Red Sox Close To Signing Rocco Baldelli

watch out Yankees!!

Yes I LOVE IT. This is great news.

watch out Yankees!!

Posted by: B-Rye | January 07, 2009 at 08:33 PM

Lol. But seriously...he was misdiagnosed with some mitochondrial disorder. He was re-diagnosed with a treatable condition for his extreme fatigue and I feel that he can be a pretty good 4th outfielder and that was a hole that the Sox had to fill. So, my jubilation was due to the Sox continuing to make important moves in the wake of the now infamous TeixeiraGate.

Boston does like their funny named fourth outfielders though.

First Coco, now Rocco?

What's next? Crocco?

LOL

"TeixeiraGate"

are you serious?

watch out Yankees!!

is that a joke? really rocco

Get ready to pitch Phil, because Burnett will be on the DL, gnick55's sure.

"First Coco, now Rocco?

What's next? Crocco?"

Clearly, you're not familiar with the 18th-century French architectural style involving ornate designs, or you would have come up with "Rococo."

Great another injury prone OF

solid move

"TeixeiraGate"

are you serious?

Posted by: Zack | January 07, 2009 at 08:41 PM

Calm down, dude. It was tongue-in-cheek.

"Get ready to play Rocco, because Drew will be on the DL, Zack's sure."

why cause you think drew will play 160 games this year? when hes never been above 140 twice in his career?

Why bring AJ into this? This is a article about the Red Sox

sonofabitch, c'mon KW.

More disappointing news. This sucks.

"The problem with Baldelli going somewhere to play everyday to rebuild his value is that he can't play every day."

If Baldelli plays enough, stays healthy, and shows he still has talent then why wouldnt a small market club sign him next year? Have 1-3 full seasons and then get his contract, he'll never get 10m a year but still more then just a bench player

I'm still waiting for Rocco's girlfriend to come out of the woodwork and tell him to follow his heart straight to his beloved Yankees.

How did he go from being down to 3 teams to choosing the Red Sox in a single day? How did that happen? I know its the Red Sox but this is insane.

down to three teams happened yesterday, reported today, choosing Red Sox happened today, reported tonight.

And it wasn't hard to see, he is from there, he was a huge RS fan as a child, any competitive offer he was going to Boston, he was probably waiting for that offer.

"Another white guy for Boston? Surprise!!!"

C'mon man, this is as bad as the Minaya-only-gets-Latino-players bit. Do you really think a front office as good as Boston is really overlooking players from other ethnic groups, or was that a joke?

Hence that comment Mr. Moss :P

Smoltz would be nice to have since he'd come in mid-season. A nice little boost.
He's more productive than Burnett could ever be and he doesn't cost 85 million! Wow!
Sorry, I just like watching Epstein make moves. :P
No offense intended :P

i agree with whoever said he could end up starting in center if hes healthy. im not sold on ellsbury either, i still dont see what the hype about him is.

I like the move, but I think they could also still use a guy like Kotsay back. are the sox just going to use bailey?

Lock I think you forgot the sox signed Bard our season is saved, lugo is going to be that player from tampa bay now that rocco is here to cheer him on! (sarcasim) and dont worry lowrie is the next destroia! so the sox are all done! (more sarcasim) but most of all i hope they dont end up trading ellsbury i just bought his shirt for 6 dollars over dice-k's...sterotypical racist white sox fan the white kid over dice-k...

And Ellsbury is the starting CF. Rocco will not be starting over him, no matter how well he plays, simply because his body can't handle it. It really doesn't matter anyway, I'm more than happy with Ellsbury in CF. He runs down everything out there and hit .280 in his ROOKIE season. That included a couple prolongued slumps too, which is to say as he develops, those slumps should decrease and his numbers will continue to climb. Is he the best CF out there? No, but that doesn't mean he isn't and won't be a very good player. I'm buying the hype.

ocrevo99: I'm with you. Kotsay is such a perfect fit for this team right now, I really can't believe they haven't brought him back. With questions surrounding Lowell's health, Kotsay is good insurance as he can play 1B with Youk at 3rd and could then be the 4th (of 5th if they do sign Rocco) OF. I think they'd still be able to get him a good number of at bats with his ability to play all 3 OF spots and 1B. Being a lefthanded hitter also makes for a good balance between him and Rocco. It almost makes too much sense.

Now that the Red Sox is getting Baldelli would they trade Bay to the Mets 4 a prospect or 2.Or how about a bigger trade; Beltran,Church and Parnell 4 Ellsbury,Bay and Dice-k,then the Red Sox could sign Lowe; Sox OF could be Baldelli-Beltran-Drew w/Church as ur 4th OF.

jvent's post equals no.

Bring back Kotsay, bring in Saito to bolster the bullpen and then grab Zaun and Pudge.
I rather have a logjam at C rather than having no really proven players.

Jvent's post equals crazy talk.

The redsox are not a charity and rebuilding the mets OF is not in their plans.

Silly jvent.

im not trying to knock ellsbury, im sure he could turn out to be a good cf. i was just merely trying to seperate the hype that every kid gets when he first comes up and a true prospect. i honestlydidnt see terribly much other than speed, but ur right it was his rookie/soph season

No, you have a right to be skeptical about Ellsbury. I am just one who is buying into the hype. He definitely needs to improve his consistency at the plate. He has a whole in his swing right now that he needs to close up. If he's able to do that, I think he can take his game to the next level. He already plays a gold glove caliber CF and showed me enough in his rookie season to be excited for his long-term outlook. But you're right, he's still young and still needs to continue to develop, or else he's going to be the next Juan Pierre. I just don't see that happening though. And 50 steals in his rookie season? Watch what he does this year.

I'm really not sold on Bailey. Carter's bat has some potential, but he's really only a 1B. He's brutal in the OF. Kotsay would just give the team a lot of versatility that I like to have in a guy who's at the end of the bench. But you are right, they don't have to get Kotsay with those guys around, but when you add in the fact he can play all 3 OF positions well, I think he'd be more valuable off the bench than a guy who can only play 1 position and who wouldn't play at all when Youk/Lowell are healthy. With Youk/Lowell healthy, Kotsay still has value as an OF.

Yes, obviously he in all likelihood would not have maintained those stats over an entire season. The idea behind posting them was to point out how ridiculous Mr M.Moss was for saying he "got lit up last year".

"I'm really not sold on Bailey. Carter's bat has some potential, but he's really only a 1B."

Actually he's pretty brutal at first too. Carter could be a good cheap DH somewhere... have a Cust type breakout with a team if they need an emergency bat. As for Bailey... he is a back up definitely, but I think he's shown in AAA and limited playing time that he deserves a shot as the full time back up. My only thing about Kotsay is I'm betting he could still land a starting job despite the market. I really didn't think he would come back. Great versatility, but that could translate to a starting job elsewhere especially if you consider in Boston he's going to at best play every other day and hoping someone gets injured. Yeah, I would have welcomed him back... but just didn't see it in the cards.

I like this signing, he was a very solid player early in his career before his health problems. Now that those are seemingly under control, a backup role for a year will allow him to prove himself again. I think this works out well for both the Sox and Baldelli.

I call mulligan on Smoltz's '08 season....he was hurt and barley threw a pitch. He has excellent career #'s and imagine if he had been able to start instead of close those couple of years...he'd have way more than 210 wins. He is a professional and knows what it takes to get the job done.

Good signing Theo, and we will definetly benifit from Baldelli .

Baldelli's a good player...IF he can stay on the field. I'm not convinced of that yet. Still, he's talented enough that a big market team is able to take a flyer on him and it's well worth the investment.

I wonder what the terms are?

steelcurtain2: "How did he go from being down to 3 teams to choosing the Red Sox in a single day? How did that happen? I know its the Red Sox but this is insane."

They were his top choice going in, they met the numbers he was looking for, he grew up a Red Sox fan within commuting distance of Fenway Park. How is it insane?