Eddymon

Guys like Youkilis that basically develop out of nowhere kind of scare me. Remember Brian Daubach? I think he parked my car the otehr night.

If we can get Adrian Gonzalez, use Youk to bring in Felix, then we could sign Tejada to play third and resign Alex Gonzalez for shortstop. That would make for a nice infield. Then either resign Bay or go to plan B which could include Holiday, or whomever. Xavier Nady could be an interesting pick up as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery, he may not be ready to play until May or June, but signing him to a nice incentive laden contract as your 4th outfielder for the final 2/3 of the season.

Another one of those Theo "low cost, high reward" contracts could be with Ben Sheets.

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billy007

Remember Rice? Lynn? Yaz? Evans? Did they develop out of nowhere, too? Kevin Youkilis was scouted and signed based on his ability and potential. So far, he's delivered. Trading him would be stupid.

jrk5150

Sure, as a 4th outfielder, maybe instead of Baldelli - although is Murphy a LH bat? But he wouldn't be anyone's answer for Bay in LF.

Bottom line is that you can't consistently compete for a title with just homegrown players, nor can you compete with nothing but FA's. You need both. You need home grown stars, you need fodder for trade, and you need to be able to sign the occasional key free agent. Frankly, what the Yankees just did is fairly unprecedented - they won after winning the offseason free agent battle. Not sure when that's happened, if ever. It sure never worked for them before.

I mean - let's look at the Red Sox - homegrown at 1b, 2b, CF, traded for C's, 3B, LF, waiver FA signing at DH, FA in RF.

Pitching - trade at 1, homegrown at 2, FA at 3 (Dice), home grown at 4 (Clay), waiver FA pick up at 5 (Wake). Pen - home grown at closer and set up (Bard, Delcarmen), trade (Ramirez, Wagner), homegrown at long (Bowden). Going back, even Schilling was a trade, not a FA.

I'm sorry, but yes, they spend a ton of money, but you can't argue that this team is mercenary or isn't put together in a pretty even fashion. Their money allows them to make trades for guys up there in salary, or resign/extend guys that lower tier teams can't, and it allows them to spend on signing picks and developing their farm system so they can make those trades. It more importantly allows them to eat mistakes like Smoltz, Penny, Rentaria, Lugo, etc. That's where it makes a big difference, frankly.

Fact is, it's amazing that the Red Sox can compete with the Yankees when they are being outspent by 60%. But frankly, that's what we expect, so Theo better deliver...

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jrk5150

IMO the problem with trading Youk is similar to what I felt the problem with letting Damon go was - he's a dirt dog. He plays HARD. He plays hurt. He plays with passion. And he hits in the clutch.

It's nice to have professional guys that don't get too high or too low. But you need glue guys that are TOUGH - and it's even better when they are stars. For years, every time Varitek went out the Red Sox took a nose dive. There was a reason, because he added an element that went beyond the numbers. Youk gives you both.

I'll go back to Texeira. One of the big questions on him was whether he really loved the game. Lately I've been hearing about his intensity, that he plays his ass off, runs everything out. He's turned into a glue guy - and he produces in the clutch.

I don't want to lose Youk - the Red Sox need another Youk, not one less.

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Never mind why.
Fuckin Mondays. Duke, asking "Why Can't I Put Drano in the Toilet??"

Wray

Getting rid of Youkilis would be one of the worst mistakes the Red Sox have made in a while.

Double Down

I don't understand you on that. Guys that develop out of nowhere scare you?? Youkilis was highly regarded almost from the start and while in Pawtucket he was being talked about regularly on WEEI. He was projected to be a solid major leaguer and actually exceeded expectations once he got here. The guy was blessing to this team and he's only gonna get better....nothing to be scared about.


And I think Daubach was a poor example for you to use. He was a SCAB player that was never meant to be an every day player. In 4 seasons with the Sox he managed to hit at least 20 HR's and 70 RBI's in each season, all while playing a limited role. There's really no correlation between Youk and Daubach.

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billy007

I'm not 100% sure about that. Just look at what might've been if the Twins and Expos had been able to keep all of the players they've developed over the years. And I count guys like Dice K, Varitek & Matsui as being as good as home grown as they never played in the majors (least I don't think Varitek made it there) with any other team. I'm not saying the Sox should never sign another free agent, I just think it'd be a lot better if the bulk of the team arrived via Pawtucket. Shit, as much as we like to rag on the Yankees, they still have key guys like Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Petite (even with his "vacation with uncle Roger" in Houston), Matsui, Cano and others that came up through the system (or again, as in Matsui's case, never played on any other MLB club.) But that's a big part of where the money comes in - in addition to being able to outbid everybody by a gross amount for guys like Texiera, Sabbathia and Burnett; they never have to worry about losing a key player that they've developed, either.

I guess I'm also jaded on the whole free agent thing as I've seen way too many of these guys get the big payoff and go almost immediately into the dumper.

Wray

I think in the end that it at the very least evens out. The Yankees have had more free agent and trade busts than successes.

It's Mike

i haven't heard that but if we can find anyone to take on all of Vernon's deal (107 mil over 5 years) they would do that in a second. We'd be happy to eat the remainder of Bradley's deal to do that.

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Wray

Bradley = Cancer

Baseball's version of Terrell Owens.

It's Mike

the Jays would buy him out (the 20 or so mil he's got left i think) to be rid of the albatross that is wells' deal.

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Eddymon

They can afford to do that. Pavano, Kevin Brown and many more.

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Wray

So can the Red Sox, Eddymon. So can the Red Sox.

Now, go back to dumping your team in the tough times.

atomicpunk5150

As I chime in for the first time during this Hot Stove season I have to report that Abreu is staying with the Angels for 2 years, 19 million and a club option for 2012.

Moving on to Red Sox matters...The absolutely cannot trade Youkilis. He is part of the core and his ability at either first or third cannot be replaced by one player out there. I'd like to see them explore a lot of moves especially Adrian Gonzalez then Youkilis can be moved back to 3B and Ortiz and/or Lowell can platoon at DH. Also adding a bat like A-Gon would take some pressure off of Ortiz (kind of like the Yankees adding Teixiera taking the pressure off A-Rod). Jason Bay must be re-signed. I want nothing to do with Holiday because he is a Boras guy and Boras used us last year to get the Yankees interested in Teixeira and that was a scumbag move if ever there was one. I have no respect for Boras (never did anyway) or Teixeira for that little stunt.

One of the more intriguing things this off season will be the Twins ability or inability to extend Joe Mauer. If I'm Theo Epstein I'm watching this very closely (especially if we have no chance of obtaining A-Gon from San Diego). He is the only guy out there that I would be willing to make a ludicrous trade for. If by some act of miracle Boston could trade for him instead of waiting until he's a free agent, we could move V-Mart to 1B and Youk to 3B. Back to reality...

We also need another top line pitcher with tremendous upside and I would hope Boston will try and make a deal to land Felix Hernandez. The question will be, "At what cost?" I would start with offering Dice-K (another Boras client so getting rid him would further minimize our dealings with "The Devil") and some prospects and see if Seattle is willing.

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atomicpunk5150

True enough just keep in mind Wray that the Yankees were first in spending (at approximately 202 million) and the Red Sox were fourth. There is a difference of approximately 80 million dollars in their 2009 payrolls. And the fact that the Red Sox can't ignore the luxury tax and the Yankees can.

That being said any team that wins 103 regular season games deserves to win the World Series.

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