Boston Red Sox

Solat13 · November 2007

After signing Lowell and Schilling the Red Sox 2008 payroll is pretty much finalized with a couple of additions needed to make to fill out their bench (backup catcher, backup 1st/3rd baseman and 4th OF) extending Youklis long term as he's arbitration eligible and either resigning Timlin or another serviceable bullpen arm.

That said their payroll should be around 130-135 million when all is said and done which is about 8-13 million less than last year's opening day payroll and might be even less if they trade Coco Crisp for prospects and take his 4.75 million dollar salary off the books.

JSBE · November 2007

if the sox can trade coco for a catcher that will eventually replace varitek, that would be the best. i would love to get saltalamacchia from the rangers. i'm not totally against re-signing mirabelli, but eventually they need to just move on and have another back-up catcher.

as for 4th outfielder (assuming coco is traded) we could always use brandon moss or maybe re-sign bobby kielty? how about bringing gabe kapler back now that he wants to play again?

brandon moss could always take over the eric hinske role of lf/1st back-up.

the 1st base prospect that the sox got for wily mo is supposed to be good with the bat, but not so much with the glove.

if timlin will take a one year deal, i'm cool with that. i would be interested in kerry wood for a one year deal to see what he can do.

i would imagine the sox will offer youks a 3-4 year deal at about $12-16mil total and maybe offer papelbon something similar for a little more cash.

Hartydog · November 2007

JSBE wrote:

the 1st base prospect that the sox got for wily mo is supposed to be good with the bat, but not so much with the glove.
quote]

I think he hit around .234 last year.

Indian Summer · November 2007

Another one for Jen

JSBE · November 2007

Hartydog wrote:

JSBE wrote:

the 1st base prospect that the sox got for wily mo is supposed to be good with the bat, but not so much with the glove.
quote]

I think he hit around .234 last year.

that was in 12 games at pawtucket, so including those 12 games he hit .316 with 174 hits is 138 games - 19 hrs, 88 rbi, with an .880 ops.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Chris%20Carter&pos=1B&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=452080

Hartydog · November 2007

JSBE wrote:

Hartydog wrote:

that was in 12 games at pawtucket, so including those 12 games he hit .316 with 174 hits is 138 games - 19 hrs, 88 rbi, with an .880 ops.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Chris%20Carter&pos=1B&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=452080

Thanks for digging in on the research. His winter league numbers are looking pretty good as well.

LOVEBOATCAPT0226 · November 2007

08-26-2007, 11:51 AM
LOVEBOATCAPT0226
Given To Fly Join Date: May 2005
Location: orange county,new york
Posts: 1,474

The Red Sox Nation will not be stopped!!!!!!!!!!! I will say it here first Red Sox win the WS in 5 games. That's how good I believe they are this year.

Criss Angel can kiss my ass. I predicted this back on 8/26. LOL !!!!!!

JSBE · November 2007

http://www.twincities.com/walters

A little birdie says the Boston Red Sox have become the favorite in the Johan Santana trade sweepstakes.

The Twins would receive four players for the Twins' two-time Cy Young Award winner, including center fielder Coco Crisp, 28.

Others would be shortstop prospect Jed Lowry, 23; left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, 23; and right-handed pitcher Justin Masterson, 22.

Before a deal could be made, the Red Sox would have to have time to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, 28, who can become a free agent after next season and could have a market value as high as $150 million over six years.

Lowry did not play in the major leagues this year but is considered ready and is a good-fielding shortstop who also can hit. Lowry had a slugging percentage of .500 at Class AA and Class AAA this year.

Lester made a comeback from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a year ago and is said to be cancer-free.

Masterson, 6 feet 6, 245 pounds, had 59 strikeouts in 58 innings at Class AA Portland.

The New York Yankees don't have the prospects available who the Twins figure have a reasonable chance to play in the major leagues by the end of 2008.

rearviewmiror · November 2007

As noted on SOSH it's Lowrie.

Solat13 · November 2007

JSBE wrote:

http://www.twincities.com/walters

A little birdie says the Boston Red Sox have become the favorite in the Johan Santana trade sweepstakes.

The Twins would receive four players for the Twins' two-time Cy Young Award winner, including center fielder Coco Crisp, 28.

Others would be shortstop prospect Jed Lowry, 23; left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, 23; and right-handed pitcher Justin Masterson, 22.

Before a deal could be made, the Red Sox would have to have time to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, 28, who can become a free agent after next season and could have a market value as high as $150 million over six years.

Lowry did not play in the major leagues this year but is considered ready and is a good-fielding shortstop who also can hit. Lowry had a slugging percentage of .500 at Class AA and Class AAA this year.

Lester made a comeback from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a year ago and is said to be cancer-free.

Masterson, 6 feet 6, 245 pounds, had 59 strikeouts in 58 innings at Class AA Portland.

The New York Yankees don't have the prospects available who the Twins figure have a reasonable chance to play in the major leagues by the end of 2008.

I think what tipped me that the Sox were in the lead was the fact that Minnesota traded away their SS and the fact that Lowrie is most likely ready for the big leagues. Brendan Harris who the Twins picked up yesterday was Tampa's SS, but was really a 2B and 3B in the minors and would probably move to 2nd for the Twins making Punto their utility man instead of a starter.

Crisp really isn't a big loss and I'd rather have Buchholz than Lester. Plus with Santana the need for a lefty starter is gone. And with Masterson, you never know how prospects are until the they reach the majors.

If that's what the Twins are looking for and the Sox can nail down Santana to a contract, that would give the Sox a 4 man rotation of Beckett, Santana, Dice K and Buchholz all under contract for at least the next 4 seasons which would be scary because they're all still young in baseball years. I'd make that deal in a heartbeat if we can lockdown Santana to a deal.

It might make the Sox as dominate as they were from 1912-1918 when they won 4 series in 7 years.

Character Zero · November 2007

Even with keeping Ellsbury and Buchholz I still think this is not a good deal for the Sox. We would be giving up too much for 1 guy. Don't get my wrong, Santana is great, and I mean great, but giving up you shortstop of the future, who is said to be almost a carbon copy of Pedroia: Lester, who has come a long long way and shown some great stuff and Masterson, who is supposed to be pretty good is just too much.

It would be great this year, a rotation of Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Buchholz and Schilling /Wakefield would be awesome but then what happens when Wakefield and Schilling retire? you don't have Lester or Masterson to plug into that role and then have to trade somebody to get a starter, but you've already traded them away to get Santana.

I say bad move.

rearviewmiror · November 2007

So you would have Dice K, Beckett, Santana, Buccholz, and a 5th guy. There are prospects left on the farm, and the sox can afford to pay some mid level free agent to be their 5 guy.

Solat13 · November 2007

Character Zero wrote:

Even with keeping Ellsbury and Buchholz I still think this is not a good deal for the Sox. We would be giving up too much for 1 guy. Don't get my wrong, Santana is great, and I mean great, but giving up you shortstop of the future, who is said to be almost a carbon copy of Pedroia: Lester, who has come a long long way and shown some great stuff and Masterson, who is supposed to be pretty good is just too much.

It would be great this year, a rotation of Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Buchholz and Schilling /Wakefield would be awesome but then what happens when Wakefield and Schilling retire? you don't have Lester or Masterson to plug into that role and then have to trade somebody to get a starter, but you've already traded them away to get Santana.

I say bad move.

You don't need a great 5th starter in baseball. The 5th starter is someone who will only pitch in the regular season and if he goes .500 or slightly better that's great. No team in baseball has a great 5th starter. And the 5th starter has virtually no effect on the post season.

But in a short playoff series which is what the Sox are playing for nowadays having to face Beckett and Santant 3 or 4 times in a five game series or 4 or 5 times in a 7 game series would be devastating for the opposition.

Right there is the reason why you make the trade.

We have other SS prospects in the system and Lugo is under contract for 3 years. And trading Masterson and Lester for Santana is not mcuh different than trading Pavano and Armas for Pedro except Santana has proven to be more durable.

I see no reason why not to make the trade right now.

rearviewmiror · November 2007

I agree solat13, but Santana has yet to prove he can pitch like Pedro. (Just wanted to defend Pedro and his impressive Sox career.)

JSBE · November 2007

rearviewmiror wrote:

As noted on SOSH it's Lowrie.

i know it is spelled lowrie, the minn. reporter spelled it wrong. i just didn't change when i posted.

rearviewmiror · November 2007

JSBE wrote:

i know it is spelled lowrie, the minn. reporter spelled it wrong. i just didn't change when i posted.

Wasn't faulting you, just the reporter who is so "in the know"

JSBE · November 2007

Character Zero wrote:

Even with keeping Ellsbury and Buchholz I still think this is not a good deal for the Sox. We would be giving up too much for 1 guy. Don't get my wrong, Santana is great, and I mean great, but giving up you shortstop of the future, who is said to be almost a carbon copy of Pedroia: Lester, who has come a long long way and shown some great stuff and Masterson, who is supposed to be pretty good is just too much.

It would be great this year, a rotation of Beckett, Santana, Matsuzaka, Buchholz and Schilling /Wakefield would be awesome but then what happens when Wakefield and Schilling retire? you don't have Lester or Masterson to plug into that role and then have to trade somebody to get a starter, but you've already traded them away to get Santana.

I say bad move.

so the sox would keep their top two prospects, who, by the way are major league ready for 2008 and it is a bad deal?

in 2009 the sox would have a rotation of beckett, santana, matsuzaka, buchholz and probably wakes.

personally, i am not a fan of lester. i'm a fan of him coming back from cancer and all that, but his pitching still needs a lot of work in my opinion.

we have pedroia for a while and we have lugo signed for 3 more years. if lowrie will be major league ready at some point in 2008, where will we play him? might as well trade him when his value is high.

as for masterson, i have only seen bits and pieces of him. he does seem like he'll be a beast in the majors.

even if lester and masterson both turn out to be quality #2 or #3 starters in the majors, which honestly, is a crapshoot, this is like hanley and a. sanchez and prospects for beckett and lowell. sure, hanley at the time could be a superstar (and now is a top 10 player in the NL), but the sox had a chance to get a #1 pitcher (and had to take on lowell) and look how that turned out.

Solat13 · November 2007

rearviewmiror wrote:

I agree solat13, but Santana has yet to prove he can pitch like Pedro. (Just wanted to defend Pedro and his impressive Sox career.)

Well, Pedro had probably the most dominant stretch of any pitcher in the history of the game save maybe Koufax in the 60's so that is a slightly unfair comparison.

That said through age 28, Pedro was 122-56 with a 2.68 era and 3 Cy Youngs and pitched half his career in the NL. He also became a fulltime starting pitcher at age 22.

Santana is 93-44 with a 3.22 era and 2 Cy Youngs. He became a fulltime starting pitcher at age 25 after splitting between rotation and bullpen at age 23 and 24.

So basically taking Santana on at this point of his career would be almost the exact same as taking on Pedro. The Sox got Pedro in his 4th year as a starting pitcher and this year is Santana's 5th year. So he has plenty of life in his arm right now without the injury history that Pedro had at the time.

gregkitefan · November 2007

Solat13 wrote:

I think what tipped me that the Sox were in the lead was the fact that Minnesota traded away their SS and the fact that Lowrie is most likely ready for the big leagues. Brendan Harris who the Twins picked up yesterday was Tampa's SS, but was really a 2B and 3B in the minors and would probably move to 2nd for the Twins making Punto their utility man instead of a starter.

Crisp really isn't a big loss and I'd rather have Buchholz than Lester. Plus with Santana the need for a lefty starter is gone. And with Masterson, you never know how prospects are until the they reach the majors.

If that's what the Twins are looking for and the Sox can nail down Santana to a contract, that would give the Sox a 4 man rotation of Beckett, Santana, Dice K and Buchholz all under contract for at least the next 4 seasons which would be scary because they're all still young in baseball years. I'd make that deal in a heartbeat if we can lockdown Santana to a deal.

It might make the Sox as dominate as they were from 1912-1918 when they won 4 series in 7 years.

Isn't Beckett only signed for 2008 and 2009?
I thought before last year they signed him to a (3) year contract.
I could be wrong.

rearviewmiror · November 2007

gregkitefan wrote:

Isn't Beckett only signed for 2008 and 2009?
I thought before last year they signed him to a (3) year contract.
I could be wrong.

Option for 2010 I thought.

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