2009 Red Sox Prospects
November 15, 2009 by Mike · Leave a Comment
From Baseball Prospectus:
Five-Star Prospects
1. Ryan Westmoreland, CF
2. Casey Kelly RHP/SS
Four-Star Prospects
3. Josh Reddick, OF
4. Ryan Kalish, OF
Three-Star Prospects
5. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
6. Jose Iglesias, SS
7. Junichi Tazawa, RHP
8. Michael Bowden, RHP
9. Lars Anderson, 1B
10. Reymond Fuentes, CF
11. Derrik Gibson, 2B/SS
Four More:
12. David Renfroe, RHP/SS: Like Kelly, he’s another big-bonus, two-way star, but Renfroe will begin his career as an infielder, and he projects as a prototypical third baseman due to his size, power potential, and arm.
13. Alex Wilson, RHP: He had a 0.50 ERA in New York-Penn League while giving up just 10 hits in 36 innings, but he’s already 23, so he should dominate. Still, his fastball/slider combo is impressive.
14. Stolmy Pimentel, RHP: The young Dominican righty still has plus command and plenty of projection, but performances have been so-so.
15. Che-Hsuan Lin, LF: Lin’s tools still impress, his defense remains outstanding, his numbers… not so much, but Red Sox officials remain very high on him.
1. Ryan Westmoreland, CF
DOB: 04/27/90
Height/Weight:6-2/195
Bats/Throws: L/R
Drafted/Signed:5th round, 2008, Portsmouth HS (RI)
2009 Stats: .296/.401/.484 at Short-season (60 G)
Last Year’s Ranking: 5
Year in Review: The high-profile over-slot draftee from 2008 did not disappoint in his pro debut.
The Good: One scout described Westmoreland as having “the tools of a top-five high school pick, with the advanced skills of a college player.” Supremely athletic, Westmoreland has average power with projection for more, as well as a keen understanding of the strike zone and a silky smooth swing with some natural lift to it. He’s an outstanding runner with instincts, as indicated by his 19 stolen bases in 60 games for the Spinners without getting caught.
The Bad: Westmoreland had shoulder surgery after signing, and he played in the field for only eight games last year. He had a plus arm in high school, but it’s not completely back yet. His season ended early when he broke his collarbone, so there are some minor concerns about his health record so far. Some of the more advanced left-handers of the New York-Penn League gave him trouble with good breaking balls.
Ephemera: Westmoreland knew how to get things started at Lowell, batting .423/.500/.635 in his first plate appearances over 60 games.
Perfect World Projection: Westmoreland could be the kind of player people thought Grady Sizemore would become.
Path to the Big Leagues: Jacoby Ellsbury is well established in Boston, but it’s too early to worry about that.
Timetable: Westmoreland will make a highly anticipated full-season debut in 2010, beginning the year at Low-A Greenville.
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Sox Get LaRoche
July 22, 2009 by SOS · Leave a Comment
The Red Sox, in an effort to boost their dead offense traded today for Andy LaRoche. They traded two lower level minor players (not top tier prospects) to the Pirates for LaRoche. Over the past 4 seasons LaRoche has hit at least 20HR’s and had 78RBI’s. I am assuming this move is to bolster the Sox lineup if Ortiz/Lowell have any second half issues. Last year, the brother of LaRoche (Andy) was traded to the Pirates in the Manny trade. More on the trade from the Globe’s Tony Maz:
If you’re wondering what leftanded first baseman Adam LaRoche will bring to the Red Sox, here’s an assessment from a respected, longtime major league evaluator:
“I like the move for the Red Sox. … He’s real streaky [offensively] and an outstanding defender. … Most of his bad at-bats come against lefthanded pitching … He’s a rhythm hitter. If he’s a little off, he can look real ugly. If he’s right, he can get real hot. There’s no in-between with him. … He plays the game with a very easy pace. Sometimes people criticize that because it can look lackadaisical. … He’s not just a pull guy. He can go all over the field. There’s ability there. You can’t put up 25 [home runs] and 75 [RBI] every year and not have something.’’
As most everyone knows at this point, the Red Sox needed a lefthanded bat that could provide them with some thump from the middle of the lineup, whether it be from the No. 5 or No. 6 spot. In their last 21 games against righthanded pitching, the Red Sox are batting .221 with a .679 OPS. David Ortiz’s overall decline, coupled with J.D. Drew’s sudden and worrisome ineffectiveness — he’s batting .236 now — left the Red Sox especially vulnerable against righthanders.
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Teixeira: Loose Lips Hurt Red Sox Again
Mark Teixeira said in an interview that the Red Sox leaking public info during their negotiations hurt them this past off season. Extra Bases from the Globe Reports:
Teixeira was asked specifically if the public nature of the Red Sox negotiations last winter bothered him. “It did, it did,” replied Teixeira. “And I think in the end, it probably worked against them a little bit, because everyone thought the Red Sox were [my] No. 1, but in reality, the Yankees were gonna be the team, like I said all along, if all things were equal, the Yankees were the place that I wanted to go. It made the most sense for my family. It made the most sense for me and my career and where I wanted to go. Being a Yankee and wearing the pinstripes into the new Yankee Stadium, it doesn’t get any better than that. They had a leg up all along.”
Well done again Larry Luccino and John Henry, they cry foul about everything else but never let Theo do his thing. Those two dinks should stay out of the public eye and stop making comments on anything and everything. The Red Sox already let Super Hobbit Rat Charles Steinberg go, but they are still too public when they do not need to be. I don’t think that Tex was worth that contract but it isn’t my money. Since losing out on Teixeira the Red Sox did not pick up another bat, so they must have had concerns about Drew, Lowell & Ortiz if they went that hard after the free-agent slugger. The Sox should have plenty of money to play with come the trading deadline.
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Julio Lugo might have tear in knee
March 14, 2009 by SOS · Leave a Comment
Julio Lugo might have a tear in his meniscus which could cost him more than a month especially if he needs it to be operated on. Lugo, left last nights spring training game against he Yankees. If Lugo starts the season on the DL then Nick Green might make the roster. More from Boston.com”
The early word from manager Terry Francona was that Lugo might have a meniscus tear. According to a team source, Lugo will return to Boston tomorrow and could have arthroscopic surgery as early as Tuesday; such a procedure, said the source, would sideline Lugo for a month.
“I’m worried,” Lugo said shortly after 8 a.m. “Every time you have something hurt you’re worried, because I know I’m the type when something bothers me, when I say something, I’m in pain. Otherwise I’m not going to complain [about] pain. If you see me coming out, I’m hurting.”
He later added, “It is disappointing. But at the same time, things happen for a reason. God works his magic. That’s the only way I see it. Something happens, you can’t explain why it happens, but it happens. I’ve been blessed in my life, all the good things I got.”
UPDATE: Lugo will have arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to determine the severity of the injury. In other news, the Red Sox officially announced the signing of Jon Lester.
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Jonathan Robert Papelbon calls Manny a “Cancer”
March 12, 2009 by SOS · Leave a Comment
In an interview with “Esquire” Magazine Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon called Manny Ramirez a “cancer” for forcing his way out of town last year. Just when you thought you could put the Manny saga behind the Red Sox, Curt Schilling Jr. has to run his mouth. Now the Red Sox will have to continue to talk about Manny again. Just move on from this, please, I’m begging you. More from the interview with Papelbon:
“It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening,” Papelbon said, according to the magazine. “Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It [stunk], but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us.”
“He was on a different train!” Papelbon said of Ramirez, according to Esquire. “And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him. That comes from the manager, and it comes from guys likeJason Varitek and Tim Wakefield and David Ortiz. Nobody is ever going to be allowed to do that.”
“So Manny was tough for us,” Papelbon added, according to the story. “You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man!”
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This is why Gammons is the Best
March 9, 2009 by SOS · Leave a Comment
Peter Gammons wrote this in his blog today. Take a look at what the Red Sox are doing in comparsion to the Yankees. Very scary if you look at just the numbers.
In the offseason a year ago, Lester’s name came up in discussions about a deal with the Twins for Johan Santana. At the 2007 winter meetings, Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell stood up in an organizational meeting and predicted Lester would be the equal of Santana during the next five years.
“You just don’t find people and talent like Lester, especially that young,” Farrell said.
Phrases such as the following are what define Lester: “When people talk about competing, that isn’t enough. I don’t want to just compete, I want to win. All my physical and mental preparation is about winning.”
So as the Red Sox prepare to sign Lester for five years and $30 million, they will pay Beckett, Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, John Smoltz, Brad Penny and Clay Buchholz less than $36 million this season. Compare that figure with what the New York Yankees are paying two of their pitchers. If you include two $3 million bonuses CC Sabathia will receive during the 2009 season, Sabathia and A.J. Burnett will make $36.5 million. Boston has 2009 obligations to Beckett, Lester and Matsuzaka for $21 million.
Boston’s bullpen of Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez will make approximately $11.7 million in 2009. And that doesn’t include prospect Daniel Bard, who struck out the side Sunday against the American League-champion Tampa Bay Rays while throwing 100 mph. Meanwhile, Cincinnati Reds closer Francisco Cordero will make $12 million in 2009.
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Red Sox Extend Jon Lester
Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Red Sox have extended Jon Lester for 5 years at $30 Million with a team option for $13 million in 2014. Lester was the Red Sox most consistent starter last year and pitched a no-hitter. Lester is only 25 years old and I think this is a very smart signing for the Red Sox. My only worry is that Josh Beckett’s contract/extension becomes an issue before the season ends. Lester won 16 games in ‘08 and should only continue to improve going forward. The Sox are trying to ensure the future success of the franchise by signing the young stars to team friendly extensions.
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Hall of Fame…..Who Cares?
March 2, 2009 by SOS · Leave a Comment
By DanTeeMan
As an ardent Red Sox fan for over 30 years, it may shock some of my fellow pinstripe pimps that the recent A-Rod allegations actually bring no joy to Mud-ville…er Fenway. Its only a matter of time before one of our beloved Old Towne Team members appear holding a syringe or are associated with with a south of the border pharmaceutical rep selling muscles from the backseat of their Chrysler Cordova. We are all just waiting for that proverbial syringe to drop. So that brings up the point of the Hall of Fame from this point on. How can we really know when the cheating commenced, and when it stopped? If the Russian women swimmers were using steroids in the 70’s, than how do we know Rollie Fingers wasn’t dipping his waxed mustache in steriod laced vaseline? Or Rod Carew wasn’t chewing on juiced chaw? How can we be certain that baseball is clean now? There is no reliable test for HGH, so why would any player be hesitant to use it until there is one. The answers are easy…We can’t, and they won’t… So I see no need to induct any further members into this hallowed “Hall of Fame”. We can’t be certain who to include or exclude so lets just exclude everyone. When was the last time you had a discussion of who belonged in the hall of fame with one of your buddies over a cold lager? Could you name more than 15 players in the HOF? Have you ever visited the HOF? These answers to these questions are probably “never”,”no”, and “no” for most fans. They simply don’t care. The only people who care about the HOF are sportswriters trying to fill up collumns and airspace on sports radio, during the deadest months of the sports year..February and March….I say tear it down and put up a GNC for A-Rod to buy his supplements in so he doesn’t have to have his cousin buy them in the Domincan Republic. Think of the gas money he will save?
Question comments? DanTeeMan@gmail.com
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“Dinner for One” thinking about a return
America’s least favorite overweight loud mouth, not named Rush Limbaugh, is thinking about pitching in 2009. Schilling said this on ESPN radio:
But if Curt Schilling returns to pitch this season in the major leagues, a comeback likely could involve the American League-champion Tampa Bay Rays or Chicago Cubs.
“The challenge would be in a place like Tampa Bay or Chicago,” the free agent said Saturday in Orlando, Fla.
Schilling, who sat out the 2008 season after undergoing shoulder surgery, said he hasn’t made a decision on coming back.
Schilling was in Florida attending ESPN The Weekend festivities at Walt Disney World.
“I’m hemming and hawing right now,” he said. “I’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks.”
Schilling put the chances of his return at 20 percent Friday.
“I’m pretty sure I’m not going to, but I’m not positive,” he said, speaking to ESPN Radio’s Erik Kuselias on the “Tirico & Van Pelt” show. “I don’t have to make a decision yet, and I’m just not sure if I want to.”
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry wouldn’t specify whether his team would be interested in Schilling, but he sounded optimistic when discussing the prospect of the 20-year veteran’s return with the Chicago Tribune.
“We’ll always keep our eye on anybody we think can help us,” Hendry told the newspaper. “I have a lot of respect for him. Great pitcher. Great big-game pitcher.”
Schilling, who has a 216-146 career record, declined Friday to say exactly when he would announce his decision.
“I’ll figure it out when I need to figure it out,” he said.
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Do Not Re-Sign Varitek!
January 26, 2009 by Mike · Leave a Comment
I think I might be the only one in this boat, but I do not want the Red Sox to re-sign Jason Varitek unless he is the backup or he gets a non-guaranteed invite to spring training. I cannot stand hearing all the mush heads assigning arbitrary attributes to Varitek that you cannot prove. It aggravates me to no end hearing people call Derek Jeter a “winner” he hasn’t won anything in 8 years or saying that Jose Offerman was the best in baseball going back on pop-ups.
Peter Gammons writes in his blog today:
Scott Boras demonstrated his genius by actually getting his spokesmen to report that he couldn’t take arbitration for Jason Varitek because the Red Sox might have released him, which would never have happened. Period. Yes, Varitek will be 37 in April, and only six catchers have ever caught 100 games in a season at the age of 37, but he’s a huge part of the Red Sox’s pitching staff, can platoon with and mentor whomever the Red Sox acquire, and the last time he was a free agent asked Boras to give the Red Sox every opportunity to re-sign him out of loyalty to the organization. His declining $10 million-$12 million in arbitration meant that the market establishes the price, and that is just what has happened.
Is he really that important to the pitching staff? Would Dice-K & Josh Beckett retire if they couldn’t pitch to Varitek? His OPS has declined so bad over the last three years and he is now at a point that you assume he is going to make an out every single at bat. Giving him one year would be stupid, giving him a second year option that is triggered by games played would be even more ridiculous. The Red Sox have been very good about walking away from players when the time was right: Pedro, Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon. They are letting emotion dictate this decision to resign this stiff. By giving out all this unnecessary money, John Henry will complain that they do not have the resources to take on a contract at the deadline to improve the team.