» Boston Red Sox

Wowzer. 3-4 years ago, I thought the Braves and Mets would never trade with each other again in the history of baseball. I thought only the Red Sox and Yankees were less likely to make a deal – a now it’s Phillies and Mets of course. Interesting deal! The potential out of Jeff Francoeur I like a lot more than the injury potential of Ryan Church. Jeff Francoeur is a great right-fielder, fairly healthy, and young enough where he can improve – ten-fold from how he’s performing now. He’s only 25 and went back to back years with 100+ rbis in 2006 and 2007. He hit for average in 2007, but I don’t know if he’ll ever really do that again, and if its his mind making him perform bad in Atlanta…well, I don’t think that will get much better in New York, but again, I still like the deal. It’s a small shakeup. The Mets need to do a lot more, but they won’t with the market and asking prices. So lets hope this and JJ Putz, Billy Wanger (I mean Wagner, but I figured i’d leave the mispelling), and Carlos Delgado can help the team enough in August and the same for Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes when they get healthy (as well as John Maine & Oliver Perez who already had the epitomic Oliver Perez-like start). And most importantly, the Mets need the help of the Phillies, that they have somewhat received early season until now, but may not any longer.

The Baltimore Orioles. A good offensive fantasy baseball team. But that’s about it, unfortunately. They’re a Pitching Staff and a Bullpen away from a playoff spot – and 3 top MLB teams as well (Red Sox, Yankees, Rays -probably respectively). You have to absolutely love their lineup (i’ll include Matt Wieters of course over Gregg Zaun):

1-Brian Roberts/2b: According to ESPN Player Rater (http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrater?) he’s the 3rd best 2b as of now. Probably more like the 5th or 6th best, but still top notch in r;sb;295+avg

2-Adam Jones/cf: ranked 10th overall by ESPN Player Rater. Enough said. HR/SB + R/RBI + 315+Avg?!

3-Nick Markakis/rf: top 45, but Avg should raise and make him top 25

4-Aubrey Huff/1b: i’ll take him and his rbi on the O’s for one more year

5-Melvin Mora/3b: should put up acceptable #5 hitter stats in this lineup

6-Matt Wieters/c: I’m sure you already heard the Evan Longoria at 3b comparisons

7-Luke Scott/dh: 3 hr and 7 rbi in his last 2 games back from shoulder injury

8-Nolan Reimold/lf: top 6 prospect for the O’s (3 hr the past 3 games; 5hr in 53 ab’s)

9-Cesar Izturis/ss: Bleh. Sorry.

Their rotation consists of (for the most part): Jeremy Guthrie; Koji Uehera; Rich Hill; and then a sundry of guys. Their pitching prospects (that rate from B to B-) are David Hernandez; Troy Patton; Chris Tilman; Brian Matusz; Jake Arrieta; Brandon Erbe; and Zach Britton.

So the question is, what should/can they do? Honestly the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays should be great for years to come with their payroll availability, players, and rotations (minus payroll for the Rays of course). This year (although only 6 games outs), they probably don’t have a chance. Not without a solid rotation or bullpen. They have the third worst ERA in all of baseball.

I think they have some pieces other teams should be interested in that are more than expendable: Felix Pie/of, Ty Wigginton/if, and Gregg Zaun/c. This first tier probably won’t yield many good players in return. The next tier consists of Aubrey Huff/1b, Jeremy Guthrie/sp and maybe Melvin Mora/3b. They have 7 pitching prospects that are generally rated b- or better.

Aubrey Huff + Jeremy Guthrie to maybe the Mets could work out. The Mets should be looking for a 1b/of replacement for Carlos Delgado and an additional SP that can be more consistent than Oliver Perez, Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, and Jon Niese. I think Huff + Guthrie can net the Orioles a group of Tim Redding (a MLB starter); Jon Niese(sp) or Brad Holt (sp); Reese Havens or Wilmer Flores (ss); Joe Kunz(rp); and Jefrey Marte(3b) or Ike Davis(1b). This deal provides them a young sp for Guthrie plus a needed relief arm along with someone who can at least pitch for them now (Redding). In addition, it provides the Orioles with a 3b and ss for when Mora and Izturis are done/not worth it. As a Mets fan, I think it’s a bit much, but I’m attempting to be realistic. I’d rather the Mets go for Nick Johnson/Nationals for cheap and keep Daniel Murphy in LF. Honestly, I just want the Mets to get another Ace and forget about everything else – especially if the Phillies end up landing another SP.

Unless the Orioles want to trade Wieters+ to Boston, since they would love the Catcher, for Clay Buchholz + Michael Bowden – if the Red Sox or Orioles would even do that, obviously, Wieters should be untouchable. A deal like this, however, may make them a contender this year or next. The Red Sox rotation is probably deep enough: Beckett; Lester; Dicek; Penny; Smoltz; Wakefield; Masterson to maintain pace. A rotation of Guthrie; Ueherea; Buchholz; Bowden; Hill + Prospects looks pretty good.

So in my fantasy land, if I was the Orioles GM, I would perform the following trades:

In about 2-3 years, the team could then potentially compete for the AL East or at least the Wild Card. Else, at least the Orioles should enjoy watching their only 4 current bright spots for years to come (Roberts; Jones; Markakis; Wieters) with hopeful pitching prospects.

Adrian Beltre, who I suspect is injured, because he is not moving down the baseline with any speed this year, will ride the bench in Moday’s game versus the Angels and two-pitches-and-yer-ejected John Lackey. Beltre has also shown very poor timing on pitches. If anything, his batting eye is getting worse with each passing week.

Being benched did some good for Yuniesky Betancourt last week, who has raised his average by more than 10 points during the past 10 games, but Beltre doesn’t look like he needs encouragement, he looks like he just doesn’t have any presence at the plate. He’s sitting on a .211 average for the season, more than 50 points below last year’s full-season number, when he was playing hurt. The bottom line, though, is that it shouldn’t take a benching to get a major league player on track.

Yesterday’s walk-off win over the Red Sox showed Jason Vargas has some staying power, that Mark Lowe is potentially the closer of the future after all (with David Aardsma in the 8th), and that the bottom of the order can deliver a clutch win. All good signs. Right now, the M’s are being held back by slumping bats in the middle of the order.

Russell Branyan is the best free-agent signing, on a price/performance basis, of the winter. The M’s may have passed on Raul Ibañez, who is tearing up pitchers for the Phillies, but Branyan is delivering huge returns on his much lower salary.

Red Sox 4, Angels 5

A long, dreadful…….horrible day for David Ortiz. Ortiz finished the game going 0-7, while leaving 12 runners stranded on base. The biggest offensive contributers for the Los Angeles Angels were Jeff Mathis and Torii Hunter.

Mathis hit an RBI single in the 12th inning, Hunter had a two-run double and an RBI triple, and the Angels beat the Red Sox 5-4 on Thursday. Ortiz has gone 144 at-bats since his last home run on Sept. 22 against Cleveland’s Zach Jackson at Fenway Park. He is one at-bat from equaling his longest dry spell in the majors.

“A guy like that who’s big and strong, he’s going to knock out eight home runs in 12 days somehow and he’s going to catch up with everybody once he gets that swing down,” said Hunter, Ortiz’s teammate in Minnesota. “I’m almost 100 percent sure both those injuries have a lot to do with his homerless streak.

“When you have a wrist injury and a knee injury at the same time, it messes up your mechanics and you’re trying to figure out ways to hit while you’re hurting,” Hunter added. “So you’ve got to tweak your swing — and that’s not his swing. But he’s going to be fine. I just told him, `Just go out there and do what you do, and at the end of the season watch what you have.”

Ortiz struck out three times — once with the bases loaded in the fourth — and left the bases loaded again in the 12th against Jason Bulger (1-1) with a dribbler in front of the plate.

Juan Rivera led off the 12th with a single against Manny Delcarmen (1-1). Pinch-runner Reggie Willits advanced on Erick Aybar’s sacrifice and scored when Mathis lined a 1-1 pitch to left-center.

Pedroia had four hits in his return to the lineup after missing two games because of a groin strain. One was a two-out RBI single against reliever Scot Shields that tied it 4-all in the eighth — increasing Shields’ ERA to 7.90 in 16 appearances.Ervin Santana, one of the mainstays of the Angels’ injury-ravaged rotation, made his season debut after missing the first 32 games because of elbow pain. The right-hander, who pitched in his first All-Star game last season, allowed three runs and seven hits over five innings.Brad Penny was charged with four runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings.

Source: ESPN

Who has the most home runs on the Brewers?

Ryan Braun?

Prince Fielder?

Mike Cameron?

Corey Hart?

JJ Hardy?

Nope… It’s 2b, Rickie Weeks – the Perennial 20hr/30sb candidate, however his sub .240 avg keeps him out of the top 10 rounds and out of the top 5 2b’s. He’s a solid 25/20 candidate this year now. His sb’s need to pick up a little though and they should.

Free Agent Watch: 2 Guys I’m somewhat passionate about -

*Chris Coghlan/3b (and maybe 2b/of) -Florida Marlins. If anything happens to Uggla/Hermida/Ross/Bonifacio this kid could stud it up. They want him in the lineup bad. He just hit his first career homerun. Keep watch!

*Philip Hughes/sp-Yankees. I know he had a horrendous start against the Orioles and not a great start against the Red Sox, but this guy is an aboslute stud and could be better than Joba for the rest of this year. His fastball moves and his curveball is sick. If he’s dropped in your league, pick him up and at least stash away until he keeps hot. I understand Wang may be back up – hopefully the Yankees understand they need Joba in the bullpen so Hughes can start. I’m assuming he’d have to string together 3 solid starts before that happens, but if it does – Jump.

My wonderful wife showed me this story this morning: Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/lf_nm_life/us_usa_civilrights_baseball;_ylt=Aqd_qRmbM1UvuqQJA8qu4y4LMxIF) reported that a man was ejected from Yankee stadium during the August 26th (Yankees vs. Red Sox) game’s God Bless America song. He attempted to go to the bathroom, but stadium police did not allow this. The police did say that he was being unruly, smelled of alcohol, and they ejected him so others wouldn’t have to be subject to his behavior, however, as per Yahoo, an officer also said “if the [ejected fan] didn’t like this country, he should get out of ‘it’”. If true, this statment alone makes this story horrendous and absolutely despicable, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually written the word despicable down to explain anything.

I hope nothing like this ever happens again. It is unconstitutional – in state, in basketball, in school, and in baseball.

On a related (religious) and very funny note: I think it was last year on April 16th, a 14 or 15 inning game against the Washington Nationals- I’ve never seen so much religion in one AT-BAT. Jesus Colome of the Washington Nationals was pithing to Jesus Flores. Angel Pagan of the New York Mets was on 2nd base. Ryan Church was up at bat. Who won the game? It was a walk-off Base on Balls by none other than SHAWN GREEN – just kidding – it was Brian Schneider…Sounds Jewish though. haha.

First off, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and to also congratulate the Boston University Terriers for winning the National Championship in hockey.

Now to baseball, where things got a little out of hand in the 1st inning of the final game between the Sox and Angels. Bobby Abreu called time as Josh Beckett was delivering his pitch, sending it near Abreu’s head. Both benches cleared, some words were exchanged, and when the smoke cleared Torii Hunter, LA batting coach Mickey Hatcher, pitcher Justin Speier, and manager Mike Scioscia were heading to the locker room. Beckett really isn’t to blame since the late time threw him off his rythem, as it does to all pitchers, and the ball happened to be near Abreu. Had it been anyone other than Abreu—a former Yankee—and had the Adenhart tragedy not been so fresh in their minds, cooler heads most likely would have prevailed.

Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew started the offense in the 2nd with back-to-back solo home runs. The Angels would strike for three runs in the 3rd then one more in the 5th to take a 4-2 lead into the 6th. The Sox then drew within one that inning, but could not hold off LA, falling 5-4 and suffering their fourth loss of the season.

Boston heads to Oakland to take on the Athletics for a three game series. Jon Lester gets the ball for Boston, opposing Dallas Branden. First pitch is 10:05 in the east, 7:05 out west.

Brad Penny made his debut in a Red Sox uniform—the “retro roadies” as they’ve been coined—and snapped a three game losing streak. He gave up three runs on five hits through six innings and Jonathon Papelbon, despite a shaky 9th, picked up the save for a 5-4 win.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead into the 5thbefore Mike Lowell tied the game up with his first home run of the year, a 2-run shot. Mike Napoli would hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of that inning to put the Angels back in front. Penny would depart after the 6th down 3-2.

In the 7th Jason Bay would belt a 2-run homer to put the Red Sox in front and put Penny in line for the win. He would add a solo shot in the 9th to give the Sox a 2-run lead. Torii Hunter’s leadoff home run put the Angels within a run in the 9ththen the Angels would load the bases with two outs before Howard Kendrick’s ten pitch at-bat ended with a line out to Rocco Baldelli in right to end the game.

As announced today, Jason Bay and the Boston Red Sox were unable to come to terms on a deal.  At the end of the season Bay will become a free agent. So what does this mean?

Last season, there were rumors swirling around that the Indians were in talks with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a deal that would include sending Jason Bay to the Indians. That deal never took place and near the end of the trade deadline, Bay was dealt to the Bo Sox in a 3 team trade. Is there a possibility that the Indians could be in the talk with Boston during the 2009 season in setting up a trade with Jason Bay? Do the Indians have the talent they are willing to part with for Bay?

When trying to figure out if this would be a good move for the Indians, I personally would have to say YES! There is no doubt in my mind that Bay would make a great addition in our outfield. Not only is he a good left fielder and can hit for power, he is also best friends with Grady Sizemore and that type of chemistry will not come around every year. So who would the Indians give up for Bay? The Indians are actually in a good position to trade for Bay. Shin Shoo Choo will be gone after this season due to military duties in his home country, Korea. That will leave an opening in the outfield. The Indians do have options in the minors to fill that hole. However, these same guys could be some of the talent the Indians could trade to get the power hitter the Indians are looking for.

In other news…..

The Indians added another tick to the loss column today. Scott Lewis was impressive today by giving up 1 run in 4 innings. Kelly Shoppach hit a solo homerun and Wood was near perfect by only allowing 1 hit in the 5th.