Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
Where Sox are best/good: Ballpark, Rookie, Bryce Cox mention in top prospects, Offseason pitcher acquisition, Manny mentioned in Milestone article, #5 Outfield, Rotation.
Cold plate special: Lineup, Infield, Bullpen.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. We're all worried about it, from Red Sox fans to Yankee closers. Is ESPN giving us enough respect? Do we care?
"The Worldwide Leader in Sports" has shown a love-hate relationship with the Red Sox over the years. It's no secret that most of their coverage of baseball ends up about the Sox or Yankees, to the delight of us, if to the detriment of some other fan bases.
At first glance, it's not easy to argue with the cold plate assignments. I'm downright scared about our bullpen, depth be damned. The amount of guys in the bullpen who were well above-average relievers in 2006 is negative five. This is a group that could be good, but there's the qualifier right there. So I'm going to excuse Sean McAdam for now. Whoa whoa. Hold on there Klapisch. Your rationale?
Bob? Bob? Pay attention. Unless you count catchers: 2006 Detroit Tigers, 2004 Boston Red Sox (not even a catcher). These are just two recent teams who made it to the WS (hey, one of them won too) with no infield all-stars.
Your turn John Shea:
Aside from the Ramirez saga, most of the Red Sox's offseason headlines focused on their pursuit of Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and their prolonged contract dilemma with Drew. In the end, Drew is an expensive health concern. Mike Lowell knows his team tried to trade him to Colorado in the Helton deal. And Manny is, well, Manny.
From 2003 to 2005, the Red Sox appeared in three straight postseasons for the first time in club history. Their offense slipped in '06, and their postseason streak ended. We'll see if the bats tell a different story in '07.
The overall point here? It's bad writing, not a lack of respect. FJM takes an example of Klapisch's "writing" and burns it to the ground. In summation, ESPN is not a source for good analytical objective writing, and should be treated as such.
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Re: Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
Although Dayn Perry on Fox sports also suggests that Lugo is an upgrade. I just don't see it.
by mannys back on Feb 14, 2007 10:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Re: Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
by britsoxfan on Feb 14, 2007 10:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
Does anyone actually know what the "cold plate special" is supposed to be? Is it the worst at the topic? (Then how do the Sox win for worst offense?) Least improved? (Again, how do the Sox win for least improved infield?) What then?
Maybe it's just whatever the writer wants to talk about to get people reading. The Sox make it three times. Yanks make it once as do the Giants (look, Bonds!) and Clemens. Half the articles don't even have any cold thing listed.
The cold plate special on the Sox' infield spends half the time talking about pitchers. It fails to mention any 3B or 2B and the only 1B it mentions is someone who's never played for the red sox.
Blah blah blah. ESPN is the domain of hype and cliches.
by jlistf on Feb 14, 2007 3:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Re: Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
But Klapisch, Neyer, and Stark are all crap. And I've never heard of Shea.
by tommy.otm on Feb 15, 2007 12:31 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Re: Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN, and the Red Sox.
I liked Neyer's book, the one about the biggest blunders.
Klapisch and Stark are crap. And there's probably a reason most of us have never heard of Shea.
by Allen Chace on Feb 15, 2007 12:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

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