You never know

Doug:
Is Coco Crisp on fiah all of a sudden or what?

 

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Doug:
Batting .402 since June 15th, on a 10-for-17 stretch over his last four games, and on a 47-for-121 tear (.388) over his last 31 …

 

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Mike:
That's not just on fiah, that's on friggin' Fiendfyre.

 

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Doug:
So does Crisp's abrupt turnaround mean that Jacoby Ellsbury is now tradable? Or does it suggest that Crisp himself could get shopped?

 

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Al:
That's what I love and hate about the week leading up to the trading deadline — anything's possible but, you know, anything's possible.

 

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Mike:
Speaking of trades, is this the first July in a while where Manny hasn't asked to be traded?

 

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Mike:
Wouldn't that be ironic if this is the year he is traded?

 

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Al:
Naw, I don't see that happening.

 

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Doug:
But that's the thing isn't it? The stunning trades are the ones you nevah see coming.

 

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Mike:
Yeah, I'm still stahtled even now by the Nomah trade and it's been 3 years since.

 

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Comments

[Youk Rules]

Why can't the Yankees start losing again?

Aarrrggh!

[aberfoth's goat]

I think Doug means a 10-17 stretch...

[Youk Rules]

All they need now is for WiMP to start putting up some numbers.

At least with Ortiz back, he'll be out of the lineup.

[jamesfrmmaine]

HB

I think you meant 10-for-17 not for 0 for 17.

[jamesfrmmaine]

Doh,

As usual Im late to the party. Disregard the echo.

[Deepsub]

Liked the Nomah reference. At one time he was my favorite player and I still have his authographed photo next to one of Ted Williams on my wall, "Red Sox Greats". They won it all that year so why take it down?
Loving the winning streak, would be nice if the Yanks lost a few, though.

[fernsco]

As long as they don't trade the young arms or Murphy/Ellsbury. Why dick with team at the this stage? Still the best record in MLB, strong farm team, etc. Take a back seat Theo and watch the other teams duke it out.

[h.b.]

Yes, should be 10-17. Fucking Imperius Curse clouded my mind.

[Genghis Ortiz]

I don't think Coco will go - his fielding is unbelieavable, and if he keeps his kwon and keeps hitting, he'll be too valuable. Plus, doesn't it still seem early for Ellsbury, especially with the Sox actually 'in contention'. It would make more sense to dump Coco if the Sox were out of it - but he has saved the pitchers some serious angst...

Coco also makes Theo look smart suddenly, too - although even the kwon-less Coco is better than Johnny D. - thank god he's having two sucktacular years with the Spanks. With the exception of Lowe and Cabrera, the guys he dumped after 2004 look pretty weak.

I haven't done the math on Manny's contract, but it might seem like his amortized cost must be getting out of the stratosphere and into the 'well...maybe...' neighborhood for another team.

Trade Manny for Eric Byrnes, throw in Hansen and some cash, the Sox would be in the positive.

[louclinton]

Free to go:

Coco
Nancy
WiMP
Lopez
Snyder
Murphy (not in the same category as Ellsbury in IMHO)
Geffner
Manny (I love the guy, but he watches a lot of called 3rd strikes-good value in return, please)

Do Not Leave

Ellsbury
Gabbard
Lester
Beckett
Any Japanese pitcher
Bucholz
Paps
Dusty
Youk
papi
33

Don't care

$chill
Belli
Timmy
Timlin
Lopez
Hinske
Cora
Lugo

Expect to go:

Lowell

All the teeth gnashing over Trot last year: 3 HR this year, old man bat speed.
Nomar="Ice"
JohnNY= broke down

Let's give Theo due for not being sentimental. None of those guys is CURRENTLY worth much.

Bring back DR and the OC

lc

[louclinton]

[hb I apologize for all the space that took up. Wasn't thinking layout]

[h.b.]

No need to apologize, lc, I'm a white space kind of guy. The more the better...

[Genghis Ortiz]

Sorry, brain fart on Hansen. Meant Snyder.

[Bob]

It would be nice if the Skanks had lost a few during this mini-streak, but they've played the Devil Nays and the Windsors in consecutive series. Frankly, I'm happy we've kept pace while playing the decent White Sox and the pretty damn good Indians during the same period.

[buckner was framed]

lock up your daughters (and granddaughters) if OC comes back, lc. And it pains me to say it, but I'm afraid you're right about Lowell.
Can't we just trade Kielty for Pineiro since they're both DFAs? Seems like a cut your losses win-win for both teams at "no" cost.
Totally unrelated, and I know it's been mentioned here in the past, but is Pandora the balls or what?

[buckner was framed]

Didn't mean to imply you HAD grandchildren, btw. More a commentary on OC's alleged, er, predilections...

[Steve in MD]

Here is my nightmare, and probably Theo's as well: Sox trade Manny to a team that ends up out of contention by the trading deadline next year. With his $20+ mil salary and impending free agency, they decide to trade him - to the MFY. So let's not trade him, please.

[Mike]

Don't forget to put El Guapo on the Do Not Trade list. He's gonna become important on the 40 man roster, I can see him coming in when it's time to get out the pitcher in the World Series.

There's a lot of talk that bringing Lester back up is a way of showcasing him before a trade. I would love to see him stay with the Sox, but have that awful feeling there's someone interested in seeing him on another team.

There's a Welcome Back Lester group in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2600372614

M

[tessie]

Thanks for the facebook tip Mike.

Going to the game tonight! Let's go Red Sox.

[tessie]

P.S. I love it when Crisp and Ramirez have good games against the Tribe it makes their always-pessimistic fans nearly suicidal. :) (That's not wrong, is it?)

[Jason O.]

tessie, I have also enjoyed Ramirez's and Crisp's good games against the tribe...

lc, "currently" is the real trick, isn't it? John has rebounded nicely in the last 2 weeks, thank you, his OBP is almost .400 since the all-star break...depends on what "current" sample one analyzes.

incidentally, I can only stomach WEEI in short periods, but yesterday the Stalinist airbrushing of your man Trupiano was completed. An obviously planted caller phoned in to gush how O'Brien and Geffner provide "nice contrast" to Castiglione. Glenn Ordway went on to opine that one's announcer preference "is a matter of your perspective." A shameful display given the obvious shaft job given to Trupiano and his extremely weak replacement.

[Jason O.]

P.S. The aforementioned, of course, given the afternoon show's celebration of trupiano in past years, i.e., using the "way back" sample, etc.

I liked Cas/Trup quite a bit as a sports announcing duo, a shame to see it end with a torpedo stamped "Red Sox."

[Tarrkid]

Off-topic: Being far from Boston, I get my Sox on MLB-Extra Innings, and while I love when it's the NESN broadcast, it's hilarious to see the other teams' promos when I see their broadcasts.

I mean, I'm not surprised when the Royals, for example, have a "dollar night" or something like that, where hot dogs and cokes are $1 each, or fireworks after the game, or whatever, to drum up attenance, but even the Cleveland broadcast last night...

Fireworks after a game this week... College ID night... I was expecting Jake the Diamond Dog or Kids Run the Bases... It's crazy stuff... It's so AAA-sounding.

It seems to me that the list of teams that don't have to resort to that kind of junk is gonna be pretty short... Sox... Yankees... Who else wouldn't need to? Who else sells out all the time?

P.S. Those of you going to see The Police at Fenway should be in for a great show. Saw them at Churchill Downs on the 14th, and it was great. I'd go again.

P.P.S. What the deal with all the Texiera-from-Texas talk? The only way I can see that working is if they move Lowell, put Youk back at 3rd, and Tex takes 1st, but I don't really want to see Lowell go. Forgive if I blaspheme, but he's becoming a new-era Dirt Dog for me. Plays hard, gets it done, gets dirty, whatever you ask. Not too shabby for a throw-in player.

[louclinton]

Thanks for the head's up, Jason. I'll try to include it in a post on the other side. Typical.

lc

[Kaz]

I'm only on page 443, h.b. They hadn't discussed Fiendfyre yet. Linking to spoilers are not cool. :(

[paddy24]

Genghis, you're a real friggin' genius. Trade Manny for Eric Byrnes? Did I miss the humor? This must have been a joke, right? Please confirm that you were kidding.

[h.b.]

I disagree on the spoiler bit.

That was only a "spoiler" if you read every line of the Wiki entry. I'd have stopped reading once I came to the "Used in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows..." And even if one were to continue on, it's not much of a spoiler as there are very few specifics.

(Hell, I wouldn't even have taken the link if I hadn't finished the book yet.)

If you want to "beware of spoilers" you need to be a bit more circumspect IMO.

Ever more so with each passing day...

[Bob]

The whole "spoiler" argument could go on for 19 years.

[PJ]

Ole "you know who" is a wee bit Avada-Kedavra-happy in this one, no?

"Death awaits you all... with nasty, big, pointy teeth!" - John Cleese as Tim the Enchanter in MPQHG

[Steve in MD]

/It's so AAA-sounding/

I wonder if Fenway would be sold out every night if it sat 45 to 50,000 vice 38,000. the weekends, no question, but I don't think they would have sold out every weekday game if there were and additional 10,000 seats avaiable. Even the Yanks don't sell out on a daily basis.

[Bob]

45,000 minus 38,000 equals 7,000.

Yeah, they'd still sell out every game, even weekdays. Easy.

[Steve in MD]

and 50,000 minus 38,000 equals 12,000.

That's almost one-third more people on a nightly basis - I'm not sure that is a slam dunk at all.

[Bob]

But, uh, you said 45,000-50,000. I guess if the park were 100,000 you'd really have a point.

Sorry. Long day.

[Steve in MD]

My observation from the general public discussion surronding building Orioles Park at Camden Yard you have to sell a seat almost every game for about 7 years in order to pay the additional cost of a seat. So if you were advising LL on how many more seats to Fenway (and assuming you cared about the cost) how many seats would you advise they add?

[Bob]

I believe LL's previous comments on the issue is that they'd never go much over 40,000 at Fenway. Frankly, that's gonna be pushing the space limits anyway. The place has seats in the form of old Foxboro Stadium-style aluminum benches perched up on upper ledges already.

[buckner was framed]

I'll take one more seat please- just make sure it's facing the F*ing field

[MONTY in CA]

God it is painful watching Nancy mail it in. Is he even awake at the plate?

Eric Byrnes, that's funny.

[Bob]

//just make sure it's facing the F*ing field//

That's why my center field bleacher seats are the best in the house. They're the only ones actually facing home plate. (Unless for the seats the Giant Glass guy has of course.)

[Bob]

"Unless for the seats..."

And I get paid to write.

(Suckers.)

[Steve in MD]

/I'll take one more seat please- just make sure it's facing the F*ing field/

I guess you've been to Camden Yards! As unbelieveable as it may seem (especially since it is such a great park otherwise) the seats in the left field grandstands DO NOT FACE HOME PLATE. The seats face directly into center field! You litterally have sit sideways in your seat about 45 degrees to see the batter. Gets a tad uncomfortable after 3 hours.

[buckner was framed]

Steve-
I have been there, and have sat in those seats. If it wasn't for the beer and sausage delivery, I'm not sure I would have survived ;-)
I guess that's what they mean when they say they wanted to recreate some of the "Fenway experience" at Camden, no?

[Steve in MD]

LoL.

I had totally forgotten about that aspect of Fenway. For the last ten years or so, on our yearly pilgrimage to Fenway we've either gotten great box seats between third and home or sat in the bleachers.

[Scott]

I still have my Foxboro Stadium bleacher seats. I miss that place. The new stadium is not loud enough and is built for the club ticket holders not the average fans. It would probably be a similar deal with a new Fenway if/when that happens.

[Kaz]

I'm pretty sure the seats in left field Camden Yard were rotated (at the loss of about 2 seats per row) a few years back.

[Genghis Ortiz]

Ok, I'll take my medicine. Manny's great, blah blah, just searching for answers. Given how Manny 'mailed it in' last year from mid-July, it would be nice to get someone that actually wants to play baseball in left field. We're all open to other constructive suggestions, if you got 'em.

[tbfee]

The left field seats at Camden Yards have NOT been rotated. They're neck-punishing, as ever.

On the other hand, there aren't ANY seats at the Yard that are behind a big steel pole...