Tag Archives: Jon Lester

November 28, 2012 · 5:37 AM

I’ll Drive Him to the Airport

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Just a hypothetical, if I’d proposed Mike Trout for Jon Lester last season, would you have made the deal? Not likely right. I mean, who’d heard of Mike Trout?

Now the rumor is the Royals are trying to get Lester from the Red Sox. They’re offering up their top prospect, Wil Myers. Who? Exactly.

He’s no Mike Trout as far as defense so I’ll save the suspense there, but he is a basher. He hit 37 homers between AA and AAA last season to go along with his .987 OBP.

The age old adage is you don’t trade pitching for hitting. But the Sox aren’t competing for a World Series next season. Not as constructed now. So why not deal a guy that was 9-13 last season with an ERA creeping towards five?

They’d have control over Myers for seven years if they start the 21 year old in Pawtucket this season, six if he makes the team out of spring training.

Two years of Lester (1 and a team option), for six or seven of Myers who may or may not be the next big thing; like the headline says, I’ll drive him to the airport.

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July 31, 2012 · 12:18 AM

Deadline Day

I think I’ve made my thoughts very clear on this incarnation of the Red Sox.

This is the most hated Red Sox club in recent memory. In essence they brought back the entire crew that failed last fall with a few minor roster tweaks.

The Sox should have dealt Dice-K for a bag of balls to the Dodgers, Mariners, or any other west coast team the day he came off the DL in June. Instead he got hurt again (shocker) and the team is stuck with him as he hopefully leaves for free agency after the season.

John Lackey the team is also stuck with. After Tommy John surgery shelved him for this season you figured you wouldn’t see that mouth breathing Sloth. Not so much. This asshole has still hung around the team. So the fact that alcohol is banned in the clubhouse, the alleged ringleader of the fried chicken crew is still hanging around the club and corrupting the staff.

Beckett should be dealt but likely won’t. The team owes him too much money. He doesn’t throw gas anymore and is trying to reinvent himself like Pedro did towards the end of his career. You sir are no Pedro Martinez. So the Sox are saddled with him unless they want to eat part of his contract. How about you listen to your fan base, eat part of the contract and get this bum out of town. Now.

Jon Lester should also be dealt. He’s actually a commodity. Other teams will pay. You’ll be able to restock your farm system by trading this guy and be stacked for the future. I pull the trigger on the right deal now.

I also would trade Jacoby Ellsbury. The Reds have called and asked. Like Lester, I think you can get a decent ransom for Ellsbury. He’s always hurt and you know he’s not going to sign here when his free agency hits. Get something for him while you can.

Controversial yes but I trade Pedroia. I’m sick of his slamming the helmet down and pouting. He’s slowly developing that Youk-ness. He’s on the block and I think you can get a decent return.

Bottom line is pretty much the whole roster is on the block with a few exceptions. If I’m the GM, I’m listening to offers on mostly anyone. If I could find a sucker to take on Crawford’s contract, bye. Same with Gonzales. Ortiz is on the DL but I’d move him too.

In case you can’t tell I have very little loyalty to this group. But I’m a Sox fan through and through. So instead of the minor deals where you send some of your bullpen guys away, you move an outfielder or two, or you move your back up catcher (Shoppach leaving is a foregone conclusion now), I say you be bold. Take that chance of addition by subtraction (Beckett). See how the clubhouse changes without some of the prima donna attitudes. Then see if that translates to wins. If nothing else it will bring back fans like me and your team will be likable.

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July 23, 2012 · 5:54 AM

Back To .500

I’m not sure how closely you follow the other teams in the AL East but the Yankees were swept in Oakland this past weekend. They’ve dropped four straight in fact. So the Sox who started the weekend 9.5 games out of first could have wrapped the weekend just 6.5 games out of first. Not only would the Sox have cut the lead in the division, they would have put themselves six games over the .500 mark.

But this isn’t your Red Sox. Nope, these are more like your Dad’s Red Sox.

Instead of beating a depleted Toronto pitching staff, they instead folded. It started with Beckett on Friday night giving up four runs in the first two innings to give his team a nice deficit to climb back from. The team never bounced back and the offense looked lost against a guy that has struggled to stay in the big the past two years.

Saturday wasn’t much better as the Sox clinged to a three run lead they scored in the second on a Saltalamacchia homer. That was all the offense they could muster as the team faded, losing 7-3.

So Sunday with the team just a game over .500 they threw their “ace”.

As I’m sure you’re aware by now Lester only gave up 11 earned runs Sunday. Eleven. To give you an idea of how un-ace like that is, you would have to combine Justin Verlander’s last seven starts (not including the All Star game) to total how many runs Lester gave up in his 4+ innings on Sunday.

At this point I feel like Randy Quaid in Major League 2. Get the pooper scooper. Back up the truck. These guys are done.

With series against Texas, New York, and Detroit leading up to the trading deadline it’s more than time to blow this thing up. I just hope the front office is smart enough to see it. Probably not though. This management is a joke and it’s just trickling down to the field.

So like your father’s Red Sox, there’s always next year.

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July 18, 2012 · 7:02 AM

Clock Is Ticking

I mentioned last week that Lester may be on his way out. Based on his performance last night and really this whole season, you have to wonder if Cherington will consider the move.

The issue you have is the Sox looked like they could hang over the weekend. Then they got Crawford back Monday and beat the White Sox so fans get into that mindset that everything is back to normal. I think management has that same mentality.

Well, everything is not alright. You’re 3-2 since the All Star break. You’re a game over .500 because of it and you’re still sitting in last place.

It’s really time for this team to realize it’s not a winner. Not this year. The competition for the Wild Card spots is going to be too intense for a .500 team to make it. A team from the West will have the first spot and a team from the East looks to have the other spot. The Sox are looking at three teams in front of them in the East.

So I again, implore the Red Sox front office to burn up the phone lines. Work some trade magic like you did in 2004. You traded Nomar who was the face of the franchise for so long. Don’t be afraid to do that with Lester, Beckett, and whoever else you want to.

Small conspiracy theory.

Ortiz was hurt the other night. He’s not going on the DL. But won’t play for about a week. This matches almost perfectly with the trade calendar. Could the team be setting something up to trade Ortiz? They can’t trade him if he’s on the DL. Sure he has 10-5 rights but at this point I’m sure he wouldn’t mind playing in Los Angeles with the Angels and his buddy Pujols.

All I know is I’ve been calling for the “blow it up” for months now and the Youk trade wasn’t all I want to see. One of these front line starters has to go. If you’re going to get a King’s ransom for Lester, pull the trigger. If you’re going to take the toxicity of the clubhouse by trading Beckett, do it.

They have to do something. Mediocrity with this roster is unacceptable.

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July 12, 2012 · 6:09 AM

So Long Lester?

So for starters, let’s go with what Jim asked. Does this seem like a guy trying to save his gig?

Absolutely.

Now where did all this stem from?

Listening to sports radio yesterday afternoon Felger and Mazz (minus Felger) had Peter Gammons on the show. Mazz asked Gammons if the Red Sox should start packing it in. Gammons said they know a lot more as the team got closer to the trade deadline. If the team were to drop two of three this weekend in Tampa and drop series leading into the All Star break they’d have to look in the mirror and ask if this really is a winning team.

Here’s an idea. How about you listen to the real fans. Not the tourists and the pink hats that fill your ball park but the actual Red Sox fans and hear this message; you’re not a winning team.

In fact you’re still a dysfunctional mess. Reports out of the All Star game were that the Sox are even worse than people are led to believe by NESN and other media entities on the take.

Back to the talk with Gammons. They asked if they could trade Beckett. He said you could trade him but you wouldn’t get anything back. If you ate some of the salary you’d get maybe one prospect. He said the real value in the Sox rotation was Lester (who is unhappy in Boston) and if the team was willing to deal Lester they’d likely get as many as three top prospects in return.

Specifically he mentioned the Royals who have one of the most stocked farm systems in all of baseball. They’re looking for a front end starter and the Sox have plenty. Lester has a very manageable contract since he only signed a five year, $30 million contract when he agreed long term with the Sox.

So of course Lester took to the above tweet and wants everyone to know he loves it here in Boston. Of course. Uncle Larry probably called him and told him to tweet that, or Uncle Larry actually has the username and passwords for all his guys.

At this point I’m so fed up, I say you can trade just about anyone including Ortiz. You want to be in Toronto so bad, see ya.

Let the guys like Lavarnway, Middlebrooks, Nava and the like become the new faces of the franchise. Chances are they’re not entitled assholes like so much of this team is. Well, not yet anyways.

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