Andrew Bailey Traded To Red Sox For Josh Reddick

I’d say Angels and Tigers are both in a better situation to run for the WS than the Sox are right now, with the Tigers probably being the best option for Oswalt. In Detroit, Oswalt slots in as the #3 pitcher behind Verlander and Fister, and pitches in front of a great offense with an elite bullpen backing him up. If Detroit gets an Oswalt or a Kuroda, and can swing a trade for a real 3B like Headley, or even Youkilis/Middlebrooks, it would make them my favorite for the Series.

However, something tells me the list is shorter than TLDs list, and while Oswalt is a Texas boy, I’m not sure I see him signing with the Rangers even if they lose the Darvish negotiations.

Still have my fingers crossed that Boston makes sense for him… where’s that Theo Epstein Thanksgiving Sales Pitch when you need one? Did he leave the script behind for Ben?

And once again back to Bard. If they had just left him at the job he was supposed to take, closer, Melancon was the only move to make and that cost us 500k more. We’d have another $4.5M to spend because this move would be superfluous.

I for one do believe they have a hard cap. They’ve always been the ownership type to have their number and stick to their guns.

If you read here often you’ll know quickly that I think spending money on a reliever is the most dumb assed thing you could possibly do. Bard and Melancon would have costs us $500K more considering Lowrie and Punto swap that was required for it.

That would leave $5.5M more to go to pitching. Plus I think that Reddick was a perfectly adequate option for RF considering he costs us almost nothing. He held his own last year, the offense was one of the best in the league despite limited production from the corners, he plays excellent defense and his bat even on the lower end of what he can do is worth playing him. I felt that after Papi, there was a not a single move to be made on the lineup that wasn’t superfluous considering the team’s real need, starting pitching.

We never had a closer problem. We got Melatonin which was a shrewd move, who would’ve paired well with Bard. Now we get yet another bullpen arm, who regardless of value is simply unnecessary and takes away resources from our actual issues.

Now we still have an SP problem and have added an RF problem to the mix.

And with a calculator you can figure out what they already have spent. We know they want to stay close to the luxury tax and everything they’ve done and said screams to me ‘tempering expectations’. The number of times they’ve said they want to stay close, that they initially said they felt Melancon can close, that they’re saying now that they think their other RF (Sweeney needs help there) will be internal, that all tells me we don’t have much.

They’re an organization that has chosen a number and stuck with it, in contracts, payroll, you name it. With what they’ve said and done, I think they’re approaching that number.

It does start in 2012, right?

So, really… we need to hope the Yankees backslide, that ARod’s surgeries in Germany don’t bring him back healthy enough to contribute a lot, that they stick by Jeter as he finally fades, that Mariano is no longer invincible and Soriano has a mental meltdown…

I mean, really, unless we want it to be a one game crapshoot in the first round, winning the division is a lot more important now.

We were a great offense without a big bat in RF last year, with Youk missing significant time (hope he stays healthy), with Pedroia not at the top of his game offensively, with Crawford a black hole, Salty/Tek at C and with Gonzo still lacking power.

Good defense in RF, with another year’s rehab on Gonzo’s shoulder, Crawford being “average” (if not better), Youk staying healthy (please, God), Lavarnway catching by the All-Star Break, and Pedey in MVP form? We won’t even notice the bat in RF as long as we get good defense.

with little production coming from RF. I’m spit balling here, but I don’t think the loss of Reddick is going to make or break the Sox. Sweeney/Kalish in RF suits me just fine. Kalish is younger, and has more upside than Reddick. This trade was a coup for Cherington, and the Sox.

I was not impressed with his defense in RF. Extended innings for starters or worn out relievers.

We have Kalish, Sweeney and Darnell. That’s 3 guys who can play RF.

managed a 109 OPS+ last year in RF, the majority of that coming from a hot start, Ryan Sweeney just by his little self managed a 91 OPS+. Even with just Sweeney penciled in there (which I doubt will be the case) its not a huge drop-off

How he flies all out at the ball (though Kalish clearly gets better reads) and ends up in a collision with someone like Beltre?

Wasn’t Ells knocked as a soft player after losing 2010 to injury?

I don’t know… I thought Ells looked pretty damn good in 2011. Hopefully, we’ve got Kalish in the fold early in 2012 and playing as well, though in a much different offensive role.

he’s fine at what he does- which is hitting lefties and playing corner outfield positions. He’s not good, but he serves a purpose and is essentially free.

We had a top offense with Salty in the line up, along with the ghost of Jason Varitek. Frankly, I think we’re probably in better shape at C in 2012 than we were last year, and I love the captain.

If Lavarnway continues to develop, and comes up during the season, we might have even more offense in 2012.

Our real issue is SPs. Otherwise, I feel good about this team.