It's been a while since a talked about baseball and there is a LOT on the slate… I'm going to try and cover everything swirling about in this semi-disfigured head of mine, in a series of bullet notes. Yeah that should do it.
- The Red Sox have been abysmal. I chose them to win over 100 games under the premise that they would be playing Gold Glove defense and Cy Young caliber pitching every night. That hasn't been the case. While I am positive that the pitching is going to be STRONG very soon, the injuries in the outfield, and inconsistency at shortstop have REALLY been detrimental to the defensive aspect of 'pitching and defense' mantra.
- The Sox NEED a catcher. Nope, wrong, they need a STARTING catcher. Victor Martinez should NEVER be allowed NEAR the plate unless he has a bat in his hand and Varitek cannot endure the rigors of an entire season at his age. Solution: Chris Iannetta, Mike Napoli, Kurt Suzuki, Chris Snyder. Iannetta is involved in a platoon, he's from Rhode Island and is a VERY good defensive catcher all around that can swing the stick despite his slow start. Mike Napoli is going to be expendable once Jeff Mathis comes back from an injury because they have a catcher from the minors waiting in the wings. Kurt Suzuki has become a solid ALL AROUND ball player. He's going to hit almost .300 hit 12-16 HRs, 65-70 RBI and he is fabulous behind the dish. He will only be available if the A's are out of contention. The Sox offered Daniel Bard for Chris Snyder over the winter according to reports and while I don't think they'd do that exact deal now he could also be someone on their radar when he comes back from his back injury.
- David Ortiz is done. For everyone saying look at the last half of last year. I don't care about his OPS+ his HRQz minus or any other onslaught of initials. AT NO POINT WAS ANYONE FEARING BOSTON'S DH last year. His head is gone, his swing is off and he is looking at too many fastballs. Mike Lowell's hot start is great but he is NOT the DH that we need. We need a lefty to keep the balance in the lineup and that is probably going to be Victor Martinez for the end of this season being that Adrian Gonzalez WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE until atleast the winter especially with the Padres competing.
- Other than bad pitching, sloppy defense, and a lack of timely hitting why are they losing? Jacoby Ellsbury. Albeit it was just a weekend series the Sox seemed to start finding their groove somewhat in that series and then Ellsbury went down with hairline fractures in his ribs. His dynamic style sculpts the top of our order in a way that Marco Scutaro couldn't dream of. As soon as he can get back at 100% that's when I expect a turn-around for our offense.
- I'm going to be the first to say I love what Orlando Hudson brings to the table. Good defense, good enough bat and some speed but he is so far off base with his cry of racism with regards to Jermaine Dye's impending comeback to baseball. He's Old, he plays defense like Jose Canseco, took an Ortiz like plummet in the second half with the bat, and asking for WAY too much money for 27 HRs. If no one was trying to sign him you might have a case but people are taking HUGE pay cuts because of the new defensive metrics and the economy that it is impractical for Jermaine Dye, whose skills are obviously depreciating, to ask for 6+ million. When the white players such as Aubrey Huff took 2 million, and Russell Bryanyan took 5 and were semi productive last year.
- The Rays are a fucking Machine. They just went 9-1 on a ten game road trip and came in and legitimately skull fucked Victor Martinez and the Red Sox for four games. While I chose Jon Lester to win the Cy Young is there any way I can change to Matt Garza? He's a BEAST.
- If you haven't seen Dallas Braden flip his SHIT on A-Rod, do yourself a favor watch it. Baseball's unwritten rules are the BEST. Don't walk across his mound mother fucker! They don't face each other again till July…I GUARANTEE he gets one in the Ribs.
- Anyone still clambering for Jason Bay .241avg 0HR 3RBI leads the league in strikeouts…just sayin'.
- Vernon Wells is BACK! But even if he hits 35 HRs a year for the duration of his contract it's STILL a bust.
- As I said Halladay is going to Win the Cy Young and win 25 games. Everyone says that in today's game it'll be almost impossible and I bet that there will be a couple games that leads get blown but against the JV he's going 8 innings every time and if the bullpen only has to throw one inning you're cutting out a LOT of variables.
- It's too bad Nelson Cruz didn't get a shot until he was older.
- Jason Heyward, the man, the myth, the legend is already growing on my as one of my favorite players in baseball. I mean he's not going to steal that title away from Lester and Pujols but the guy is game-changing. Griffey-esque even.
Stay Tuned
Ryan
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