The Official Thread of the 2006 Boston Red Sox

[Terrierbyassociation]

That's why I thought it was a raw deal for Mirabelli, he thought he was finally getting the starting job, and heck, at least with the Red Sox, he went every 5th day for Wake, and then occasionally spelled Varitek besides.

[Westfield Eagle]

What, you'd rather have Mirabelli's .167 AVG and .540 OPS? Let me write that again. .540 OPS.

Mirabelli knew how to catch Wakefield. You can't find many guys who can. Graffanino would have been a more than serviceable 2nd baseman.

[Blackout]

Mirabelli knew how to catch Wakefield. You can't find many guys who can. Graffanino would have been a more than serviceable 2nd baseman.


What!?? Loretta is better defensively, and better with the bat, this makes no sense...

[Scarlet]

What!?? Loretta is better defensively, and better with the bat, this makes no sense...

Yes it does. I think it would be better to have a catcher that can, you know, catch and not give up runs because he can't catch the knuckleball than a second baseman who is just a little better than what we had. Graf did not suck, he was decent. Loretta isn't setting the world on fire to make us all sighing with relief that Graf isn't there anymore. The fact that Josh Bard has a bazillion passed balls already and we're still in April is unsettling.

On a different note, I have tickets to Monday's game and it looks like it's going to rain. If that game gets rained out (Tuesday doesn't look much better) what are they going to do? Especially if they can't play two on Tuesday?

[Haunted]

On a different note, I have tickets to Monday's game and it looks like it's going to rain. If that game gets rained out (Tuesday doesn't look much better) what are they going to do? Especially if they can't play two on Tuesday?
The Yankees will next be in town the 3rd week in May, so they'll probably try to do it there. (22nd, 23rd, 24th)

[Rover]

Right, you need a great third starter to have playoff success. Here are the 3rd starters on some recent championship teams:

Jose Contreras (CHW)
Mark Redman (FLA)
Ramon Ortiz (ANA)
Miguel Batista (ARI)

I'd take Wakefield as my third starter over any of those guys.


Beyond what NUJersey said (which I agree with completely) I'm pretty sure the Marlins rotation was Willis-Beckett-Burnett in '03.

Beyond that, your premise seems to be that the exceptions make the rule. Kinda like you don't need a good QB to win the Super Bowl because Dilfer and Brad Johnson each won one.

I don't want a situation where the team has to have Schilling and Beckett go undefeated in the playoffs. Yeah, it worked out well for Arizona but Beckett isn't Randy Johnson in his prime and Schilling is 5 years older now (and 39 years old). I like Wakefield as much as the next Sox fan, but he's not playoff material anymore. Its a pretty big gamble to expect him to kick *** in the postseason.

[Blackout]

The Yankees will next be in town the 3rd week in May, so they'll probably try to do it there. (22nd, 23rd, 24th)

there is also an off-day in August before a 4 game NYY series. If NY has it off too, I think it would be considered as well (imagine a 5 game series? that would be sick!)

[BC ZamboniGuy Cult]

dont be such a fanboy, you look stupid.


schilling has over 100 wins in philly, yet somehow you have him and his 30 something wins in boston as better than that? lets try to be consistent.

Schilling's going into the Hall with a Pittsburgh Steelers hat.

[BC ZamboniGuy Cult]

Mirabelli knew how to catch Wakefield. You can't find many guys who can. Graffanino would have been a more than serviceable 2nd baseman.

Take a look at how many passed balls Mirabelli had in his first few years catching Wake.

Bard will be fine. I'll take the All-Star second baseman who plays every day.

[BC ZamboniGuy Cult]

Didn't you have a third starter in Arroyo? :p

(This is not meant to be a flame. Honestly. :))

When they traded Arroyo he was the seventh starter.

[CLS]

It’s not even May yet, and we’re talking about playoff rotations?

A lot can happen between now and the playoffs. Clement could reverse form and have a dynamite second half. Beckett’s arm could blow up. Josh Bard might learn to catch the knuckleball. Wakefield could go 16 – 0 for the rest of the season. The Sox could drop out of playoff contention. Dontrelle Willis could come on the market. Papelbon could blow a save and become Calvin Schiraldi. John Lester could have a dynamite year and become the third starter. David Wells could come back in the second half of the season and be lights out. Roger Clemens could decide to pitch for the Red Sox (I’d think he’d be adequate as a third starter :rolleyes: ).

And even if we’re status quo in the middle of the summer, no pitcher capable of being a third starter will come available at the trading deadline?

[Westfield Eagle]

Beyond what NUJersey said (which I agree with completely) I'm pretty sure the Marlins rotation was Willis-Beckett-Pavano in '03.

Beyond that, your premise seems to be that the exceptions make the rule. Kinda like you don't need a good QB to win the Super Bowl because Dilfer and Brad Johnson each won one.

I don't want a situation where the team has to have Schilling and Beckett go undefeated in the playoffs. Yeah, it worked out well for Arizona but Beckett isn't Randy Johnson in his prime and Schilling is 5 years older now (and 39 years old). I like Wakefield as much as the next Sox fan, but he's not playoff material anymore. Its a pretty big gamble to expect him to kick *** in the postseason.

Burnett was out with an injury :)

But I agree with your post.

[Westfield Eagle]

Take a look at how many passed balls Mirabelli had in his first few years catching Wake.

Bard will be fine. I'll take the All-Star second baseman who plays every day.

That's the point. Mirabelli went through those years and Wakefield was comfortable with him. I'd take an all-star 2nd baseman too. Where can we get one?

[JohnB]

Look on the bright side... the Sox pitching is really lights out and with all this depth it's hard to be pessimistic right now. 100 wins here we come!

[Westfield Eagle]

Look on the bright side... the Sox pitching is really lights out and with all this depth it's hard to be pessimistic right now. 100 wins here we come!

Are you a dejected old Expos fan?

[Terrierbyassociation]

Yes it does. I think it would be better to have a catcher that can, you know, catch and not give up runs because he can't catch the knuckleball than a second baseman who is just a little better than what we had. Graf did not suck, he was decent. Loretta isn't setting the world on fire to make us all sighing with relief that Graf isn't there anymore. The fact that Josh Bard has a bazillion passed balls already and we're still in April is unsettling.

On a different note, I have tickets to Monday's game and it looks like it's going to rain. If that game gets rained out (Tuesday doesn't look much better) what are they going to do? Especially if they can't play two on Tuesday?

Dear Red Sox Nation, Loretta > Graff, by a whole heckuva lot.

P.S. It's APRIL! Save your judgments on Loretta at least until the all-star break.

[TerrierByAssociation#2]

Dear Red Sox Nation, Loretta > Graff, by a whole heckuva lot.

P.S. It's APRIL! Save your judgments on Loretta at least until the all-star break.

Mark Loretta isn't really that good. He's just better than a backup catcher.

[Terrierbyassociation]

Mark Loretta isn't really that good. He's just better than a backup catcher.

Shush you, I want old Loretta to show up.

[TerrierByAssociation#2]

Shush you, I want old Loretta to show up.

And I wanted old Bret Boone to show up. Second basemen age fast.

[JohnB]

And I'd like Arroyo's 4-0 2.34 era this season!!!! :mad: But then again... we still got Lenny! :rolleyes:
ARGH:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/reds/2006-04-28-arroyo-feature_x.htm

Arroyo sparks Reds, misses Red Sox

By Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY
Bronson Arroyo's new home near Fenway Park was awaiting, and he was just days away from starting his fourth season with a team he loved in a city he adored.
Then, March 19, his cellphone rang.
On the other end was Boston Red Sox general manager and close friend Theo Epstein, who told Arroyo he had been traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Pena.

The news landed like a right cross to the kisser. Arroyo, 29, didn't want to leave Boston, where he was part of the World Series championship team in 2004 and developed a second career as a rock musician.

Boston was so much his stage and sanctuary that in January, coming off a season of career bests in starts (32), wins (14) and strikeouts (100), Arroyo ignored his agent's advice and agreed to a discount price of $11.25 million over three years to stay in Boston.

After cutting the team a deal, however, the Red Sox cut him loose.

"I told them straight up that I wanted to retire a Red Sox," Arroyo says. "You always hear that baseball is a business, but having something happen to you firsthand is when you really feel it.

"I felt I had done enough for the organization that it would keep me around, and it didn't. It's a wake-up call. Theo told me that it was solely his decision, but he also told me he didn't want to be a GM that day."

The trade has been Boston's loss and Cincinnati's gain. While Pena is hitting .258 with two homers and three RBI in 14 games, Arroyo is 4-0 with a 2.34 ERA and 30 strikeouts in five starts.

The right-hander has been a frontline pitcher for a Reds team desperate for a good starter; last year the Reds led the National League with 820 runs but won only 73 games behind a pitching staff with an NL-worst 5.15 ERA.

"When I joined the Reds, I could tell from the vibe that this team needed some pitching," says Arroyo, who allowed one hit in eight shutout innings in his last start, Wednesday against the Washington Nationals. "So people welcomed me with open arms."

The Reds, picked by most to finish near or at the bottom of the NL Central, have baseball's second-best record at 15-7 entering Friday.

"We wouldn't be where we are without him," Reds manager Jerry Narron says. "He gave everybody in the clubhouse a lift when the trade was made."

Narron was the Red Sox bench coach in 2003 when Arroyo was summoned from Class AAA Pawtucket (R.I.) after throwing a perfect game Aug. 10. He pitched his way onto the postseason roster.

"You could tell he was an outstanding competitor and he had no fear," Narron says. "He's been that way here, too."

Arroyo, something of a free spirit, also has been a big hit in the clubhouse. His long, streaked-blond hair and rail-thin, 6-5, 190-pound frame provided immediate ribbing material. He also is the only guy on the Reds with an album.

"He's been great," reliever Kent Mercker says. "As soon as we got him, our karaoke team got a lot better. He loves music; he loves baseball. He's a young kid, has a really good time, has an unbelievable curveball, he has cool hair. What else can you ask?

"He's the perfect teammate."

Mercker likes what he sees in Arroyo on the field, too.

"He will throw you anything from 66 to 92 (mph), and it comes from five arm angles," Mercker says. "Hitters can't get comfortable, so I think he'll have the advantage on hitters no matter how many times they see him. He won in the AL East, so he can pitch anywhere. And he doesn't face the DH anymore.

"He has a lot of weapons, and the more weapons you bring to a fight, the better chance you have."

It's those confrontations on the mound, Arroyo says, that have tempered ill will about the trade.

"I enjoy the game of baseball and I enjoy competing, and being on a team that is looking at an uphill battle to win this division, that in and of itself has helped me get over the trade," Arroyo says. "We're picked to run neck-and-neck for last place here.

"Well, it's a challenge to prove people wrong, and that's what we're going to do."

Realistic? Amazing things have happened before, like Arroyo hitting home runs in his first two starts with the Reds, both coming off the Chicago Cubs' Glendon Rusch.

He was 4-for-55 (.073) with 33 strikeouts and no homers going into this year, his last hit coming in 2001.

Yet while all appears well for Arroyo in Cincinnati, Boston is still on his mind.

"Most days I'm over being traded," Arroyo says. "When I throw on the TV and see those guys, it still bugs me some. Theo and I are still cool. I realize he had to make decisions based on what he thought was right. I don't have any hard feelings toward him.

"I loved playing in Boston so much that being traded doesn't diminish or tarnish the feelings I had for playing in that uniform. And everything here is good right now.

"The thing I miss is the Boston buzz of having fans who want to kill for a win every single night. I'm hoping that if we win enough games we can create that type of buzz in Cincinnati."

Posted 4/28/2006 5:49 AM ET
Updated 4/28/2006 5:51 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints | Subscribe to stories like this