We have something to yak about this Monday

Doug:
Arturo! Glad to see you here as usual...

 

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Doug:
I was afraid you'd been traded to Los Angeles for an Helado caht, a sunglass kiosk, and a couple street vendahs to be named latah.

 

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Arturo, the hot dog vendor:
Oh, no worries, Mr. Roy, I'm a 10/5 guy.

 

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Doug:
So you're liking the trade?

 

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Arturo, the hot dog vendor:
Well, the way things are going, any excitement that doesn't cause bodily injury or destruction of property seems like a net win.

 

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Doug:
They've definitely unshackled themselves from some salary ball and chain for some serious rebuilding.

 

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Arturo, the hot dog vendor:
With Bobby Valentine at the helm. Heh.

 

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Doug:
Yeah, there's that, and let's face it— ownahship is too in debt to evah do a serious 3-4 year rebuilding... There's going to be pressure win soon.

 

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Arturo, the hot dog vendor:
Yeah, and you know what that means, somewhere out there is another overpriced, on the wrong side of a performance peak, Carl Crawford type just waiting for a Larry Lucchino woody to make it so.

 

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Doug:
Hello, Josh Hamilton.

 

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Comments

[jfm]

I think Valentine will be gone after the season. **closes eyes and wishes, and wishes, and wishes**

[cmdrflake]

Josh Hamilton oh, my. You just know it would not end well, but I need to energize the idiots into overpaying ACE and StubHub for tickets, and boosting NESN's ratings.
The Sox are acting like Planet Express. It won't be long before John Henry will walk into a meeting proclaiming: "Good news, everyone! We signed a recovering alcoholic to play in an ultra high pressure shark tank of backstabbing, selfish and publicity seeking spoiled savants, posing as team mates. Best of all, we signed him for millions over the next decade so, we will be paying him until he's 50."
"How do you justify that?"
"Well, Leela, we spread out the payments so his tax liability will be minimized, and if he falls off the wagon, we can dump him on those fools that grossly overpaid to buy the Dodgers!"

[soxinsix]

Why was Punto included in this deal? Could Ben not unload Lackey instead? Or a Veet for Mattingly swap?

[Bob]

Here's why Hamilton is not a good idea:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/12/28/america-s-drunkest-cities-photos.html#slide26

[Natalie]

jfm, from your lips to God's ears, man.

I am loving this trade. Did anyone else see that paragraph in Cafardo's article that they placed Ellsbury and Lester on waivers too? This sent the boy into paroxysms of anguish (he's a big Ellsbury fan) and he scoured the net for proof/confirmation and couldn't find any. Rumor or truth, any of you guys know?

[Chip]

This trade is all about Lucchino doubling down in the Hundred yrs war with Theo-trying to blame the past several years of losing on free agency. Gonzalez, Crawford & Beckett were great players having off years (injuries too). It's an overreaction to bad press, and hysteria over not winning all the time. Now the Boston sports press truly have a mediocre team, congratulations, now less people will care about your opinion. Bad trade, rash decision and Valentine is still around!

[Jeff in NC]

I like the trade. I think it was the only opportunity they were ever going to get to dump Beckett, unload a bad signing in Crawford (hes a good player, but this aint the team or management for him), and the price to pay is Gonzalez. With the silver lining of a massive salary dump. Any hopes of fixing the overall bad aggregation of players needed this or a plane crash to make it happen. Yes, mediocrity is on the way. Meh, we been there since september anyway. Just pray to the little baby jesus on the dashboard that the Luchino doesnt fuck this up trying to play whos got the bigger dick with Steinbrenner.

[LarryE]

Chip, to call Beckett a great player is a stretch. He had a couple very good years, but he's not the pitcher he was and was a cancer in the clubhouse. It's unlikely
Crawford will play much next year after Tommy John surgery and we dump an incrediable amount of payroll. I'm sorry to see A-gon go but that's the price for the incredible payroll flexibility this gives us. Excellent move. We're lucky the Dodgers are spending money like a drunken sailor to get us out of when Theo did the same thing.

[ParkerStPete]

Unshackled? Are you pulling a Joe Biden on us, h.b.?

[h.b.]

Parker,

Hah, you caught my obscure ref to slow Joe.

[COD]

I doubt management really expected anything to come of the waiver action, but when the Dodgers offered to take a quarter of billion in payroll off their hands, it was a too good a deal to pass on even if the only thing they got in return was a case of Dodger Dogs.

BTW, if you want to watch the Red Sox or anybody else for the rest of the season, MLB.com is running a special deal through midnight today only. You get live streaming video of every game for the rest of the season for only $10. If you have a Roku or Xbox live it also works through the MLB apps - giving you high def streaming baseball on your TV.

[ponch]

Excellent deal. Crawford was an albatross and you are only picking up a tiny bit of the salaries. Now you have money to resign Ellsbury and Papi (if they want to). Resign Youk to play 1st. Team has been terrible for a year and it was time to change it all up. Just jettison Valentine at the end of the year and we can start liking them again.

[COD]

YOuk is hitting barely .200 since the All-Star break. I think we can do better for cheaper at 1B.

[Scott]

I love the "trade" but they better use the money to re-sign Ellsbury or it was all for naught.

[Chip]

LarryE, this year was the first year in seven that Beckett had a losing record with the Red Sox--and last year he went 13-7 with a 2.39 ERA! He's only 32, and his contract was for just two more years. He stared down the Yankees and didn't blink, and then the Indians in 2007--Werner calling his "manly" pitching performance the reason the Sox prevailed and got WS #2 of the Theo era. His crime and "cancer" seems to be that he ate chicken and drank a couple of beers in the clubhouse, and played golf on his off day. Can't imagine many players will want to stay in Boston under those rules.

[lc]

hmm. ok, something happened. Forget Ellsbury. A Beckett in waiting. Jackie Bradley, Jr. come on down.

As we buddhists, say, don't look to the futah, the futah nevah comes. Live in the moment, embrace Mauro Gomez and Pedro Siracha.

presently,

lc

[Beth]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8306109/financial-concern-window-comes-new-dodgers-regime

"As for Nick Punto … he is kind to strangers, and puppies."

Yup. Sums it up right there.

My dad is a Dodgers fan. I haven't talked to him since the thing went down but I'm interested to get his take.

In other news, Citizens Bank Park is lovely. Made it there for the first time this weekend. I won't be switching allegiances anytime soon, but watching Roy Halladay break faces was a thing of beauty.

[Scott]

Thanks for posting Beth. I just read that article. No holds barred analysis of the "trade". The Phillies did a nice job with that park. They should have made it bigger though.

[soxinsix]

Great article Beth, though I still wish they had been able to unload Lackey too. Hopefully they aren't done with the roster moves.

[rolo]

I like Ellsbury. Always have. Hopefully this deal means he gets re-signed for a long time. Thanks LA!

And I like this trade. Clearly this season was shot, and we got some of LA's best prospects for players who would have otherwise probably been bought out.

One worry though: Has anyone else gotten a "late 90s Clemens" vibe from Beckett these past two seasons? Is there anywhere I can bet on him winning at least one Cy Young in LA before hulking out under suspicious circumstances?

[Jeff in NC]

Damn. Damdamdamdam. According to said article, we could have got rid of Lackey but Sox didnt like that idea. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. Stupid sorry ass trade. When the other guy says "I want the dogshit on your left shoe" you dont respond with "no. But you can have the gum on my right shoe."

[rm]

Due to TS Isaac, a day off and I didn't even bother to notice that there was day baseball today. I think this is the earliest that I have checked out on the sox.

[cmdrflake]

Egads! Who was that guy en fuego on the mound this afternoon for the Dead Sox? Dice-K? Well that's it for August, now he should be ready for the last game, after he complains of (insert part of arm here) tightness.

[Bob]

That was bizzaro Dice K: Ecid Q.
He had Josh Beckett surgery last year. (Beckett is about as opposite from Tommy John as you can get.)