Listening to sports radio last night I heard so more craziness that I don’t like hearing. The same retards that call and suggest trades like Alex Cora for Jake Peavy were at it again last night. This time some guy called with the audacity to suggest trading David Ortiz. Yes, that David Ortiz. Now, I understand that he was hurt this past season with a wrist injury and the season prior he had a knee injury but to suggest that he doesn’t have it anymore is absurd. A healthy David Ortiz is a key part of your line up.
But who is David Ortiz protecting? Kevin Youkilis? No offense to Youk but he’s not a true cleanup hitter. Neither is Mike Lowell or Jason Bay for that matter. Even though Dustin Pedroia will tell you he is, we all know that midgets (possible MVP midgets) don’t bat cleanup on a regular basis. So where does this leave the Red Sox?
Well the rumor that many are speculating on is that the Red Sox are going to push hard for Mark Teixeira. Great, where do you play him? You move Youk to third and try and trade Lowell? Who’s going to want a 35 year old third baseman coming off hip surgery? Until he proves he can play in the field and swing a bat few teams would take that risk with $25M and two years left on his deal. And before you even pose the question, there’s no way you trade Youk. Under no circumstance does this make any sense. He’s young, hits for average, has decent pop, and hardly ever misses a game.
One of the other suggestions is that the team move Youk to left and use Bay as a trading chip for a catcher. First off, Youk played left in a bind, that’s not where he wants to play and all the “team player” talk is crap. This guy moved once to help the club from one corner to the other, to think he’d move to the outfield is just stupid. And all the people asking if Youk can catch, you’re off the band wagon. Go root for the Yankees or something.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d welcome Mark Teixeira with open arms since he’ll solve your cleanup hitter problem. Don’t think for a moment that the Sox couldn’t trade Lowell and Lugo, eat that salary (as proven when they sent Manny to the Dodgers and paid his whole salary), and still pay Teixeira five or six years at $25-$30M per season. The ownership has a cash machine on Yawkey Way. They can afford to make any mistake.
Amazing that the Sox are becoming the Yankees and no one says a word. Back tomorrow with a Pats/Jets preview.
First of all, people ARE saying that the Sox have become the Yankees. I hear that pretty often. But just because the Sox spend LIKE the Yankees doesn’t mean they ARE the Yankees by any means.
As an analogy, if you were to give my brother and I 100 grand apiece, I’d buy a bunch of investment-grade stocks and he’d buy booze and parties; we’ve spent the same amount of money but we’re hardly the same.
The Sox may have a bloated payroll like the Yankees, but – with a few exceptions – I think they spend it more wisely and get a WAY better return on the investment.
no mention of Ty Law signing with the Assholes down in New York?
Johnny B makes a good point, well almost made a good point. I think what he was getting at, is that…
The sox have used their 100k to build the farm system, as well as add good quality free agents to the big league club. Thus building the club from the bottom up, while adding a few pieces along the way to make them even better. Seems smart to me.
And for Jeff, I have a bad feeling Ty Law is gonna go all BK on Bledsoe,Imean Cassel’s ass tomorrow!