Sox Looking for Another Shortstop, Beckett in the Clubhouse and More Sox Notes
by Randy Booth on Mar 25, 2010 8:45 PM EDT
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PrintThe Globe's Peter Abraham posted a blog entry tonight and he's got a few interesting snippets contained within it.
It seems the Red Sox are looking for a backup shortstop. Or, at least, a body that can play shortstop decently in case problems arise with Marco Scutaro:
* Our Nick Cafardo keeps hearing that the Red Sox are looking under every rock for a shortstop, if only to have some depth at the position. Reporters have literally not seen Jed Lowrie since March 11. His illness, which proved to be mono, has knocked him way out of the team's plans. Jed Clampett has a better chance of getting in a game at this point.
I forgot about Lowrie. I really did. Kind of sad, huh? Nevertheless, he's not winning a job out of spring training anyway. I'm sure the Red Sox wished right now Tug Hulett could play some shortstop, but the best he's going to give the Sox is some second base depth. Hulett has played 95 games at shortstop in his minor league career, but it seems obvious that he wouldn't be able to do much there at the big league level. A stopgap, sure, but probably nothing more. (Just in case you forgot, the Dodgers signed Nick Green.)
Abraham also dropped a few lines about Josh Beckett:
* I kept hearing I wouldn't like Josh Beckett. But I kind of do. I'll say this for him: Other than Tim Wakefield, I don't think any other pitcher on the staff takes as much time to hang with the position players as he does. The Sox have to take the emotions out of their decision whether to sign him to an extension. But make no mistake, Beckett is as much a leader of that team as anybody in that clubhouse.
I'm curious why Abraham, or any member of the media, wouldn't like Beckett. Has anyone heard of off-the-field and in-the-clubhouse problems with Beckett? If there are problems, I don't think they've ever squeaked out from the media. (Which brings up a good point: if the relationship between Beckett and the Sox starts to fizzle, do you think we'd see some, "One time Beckett did this..."? Of course.)
For some reason, I really don't see the Red Sox re-signing Beckett. Obviously a lot depends on how Beckett performs this year, but I'd put it at 35 percent the Sox re-sign Beckett. This could change with one great season, but so will his price tag. This is all for another post on another day, but paint my skeptical at the moment that Beckett will be back. He's going to want more years than the Sox want to dish out and I just envision another moment where the Sox say, "OK, moving on."
I'll stop myself now from getting ahead of myself. Is it the regular season yet?
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Does Bill Hall not play SS anymore?
I mean I feel okay entering the season with what we got and Scutaro looks strong anyways.
As for Beckett, I do see him getting resigned at a Club friendly deal around 16 mill per.
"Hating the New York Yankees is as American as apple pie, unwed mothers and cheating on your income tax." -- Mike Royko
He can
But I think they want him elsewhere on the field.
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He hasn't played there much lately
And when they tried him there in Spring I guess he didn’t impress anyone with range if they’re still looking for insurance.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Mar 25, 2010 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions
I know Beckett is obsessive about his uniform
He secretly marks his shirt so he’ll know if the clubhouse guys messed with his stuff.
I’d put it at 85% the Sox sign Beckett. No other front line starters are going to be available for a while. We know what we have, we like what we have, he’s not looking for much more than Lackey and he’s willing to include language to protect the team in case his shoulder becomes a problem.
Scratch that. I’m going to put it at 90%. The 10% is scenarios where Beckett gets hurt or doesn’t pitch well. I’m certain they can come to an agreement. By all reports they aren’t far away at all. I think it happens in the next month or two, in fact.
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I expect them to have something by opening day
wouldn’t that be a nice announcement for his first start? All reports were that talks are going well and that they were just hammering out medical language (which sounds even more positive to me)
I'm not worried about a backup SS
what are the chances scooter gets hurt in the first month of the season before Lowrie is back from mono?
I don’t like the chance of signing Beckett back. He is going to want something similar to Lackey and I don’t think we have the money for another aging pitcher.
Lowrie might be gone more than a month
He’s completely off the radar right now.
Hall or Hulet can play there in an emergency… but even if they wont say it, I think we’re looking at the possibility Pedroia shifts over in a pinch early season. They really don’t want to do that, though, thus the search for a SS.
One more good reason not to drag Lowell’s corpse around on the roster (and further evidence he might get the axe). Varitek, Hall, Hermida and a SS make a nice bench.
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Beckett's a jerk to the media from what I can tell
other than that seems like a good guy.
Moderator-so watch it.
Thinking of the Heidi thing.
“Already answered that one Heidi, Jeesh….” — Media Lord Beckett
"Hating the New York Yankees is as American as apple pie, unwed mothers and cheating on your income tax." -- Mike Royko
by sox-inda-south on Mar 26, 2010 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions
I think we'll probably bring one of Beckett and V-Mart back and let the other one walk
And if I had to bet on it now, I’d put money on Beckett staying and Martinez going.
DFA Beckett
by South Coast Ghost on Mar 25, 2010 10:16 PM EDT reply actions
I don't see Martinez going at all.
We have no replacement.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Mar 25, 2010 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions
It all depends on how 2010 goes
VMart is either going to be an obvious re-sign or an obvious let go. All things considered, I’d much rather give Beckett a Lackey deal than give a 32 year old catcher a big money, long term deal. Rather re-sign Beckett and trade for a young catcher. We should be loaded with MLB ready OFs by then. Ellsbury, Drew and Cameron will be returning and Reddick and Kalish should both be ready and blocked. We’ll certainly have the ammo. Might be time to bite the bullet rather than risk having VMart as a pretty mediocre 1B for big money and multiple years.
There aren’t too many worse bets than giving a 30 year old pitcher with a shoulder issue a 5 year deal, but giving a 32 year old “catcher” a 4 or 5 year deal is probably one of them.
With Ortiz, Lowell, Beltre and Lugo coming off the books (~$24mm) and clearing Hall’s cap space we can certainly afford both Beckett and VMart, even with Paps getting a raise.
Bullpen Banter
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once again, per previous threads
I disagree. Ben puts it succinctly – we have no replacement.
‘32 year old catcher’ is misleading. He didn’t start catching until the minors and the total number of professional games he has caught is more akin to a 29-30 yr old.
Catchers that can hit as well as VMart are extremely rare. He already is an obvious re-sign, imho.
Alternatively – can you name some ‘young catcher’ for whom we could/should trade?
It all hinges on whether VMart stays healthy and is a good enough defender for our purposes, IMO.
As for some catchers we could pursue as alternatives, Chris Iannetta and Mike Napoli immediately come to mind, or we could revisit Miguel Montero, Teagarden or Saltalamacchia. There aren’t a bunch of good options available, no, but in my scenario VMart is not a great option and wants a lot of money and years.
Bullpen Banter
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Peter Abraham
used to be a Yankee beat writer, so I’m guessing that people in NY who have never met Beckett told Peter that he would not like him.
I like what I've seen of Tug a lot
he seems to play hard and just be having a lot of fun doing it (almost pedroia-ish). I like that. I wish he played a position where he’d have a chance of logging some innings, but that’s not second base.
He's the Nick Green of 2B.
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in that case
maybe he should be in the battle for the bullpen?
I still think we should’ve re-signed Green as a reliever.
Injured
and terrible.
He’s a never was. He debuted as a 27 year old rookie after an unspectacular minor league career, had one good high BABIP fueled season and then sucked and has been injured since. Starting the season on the DL.
Bullpen Banter
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I dunno, if he were healthy
he’d be a good choice, i mean we’re talking about a backup ss, not a starter. Even if his bat isn’t great, his defense has been, by all accounts good.
Of course that’s moot since he had TJ surgery, is injured, and hasn’t proven after surgery he has the arm to play short.
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