...it must be getting close to October.

Angel fan is out and agitated again.  No thought of the errors the Angels committed prior to the 9th inning, or the men left on base all night, or even Varitek's error to give the Angels the lead...No it must be a CONSPIRACY.  Again!!!  How does the Angel organization survive as a franchise when every umpire is obviously screwing them over so the Red Sox can win?

Angel fan, let me be the one to clarify some things.  Your team, the one that does no wrong, just lost to a guy who was on the DL for 3 months (Some AA team ripped Dice-K for 6 runs last week) and Paul Byrd a guy who was pitching to his son's junior high school team a month ago.  You lost to a team who did not play its two best hitters in either game.  You lost when the Red Sox gave you the lead when Varitek could not pick the ball up out of the dirt and you finally got a break.  And you lost to a team who hit ground outs after ground outs which your team could not handle.

But its the umpires who caused you to lose, right?  Is that the way we are going to play this off season?  Each season its something.  No "I hope they hit Papi in the head so he out of the series" by that class act Rev Halo?  No Papi uses steroids, when your only WS win was won with a guy who WAS busted for using PEDs in 2002?  We are going with umpire conspiracy this year?

I have no idea who is going to win an ALDS match up with the Red Sox and Angels, I will be cheering for the Sox, but I can guarentee If the Red Sox win the Angels must of been screwed by something, Papi's PEDs, Umpires, the ghost of Ted Williams, Bud Selig....something will cause them to lose.

Ahh, the bitterness, every year I forget why nobody likes Angel fan in LA, but come October, then I remember.  They are the most classless group.   Raider fan, you now have my apology.

Editor's Note: According to Yahoo's! Gordon Edes, the Red Sox have offered Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Ryan Westmoreland to Toronto for Roy Halladay. No word if those are the only three prospects involved, but the Jays have said before that teams inside the division will have to pay a "premium price" -- an extra player -- for Halladay.

Theo is by far the smartest GM in baseball.  I am convinced that he has played these negotiation perfectly.  Over-valuing Buchholz's potential, claiming he is untouchable, then turning around and offering him as the key piece to Toronto, Cleveland and San Diego to get an established All star caliber player who switches the pressure to Anaheim, NY and Tampa Bay.  Theo is playing chess while the rest of the AL GMs are playing checkers.

At worst, Theo has just made the Yankees and Angels nervous and given Toronto the leverage to demand Kyle Drabek, Dominic Brown and JA Happ and Cleveland almost a lock to trade Lee, probably to the NL.   If Boston gets Haladay everything changes for the playoffs and Lee becomes extremely important to LAA, LAD, Yankees, and Philly.   Even if Boston does not get Haladay, a very likely scenario is he goes to Philly, Lee possibly goes to LAD, both are out of the AL and neither is on the Angels, Rays or Yankees.  Win/Win.

Now I know that this is just Boras acting like a jackass to trying and bump the initial offer up from the Nats and I also know that this will never happen, but now can you see the logic of Dunn's contract being a priority for the Nats to move.  Boras claims he has Japanese teams interested in Strasburg and we all know he is willing to send his client(s) to an independent league as a negotiation tactic.  The economy does have an effect on all teams, even the Yankees are claiming they cannot add payroll.

So not to dreg up the old Johnson v. Dunn argument, but I do believe one of the pro-Johnson arguments, that he will cost less in terms of prospects, is not as persuasive any longer.  Nats could very well need to come up with $30 million for just Strasburg and probably another $5-10 million for the #10 pick (especially if its another Boras client).

Just as a secondary debate:  Boras is going to jack the amateur draftees slot price up so much with Strasburg, no small market team will ever be able to sign a 1-10 pick in the near future until MLB steps in and puts in a rookie salary cap similar to the NBA.  You know in 2010 Boras will have a client in the top 5 and claim that if Strasburg got this money, so should this client.  This is great for the Red Sox, bc talent will continue to slip into the late 1st round and players the Red Sox should never have a chance to draft/sign will be available, but this is horrible for MLB.  If you are the worst team in baseball and have a budget, you cannot trade your pick, you cannot sign the best talent...what do you do?

There is a rumor about Omar Vizquel being a possible option to play SS.  He was asked about his desire to play in Boston:

'It seems every time the Red Sox need a shortstop, my name gets brought up,' Vizquel said. 'Now, I don't think I'm in a good position to leave. We're winning here, we have a good thing going. I don't know if Texas would really let me go. We'll see. Maybe later in the season? Who knows. I don't want to close any doors.'

Vizquel went on and stated that he 'wishes the Red Sox made a play for him when they had a chance.'

If things dont pick up with Lugo, I say YES, YES and YES to Vizquel.  The guy is a beast in the field and I am more than willing to give up production at the plate to have this guy patrolling the middle infield.

Speculation is that the Nationals are going to start selling and Adam Dunn, Kearns and Johnson are available.  Watching the WBC this season I finally got to see Adam Dunn play.  Ill be the first to admit from what most people say about this guy I was pleasantly surprised to find out he is not just a beer league softball power hitter, but a solid hitter with a great approach.  Yes, I admit his fielding is suspect, but as a pure DH he has the potential to be very productive at Fenway.  IF, Papi is finished (not willing to say he is done just yet) the Red Sox do not need a 1B, they need a DH. 

Is Adam Dunn someone the Red Sox should consider?   If so what would it take to get him away from the Nationals?

Ive been reading a lot about this kid from San Diego State, the potential #1 pick in the up coming amateur draft, and how his comparable MLB player is Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.  Steven Strasburg has a 96 + FB (which he got to 104 once), slurvey-like curve and a circle change as well as a 2seam fb and rates very highly with the scouts.  Many think he could be the best pitcher in the Nationals rotation today, but is that actually a complement?

So my question:  IF the Red Sox had an option to get either of these players without giving up anything which would you choose? 

Justin Verlander or the young buck from San Diego State, Steven Strasburg?

Reading through some talk over at MLBTR two trade scenarios were discussed as possible fits for the Red Sox.  Now before everyone goes crazy this was speculation or rumor nothing solid, however some of the writers of the blog believe a good match up for the Padres would be the Red Sox in a Adrian Gonzalez deal.  AG is an excellent hitter with power and a lefty, and I would assume Youk would move to third and AG would be at 1st.

Knowing full well that some here would never trade Clay Buchholz (Lol some still think that trading him for Johan Santana would be a mistake...) would you deal some of the other prospects, Bowden, Bard, etc. and some of the regs like Delcarmen and Lowrie in a package to get Gonzales?  If you like this move what would you believe it would take to pry AG from the Padres?

Another possible trade talked about was a straight up trade Bowden for Brandon Wood of the Angels.  I know little about Wood other than the fact he is a young SS, who can hit and is on the top of the Angels prospect list.  He is currently blocked by Figgy at 3b and Aybar at SS.    Bowden is also similarly blocked by our surplus of arms, so Bowden for Wood?

Love to hear people's ideas and opinions on both rumors. 

Thanks

Red Sox farm system #7.

Top Prospects 1-10:

1) Matt Weiters - C - Baltimore

2) David Price - LHP - Tampa Bay

3) Jason Heyward - RF - Atlanta

4) Neftali Feliz - RHP - Texas

5) Travis Snider - OF - Toronto

6) Madison Bumgarner - LHP - San Fran

7) Lars Anderson - 1B - Boston

8) Buster Posey - C - San Fran

9) Tommy Hanson - RHP - Atlanta

10) Rich Porcello - RHP - Detroit

Top 10 farm systems:

1) Texas

2) Tampa Bay

3) Oakland

4) Atlanta

5) Cleveland

6) St. Louis

7) Boston

8) Florida

9) San Fran

10) Baltimore

Links - Top 100 Prospects   Top Farm Systems

If these are reasonable, future looks very bright for the Sox.

I might have to eat some crow on Lars....

http://eastwindupchronicle.com/some-tazawa-footage/

Over at East Windup Chronicle they posted a 5 min video of Junichi Tazawa game footage.  He throws his two best secondary pitches, the curveball + splitter thing.  You get a pretty good look at his pitching style.  He reminds me of Buchholz, relying on his curveball mostly, not very confindent in his fastball.  Tazawa does seem to have some potential.  I need to get to 75 words so, ignore this last sentence.  Thanks!

Just to get us through the 2 dead days, speculation thread.

Supposedly, Jake Peavy can be gotten for the right price.  I like this guy, he has guts, great stuff and is under contract for a 4 more years.

My question to everyone at OTM....

Would you approve of the Sox putting a package together with Buchholz + Bowden + a few more prospects to get Peavy?

Understand that I believe Lowrie, Lester, Masterson and Ellsbury are on the "Do not even Ask" list.

IMO Peavy is one of the few guys in MLB that I would dump the farm to get.  He is a young Roy Halladay and I believe would fit into the Red Sox clubhouse very nicely.

Anyone have thoughts on this?