SB Nation User Blog: Schulz

Shortstop

Schulz — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:37:53 -0000

I'm surprised that nobody has posted anything on Lowrie's injury.

According to the Boston Herald, Jed Lowrie will be out 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgury on his left wrist. He had the surgery yesterday (Tuesday), so we can expect him back sometime in early June. In the meantime Nick Green and Gil Velazquez will split time at short until Lugo returns. Julio is starting a rehab assignment in Pawtucket, and he will probably be starting again within the next week or two.

Other noteworthy guys on the DL: Kotsay, Baldelli, Van Every, Matsuzaka, Smoltz.

Midseason trade?

Schulz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:35:42 -0000

The Red Sox look pretty good going into 2009. Their rotation and bullpen are strong points. Pairing their pitching and defense, their overall run prevention should be more than enough to give their above-average lineup a decent chance to win. However, this team, especially its offense, is not without uncertainties. Can Ortiz and Lowell bounce back from injuries and be productive? Can Ellsbury evolve into the hitter we hope he can be? Can Drew give us 450-500 healthy ABs? Do I even need to talk about our catchers?

Long story short, this team is very good, but also vulnerable to offensive injuries and ineffectiveness. But fear not, the Red Sox are poised to recover from any weaknesses during the season. According to Alex Speier, the Red Sox' payroll will be under $120MM this year. He also had this to say:

As a result, the Red Sox could be in an enviable position as the trade market takes shape during the coming season. So long as the team’s revenues are not affected drastically by the economic climate, the team appears to have resources and flexibility should a need or opportunity to make trades emerges during the year.

Peter Gammons also had an interesting take on the situation. I'm not an "ESPN INsider," but I saw a quote on MLBTradeRumors.

Gammons talked to an NL GM who commented on the Red Sox:

"There are a lot of teams sniffing around on guys like Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez. But they want a premium young catcher or bat in return. When they're ready to bring Clay Buchholz and John Smoltz into the equation, they may be dealing from a position of strength because of their pitching depth and the fact that they are so far under budget."

I see it like this; the Red Sox have 9 major-league ready starters (or they will be at some point during the season), and 9 major-league releavers.

SP: Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Penny, Wakefield, Smoltz, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson*

RP: Papelbon, Okajima, Ramirez, Saito, Masterson*, Delcarmen, Lopez, (Bard & Tazawa)**

Pitching is an obvious strength. Will the Red Sox use this to their advantage at the trade deadline? If one or two of our position players are ineffective, will Theo pull the trigger on a deal? What mid-season trades, if any, do you predict the Red Sox will make?

*Masterson was counted twice due to his flexability.

**OK, so Bard and Tazawa are NOT major league ready, but at least they have high trade value.

A-Rod to have surgery

Schulz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:39:34 -0000

Alex Rodriguez's brother, Joe Dunand, says that Rodriguez will need surgery on his right hip. (Link)

He'll have the surgery on monday, and will need about 10 weeks to recover. This will prevent him from playing in the WBC and keep him out of the Yankee's lineup until mid- to late-May. This is a big hit to their offense. If Teixeira starts slow (.256 career BA in March/April vs .290 overall career average) they may lose some crucial early-season games in a tight AL East. If the offense starts out weak, will the Yankees miss the playoffs?

Angels sign Abreu

Schulz — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:56:08 -0000

Here's the link from MLB. $5MM plus incentives? That's a steal. Sure his defense isn't great, but the Angles could use a left handed bat, and Abreu consistently hits 20 HR, 100 RBI, Steals 20 bases, and gets on base at a clip of .400.

Maybe this will make it easier for us to extend Bay. If his agent wants a big payday, they'll wait until free agency next year where there is likely to be a decent market for his services. However, they could get scared by the lack of interest in corner outfielders, and take a 3-year, $24-27MM deal right away. I can *hope can't I?

Papelbon, Sox avoid arbitration

Schulz — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:37:37 -0000

The Red Sox signed Papelbon for another year at $6.25 MM. I was hoping he would follow the lead of Pedroia and Youkillis and sign a long-term extension, but no such luck. This was his first year of eligibility, and he set the record for money earned by a closer in that situation.

I think he has two more years of arb. left before he becomes a FA. It might be 1 though, somebody wanna look it up? When the time comes, what will it take to lock up Papelbon?

Red Sox 'intensifying talks' for Miguel Montero

Schulz — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:28:14 -0000

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald reports that:

According to one baseball source, the team has been intensifying talks with the Arizona Diamondbacks concerning 25-year-old catcher Miguel Montero. The Red Sox still believe that the price for gifted Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamachia is too high because it still includes pitcher Clay Buchholz. The Diamondbacks are not believed to be asking for Buchholz, making a return package of pitching that could include Michael Bowden and/or Daniel Bard feasible.

Can anybody tell me more about Montero? All I know is that he's a promising prospect, but how's his defense and bat?

The article also mentions that this potential trade would not preclude the Sox from signing Vartiek. I think most people agree that he would have a positive influence on any young catcher while getting slightly less than half of the playing time.

Michael Young

Schulz — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:52:41 -0000

Word on the street is that Young wants out of Texas. The rangers have a vacancy at third base, and would want Young to shift positions to allow a young stud SS to play with the big club. Young was not pleased by this request, as he has already made one position change for the Rangers (2B to SS). Young is a great talent at SS, and would be an amazing addition to an already great team. An average year for Young looks like this:

.300/.346/.442, 14 HR, 82 RBI, 93 R, 34 2B.

He's hit very well at Fenway in a very small sample size of 7 games. It would take more than a pretty penny to get him AND Teagarden/Salty from Texas, but man that would be sweet.

Rocco Baldelli healthier than thought

Schulz — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:29:53 -0000

UPDATE: Poll attached.

It appears that Rocco Baldelli's disease is not so untreatable after all according to numerous sources including tampabay.com

His doctor at the Cleveland Clinic has since reviewed further and more sophisticated testing that indicates his condition is a less-severe and treatable channelopathy. With a modification of medicine Baldelli is currently taking and having good results from, he is optimistic about his health and his baseball career.

I thought he would make a great 4th OF before this discovery. Now I'm behind it 100%. Rocco is a RHH so he could play for Drew or Ellsbury against a tough lefty. He's got some pop, and his career .AVG/.OBP/.SLG are .281/.325/.445

Poll

Now that Baldelli looks healthier, should the Sox try and sign him to be their 4th outfielder?

Yes

123 votes

No

8 votes

I'd like to know more about his condition

20 votes

151 votes | Poll has closed

My perfect off-season.

Schulz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:21:01 -0000

If everything this off-season happened the way i wanted it to, here's what would go down:

Sign Teixeira to play 1B. Whatever amount of money it takes- probably 8 years, $180MM or more ($22.5 AAV)
Trade Lowell, money, and a mid-level prospect to Cleveland for Kelly Shoppach. We now have our future catcher.
Sign Jason Varitek- 1 year, $7.5MM with an option for next year. Tek can platoon with Shoppach, show him the ropes, and retire.
Trade Lugo for Byrnes straight up. We kill two birds with one stone by dumping Lugo and getting a sold 4th OF.
Sign Ben Sheets, 2-3 years, $12.5MM AAV. If he's healthy, great. If not we waste some money, but he at least provides a nice bridge to Buccholz and Bowden, as those two aren't quite ready yet.

Ebbidabibbeda that's all folks! We get a great power bat long term, create the ideal situation at catcher, dump Lugo, and fortify our outfield and rotation.

Rotation: Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Sheets, Wakefield.

Lineup: Drew (RF), Pedroia (2B), Ortiz (DH), Teixeira (1B), Youkillis (3B), Bay (LF), Lowrie (SS), Tek/Shoppach (C), Jacoby (CF) [L,R,L,S,R,R,S,R,L]

Bench: Tek/Shoppach (C), Byrnes (OF), beyond that, fill the bench with some cheap FA infielders. I know they're out there. Theo is good at finding these guys. (e.g. Kotsay, Casey, Cora, Olerud, Pokey Reese- ha, remember them?)

Bullpen: Papelbon, Masterson, Ramirez, Okajima, Delcarmen, Lopez

Mets land K-Rod and Putz

Schulz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:12:59 -0000

Mets land K-Rod and Putz

Putz will set up for Rodriguez. These are big moves for the Mets, and if a team is losing to them going into the eighth, they should just give up. Most teams drool over a bullpen tandem like this one.