MVN - A Boston Red Sox blog | Analyzing the Olde Towne Team since 2003
Fire Brand of the American League
Jacoby sees the cash! - Evan Brunell (MVN)
Friday Night Roundup
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- It’s official: Mike Timlin is coming back. Timlin will return on a one-year deal worth around $3 million.
- Scott Boras is already showing Jacoby the dollars. He signed autographs today at F.Y.E. store at 411 Washington Street (Boston) where his autograph ran a minimum of $125.
- Spring training schedule out. Games are 22, down from 30 because of the Japan trip that will occur.
- CENTER FIELD has some Christmas carols for us. Excerpts:
O Papelbon, O Papelbon, Thy fastball does amaze us.
O Papelbon, O Papelbon, To new heights does it raise us.
When it’s hard and letter-high, It hums in tight and buzzes by.
O Papelbon, O Papelbon, Thy fastball does amaze us.Hey Theo I got something to tell ya, about a certain trade with Minnesota,
Yeah Johan he’s the man, and to get him do whatever you can.
But there’s just one player that just cant go, and I’ll give you one hint he’s a Navajo. - Curt Schilling pimps John McCain.
- Soxaholix speaks the truth: “If you get to close, the hot stove can burn ya.” He’s also happy that there is now a legal absinthe being sold in America. (Don’t all of you run to the liquor store, now!)
- The Mitchell Report will be published shortly. Is anyone else starting to not care?
- So much for the ‘Curt Schilling rule.’ The BBWAA rescinded its resolution that it won’t vote for anyone that has bonuses for winning major awards.
- Barry Bonds plead not guilty to perjury. In other news, I put my pants on today.
- We’ll find out tonight if Eric Gagne accepts arbitration or not. Stay tuned…
- Want to win a free Howie Long football or $100 gift card? Leave a comment in this very post about a move you want the Red Sox to make this off-season.
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Curt Schilling, Eric Gagne, Mike Timlin, Jonathan Papelbon, Jacoby Ellsbury, Evan Brunell.
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41 Responses to “Friday Night Roundup”
December 7th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Anyone else hoping Gagne accepts arbitration? He can’t possibly be any worse, and there is plenty of upside.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Not me brah, not me. He was a disaster this year, why would we think he won’t be a disaster this year?
Gagne, go to the NL so I never have you see you suck again. Thanks.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
One other thing, if he does accept arbitration, what’s stopping us from then shipping him to Texas for a prospect?
I might be part of a small minority, but I think Gagne will bounce back.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
The absinthe doesn’t have any of the chemical which is supposed to give the drink hallucinogenic qualities. Take it from me, absinthe tastes like it was brewed in satan’s ass crack so if you’re not going to see a fairy there really isn’t that much point in drinking it.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Okay Bob, whatever you say buddy.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Actually, Bob, reports are that that chemical DOESN’T give it those qualities. Check out the article that Soxaholix links to
December 7th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
If that’s true I stand corrected
December 7th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
http://modernrooters.blogspot.com/
Decent article on Lester’s ability and future.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
What little lucidity is contained within the comments threads are clearly going out the window as the offseason deepens. This should be great around January.
Loving it. As for Lester, love the guy, but I just don’t see him getting it done. Game 4 was great, but I don’t see him ever becoming a #2 or a #3 for us. Trade him while we can.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
KNBR reports that the Rangers — unwilling to offer more than a one-year deal — have dropped out of the Eric Gagne market, leaving him with few free agent suitors. A source close to the situation said “Gagne is probably either going to accept arbitration from the Red Sox, or sign a two-year deal with another team, maybe Milwaukee or San Francisco.”
December 7th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
The best thing Gagne could possibly do is get me that giftcard.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Gagne will probably go back to the N.L. and do well again, but he will never be the dominant closer of old.
Santana will either end up with Seattle or the NYY (if they are able to pull off some other deals and dump salary). Cashman actually said they pulled out of the negotiations because of the money required to sign Santana. When did the Yankees suddenly become concerned about how much they spend on a player. It’s completely ludicrous, they are by far the richest team in sports.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
there is a part of me that has an enormous amount of respect for Jon Lester and would love to see him take his shot in the big leagues in a Boston uniform … give the kid his chance here and let him see if he can’t figure it out and become what he was projected to be before he went down with cancer … he’d be one of the most beloved pitchers in Boston if he worked it out and became a maintstay in our rotation for years (not unlike Wakefield)
but at the same time it is a huge risk … a pitcher with control problems is not much of a pitcher at all and you don’t really know if he can ever figure that out … plus if you can make him the center piece of a deal for the best lefty in the game … Id far rather have the sure thing than the big risk … but if that falls thru I would love to see the guy give it his all here in Boston
but of course that’d be “sentimental” and there isnt much room in baseball for that sorta thing is there?
December 7th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Santana will be a Red Sock. You heard it from me..
December 8th, 2007 at 12:47 am
Here’s some food for thought, and part of the reason why I didn’t want us to sign that Lowell contract. Inge is now completely expendable from Detroit, despite being the 2nd best defensive player at the position. Sure he can’t hit worth a damn, but he managed 6 WARP for $6m last season. If the Tigers at 1/3rd or 1/2 of that, that would be a hell of a bargain compared to what we’ll get from Lowell.
He has a .333 .419 .505 .924 line against lefties, and that’s playing at an extreme pitcher’s park. Some sort of an Edwin Encarnacion or Mike Lamb and Inge platoon would’ve been a hell of a lot more cost effective. Probably wouldn’t be much worse than the line we’re getting as it is.
December 8th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Gagne declined the Sox’s arbitration offer, though apparently he’s not averse to returning to Boston.
According to KNBR, “Gagne will exhaust his closing options first, and then look for setup opportunities if necessary. He is believed to be looking for a two-plus year deal worth $4-5 million per season.”
December 8th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Any idea what bench players the Sox might be looking at?
December 8th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Good to hear Gagne declined. I want that draft pick.
Can’t we keep politics out of here? That just makes me dislike Curt Schilling even more.
Mike Lamb would be great for the bench but he might be too expensive at a 2 year deal. He’s so underrated.
December 8th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Coco’s not willing to be a 4th OF-er, so I think that he’ll be traded, and Kielty will stay. Lamb would be great, but I agree with Zach, he’s probably too expensive.
Maybe Brandon Moss, Lowrie (if not traded), and/or Chris Carter (defense notwithstanding). Also remember that we signed Jon Van Every, though I’m guessing he’ll be at AAA.
Other than that — unless we trade for someone — maybe Olmedo Saenz, Ryan Klesko, or…Jeff Cirillo?
December 8th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
The one thing though, about trading Coco is that it eliminates us from getting Santana. We’ll no longer have a CF-er to trade, and the only way we’ll be able to get Johan is to deal Buchholz.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
I HATE MLB.COM. I’m waiting in this god damn waiting room for 10 HOURS NONSTOP to get in. I finally make it in, select 8 tickets (all SRO, because everything decent is already gone), and the garbage site cancels out on me as I try to finalize it.
Thanks, jackasses. Great job as usual.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Bummer, Sean. I agree, their interface stinks.
BTW, I wonder if Trot would be interested in coming back as a 4th outfielder(?) A Trot-Kielty outfield bench wouldn’t be bad, plus one more utility infielder, and a catcher.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Trot is cooked. I’d much rather see Moss in that role.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Moss and Cora seem like locks to be on our bench. Moss can play both corner OF spots and first, while Cora is our best option for utility infielder. So, with all likelihood, that leaves another OFer and backup catcher. Best guess is Kielty/Wilkerson and they trade for a catcher.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Catcher who can handle Wake…erm, that’s risky. (See: Doug Mirabelli for Cla Meredith and Josh Bard.)
I wonder if Kottaras could do it. If not, we might just be better off with Kevin Cash, even though he can’t hit.
December 8th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
$125 autographs?
I changed my mind, he can go join Roger in Texas.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:59 am
KNBR said this earlier today, but I wanted to confirm it with another source before posting it here ( to clear up ambiguity issues after I completely misunderstood their “framework is done” comment). La Velle E. Neal of the Minneapolis Star Tribune helped out, so…
“The Red Sox and Twins have had productive discussions about Johan Santana in the past 36 hours, apparently ending the stalemate that axed the talks during the Winter Meetings. No deal is close, but the latest reports clearly reaffirm Boston as the likely landing spot for Santana, if he is traded.”
Neal says that the Twins “have had a lot of good dialogue lately with the Red Sox.”
Meanwhile, Eric Gagne is going to get $10 million for one year from the Brewers — pending a physical. Apparently he was set to accept arbitration until Milwaukee’s offer came in on Thursday. I guess we’ll take the draft pick.
BTW, after catching up on my sleep (14 hours last night!), I actually feel sleepier than I did before. I’d honest-to-God trade Buchholz for a Julio Lugo clone if I didn’t have to do these damn college apps. OK, maybe not…
December 9th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Only two comments:
Cya Eric, don’t let the door hit you on the way out and thanks for bringing us a draft pick.
Lester. At best, at best a #3 starter, probably a #4. If the Twins will have him, I wouldn’t think twice about dealing him in a trade for Santana.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
“I completely misunderstood their “framework is done” comment”
Seems like there’s alot of that going around. I thought we were suppose to have Santana by now?
Fire, ready , aim. Nice to speculate but making declarations without the facts….not good
December 9th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Why don’t you go away? Dan heard a report on the radio from a radio station that, from what I can gather, throws out rumors as near facts and they turned out to be wrong. Don’t you have better things to do than criticize him?
December 9th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Speaking of which, anyone want to explain the Yankees pursuit of LaTroy Hawkins to me? The guy is downright awful against the AL East. Can’t say I mind, but…
December 9th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Yeah, I don’t get that one. I’m glad not just because it gives them a sucky reliever but because I was afraid we’d sign him.
December 9th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
This is completely off topic, but i want to mention it here. I don’t know if you guys remember bashing me for saying that Tek is an awful game caller, but Keith Law basically did that today on ESPNews. He essentially blaming Tek for Gagnes struggles. He is a serious problem and it makes me sick that we are in talks about giving him an extension. He does NOTHING good.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Who knows Dave, guess i’ve never really thought about it. He has Mystical Leadership Qualities, so I guess I don’t question it. I know Beckett pitched better with Dougie last year.
Got 4 more games, bringing my total to 8. Still 7 behind of last year’s 15 Fenway games, but i’ll take it.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Dave:
I’ve been curious about that for awhile. He’s inching closer to sub-average at the plate, so this is significant problem. But do we really have any other desirable options after next season other than Kottaras (who isn’t a good hitter)?
December 9th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Tek is a good play-caller, the one complaint I have is that he tends to put down a few too many fastballs, but honestly blaming Tek for Gagne’s struggles is stupid. I watched almost every game last season and what was obvious when Gagne pitched was that even when he used his off-speed stuff he was ineffective. If fact from my memory his effectiveness had less to do with the pitch selection and more to do with the pressure of the situation.
Tek is valuable for the type of influence that he as on pitchers in terms of preparation. He’s known for studying the tendencies of hitters and learning their weaknesses which encourages pitchers, especially young ones to learn to do their homework.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
In other news, the Red Sox are hoping that after Hansen has his sleep-apnea corrective surgery he will be alot less fatigued and thus more effective. That’s an interesting one.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
I think I’m sleeping less than Hansen was. Can I get that surgery too, Theo?
Anyhow, it’d be great if we could get Hansen back on the right track…if only so that we could then trade him for someone decent.
I wish we could pry Jeff Clement away from the Mariners, but I don’t see it happening.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I think saying ‘tek is a bad pitch caller is just as big an overreaction as saying he’s great at it. I think he’s outstanding at both plate blocking and pitch blocking and he was fifth in baseball among catchers in VORP. I’m not saying he hasn’t faded from the ‘03/’04 version of himself but he’s still a pretty good all around catcher when compared to the rest of the dreck around the game.
December 10th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Kevin Mench was dfa’d by Milwaukee..could be a 4th outfielder if Kielty can’t wait out the Coco situation…hits lefties very well.
December 10th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Good find, Jared. I agree; Mench seems like a decent fit for the Sox, if Kielty is unwilling to wait. Of course, Mench might also demand more money…
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