The deal was completed yesterday after Saito passed his physical.
This is a very good move for Boston. He could end up being a dominant setup man for them if he is healthy. The Red Sox may not have made the big money moves, but they've made smart, low-risk, high-reward moves that all have to potential to help them a lot.
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You know, im starting to think Boston is actually going to compete with us next year. Loser of the division is winner of Wild Card in my opinion...I don't think the Rays will be in it.
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The Sox are very quietly building a team. But their success will depend on whether Lowell, Ortiz and Beckett bounce back from injuries.
Yep, as much as I hate to say it, there's no reason why the Sox won't be right up there with the Yankees.
It will be exiting.
With Okajima, Saito, and Papelbon, they will have an outstanding bullpen. I think ours is going to be good as well but not nearly as much as them. If the Yankees had Wang and Posada for the year in 08, you don't think they would of won 8 more games? Wang was well on his way to 20 wins, with Posada coming off of a career year. I think if we are healthy, we win this division with ease. That being said, injuries happen...every year, and Boston will have their share of them as well. Not to mention it is going to be very interesting to see them without the Man-Ram for an entire season. Without him, plus a declining Ortiz, it will be easy to pitch around The big guy now. Jason Bay is a great player, but he is no Manny. Taking everything into consideration, it is going to be one of the most exciting seasons of my life. If i have to pick now, I say we win the division by 3 games.
you see i dont know why we didnt try to work out a deal for Saito. we had a great offseason, but sometimes a move like this can make a huge difference. i think they may be favorites for the division
You're absolutely right Dan. The only thing I'm thinking is maybe they're looking at someone else, like Juan Cruz from Arizona. One of the guys at River Ave. Blues wrote a good post about it this week.
I think the bullpen will be fine either way, but adding one more very good arm would be a very wise move.
their bullpen is rediculuos. if a team is trailing after 5 or 6 innings, chances are the Sox will win. they also picked up Ramon Ramirez earlier this offseason, he had a 2.64 ERA last year with KC. the weak spot in their pen may be Delcarmen, who had a 3.27 ERA. its going to be tough.
we need to sign another arm, Juan Cruz maybe, and bring up Melancon and try to even out their advantage in the pen. I know we can beat them head to head, but its the other teams that will be schooled by them. we need to dominate the crappy teams in the AL too, something we didnt do last year. I can sense a Yankee/Red Sox ALCS. We have to win, I'm still pissed about 2004, and basically this whole decade.
I forgot about Melancon. Man he is hauling ass in the minors. What are they waiting for? This guy will be 24 before the season starts. He is a power pitcher, strikes out more guys than innings pitched. I hope he makes the team out of spring training. Melancon, Bruney, Ramirez (who def is starting to turn into an effective guy), we will have a good pen. I am not sold on Coke though, he did not pitche enough to prove himself and he had average at best numbers in the minors.
I agree about Melancon, Anonymous. He should get a real shot this Spring. He throws the gas and has thrived at every stop in the minors, clearly being groomed to be a set-up guy. The Yanks have no shortage of hard-throwing set-up guys--Veras, Albaladejo, Sanchez, Melancon--to complement Marte in set-up work. But Melancon deserves a shot, no question.
Coke is intriguing. Although you're right in saying that his minor-league stats weren't great, it's important to remember he mostly started in the minors. I'd prefer he stayed in the pen with the Yanks, honestly, and this might provide him the added benefit of having more velocity on his fastball. He also has a nasty slider and hides the ball well. He may well be a guy better suited for relief work than starting.
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Sorry Dam, I didn't see that you mentioned Melancon as well. Agreed.
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Sorry--Dan. Jeez. My bad with the spelling.
Of course, this could turn out to be a great move. However, Boston is quickly building a team of not just injury risks, but injured players. On top of that, Saito is 38/39. Smoltz is 42, had shoulder surgery and won't pitch until May at the earliest.
I think people are giving the Sox too much credit for these high risk - high reward signings. They'll need a lot of things to go right to have a quality bullpen.
Additionally, I've said this before, but they're also going to have a tough time getting a repeat of what they got last season from Matsuzaka (18-3??) and Lester. Wakefield is older, and as of yet, they don't have a catcher to catch his knuckleball.
The Sox are banking on a lot of question marks to all turn out right in order to be a "first class" team.
I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Red Sox take fliers on guys like Ortiz, Meuller, Millar, and Okajima. Now they have Penny, Smoltz, and Saito on the cheap. We spend 400 + million on 3 guys with one of them being a major injury risk. Somehow, I have a feeling 2 or 3 of those fliers will be major contributors.
Yeah, but Mike, it's a long shot that those guys turn out to work out so well. For as well as Ortiz worked out, there are a dozen others you don't remember.
While they may turn out to be discount sleepers, the reality of the matter is that Brad Penny has never really been that great, is coming off of an injury laiden, awful year, and has a career ERA over 5 vs. the AL. Smoltz isn't just coming off an injury, he's coming off surgery and won't pitch until May at the earliest.
What do you suggest? The Yankees have the money to spend, and spent in on arguably the three best available players in baseball. We needed starting pitching and a first baseman. We couldn't very well have signed Penny and Smoltz instead of CC and AJ. Firstly, they're both NL pitchers, and one is 42 years old and won't pitch until mid season. The other one is just pretty much a question mark from top to bottom in terms of both ability and injury.
While Smoltz is rehabbing, Penny is sucking, and Saito is learning that the AL East and Fenway park are NOTHING like the NL West and Dodger Stadium, CC, AJ, and Tex will be proving that the cheap solution doesn't equate to the best solution.
People keep acting like it's the spending of money that's prevented us from winning a World Series. It's not. It's a combination of luck and bad timing. Once again, we were spoiled by the unprecedented success the Yankees had in 96-2000. Even the amazing Red Sox were one loss away from not even going to the 2004 World Series, and inbetween their WS victories they even missed the playoffs one year.
It's not like the Yankees haven't won because they should have signed some injury riddled, 42 year old rehab case to an incentive laiden deal. It's because of flukes, injuries, improper managing, bad luck, bad timing, getting cold at the wrong time, running into other teams that were hot at the right time, and perhaps not focusing enough attention on a better (and younger) starting rotation.
The Red Sox can have Saito, Penny, and Smoltz. I'll take CC, AJ, and Tex over those three in a heartbeat, and so will anyone else in all of baseball, if money isn't a factor, and for the Yankees, it basically isn't.
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