Friday, November 19, 2004
WHERE THE FREE AGENTS STAND
OK in my last post I said I wouldn't talk about the free agents but I'm on Thanksgiving Break, its 2 o'clock, and I'm bored.
PEDRO TO SELL HIS SOUL?
Pedro was offered a 2 year deal by the Red Sox for somewhere around $24M. That's a decent yearly salary but Pedro wants more long term security. Pedro's agent met with Yankee brass down in Tampa and the way ESPN, Yahoo, FSN, etc are protraying it, it is almost as if Pedro's already gotten a pinstriped uniform. But this is not so. From a strictly baseball perspective, we can do without Pedro and still win. He's a 7 inning pitcher who has good stuff on most nights. He is not the dominator he once was.
In order to replace Martinez, the Sox are looking at former Red Sox farmhand Carl Pavano. Pavano, along with Tony Armas Jr. were traded for Pedro seemingly decades ago. His career numbers aren't too impressive. He's 57-58 with a 4.21 ERA. Strictly average. But last year he had his best season with the Marlins. He went 18-8 and pitched over 220 innings. His ERA was 3.00. But his WHIP was not that low at 1.174. Pedro's was about the same at 1.171. Pavano gave up 10 fewer HRs than Pedro. Pavano also brings a 2-0 postseason record with an ERA of 1.40. Granted this was only in last season's playoffs but he's been stuck in Quebec for most of his career. The only other free agent candidates I could envision being capable of replacing Pedro would be Radke or Milton. However, Theo might be able to do some wheeling and dealing to bring a top arm to backup Schilling.
SCOTT BORAS IS KILLING BASEBALL
For all the talk about Steinbrenner and big market teams killing baseball, Scott Boras gets very little blame. If Scott Boras is a player's agent, he is almost guaranteed to get an extra $1 or $2 million. Varitek, represented by Boras, has asked for a 5 year, $55 million deal with a no-trade clause. I respect the fact that he wants to stay in Boston but I feel that the true motivation behind asking for the clause is to keep the Red Sox from dumping him and his salary. 5 years is also a very long time for a 32 year old catcher. I just don't see how Tek is going to contribute all that much when he is 36, and 37. Certainly he won't produce $11,000,000 worth of production in his alte 30s. He might be a backup catcher or converted to a first baseman. I love Varitek as a player. He's a true Dirt Dog and he does everything he can to win (10 SBs last year), but tying up $55 million into a catcher in his 30s is not a wise decision and the money can be spent better.
Some catchers out there are the washed up Sandy Alomar Jr, career backup John Flaherty, old timer Henry Blanco, the mediocre Brook Fordyce, Greg Zaun, Greg Myers, Mike Redmond, Einar Diaz, Todd Pratt, and Mike Matheny. Mike Matheny would be a good pickup but I feel that if we get a strictly defensive catcher like Matheny, we should resign Mirabelli to give us some pop off the bench in the late innings and an occasional offensive production on Matheny's off-days.
I haven't been able to find anything about Derek Lowe. Where he is going, who wants him, anything.
OK in my last post I said I wouldn't talk about the free agents but I'm on Thanksgiving Break, its 2 o'clock, and I'm bored.
PEDRO TO SELL HIS SOUL?
Pedro was offered a 2 year deal by the Red Sox for somewhere around $24M. That's a decent yearly salary but Pedro wants more long term security. Pedro's agent met with Yankee brass down in Tampa and the way ESPN, Yahoo, FSN, etc are protraying it, it is almost as if Pedro's already gotten a pinstriped uniform. But this is not so. From a strictly baseball perspective, we can do without Pedro and still win. He's a 7 inning pitcher who has good stuff on most nights. He is not the dominator he once was.
In order to replace Martinez, the Sox are looking at former Red Sox farmhand Carl Pavano. Pavano, along with Tony Armas Jr. were traded for Pedro seemingly decades ago. His career numbers aren't too impressive. He's 57-58 with a 4.21 ERA. Strictly average. But last year he had his best season with the Marlins. He went 18-8 and pitched over 220 innings. His ERA was 3.00. But his WHIP was not that low at 1.174. Pedro's was about the same at 1.171. Pavano gave up 10 fewer HRs than Pedro. Pavano also brings a 2-0 postseason record with an ERA of 1.40. Granted this was only in last season's playoffs but he's been stuck in Quebec for most of his career. The only other free agent candidates I could envision being capable of replacing Pedro would be Radke or Milton. However, Theo might be able to do some wheeling and dealing to bring a top arm to backup Schilling.
SCOTT BORAS IS KILLING BASEBALL
For all the talk about Steinbrenner and big market teams killing baseball, Scott Boras gets very little blame. If Scott Boras is a player's agent, he is almost guaranteed to get an extra $1 or $2 million. Varitek, represented by Boras, has asked for a 5 year, $55 million deal with a no-trade clause. I respect the fact that he wants to stay in Boston but I feel that the true motivation behind asking for the clause is to keep the Red Sox from dumping him and his salary. 5 years is also a very long time for a 32 year old catcher. I just don't see how Tek is going to contribute all that much when he is 36, and 37. Certainly he won't produce $11,000,000 worth of production in his alte 30s. He might be a backup catcher or converted to a first baseman. I love Varitek as a player. He's a true Dirt Dog and he does everything he can to win (10 SBs last year), but tying up $55 million into a catcher in his 30s is not a wise decision and the money can be spent better.
Some catchers out there are the washed up Sandy Alomar Jr, career backup John Flaherty, old timer Henry Blanco, the mediocre Brook Fordyce, Greg Zaun, Greg Myers, Mike Redmond, Einar Diaz, Todd Pratt, and Mike Matheny. Mike Matheny would be a good pickup but I feel that if we get a strictly defensive catcher like Matheny, we should resign Mirabelli to give us some pop off the bench in the late innings and an occasional offensive production on Matheny's off-days.
I haven't been able to find anything about Derek Lowe. Where he is going, who wants him, anything.
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