Sox, Colon reach minor league deal

[BoSox21]

lol, the best of jacko

[ksushi]

Hey jacko, remember when I predicted after 06 that in 07 Josh Beckett would go 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and he went 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA and you never made good on that? Remember that? Cause I do.

[VA Sox Fan]

Always entertained by Jacko!

[Taliesin]

More fun w/ Jacko

Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch

I dont think this yankee team will start slow out of the gate, mostly because of the youth infusion in the rotation. Most older pitching staffs start out slow and pick up steam as the season goes along. While the younger staffs blow their load early. We'll have to see how we progress, but I'd expect us to be quick out of the gate and potentially fall back to the pack (depending on the Joba situation of course.)

Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch

Lester is by no means a hard throwing lefty. He is a lefty who was sitting 89-91 last yr, and living in Mass, I saw every one of his starts. He apparently threw high 90s in the minors, but that wasnt even close to what he truly threw in Fenway.

He reminds me a lot of Ted Lilly without the success at this point. Inconsistent FB command, a very nice curve that is inconsistently located, a cutter that is average at best and a show me changeup. If he truly does throw mid 90s and the chemo was the main detractor, then we should see this yr. But he wasnt throwing that hard before he started the chemo either and he still had the same problem. He doesnt command the zone well, and for a guy who doesnt have power stuff, that will be problematic.

Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch

I like the signing. This essentially assists us greatly vs lefties since Ensberg has historically mashed them. Last yr, even though he barely OPS'd .700 last yr overall, he OPS'd .830 vs lefties and in 06 when he OPS'd only .859 (well down from prior) he still OPS'd over 1.000 vs lefties. Put that with Duncan who crushed lefties last yr and historically through the minors, and you have two right handed power weapons that we didnt have for the full yr last yr. This is a good thing since we struggled vs lefties.

Our OPS vs Righties last yr was the best in the majors, but our OPS vs lefties was 60 points lower, good for 11th. Most of this was due to players like Abreu (.678 vs .857), Damon (.705 vs .762), and Matsui (.814 to .872). Also, Jason Giambi (even though he was dead on in splits last yr) has been historically terrible vs lefties (.843 to .970 for the past 3 yrs). This essentially guarantees that 2 of the above players sit against lefties, offering us a greater offensive capability. How will they both fit in? Well...

Ensberg plays 1b as does Duncan, but Duncan can also DH or play LF. Also a possibility is Ensberg playing 3b and ARod playing DH on occasion. Regardless, it offers another right handed bat coming off the bench late in games to face tough pen lefties too. I think this helps a lot.

I'm going w/ hubris. Lot's of smashing and mashing words abound. Blowing loads and the like. Also, hence is a favorite.

[CrespoBlows]

Originally Posted by ksushi

Hey jacko, remember when I predicted after 06 that in 07 Josh Beckett would go 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and he went 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA and you never made good on that? Remember that? Cause I do.

I remember him saying if his ERA was that low, you could control his sig.

Technically, he's right. His ERA wasn't that low.

[ksushi]

I remember him making specific prediction about Becketts ERA which was way off. I'm pretty sure I have that bet.

[Mr Crunchy]

the gift that keeps giving is jacko
you have to appreciate his courage,tenacity and ability to be wrong so very often.
i just wish i had those november-december 2004 predictions in front of me
1 of which indicated carl pavano would win 24 and randy johnson 30 and jarret wright 20?
priceless shit

[RobZombie]

Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bill

Yup. And Derek Lowe drank alcohol until 4:00 AM before starting a 1:00 PM Yankees game, too.

The home-road split is a small sample thus far. We'll watch it.

You know your worries about Clay getting drunk once or twice make a lot of sense considering your posts. Its pretty clear that you don't watch baseball, but just watch a few stats and think they tell you everything. You must have been the nerdy kid who was beaten up a lot. Rightfully So!.

Though I don't advocate alchoholism, I'd say that a 23 year old getting trashed at a Red Sox celebration isn't that big a deal.

From what happened with Lowe and his wife soon after he left Boston its pretty clear that he had major personal problems while in Boston. I'm sure that affected his performance. Additionally, there were rumors that Lowe was also doing cocaine, not just getting drunk once in a while.

For the record re: Clay Buchholtz.

-consistant command of fast-ball (a worry)

-one night of drunkeness after the Sox won (not a worry)

[One Red Seat]

I'm confused. Aren't you the guy that whined like diva when my posts got "personal" with you? Like I said back then, you are 100% hypocrite. You have no problem with posters getting personal in the discussion, just as long as you are the one doing it.

[One Red Seat]

Bartman, 4 hitless with 40 pitches (23 strikes) thrown last for Pawtucket.

[One Red Seat]

Yesterday in RI,

66-48 pitches-strikes, 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

If they were to gain some cushion in the WC race, should the team start considering a 6-man rotation to keep the arms fresh in October?

[BoSox21]

Originally Posted by One Red Seat

Yesterday in RI,

66-48 pitches-strikes, 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

If they were to gain some cushion in the WC race, should the team start considering a 6-man rotation to keep the arms fresh in October?

thats a debate id put on the backburner until we see how Beckett does

[BoSox21]

Fatty is being called up Saturday to pitch one of the doubleheader games

[rician blast]

Originally Posted by One Red Seat

Yesterday in RI,

66-48 pitches-strikes, 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K.

If they were to gain some cushion in the WC race, should the team start considering a 6-man rotation to keep the arms fresh in October?

IMO, absolutely...be it a specific 6 man rotation or simply spot starts to rest the key arms I think it's something Tito has done in the past and will do again this year.

[Mr Crunchy]

colon could be the diff between winning the title and not
lets face it
anything short of the world series is a let down for us based on what we opened the season with.
lester needs a rest,dice could use a rest as well
the pen should be rested for the most part but the starters,many who are hitting career highs in ip,could definetly use the rest for the october run and lets face it,i feel better in october with colon getting the ball than wakefield..wakefield is usefull in the warm months but once the air thins out and the cool evenings come he is shaky,plus the angels run like crazy and a knuckleball pitcher is easy to steal on.
Anyone else think the halo's peaked when they slapped the shit out us and ny in consecutive series a few weeks back?
i do
heres the deal
if we get a healthy and dedicated beckett we can handle anyone in 5 and if we get good efforts from lester and dice we can handle anyone period.
Now can Colon pitch in October?
I thought he had to be on the MLB roster on 8/31 to qualify.