and it's impossible to predict just how he'll come back.

2. The Offense: That's right, everybody, the Red Sox no longer lead the world in batting. In fact, we're pretty much average in just about every category. The blame falls most squarely onto the shoulders of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the big boppers who are just not bopping. Ortiz gets a little break because of his quad and Manny because of his age, but in order for this lineup to strike fear into opposing pitchers they need to step it up. We all know about Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp sucking it up for the majority of the season, but I wouldn't blame them as much given the type of hitters they are.

3. Julian Tavarez. Invent your own commentary, though he's been passable, I suppose.

Otherwise things have been going well, and it's great to see farm products like Youkilis and Pedroia having such great success. Toss in visions of Jacoby Ellsbury in the outfield and the future seems to have a nice glow to it. Oh wait, one more thing.

Don't count out the Yankees. Ever. I'll see everybody after the honeymoon.