Just reading about this. Quite shocking. The Sox are dumping $262.5 million on future salaries for the 4 players. Complete rebuilding mode, but with lots of room to spend. The Dodgers must have a lot of money. They are paying a lot to get Gonzalez and the hope that Crawford recovers his past abilities. -- Al
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Warrior
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The owners of the Red Sox need to rethink their whole free agent strategy and going forward, they need to do more homework and find out if guys really want to play here.
The Crawford signing was a huge mistake, he really wanted to sign with the Angels but came here for more money, he put too much pressure on himself to perform and was a disaster from the beginning, Gonzalez from all reports did not like the media here and the spotlight of playing in a big market with huge fan expectations.
Unreal to think they traded away three of their best prospects to get the guy, a year and a half later they couldn't get him out of town fast enough, what a horrible trade that turned out to be.
He's a laid back west coast guy and he'll love playing for the Dodgers, whos fans show up in the second inning and leave after the seventh. Beckett is on the back nine, has lost several miles off of his fastball and keeps trying to blow hitters away with 91 mph fastballs, not going to work.
Thanks Josh for 2007 as without him, they don't win a World Series that year.
As far as the prospects they got back in return, none of them excite me, this was a salary dump plain and simple.
Guess ownership was tired of writing checks and not getting results, they have not won a playoff game since game 6 of the 2008 ALCS, they got swept in the first round of the 2009 playoffs by Brads second favorite team, the Angels and have missed the playoffs three years in a row, that's four years of mediocre results and paying a fortune for it, guess they decided enough is enough.
A report came out today that they plan on trading Elsbury and Lester in the off season too and if they can't, they won't resign either one when they contracts are up after the 2013 season.
Ortiz is as good as gone too.
The 2013 Boston Red Sox; AAA players at the major league level, they'll be playing in front of friends and family as Bostonians aren't suckers, they won't be dropping big money to see second rate talent.
Another rumor floating around is they are clearing the decks in order to sell the team........................
All I can say is this puts a ribbon and a bow on their run from 2003 till now, I fully expect them to not be competing for a WS title for the next several years
jazzeum
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Considering the Red Sox financial wherewithal is not that different than the Yankees, it makes what Yankee ownership has done all the more impressive. It's not how much money you have but what you do with it. The poor decisions that Met management is testament to that. Yet, the Yankees keep sailing along, just making generally good decision after another. Yes, they make some but seem to avoid real bad ones.
Warrior
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Over the past 12 years, the Yankees have spent 3 billion dollars on payroll and have one WS title to show for it.
The Red Sox have spent 1.5 billion on payroll and have two WS titles to show for it.
So they've spent half as much as the model of spending you refer to and have twice as many titles.
That said, the Yankees have gotten better value for their free agent signings than the Red Sox have the past five years as they've won one WS title and the Red Sox have won none and have missed the playoffs three years in a row.
The Yankees have also gotten much better contributions from the has beens they've pulled off the scrap heap, ie, Colon, Garcia, Chavez, Martin, Jones, etc, etc.
I'm all for this trade, clean house and start over, tread water for a year or two and wait for some of their minor league kids to come up and go from there.
Enough with the high priced free agents.
DMNamiot
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Hi George,
Have to say I was surprised by this move. Especially with Becket. Of course there was a theory floated that they are getting rid of all the big critics of Bobby V so they can try and rebuild cohesion in the off season and field a better team in the spring. Then again it may have only been about dumping a ton of future salary especially with the way they have imploded this year. I hope they can rebuild and make the East an interesting place again.
Dave
Have to say I was surprised by this move. Especially with Becket. Of course there was a theory floated that they are getting rid of all the big critics of Bobby V so they can try and rebuild cohesion in the off season and field a better team in the spring. Then again it may have only been about dumping a ton of future salary especially with the way they have imploded this year. I hope they can rebuild and make the East an interesting place again.
Dave
Warrior
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The only downside of this is they're saying Bobby V will be back next year, he's been horrible this year, beyond horrible actually.........his press conferences are painful to listen to.
DMNamiot
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Hi George,
Thankfully I dont get to listen to them here since they occur well after my bed time. But I have been reading some of the articles and they arent very positive. Lets hope that things get a little better for your team in the off season
Dave
Thankfully I dont get to listen to them here since they occur well after my bed time. But I have been reading some of the articles and they arent very positive. Lets hope that things get a little better for your team in the off season
Dave
Warrior
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Thanks Dave, I've got very, very, very low expectations for this team in 2013, we'll see how it goes.....................
Nats had a lost weekend, getting swept by the Phillies, 4-2, 4-2, 4-1. The offense took a nose dive with Morse and Desmond out. Hope this is just one of those bumps in the road. Braves within 4.5. Just need a hit here or there. -- Al
My congratulations to the Little League team from Japan for winning the LLWS the other day. They took the US rep from Tennessee apart, winning by the 10 run rule 12-2. Japan hit 4 Hr's, 3 by one player, who also had a triple. Not a bad day. US had only 2 hits, both Hr's. The real fun game was the US championship game on Friday. It wasn't very good baseball (not even close), but it was entertaining as Tennessee beat California 24-15, in 7 innings. It was a rather unbelievable game, as neither team could find a pitcher who could get anyone out. One Tennessee player had 3 three run homers, for 9 rbi's. Tennessee went into the bottom of the 6th (LL plays 6 inning games) with a 15-5 lead, needing only to get 3 outs for the win. They couldn't get the 3 outs and, much to their 'never say die' credit, California scored 10 runs (including 4 runs on 2 Hr's with 2 out), to tie the game 15-15 and send it to extra innings. Tennessee then showed it's ability to put their 6th inning disaster behind them, and scored 9 runs in the top of the 7th inning! California, not surprisingly, had nothing left in the tank, and went 1-2-3 in the bottom half. Tennessee wins 24-15. They then had to face Japan on Saturday with their pitching in a shambles and the result was the Japanese win. You gotta love LL baseball. -- Al
Louis Badolato
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George,
I think this move was brilliant on the part of the Red Soxs GM, and that you will be thrilled with this trade, possibly as soon as next season. He dumped a load of dead weight, some truly terrible contracts, giving up only one productive player, Gonzalez, and frankly, as you pointed out, he has been a glorified singles hitter this year, and got two top pitching prospects in return.
If the Sox GM uses the substantial amount of payroll relief to obtain quality #1 and a #2 starters and one big bat over the off season, your team will be right back in contention (so long as they figure out the manager/coaching staff issues - either fire Valentine or fire the coaches and let him hire his own).
In any event, football season is about to start, and your Patriots will be contending for another Superbowl title - I heard this morning they have both of those all world tight ends locked up for 6 years now. Playing in a division with the Bills, Dolphins and Jets, I would say you can expect to win the Division for the next few years going away.
I think this move was brilliant on the part of the Red Soxs GM, and that you will be thrilled with this trade, possibly as soon as next season. He dumped a load of dead weight, some truly terrible contracts, giving up only one productive player, Gonzalez, and frankly, as you pointed out, he has been a glorified singles hitter this year, and got two top pitching prospects in return.
If the Sox GM uses the substantial amount of payroll relief to obtain quality #1 and a #2 starters and one big bat over the off season, your team will be right back in contention (so long as they figure out the manager/coaching staff issues - either fire Valentine or fire the coaches and let him hire his own).
In any event, football season is about to start, and your Patriots will be contending for another Superbowl title - I heard this morning they have both of those all world tight ends locked up for 6 years now. Playing in a division with the Bills, Dolphins and Jets, I would say you can expect to win the Division for the next few years going away.
Warrior
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Louis,
I hope you are right, I just hope they learned from their past mistakes and do their homework and don't sign guys who don't want to be here or understand what it takes to play here, Gonzalez did not get it, neither did Crawford, DON'T throw dumptrucks full of money towards a guy who doesn't want to play here and comes just for the money.
This is a giant do over/restart, let's hope they do it right going forward.
As far as the Patriots; if they don't improve their offensive line, Brady will not last the season, in the two games he's played in the preseason, he's gotten sacked, pressured, hurried, etc, etc, etc.
Brilliant move signing Hernandez, he's better than Gronkowski in my opinion, pretty sweet they are both locked up long term.
The Patriots are the anti Red Sox, they do things the right way, the Red Sox can't get out of their own way...........
The O's and their patchwork ballteam continue to win the close games and are now only 3.5 games back of the Yanks, in 2nd place. The O's continue to be outstanding in close games, now being 24-6 in one run games and 45-18 in games decided by two runs. Buck Showalter is Manager of the Year, hands down. He is also now 173-173 since taking over the O's last August. Quite an impressive turn around. -- Al
Louis Badolato
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Now all you have to do is fire Showalter at the end of the year and you will win the World Series next year (a la the Yankees (1996) and the Diamondbacks (2001)).:wink2:
{eek3}^&grin But he hasn't worn out his welcome, yet. What to do, what to do... -- Al
Hi Sammy. O's playing some great ball. They have really improved their defense since the All-Star break, as well. The starting pitching is a real mish-mash but is doing well with Chen anchoring it. Tillman has been very good since his call-up, going 7-2. Gonzalez has been sharp and Britton seems to have worked his way back to the rotation with a couple of good outings. The O's are especially effective in 1 or 2 run games and this makes them dangerous to anyone. It is a good time in O's land this season. -- Al
sammy719
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The Orioles biggest series of the year coming up, the O's are 3 games out of first behind the evil Yanks and we have a 3 game weekend series with them, man this is getting fun I completely forgot what it was like to be in a playoff chase this late in the year, let's go O's!!!!!...Sammy
Good night for baseball in the Balto-Wash corridor. The O's shutout the Yanks and now trail the Yanks by only 2 games and lead 3rd place Tampa by 2.5. In DC, the Nats butchered the Cards for the second night in a row, winning 10-0 tonight and 8-1 last night. The only run the Cards have scored was an unearned run in the 8th inning. 31 games left in the regular season and the O's just won't go away. Buck has done a fantastic job, as has Davey in DC. This has been a memorable season for this area and it ain't done yet.:wink2:^&grin -- Al
Fusilier
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It has been brutal for the Cards this week. This four-game losing streak couldn't come at a worse time. Also, the offense has been dead after spending most of the season as one of the more prolific in the league. They better figure it out soon, or they will be the ones with the end-of-the-year collapse, like Atlanta last season.
Noah