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Theo speaks on offseason, Drew, and philosophies 10.22.09 at 8:50 am ET
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Red Sox Wrap Up Baseball

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein joined the Dennis & Callahan Show Thursday morning and touched on his team’s approach to the offseason, the value of J.D. Drew, the future of Daniel Bard as a closer. and some of the organization’s philosophies. 

Here is what he said (click here to listen)…

(On watching the postseason) It does kind of remind you that the offseason is almost upon us and there are some long phone calls. But I’ll tell you what, it’s hard watching games when you’re rooting for both teams to lose.

If we had to make long-term decisions the next day we probably wouldn’t make great decisions. 

A lot of time if you focus on why you lost a certain playoff series, and what went wrong in that series, you’re not going to make quality decisions. If you look at the season as a whole, what went wrong and what went right in the season and take a look at the big picture and where you are as an organization, where you are in your long-term plans you make better decisions. It’s not as much fun. Having that visceral reaction is sometimes more satisfying, but you have to take a step back.

If you would have told us that Bay would have a big season, Drew would have a big season, Ellsbury would have a big developmental season, a big step forward, Youkilis would have another big season, we would trade for Victor Martinez at the trading deadline and he would be huge for two months, we’d have food performance at the front of our rotation with Beckett and Lester, Buchholz would come in July and become a really good pitcher for two months. All these things went right and we won 95 games I would say, ‘Let’s go, let’s start the playoffs tomorrow.’ I just feel like we didn’t show up in those three games. It wasn’t like we weren’t a team without any issues whatsoever. We had our issues and they manifested and cost us a little bit. We went through mysterious and frustrating stretches where we didn’t hit at all on the road. That happens.

(The premise that it is harder to retain a player once they hit the free agent market) That could happen here. Clearly if a player reaches free agency usually the team that over bids is the one that lands him. That’s not necessarily the case here, but it sure could be. We have to prepare for that contingency if he leaves. I don’t think the negotiation is over by any means.

Certainly there’s a good feeling involved. He wants to be here, and we want to keep him and take a shot it. If it works out, great. If not we’ll move on.

(On the lack of performance on the road) This year for some reason we really underperformed on the road. There are players who don’t have the pop to go out regularly on the road but do at Fenway, and those guys perform a lot better at home than on the road. But there are other players who don’t particularly don’t have characteristics that would make them better players at Fenway that also underperformed on the road. Maybe there’s something to it where we can’t have to many guys who have swings built for Fenway Park, but I think mainly it was just a fluky year almost every player just happened to play better at home than on the road.

(On the personality of the team) We can’t build a team on sort of psycho-babble. We try and get 25 high-character guy. The bottom line is this team had a great personality. It was calm outwardly on the field, very  professional, but behind closed doors they had a ton of fun. There were a lot of leaders who showed up hard to play every single day. We won 95 games in a really tough division and if we had performed better in the playoffs nobody would be talking about our personality.

I couldn’t care less whether they’re emotional and display their personality on the field, or in order to play well they keep their emotions under check. I couldn’t care less as they play well and they’re good teammates to one another.

(On perception of J.D. Drew) There’s always been a descrepency between how valuable a player he is and how he’s viewed by a certain element of the fan base, and the media in particular. There’s been a lot of strides in the game in terms of how people properly value players based on more meaningful statistics. Drew is sort of a touchstone so to speak for that because you actually look at the underlying performance and things that really matter as far as winning games and not winning games, he’s been over the length of the contract one of the 10 most valuable outfielders in baseball. Over the last two years I think he’s been one of the top two or three in the league, and this past year, again, one of the top two or three most valuable outfielders in the American League. And yet if you simplify the game down to what somebody’s batting average was, how many home runs they hit or how many RBIs they had, which is what we all grew up doing but by today’s standards is a pretty primitive way to look at the game.

From a straight objective standpoint, what he contributes offensively and what he contributes defensively, and add in baserunning so it’s the total value of the player, on a rate basis he was outstanding and there aren’t too many outfielders who compare to what he did.

(Is Drew worth the contract?) What he’s done the first three years of that contract, just looking at straight free agent dollars — obviously you can’t compare him to an arbitration market, or a pre-arb player — what he’s done qualitatively and when you even factor in the amount he’s played over these three years, yeah, he’s come out to a tick more than $14 million per year.

(On Drew not driving in runs) This year it was sort of freakish how well he performed offensively and how few runs he drove in in the lineup. Start with the basic premise that that type of player is always going to be better at scoring runs than driving in runs in because while he does have a high slug, his on-base skills, those are his strengths because he’s on base a lot and he’s a terrific baserunner. He’s going to score more runs. When somebody who tends to walk a lot tends to drive in fewer runs than somebody who puts the ball in play a lot. In Drew’s case he’s an extreme because he walks at a tremendously high rate. Ted Williams has been criticized over and over again, hey runner on third and less than two outs you have to expand the zone and swing at something that’s a ball just to drive the runner in. Well, Williams wouldn’t do that. He would take his walk and he was criticized for it. Wade Boggs was criticized for it. J.D. doesn’t do it. Some hitters come out of their approach and put the ball in play in RBI situation and drive in runs and some hitters don’t do that. Drew is the type of hitter who doesn’t do it, and to be honest with you as an organization we don’t mind if guys don’t come out their approach. It might cost you not driving in runs here or there but in the long run, staying in one’s approach which is getting in a hitters count, getting a pitch you can drive and then driving that ball, and if not then taking your walk, in our mind that’s more fundamentally more important. 

There’s labels that tend to happen. People who don’t like Drew will call him uncaring or apathetic or aloof. People who like him will say he has ice in his veins. Then these narratives may or may not even be true, so people who don’t like a player like that will say, ‘He doesn’t care. He doesn’t come through in the clutch.’ They just start these broad labels that aren’t necessarily true. Can you think of a hitter who has had more big hits, more big home runs for us the past three season in the postseason in the last three seasons than Drew? He has more postseason RBIs the past three years than any player that we have. So this narrative sort of takes a life of it own and it’s not always true.

(On not valuing such stats as RBI as some others) If we both grew up in schools that taught us the Earth was flat and then all of a sudden when we went out to get a job as a surveyor and the first thing they taught us in school and the first thing they taught us in school was that the Earth was round it would be tough for you to accept that but over time you would start to operate in which the world is round and make better decisions based on that and that’s sort of the way the game is evolving. I actually don’t believe in extremes. I believe that you have to balance it and don’t look exclusively at any one set of numbers. You have to balance in the human element. You have to balance in scouting with objective analysis. But for something that fundamental like using numbers … if you’re using numbers to access offensive performance than don’t use numbers that don’t correlate to scoring runs which then correlates to winning. You might as well use the numbers which best correlate to scoring runs which correlates best to winning.

(On referencing Ortiz in the post-season press conference) I stated a reality is that to be the team we needs to be, David Ortiz is our DH, he needs to be a force. We’re a different team when he is a force, when he’s hitting all kinds of pitching and hitting the ball to all fields and being a really tough out and driving the ball. That’s just the reality. I’m not trying to send anybody a message. I don’t send messages to the players through the media. I talk to our players a lot about things, but I don’t send messages through the media.

(On whether Daniel Bard is ready to be a closer) I think he has the physical ability to do that and I think we saw as he developed over the course of the year he has the mental make-up to do that as well. At the same time I think he’s a work in progress. This is somebody who performed really well at the highest level but is still working on some fundamental parts of his game. He’s still tweaking his breaking ball. He’s got a good breaking ball but it probably isn’t where it will be eventually. This is somebody who is still really a work in progress and while he may have the ability to do something it might not be the best thing for the long-term and his career if we force him into something.

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  • Gerry

    Smart man. So happy one of the best closers in baseball, one of our own, Papelbon, will stay with the Sox; and that Bard will be given an opportunity to develop his skills and reach his full potential; and that he remains hopeful about signing J.Bay. Interesting that JD (not Manny, Papi, etc.) is the most prolific w. RBI’s in post season. Can’t believe some fans STILL don’t grasp just how good he is at the plate and in Fenway’s tough RF. Worth every dollar.

  • PAUL

    HE SAID MOST PROLIFIC PLAYER”WE HAVE”~ MANNY’S STATS ARE STILL BETTER! THE MANNY TRADE IS STILL A BAD TRADE.AS WE SAW THE TEAM NEEDED A BIG BAT. THEO SHOULD ADMIT PUBLICLY, THAT THEY MISS MANNY’S BAT, PERIOD! BRING IN PRINCE FIELDER, NOW!

  • Phyllis

    MANNY WAS NOT A BAD TRADE, YOU NEED TO LET IT GO. DREW HOW A GOOD SEASON AND PEOPLE JUST DON’T GIVE HIM THE CREDIT HE DESERVES. THE TEAM IN GENERAL IS BETTER WITH MANNY’S WHINING.

  • Larry

    Hey Manny fan have you been paying attention, what big Manny bat? Manny is a juice head and we would not have Bay if we kept Manny and no way they win 95 games this season with Manny. Once Manny got caught and could not use roids anymore he collapsed as a hitter. He did nothing for the Dodgers this season……………

  • http:catholicbook.com mascmen7

    Theo is in never never land. He passed on Abreu for Drew who drives in 40 less runs which would have beaten Yanks for first place. He sent Manny away who made 2 WS championships possible. Loaded up team with disabled players who can not field or throw out runners or hit fast balls.

  • http://capemotorsinc.com david

    My take on the genius that is the red sox front office is they missed big time on one opportunity… and his name is mark texierra. HOW did they let this player go. As i watch the playoffs and what he means to the yankees, from an offensive, defensive and team leadership position it seems impossible we did not get him.How good would he had looked in a red sox uniform and what would he have meant to us this year and going forward. As a small buisness man, it is all about money in/ money out, but.. i never know from day to day who will walk through my door and spend , BUT EVERYTIME i go to a sox game and see them thank us loyal fans for yet another sell out, parking revenue, consessions, souveniers,TV $ and more the sox KNOW each year aprox what they have coming in and they should have got him done If it meant losing the battle and blowing him away21

  • derek

    of course theo is protecting drew – he’s protecting himself for giving him that ridiculous contract for being their 8th hitter.

  • anguillaman

    I actually like Drew..I think he is a good player…he’s clutch..he’s clutch in the playoffs, he fields well (arm could be better), he runs just fine…but worth every penny of the 14 MILL…hmmmm. Wonder what J BAY should then get…by Theo’s calculations..and if they don’t pay him and sign him..what will that say. They probably should have asked him about the squandered $$$ on DICE K, SMOLTZY..and PENNY…throw in the annual wake salary..and he misses 1/2 the year …every year now….maybe we cound have let’s see a CC SABATHIA…or a CLIFF LEE…etc.,etc…

  • mike

    What is wrong with you people. I’m sick and tired of hearing about how we let Mark Texiera go. Doesn’t anyone understand that he wanted to be a Yankee from the getgo? He and his agent knew that after the bidding war from 5 other teams, the Yanks would come in at a higher price. It was all a show to drive up the price to eventually sign a huge contract with the Yankees. The Yankees have so much money, and with the opening of their new ball park, they didn’t care how much it cost to bring him in. Just as long as Texiera and Boras knew they would pay top dollar to land him. So stop with the damn talk about how we let him walk. We didn’t even get a chance for a counter offer after the Yankees bid.
    p.s. David, noone cares about your small business. You know nothing about running an empire.

  • eapthorp

    David, the excellent first baseman of whom you speak had zero intention of playing for the Red Sox, as he has made quite clear in multiple interviews on the subject. He wants to be right where he is. And he’s doing just fine there. Wow, how tedious is this subject? A LOT. On a related subject, I rather like the first baseman we have. His name is Kevin Youkilis. He’s outstanding.

    If fact I like this BALLCLUB a lot. It will be fascinating to watch what Mr. Epstein and Co choose to do in the upcoming offseason to tweak the mix. Love that hot stove season!

  • pat matone

    As a “dreaded” yankee fan, I’m glad to see the Red Sox try to keep their stars and make improvements. Let’s face it, things are just better in a baseball sense when both the Red Sox and the Yankees are on top of their game. The teams respect one another even though some of the fans on both sides don’t. As a Yankee fan, I always thought that in the years when they don’t win, the off season was much more interesting than the years they did win – if that makes any sense. I go back to the rivalries of the mid 1950′s and look forward to many more. It’s baseball – it’s a game. Enjoy the rich history and tradition of both teams.

  • JBStone

    Kinda goes back to what Theo touched on in the interview… people are quick to judge Drew on his hitting alone and not on his overall value as a player. Fangraphs calculated his actual value (based on complete, overall game statistics) at $20.7mil, $6mil over his actual contract. He’s only actually dipped below league average in BA twice in his career (’99 and ’02). His overall value is in the top 5 of all right fielders and 11th in the majors among all outfielders (in the company of guys like Ichiro, Braun, Holliday). All I’m saying is even though J.D. did it in a quiet way, he got it done. We could do alot worse.

  • http://capemotorsinc.com david

    hEY MIKE… WHAT IS IT ABOUT RUNNING EMPIRES THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT? lOOK AT THE MIDDLE OF YOUR WORLD SERIES TEAMS THIS YEAR LINEUPS. a ROD , TEX, HOWARD AND WERTH. Thats what the sox are missing and signing bay aint gonna make that any better.The red sox need a texiera in their lineup . period. And he is not out there in free agency, nor our farm team. From added playoff games,world series possibly too and the value of keeping him OUT of the yankees lineup for years ahead , this was a no brainer.A boros client ALWAYS goes where the money is. If we had millions to tender dice, then blow away the competition here too.This could be a fatal mistake for our team for years to come.

  • Dewey

    Stop with the JD Drew apologies! I don’t care what the geek stats say, my eyes say he doesn’t take the bat off of his shoulder enough. I don’t blame him for taking 14 million, I blame ( overrated ) Theo for paying it to get Daisuke included. Bottom line is, Drew is an average fielder with little power and can’t muster 70 rbi’s. It’s a joke. He’s one of the worst free agent signings ever. Now his huge money will keep us from getting Bay resigned or signing Holliday.I can’t wait for this guy to leave.

  • mike

    Alright David, first of all, I am not the one commenting on how to run a small business and then trying to relay that into running an empire. I know absolutley nothing about running an empire and never said I did. Can’t say the same for you. Second, you still don’t get it. TEXIERA DID NOT WANT TO COME TO BOSTON!!! You cannot blow a $200 million offer out of the water. Not possible. What do you want to pay him $250-$300 million? Let’s get serious. Maybe we could have given another $5-$10 million. But that wouldn’t have gotten the deal done. He wanted to be a Yankee, period. You think I’m not pissed he’s not here? I would have loved to see him at 1st for 10 years. He’s a powerhouse. But I’m not irrational enough to think like you and the other cronies out there that blame it all on Theo. Not every free agent goes for top dollar. He wanted to become a Yankee and knew he would get paid enough by them.

  • Jamal

    Few things:

    - In terms of Bay and the whole, “Well if Drew is worth that much, Bay is worth that much if not a lot more” thing. Wrong. They’re a wash offensively (Drew’s career OPS+ is 129, Bay’s is 130), and Drew is by far the superior defensive player. Drew is a superior player to Bay. Bay is the same age JD was when the Sox signed, and I think the Sox would like to re-sign him, but they do not value him as highly as Drew, and they’re correct. Whether you agree with this or not, I guarantee it is how the Red Sox feel, so you cannot accuse them of being hypocrites or inconsistent if they don’t want to give Bay what they gave Drew.

    - Everything Theo is saying in regards to statistics: this is not some crazy experiment being performed by the Boston Red Sox. The VAST MAJORITY, if not all, baseball front offices would agree with every word that Theo said. So you don’t have to agree with him, but just understand that you’re disagreeing with an entire industry of people who actually work IN THE GAME, and are not just fans or people who get paid to talk on the radio.

    If you talked to a group of people from the financial industry, and they told you their prevailing philosophies, would you be so quick to dismiss them if they differed from your own? It’s no different in baseball, just because you played it growing up. There’s a reason front offices are filled with Ivy League graduates these days, and it’s because quantitative analysis (in conjunction with scouting) has been proven as a superior method of winning actual baseball games as opposed to simply going on gut instinct or looking at useless, traditional stats that were created 150 years ago.

    Again, if this was just one team, if Theo was a lone wolf, you could at least have an argument. But if you disagree with Theo (in principle I mean, not necessarily about JD Drew specifically, I’m not saying every team would give him 5/75), you’re basically claiming that sabremetrics are black magic and that every organization in baseball has been snookered by “geeks” as people so love to call them.

    I hate to tell you this, but the geeks run the game, and it’s because they understand it better than you and better than most of the people who played it.

  • Lt Col Podovsky

    Epstein: Sir, do we get to win this time?

    —————————————————————————-Epstein: John where are you going?
    John: I don’t know.
    Epstein: You get a second medal of honor for this.
    [John looks over at the rescued POWs]
    John: You should give it to them. They deserve it more.

  • Lt Col Podovsky

    John Henry: What are you doing? Do you know what the hell you’ve done?
    Epstein: Don’t act so innocent, Colonel. You had your suspicions, and if you suspected then you’re sort of an accessory aren’t ya?
    John Henry: Don’t ever count me with you and your scum! It was a lie wasn’t it? Just like the whole damn war, it was a lie!

  • Steve Pittsley

    Sorry , try as you will, you will NEVER sell me on J.D Drew . At best , he is an average Fielder, and it’s obvious that he spends most of his time, Praying for walks , especially after he get a hit or two in a game . He might as well go up there without a bat . Sorry , guess i’m used to ” real ” right fielders, like Dwight Evens , or even a healthy Trot Nixon . Drew is neither ; which is why so many peoeple question the $14 Million. Hell, I don’t care what you pay anyone, it’s your money . What I do care about is your putting a quality team on the field, which this year , you did not . So much screwinf around with Lugo, Ortiz ( I’d have released him, Period , and I ‘m STILL in favor of that . If you can re-sign Victor , that would be the best move you’ve made in ages . I love Tek to death, but he has to go . Trade him to Seattle , They need catching. He could maybe squeeze out a couple more seasons there , if he choose to . Dump Beckett. He’s obviously damaged goods . He had a bad last half, and was in effective last year , started out gang busters this year , then dropped right off. He re- injured what ever was hurting him last year ; its obvious .
    Re-sign your short – stop; Gonzo is the best you’ve had in years . Weak bat ? he’s looked MUCH better than anything you run up there in his place , so go with the GLOVE . Give Petie, and Ellsbury both a raise , they more
    than deserve it . Make Ellsbury your lead-off hitter for the next 10 years, an leave it at that . You guys are on the verge of ruining him, or losing him , come 5 years .
    Youk .. Park him at first , and LEAVE him there , period . Get a quality back – up infirlder, to spell Lowell, and Petie …. We don’t need 10 first basemen ; we have about the best in baseball’ stop screwing up Youks Career. I’d bolt , if I were him , such disrespect.
    Last , let Wakefield pitch till you have to wheel him out there . He MUST take over Creepy Clemens Career win record, as its just Good for baseball, and Wake deserves it .
    One more quick thing, dump Manny delcarmen . He is WAY too unreliable ..
    Get Papelpon one more year to tighten up , and groom Bard to take his place … Pap is all but done .
    Jason Bay .. Do NOT re-sign him, he’s about ready to set the new strike out mark ..a Vulture , he hits weak relief pitching, but whiffs , when ever we really need a hit . Go Get Manny , and bring him back ….
    O.k… I’n done …. Steve ~

  • Gerry

    Lotta dittohaters on here. I have watched almost every game since JD got here. What are you talking about average defense. He gets great jumps, has good speed, makes difficult catches, has baseball smarts, and even gets himself dirty when needed. All this with a chronic back injury that would have alot of men in wheelchairs.

    RBI’s? Please! RBI’s are based on how well you hit with men on base in front of you. He had more than 200 fewer baserunners in front of him than the big RBI guys. About the same as Ells. He has dynamite RBI’s with runners in scoring position, and he’s always a leader in postseason. It’s the PERCENTAGE of runners on base that he drives in, not the raw #, as he has ZERO control over who is on base when he gets up.

    His arm is not average, it is above average. Did you happen to notice that play at the plate in the ALDS? Bobby Abreu, and my man J.Bay, are terrific players, but poor defenders compared to JD. JD is worth every penny of a contract that was written by Boras at a time of expensive contracts. It’s not your $$, and he isn’t preventing Theo from signing anyone.

    Finally, the written evidence is absolutely clear based on the sequence of conversations, meetings and announcements that Teixeira had no intention of coming to Boston, Anaheim, Baltimore, L.A., or Washington. Mrs. Leigh Teixeira made it very clear she preferred NYC to Boston. Boras just got Theo to raise the bid, that’s all. I’ll take Youk. He’s a better player, a better guy, and had a higher OPS than Teix in 2009 despite playing multiple positons.

  • Dewey

    You are so overrating this guy’s defense, he’s ok, don’t exaggerate his skills. As for the back injury, give it a rest, he’s far from being the guy to play with pain, let alone a bad back. If it was so debilitating, he would play even less than he does with his tiny bumps and bruises.
    Don’t say RBI’s don’t count, Theo might think we are all stupid, but we aren’t, suddenly after 150 years of baseball, they don’t matter? Stop. It’s a huge stat for guys who get paid big money, ask Mark Texiera and Arod. He hits eighth for a reason, because he doesn’t drive in lots of runs when hitting higher.
    By the way, it is my money. I pay to go to the games, I watch the games on tv which raises the ad revenues which creates these contracts for these players.
    Again, I don’t blame him for taking 14 million, just don’t piss on my head and then tell me it’s raining, the guy is an average player at best. I’ll drive him to the airport when his contract is up, although Theo will just resign him for another 3 years i’m sure.

  • http://capemotorsinc.com david

    Mike; if your still out there…. For whatever reason, i want to clue you in on how buisness works , big or small. When every game is a sellout and will be for years to come, as a buisness you can now predict the future. YOU KNOW how much will come through the gate up front.You know aprox. every profit center from there. You know food, trinkets ,TV MONEY, parking ect… based on a SELLOUT every time out.Therefore , unlike mmost buisness that has no idea everyday what their rvenues will be from day to day , heres the ideal of what all buisness owners desire and thats upfront knowledge of revenues BEFORE they even happen. SO…. what does this have to do with texiera? well lets take dice k , and the up front bid money it took to have his rights.The sox identified money that this transaction would bring in from the japanese connction and figured it was still a good investment to spend x amount on dice upfront as it would bring in revenue from his signing later. Selling subscriptions to NESN in japan ( yes , thats true ) has realized the sox MANY more millions than what they spent on dice alone. If he never threw one pitch for the sox, they still would have made money on that deal.Texiera was the same formula and if they had identified this as a perfect storm of factors from middle lineup presence and power, to revenues from extra playoff and world series apperances to keeping him out of the yankee lineup, its not the extra 50 million it would have cost, its the extra 100 million they would have made.NO MATTER what you all want to believe that tex wanted to be a yankee, thats all bull after the fact. He would have come here if the braintrust that is the red sox had stowed away their egos and just caved in to mark and boros when they had the chance to, swallowed their pride and got it done, lost that battle and rewarded red sox fans for their support and put THE BEST TEAM they could of fielded. EVERY man has his price and we blew years of being able to compete with a loaded yankee team for yaears to cone in one stupid, ego driven move.

  • mike

    Thanks for the lesson David. Why aren’t you a gm? You seem to have this all down to a T. Let’s overpay a guy by $100 million so we can’t afford to bring in other needs to solidify the team. If we brought Tex here, there is no question in my mind we would not have gone after Martinez, who I think is a better pickup. The guy rakes, and won’t cost us 1/2 the price to keep him here. Now we can go out and sign a marquee pitcher or bring in another bat (which is inevitable). While signing Tex to $300 mil handcuffs you to sign what you really need. Reguardless of what you think, bringing Texiera here would have only sold more jerseys. The Park will still sell out every game with or without him. There are plenty of stars on this team to market. Somehow, you got me off my point. You are out on an island if you read others’ comments on here. It’s documented Tex didn’t want to come here. I don’t know how else to put it to you. For some reason it just doesn’t sink in with you. Just another of the many hard-headed Theo haters.

  • Steve

    You will NEVER sell me, or any Smart Sox fan , that Drew is worth the money .. Hell, if they were paying him, say 4 million, They would have already traded him .
    That Back back .. It’s so bad , he should retire , WITH his Wheel chair .. He is a Phoney … I ‘d have rather spent the season with Eric Heinske out there . He showed Balls, a heart, and an ability to hit, when allowed to play regularly.. AND, he was Dirt cheap . Instead, he winds up helping the Yankees win the division …
    Once and for all, Screw Texeria .I wouldn’t even watse my time mentioning his name . He’s going to be a bust , just wait . He’s a big , clumsy guy that will soon enough eat his way out of his uniform, if he doesn’t wind up hurt first … Youk is the way to go ..
    JD Drew got to hide behind Lugo , but he no longer has that sheild. Now, He has Big Papi to run cover for his weaknesses
    I’ll drive Both of them to the Airport , when the time comes . I hope Drew remebers to pack his bat, it seems he forgets it all too often, especially on the road …. the bum …

  • Lt Col Podovsky

    Epstein: And what the hell would you do, John Henry? Pay blackmail money to ransom our own men and finance the war effort against our allies? What if some burn-out Players shows up on the six o-clock news? What do you want to do… start the war all over again? You wanna bomb New York? You want everybody screaming for armed invasion? Do you honestly think somebody’s gonna get up on the floor of the United States Senate, and ask for billions of dollars for a couple of forgotten ghosts?

  • arlies

    The view from LA: I can’t help but wonder if the Dodgers wouldn’t have been better off if they’d played Juan Pierre in LF. Sox got all the best out of Manny. No way would I want him back. As for Tex, the Angels let him go in favor of Kendry Morales who hit 35 HR at a bargain price. Maybe that’s the 1B we should get!

  • Jim

    Theo a strong GM with two primary blind spots. His trades (Lugo, Drew) have generally been poor and over the past few years has not developed hitters (or ever developed power hitting prospect). Minor leagues now generally weak and will offer limited trade potential. Wonder if he would have skills to be GM in low payroll (i.e. Oakland, Minn) city.

  • http://hotmail billy

    I agree with Dewy JD is So pathetic he dosen’t need a bat he’s worse then Bay by far

  • http://youtego.yonkly.com/katywiningear775 NASA Glenn

    Sorry , try as you will, you will NEVER sell me on J.D Drew . At best , he is an average Fielder, and it’s obvious that he spends most of his time, Praying for walks , especially after he get a hit or two in a game . He might as well go up there without a bat . Sorry , guess i’m used to ” real ” right fielders, like Dwight Evens , or even a healthy Trot Nixon . Drew is neither ; which is why so many peoeple question the $14 Million. Hell, I don’t care what you pay anyone, it’s your money . What I do care about is your putting a quality team on the field, which this year , you did not . So much screwinf around with Lugo, Ortiz ( I’d have released him, Period , and I ‘m STILL in favor of that . If you can re-sign Victor , that would be the best move you’ve made in ages . I love Tek to death, but he has to go . Trade him to Seattle , They need catching. He could maybe squeeze out a couple more seasons there , if he choose to . Dump Beckett. He’s obviously damaged goods . He had a bad last half, and was in effective last year , started out gang busters this year , then dropped right off. He re- injured what ever was hurting him last year ; its obvious .
    Re-sign your short – stop; Gonzo is the best you’ve had in years . Weak bat ? he’s looked MUCH better than anything you run up there in his place , so go with the GLOVE . Give Petie, and Ellsbury both a raise , they more
    than deserve it . Make Ellsbury your lead-off hitter for the next 10 years, an leave it at that . You guys are on the verge of ruining him, or losing him , come 5 years .
    Youk .. Park him at first , and LEAVE him there , period . Get a quality back – up infirlder, to spell Lowell, and Petie …. We don’t need 10 first basemen ; we have about the best in baseball’ stop screwing up Youks Career. I’d bolt , if I were him , such disrespect.
    Last , let Wakefield pitch till you have to wheel him out there . He MUST take over Creepy Clemens Career win record, as its just Good for baseball, and Wake deserves it .
    One more quick thing, dump Manny delcarmen . He is WAY too unreliable ..
    Get Papelpon one more year to tighten up , and groom Bard to take his place … Pap is all but done .
    Jason Bay .. Do NOT re-sign him, he’s about ready to set the new strike out mark ..a Vulture , he hits weak relief pitching, but whiffs , when ever we really need a hit . Go Get Manny , and bring him back ….
    O.k… I’n done …. Steve ~

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