Bloody Sox Laundry - 9/15/09

Back to baseball today - the next three weeks are basically playoff games. Hopefully, Commander Kick @$$, Buchho, Wake, Dice-K, and... hmm, Lester doesn't have a nickname. Odd; this needs to be looked into. Anyways, it's time for the pitching to lock it down and get us to the promised land. In other news...

Today's a good day for a rant:

Red Sox to take Dice-K for another spin - Yahoo! Sports
I realize that we're supposed to support Yahoo, what with the partnership and all, but this is just wrong.

Stop counting the posting fee into Dice-K's contract, for one. That was less about him than it was about showing the Japanese teams and players how much the organization values them. Sure, the Tazawa signing is going to hurt the relationship with the teams, but I'd imagine that having paid a team $50+ million just to talk to one of their players bought us a little slack.

Second, stop suggesting trades. He's not that expensive, and is likely a pretty good pitcher. Even if you account for the great luck he had in 2008, that was still a decent season. Combine that with 2007, and we should feel confident in Dice-K to be at least our #4 pitcher, if he's healthy, especially given that he's still adjusting to the American game. Hopefully, he's learned to pitch in the zone, and not to it, like he was doing earlier this season.

Also, no one expected Dice-K to be an ace. He was great against what is likely the equivalent of AAA, with a different ball and strike zone as well. Of course, this writer thinks that Grienke, he of 8.3 WAR, should have competition for the AL Cy Young this season, so there's that.

After the jump, some potential moves to be made this offseason, and an explanation of a couple of stats.

Olney: Prince Fielder in Boston? - MLB Daily Dish
Doesn't make much sense to me - he'd only be a 1B/DH, and we don't have a need for another player at either position.

Braves forced to move Javier Vazquez? - MLB Daily Dish
We'll take him! I love that Eli thinks he'd be a back of the rotation starter in Milwaukee.

The Rise Of Center Field - FanGraphs Baseball
So, here's your reason for why Ells' UZR has dropped. Easy to forget how many great players are in this league.

WAR vs. Win Shares - The Hardball Times
Just in case some of you feel the urge to loyally stick to Bill James' brainchild, here's a comparison.