YankeesRedSox.com

ESPN is reporting on their trade deadline special that Eric Gagne is going to either Boston or the Brewers, if he is traded. 

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have traded Joel Piniero to the Cardinals for the infamous "PTBNL"

The Yankees have sent Scott Proctor to LA for Wilson Betemit.

I will update this post as I hear more rumors and expect a full breakdown of the deals after 4pm. 

UPDATE 2:10- Jon Heyman says the Red Sox have made a deal for Gagne, no word on the players involved.

UPDATE 2:50 Buster Olney is reporting that the Red Sox will send Engel Beltre, Kason Gabbard and David Murphy for Gagne. He further states that the Yankees could have had him, but refused to part with either Ian Kennedy or Melky Cabrera.

UPDATE 3:05- There is a surreal scene at Yankee Stadium as members of the Yankees and MLB gather to unveil the 2008 All-Star logo. Lon Trost, Hank Steinbrenner and Randy Levine are there on the field as speeches are being made. Does this mean it's Cashman and Steinbrenner in a bunker somewhere trying to trade Farnsworth? How does this get scheduled one hour before the trading deadline??

UPDATE 3:45- Gagne deal is done according to Olney with the Red Sox guaranteeing $3.6 million in incentives. Jon Heyman is reporting the Dye deal is unlikely. Still very, very quiet on the Yankees side, maybe they spent up all their creative energy on the All-Star logo?

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I hate to break this for you Red Sox Fans, but Andy has selfishly gone on a family vacation which means you are stuck with me for the next 24 hours. Then again, I am quite sure this experience will do us both some good.

Anyway, for the next day I will be dishing info about both teams, Yankees and Red Sox as we approach the non-waiver deadline.

So far, not much is going on. The Red Sox were reportedly close to getting Jermaine Dye but that deal seems to have stalled.

The Yankees and Red Sox are both in Gagne according to Jason Stark, but the Rangers asked for Hughes or Chamberlain from the Yankees which won't happen and Gagne can block a trade to Boston which means the Red Sox would probably have to pony up some cash. (Don't forget Scott Boras is Gagne's agent)

The big movers are clearly the Braves who have reportedly landed Teixeria and could be adding Octavio Dotel (see above) and maybe even Bronson Arroyo

If the Braves make all those moves would that compel the Mets to up the ante on Gagne? What do you think will happen? Feel free to vote below

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Manny Ramirez appears to be back in business.  He has entered one of his prodigious offensive streaks and shame on any of us for counting him out.  Actually, I think all of us counted him out at some point this season, but he is back.  We won't be fooled again.

Manny in July through Thursday's game:  .368/.473/.697 for an OPS of 1.170.

But of continued concern is the lack of production from David Ortiz.  To say he isn't producing isn't entirely fair, he is playing well above league average, but he isn't playing well for David Ortiz.  He has 16 HR's thus far, but should be double that if he wanted to come close to the 54 HR's he hit in 2006.  Essentially, Ortiz is right on target for Avg and OBP, but way off for SLG.

So with the trade deadline upon us, here are a few of the names that have been kicked around.

Ty Wiggington - A utility infielder with pop.  24 HR's in 2006, 15 so far in 2007.  He'd be a nice addition.

Jermaine Dye - Mired in a slump all season.  He has hit 6 HR's since the break, but his average and obp are still way off.  He'd be a welcome addition, but not necessarily better than what Boston has on its roster today.  If the 2006 Dye shows up, that's a much different story.

Mark Teixeira - Solid offensive weapon with .900 OPS potential.  Drawbacks are that he is going to cost a ton in talent to acquire and would force either Youkilis or Lowell to sit.  If the Red Sox are certain they aren't going to re-sign Lowell for 2008, then it might be a deal worth making.

Andy LaRoche - Brother of Adam, LaRoche struggled to start the season in Los Angeles but has hit well at AAA since his demotion.  He has smacked AAA pitching around, but otherwise remains unproven.  Because he is a top prospect, he will be expensive yet won't guarantee any results at the major league level.

Todd Helton - Helton is again without the power he had in the early part of this decade, but he gets on base and hits for a solid average...kind of like Kevin Youkilis.  In fact, check out this 2007 comparison:

Youk - .312/.407/.469, 58 R, 9 HR, 48 RBI

Helt - .303/.429/.458, 47 R, 9 HR, 55 RBI

They are pretty close except Helton makes $16.6m and Youkilis makes $425k.  I say let Helton stay in Colorado.

Reggie Sanders - Too old and injury prone.  He isn't the dynamic player the Red Sox could use.

Operating under the idea that the Red Sox are not willing to sit JD Drew and Julio Lugo (who also has broken out of his slump) because of how much they make, just where are the Red Sox going to improve themselves offensively?  I think it just might be on the bench (hello Wiggington).

So there you have it, I think the Red Sox can improve with a trade for Wiggington.  I suppose if you think the risk/reward is palatable in trading for Andruw Jones (and moving Crisp), then he is one idea too.  But if the Red Sox aren't willing to unload their top prospects, then I think a mid-level upgrade is the only thing we'll see by Tuesday 4pm, a/k/a the non-waiver trade deadline.

BTW, Curt Schilling made his 2nd rehab start tonight and posted this line:

5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO - 66 pitches, 44 strikes.  My guess is 1 more rehab start to build up the pitch count and then back to Boston.  So that would mean his ETA in the Boston rotation is Monday August 6th.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The Red Sox seem incapable of bashing their way to victory.  If their pitching doesn't shut the other team down, then there is isn't a chance of a victory.  The Red Sox of recent were prone to winning slugfests.

What has gone right offensively thus far?

Pedroia, Youkilis, Varitek and Lowell

What hasn't gone right?

Lugo, Crisp, Drew, Ortiz, Ramirez

Certainly Ramirez and Ortiz have been productive, but not to the degree we've become accustom.  Since the All-Star break, Manny has turned it on, so hopefully (never a word we like to use) he has found his way.

Let me illustrate some problems:

Ortiz vs lefties - .250/.352/.327/.679

Ramirez vs righties - .261/338/.416/.754

Lugo couldn't hit against anyone through June (the #s are too sorry to post)

Drew - Has been getting on base (.366) but hasn't produced anything.  His slg% is .385.  Wow, that is far from league average.  Drew's struggles are more apparent when Ortiz and Manny aren't hitting.

Oh yeah, Drew against lefties - .221/.291/.351/.641

Crisp against righties (231 at bats) - .255/.307/.364/.670

The Red Sox, for whatever reason, are not hitting.  The first thing most are inclined to do is to look at Dave Magadan the new hitting coach.  Well, hitting coaches are important, but they aren't everything.  Well, perhaps he has played a role in this, but I think it unfair to lay the blame entirely on him.  Age, injuries, the inability to quickly adapt to playing in Boston, all play a part in these things.

With less than 2 weeks to the trade deadline, I would not be surprised to see a large trade happen.  A few ideas have already been discuss on my last post (comments), but my guess is that Red Sox management might feel compelled to deal a big prospect (Ellsbury, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson, Bates or Bell) to make this offense right.

The most important thing for management to do is identify the real problems versus the temporary problems.  Is Ramirez really done?  Is Ortiz's knee that big a deal?  Is Drew incapable of playing in Boston?  Or is Manny just in one of his funks (ala Manny's struggles at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005), and Ortiz just dealing with a few minor injuries and Drew just getting through the "First Year Red Sox Blues?"

I expect we'll see some movement over the next 2 weeks.

The Red Sox have a 7 game lead on the Yankees.  The Red Sox have been a .500 team since Memorial Day.  Losing 2 of 3 to the Royals is not acceptable.  Time to stir to the pot I think.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

The Red Sox played well in the first 2 months of 2007, but have played .500 ball since June 1st or so.  The reasons for their uninspired play are as follows:

• Julio Lugo
• Curt Schilling's injury
• Lack of production from Ortiz and Ramirez
• J.D. Drew not playing up to expectations
• No pop off the bench

I'm sure there are more reasons and the reasons I did list above aren't weighted equally, they are just pieces to the .500 play puzzle.

Theo Epstein must be hoping beyond hope that Lugo has finally figured things out.  It certainly seems like he has and his confidence is on the upswing.  If Lugo can just hit .270/.340/.400 the rest of the way, he suddenly is not a problem anymore.

To me, the biggest issue is the starting rotation with Curt Schilling not a part of it right now and Julian Tavarez not pitching particularly well (even though people constantly rave about him on the radio).  Tavarez is a nice option, but he is easily figured out after one time through the order.

I titled this post "Trade Needs" but some of the trade deadline solutions might well be in Pawtucket.  Jon Lester seems like a logical upgrade to Tavarez as this point.  Of course there are probably many more things to consider when determining whether to promote Lester.  If Lester is not an option, then perhaps a trade is in order.  While there is Davern Hansack and David Pauley at AAA, I'm not sure turning to them is the right answer.

As for Ortiz and Ramirez, they have both shown life since the all-star break, but it is their combined lack of power that is most concerning.  Ortiz apparently has some right knee issues, but Ramirez has just looked off all season.  His timing is off and his stroke seems inconsistent.  Let's hope the first half vacation is over for both.

Drew is a worry, but with both Drew and Lugo, you kind of had to expect a first year struggle.  Boston does that to some players as does New York.  The bright lights, big city atmosphere is generally a shock to new guys and it takes them a season to adapt.  Let's hope that is true for these 2 otherwise that was about $100m poorly spent.

As for no pop off the bench, only teams with good records can complain about this.  Building a starting 9 is hard enough, but to enjoy power off the bench is generally a luxury.  Wily Mo Pena has proven that he has power, but he doesn't display it in spotty appearances.  It would seem he is best suited as a starter.  With Ramirez, Crisp/Ellsbury and Drew in the OF, he really won't see much time.  It's too bad because I'd love to see him start 120+ games just to see if he is real or not.  He did hit 28 HRs for Cinci one year, so the power is there.

So there you have it, I just uncovered all of the Red Sox problems.  Checks payable to me can be sent easily and frequently thank you very much Red Sox management.

Also, as you can see, we are chipping away at rebuilding what was once a glorious website.  Actually, you all remember our old front page, it kind of looked like we did it with crayons and finger paint.  We hope the new format/style, etc will be much better, but since both Peter and I have other crap to contend with (drinking beer, naps, anger management classes...court ordered), it is a slow moving process.  I hope you stick with us and continue to read.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)