TwitterThey Should Be Sellers
27 Jul 2012
With the trade deadline fast approaching the Red Sox need to decide whether to be buyers or sellers. Like the Globe’s Nick Cafardo, I think they have no choice but to be sellers. As Cafardo points out, the Red Sox haven’t been to the postseason since 2008 and the roster as configured just isn’t working.
This makes Ben Cherington’s declaration that the Red Sox aren’t giving up so frustrating. This is a sub .500 team and while I don’t think a “blow it up” scenario is necessary, a “shake it up” scenario is necessary.
At all costs, I’d rid myself of Josh Beckett. There isn’t much market for Beckett, so he’d be a swap of bad salaries or they’d have to eat much of his salary, kind of like they did with Youkilis, oh, and Lugo and Renteria and the list goes on.
Also, what roles do Daniel Nava and Ryan Sweeney serve at this point? With Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and Cody Ross penciled in, Nava and Sweeney are spare parts.
Kelly Shopach has performed very nicely but with only a one year deal, serves no purpose. Ryan Lavarnway is a more than capable replacement.
I’d hang onto Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.
As for Crawford, I’d move him in a heartbeat but there really is no imaginable scenario where the Red Sox can move him without eating most if not all of the salary. It’s a shame.
This team is going no where fast and hasn’t show even slightest ability to dominate. Mix it up Ben and show us you have courage.
On another note, where has the OBP gone? The Red Sox are 11th in MLB in OBP with a .325. Starting ss is below .300 as is Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Adrian Gonzalez is at .333, an embarrassingly low number for a player of his calibre. Even more reaso to shake things up.
Jul 27, 2012 @ 13:59:54
How can you be a proponent of selling? We are on the verge of a huge run to get back in it! Lackey might be back before the end!
Seriously, below are my thoughts:
Pitchers – I believe wholeheartedly in the law of averages. If you can move Beckett, fine. I think he will have some good outings again (LOA) and believe there is some value still to be wrung from him. Same concept with Lester of course. Why did the experiment with Morales end? He should be starting this series in NYC.
C- I am not a Varitek lover the way some are. However, I now believe that his impact was huge in calling a game. The pitchers, all of them, seem without confidence and I don’t believe they all lost talent levels. Tek’s pitch calling and reinforcement on location or what have you probably doesn’t exist with Salty. I’m ok with Salty as our current catcher if the pitchers are pitching…
balance of team – I would, in a heart beat, trade Ellsbury today for Cliff Lee. Philly needs to move somebody as half their team is extremely long/bad contracts, especially with the Hammels signing this week. Philly isn’t going anywhere this year (worse than us!) but probably are looking at next year as a good year. Ellsbury would help them and would be more than a half year rental. Lee would help the Sox immediately. He hasn’t been terrible, just his record is.
I’m willing to let Crawford play it out. I don’t know what is still wrong with Gonzo. Pedroia is following in the footsteps of Utely, injuries becoming the norm every year.
I like the future with some of the young guys coming including Middlebrooks.
Valentine won’t last to spring. The owners will jettison him in the offseason.
Rebuilding sucks, some of it is just plain performance issues though.
Jul 27, 2012 @ 23:28:29
BL,
From where I stand, it seems the single most important issue since things went south last August/September is that the pitching imploded. I have to admit I am surprised that Beckett and especially Lester have pitched as poorly as they have for as long as they have. Is the deterioration of the pitching correlsted with a change in catchers?
The Crawford signing was a huge mistake. I didn’t understand it at the time and I still don’t.
Hiring Valentine was another bad move. I could see thinking it might be necessary to let Francona go — it had been a long time (maybe too long) and the players didn’t seem to be responding to him anymore. But I have long wondered if Valentine is playing with a full deck — ever since that time he was managing the Mets, got tossed from a game and appeared on the bench wearing a ridiculous nose-and-moustache mask. And thst ego . . . something is not quite right with him.
Jul 28, 2012 @ 12:26:18
Good question/comment on varitek. He was around last September when all heck broke loose though. Still, his prep was legendary and only served to help things.
There is something wrong with this team. It’s almost as if they are losers. I’m not trying to say they are bad people but rather a collection of players who really don’t care about the outcome. There are obviously a few who do care like pedroia given his comments after last night’s game but there aren’t enough who care.
I might be wrong on that but that is my take. Players not fighting to the very end and making things as consistently difficult for the other team.
Jul 30, 2012 @ 10:12:34
woohoo! picked up a whole game in the standings…wait, don’t trade anybody!