The Dead Sox?

[Orangeyes]

The Yanks were down 9-0 at Fenway, it's now 14-9 the Bronx Bombers and Valentine is being boo'd.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

15-9.

 

[grepal]

not loving the vibe this year. Bullpen is bad to an historic proportion so far. If the season ended tonight the bullpen ERA would be the highest of any team in the modern era. At least it is April. The SOx need to see if Rich Hill, Dice K, and Aaron Cook have recovered from injury and can ghelp. By August when they may get Bailey back this thing will probably be over. The interesting thing is if you are Ben Cherington do you trade Youkilis at the deadline for a prospect and see what you have in WMB or hang on to him and go at it again next year with hopefully better health.

Lot's of Sox fans screaming about Valentine, but what can the manager, any manager do with the worst pitching performance in the majors.

 

[donniesyracuse]

If I were a Sox fan, I wouldn' panic yet. They got back into the race quickly after a horrible start last year. Beckett, Lester, and Buchholz are the key in my opinion. These guys are too good for them continue pitching this badly.

 

[billsin01]

If I were a Sox fan, I wouldn' panic yet. They got back into the race quickly after a horrible start last year. Beckett, Lester, and Buchholz are the key in my opinion. These guys are too good for them continue pitching this badly.

I'm a sox fan and I'm panicking. Although I'm not entirely panicking b/c I'm not all that surprised. They treat Lester like an ace but he's no better than a good No. 2. Beckett has a big name but the results haven't been there for a full season since 07. Crawford has been wildly overrated for a while as well. Buchholz has a world of potential but is coming off a lost season. They won't be this bad, but w/o Ellsbury and with Youk a shadow of his former self, the lineup won't carry this team. The odd thing is I wouldn't be totally shocked if they end up with an acceptable bullpen -- hill/tazawa/aceves/padilla/atchison isn't a terrible group.

 

[billsin01]

not loving the vibe this year. Bullpen is bad to an historic proportion so far. If the season ended tonight the bullpen ERA would be the highest of any team in the modern era. At least it is April. The SOx need to see if Rich Hill, Dice K, and Aaron Cook have recovered from injury and can ghelp. By August when they may get Bailey back this thing will probably be over. The interesting thing is if you are Ben Cherington do you trade Youkilis at the deadline for a prospect and see what you have in WMB or hang on to him and go at it again next year with hopefully better health.

Lot's of Sox fans screaming about Valentine, but what can the manager, any manager do with the worst pitching performance in the majors.

I don't think they'll deal Youk b/c I'm not sure what they'd get for him. Middlebrooks also seems like a guy who could use a full year in the minors, though he is tearing the cover off the ball right now.

Ultimately I think what's worse than the start to the season is the very real possiblity that with Tampa in excellent shape and the Yanks being the Yanks, the Sox could be battling with Toronto for 3rd in the division for a the next few years. Beckett is an overpaid oaf, Buchholz is a huge question mark, Lester isn't an ace, Crawford is no good -- and none of them are going anywhere. It's ugly.

 

[donniesyracuse]

The odd thing is I wouldn't be totally shocked if they end up with an acceptable bullpen -- hill/tazawa/aceves/padilla/atchison isn't a terrible group.

I agree. I hate to diminish its impact because it is a relative strength for the Yankees, but bullpens can often be assembled with duct tape and superglue. With some notable exceptions, bullpens are really just collections of guys that aren't quite good enough to be starters. When a rotation is struggling, the bullpen will be exposed. When a team is consistently getting its starting pitchers into the 7th inning, the bullpen will thrive.

 

[KaiserUEO]

the sux bullpen sacrificial lambs might as well be driven to the mound in a vw bug. just when you think they cant fit another clown in there, another one pops out and starts tossing BP.

normally id say, this is just baseball and the sux will be fine, but i look at that roster and it doesnt scare me. and im not even talking about the pitching.

girardi and his binder of death drive me nuts, but the guy knows how to establish and then work a bullpen.

Pettitte cant get here fast enough.

Oh Lord

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

It's crazy how well the last two guys in the Sox rotation have pitched so far in comparison with the top 3 guys. And of course the line-up doesn't look as scary right now. We're missing last years runner up in the MVP voting and Carl Crawford, who will be back soon. Crawford may have struggled last year, but he's an instant upgrade over Darnell McDonald. I'm hoping he torments teams again the way he did in Tampa. He is one of the most exciting players in baseball when healthy and swinging it well. It'll also be interesting to see how the Youkilis situation plays out. Will Middlebrooks is raking at Pawtucket and is the definite successor at 3B.

 

[billsin01]

Will Middlebrooks is raking at Pawtucket and is the definite successor at 3B.

Not so sure. I like WMB but he's notoriously streaky and he's got some pretty impressive competition for the title of 3B of the future with Xander Boegarts. I actually like Garin Ceccini (sp?) a lot as well. Wouldn't be thoroughly shocked to see WMB dealt if they could potentially engineer some sort of blockbuster around him, Anthony Ranaudo, and Jose Iglesias.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

Not so sure. I like WMB but he's notoriously streaky and he's got some pretty impressive competition for the title of 3B of the future with Xander Boegarts. I actually like Garin Ceccini (sp?) a lot as well. Wouldn't be thoroughly shocked to see WMB dealt if they could potentially engineer some sort of blockbuster around him, Anthony Ranaudo, and Jose Iglesias.

I don't think Iglesias is going anywhere, and I like Ranaudo. If we were going to deal those guys, then it'd have to be an Adrian Gonzalez type return. I do like the fact that we've added another arm like Matt Barnes that makes the idea of dealing Ranaudo a bit less daunting. However, with the fact that we recently traded Casey Kelly, I don't see us dealing Ranaudo. I think Boegarts projects more as a middle infielder, though. He has all the tools but is still raw. And FWIW, SoxProspects currently has Middlebrooks as our #1 prospect. I think he's viewed by the organization as the successor at third.

 

[billsin01]

I don't think Iglesias is going anywhere, and I like Ranaudo. If we were going to deal those guys, then it'd have to be an Adrian Gonzalez type return. I do like the fact that we've added another arm like Matt Barnes that makes the idea of dealing Ranaudo a bit less daunting. However, with the fact that we recently traded Casey Kelly, I don't see us dealing Ranaudo. I think Boegarts projects more as a middle infielder, though. He has all the tools but is still raw. And FWIW, SoxProspects currently has Middlebrooks as our #1 prospect. I think he's viewed by the organization as the successor at third.

I think you're probably right about the organization. WMB's plate discipline, or lack there of, still scare me a bit though. Everything I've read says the sox will keep Boegarts at SS as long as possible but that he'll likely end up at a corner. If he stays in the middle, that's great. Barnes has been lights out, which is great.

But my thought on dealing those top guys is just that they may need to pull off a blockbuster with all the dead money they have tied up in guys that are terrible (lackey), not anywhere near as good as they were thought to be (crawford, Beckett) and aging (Youk). Especially if they want to make an effort to keep ells. They may have to deal. We'll see.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

I think you're probably right about the organization. WMB's plate discipline, or lack there of, still scare me a bit though. Everything I've read says the sox will keep Boegarts at SS as long as possible but that he'll likely end up at a corner. If he stays in the middle, that's great. Barnes has been lights out, which is great.

But my thought on dealing those top guys is just that they may need to pull off a blockbuster with all the dead money they have tied up in guys that are terrible (lackey), not anywhere near as good as they were thought to be (crawford, Beckett) and aging (Youk). Especially if they want to make an effort to keep ells. They may have to deal. We'll see.

Keeping Ellsbury is paramount. That HAS to happen. And reading Lackey's name just makes me depressed. Hated the signing as soon as it happened. Thanks, Theo.