*official 2007 red sox thread*

[Los Feliz Slim]

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Please don't tell me he's hurt, cause he looks like he is.

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[sublime]

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wtf is wrong with matsuzaka
7 runs last game
8 runs this game
all of the starters except beckett are too inconsistent.

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he's thrown 6 billion innings in the last 10 years?

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hes thrown 1400 innings the last 8 seasons, or ~175 per. thats under what a typicl MLB pitcher would have thrown.

i mean the answer to why hes having problems is clear (6 man rotations in japan + no sunday games = 1 game a week), but lets just make stuff up instead.

the guy needs time off, or at least a lot of rest between starts...somebody in the FO needs to step up and put some input in here.

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He has reached his season high in innings for his career as of today, I believe.

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no. not even close really.

[kyro]

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Why can't Dice-K find the strike zone? Please don't tell me he's hurt, cause he looks like he is.

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I read somewhere, maybe here, that part of his problem was facing more patient hitters that didn't flail after everything out of the strike zone. I have no idea if this is valid or not.

[Joe Tall]

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He has reached his season high in innings for his career as of today, I believe.

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no. not even close really.

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Ah, you are right, he's nearing his last season total of 186. 184 today?

Either way, he's had two big leads in his last two starts, 4-0 today on cruise control and then just melted down, complete implosion.

[zer0]

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I think Youk at 3b and Dunn at 1b isn't so crazy, and projects better than Lowell/Youk I think.

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Why is every Sox fan/media muppet ready to get rid of Lowell?

He is consistent at the plate and (this year) solid in the field. By all accounts, he is the ultimate professional. He's a great fit in the five-hole. He even said he prefers the five-hole. In OPS, he's having a better year than Youk (and Manny Ramirez).

This is a career year for Lowell. Let's not worry about 3rd base for at least the next two seasons. We got bigger problems.

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last year his contract was an albatross, now 1 season later after a career year at age 34 we're going to give him 3/36 or something? that doesnt seem prudent.

[NT!]

what we do with lowell really depends on whether any other good CI's are on the market. other than A-rod, they aren't. so if we can get him to sign a 1-year deal similar to this one i am all for it. problem is he can probably get two or three years somewhere else.

[MafiaPrince]

I agree with giving Dice-K some rest he looks cooked out there...One start maybe even two if we hope to get anything effective out of him for the post-season...

We have the luxury of having some guys that guy can decently fill his spot (Tavarez, Hansack, and hopefully even Buchholz) so why not use them?

[MafiaPrince]

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I think Youk at 3b and Dunn at 1b isn't so crazy, and projects better than Lowell/Youk I think.

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Why is every Sox fan/media muppet ready to get rid of Lowell?

He is consistent at the plate and (this year) solid in the field. By all accounts, he is the ultimate professional. He's a great fit in the five-hole. He even said he prefers the five-hole. In OPS, he's having a better year than Youk (and Manny Ramirez).

This is a career year for Lowell. Let's not worry about 3rd base for at least the next two seasons. We got bigger problems.

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last year his contract was an albatross, now 1 season later after a career year at age 34 we're going to give him 3/36 or something? that doesnt seem prudent.

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Wouldn't go as far as to say last year was an albatross...Sure his 2nd half was bad but he still ended up .284 20HR 80RBI which is WAY more than anyone could have hoped before last season

[shane88888]

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what we do with lowell really depends on whether any other good CI's are on the market. other than A-rod, they aren't. so if we can get him to sign a 1-year deal similar to this one i am all for it. problem is he can probably get two or three years somewhere else.

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Exactly. There aren't very many good 3B's in the MLB. Lowell's currently 6th in OPS out of all MLB 3B's. Options 1-5 aren't going anywhere, or, aren't gonna come cheap. Everyone likes Cabrera, but he's gonna cost at least two good, young arms and 20/year down the road. But, he's probably worth it.

RK PLAYER TEAM AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Alex Rodriguez NYY 514 130 163 28 0 51 138 22 3 82 98 .317 .424 .669 1.093
2 Chipper Jones ATL 452 91 149 39 4 24 85 5 1 69 70 .330 .415 .593 1.008
3 Miguel Cabrera FLA 513 81 161 34 2 31 96 1 1 67 109 .314 .393 .569 .962
4 David Wright NYM 523 97 165 34 1 27 93 30 4 84 108 .315 .410 .539 .949
5 Aramis Ramirez CHC 428 56 135 30 3 20 84 0 0 37 57 .315 .371 .540 .911
6 Mike Lowell BOS 515 65 167 34 2 18 101 3 2 48 54 .324 .380 .503 .883
7 Troy Glaus TOR 381 60 100 19 1 20 62 0 1 61 101 .262 .367 .475 .842
8 Adrian Beltre SEA 499 74 140 37 1 23 86 14 2 36 84 .281 .329 .497 .826
9 Garrett Atkins COL 520 67 148 31 1 20 97 3 1 57 79 .285 .351 .463 .815
10 Ty Wigginton HOU/TAM 483 63 135 27 0 19 61 3 4 40 99 .280 .340 .453 .793

Most importantly, Lowell's shown that he can produce in Boston and his teammates, pretty much to a man, have publicly stated his importance.

He's making 9mil this season. Nobody is gonna offer 36 over 3.

I could see an argument for a significant 1B upgrade, and moving Youk over. But Lowell for 18 over the next two while (if) we groom a replacement is hardly the end of the world.

[Toro]

In Japan, they have a 6 man rotation and play only 6 games per week and the season is only 135 games. On the flip side starters are expected to pitch deeper.

When he got here there was a lot of concern over his workout regiment which management thought was too strenous. I believe they cut him back a little bit but clearly he has hit a wall. They should definitely let him miss a start as a minimum to see if he can get back some effectiveness.

I also think they need to work on his mental approcach to the game. I think he internally goes on tilt when he gets squeezed or perceives he's getting squeezed by the umps. that's why even when he was pitching well, he alwasy seemed to have one horrendous inning.