Red Sox Sign Baldelli

A rare muscle disorder left the young, promising outfielder from Rhode Island with crippling fatigue in his legs, limiting him to 28 games last season with the American League champion Rays.

[Grampy]

Adding Baldelli and Smoltz to the roster will require designating two more handicapped parking spots in the players parking lot.

[CTDP]

Smoltz will be back by late may and is a great 2 or 3 in the rotation. certaintly a better than aj burnett.
the baldelli signing has no risk at 500,000 and is at the most a 4th outfielder.
maybe you should be more worried about the geriatric yankees with damon, matsui, rivera, and etc

[Mike]

How is John Smoltz better than AJ Burnett? Burnett's undefeated against the Bosox.

As for Rivera -- look at his year last year. We should all be that "geriatric."

[DirtyWater]

Mike wrote:

How is John Smoltz better than AJ Burnett? Burnett's undefeated against the Bosox.
As for Rivera -- look at his year last year. We should all be that "geriatric."

Burnett was 2-0 in 4 starts against sox last season, the two no dec-s he got lit up.
In all 27 innings 21hits 19r 13bb 25k ERA of over 4.5

Hardly dominating.

[Vt Son]

I hope that Smoltz works out for the Bosox. I watched him for many years and he was an awesome pitcher. Sad to say I have not seen many Braves games the last couple of years as TBS stopped airing them, instead, airing them on a sister station that could not get. Best of luck Boston.

[qualumni]

thank you dirty water. burnett has some of the best stuff in the game(ecspecially during a contract yr) but there i no guarantees that he'll pitch 200 innings. he could get injured as usual and pitch 50 innings or could finally develop into the horse he should be and pitch 230. I'll bet something in the middle.
And rivera had probably his best yr last yr statistically but is getting older and could drop off a little bit. he is still a top 5 closer but the rest of the yanks pen isnt that great at all.
the kotsay signing is great because he can play all 3 OF positions and can fill in admirally at first base. he was pretty damn good in the playoffs and end of the season last yr. sox would have been extremely screwed if they didnt have him and is a great safety net in case baldelli has health issues that linger.

[DirtyWater]

qualumni
Cheshire, CT

I think you got Burnett's ticket, NYY ran into that one wallet open too fast. Burnetts agents did a number on them. Agree with you thier BP isn't that great; I think they are mismanaged and thier young guys are overrated.

Just for fun pull up Burnetts numbers and compare them to the #s of 2007 penny and smoltz. Not much of a diff there.....and the pair are about $75mil cheaper.

I like the Kotsay signing too, though not a great hitter he came up with a few clutch hits last postseason and Mike Lowells hip worries me.

Sox seem to be saving thier coins this year as next year theve got contracts up for Bay, Pap, Beckett, Youk, okajima, and hard decisions to make with Lowell and Papi. You've got to trust Theo though.

[tfs]

if kotsay was such a great hitter he would be starting right ???the sox needed a big bat to help
out ortizzzzz and they picked up ballelli ?
the yanks made alot of off season moves and they were only 5 games behind boston last year at the end--without their number one pitch--starting catcher-and starting centerfielder
with them back plus their free agents moves it seem like the red sox arent even going to try to do anything this year and will sit back and settle into a 3rd place finish in their div.?

[DirtyWater]

c'mon Beckett was playing hurt as was Lowrie Drew Ortiz and Lugo + Lowell were out. Ellsbury was struggling. Tek was getting divorced. The NYY were only that close and the Rays up that much because the Sox let them be for the above reasons.

The Yanks needed an overhaul the Sox needed a tune-up this offseason. The 2009 Sox will win on D and pitching.

[BUB]

this is one that won't be running the bases

[Grampy]

BUB wrote:

this is one that won't be running the bases

He'll be fatigued before he leaves the on deck circle. Maybe getting him a nerf bat to take his warm up swings will help.

[tfs]

teams have hurt players all the time right ?
ortizzzz is on the downside of his career and what the sox needed and didnt get was a slugger to protect him in the batting order.
and talk about over the hill---tek should have never gone to the all star game batting a hefty
.216 at the time --the catcher who wasnt voted onto the team batted over 70 points higher than he was at the time
just because he knows how to handle the YOUNG ARMS
of boston thats no reason to hang on to a aging player--by the way how did he handle bucholz ?

[Chuck Law]

Smoltz will be a bust. Theo took a flier on him, and it will blow up in his face. Rocco? Geez, come on. Hey Henry, spend some dough on better players!!! The team did not get better with these moves.

[Grampy]

Now they signed Brad Penny. Who is advising them on free agents? Doc Pappas?

[qualumni]

Penny, smoltz, rocco, and etc are low risk signings. the sox dont need for all of them to come through this yr like the yankees need all of their signings to have huge impacts. the sox were hit by the injury bug last yr and still were only one game from the world series. give me a break.
And, no tek, wasnt an all star last yr BUT HE WAS VOTED IN BY THE PLAYERS so that is saying something about how he manages a game.
the rivarly is back for sure though. but i am also betting on defense and pitching to lead the way.
And for all of the yankee fans degrading the sox for how they handled buccholz and etc take a look at your own team and look at guys like hughes and a few of the younger players. the red sox right now are the best run team in mlb. in theo we trust.

[tfs]

1st of all im not a yankee fan im a BASEBALL FAN
last i looked the yanks finished 5 games behind the sox last season
they have done alot to improve thier team and were also hit by the injury bug last season--their #1 starter
their starting catcher and centerfielder
if i was tek i would have been ashamed to go to the all star game with such a minor league batting average
in theo we trust ? without any major moves the sox are looking at a solid 3rd place finish !!

[soxfanbrand]

Ok I'm eleven and I'm really excited about the red sox this year.(What red sox fan isn't?) With all the pitchers getting shipped to boston, you gotta wonder what their doing. Well, has anybody heard about the rumors about Hanley going back to boston? The marlins want pitching and young guys. Does Bucholez and Lowrie sound good to anyone? Also with Tek gone they need a good, young catcher. How's Ellsbury and bowden sound? Now I might sound really stubid to some of you, but, then they would have penny and saito still left over. With every trade I just mentioned, I have confidence in the red sox to be first in the AL East and over 100 wins. It's like last years 96 wins modified by 10%. So if the red sox make these moves, look out Yankees and Rays!

[soxfanbrand]

Red Sox lineup would be: Bench:

1.Hanley Ramirez SS Mark Kotsay 1B/OF
2.MVP:Dustin Pedroia 2B Lars Anderson 1B/OF
3.David Ortiz DH Julio Lugo SS/2B
4.Kevin Youkilis 1B Daniel Bard C
5.Jason Bay LF
6.J.D. Drew RF
7.Rocco Baldeli CF
8.Mike Lowell 3B
9.Taylor Teagarden

The whole Hanley thing really gives me chills

[soxfanbrand]

Srry gotta do this again

1.Hanley Ramirez SS
2.MVP:Dustin Pedroia 2B
3.David Ortiz DH
4.Kevin Youkilis 1B
5.Jason Bay LF
6.J.D. Drew RF
7.Rocco Baldeli CF
8.Mike Lowell 3B
9.Taylor Teagarden

The whole Hanley thing really gives me chills

that's better

[soxfanbrand]

And now the pitching rotation:

Starters:
1.Daisuke Matsuzaka
2.Jon Lester
3.Josh Beckett
4.Brad Penny
5.John Smoltz

Bullpen:
6.Jonathan Papelbon CL
7.Takashi Saito SU
8.Hideki Okajima SU
9.Justin Masterson LR
10.Ramon Ramirez LR
11.David Aardsma MR
12.Tim Wakefeild MR