The final game on tonight's docket is in progress as the Nationals face the Padres at Petco Park. Links for this evening..
- The Phillies had trade interest in Brandon Inge during spring training, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. However, it's not clear if the club still has an eye on Inge. The Orioles are also said to have some interest in the third baseman.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman understands that he will have to take responsibility if the team's trade for Michael Pineda does not work out in the long term, tweets Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger. Pineda will miss the rest of the season as he recovers from arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
- Right now, the Red Sox's deal with Carl Crawford looks to be a disaster, writes Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. The outfielder is set to earn $142MM over the course of his seven-year pact.
You know what? After seeing the Crawford contract, his performance last season, and possibility of TJ surgery this season; the Jason Bay deal doesn’t look all that bad…
I said the Crawford deal was a terrible contract a year ago. There was no way I could have expected it would be this bad though.
He is not the type of player that you should spend $20M AAv on. His game depends on speed so why would you give him that money to play lf in a small left field into his late 30’s. You dont need alot of speed to play the monster.
…oh sweet jesus, Theo.you have the FBI, CSI, CIA, KGB, NSA following this guy and you can’t figure out his elbow/wrist is hurt?!
Theo’s legacy continues to lose luster
I’d take two WS rings in exchange for a few bad contracts any day.
While the Two World Series rings are what I think of when I think of Theo Epstein and the Red Sox as an outsider, in reality his work since 2007 has been lackluster sans Adrian Gonzalez, especially since other than Dice-K, none of those players really had anything to do with the World Series.
He really left the team in a bad spot.
am i seriously the only one who still views them as the best team in the division?
I’d still pick the Rays over them, but yeah. As soon as their pitching regresses to the mean, the Sox will be a powerhouse in the AL East. Their offense is just extraordinary, even without Ellsbury as a catalyst.
I can’t agree on the pitching…BUT…even with all these injuries…they are one of the strongest in positional players.
The offense, even without both CC and Ells still destroys the Rays who have half of a lineup that compares unfavorably to that of Oaklands. That rotation is what must carry Tampa and probably will. Boston’s front 3 I just cannot see being so lackluster much longer and expect Matsuzaka to be more 2007 like when he comes back than he was the last 3 years.
Not that they are a shoo in for the PO, but should finish ahead of TB, though behind the NYY *if* the front 3 in the rotation rights themselves soon enough.
Not too mention the rays have a pretty bad pen as well.
Not with their injuries…I see them in third place by the end of the year.
I wouldn’t say they’re the best… but that’s more of a compliment to Tampa Bay.
I’d say they’re neck and neck with New York.
I’m not with you. I think, and thought pre-season, Rays are the strongest team in the division.
I still pick the Red Sox as best in the division.
(and I’m not a fan of any ALE team).
I’d love to think that as a Sox fan but I’m not sure how thats possible after the start they had. The bullpen and starting rotation scare me. Tazawa was a breath of fresh air and Rich Hill should help. The Red Sox have to just keep pace with the rest of the teams in the AL East until the all star break. By that time they should have Bailey, Crawford and Ellsbury back. Maybe even Roy Oswalt?
Makes sense since you are a RS fan. You post more about the RS than the Bluejays.
The RS rotation is pretty bad. Bucholz is way way way overrated( 1 good year out of 6), what a joke. Bucholz is to hyped and mediocre. Beckett is inconsistent and will fail down the stretch due to injury or chicken(Ala 2011). Bullpen is downright Terrible. 4 and 5 starters are bad to. Just because they are beating on the TWINS(lmao) and White sox, give me a break.
I’m actually a blue jays fan, but thanks for coming out.
I agree, he did leave them in a bad position with the contracts to Lackey and Crawford.
But he was kind of the anti-Cashman in that he was amazing in the trading department (while lacking in the FA dept.). He acquired Bay, Beckett, Lowell, Millar, Gonzalez, Schilling, and V-Mart during his tenure with the Sox. That’s a lot of hits.
Oh yeah Theo did a lot of great things for the Red Sox, absolutely no denying that. (rationally).
How much did he really have to do with that first championship?
To be fair, we all on here were calling him crazy when it happened. All regular MLBTR commenters should pool together and be the Red Sox’ conglomerate GM.
first order of business, jacoby ellsbury and jon lester plus cash for rajai davis and brett cecil.
Put me down for Adrian Gonzalez and cash for James Loney, Juan Uribe, and Matt Guerrier.
Then I’ll go Beckett and Youkilis for Polanco, Blanton, Laynce Nix, and Domonic Brown.
We can send Crawford back to the Rays for Sean Rodriguez. And we’ll cover all of Crawford’s salary!
What’s the salary?
Pool together the Red Sox’ GM office salary, then take the top… 100 commenters on here. Each gets 1%.
I’ll take it!
First move, bring up lavarnaway!
I said it when it happened and it seems to ring true now more than ever. Not signing Jason Bay was a big mistake! We probably would’ve gotten just as much value (at least in the first two years) at half the price. Crawford has plenty of time to turn his deal into a positive!
BTW, my predictions for Dice-K, he comes back in stellar form saving the Sox season and gets them to the World Series! Till then, we can all curse him and wish him good riddance lol.
Not signing Jason Bay was a blessing. The problem was they shouldn’t have signed Crawford, either.
If they didn’t get Crawford, they could’ve got Beltran this year for RF, had Ellsbury in center, and had money to spare for a LF.
And I really hope Matsuzaka comes back and does bad enough to stay out of the rotation. Not because I hate him or anything, I just really don’t want to watch a game be three hours in and only be in the 5th inning.
If you watch Jason Bay play since joining the Mets (obviously not at the moment because he is sidelined), he just doesn’t seem happy. I think he was expecting teams to want him after his monster year and I was expecting to get a bigger contract. Even at the news press of him joining the Mets, he seemed disappointed. It didn’t work out, and it shows in his play.
And I’ll believe this when there’s a way to factor happiness into baseball equations.
Especially for a team that went 86 years without one! Quit your crying Red Sox Nation! You could be a Cubs fan ya know! Go Sox!
So far the Carl Crawford looks like a Hampton/Zito contract. Beware of the big contracts.
The Red Sox dodged a bullet with bay but this one just hit them in the face.
Brandon Inge will be sporting some Oakland A attire shortly. Don’t worry Inge fans!
Crawford wish you the best, and return soon. Sweeney has been a God send. The decision to trade Scutaro while having Aviles at ss and signing Cody Ross is turning into a really good move. Aviles doing marvelous and Ross is clutch.
Prior to the start of the season, I thought they were all crap moves and assumed cellar dweller status for the Sox. I was wrong.
Hey don’t knock crawdaddy’s contract too much.
If rich teams didn’t handicap themselves with horrible deals, the poor teams would have even LESS of a chance!
Red Sox weren’t handicapped in ’08 when Tampa steamrolled them.
Fantastic start for Pineda.
Well his WAR sits at 0.0, which is better than Montero (-0.2) and Noesi (-0.1)
Lol of course I know it’s going to change, just thought I’d point it out for jokes anyway (Technically it’s not a joke, but you get what I mean).