2011 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[faldor]

Man, I was looking forward to seeing Manny play against the Sox 19 times this year. I somewhat feel for the guy, but he obviously did it to himself. Sheer stupidity. HOF is in serious question now, and I kind of doubt he'd get in. At least not right away. Getting caught twice? Come on now Manny!

I can't see how you can feel at all for the guy. Despite being a great hitter he has been douchebag turd countless times.

This is true, and he certainly quit on the Red Sox and forced his way out of town.  But watching and rooting for the guy for 8 years I have a bit of a different perspective on the guy.  I can totally understand where you're coming from, but it was a pleasure watching him for those 8 years, steroids or not.  He was a loveable guy, despite all the nonsense.  Only Manny could get away with what he put teams through, in part because he was so well liked and it didn't hurt that he was one of the best hitters in the game.

Obviously though, this is a sad yet predictable end to a great but now tarnished career.

[faldor]

And there, ladies (any ladies out there) and gents is a sure fire way to cure a 6 game losing streak:

Facing Phil Hughes.

He's starting to remind me of Javier Vasquez about 365 days ago.

What's with Hughes anyway?  Why the sudden lack in velocity?  Where'd his fastball go?  Seems strange for a young kid with no signs of any apparent injuries.  I guess it happens.  Lester was barely hitting 90 in his first start, but he bounced back the second time around.  Maybe it's just taking him longer than usual to get it going? 

Lackey was pretty bad today too, just not as bad as Hughes.  I'd expect better pitching for tomorrow's game.  The Sox haven't had much of a look at Nova yet, and they've been known to struggle against newcomers, which can be said for many teams.  Clay wasn't all that great against the Yanks last year, so we'll see if the Red Sox can ride the momentum and get some sort of a winning streak going.

[cotis]

Last year Phil stayed behind and got some extra innings at Spring Training - he was last years 5th starter. His velocity didn't come around until his 3rd start or so and from then on it was a breeze.

Hopefully he regains it...

[faldor]

Last year Phil stayed behind and got some extra innings at Spring Training - he was last years 5th starter. His velocity didn't come around until his 3rd start or so and from then on it was a breeze.

Hopefully he regains it...

Yeah, with that being the case I think it's a little early to get too worried about him, or anyone, this early in the season.  And I'd like to correct myself about Lester.  His velocity was actually still down the other day against Cleveland, the results were just a lot better.  Lester is a notoriously slow starter, maybe Hughes is along the same lines.

[Falcon]

I think Hughes will be fine, maybe a little early dead arm issue and that's it hopefuly.  The kid is a horse - he'll find it.

The Sox aren't going to be this bad too much longer, way too much talent offensively.  Like the Yanks, their rotation is suspect beyond #1.  Unlike the Yanks, their bullpen could be a problem..

Card lose another late after coming from behind on The Beard, Baseball Gods help me through these trying times. 

[tim_m]

I hope Hughes doesn't have the Teixeira syndrome of being a notorious slow starter. That is a bit more damaging to the team then with a hitter. If he needs extra time to get the arm strength up. The yankees are gonna have to change his spring regimine or something.

[faldor]

I think Hughes will be fine, maybe a little early dead arm issue and that's it hopefuly.  The kid is a horse - he'll find it.

The Sox aren't going to be this bad too much longer, way too much talent offensively.  Like the Yanks, their rotation is suspect beyond #1.  Unlike the Yanks, their bullpen could be a problem..

While it's tough to stick up for the Sox at this point after losing yet again today, I think their bullpen, at least the back end, is just about as good as the Yankees.  So I don't see the bullpen being a problem.  Wheeler, Jenks, Bard, Papelbon seems on par with Robertson, Joba, Soriano, Rivera.  I will say this though, and I don't know if this is what you were getting at, but if the Sox rotation can't pitch more than 5 innings on average, their bullpen will get burned out nice and quick and WILL become a problem.

Speaking of Soriano, I've heard he doesn't like pitching in non save situations?  That could be a problem seeing as he's a setup man who will have 98% of his appearances in non save situations. 

As for the game today, Buchholz was bad.  He was actually worse than Lackey, which I would've never predicted.  Nova wasn't very good either, but the Sox didn't take advantage of the many scoring chances they had.  I thought the Sox had the pitching advantage today, although Clay does have bad career numbers against the Yanks.  Tomorrow you'd have to favor the Yankees.  I wouldn't call it a must win, but the Sox have to start winning some series.  You can only push off losing as "no big deal" for so long.

[pilferk]

Speaking of Soriano, I've heard he doesn't like pitching in non save situations?  That could be a problem seeing as he's a setup man who will have 98% of his appearances in non save situations. 

Almost, not quite.

Soriano said he doesn't seem to pitch as well in "non-save" situations.  He doesn't mean he doesn't pitch well when he's not trying to save a game.  He means he doesn't seem to pitch well when the game isn't close.  Apparently, to him, that means 4 runs or more.

If you look at his career stats, there is a HUGE difference, too.  Mo suffers from the same "problem", but to a much lesser extent.

Soriano says he has no idea why, though.

[faldor]

Speaking of Soriano, I've heard he doesn't like pitching in non save situations?  That could be a problem seeing as he's a setup man who will have 98% of his appearances in non save situations. 

Almost, not quite.

Soriano said he doesn't seem to pitch as well in "non-save" situations.  He doesn't mean he doesn't pitch well when he's not trying to save a game.  He means he doesn't seem to pitch well when the game isn't close.  Apparently, to him, that means 4 runs or more.

If you look at his career stats, there is a HUGE difference, too.  Mo suffers from the same "problem", but to a much lesser extent.

Soriano says he has no idea why, though.

I see.  Lots of end of game relievers are like that, most in fact.  For whatever reason they can't the adrenaline going, or focus enough when the game isn't real close.

[tim_m]

True, Nova wasn't that good yesterday but he kept us in the lead nearly through 5. If he can do that every game get through about 5 we have the bullpen to do the rest.

[faldor]

True, Nova wasn't that good yesterday but he kept us in the lead nearly through 5. If he can do that every game get through about 5 we have the bullpen to do the rest.

Yeah but I'm not sure how much credit you can give to Nova for keeping the lead.  He gave the Sox a bunch of chances to come back, they just didn't take advantage.  Bottom line is, he didn't give up the lead, so I guess that's all that matters.  But I don't think it was a very impressive start.  You can't expect the Yankees offense to bail him out and score 9 runs for him every time out.

[Falcon]

Saw the Yanks took a flyer on Carlos Silva, not sure about that one guys - are they that desperate?

Dude's about as cancerous as they come...

The 60 Minutes piece on Albert Pujols is getting ready to air in a few minutes, should be interesting.

[pilferk]

Saw the Yanks took a flyer on Carlos Silva, not sure about that one guys - are they that desperate?

Dude's about as cancerous as they come...

It's a minor league deal....so he may not sniff the majors.

This is "the plan" for the Yanks this year.  Sign a bunch of guys who have had issues (either on the field or off) to minor league deals and see if anything sticks.  Honestly, I don't like it...but I don't see they have much choice, either.  Their rotation is THIN (no doubt) and pitching is commanding a ridiculous premium, ESPECIALLY when you're the Yankees calling to inquire about it.

Given their circumstances, I think Cashman is doing the only thing he can. 

[pilferk]

Sox win again last night...and BOTH teams should consider themselves lucky.

Beckett has a "turn back the clock" night, for sure...but the Yanks had their first really bad night on offense, top to bottom.  Beckett made some mistakes......the Yanks flat out couldn't hit them. 

Sox are lucky that the Yanks bullpen fell apart and the Yanks offense was completely ineffective (and yes, Beckett deserves part of the credit on that).

Yanks are lucky that the Sox offense bailed them out, time and time again.  Sox left an ARMY out there in scoring position.  Again, CC deserves part of the credit for that, but not all of it.

For a Sox/Yanks game....I gotta say...I was bored.  The "quality" of baseball, on both sides, was not great.  I guess that's to be expected in April.

[faldor]

Yeah, it certainly wasn't very pretty to watch.  Beckett was GREAT though.  If he can pitch anywhere close to that level this season, that'd be a huge plus for the Sox.  But you can't get carried away with one start.  So while I'm not worried about Buchholz, I'm not convinced Beckett will be his Cy Young candidate self from 2007. 

The Sox got their fair share of hits in this series but god almighty, can they drive some runs in?  Did they break the record for runners left on base in a 3 game series or what?  Nonetheless, first series win on the year, so I'll take it.  Hopefully they can keep things going with the lowly Rays coming in.  Also hope Gonzalez is alright after getting plunked on the hand by CC last night.  That was a bit of a scary moment.  He did stay in the game, but who knows whether that'll blow up overnight or something.

As for CC last night, he was pretty solid as well.  He did give up a bunch of hits, but it wasn't like the Sox were hitting him hard or anything, and he always worked his way out of trouble.  And I expected him to.  The difference with Nova the day before is I didn't expect him to work out of trouble and the Sox should've taken advantage of the opportunities.  Last night, it was somewhat understandable, yet still extremely frustrating.

[Falcon]

Saw the Yanks took a flyer on Carlos Silva, not sure about that one guys - are they that desperate?

Dude's about as cancerous as they come...

It's a minor league deal....so he may not sniff the majors.

This is "the plan" for the Yanks this year.  Sign a bunch of guys who have had issues (either on the field or off) to minor league deals and see if anything sticks.  Honestly, I don't like it...but I don't see they have much choice, either.  Their rotation is THIN (no doubt) and pitching is commanding a ridiculous premium, ESPECIALLY when you're the Yankees calling to inquire about it.

Given their circumstances, I think Cashman is doing the only thing he can. 

Yep, been watching the Cards employ the same strategy for years. 

Looking for lightning in a bottle, sometimes it works - most times it doesn't.

Low risk, high reward.   Makes sense although Silva maybe beyond a stretch.

[Falcon]

\
The 60 Minutes piece on Albert Pujols is getting ready to air in a few minutes, should be interesting.

The story can be viewed along with short blurbs from Tony LaRussa, Peter Gammons, John Smoltz and a behind the scenes feature here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7362328n&tag=related;photovideo

Pretty impressive stuff..

[tim_m]

Another UGLY game for the sox. Getting raped by the 1-8 rays 12-2 ouch.

[faldor]

Another UGLY game for the sox. Getting raped by the 1-8 rays 12-2 ouch.

The optimist in me says, the Rays were bound to get out of their funk eventually.  They had scored 20 runs all season long, an average of just over 2 per game.  Tonight they put up 16.  Like they say, momentum is only as good as your next days starting pitcher.  As great as Beckett was last night, Dice K was a million times worse tonight.  From one of the best games pitched I've seen in awhile last night to one of the worst tonight.  Luckily I didn't get a chance to see it unfold, I'm sure I wouldn't have lasted long.  Tomorrow it's the 2 aces squaring off, Lester vs. Price.

I'd like to think the Sox will win back to back games at some point this season, but right now they just can't seem to get anything consistent going on a positive note.

[pilferk]

Got 5 free Yanks tickets for the game against the O's tomorrow night....Main level, 208, on the aisle.  Pretty good seats.

We're on the foul side of the right field pole...hopefully bring some balls home tomorrow night (and no bruises!).

The only problem: Phil Hughes pitching......

All that assuming the veritable monsoon that's supposed to move through over the next 24 hours has passed.