Now the Sox have added Takashi Saito, on a one year deal with an option? Another low-risk/high-reward Theo move that could help create a truly dominant bullpen – and I say dominant even if Joba ended up in the Yankee pen. You have to wonder if he can stay healthy since he had that oddball “injection” treatment instead of surgery on his elbow but damn – this guy was great with the Dodgers.

I’d still hate to see a trade of one of the young pitchers to get a catcher because there are too many medical questions about Theo’s signings. But what are the odds that all of them crap out? If just two of Penny/Smoltz/Saito return to their prior performance levels, the Sox pitching staff, already pretty good, gets a lot better.

Off-topic. Has anyone seen Pavano’s posted today RE: the past four years.

“When you’re down, you expect your organization to pick you up, not kick you when you’re down,” Pavano said. “I’ve had to pick myself up quite a few times the last four years.”

It’s from here http://tinyurl.com/7np2bc.

Good Ole Carl. What a class act.

I wish I could stay as laid back as you. I definitely agree, but what’s amusing for you generally annoys the crap out of me.
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I’m sure butchie’s a good guy, we just don’t see eye to eye on certain things. It’s nothing personal

“I can’t see how some of these points that are used against Cashman hold water. They don’t hold up to common sense, and they certainly don’t hold up to logic.”

I wish I could stay as laid back as you. I definitely agree, but what’s amusing for you generally annoys the crap out of me.

As for the Bard/Molina comparison, yeah I was wrong. Good pickup on that one OnceIWAYF.

Raf, i feel your pain.
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No pain felt

I’m just amused by the hoops people have to jump through to bash Cashman. Is he the greatest GM out there? Probably not. Is he the worst GM out there? Definitely not.

Not that I take arguments/discussions/opinions here seriously, but I can’t see how some of these points that are used against Cashman hold water. They don’t hold up to common sense, and they certainly don’t hold up to logic.

That’s one thing Theo has consistently done well, put a solid bench together.
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Duquette did a pretty good job of it too.

The comparison to Molina is absurd. In 2006, Bard had an OPS+ of 145 in 100 games. In 2007 it was 107 in 118 games. 2008 was lost to injuries. If he’s healthy I don’t see why he shouldn’t approximate 2006-7, particularly playing at Fenway instead of Petco.

Molina on the other hand has a career OPS+ of 61, and only managed to OPS+ over 76 in short spurts of seasons (102 over 29 games for the Yanks,in 2007, 116 over 15 games for the Angels at the start of his career). Even if Bard regresses to his career OPS+ of 96, that’s a huge improvement over Molina.

Lugo I’d agree on, except that I think he’d produce more than Alex Cora, so he represents an upgrade.

I’d say Baldelli and Kotsay are very good parts of their bench. Bard doesn’t offer anything more than Molina does, and Lugo is so bad that Angel Berroa’s level of production isn’t that far behind. That’s one thing Theo has consistently done well, put a solid bench together.

Hey guys we can argue about roster construction and results all you want, but with yesterday and today’s reports, I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Sox have won the winter when it comes to …

bench construction.

Seriously though, Baldelli, Kotsay, Bard and (presumably) Lugo is a pretty deep bench.

And the more I hear about Smoltz’ rehab (throwing all five pitches now, fastball over 90), the more I think that he could be a big difference-maker this season.

Raf, i feel your pain. There is no common sense used in arguing with butchie. Unless we call Burnett “Burnit” or admit that the Yanks have been continuously run into the ground by Cashman, there will be no common ground.