Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump... Where Garza is still in play

Every morning we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The Detroit Tigers have emerged as a suitor for Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza.

Interest in Garza has picked up recently, major league sources say, and the Tigers are involved. Multiple teams are pursuing Garza aggressively, increasing the odds that the right-handed starter will be dealt before spring training.

The Boston Red Sox hope to add at least one starting pitcher and are fond of Garza, but they don’t have active trade talks with the Cubs right now, according to one source. It’s unclear if Boston has the prospects to swing a deal for Garza after using so much minor league depth to acquire relievers Andrew Bailey and Mark Melancon.

Fox Sports - Sources: Tigers join pursuit of Cubs’ Garza

It seems like everybody nowadays wants Garza, including everyone in the AL East; except his former team. 

In a fair and just world, the Cubs would have to move him to Boston for a couple spare parts.  You know, because they stole their President of Baseball Operations from us and have yet to give us anything in return.  At the minimum, Epstein should be worth a top-5 prospect or a couple top-10, which I'm sure the Cubs are trying to get for Garza (whether he's worth that is another discussion).  So the Red Sox shouldn't have to worry about having to part with one of the top few remaining prospects they have left.  Epstein should be the check in that box.

But it's not a fair world.  And the Cubs have been taking a huge dump on the Sox ever since they agreed to let Epstein move to Chicago.  It's apparent that once the Cubs get their team and farm system set for 2012, they'll figure out who doesn't fit into their long-term plans and flip them over to Boston.  We'll sit there and take it.  And to think, it wasn't that long ago people assumed the Cubs may have to part with Sterling Castro or Garza to bring Esptein onboard.  That the Sox ownership group was too strong and savvy for the Cubs.  Tom Ricketts is probably still laughing at that one.

So now we're left to watch the Cubs trade Garza back to the AL, where he'll surely dominate the Red Sox once again.  I just ask that they keep him out of the East.  If you can't give us anything for Epstein, you could at least do this small favor.

Rest of the links, or, Rich Hill links:

Herald - Mending Hill has high hopes for Sox bullpen | WEEI - Sources: Hill inks minor league deal with Sox | Globe - Red Sox sign Hill to minor league deal

Your Morning Dump... Where the pitching staff is taking shape

Every morning we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Andrew Bailey’s arrival has started a positive domino effect on the rest of the pitching staff.

Newly acquired reliever Mark Melancon doesn’t have to deal with the pressure of closing in Boston and instead can become an eighth-inning arm.

In turn, Daniel Bard can more easily shift into the rotation rather than be held in reserve as a possible closer. And Alfredo Aceves can remain a swing man, slip into the rotation or maybe even assume a late-innings relief role.

Bailey makes those options much more palatable. But even with the back of the bullpen and the top of the rotation more clearly defined, the Red Sox still will be in the market for another starter this winter, particularly if they want to keep Aceves in the bullpen, where he was so valuable last season.

Herald - Deal puts staff ahead in count

Melancon + Bailey ≠ Bard + Papelbon

Let's get that out of the way now and temper our expectations.  Bailey is a good, young closer, but he's not elite.  He went from being dominant in 2009 and 2010 to being just plain good in 2011.  In fact, he gave up 34 hits in 41 innings last year (34 in 49 the year prior, and 49 in 83 in '09), compared to 50 surrendered by Papelbon through 64 innings.   Taking it a step further, Bailey's WHIP last season was 1.10 and Papelbon's was 0.93.  So if you were one of those people that were ripping their hair out because Papelbon always seemed to have a runner or two on base, well, you may want to prepare yourself for more of the same.

But bringing in Bailey for what seems like a pretty low price is a monumental stepping stone for the pitching staff as a whole.  Bard can now move to the rotation without having to worry about being plugged into the closer role.  Melancon's role is now clearly defined.  The last pieces are Aceves and the 5th spot in the rotation.

Aceves can prepare to start and Cherington can look for another starter or two.  You know, that whole depth thing we keep hearing about.  And if they do bring in another starter (or two), Aceves is going to be the long man in the bullpen anyway, so getting his arm strength up and preparing to go 5-6-7 innings is in everybody's best interest. 

Roy Oswalt makes too much sense not to bring aboard.  He's the Sox dream free agent: veteran with somethign to prove, willing to sign a one-year deal to prove it.  I could be very happy with a rotation of Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Oswalt and Bard. 

Rest of the links:

Herald - Ryan Kalish suffers setback | Globe - Kalish won’t be ready to start | PawSox select new broadcaster | Valentine set to meet with more players | WEEI - Still the strength: Taking stock of Red Sox 2012 lineup | ESPN - Valentine: Melancon, Bailey fill a big void

Salty is a good guy

Move over MVP, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger awards, Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been awarded something much more prestigious than those piece of crap honors. Salty has been awarded the "Good Guy Award" by the Boston BBWAA.

Saltalamacchia, who hit 16 homers with 23 doubles last season after taking over as the Red Sox’ primary catcher, has been named winner of The Good Guy Award by members of the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The dinner is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Westin Copley Hotel.

Additionally, veteran Associated Press baseball writer Howard Ulman will receive the annual Dave O’Hara award for reporting excellence through the years.

Bravo! They said he couldn't do it and he proved everyone wrong. Congrats, Salty, cherish it forever.

Your Morning Dump...where we wonder who will be the starting Right Fielder?

Every morning we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

While the trade for closer Andrew Bailey helped shore up the Red Sox bullpen, it did little to help clear up the team’s outfield mix . .  even with the acquisition of Ryan Sweeney in the deal.

Sweeney, like Reddick, is a left-handed hitter who is seen by many as a fourth, or even fifth, outfielder rather than a starter.

He appeared in 108 games overall in 2011 and played all three outfield positions -- 41 games in left, 34 in center and 23 in right. In 264 at-bats, he hit .265 with 1 home run, 25 RBI, a .346 OBP, and .341 slugging percentage.

Sweeney, who turns 27 in February, was a second-round pick by the White Sox out of Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2003. He made his big-league debut Sept. 1, 2006. He was traded by Chicago to Oakland in January 2008 with Fautino De Los Santos and Gio Gonzalez for Nick Swisher. In 2009, he saw the most playing time of his six-season career, appearing in 134 games (121 starts), with 484 at-bats, playing all three outfield positions, batting .293,  with a career-high 6 home runs, 53 RBI, and .755 OPS..

CSNNE: Trade doesn't clear up outfield situation

It's sad to see Reddick go. It was fun watching him this season and was looking forward to see him continue to develop and get more playing time in right next season. It sucks seeing him go but this trade was essential to put together the back end of the bullpen. It prevents the Sox for using the dreaded words "closer by commitee" again.

Ryan Sweeney is a quality defensive outfielder, he hasn't made an error the past two seasons, but he's another left handed hitter that's joining a team that's already lefty heavy. Darnell McDonald is the only righty we have but he hit .189 (!!!) against right handers last season.

Maureen Mullen brought up Mike Aviles, who spent time in Puerto Rico to play the outfield, and prospect Che-Hsuan Lin as possibilities to help bring some balance into the lineup. She also mentioned that Ryan Kalish is still recovering from neck surgery and isn't being considered for the start of the year. So the answer doesn't appear to be in house.

The free agents are slim picking but there are some short term answers. Ryan Ludwick is still available and although he hasn't looked nowhere near as good as he did in 2008 when he was protected by the almighty Albert Pujols, but with a quality lineup that the Sox have, it's not a bad idea to take a shot with him for one year. Ryan Spilborghs is another righty who had a tough 2011 season (.210/3/22 in 223 PAs) but falls under the same category of "cheap right handed batter".  It's not the ideal group of guys that you'd want but the Sox are being meticulous with every move they make.

So what will the Sox do? Best bet: sign Ludwick to a 1 year/ $2.5 million deal and platoon him with Sweeney until Kalish is fully healthy and gets some reps in AAA. Then they call him up and rotate between them and someone will come up with a clever name for the three Ryan's.

Rest of the Links: Globe:Sox get their closer|Trade Reddick to A's|Bailey a "top quality closer"|Herald:Sox trade for A's closer Bailey|CSNNE:Bailey fills big hole, creates options for Sox|Trade doesn't clear up Sox outfield situation|WEEI:Bailey insists he's healthy and strong|Getting their thoughts for Bailey

Red Sox acquire closer Andrew Bailey

There's a new closer in town, and he drinks something a tad sweeter than Bud Light.

That's right, Andrew Bailey is finally headed east to Boston. Per Buster Olney, the Sox give up RF Josh Reddick and prospects Miles Head (a third baseman) and Raul Alcantera (a pitcher). The Sox also get outfielder Ryan Sweeney in return, who could factor into the right field equation this year.

Looks like a great deal to me. I liked Reddick, but Bailey's been a really good closer. Given our needs, that's a reasonable price to give up. Bailey's first two years featured sub 2.00 ERAs and sub 1.00 WHIPs. He slipped a bit last year, but let's ignore that and keep being happy for now.

@RedSoxStats tweeted that the two prospects given up weren't even top 15-rated, so it wasn't a lot of value. Even if they do pan out, they're a ways away, and obviously, the Red Sox are in win-now mode.

This move fits the rest of Cherington's offseason goals as well. It doesn't require us to take on salary. It doesn't require us to give up prospects of significance. And it allows us to move Aceves and Bard into the rotation with a bit more confidence -- which keeps us from having to go spend big on an innings-eating starter. 

Sweeney is a bit of a spare part. His numbers won't wow you, but he's at least a big-league outfielder, so he could fit in the Darnell McDonald role should Cherington decide Ryan Kalish is ready.

Red Sox have top-10 rotation? Bahahaha!

Know how I know it's a slow news week around Fenway Park?  Joe McDonald of ESPN Boston is trying to drum up a conversation around whether the Red Sox rotation (which currently consists of 2 1/2 pitchers) should be considered top 10 in the majors.

If last season caused you to drink so much that the last five months have been wiped completely from your mind, McDonald gives you the current state of the Sox rotation.  It ain't pretty:

At this point only Jon Lester and Josh Beckett have defining roles. Clay Buchholz still has to prove that his lower back is healthy and he’s ready to pitch. Who knows what Daisuke Matsuzaka will add after the right-hander missed the majority of last season after having Tommy John surgery. He’s scheduled to start throwing off a mound in spring training but it’s unclear when he’ll be ready for the rotation. Right-hander John Lackey will miss the entire 2012 season after having the same procedure done.

Plus, Bard and Aceves, assuming they can get comfortable as starters.  McDonald also throws out the same names we've been hearing the past few weeks as potential free agent signings: Saunders, Oswalt, Kuroda and Edwin Jackson.  Plus the "potential" return of Wakefield (at this point they might as well sign him to a one year deal, get on their knees and make sacrificial offerings to Father Time). 

If I was controlling John Henry's bank account, I'd throw some money at Oswalt and Jackson and try to get them to agree to one-year deals.  Actually, if I was controlling Henry's bank account signing pitchers would probably be one of the last things I'd do, trailing things like purchasing private islands and exotic sports cars.  But once those were secured, I'd go get some arms.  Because right now, our plan is to cross our fingers and hope for the best. 

And if you didn't know, Jose Bautista feasts on crossed fingers.

Yankees make a dumb move

It's about time someone took Okajima off of our hands. The Yankees have signed Okajima to a minor-league deal after he spent most of 2011 with the Pawtucket Red Sox.

CSNNE:

The Yanks signed Okajima, who turned 36 on Christmas Day, to a minor-league contract Wednesday with an invitation to spring training. As you can by clicking the link, it's been a while since Okajima was an effective big-league reliever; we'll find out if a few months if he can recapture the magic that made him so effective in his first few seasons with the Sox.

This may be, what Scott is calling, New York's retaliation to the Sox scoring on Aceves. The only difference is, Aceves didn't suck in his last 2 seasons with the Yankees. This makes me nothing but happy, because Okajima is finally gone, and the Yankees just got that much worse (assuming they are dumb enough to add him to their roster after spring training).  He has nothing left in the tank and he can consider himself lucky that he has another shot to play in the big leagues with a playoff contender. I just wish the Yankees blew more than a minor-league contract on him. If it doesn't work out, Aaron thinks there may be a shot he can land an usher position at the stadium. I would take it if I were him.

Your Morning Dump...where Cherington is looking for value in pitchers

But Cherington also continues to focus on identifying “guys that look like they have a couple of hickeys.”

In other words, he’s seeking pitchers with undervalued assets who ultimately will exceed expectations.

“If we do our jobs well, the high-impact pitcher isn’t necessarily someone that looks like a high-impact pitcher right now,” Cherington said recently.

The blueprint is right-hander Alfredo Aceves, a footnote when the Sox signed him to a split contract less than a week before spring training. The Yankees had discarded him because of back problems and a broken collarbone suffered in a November 2010 bike injury.

Herald | Red Sox still avoiding major arms race

Shocking, a Red Sox GM is more interested in finding good value than in just getting someone reliable.

That snark aside, I think it's wise that the Sox have held out on spending big money this offseason. People seem mad about it, but what do you want? We already had a Yankees-level spending spree last year in both prospects and money. We can't do it every year.

Of course, the Aceveses of the world are hard to land successfully. For every Aceves, there's a Gagne, Smoltz, or Penny. 

The good news is, it doesn't sound like we're really in need of starting pitching if both Aceves and Bard can be stretched out. We'll need depth, but it's not like we really need to spend eight figures on somebody.

Globe | Ask Nick: Can Red Sox deal for Matt Garza? 

Yorvit Torrealba didn't think this one through

 

Yorvit Torrealba simply doesn't give a damn what the umpire has to say after throwing him out in a Venezuelan baseball league game. The face shove resulted in a vacation before spring training, or what they call it, a 66 game suspension. The Rangers catcher did offer an apology after the incident.

Your Morning Dump... Where McClure is ready to prep Bard, Aceves

Every morning we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

One of the challenges ahead for new Red Sox pitching coach Bob McClure will be to figure out the composition of his staff. That includes the roles that will be assigned to Daniel Bard and Alfredo Aceves -- whether they end up in the rotation or in the bullpen, and how they start in spring training.

"No. 1, however it turns out for either one of them or if there's more than a couple of them, by starting them out as starters in spring training, possibly working on a third pitch, which may be important," McClure said. "Usually if you're a starter trying to get three times through the lineup, is basically if they go into spring training and learn working as starters. It’s only going to make them better pitchers pitching them three to four to five innings and if they wind up going back to the bullpen then they go back to the bullpen."

CSNNE - Sox need to put pitching pieces in right order

McClure makes a lot of sense here.  Whether it actually plays out the way he describes in real-life, we'll probably see soon enough.  But when you take a guy from the bullpen, and throw him into Spring Training as a starter, he's going to work on his 'lesser' pitches, and he's going to focus on building up his arm strength and repeating his delivery.  These are all things that, in theory, will make a pitcher better. 

The concern here is that you don't spend enough time fine-tuning your pitches that make you a successful relief pitcher.  That's a much bigger concern for Bard than Aceves.  That all said, by the time we actually get to Spring Training, all of this could be moot. 

By then we should have to know how our rotation is going to shake out.  It's always possible it changes, but if we don't add any other pieces by Spring, then Bard and Aceves are in.  Then they can focus on truly becoming starters, and not have it in the back of their heads that they'll probably get shifted back to the pen.  But I can't see the Red Sox not bringing in any other starters.  Especially when Cherington discusses the need for starting pitching 'quality depth'. 

We're not the Pirates.  We don't have the luxury to take a flier on 40% of our rotation, cross our fingers and hope they pan out.  Especially when there is no one to back-fill their roles in the bullpen.  The Red Sox will add at least two more pitches by the time this offseason is through.  Who those players are, and what roles they'll be signed to play are to be determined.

Rest of the links:

CSNNE - McClure heeds Mom's advice, takes Sox job | Bobby V preaches conditioning | Herald - Checking the crystal ball on the Red Sox’ 2012 lineup | Mike Boyle a good fit with Sox | WEEI - Red Sox pitching coach Bob McClure on The Big Show: ‘Kick ass and win’ | Red Sox announce 2012 coaching staff | NESN - Bob McClure's Conversion From Reliever to Starter During Playing Days Could Ease Daniel Bard's Transition