Sox and Pinstripes | Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees – The Greatest Rivalry in Baseball

The Case for Adam Dunn in Pinstripes

(Editor's Note: This post was written by Scooter Blake, one of our newer writer's from before renovation.)

With the trade deadline fast approaching, and in lieu of my (our) lingering disappointment about not getting Dan Haren or Cliff Lee, I want to quickly touch on the topic of a Mr. Adam Dunn for the Yankee fans out there.

For those of you unfamiliar with the man that, in my circle, is commonly referred to as The Masher, let me enlighten you.

He averages exactly 40 home runs and 98 RBI's a year. And though his .251 career batting average (to go along with over 150+ strikeouts a year) isn't fun to look at, I'll gladly take that trade off when he's getting on base at a .382 clip courtesy of 112 walks per year.

He's batting .275 in 2010, with an OPS of .915, while hitting in between the likes of Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman. To put that into perspective, Alex Rodriguez is also batting exactly .275 this year, though his OPS sits at .836 even though he's sandwiched between a superior combo of 3-5 hitters in Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira. Interesting.

Currently, the White Sox look to be the front runners in the Dunn sweepstakes, but may not want to part with Dan Hudson or Gordon Beckham to get The Masher. The Giants and the Angels have also been linked to Dunn but “insiders” believe that neither of the boys on the west coast are in on Dunn enough to involve their bigger chips in a deal with Washington. The Rays have also kicked the tires but apparently didn't like the asking price.

My case for Adam Dunn rests on a few different facts.

First, and probably most obvious when talking about a power hitter from the left side, the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. Dunn already has 23 home runs on the season to go with 27 doubles. Can you imagine the damage this cat could do at The Stadium? I can and it's scares me. There's no doubt that a handful of those doubles Dunn has been hitting would turn into homers if he comes to New York.

Secondly, Adam Dunn is slugging .589 off of right handed pitchers. That's better than Ryan Howard, Adrian Gonzalez, Robinson Cano AND Mark Teixeira. He'd also provide some serious protection to Robinson Cano who has already been intentionally walked 11 times this season. To put it simply, he's the ideal 6 hitter for us.

And last, but certainly not least, it would send yet another message to the rest of the contenders out there in the baseball world. We are here to defend our title. Lee and Haren slipped through our fingers but a premiere power hitter shall not.

I won't begin to try and examine who we'd send over to Washington, should a deal get done, because Brian Cashman's views on how he values Jesus Montero, Joba Chamberlain and Ivan Nova are beyond my knowledge. What I will do though is say that IF we do the right thing and bring Adam Dunn to the Bronx, we've GUARANTEED ourselves the comfort of knowing we will have the best offense in the game going down the stretch and into the playoffs. Bar none.

That fact alone is worth me losing sleep the next few nights, worrying if Cashman has something up his sleeve for The Masher. Let's cross our fingers.

From the Caves to "The Clinch"

When we left off the Yankees were finishing up a dominant run over the league’s most elite teams out of the gates. They were competing with Tampa for first place, the Red Sox were bumbling around with underachieving players and you were reading all about it on Sox and Pinstripes.

Now we’ve restarted. As part of our commitment, we are going to resume posting on the old site (.net not .com) and right here on Facebook. Once the new site is ready, we can all start anew. There will be Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Hopefully, the old staff will return in full as well. That’s the administrative side of things.

Baseball hasn’t changed a whole lot since we left off, at least not in the AL East. Sure the Yankees leapfrogged Tampa and are indisputably the best team in baseball at the moment. And it’s true the Sox lost half their team to injuries and other excuses. Regardless, the Yankees are in first, the Rays are the wildcard leaders and the Red Sox would have to do something never done before to win a division, and play to their complete potential to clinch a wildcard. Health has a funny way of bringing a team together, so it’s not impossible.

It’s an exciting time to return to the landscape. The trade deadline is at the end of the week and while the Yankees would love to add a starter like Ted Lilly (with Hughes’ innings limit, Burnett’s Borderline Personality Disorder, and Pettitte’s current injury presenting a need for depth), a reliever like Joakim Soria (with Joba’s ineffectiveness, Park’s desire to make me hate him more than any Yankee since Wilson Betemit and injuries to Aceves and Marte), or a bat off the bench like Ty Wigginton (with Pena’s specialty for defense, and the other player’s relative inexperience and lack of “pop”), none of these moves are necessities to make the playoffs or for a deep run into October.

New York has scored just three runs less than last season through 97 games when they had huge years from Damon and Matsui (how are they doing now, by the way?) and despite largely disappointing production from Granderson and Johnson (the predecessors). However, the Bombers have pitched significantly better leading to a run differential better than any team in baseball and superior to that of the ’09 effort to date.

Does that mean it’s smooth sailing from here on out? Certainly not. As I mentioned, without the removal of Chan Ho Park from Yankee Stadium, the Bronx, the tri-state and hopefully, America, New York is bound to lose some games it shouldn’t. If Granderson doesn’t remember how to swing and run, than the Yankees will have to hope Jeter, Teixiera and A-Rod don’t go through any dry spells in the second half. One more injury to the rotation and there will be panic mode, especially if that injury occurs after July 31st and Pettitte suffers a setback.

The Yankees are a complete team, but they are not invincible. They could use an arm in the bullpen and a role player. A bad break here and there and teams like the Rays can make it hurt in a hurry. Bringing a “B” game could make teams like Texas or LA relevant quickly, especially if they continue fleecing other west teams while Brian Cashman gets black-listed.

That’s why they play the games. Now S and P is out of the caves and back in time to watch “The Clinch”.

 

Sox and Pinstripes returns

Since Sox and Pinstripes debuted in 2007, we have chronicled the Red Sox and Yankees year-round. And what an exciting period it has been - for Red Sox and Yankees fans alike. Due to an unforeseen snafu that led our domain name to expire and get claimed by someone else, who is holding it hostage for thousands of dollars, we put the site on hold this season, until now. Welcome back to Sox and Pinstripes!

We are in the midst of some design changes, and there will be a new URL in addition to www.soxandpinstripes.net that will point to this site and enhance our presence in the search engines. Yet, rather than wait for that to be finished, we have decided to return in time for the dog days of summer.

The Yankees appear to have a comfortable lead in the American League East. And while the Red Sox are looking up at the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, their chances for a wild card berth or a division title remain solid. After all, due to a multitude of injuries, half of their starting lineup has featured Triple-A players and reserves, and missing guys like Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka for long stretches has made it a daunting challenge for the rotation. Yet the Sox lead the American League in runs scored with a patchwork lineup and will welcome back Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez and Jacoby Ellsbury in the coming weeks.

This season has been one of frustration for Red Sox fans. Lots of blown leads and one-run losses. Yet the fact the Sox are 55-43 and still in contention for the division and the wild card speaks volumes for the players who have stepped up and the managing job of Terry Francona. No doubt he deserves AL Manager of the Year honors if this team reaches the playoffs.

So sit back, comment away and spread the word about the return of Sox and Pinstripes. We look forward to chronicling the rivalry and the farm systems, and increasing our traffic by expanding our presence on Facebook and Twitter, too.

Red Sox-Yankees. It's still the greatest rivalry in sports, and writing about it is a rush that keeps us fueled whether it is July or December. 

The Yankees have made the first statement of the season

When it's the start of the season and the schedule God's have created nine games against the toughest opponents in the entire league because of a U2 concert, you can and should expect a letdown. After all, the Yankees of the past decade were slow starters, generally older and more injury prone, and all the other teams seemed more focused in baseball's first  month.

Welcome to 2010. It could be a long year for everybody else.

I had my sights set on a 4-5 record and I would have been content. The Yankees would have avoided embarrassment and taken a series from either the Red Sox, Rays, or Angels. My money was on the Rays. When your team notoriously struggles in the same month every year, when your ace and arguably your best hitter are known to start off slowly, when your new acquisitions are major pieces to the lineup and New York demands an adjustment period, when your five-hitter hit .206 with runners in scoring position last year and is a terrible April hitter and when you're facing the three biggest rivals in the league, for six games on the road and then three at home against the only team with a winning record since 1996 looking for revenge after last year's ALCS; that's when every single variable is not in your favor as a team.

Yet the Yankees went 6-3. They didn't just finish better than .500; they beat all three teams in a best of three. That's an impressive run, regardless of what the calendar says. That's a statement, and it's the earliest one any team could make this season.

So why have the Yankees been so good?

Simple:

• After four errors in the first two games, they have not committed any since. That's defense.

• Despite Javier Vazquez losing both of his starts (we know he will turn it around) the rest of the Yankees' starters are undefeated (the bullpen is 6-1), with the only other loss coming from the bullpen on Opening Night. That's pitching.
• After that same Opening Night, the Yankees have not blown a lead and are yet to even play in a one run game. That's relief.
• Six different pitchers (three in relief, three starters) have recorded a win. That's pitching depth.
• After a season in which the Yankees saw over 25,000 pitches en route to winning the World Series, the lineup has already walked 48 times in nine games against some of the league's best pitching (Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Kazmir, Davis, Price, Shields, Weaver and Piniero). That's patience.
• The team has scored 48 runs in nine games (tops in the league so far) and surrendered just 38 (third least) making them a +14 (third best). That's dominance.

In other words, New York has outplayed the best in just about every category, even going 9 for 11 in stolen bases and hitting four triples in this young year. That's speed.

And on Jackie Robinson day? We saw everything we could expect. A big extra base hit from A-Rod, two triples from Granderson, a big walk from Nick Johnson, two home runs from Robinson Cano and a shot from the Captain. The Yankees are clicking early, and barring injuries, they will be clicking often.

Just wait for the competition to get easier and Teixeira and Johnson to start hitting, A-Rod to start hitting for power, and Vazquez to get comfortable. What more can we want? This team is lovable in every way. It was built to dominate and so far, for the first time since 1998, it's delivering in every way possible to the tune of scary potential.

Texas becomes an immediate additional test, but at home with Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte pitching, it looks like another possible series win. The schedule is demanding, but the Yankees are delivering.

If you're the rest of the league at what point do you begin to panic?

The answer is probably way into the future, since again, injuries, underachievement and midges can happen.

But so far the Yankees have made the first statement of the season.

Yankees worth twice as much as anyone in baseball; somewhere the Brewers' owner sheds a tear

Forbes released its annual MLB team worth numbers on Thursday and well, Yankees' haters may want to hide in a corner.

The Yankees are worth 1.6 billion dollars, up 7% from last season. They made 441 million dollars in net revenues, thanks largely to a World Series championship, and a new ballpark, even after revenue sharing stadium financing.

Here's the part where you might want to stop reading.

The second most valuable team is the Boston Red Sox (up 4% total).

At a whopping 870 million dollars, 12 million ahead of the Mets, who dropped in value.

The Yankees are worth nearly twice as much as the next  closest team. In other words, 800 million dollars, or four more Yankees' payrolls.

Oh and how weird and not-at-all obvious and suspicious was this? The Florida Marlins, not yet in a new stadium, rose 15%, the most of any team in baseball to a total net worth of 317 million dollars. Though they only produce revenue at a league low 144 million dollars, the Marlins had a 46.1 million dollar operating profit, also a league best. The Red Sox, interestingly enough, were second at $40 million.

Credit Boston though, their payroll went up around 40 million this offseason. How did the Marlins celebrate such an insanely high rise in value and the league's best operating profit?

By not spending a single dollar on Free Agents.

Gosh, we should really put in a salary cap, Jeffrey Loria might be homeless any day now.

The Yankees spend a lot of money, and its value rises. Go figure. Economics are so confusing.

Either way, let's all praise a product nobody appreciates in its market and who can be greatly improved with just a little of the big profits taken in every year because of their small, unfair, and artificially low payroll. The Marlins are much worse for the game than the Yankees. New York sells out every team's stadium it enters, it makes a ton of money and spends a ton of money and it has created a brand everyone wants to either  love or hate. Baseball, Television, blogs, and all sources of entertainment, need the Yankees to operate.

While no team can quite catch the Yankees in revenue (despite the fact New York shares its own city with another team), it's pretty obvious many of them can be spending a lot more and choose not to (keep in mind these numbers do not include the  pay check the Yankees hand out to every team in the majors every season in Luxery Tax).

This is just another reminder.

Did Joe West eat his brain?

Umpires tend to be fat, slow, unappealing, and most of all, wrong, to the common observer. Generally, I appreciate what umpires do and I recognize their job is a lot harder than it looks and it's thankless in that it's a lose-lose situation. The way sports are designed, plays can be left up to interpretation and everybody makes mistakes, sometimes in bigger spots than others, so fans will always be upset. Not just some fans; all fans.

I get that, and as a result, I don't often take it to heart when umpires are marginally off sometimes.

That said, I'm more concerned, Joe West, during one of what appears to be many frequent eating binges, might have eaten his brain by accident.

West looks like a Teletubby and constantly appears sad in nature, so I don't want to be too harsh on him because I'd prefer he not eat my house, too.

But I'm sorry to say he was way off base to complain like a little baby about the length of Red Sox and Yankees games last night.

Some of the highlights:

"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace," said West, the chief of the umpiring crew working the three-game series, according to the report. "They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?"

"It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play"

"All of baseball looks to these two clubs to pick up the pace," West said, according to the report. "[Hernandez] did everything he could. The players aren't working with us."

Here's the thing. Joe West is a freaken veteran umpire of Major League Baseball. Hired and employed by MLB, and he gets honored with the best games as a result of being fat and behind a plate for so long.

So when he says things like this, I don't understand how he went from a guy on the "In" with years and years of experience, to a seven-year-old with ADHD who likes Lacrosse because you get to hit the other player without as much padding as football.

Sorry Joe, but baseball is not a contact sport. It's not a sport with a clock, and it has no timetable. That's sort of the whole basis of its entire existence. Coincidentally, the Yankees discovered  in the  mid 90's that not swinging at garbage pitches, not giving away at-bats and getting on base lots and lots of times, tends to lead to more runs than "speeding up the game because the fat guy wants to go home earlier". Eventually, a smart guy like Theo Epstein, caught onto this approach. In fact, you'll probably notice a team like the Angels used to play the "Joe West way", and then last year they made an adjustment and somehow returned to the ALCS for the first time since 2005 and touted the second best offense in baseball.

It's magic.

Two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest? Really? That's like eating a delicious cheeseburger and then proclaiming" I love Cheeseburgers, why is this one so delicious!?".

These two teams are two of the best in baseball for a lot of reasons. A very large one is they practice patience on offense. It's much like having a running game in football. Running plays aren't as sexy, but I'll be damned if you win an NFL game without them. Luckily for the NFL, that speeds up the game rather than slows it down. It's like having timeouts in basketball too. Why isn't Joe West complaining about free throws and team huddles? Oh right, because he doesn't have to be tortured with enormous pay checks being front and center for some of the best entertainment in America for free.

It's pathetic and embarrassing? Really? Umping two teams who won a combined 198 games last season and who have four world championships in the last 10 years is pathetic and embarrassing to you? Maybe every team should be that pathetic and embarrassing. Maybe every team should visit the mound that often to review strategy, the major backbone of baseball, and then maybe "magic" will happen for them too. They take too long to play, he says.

Too long to play in a sport with no clock. That's a new one on me.

Listen, I get that America's landscape has changed. I understand people want things to happen immediately, desire instant gratification and with later start times games can end way past the comfort times of the working class (trust me, I have to report to work by 7AM, I get it.)

But people who crave brute force, constant contact and hate to experience psychology in sports will never like baseball. It will never be their thing. Baseball is for the intelligent sports fan who can see what's happening without actually having to see a visual of it. Baseball is 99% anticipation, I just never thought a guy working a major part of the sport would fail to understand such a simple concept.

In football, you see all sorts of pretty plays, big muscles and hits, and tackles, and dances, and yet it's 11 minutes  of action. Most of it is huddles and half times and resets and changing sides of the field. With the exception of warming up between innings, baseball literally has something taking place at every second if you look for it. Joe West is too busy feeling like two of the "best teams" are pathetic to see that for himself.

The players aren't working for you? You're right, wanting to win, willing to put in overtime and busting their ass 18 times a year at their jobs for the sake of TV ratings and the sport's existence is being selfish and unwilling to work with the fat umpire who is taking orders from a complete idiot for a commissioner. Try implementing instant replay to speed up the games (so there is less confrontation and complaining), or hiring umpires capable of making calls more accurately, or, I don't know, not giving three years between playoff games, or cut down on times a pitcher glares in for 63 seconds before throwing a pitch.

I actually was in complete support of Angel Hernandez not granting time out last night. When pitcher's catch on and start getting free strikes out of the deal, that will speed up games. As will actually enforcing rules already in place, such as calling balls if the pitcher takes too long (I'm looking at you Betancourt). That will speed up a game.

But complaining because two of the best have a strategy and approach and utilize it in high risk games against each other? You're missing the point. You're embarrassing. You're pathetic.

Who ever thought this would lead me to nodding in agreement with Jonathan Papelbon on an issue?

"If you don't want to be there, don't be there. Go home. Why are you complaining. I'm not going to sit somewhere I don't want to be. If you go to a movie or any entertainment event and you like it, you're going to stay and watch and you're not going to want it to end. If you don't, then you won't. Why is it such a big deal?"

There's a reason he's a closer.

Case closed.

Breaking down the numbers from the first rivalry matchup of the season

We are three games into the season and I'm already floating on air and throwing sunshine laced with rainbows at everyone I see. Baseball is back and it has treated me to a focused Yankees' team in April. The feeling of April baseball for a Yankees' fan is something nobody understands. Granted, Royals, Pirates, Nationals and many other fan bases know what it feels like to watch teams play poorly often, to have its hopes up only to see failure in the end and have suffered through bad baseball. I'm not trying to take away from those fans or come off as spoiled and bratty.

But it's an entirely different feeling when the team you have rooted for all of your baseball-viewing life is the Yankees, is expected to win every year, has a target everywhere it plays and notoriously bites the big one in the same month of every season. Being as consistently good as the Yankees have been since I started following them full-time in the strike-shortened 1994 season, and yet always looking so bad to start the year is a feeling only Yankees fans my age can relate. We would never admit it, but I dread the beginning of the year because I know the Sox will be better, I know the Yankees will have countless hating articles about how this is the year they're terrible, how they're a waste of money and the ultimate panic to follow before they straighten out in May or June.

So you can imagine my feelings when I first found out New York was going to face Boston, Tampa and LA, arguably the three best teams besides the Yankees in the  league, to start the season. Furthermore, you can probably understand how I felt about starting the season in Fenway and having to play all the division games on the road during a time when the team is supposed to struggle anyway.

Now I've done a complete 180...But you've all been fairly warned, if Tampa sweeps New York or they take two out of three and then the Angels make the Yankees look bad, I'm subject to a 180 in the other direction. It comes with the territory of being skeptical about a team in a certain situation. Let it also be known, regardless of how the Yankees perform to open the year, it won't mean a damn thing come October.

New York and Boston have played relative to six quarters of a basketball season or 90 minutes of hockey, so the results, in terms of long-term, don't mean much.

Nevertheless, first impressions can be noteworthy and this opening series had a lot of them.

• By winning last night after being tied through seven innings, the Yankees are now 17 of their last 17 in games when tied after seven innings. That is a Major League Baseball modern day record (not done since 1906). Score one for the Yankees' bullpen, and obviously, Mariano Rivera. The relentless offense doesn't hurt either.
• Robinson Cano has now hit safely in 16 consecutive games against the Red Sox. For those keeping score at home, he was 5/12 with a home run and three RBI out of the five hole, which is roughly twice his entire 2009 production from that spot.
• Here's the frightening thing about Nick Swisher and especially Nick Johnson. Swisher was 4/11 with a clutch game-tying single against flamer, Daniel Bard, and obviously he has performed very well thus far. Nick Johnson was hitless in the entire series (as was Teixeira even though the Yankees scored 16 runs), yet managed a bases loaded walk and a .400 OBP. The most frightening stat of all? In three games the two combined to see 130 pitches (Johnson -66, Swisher -64). That's roughly 43 pitches per game just from two spots in the order and that's with no hitting production whatsoever from Johnson. There is a reason Yankees games take so long (we'll get to that a little later) and this is a big one. I stick by my prediction that less than 16 starters will pitch 7 innings or more against the Yankees this entire season.
• Curtis Granderson in his first three games as a Yankee? 4/12 with two home runs and two RBI.

• Marco Scutaro, Mike Cameron and Adrian Beltre combined? 10/31 with no home runs and three RBI.
• The Yankees are now 11-2 against the Red Sox (4-2 at Fenway) since August 6th, 2009, after starting that season 0-8.
• Just to measure the patience of the two teams:

Red Sox' relievers pitches per inning:

Bard: 14.4
Papelbon: 16.29
Atchinson: 16.00
Okajima: 27.6
Schoenweis: 13.8
Delcarmen: 20.00
Ramirez: 33.00

218 pitches in 12.1 innings, or 17.67 per inning as a bullpen.

Yankees' relievers pitches per inning:

Park: 15.82
Aceves: 11.50
Chamberlain: 21.00
Rivera: 13.50
Robertson: 15.00
Marte: 27.00

169 pitches in 10.2 innings, or 16.57 per inning as a bullpen.

• Does David Ortiz have to be beloved to be successful? It's a chicken and egg theory to me, but it seems like Ortiz only performs well if he's not facing any scrutiny. Did he get a clutch hit last night because he was due, the crowd was outwardly behind him in response to the media, or because the media pissed him off? Ortiz seems generally just moody by nature. When he was going good he was a solid ambassador and always smiling, when he struggled he's short and has a temper. You would think more players would be like this, but they tend to either be emotionless about their struggles (Jeter), never content (Youkilis) or always pissed off (someone like Paul O'Neill). It's weird to think about.
• This Yankees' bullpen has the potential to be the best in all of baseball.

It has thrown eight consecutive shutout innings since shaking the rust off on Opening Day, and Yankees' pitching overall surrendered just one run in the final 12 innings of the series (get used to the sudden power outages Red Sox fans, when Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez are the only guys anyone has the least hint of fear in out of your entire lineup when its in a hitter's park and at home, you're going to go through lulls).

But seriously?

If we saw the real Chan Ho Park last night than he seems to be a second Alfredo Aceves, or, a guy who can eat up wins in relief by pitching any number of innings in any number of situations. If Damaso Marte ever shows his playoff self in the regular season, the Yankees have one of the better lefty specialists in the game (and insurance in Boone Logan and Royce Ring in the minors). David Robertson would appear to be the mirror of Marte, a guy who can neutralize anybody, particularly righties, with a big strike out. Then there's Joba who will more than likely transform into the adrenaline junky with unhittable stuff in the eighth inning like he once was (he already was hitting 96 in his last appearance), and of course, the greatest closer to ever exist in Mariano Rivera at the end.

If Rivera isn't available. Joba can close. If Joba isn't available, Robertson can set up. If Robertson isn't available, Aceves or Park can pitch, if one of them is not available, the other  one can step in. The flexibility in this Yankees' bullpen is unmatched, and it doesn't even include the depth waiting for a chance in the minors (Logan and Melancon are MLB ready and simply could not find a spot out of Spring Training).  It's going to pose a  lot of problems for a lot of teams if this group can stay healthy, and none of that even included the upside of Sergio Mitre in his second year after a major surgery, coming off a solid spring.

Is bullpen a strength or weakness for Yankees?

Editor's Note: This is a post on Tuesday's game from Sox and Pinstripes newcomer Caleb Gebrewold.

In the first two games, the Yankees dark spot seems to be the bullpen, besides Aceves, Joba, and of course, Rivera.  No need to worry, there is still plenty of depth in the minors waiting for the shot.  Today we saw production in all aspects offensively.

As much as I miss Matsui, I think NJ's patience will help fit perfectly with the team in the two hole.  Cano is off to a great start to the year, and as I said earlier, he will be a great number five hitter, and force for years to come.  We're 1-1, and tomorrow have a shot to win the series.  AJ and Posada seemed to get along fine, all is well.  Then again, its April, never any need to panic this early, especially when the schedule gets a lot easier as the year progresses.  On an off the field note, congratulations to Jeter, Rivera, and Posada on becoming the first trio in any sport to play 16 years together.

-- Caleb Gebrewold

Did you expect anything different?

If you figured the Yankees were going to walk into Fenway and come away with a series victory in early April, well, you expected something unexpected.

If you thought either team would show anything other than its offensive attributes, well, you were wrong.

This series is everything expected between the Yankees and the Red Sox in a season opening series.

Josh Beckett gave up bombs and couldn't locate his curveball. The Yankees were ready for him and he was brutalized.

CC Sabathia figured out it was April sometime in the fifth inning. His night was over shortly after.

Then there was the Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia tandem, along with clutch hitting from Victor Martinez. Consider they all love April and it came as no surprise.

The important thing I've noticed is that with all the runs, the close scores, the pitching changes and the fans, this series will end up teaching us nothing other than who finishes with a winning record through three games and who doesn't.

We know Beckett and Lester will be solid (with Lester ending up exceptional). We know Sabathia will be an ace, and we know Burnett, well, he may have been the only thing we saw. A pitcher with great stuff, unable to locate at times, dominant at other times.

Otherwise, the Yankees have a solid defense and haven't shown it. The Yankees have a deep bullpen, but it was uncomfortable in game one. The Sox are beating the Yankees in April in Fenway, and it means nothing.

But man, it feels great to have real games again. The stress, the suspense, the hatred, it all came rushing back as soon as Jorge Posada hit the foul pole and Kevin Youkilis hit the gap.

• Great deal by the Sox to lock up Beckett for four years. There's nothing wrong with his shoulder,that's a typical Sox Front Office tall tale to gain negotiation leverage, but this time it wasn't even necessary. Beckett was sensible with his last extension and just as sensible this time around. This deal is a million times smarter than signing a guy from the AL West who has demonstrated structural damage the last two seasons. No impossible to prove health language to force a 35 year old coming off injuries to pitch for the league minimum is going to change that. Beckett is a solid two starter and will be no worse than a middle-of-the-rotation arm by the end of his deal.
• If you think David Ortiz is going to ever be the Juiced up Ortiz we used to see, you're smoking straight crack. The dude won't hit 94 miles per hour unless it freezes in an alternate universe right before it crosses the plate.
• Was there ever a time both fan-bases could legitimately expect a well pitched game every day of the week?
• If I'm a Sox fan, I'm ecstatic about the potential of Adrian Beltre hitting in a pinball machine half the season. If I'm a Yankees' fan I'm ecstatic about the early showings of Brett Gardner deep in the order. This Yankees' lineup might allow less than 20 starts all season where the starting pitcher pitches seven or more complete innings.
• Sign number one the Yankees will be dominant later in the season head to  head: A lot of the damage has come from the amped up new Sox hitters, who will likely cool (ala Jason Bay) the more the Yankees become familiar with them (I'm looking at you, Marco and Cameron!).
• It wouldn't surprise me if Chamberlain took a solid month to become the dominant reliever we're used to. It wouldn't surprise me if Dice-K took longer, like, maybe, by August.
• Who is off the 25 man roster first, Damaso Marte or Chan Ho Park? I GUARANTEE both are not on the playoff roster and I'm optimistic about their potentials.
• You can call the Yankees' elitist, obnoxious, arrogant or whatever other synonym you would like, but let's get two things straight:

1. Randy Levine was absolutely right to tell the Brewer's owner to more or less shutup and stop whining about the Yankees' payroll. Not because it isn't valid for the Brewers to wish the franchise could double its own payroll, but more so because until smaller market teams demonstrate where their luxury tax and revenue sharing money is going, it's a non-issue. There are plenty of ways to win in baseball, and Milwaukee doesn't seem to have an issue with the Cubs payroll in their own division (or Matt Holliday in St. Louis), so really they have an issue with higher revenue teams in other leagues winning, and that only weakens the argument and makes you come off as unprofessional and misguided.

2. "Yankees Suck" is about as worn out, childish, and "elitist" as it gets. It's really at the pathetic level at this point that Sox fans A: Can't think of any intelligent way to insult the Yankees. B: Bicker more about the Yankees' "sucking" than rooting for the Red Sox and C: Chant it regardless of game situation, whether the Sox are trailing or not.

Honestly, use some of that quality public education in Massachusetts to broaden your vocabulary and to get a hint.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Josh Beckett and Neil Diamond were awful, but the bottom line is the Red Sox won

Opening Night between the Red Sox and Yankees featured the usual fireworks that are showcased just about every time these two teams clash. Yet it was the bats, and not the arms, that determined the outcome. The Red Sox rallied from a 5-1 deficit to open the season with a 9-7 win over the Yankees. This despite an atrocious outing from Josh Beckett, who yesterday signed a four-year, $68 million contract extension.

I read a comment where a guy said that he didn't know what was worse was worse on Sunday night - Josh Beckett's start or Neil Diamond singing his own song, "Sweet Caroline." Diamond was awful, but Beckett surrendered five runs and eight hits in 4.2 innings. He frequently missed his spots, and the Yankees pounded him. CC Sabathia wasn't much better. The Sox reached him for five runs and six hits in 5.1 innings. Boston relished every at-bat against the Yankees bullpen, scoring three runs off Chan Ho Park and another run off Joba Chamberlain (hey, isn't he supposed to be in the rotation?).

Kevin Youkilis was the offensive star for the Sox, becoming the first Boston player since Carlton Fisk to have three extra-base hits on opening day. Pudge had a double and two home runs against the Yankees in the 1973 season opener. Youkilis had two doubles and a triple, knocked in two runs and scored three. Dustin Pedroia, who predicted he will hit 20 dingers this season, belted a two-run blast and knocked in three.

Typically, spring training numbers are not a concern, but for Red Sox set-up man Ramon Ramirez, they might be. He was cuffed around in spring training and allowed two runs and two hits in one-third of an inning. Hideki Okajima didn't fare any better. He allowed both inherited runners to score and walked a batter in one inning. Daniel Bard tossed a scoreless frame and Jonathan Papelbon earned the save with a scoreless inning.

Bard and Papelbon are the rocks on the bullpen. The remaining relievers are question marks. Okajima has struggled with allowing inherited runners to score. Will that trend continue this season? Ramirez has not looked good this spring. Will he turn it around? Lefty Scott Schoeneweis, whose career ERA is hovering just below 5, made the team over righty Joe Nelson. Schoeneweis did retire Curtis Granderson, but don't most left-handers? On a team that features the game's best starting rotation, a balanced offensive lineup and strong defense, the bullpen could be a weakness. of course, there is nothing more inviting than seeing any Yankees reliever aside from Mariano Rivera warming up in the bullpen.

Tonight, Jon Lester opposes A.J. Burnett at 7:10 p.m. Nights are once again filled with baseball. Isn't life grand in the spring!

A union between this Red Sox fan and Yankees fan works just fine

Note: This column was written by Sox and Pinstripes guest writer, Jenn Wood.

As the 2010 baseball season fast approaches, beginning with a showdown between my beloved Boston Red Sox and those men in stripes, I also look back on the last 5 wonderful years of my marriage to my husband, Chris.  Why, you may ask.  And I’m happy to tell you.  Because my husband and I share not only a love for baseball, our toddler son, and mexican food; we also share a rivalry.  A rivalry that has spanned the years and decades long before we even met.  A rivalry that has us sitting on opposite sides of the room a double-digit number of times a year.  Times when he is not even allowed to step foot in my parents’ house.  Where the walls of our home are divided.  You see, I am a Boston Red Sox fan, born and bred.  Chris is a New York Yankees fan.  “What?!” you gasp.  “How in the heck did THAT happen?”  I know; it’s just one of those unavoidable things that little thing called love has a way of sneaking around.

We met in 2003 and became fast friends, both obsessed with sports and sharing many things in common.  Then, that one fateful evening I was hanging out with him at his house, well into the baseball season.  The Yankees were playing some team and I was yelling for the other team.  Chris looked at me funny and asked me if I was a fan, to which I firmly responded, “Oh no.  I just hate the Yankees and anything having to do with them.  I’ve been a Red Sox fan since birth.”  However, this is not when I found out Chris’ dirty little secret.

A few months later, we were at a friends’ house.  Picture this with me (I know I’ve never forgotten this moment):  2003 World Series, Game 6, Josh Beckett on the mound for a complete game shutout.  We’re all standing in front of the TV, screaming for our respective teams to win (believe me when I say, Florida was my “team” that series).  Jorge Posada hits a ground ball, fielded by Josh Beckett, who tags Posada out himself.  Game over; Marlins are the 2003 World Series Champions.  Chris stalks outside, very obviously angered, talking to no one.  Then, his buddy pipes up and lets the cat out of the bag.  “Chris is a Yankees fan; he’s really upset about this.”  My emotions at that moment?  Shock, dismay…betrayal.  The man I had come to love was my mortal sports enemy?  How would that ever work?

Well, here we are, about to celebrate 5 years of marriage.  We have a beautiful 2-year old son (who is a Red Sox fan, by the way, thanks to majority ruling) and are about to buy our first house.  Believe me, we have had our ups and downs, but our love for baseball, and the friendly bickering back and forth from Spring Training through the World Series, has brought us closer than ever.  We each have a healthy respect for the other, no matter how deep our hatred for “the other team” runs.  For our first anniversary, Chris surprised me with a trip to Fenway Park.  Our second anniversary, I returned that favor and we took a trip to Yankee Stadium.  Since then, we go to Boston every year, for 5 or 6 games.  We watch the rivalry in person at least once a year, each yelling for our own team.  But we always walk out, hand in hand, arm in arm, me donning my Red Sox gear and him in his Yankees gear.  He is the most amazing man I know, and we will continue to grow together, for as long as we both shall live.  Even when the Red Sox win the World Series this year.  

A tale of two teams on Red Sox-Yankees Opening Night

Note: This article was written by Sox and Pinstripes newcomer, Scooter Blake.

I feel like I just got done watching the baseball version of a B-rate zombie flick from a George A. Romero wannabe. Why won't they just die?!

Our hero (dressed in pinstripes and fighting a horde of evil “red and Green Monsters”) is in the process of burying the dead when he is forced to deal with hands springing up from the loose soil around him (Dustin Pedroia home runs, Damaso Marte wild pitches etc.) before finally succumbing to the beasts in a painfully obvious and avoidable death. It was ridiculous.

In the same way that it's much too hard to ask our zombie movie victim to run ten steps without falling down or running into something, is it really too much for us to ask a bullpen to hold a lead?

Is it really too much to ask for a lefty specialist to hit his spots or for a future HOF catcher to squeeze a ball that hits his glove? Did we really just lose a game because we can't do the simple things like pitch and catch?

Sitting next to a Pedroia fanboy chirping in my ear all game was bad enough, but to have the Yankees lose a game and a lead that never should have been lost or given up is just unacceptable. Especially against Boston on Opening Night. My only solace comes in the fact that I clinched my first fantasy basketball championship tonight behind a solid game from Tim Duncan.

What is there to say really? We hit the ball pretty darned well and like it or not, CC gave us a chance. Even after the Youkilis triple. We just didn't have the bulldog mentality to put a team away that we normally show.

Let's talk about the good things that happened. Jorgey and Grandy going back-to-back in the second was about as sweet as it gets. Posada had a great game from the plate period, going 3-4 with a bomb, two RBI's and a walk. Brett Gardner showed up tonight. Gardy going 2-4, driving in a run and scoring one off of Martinez' throw was a stellar performance out of the 9-hole. Robinson Cano looked locked in at the plate but his casual attitude reared it's ugly head again on his wall-ball over JD Drew's glove in which Robbie only got a single out of.

I thought CC pitched a heck of a game up until that 6^th frame. He hit spots for the most part and let his defense work for him, only giving up one hit through the first four innings.

Where we lost it though, in my humble opinion, was on the mental side of the game.

The Sox had a swagger from the first inning through the ninth. We didn't. Teixeira looked cold and the only time we showed competitive life was when the momentum was in our favor. It was almost like a tale of two teams out there.

I don't understand why we weren't running with Randy Winn when Girardi pinched him for Johnson. Especially after Mark had two strikes on him. I don't understand why Joba was brought in in the 7^th as opposed to Aceves or Mitre. If Joba is our eighth inning guy then make him our eighth inning guy. Not our “when we're in a bind we'll go to Mr. Volatile for two” guy. It's a conundrum.

At the same time though we hit the ball hard and played pretty good defense behind our average pitching, minus Swisher's bad read on Youkilis' ball and Gardner's air-mail to the on deck circle.

 

And honestly, it's game 1 out of 162. We see Boston again on Tuesday and the sun will still rise in the east tomorrow.

 

I just wish it was rising after an Opening Night victory and I could enjoy my Wheaties to the tune of 1-0 on the year. Can't have everything I want apparently.

Around the Horn: Catcher

Jorge Posada
2009: .285/.363/.522/.885, 133 OPS+, .378 wOBA, 133 wRC+
Career: .277/.379/.480/.859, 124 OPS+, .370 wOBA, 128 wRC+

Coming into the season, maybe the biggest question mark in the Yankee Universe (well, second biggest behind A-rod’s hip) was attached to Jorge Posada’s surgically repaired shoulder. After suffering through the first major injury of his career, an injury that effectively cost him the entire 2008 season, instead of the borderline Hall of Fame offensive force from behind the plate that Yankee fans were used to, they had a 37-year-old catcher with a potentially bum shoulder who no one knew how he would be able to play offense or defense. Posada turned out just fine on offense with excellent bookends to his season, but nagging injuries limited him to just 111 games, his lowest non-2008 total since becoming the everyday starting catcher in 1998 and he did not get enough at bats to qualify for the batting title, where he would have finished second among catchers to Joe Mauer in pretty much everything.

Trashing Posada’s defense seems to be the fashionable thing to do, but as hard as defense is to quantify, catcher defense is even harder. UZR doesn’t even attempt to evaluate catchers because there is no range associated with the position. There also really isn’t anything catchers do on defense that is uniquely attributable to them. How good someone is at blocking pitches off the plate? That depends on what kind of pitchers the guy is catching. Even the percentage of would be base stealers a catcher throws out is dependent on the pitcher to some degree. Also, pickoffs count as caught stealings and go into that percentage, so every catchers CS% is inflated to some degree unless their staff doesn’t pick off anybody at all (yes, Varitek’s CS% actually understates just how bad he was at throwing people out last year), but a staff that doesn’t pick off anybody is probably lousy at holding runners on, which would lead to it being much harder on the catcher to throw them out…the point is that everything catchers do is in some way dependent on others and thus the extremely unreliable eyeball test and the flawed CS%, actually somewhat useful for comparing two catchers on the same team but problematic beyond that, is what we have to go on.

Victor Martinez
2009: .303/.381/.480/.861, 127 OPS+, .375 wOBA, 131 wRC+
Career: .299/.372/.465/.837, 121 OPS+, .360 wOBA, 122 wRC+
2009 with Boston: .336/.405/.507/.912, 133 OPS+, .383/133 August, .417/156 September

Theo Epstein’s big splash at the trading deadline, Victor Martinez was even better than his typical excellence in his two months with the Red Sox. As one of the premiere offensive catchers in baseball, Martinez will likely bat in the heart of the Sox lineup and with Joe Mauer out of the free agent picture, the 31-year-old will likely earn himself a good-sized payday next winter if not earlier. The switch hitter doesn’t have a significant career home/road (in Cleveland) or platoon splits, but in 2009 was significantly better on the road, with a .400 wOBA/148 wRC+ compared to a .341/109 at home, wherever “home” was. Batting in the middle of the lineup, he will be just fine in 2010.

On the defensive end, Martinez is a little shakier. As I pointed out above, catcher defense is tough to quantify, but in general Martinez’s defense is not well thought of, and it showed in his playing time in Cleveland. Martinez became an everyday player in 2004 and he played just seven games away from catcher, each time as the DH. In 2005, he played just 2 games at DH. In 2006 and 2007, Martinez was still the primary catcher but also saw a decent amount of time at first base to keep him in the lineup on days he wasn’t catching. Martinez had surgery in 2008 to remove bone chips in his elbow and only caught nine of his final nineteen games. In 2009, between the Indians and Red Sox, Martinez caught 85 games and played 70 games at first base. The Sox will be asking him to be the full-time catcher again in 2010, after he threw out just two out of seventeen runners after joining Boston (again, not the best way to evaluate catchers, but that is particularly bad).

Overall

Like at shortstop, Father Time is the Yankees’ enemy at catcher. Jorge Posada turns 39 in August and while he has been a truly excellent offensive catcher (contrary to popular belief, Jason Varitek was never anywhere near Posada’s level on offense. Posada’s career OPS+ is higher than Varitek’s single-season career high), catchers who perform at a high level at that age are few and very far between. If I had to pick one player on the Yankees who was most likely to decline sharply in 2010, it would be Posada. That said, even with his 2008 injury Posada has been an exceptionally good hitter for the past few years and he might prove me wrong.

Edge—Red Sox

The Red Sox have ruined baseball forever

Where's Peter Gammons when you need him? Why isn't Buster Olney up in arms? Where are the ESPN specials? The scathing columns? The pure hatred and jealousy?

MLB Trade Rumors released the offseason spending numbers by every team in MLB, and I think it rather nicely sums up the game.

The Red Sox spent just over 137 million dollars (a number I disagree with, since, like the Yankees of last season it implies more spending all at once even though the life of those dollars are spread over a number of years). The Cardinals spent 129 million (almost all of which was on Matt Holliday) and then after that is the Mets, who spent 75 million (almost all of it on Jason Bay). The next closest AL team to the Red Sox was the 5th place Angels, at 52 million dollars. The Boston Red Sox came close to spending three times what any other team in the league did on Free Agents and not a peep was heard from anywhere. Not to mention they're spending another 30 million or so on Julio Lugo to play on another team, Dice-K to fake injuries and the corpse of Mike Lowell.

For reference, the Yankees spent just under 20 million dollars this offseason.

So when I said things last year like "this is a necessary offseason for now and the future" and "that 400 million number is deceiving since they did not spend much  on FA's the last two years and likely won't have to next year" I was serious. And accurate.

Those poor, non-Evil Empire Boston Red Sox could only afford to outspend the Yankees by almost eight times in one winter. How will they compete?! How will John Henry sleep?

Meanwhile, the Florida Marlins made a statement to the MLBPA by not only locking up Josh Johnson long-term after being harassed to spend some of the somewhere-between-40-and-80-million-they-line-their-pockets-with-each-season, but they backed that signing up by spending a whopping $0.00 on Free Agents.

The Marlins consider its team perfect since it saw no need to improve externally. If they do not go 162-0 I suppose it was a miscalculation.

Or Jeffrey Loria needed an extension on one of his yachts while one of 6,000 fans boil in an open air football stadium this summer.

For further reference,the average money spent this off-season was 32 million, so the Sox spent almost 4.5 times the average,while the Yankees almost spent half of that figure.

Hopefully now people will have a better grasp about how baseball works. Boston spent big in 2007 and 2010, they went small in 2008 and 2009 (by big market standards). The Yankees, lost and spent big in 2009, but also spent small (on Free Agents) in 2007 and 2008, and went small again in 2010.

You cater your spending habits according to the needs of the team at that time.

Let it be known I have no issue whatsoever with the Sox spending to improve the  product (whether they actually did that is a separate debate) this winter. I have a major issue with the way it was ignored by the mainstream media.

The Red Sox have ruined baseball forever, right? Add a salary cap? Erect monuments for the Marlins and Pirates' players? Life is unfair?

I'll expect my check for these original thoughts any day now.

Sox and Pinstripes' domain is now www.soxandpinstripes.net

You might have noticed that you were not able to access Sox and Pinstripes for part of yesterday and today. Because of a combination of a lack of customer service from GoDaddy.com and a bit of disorganization on my part, the SoxandPinstripes.com domain is no longer active. You can now visit Sox and Pinstripes at www.soxandpinstripes.net. Spread the word!

Many of our readers have been with us since we debuted in February 2007. I relocated from Florida to Ohio in December, and my Roadrunner e-mail address ceased to exist when I closed my Bright House Networks account in Florida. I thought I had updated my e-mail contact information with GoDaddy.com, where I purchased the SoxandPinstripes.com domain. I learned yesterday that I didn't when the site was no longer active. I called GoDaddy, and a representative told me that they sent e-mails notifying me that the site would expire, but they send them to the e-mail address that was no longer active. They had my current cell phone number, which I kept since I have business interests In Florida. However, Go Daddy didn't bother to call. Minutes after the domain name expired, a Chicago man named Jason Kuhar bought the domain. When I explained the situation to him, he said he would sell the SoxandPinstripes domain back to me for $2,500.

I opted to buy www.soxandpinstripes.net, which is our new domain. Everything else will remain the same. It will take a lot of time to build a network of links to our site, but Sox and Pinstripes lives on. We look forward to chronicling our fourth season of the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry!

It's the "Space Mountain" time of the year

It's finally coming.

One week from today the baseball season will begin and though I will immediately be stressed out by the match ups and annoyed by the planning, the games will matter and I will begin to pay closer, unhealthy and loving attention.

Admittedly, I did not watch much spring training this season. In 2007 and 2008, I actually used to give daily reports on the games. By 2009 it was a weekly report every so often. Now I really, frankly and honestly, do not care about Spring Training except to monitor injuries or watch top prospects. Unfortunately, guys like Bronson Sardinha and other spring heroes who turned into flops have ruined my boyhood mentality of hoping a no-name can pop out of  nowhere and make a huge impact that  year.

Unfortunately, the spring isn't good for that. It's literally only entertaining because it's the first tangible step towards the regular season. The beginning of the spring is  like entering Disney World. Then you approach Space Mountain by March and now we're in line about to enter. It's the Space Mountain time of year in the final week of baseball's spring before we get on our roller coaster, and now I couldn't be happier.

Nick Johnson is going to be the two-hitter and the DH. Curtis Granderson will probably start in center field and Brett Gardner will probably start in left. Robbie Cano will likely hit fifth and will also likely hit better than .206 with runners in scoring position this season.

Derek Jeter will lead off, Curtis Granderson will play against lefties, Francisco Cervelli will backup Posada, Marcus Thames will make the team, Phil Hughes will start and Joba Chamberlain will help to create the best 7-9 inning pitchers in all of baseball when he joins Mariano Rivera, Damaso Marte and Dave Robertson.

Sergio Mitre will pitch long periods of time when CC struggles in April, Pettitte feels his age, Burnett can't locate, Vazquez readjusts to life where it matters and Phil Hughes tries to start again.

Likely, if Marte gets hurt this year, Royce Ring and Boone Logan will be ready in AAA. Alfredo Aceves and Chan Ho Park will be the swing guys. Both seem extremely ready for the season to begin.

The spring taught us all of that. And yet  it taught us nothing.

Now the Yankees are almost in full preparation to face the Red Sox in Fenway to start the season. This decision by Major League Baseball is stupid on so many levels it's confusing.

1. Why waste guaranteed sellouts on two teams who are also guaranteed sell outs?
2. Why play this early in the year in Fenway and in April, Boston weather?
3. Why force the Yankees to open the season against Boston, Tampa and Los Angeles? It will only waste paper from jumpy journalists who think the sky is falling.
4. Why open the season on a Sunday night and have a day off the next day followed by two week games between two premium teams?
5. Why start the season on Easter Sunday, my anniversary, AND when I will be coming back from Maine?

Is there any good reason to actually counter any of these points?

The Yankees and Red Sox should not play until the end of April. Not just because I know the Sox will win 80% of the time in April, but also because then it backs up the rest of the head to heads, and could make life harder and  more meaningful for both teams. If you want league parity, try little things like that.

Just as an aside, It's possible the Yankees' first nine games of the season will be against: Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Jeff Niemann,Wade Davis, Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir and Joel Piniero.

Thanks, MLB.

Maybe it's because the Knicks are a non-factor, the Rangers underachieved again and March Madness has been so unpredictable I've lost interest, or maybe it's because there is nothing quite like baseball, but it started with viewing "Field of Dreams" last night, it continues today and it will escalate from here. I am finally pumped to start watching the games.

Here's to a four home run game off Beckett, Lester's early season location problems and Lackey's elbow.

Baseball is back.

Bullpen questions remain, early season rotation is set for Red Sox

Submarining left-hander Brian Shouse posted a 0.96 ERA in spring training, but the Red Sox did not think his pitches were deceptive enough to warrant a spot on the opening day roster for the veteran reliever. Thus the reason Shouse was released and the Red Sox signed another veteran left-hander, Scott Schoeneweis, not long after Shouse departed.

The 36-year-old Schoeneweis - who is competing with lefty Alan Embree and righties Scott Atchison, Joe Nelson and Boof Bonser for the final two spots in the opening day bullpen - has a career 4.97 ERA in 11 major league seasons, including a 3.34 mark in 73 games for the Mets in 2008. Last season was a struggle. Dealing with his wife's death to a drug overdose and his subsequent depression, Schoeneweis had a 7.12 ERA in 45 games for the Diamondbacks. The Brewers released him after he recorded a 7.71 ERA in seven spring training innings.

According to media reports, Schoeneweis has family in the Boston area and is a Red Sox fan. And the Red Sox have been linked to the reliever the last couple seasons. Apparently, Theo Epstein is fond of Schoeneweis.

Though Shouse's spring training numbers were impressive, essentially he is a left-handed specialist, and Sox and Pinstripes regulars know that I prefer relievers who can retire batters from both sides of the plate. I also like relievers who consistently throw strikes, and so does John Farrell. This is why I think that Scott Athison will win one of the final two spots in the opening day pen. Farrell has raved about Atchison's ability to throw strikes and get batters out.

As for the final spot, the names are not impressive. Embree seems best suited for retirement. Schoeneweis has a 2.59 ERA with a .168 batting average against and .224 slugging average against in 15 career games and 31 innings at Fenway Park, but he seems to be one of those let-handers who are just in the game because they throw left-handed. Nelson is somewhat intriguing because he limited left-handers to a .212 average last season with Tampa Bay. Righties hit .216 off him, and he finished the year with a 4.02 ERA. Of course, ERA is not always an appropriate indicator of a reliever's success since a couple poor outings over the course of a season negatively skew the numbers. The Red Sox like Bonser as a long reliever, but this team really doesn't need a long reliever since the starting rotation is capable of consistently going deep into starts.

I still like Atchison and Nelson for the final two spots, but the Sox might prefer to open the season with nelson at Triple-A Pawtucket and Bonser in the Red Sox bullpen since Bonser is out of options. Embree could open the season at Pawtucket, too, to build up strength. He has an out clause in his contract if he is not with the Red Sox by April 15.

Francona names rotation for the first week and a half

No surprise that Daisuke Matsuzaka will not be part of the opening day rotation. Dice-K's spring training has been derailed because of a strained back followed by a sore neck. Josh Beckett will starrt the season opener against the Yankees followed by Jon Lester, John Lackey and Tim Wakefield. Beckett will get another start on April 10 followed by Clay Buchholz in Kansas City. The Sox have three off days in the first week and a half of the season.

Though Matsuzaka has been slowed by nagging injuries in spring training, I still believe he will make a significant impact on the rotation this season. Fortunately, the Red Sox have depth and talent in the rotation, so they don't have to rush Dice-K back. He wasn't prepared for the regular season last year after ramping it up early in the World Baseball Classic, and that led to an injury-plagued year for the Red Sox. This season, he will join the team when Farrell and Francona deem him fully ready.

Count me as someone who does not think Dice-K has been a bust. He won 15 games and helped the Sox win a World Series in 2007 and followed that with a 18-3 record and a 2.90 ERA in 2008. Last season was a disaster because of his injuries (4-6, 5.76 ERA in 12 starts). He showed signs late last season of attacing hitters and going deeper into games. He has a lot to prove this season, so look for him to go deeper into games as long as he is healthy.

Red Sox acquire versatile Kevin Frandsen from the Giants

Searching for infield depth, the Red Sox acquired Kevin Frandsen from the San Francisco Giants today for a player to be named later or cash, according to MLB Trade Rumors via the San Jose Mercury News. The 27-year-old Frandsen played second and shortstop for the Giants last season, also has major league experience at third base and at the corner outfield spots, and he has played all four infield positions in the minors.

With Jed Lowrie's spring derailed by mononucleosis, Boston's top utility infield options are Bill Hall and Tug Hulett, who has played well during spring training but is likely ticketed for Triple-A Pawtucket. Frandsen has played parts of four seasons in the majors. In 2007, he hit .269 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 264 at-bats. He's only had cups of coffee with the Giants the last two seasons. At Triple-A fresno last year, Frandsen batted .295 with a .352 on-base percentage, 13 home runs and 55 RBI.

The Boston Globe reported that the Red Sox are actively scouting relievers and infielders. It would seem that, with the acquisition of Frandsen, their search for infielders has concluded. With the release of Brian Shouse today, it would not be surprising to see the Sox acquire another left-handed reliever in case Alan Embree is not impressive.

Red Sox release Shouse leaving Embree as the lone second lefty option for the bullpen

Evidently, the Red Sox are intrigued with Alan Embree. The 40-year-old left-hander, who was recently signed out of retirement and has not appeared in a major league spring training game, is the lone lefty competing for one of the final two spots in the Red Sox bullpen after the team released Brian Shouse.

Terry Francona has said that spring training numbers mean little when determining who will or will not make the opening day roster. Shouse is a prime example. The veteran left-hander, who has been extremely effective against left-handed hitters in his career but has struggled against righties, posted a 0.96 ERA in 10 spring training appearances. Now it appears the competition for the final two spots is down to Embree and right-handers Boof Bonser, Scott Atchison and Joe Nelson.

I have written about my disdain for the left-handed relief specialist in baseball, so I am not heartbroken over Shouse's release. I do hope that the Red Sox follow Francona's recent quotes that explained how he would rather have a right-handed reliever who can retire left-handed hitters instead of a lefty specialist just for the sake of having a lefty specialist. Atchison and Nelson are pitching well in spring training, Bonser isn't, and there is little time for Embree to make an impression, but the Red Sox know Embree, which gives him an advantage.

Who would you like to see in the back of the Sox bullpen? Embree and a righty or just Atchison and Nelson, which would mean that Hideki Okajima would be the lone lefty in the pen?

Notes and observations:

• Mike Lowell was helped off the field this afternoon after fouling a ball off his knee. He was diagnosed with a left knee contusion. Media reports now indicate that the Marlins are not interested in bringing Lowell back to Miami. Seemingly, the left knee contusion lessens the chance that Lowell will be traded before opening day. His mobility is still limited because of his surgically repaired hip, and it is still uncertain how effective he will be with the bat after off-season thumb surgery.
• According to SoxProspects.com, the Red Sox released minor leaguers, Reid Engel (outfielder), Tom Di Benedetto and pitchers Tyler Wilson and Josh Papelbon. The latter is the younger brother of Jonathan Papelbon. Josh Papelbon is 26 and had a strong 2009 season at advanced Single-A Salem (where he posted a 2.87 ERA in 34 games), yet he is a submariner whose major league potential is questionable.

Around the Horn: Third Base

Alex Rodriguez

 

2009: .286/.402/.532/.933, 147 OPS+, .405 wOBA, 151 wRC+

Career: .305/.390/.576/.965, 147 OPS+, .412 wOBA, 153 wRC+

 

Coming off a tumultuous offseason in which Rodriguez admitted to steroid use and eventually underwent hip surgery, Yankee fans were unsure what to expect from their superstar third baseman. When it became clear that he would miss a chunk of the 2009 season, some writers went as far as to say this was a good thing. A-rod, after all, was a cancer. A man with a 24+1 attitude whose hopelessness in clutch situations was such a failing in him that the team would be better off eating his contract and cutting him loose, never mind how obscenely large that contract is. Rodriguez spent the rest of the season making idiots out of those writers. When he finally came back on May 8^th, he took the very first pitch he saw out of the park and finished the season 4^th in the AL in wOBA and 3^rd in OPS+, hitting 30 home runs and driving in 100 runs despite only playing a career-low 124 games. Even better for Yankee fans, he finally proved that you can’t draw outsize conclusions about a player’s makeup from small October samples one ridiculously clutch hit at a time.

 

On the defensive end, A-rod was clearly treating his hip very gingerly at the beginning of the season (look how slowly he rounds the bases after hitting that home run to lead off his season) and his range at third base was visibly diminished. He got better as the year went on, but in the end settled for a -8.6 UZR, contributing to his -11.5 overall UZR at third. While he isn’t getting younger, it is reasonable to expect some improvement in range next year as he is further removed from the surgery.

 

Adrian Beltre

 

2009: .265/.304/.379/.683, 82 OPS+, .305 wOBA, 87 wRC+

Career: .270/.325/.453/.779, 105 OPS+, .335 wOBA, 107 wRC+

2009 at home: .646 OPS, .292 wOBA, 78 wRC+. 2009 away: .717 OPS, .317 wOBA, 95 wRC+

 

In 2004, Adrian Beltre hit .334/.388/.629/1.017 with a .424 wOBA and 165 wRC+. Coupled with a +23.1 UZR at third base, that season was the most productive by any player not named Barry Bonds since the UZR era began in 2002. Doing that as a Boras client in a walk year netted him a 5 year $65M contract with the Mariners. His career OPS+ going into that 2004 season was 97, and his OPS+ over the course of that 5 year contract was 101. Until 2009, he was good for 20-25 home runs, but his highest OBP in Seattle was .328. When you make that many outs, even if you wind up driving in a lot of runs (which Beltre did—87, 89, and 99 in his first three years in Seattle) you are hurting the team offensively, as this spectacular article by Joe Posnanski lays out better than I ever could (his blog is an absolute must-read for any baseball fan).

 

That is not at all to say that Beltre is a bad player, just that he is not a particularly impressive hitter. His real value comes in his defense, where he has put up a +104.5 (!!!) UZR since 2002 and there is no reason to think that wouldn’t be even higher if it included his 1998-2001 seasons. Beltre can be counted on to go out there every day and bust his balls (literally) to provide top notch defense.  

 

Overall

 

Putting a low OBP guy in the middle of the order will cost a team runs. The Red Sox however, are not putting Beltre in the middle of their lineup. Unlike the Mariners, the Red Sox are not asking him to be an offensive force. Safeco Field has also undoubtedly suppressed his offense—his wOBA on the road was between 11 and 65 points higher than his wOBA at home in every season he played for the Mariners, and given how Fenway plays, asking him to return to his pre-2009 production of about 20 home runs to go along with his first rate glove is very reasonable.

 

The Yankees are expecting a full season of an A-rod that exorcised his playoff demons and finally has a ring. Wait up Longoria, you still have a couple of years before you are the best third baseman in this league.

 

Edge—Yankees

Read the rest of the series

Primer on Stats

First Base

Second Base

Shortstop