Geez we need to steal Theo Epstein from the Red Sox. Their starting rotation depth is incredible. Bartolo Colon just came off the DL and got the win tonight. Red Sox: -Josh Beckett (a true Ace) -DiceK (a solid number 2 if not better) -Tim Wakefield (a solid vet) -Clay Buchholz (an inconsistant youngster, but he threw a no-hitter last year) -Jon Lester (young lefty whose 3-2 with a 3.41 era, oh yeah and he just threw a no-hitter) -Justin Masterson (youngster who is 1-0 with a 1.46era who was sent back to triple A) -Bartolo Colon (2005 AL Cy Young) thats 7 good starters, any of whom would be one of the top 3 starters on the stros. In contrast we have: Roy O (a true Ace and badass but is inconsistant) Wandy (who hasn't seen the mound in a while) Backe (one excellent start for every two mediocre starts) Chacon (is doing better than expected but overachieving as anything more than a 5th starter) Sampson (one good start for every three bad starts) How in the hell did we get in this position?
Take a look at the track record of our GM. That will answer your question about our pitching very clearly. To be fair, there were problems before he got here.
The Red Sox payroll is also about $45 million more that the Astros payroll. When the recent trend is to overpay for pitching, that means something.
There was a report in the Boston Herald last year that came out after Buchholtz's no hitter that the Red Sox worked a trade with the 'Stros, Buchholtz for Lidge Apparently Tim Purpura turned it down
That theory actually doesn't hold much weight for the Red Sox outside of Dice K. Beckett is only making $10.6 million this year (low for an Ace). Wakefield has perhaps the most team friendly/interesting contract ever (renewable $4 million team options). Buchholz, Lester and Masterson are all products of great drafting and development; they're cheap to boot. And Colon is on a minor league contract that, including escalators, still isn't worth more than a few million. If you added up all their salaries it'd prolly be less than A-Rod's salary and no where near paying Rocket and Roy a combined $35 million. The only notable crazy spending they had was the 6 year $50 million contract for Dice K on top of the $51.1 million posting fee.
I'm pretty sure Clay's no-no came after Purpura got fired. Either way, Purpura was on the hotseat and under pressure to make a deal. I'm surprised he turned that one down.
You're surprised? From the day he got fired, he didn't understand why. He really thought he was doing a good job.
Interesting relating it to the Astros...honestly, we only play the Red Sox once every umpteen years. But can you imagine the Yankees looking up at that??
You forgot about Schilling who may not pitch this year, but if he does, he would add another dimension to the staff in October.
Agreed. Bucholz, Lester and Masterson were all picked late 40's or later, I think. Great job of identifying talent by the Red Sox. Bucholz got in trouble before the draft (I read on Wikipedia he stole 29 laptops from his high school!!) so other teams passed on him. and the Red Sox didn't get Beckett via free agency. They traded away a guy who is now one of the best players in MLB, Hanley Ramirez.
The Yankees have a ton of it as well. Phil Hughes Ian Kennedy Joba Chamberlain Alan Horne Darryl Rasner Dellin Betances Christian Garcia Humberto Sanchez etc, etc ,etc. Those two teams are loaded in their minor league pitching depth.
Yea, agreed. Michael Bowden who was mentioned in the Santana talks (along with Masterson and Jed Lowrie) and Daniel Bard will be the next 2 big stars to come out of the Red Sox farm system.
No way that's true Yao Mac. They were hesitant to trade Buchholz for Santana, you think they actually considered Buchholz for Lidge!?!! Especially right after the whole Gagne thing are you crazy?
This post is ridiculous, for two reasons. First of all, Wade's track record is fine. He started with nothing and built a winner in one of baseball's toughest divisions. He scouted and drafted the fixtures such as Hamels, Utley and Howard and built the foundation for the team that won the NL East last season. The only difference between the Phillies' 2007 success compared to previous failures in Wade's tenure (missing out on the playoffs in one game in 2005 to the Astros) is that the mid-to-upper 80s win total was enough to qualify last season due to the Mets' historic collapse. Is it Wade's fault the Braves and Astros didn't have such collapses in 2004 and 2005? Second, "to be fair"? You can't begin to judge a general manager's impact until years down the line. Sure, Wade made a lot of deals (Tejada, Valverde) last offseason, but those were largely dictated by the condition of the market and what was available to him. The emphasis on and status of pitching of an organization is a process that takes years and years. To cast much judgment on Wade either way at this point (in the context of large issues like overall pitching talent and depth) is absurd.
First, I'd like to see a link. Second, the Boston Herald isn't exactly a model for journalistic integrity these days -- see Spygate. My guess is that this was a "radio rumor" reported in a notebook that took on a life of its own after the fact, when no one cared enough to refute it.
I do know that the Red Sox were in love with Lidge last season before settling on the disaster that is known as Eric Gagne. I think it is doubtful that they would have offered Buchholz for Lidge straight up, but then again from what I read about how much they thought of Lidge - who knows, it may have well been true.
