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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 31, 2014 10:44:39 GMT -5
1. How many games will the Red Sox win in 2014? (points +/-1 either way)88 2. Who will win AL MVP? Trout 3. Who will win AL Cy Young? Darvish 4. Who will win AL Rookie of the Year? Bogaerts 5. Who will win the World Series? Detroit 6. Which current or ex-Red Sox player/prospect will get the most MVP vote points in 2014? Adrian Gonzelez 7. Who starts the most games for Boston after Lester, Buchholz, Lackey, Doubront, and Peavy? Workman 8. Who is the first player to be added to the 25-man roster on or after April 15?(players coming off the DL do not count). Britton 9. Who is the first player to earn a permanent promotion after the season starts? (from any level to any level - not just to Boston - but excluding rehab re-assignments or call-ups from XST) Joe Gunkel 10. Name one player the Red Sox will draft in 2014. Michael Cederoth RHP, San Diego State Red Sox minor league system only 11. Which pitcher has the most wins? H Owens 12. Most strikeouts? H Owens 13. Which hitter hits the most home runs? Brentz 14. Best OPS? (min 200 PAs)Garin Cecchini 15. Most stolen bases? Mookie Betts 16. Who will be voted the Offensive POY as voted by the SP Community? Cecchini 17. Pitcher of the Year? H Owens 18. Breakout POY? Jamie Callahan 19. Comeback POY? Brian Johnson 20. Which prospect will make the biggest jump in the SoxProspects rankings? Noe Ramirez
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 29, 2014 15:09:52 GMT -5
You guys are overreacting. I hope you are right. Trying to remember the last time the Sox sign one of their own premier FAs to a long term deal (4 yrs or more) after Nov 1. Had to be one after Varitek, right? Definitely an outlier event. Josh Beckett: 4 years/$68M (2011-14) signed extension with Boston 4/5/10 $5M signing bonus 11:$15.75M, 12:$15.75M, 13:$15.75M, 14:$15.75M
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 28, 2014 19:07:35 GMT -5
The market going up is a self-fulfilling prophecy no? It's this kind of contract that raises the bar. Cabrera doesn't compare to trout, as one is young and the other will not be when is original contract is up. It's just a reflection of increasing revenues. Bigger pie, bigger piece (although actually a smaller piece by percentage). And the best thing will happen next year... that is when the Tigers won't be able to afford any help for Miggy along with losing their pitching and a poor farm system. That should help out all the AL tremendously when Detroit doesn't have the guns to keep the fire burning in the regular season let alone the playoffs. This contract will be like Pujols and the Angels with the reward being like the Sox 2012 contract pinch. I bet in a few years the dodgers won't bite either. Which one of these long term contracts have actually worked out? I don't recall any so far.
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 27, 2014 12:34:59 GMT -5
And all free agent NFL type contracts are NON-guaranteed then.
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 27, 2014 12:13:14 GMT -5
Everyone is talking about the players, players, players... then the small market, small market, small market. This is just plain wrong. All the teams have to invest time and money into developing players and it is expensive for them any way you look at it plus they then have to consider marketing tactics in their quest to pay for all the development. The executives seem to agree (rightfully so) that marketing their own players over a longer period pays off better with the average fans reactions. The longer the players are with the team the better the sales, this is the main reason that they NEGOTIATED the compensation and if the players want to change that they must renegotiate that and like it was stated last week they will have to give up something to take back that compensation.
Now the small market teams are already getting the best of the larger teams with luxury tax, revenue sharing, extra draft picks, and higher draft picks (international draft monies also) when and if they do bad. The large market teams deserve to get something back for all their concessions and this is a fair way as it was stated last week in the news. Small market teams also aren't even paying their revenue sharing monies back in player salary much anyway, that is going to make tougher negotiations (as all owners won't agree) such as "over more arbitration years for compensation pick concessions" for example harder to agree upon for the players to give up the one or two players who lost almost nothing this year in lost salary. The one-sided arguments here for the players only aren't going to be debated by the union and owners even. It has to be give and take so we need to consider that here to be fair.
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 17, 2014 15:58:32 GMT -5
Where is all this drinking/dui ending up... wasn't he being pulled over the first time and tried to throw out a bottle of whiskey he had in his car? Seems to me when your underage here if your blood alcohol is over .02 that is the license suspended and juvenile dui which isn't the same as an adult dui. Also when he threw the bottle out where did it say he threw it at a car... all I saw was it landed near a car on the road and that isn't throwing at. The latest incidence he wasn't drunk or they would of busted him for that and I don't see any mention their either. He has some issues to work out to grow up but it sure seems the internet is blowing them way out of shape.
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 4, 2014 17:51:46 GMT -5
High school confidential. In other news, Ron Washington assures fans the team will win at least one game this year. And if Princess Phfatt Farm can stay on a diet maybe they can even win TWO....
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Post by Gwell55 on Mar 3, 2014 15:06:53 GMT -5
So gee why not just require that each pitcher is paid an extra million a month and they than are required to throw one duck down the middle per batter when the count reaches one strike with a top speed of 87. If it is all about getting more for less than why not? Maybe we could get more writers to agree to the stupidity of threads like this.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 22, 2014 14:56:33 GMT -5
I know it's nothing we can count on...but what if Sizemore is healthy, stays healthy, and produces??? We will pay him close to 6M (if it is big production) and next year he will get a contract elsewhere for more.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 22, 2014 12:49:51 GMT -5
Phillies release statement. SMH Good PR. Guilty, may their draft program suffer and/or die in peace.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 21, 2014 19:42:58 GMT -5
1. "If he struggles" 2. "or trade" 3. we can release him if need be with no consequence Sorry that you you get "annoyed" with modern bullpen management. Well there is an obvious consequence if he isn't any good. If he pitches poorly in the games he appears in, the Sox are more likely to lose those games. Further a bad pitching appearance can cause stress to a bullpen for several days. Because he has a guaranteed deal the Red Sox are almost obligated to have him start the season in the majors. I can't imagine he'd get fewer than ten appearances no matter how bad he pitches. He's the kind of guy that you would cut if he gets bombed in the spring. But because he has a guaranteed deal, he'll be pitching in real games. Yea won't he be coming in when their in the 5th inning and 4 runs down anyway? Seems to me in his role right now he will be asked to keep a game honest after the starter gets his rear kicked. No big deal if he can't hold it to a 5 run deficit. Now if he was coming in about the the 7th or so with a one run lead on down one it might be different but somehow I don't think that is going to be his role, do you?
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 21, 2014 13:40:16 GMT -5
The problem is that Rodriguez more than held up his end of the bargain, and if the Rangers front office had behaved with even moderate competency, they could have put some good teams together. The blame for the failure of the 2001 to 2003 Rangers does not lie with Alex Rodiguez’s large paychecks, but instead with the total wastes of cash that they surrounded him with. You want to know why those teams failed? Look no further than Park, Gonzalez, Everett, Oliver, and Rogers. In their attempt to surround Rodriguez with talent, they brought in a never ending series of terrible players who had name value but lacked ability. It didn’t have to be that way. They had enough resources to put good players around Rodriguez – they just failed to identify which players they should actually be giving money to. One problem my brother brought out about Rodriguez. It seems to him observing Arod locally that he had a bad problem of getting his Hr for the day and a couple of rbi's then he packed it in. He seemed too aloof to the fans down there when that was happening at home. I won't say my Bro is right but he was there and I wasn't so take it for what that is worth but it does consider some thinking.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 20, 2014 18:14:22 GMT -5
I got a question on this too. If Jon Lester signed this deal prior to 09 does the current or past CBA count as the deciding factor for the terms of the contract? And would that make a difference in the amount of Lux Tax AAV?
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 19, 2014 15:08:14 GMT -5
Adam LaRoche re-signed with the Nationals for 2/$24m and Michael Bourn signed with the Indians for 4/$48m, both of which were arguably under-market deals. Didn't LaRoche become a poster boy for why the QO works when his original team sign him though to keep the team in contention for the playoffs? Also I believe he got fair market as this last year he under preformed his (supposed higher with no QO) contract but still has a chance to redeem that with the second year and a 15M option. By and large his team needed or found they could use him for a playoff run and offered a QO. It worked Michael Bourn can also be debated as his ability for making the big bugs is/was speed and he didn't preform any better this than the offer he got did he? 23 SB 12 CS now compare that to Shane Victorino and his contract appears to be arguably market value for this type of risk / reward contract. These two player to me show the system is working although a minor tweak may be necessary. Player Salary inflation is hurting the small market teams more than the QO system. But you have some valid points to consider in a tweaking to help the small market teams although every angle seems to be forcing the big market teams to give up more and more to compensate the smallest market teams who aren't doing anything to help themselves but hoarding money. The Draft changes, International market cap system, lux tax/revenue shares all are directed at the small owners and they can't have everything going their way in a fair market system. It has to be give and take.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 19, 2014 14:20:03 GMT -5
Isn't the whole purpose of the QO system to give the team (no matter how bad) a chance to keep their quality players? Seems to me that is starting to work with the new system. If you want to get a quality player away from a team that needs or wants him you have to pay for it. The gamble is in the owners office now with the high qualifying offer risks. If Seattle or Texas is willing to risk on Morales or Cruz 9apparently lower quality power players) at the start of the signing period they have a right to try and keep them for that high cost. That's the thing, though-- it doesn't really affect star players at all. The QO penalty is nowhere near strong enough to give a team like the Reds any real leverage with a free agent like Choo who is going to get $100m+ regardless. Instead, what it really does is give big market teams (the ones with enough salary flexibility to risk a one-year overpay at the start of the offseason) the option to either go year-to-year with midlevel free agents or inhibit their market enough such that they re-sign at reduced rates. Who signed last year at a reduced rate though? Kyle Lohse was last years poster boy and he signed for a fair exchange market value 3 yr contract. The team & player Risk / Reward seemed pretty equal to me. If we are going to have teams capable of winning campaigns those teams must keep the under star powered players (such as Naps or Jimenez this year) these just under star players seem to add to the teams just enough for a winning campaign. It is not to much to ask for teams like Cleveland to have a chance to repeat to the playoffs or benefit with a pick to replace a loss that maybe the one missed piece to another playoff run. Is it to much for Seattle, KC, Cleveland, Texas, Boston on the bottom five non stat quality to get a pick out of the 13 QOs? I don't think it has hurt at all to run it this way. To me I would like to see a small change in the 7 day window to decide while talking to other teams say 2 weeks or 3 at most for the players risk/reward.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 19, 2014 13:44:31 GMT -5
Problem is if they take the qualifying offer, they only get one year. If they don't, their new contract is severely deflated because of the pick attached. That pick is an anchor and a punishment for being good enough to be offered the qualifying offer. Hell, compare Peralta to Drew and tell me which one should be getting a 4 year $52 million contract. Isn't the whole purpose of the QO system to give the team (no matter how bad) a chance to keep their quality players? Seems to me that is starting to work with the new system. If you want to get a quality player away from a team that needs or wants him you have to pay for it. The gamble is in the owners office now with the high qualifying offer risks. If Seattle or Texas is willing to risk on Morales or Cruz 9apparently lower quality power players) at the start of the signing period they have a right to try and keep them for that high cost.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 15, 2014 21:50:51 GMT -5
From an old MLBTraderumors (Jan 23): Red Sox GM Ben Cherington told Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com that despite signing Grady Sizemore to a Major League deal, there are no guarantees that the former Indians star will make the Opening Day roster. Cherington didn't rule out a minor league assignment for Sizemore.
Also from Mastrodonato (on Twitter), Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters at tonight's BBWAA dinner, "We're going to have Jackie Bradley in center field." Mastrodonato adds that Cherington said, "We believe in Jackie Bradley." To put Grady in the minors, he'd have to clear waivers, I assume, because he has no options. I'm guessing here that if this were to happen, this one would fall into the category of the "gentelmen's agreement" that we used to periodically mention. ADD: I also assume accepting the assignment would be Grady's option. Maybe this was one of the potential outcomes discussed when Grady signed the initial Sox contract. If we recall, he changed his mind at the last minute and signed with the Sox because we were the only team that came up with a "plan". Maybe Grady's playing everyday statement was referring to this potential outcome. Pure speculation on my part.... Are you sure he is out of options? I only see him being called up in 2004... than staying up till 2011. Would he have another option than?
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 11, 2014 20:13:57 GMT -5
The more I look at the wheel format, the more I like it. One thing about giving every team the same amount of money to work with, is it helps teams drafting further down more players to help offset their lower draft position. sure the Red Sox spent more on over-slot signings than other teams, but how many of those over-slot signings equaled the bonuses of the top players in the draft? Sure they hit on a good number of the signings so it looks better now than it historically is, but going into a given draft, would you rather have a top 5 pick or 2 or 3 picks from 28-50? I think you guys are working way to much in overdrive as .... you can't see the forest for the trees.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 8, 2014 12:38:19 GMT -5
From a business standpoint, what do the Sox stand to gain by signing Drew? Xander has tons of marketability as the next great SS, they have tons of star power beyond Xander, they just won a world series, etc. They'll sell plenty of tickets even if WMB flops and they have to let him sink or swim once and for all. Xander has been built up so much as the next face of the franchise I just can't see Drew coming back to be the starting SS. You could make a case for a few ancillary benefits from signing Drew but essentially you are right. From a business viewpoint it makes almost no sense to sign Drew. They can potentially add more value to both Xander and Middlebrooks by playing them and they might get a pick from letting Drew go. Notice I said "might". I still think it's possible he doesn't sign until the draft. It's not likely but it is possible. I still wouldn't give Drew more than $5 mil to sign. What about giving Drew a one year deal at 8M plus a player option at 5M wouldn't that make sense if Drew can't get a big contract and can't get an opt out that they want? Seems to me if we aren't going to get a pick as it is getting close to that we should at least get some residual value out of his glove.
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Post by Gwell55 on Feb 7, 2014 17:27:55 GMT -5
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Post by Gwell55 on Jan 26, 2014 19:43:33 GMT -5
I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Botox Bobby V. Without his level of leadership, this much of a turnaround would never have been possible. I still believe the reason Lucchino and his staff pushed for Bobby V was to clear out the club house and clean the air for a new start. Everyone bashes him but the man is actually pretty smart and if true they needed to cleanup the clubhouse who better to take it for the office than Larry as it was him who stepped in at the last minute sort of to push for Cranky BV to headline. If they would of had a players coach or a young guy none of the Punto trade would of set well with the media nuts in town.
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Post by Gwell55 on Jan 13, 2014 13:45:38 GMT -5
I know the arbitrator technically gave A-rod the ban, but it was based off the punishment MLB gave. If MLB gave A-Rod the typical 50 game ban do you think he would have up'ed it to 162 based on the arbitration hearing? My big problem with the case is the what if part. I know it's not criminal law and they don't have to prove without a reasonable doubt, but what if A-Rod is telling the truth, that everything he got from Bosch was legal, and Bosch is only testifying because MLB is paying him/dropping the lawsuit against him. We all, including me, presume A-Rod is guilty, I just don't think MLB proved it fairly. I also think this just screams witch hunt. I think the season ban is meant to knock A-Rod out of the game, more than it is meant to be the right amount of games to suspend a player for his actions. If it was David Ortiz or Jeter, or someone else who was in good standing with the public I don't think the suspension goes over 50 games. I also have not heard anything about how far back the other 13 players used Bosch. On 60 Minutes he basically says he thinks everyone in baseball is cheating. Once again, I think he probably cheated and deserves to be punished. I just don't know how they can justify more than 100 games. There are clearly defined rules and precedents to the number of games a PED user should get. The Yankees have gone over the luxury tax every year since 2003, but if they get under it this year their rate will go back to 17.5%. Can I make the argument that because they have a longer history of going over the payroll tax they should continue to be taxed at 50%? Another thing i'm not to happy with is Bosch claiming MLB is protecting him from a criminal court proceeding. Also after the 60 minutes interview, why hasn't BUD and Mansfield both been charged with receiving (buying) stolen goods? Seems to me if it was anyone else they would be in jail for that!!! They even are flaunting that to me in the reported interview. What happened to fair and balanced?
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Post by Gwell55 on Jan 10, 2014 20:17:39 GMT -5
Can I bet a dollar on all teams up to the Cubs? A winnah every time... Yea, but after those bets what would he win total a 6 pack of beer? an if it is the Mariners or the Dodgers who win he'd have to settle for Old Milwaukee so it better be ice cold...
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Post by Gwell55 on Jan 10, 2014 13:43:32 GMT -5
MLB Trade Rumors ?@mlbtraderumors 48s Yankees Designate Vernon Wells For Assignment dlvr.it/4ghN5Z #mlb Gee, I wonder if he'll clear waivers. So does this mean that now the Yankees are responsible for his waiver are they also responsible for his 21 million less resign fees? If so and they are only getting 2.4 m this year from the angels does this years hit go to 18 million plus for luxury tax?
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Post by Gwell55 on Jan 9, 2014 17:35:48 GMT -5
The BBWAA has taken away Dan LeBatard's HOF vote, and has has suspended him for one season after he put his HOF ballot in the hands of Deadspin: BBWAA Link (and man, they need upgrade their servers).Now they need to start instating changes that prevent all of the other wonderful voters from giving their votes away as well! thats F**** bullshit…. he gets his vote taken away but someone like Murray Chass, who will vote out of spite gets to keep his vote? BBWAA is corrupt, and the voting process needs to be fixed So what? How about writing your letter to Bud and demanding he immediately suspend the BBWAA from voting and have him call a fan vote to get the right people in like the all star game!!! Yep he can do it for sure .... Good ole bud can fix anything when he comes up with that stuff!!!
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