Some names: Mark Teixeira, Jermaine Dye, Ty Wigginton, Bobby Kielty, Andy LaRoche.
With a Teixeira acquisition I suppose the logic would be they trade Lowell in a separate deal, perhaps to add another arm to bullpen, and then move Youk back to third. Not bad, but if it means losing Buchholz and/or Ellsbury I'm against it. Yes, Teixeira is an upgrade over Lowell but to me it doesn't improve the lineup so drastically that it warrants losing the top two prospects. Theo knows that and perhaps he moves Ellsbury and a pitching prospect one rung down from Buchholz, in which case I guess I might warm up to the idea a little.
Now, if replacing Lowell with Teixeira does not drastically improve the offense what spot in the order could use a major reworking? Right field. Ah, Jermain Dye. But my word, Dye has a .288 OBP and at 33 with that smashed up leg of his I worry about him in Fenway's spacious right field. As much of a disaster as Drew has been at the plate he plays a fine right field and his .354 OBP is far superior to Dye.
Wigginton is an interesting option because it give them a much better right handed bat off the bench and would offer them nice flexibility at first and third in the very likely event that Lowell or Youkilis need to be pinch run for in important spots. Essentially Wigginton is a much better Hinske minus the outfield ability.
Speaking of that fourth outfielder, they might be looking at Bobby Kielty. Why not just call up Gabe Kapler?
Lowell is old, Andy LaRoche is young. That's neat. Still, we're in first place, I'm more interested in this season as we approach the trade deadline.
In closing, I see nothing that really excites me in the rumor mill right now. To me the biggest needs are a strong-fielding fourth outfielder, a pinch hit option not named Wiliy Mo or Cora and lefty in the pen not named Javier Lopez. I guess Wigginton could fill one hole and my hope remains that Ellsbury fills another.
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12 comments:
I'm ok staying put. My philosophy is this: 1. They are in the running this year, and no acquisition out there is a guaranteed improvement. 2. I like how the farm system is actually good now (remember how it was in the 1990s?), and I feel confident that with the farm system and the high payroll the Sox will be competitive for years to come. I don't need a guarantee of a World Series this year to be happy, I just need the chance to be in the running each year to keep me interested. Anyways, so much of the playoffs is luck adn hot streaks, so I say stay put and roll the dice in October.
Agreed on all points, save for the small tweaks I have in mind--a pinch hit bat, one more arm for the pen.
I agree with Rafe. We're in a good position. No need to deal away anything major.
yep, one more vote for staying pat. The "upgrades" out there are barely upgrades at all... (JD Drew and that f'ing contract notwithstanding)
yeah, it's a strange situation with the only spot we'd all like to upgrade currently filled by the only guy on the roster who would be 100% impossible to trade.
I wouldn't cry if they traded Wily Mo, actually. But I'm not clamoring for it.
A lot of talk about that, trading Wily Mo. I'm not for trading him. I am for finding someone to take over his current role for the current season.
Have we ever gotten a clear explanation for the rationale behind the Drew signing, specifically why they paid him so over the market rate he would have gotten elsewhere?
Well, I think the clearest explanation is that Theo really likes him and he seemed to be somewhat desperate for a #5 hitter. As far as the value of the contract goes, their is no reasonable explanation given his injury history and age. The long delay in making the contract official would seem to tell us that Theo was somewhat surprised by Drew's poor results in the physical, which baffles me--any baseball knows his back and knees and hamstrings are nearly shot.
That said, I kind of like what he offers and if (big if) he is able to stay healthy for any length of time I think he could put up fine numbers--not good enough to justify to deal, but whatever, it ain't my money.
I think Drew may be another example of how drastically different the talent levels in the AL and NL are at the moment.
Could be, but then he has driven in 100 runs only once in his career. It is not as though he was tearing up the NL. Not enough to warrant that contract. At 31, with the injuries, it was a major miscalculation by any standard. I do like his approach at the plate, he's a patient hitter. The lack of power is the most troubling factor, when you pay a guy that much you except him to drive in runs and hit it out of the park. In 2005 he hit 15 in 72 games, this season he has 6 in 87. One hopes he is struggling to adjust to hitting at Fenway (he's GOT to learn to use the monster more, he's hitting .252 at home, by far the lowest of all the regulars--sadly that .252 is actually higher than his season average of .247, so it seems I look for excuses and come up empty) and perhaps next year he will be more like the 25 home run, 100 RBI guy he should be in this lineup. But those injuries, I fear they will only get worse.
If JD had put up THESE numbers on the Red Sox, he'd have several 100 RBI seasons:
.242 .340 .424
.295 .401 .479
.323 .414 .613
.252 .349 .429
.289 .374 .512
.305 .436 .569
.286 .412 .520
.283 .393 .498
That's pretty good. Not superstar good, but far above average. If he was doing anything close to that, which I expected him to do, he'd be a good addition. There's something about the AL though, or this season in particular, that's wreaking havoc on him. Hopefully he has a Beltran-like resurgence next year. Or, like, tomorrow.
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