Red Sox just got alot better

W

warrior

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The Red Sox have acquired All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres for three minor league prospects

Great player, I doubt many teams improve as much as the Red Sox just did.
 
Gonzalez signing means Beltre is gone, so from a statistical standpoint it's kind of a wash. The Red Sox have far more concerns about the outfield after last year's debacle, because Pedroia and Youk will be back from injuries.

I think Sox are more into Werth than Crawford, from a money standpoint. If Ellsbury regains form, they already have their speedster.

But if their starting pitching stays healthy... man they could be good.
 
I do not agree that Gonzales and Beltre are equals. Gonzo has been playing in a notorious pitchers park in San Diego his entire career. Beltre has been mediocre most of his career with the exception of 2 years, one of them being last year when he utilized the Green Monster very well to have a career year. The addition of Gonzo and then either Werth or Crawford will be a huge help for the Red Sox. However getting their players back healthy this next year will be even bigger for them. The only thing they need now is some middle relief and I believe they could very easily be the best team baseball has seen in a long time.
 
Werth to Wash. I think Crawford is the interesting one. Bos, NYY and the Angels all figure to be involved.
 
Sox would eventually have to part ways with Nava, Kalish, Reddick, or other outfield prospects in order to make room for Crawford. The only reason they should make a push for Carl is if Ellsbury is still hurt, and that appears to be the case right now.

Crawford is only good for "peak" money for 2-3 more years. I think it would benefit Boston to hold off on this contract race, go with another season of a makeshift outfield, and figure out which prospect(s) is/are going to take over and become an every day starter.

Plus, if the pitching is back up to par, there's no need to throw a lot of money at an outfielder.
 
Well I hope the Red Sox pass on him. I agree that they will be very competitive if their pitching (and other injuries) return to form, but their offense only improves marginally with adding A Gon but subtracting Victor and Beltre. They could win, but still need to work on the offense imo.
 
Yankees will now go all out to get Lee. Bye bye Rangers.
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This is fine for the Rangers. They can go get another starter, Adrian Beltre, and move Michael Young to DH.
 
i'm really having a hard time w/ the crawford signing....way too high. I guess the Bosox think he was the missing piece.

In one way, that LF in the Fens doesn't maximize his ability (to chase down fly balls) but i guess they do play 81 on the road too. I just don't understand that kind of $ for him.
 
They had such a horrible time with the outfield last year, they figured this might solve a lot of the problems.

Ellsbury is capable of playing CF when he's not hurt. I still think they're going to have to trade all three OF prospects now just to have Crawford around for more than a year.

They should have spent money on a utility 2B/SS with all the issues they've had there. Bill Hall isn't the answer.
 
Crawford was probably given too many years, but the Red Sox management has been stat-hungry for awhile now, and there's no more popular stat right now than VORP (value over replacement player) and WAR (wins over average replacement). Crawford has been in the top 10 in those categories for a long time, and considering he's only 28, he can probably turn at least four or five more quality years.

If he has 5 tools, I would say at least 2 of them are elite-level (defense, speed), even though the ability to get on base isn't one of them.
 
But he still can get on base, which is an improvement over the dead weight they had playing OF last year. They had 6 guys with OBP's under .316. Granted, one of them was Ellsbury with his injury.

My issue with Crawford is what the Sox are going to have to part ways with either this year or next. The OF prospects were practically the "gem" of their system, and they're all going to leave because they won't be able to play in Boston.
 
How does this affect outfield prospects? JD Drew and Mike Cameron are both probably gone, come 2012, and Ellsbury is more useful as a trading chip than anything else right now.

Considering how few minor leaguers pan out in general, that's up to two spots that could be open next year for some combination of Kalish/Reddick/Westmoreland/Lin/Nava. That's plenty. If anything, it means Lars Anderson is about one draft away from being shipped off.
 
Red Sox added Bobby Jenks this week, too.

They already had a nice 8th inning-9th inning combo in Bard and Papelbon. I wonder how Francona will incorporate Jenks into their bullpen. Or, I wonder if Epstein will dangle Bard as trade-bait. Bard has legit closer stuff.
 
Yeah Pap's expiring contract is something they need to get rid of. He made it clear a few years ago that he didn't intend to spend his whole career in Boston if they didn't show him "Mariano" love. His WHIP was the highest since his rookie year.

Bard will do fine in that role, although probably not as dependable as Pap a few years ago.
 
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