Red Sox Sign Takashi Saito

The Red Sox medical staff is always mentioned as the best in Baseball. They will have to prove that they are this year with Smoltz, penny, Rocco and now Saito.

awesome pickup....the bullpen is gonna be nasty!

I think Orlando Hernandez is still available if the Red Sox are interested.

Sad day for Dodger fans.

"saito has never had an era above 2.7 in the majors"

yeah before he had a messed up elbow

Let's see, $5 for Penny, $5 for Smoltz, $2 for Saito, $.5 million for Baldelli...that's where Theo wanted to spend the $12.5 million, instead of on Teixeira.

He lives or dies with that decision (well, among reasonable folk anyway. Sox fans will simply claim "bad luck" if these signings don't propel the Sox to the postseason).

Also, I don't understand, was Saito a free agent, not suspect to any more arbitration? He's only had 3 years in the majors, making him under the Sox's control for 3 more years. Is that right, or is Rotoworld yet again mistaken?

Andrew, he spent $10 million less on those guys than he would of on Teixeira, and all of those spots were places the Red Sox actually needed help, instead of just bettering a position of strength. They are also all one year deals, whereas they would have paying Texeira his $22.5 million for the next eight years.

Andrew, I think Saito was non-tendered, thus making him a free agent like a player who has gone through his arb years.

These are the types of signing that make the Red Sox much better than the Yankees. If Smotlz and Penny are healthy they will provide the Red Sox with much better numbers or siimilar numbers to AJ Burnett for a cheaper amount of money. Saito if healthy is flat out nasty on the mound a setup core of Delcarmen, Saito, Smoltz, Okajima, Paps is one of the best in baseball (when all are healthy) and Baldelli once was one of the best center fielders in the game (when he was healthy). The Yankees if they want to compete with the Red Sox latest bargain shopping mentality need to sign Manny Ramirez and shove it in their faces...

Yankees: Good job signing all injury risk players, but guess what Boston we just signed the best player on the market who hates your team and will destroy you 19 fu**in times!!!
Boston .......... (speechless)

you can say what you'd like about the health risk hazard players the sox are signing but to me these are fantastic signings. instead of spending 20 mil on one guy the sox are taking a chance on 3 guys (saito, smoltz, penny) all of who have dominant stuff but experienced an injury. they are low risk high reward players that if they pan out could make boston one of the most dominant pitching staff in recent years. the 3 pitchers signed guaranteed money doesnt even exceed one year of aj burnett (another injury plagued player) so the sox are taking risks on 3 guys instead of just one. and on top of that its only one year contracts so if they dont work we arent stuck with them.

the high market teams have the money to do this sort of thing. if they dont pan out then o well , its just a few million. you got to give it to theo, i thnk alot of people looked at this offseason as a lost one but this is exactly what the redsox needed. i mean they were only one game away from the world series last year with the same team they have, so a few minor tweaks was all that was necessary. but everyone was drooling over texiera. i couldnt be happier, id like a bat with pop in the lineup but right now its not a necessity. now go sign tek for a year or two so he can mentor a young catch and we are set, god i cant wait for the season to start!

But nice signing Boston, when healthy Saito is a stud and he probably will get along better in Boston with all of his Japanese friends (Tazawa, Okajima, etc)

glen,
if the red sox have 23 current white guys on there current roster.

Sox - Is Frank Thomas next???

"the Sox are leading the majors in picking up the 'what if they return to form' fa's this year...the good thing is that at least they arent being really counted on as the glue of the team.... as for theo derserving a bonus...i wonder if it was his idea to pump new sox uni's into the market to bring that extra cash in"

dont get all pissy cause the yanks spent 80 mil on a "what if pitcher". red sox are making calculated moves

"dont get all pissy cause the yanks spent 80 mil on a "what if pitcher". red sox are making calculated moves"

stop getting all mad, if the yankees signed 3 injured old pitchers (after out bidding everyone) you guys would be crying to change the rules of free agency, so just calm down

This is certainly not a terrible idea as long as Saito's arm holds up. Like everybody else said Saito healthy is a real nice addition.

But come on, let's not fall all over ourselves because instead of picking up the best position player on the market (who he wanted for 2 years) Theo decided to shop the injury rack.

While it would be a nice story if he can pitch well, Smoltz has had 5 injuries in 6 years right? AND he's 42? And I thought Saito's elbow was pretty bad? Penny was an absolute mess last year and sure he could be good, but he has much more going against him than Burnett.

The Sox are going to be a very good team, but it doesn't have much to do with these signings. They were a short hair from the WS last year and that core is what will drive them this year. Pedroia, Yukillis, Bay, Lester, Papelbon are going to put the Sox over the top, not guys who will probably be spending more combined time with that great medical staff than on the diamond.

Theo is a real good GM, but these moves aren't why.

"calculated moves"
half there roster is injury-prone. but they backup for backup.

the moves are great, i like them. but i think the red sox stil need to develope there talent. the veterans are takin playing time from the young talent

glen,
where do you get your stats? baseball-reference has a 1.95 era

also he play in dodgers stadium in a weak NL West.
Fenway is a shoe box, and the AL east has alot more quality hitters

"with a career 1.88 era in the majors. obv has a lot left in the tank"

that's before he messed up his elbow, and his fastball went from 95 to 90

" I dont think anyone would be crying to "change the rules of free agency" if the Yankees spent 13 million. The problem is they spent MORE THAN 30X that amount. There is a difference, no? Perhaps you should find somewhere else to troll."

come on, are you kidding? you guys complain if the yankees pay their manager too much. and ill post wherever i want to post, if you dont like what i write then you can leave

If all the sox pitchers pitch up to their ability, the sox are paying 30M+ after incentives.

As a YF, I'd much rather the Sox be spending their money on players who are likely to not contribute anything, than players like Burell, Dunn, or Cruz who are likely to contribute something.

I love the "if healthy" arguments. "If healthy", the Yankees are the best team in baseball for each of the past 14 years. You can't just assign the "healthy" tag to one team and not the others.

So the Skankees sign 3 guys for $400 mil. Are the Sux trying to sign 400 million guys for $3 mil?

30+ million, but how likely is that?

you don't know what the incentives are. Smoltz might have bonuses for over 200 innings pitched, or MVP votes. Stuff that will clearly not happen.

glen, you know nothing. First of all, it was a 60-day DL trip. Secondly, is an injury that normally would require Tommy John, but Saito opted for some experimental procedure. He came back and was awful down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Jim9-- No doubt they'll be good, they're a good team.

That rotation has a lot of questions though. Beckett is on again off again in the regular season so maybe this is one of his good seasons but if not, he isn't the shut down ace he can be. Lester has to prove that he can maintain last year's breakout. He was lights out in '08 no doubt but your team did sort of throw the innings limit out the window with him didn't you? With that I expect him to be very good. Matsuzaka, if he can continue his Houdini act, is a good #2 no doubt. I won't even get into Penny or Smoltz, because who knows what you're getting with them.

If you keep Masterson in the 'pen you're right, big potential even without Saito (if he ends up needing Tommy John) or if Ramirez isn't that good.

Every rotation has question marks, absolutely, but I think Beckett in general is a bit overrated (regular season) Matsuzaka is either really good or really lucky, and Lester has to do it again (the least of the ? imo).

Well the sox may end up having quite a bullpen this year. Not a bad deal here. I do look foward to the continued Sox-Yanks rivalry this year, more so than usual.

glen,

"Dodgers | Saito moved to 60-day DL
Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:50:52 -0700

Michael Schwartz, of MLB.com, reports the Los Angeles Dodgers transferred CL Takashi Saito (elbow) to the 60-day disabled list Wednesday, Sept. 3. He will attempt to throw a simulated game Saturday, Sept. 6, and again sometime next week. "

Just stop.

lol Quagmire are you serious? Okay, you're right he didn't miss 60 days. Adding the dates you used it was 58. Does that make it much less serious?

Giggity giggity-- giggity goo.

nice research Andrew

Anyone else laugh at how stupid quagmire made himself look by using a racist term and then accusing another entity of being racist.

Reason why the Sox don't win the east.....Injury after injury after injury. Sox are just helping out the PR team come September. Team was not good enough before these signings but now they have a fall out and can place blame on something!

that is super amazing research andrew! how did you do that?! inside sources?!

or did you just google takashi saito 60 day dl.

lol

funny comment jimithin9, im glad you were with us the whole time when glen was claiming that saito was only on the 15-day dl. he actually got the correct quotes, something i was too lazy to do.

"glen is one of the stupider Sox trolls who frequent this site."

yeah call me stupid, when your the one making up words that dont exist. also how does a guy come back from the 60 day dl after only 58 days?

yeah i think every team would love the opportunity to sign a guy who's already under contract

Theo, I know you like getting praise for mediocre moves but Sherril had a 96 ERA+. That is in fact worse than league average. By all means put him on your team but remember saves are one of the most overrated stats in the game. Maybe you like pitchers with sub-average performance. Shoot you employed David Aardsma and his 83 ERA+ !

"stop getting all mad, if the yankees signed 3 injured old pitchers (after out bidding everyone) you guys would be crying to change the rules of free agency, so just calm down"

Zack, you have to look at each one of these signings as extra depth, not one of these people is an absolute necessity and that goes for the Penny signing as well. Boston each and every year signs these health risks and never do they force DL/injury risks to be main parts of the team at the time of the signing, this goes back to Wade Miller, Bartolo Colon and this entire crop pretty much. Every year they do this same thing and it is a difference in signing a DL list guy like Penny as a 5th guy that has servicable replacements behind him in Masterson, Buch and Bowden, as compared to Burnett being the Yanks either #2-3 and having nothing behind him, so yeah, quite a bit of difference and both penny and Burnett are pretty much identical pitchers when healthy and both injury risks is a fair comparison, only salaries is 80 million difference. So which is the better signing? 2009 will tell on that one, and Baldelli, Smoltz, Saito are just depth not being counted on and signed dirt cheap, if they can contribute? Outstanding and if not, it's no real loss, but like have said here numerous times, that Yankee team is always a couple (at least) starters short come August and time will tell if they have learned that lesson yet.

Johns-- you're right, the guys they signed are pretty much back end filler guys. Why does that make them brilliant moves? They're not bad moves by any means, could end up being decent, but nothing special IMO.

All the arguments Burnett are valid. He has been injured in the past, was more of a thrower, and was immature. Fact is the Yankees signed him because they see, and I agree with them, a guy who has turned a corner in his career. He said as much in every interview he's done. Doc Halladay taught him how to be a pitcher. If he isn't and blows up? Well it's money down the drain for 20 starts a year. And please, stop reading Homer Gammons and believing Penny and Burnett are the same guy. When AJ pitches his first game against Penny in Fenway and AJ strikes out 9 in 7 shutout innings and Penny strikes out 2 in 5 innings of 4 run baseball we won't have to hear this "they're the same" argument from either of you.

Food for thought, how many times has Beckett been on the DL?

Wow. The Dodgers' stupidity on this one astounds me. That is a perfectly acceptable base level contract and if Saito hits the incentives, you know he is healthy. Ugh.

Look at the career numbers, Beckett and Burnett are pretty much the same.

AJ's injuries were: a strained elbow, tried to rehab, came back and needed TJ. He then came back after and had scar tissue issue, something everyone has after surgery. That's 3 DLs stays right there. In 2007 he had a sore shoulder, Blue Jays rushed him back and that caused him to go back on the DL.

Beckett has been on the DL for blisters, back, oblique, and that time he ripped the skin off his finger.
Beckett- 10x
AJ- 9x

Forgot..

No, I was the pretty much lone Sox fan here NOT wanting them to blow 20+ million per year on him for 7+ years at a position they already had filled more than adequately.

Becket only once since coming to Boston I believe. The Sox staff have figured out his blister issues and resolved them.

Zack-- That's the comparison I was pointing out. The majority of Burnett's DL time is elbow related. That was cleaned up in the surgery and cleaning the scar tissue.

Beckett has been injured in a myriad of ways and this season magically he had tingling in his fingers and lost some feeling? Then absolutely sucked in the post season, where his entire reputation as a great pitcher? Bad signs, bad signs indeed. I've read, outside of Red Sox propaganda, that his symptoms describe a guy who may end up needing elbow surgery.

yeah but AJ & Beckett have actually shown they can pitch in the AL East, and Penny's not much of a power pitcher (even tho he did throw 97 in that all star game, yes i watched it too) Plus Penny finished the year with that shoulder and those numbers, so who knows

Rob- Boston fans will just cling to the "he slept on his elbow wrong" and "dr andrews said it was ok" but come on, who sleeps wrong then is out for weeks? the playoff was more about his oblique.
I actually think Beckett/Burnett are pretty comparable, but i know you'll never get a Red Sox fan to admit that

zack so what was wrong with aj during those other 5 dl trips. you explained only about half of them. all of becketts DL trips have been for minor injuries. like i said if your gunna count blisters as viable injuries then im sure beckett has been to the dl a bunch.

Zack-- Beckett and Burnett are more comparable than Burnett and Penny. They're just not the same type of pitcher.(Penny Burnett)

Beckett obviously has much more success and 2 more rings than Burnett so the comparison stops at top notch power pitching stuff but the similarities are there.

I'd bet a large amount of cash that Saito will spend a large chunk of time on the DL because of that elbow. (To try and keep things on the topic of the post. lol)

I hate to get into Red Sox - Yankees arguments. I'm looking at this as a fan of the game, not a soldier in the war.

it was actually only 8 DL trips, miscounted.

'02 stres fracture in foot, '02 bone bruise in elbow, and after he was activated for the scar tissue issue, he was put back on a week later

"I'd bet a large amount of cash that Saito will spend a large chunk of time on the DL because of that elbow. (To try and keep things on the topic of the post. lol"

saito is playing in the WBC. i highly doubt his injury is of a major concern or he wouldnt be playing.

"For a Dodgers fan, you really seem to hate your team"

It's true, with their young talent dodgers should be good for the next decade without making any huge moves.