Tagged: Cole Hamels

January 17, 2009

Who Will Start at Shortstop?!?

First- I know I said I would blog about Cole Hamels, but I decided not to.

Besides resigning Jason Varitex the Red Sox have one more need, figuring out who will play shortstop. the Red Sox have two choices being, Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie. Lugo played 82 games last season, hit .268, with one home run, drove in twenty-two, and stole twelve. Lugo also had a .945 fielding percentage before getting injured. Lowrie was called up after Lugo got hurt and played in 81 games, hit .258, with two home runs, drove in 46, and stole one base. One big difference is their age. Lugo is 33 while Lowrie is only twenty-four. Lowrie made two errors last season at third base which isn’t even his main position. Lowrie can play shortstop, third base, and second base. If you based the choice on stats Jed Lowrie would start. The Red Sox currently don’t have a utility man though. So since Lowrie can play three positions I would trade Lugo for a prospect and a utility man. I could also trade Lugo for a young catcher. The only problem with that is Lugo gets paid $9,250,000 and no team really needs Lugo. Lugo in one word is overpaid. A while a g there was a proposed trade that would have sent Lugo to the Tigers and Dontrelle Willis or Nate Robinson to Boston. Wills, who won the 2003 National League Rookie of the Year Award with the Flordia Marlins got sent to single A ball this season. This season he had a record of zero wins and two loses, had an ERA of 9.38, and had only eighteen strikeouts, in twenty-four innings. He also walked 35. One good thing about Wills, he is a high risk low reward type of guy so he will not becoming to Boston. He also will not come to the Red Sox because we have enough starting pitchers. I would put my money on both to share shortstop with Lugo getting a little more playing time. Also this is kind of random. Jed Lowrie needs a nickname. How about Jed the Jet?

January 15, 2009

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk

First- Michael Young will move to third and will not be asked to be traded. Don’t ask me about this one.

Second- Scott Kamir and J.P. Howell, bot Tampa Bay Rays will play in the World Baseball Classic.

Third- David Eckstein signed with the Padres.

Forth- Big Papi (no not me) hopes to play for the Dominican.

Fifth- Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon, and Prince Fielder went for arbitration.

Sixth- This has nothing to do with baseball but my phone broke yesterday. 😦 Today I got one of those AT&T go phones. I don’t like it so much but it was twenty bucks and I can get an upgrade (a new phone) in July when I’m at summer camp.

Seventh- I found this cool link. http://www.redsoxdiehard.com/players/unifnums.html

Sorry I don’t know how to make website URL’s into words. it has every single player to play for the Red Sox by number. A useful tool when dedicating your ranking to a player’s number. No one really good wore #28. So I’m going to dedicate it to Doug Mirabelli.

Kevin Youkilis signed a four year, $40 million dollar contract with an option for 2013 with the Red Sox. The deal hasn’t been made official. Youk finished third in the 2008 AL MVP voting and the person who won, Dustin Pedroia, got a deal with Boston six weeks ago. When my sister first went to a game at Fenway and Youk was up I said YOUK, she didn’t know what see was doing and said BOO. People just stared at her. Imagine that a girl in Red Sox gear booing Youk! This season he hit .312, with 29 home runs, and drove in 115. Youkilis won the 2007 Gold Glove at first base. In 2008 he won the Hank Aaron award. Youkilis will play for team U.S.A. in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Youk can play gold glove defense at first or third which is great for the team. Youk made his MLB debut with the Boston Red Sox on May, 15, 2004. He was not apart of the 2004 World Series team though. He was apart of the 2007 World Series winning team though. Youk had carer highs in batting average, home runs, runs, RBI’s, at bats, hits, doubles, triples, total bases, and slugging percentage. He also started at first base in the 2008 all-star game at Yankee Stadium. I was surprised that Youk will only get paid 10 million a season. I thought it would be around $15 million to $20 million. Maybe it is due to the economy . . . on second thought it is due to the economy. One thing is for sure. If there was a best go-tee award, Youk would win it hands down. I mean just look at that thing.

December 26, 2008

The Roster Game- Rotation

Sorry I didn’t blog yesterday.

First- My Celtics sadly didn’t bet LA. 😦 But losing to Golden State? Come on Celtics!

Second- Youk will play for team U.S.A. in the World Baseball Classic, joining Peedie, making the right side of the infield all Red Sox.

Third- The Big Unit will play for the Giants next season. He will mentor all of the Giants young pitchers.

Fourth- Here is the first comment of the day (or yesterday) On Are Athlete’s Salaries to High?

The salary of these players isn’t high…it’s insane. Take for instance C.C. Sabathia, he makes more money in one year than most of us combined will make in a lifetime. Maybe these players for a year should forgo their huge salary and work for $70,000.

http://thehooks.mlblogs.com/

Name- Dan

Now to the entry.

Ace-1

Tim Lincecum, RHP, 2.62 era, 18-5, 265 so, $405,000

Tiny Tim has come a long way, from being picked on as a kid for his wind up, to Sports Illustrated cover-boy, to winning a Cy Young. Lincecum has more wins then any other pitchers in my rotation and is on the worst team. The other players teams made the playoffs. The fact that he won 18 games for a team that only won 72 games is enough to give him the top spot. He also strikes out a ton of guys.

Ace-2

Jon Lester, LHP, 3.21 era, 16-6, 152 so, $421,500

Lester is just amazing. I don’t know what else to say about him. He went 16-6, with a 3.21 era, 152 strike outs, a no hitter, and a shutout at Yankee Stadium, in just his first full season in the majors. Lester is an inspiration to many kids, parents, and athletes. Lester should have been Comeback Player of the Year in 2007 coming back from cancer. I just don’t know what to say, just WOW!

Ace-3

Ervin Santana, RHP, 3.49 era, 16-7, 214 so, $420,000

Ervin is young and strikes out a ton of guys. He has a been in the majors for 4 full seasons unlike Lester or Lincecum which provides him with some leadership. He posted carer highs in era, complete games, innings pitched, strike outs, and many other things. He was part of an Angles team that included three aces, being himself, John Lackey, and Joe Saunders. He is also still young.

Ace-4

Cole Hamels, LHP, 3.09 era, 14-10, 196 so, $500,000

Hamles like Josh Beckett is a big game pitcher and he proved that through out the playoffs. Hamles is young and determined to be the best pitcher he can be. Wether it is in the gym or on the mound Hamles is there. Hamels has played three full seasons, which like Ervin gives him some leadership. When this team makes the playoffs (and it would if this was a real team) he would mentor Tim Lincecum about the playoffs. Hamles has been there before and might be there again in the World Series.

Ace-5

Chad Billingsley, RHP, 3.14 era, 16-10, 201 so, $415,000

Before I talk about Billingsley look at the rotation, righty, lefty, righty, lefty. This was maybe the best idea about this whole team. Billingsley is young and strikes out guys. He broke his leg in the off season but should be fine by spring training. He has been around for three major league seasons, as a prospect, in the bullpen, and now an ace. Okay he wasn’t an ace last year because he had Lowe and Brad Penny on his team last year. He has had a quick rise to stardom sorta like, Andre Ethier. Billingsley is going to win 20 games next season if the Dodgers get Manny.

Honorable Mention

Cliff Lee

Lee is not on my team because he won 18 games in 2005, got sent down to AAA last year, and won 22 games this year.

Payroll Today- $2,161,500

Total Payroll so far- $26,169,662

WOW! My goal was to have a team under 100 million and it’s safe to say that I bet my goal!