Most of PA is saying,“But we offered him more money. How could he not take more money AND have the privilege of playing for the NYY?”

LSB seems to be organizing lynching parties. I hope Phil doesn’t play at TX next year – for Lee’s sake.

however getting Gonzalez was a super sweet move. That made the post season a huge plus. We are getting a guy who hits well at Petco, at the prime of his career.. That is itself a very smart move.

The Sox can’t win by hitting alone. We also got to stop the bleeding from the 7th inning onward.

I would like the Sox to see their team not built to compete against the MFYs but other teams like Rangers, Twinkies and A’s, who have their strengths and weaknesses.

TB is retooling and takes a big step back for now.
TOR has bolstered their pitching, but probably isn’t good enough to catch us.
BAL was the best team in our division after Showalter became manager. i wouldn’t be surprised if they took 3rd place.

If the Rangers freak out and sign Beltre we get their pick.

along with Sabathia have a good year, they should do okay, combine with their lineup. It may not be pretty, but they are going to be an easy opponent to defeat..

If Hughes is having a tough time and Pettitte is not doing well, or are injured, they are big, big trouble.

I pretty much have written off Burnett as a loss for 2011.

I would think the Royals are jumping because they should be able to get more for Greinke now, either from the Rangers, yankees or even Angels if they think now they can grab Greinke and take 1st back from Texas

lol

Oh and the “back” of the rotation is Oswalt and former WS MVP Cole Hamels. Just sayin…

But ultimately it’s still a short series, and that means there’s always a pretty significant chance at an upset. Remember that the Phillies already had Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels this year, and had a stronger lineup than they probably will have in 2011. And they still lost the NLCS to an offense that rated just above mediocre during the regular season.

Any team that makes it to the WS is going to be very good.

Utley and Ruiz are the only guys who are particularly good for their position that I can think of.

Ruiz – Great
Howard – Average (Don’t be fooled by the name/star power. .276/.353/.505 is not impressive from a first baseman. It’s Victor Martinez)
Utley – Fantastic
Rollins – Below average (Enjoy that .320 OBP out of the leadoff spot, Manuel)
Polanco – Below average
Ibanez – Decent
Victorino – Decent
Brown – Hasn’t proven self in the bigs yet.

Compared to us? We’ve got, I’d argue, Youk, Pedroia, and Gonzalez all in the Great range, Crawford good, and Drew/Cameron/Lowrie/Ellsbury all bouncing around decent-good depending on how they’re utilized. The only position the Sox are decidedly below average at offensively is Catcher.

  He seemed to like playing there in 2009, and he pitched alright at First Citizen’s ballpark. If he wanted some HOF stats, he should had gone back to Seattle, in which he pitched pretty well.

  However, I am glad we don’t have to see him in every series against the MFY, and not bite our fingernails as we see a Sept playoff race with Lee on the mound for the MFYs.

The two teams that are truly the big losers in this signing: the Braves and the Mets. The Rangers are in third, because their team doesn’t get better..

I would probably say the Phillies are of course the big winners, while the Sox and the Angels are tied in second place, because their seasons got alot easier.

Then he signed with them.

sacrifice him to the baseball gods?