Power Pros Forum

Ya they are pretty high risked players, but if they end up being good then we just got 4 quality players in smoltz,rocco,saito and penny

Not to mention they're all on one year contracts anyway.

If? Remeber what happened to Bartolo Colon? Cy Young Winner to nothing. I doubt the gamble on Smoltz on Saito is gonna work cause of their age. Rocco might work and Penny is gonna be in the starting rotation.

colon wasnt that bad this season though

7 starts
4-2
3.92 era
39 innings
10 walks to 27 k's

I wouldnt say that colon is nothing

To quote Greg Nettles, "He went from Cy Young to Syanara. "He went from Cy Young to Syonara"
(Of Sparky Lyle after being the first reliver to win a Cy Young, only to be replaced by Goose Gossage the next year).

So just because it happened before with Colon that means it'll definetely happen again? Noone can tell what will happen over a season, these guys could have a great year or they could just end up losers. Burnett could go back to spending all his time on the DL until his contract year comes up or he could perform at his peak for five years, you can't be sure. If anybody in this bunch doesn't produce then oh well, it's not like they'll be around much longer.

Considering what we need i'd rather take this group for one year and relatively small contacts than sign big names on long term deals. We're not looking for CY Young award winners here, just people to fill up the bullpen and the bottom of the rotation. We have Beckett, Lester and Dice-K for that stuff.

We'll see when the time comes if any of it's been worth the money.

Beckett isnt the old Beckett anymore. Lester and Dice-K are good. Who else do they have? Wakefield isnt as dominate as there are hitters who can pound his knuckleball. Clay is just a flash in the pan. A no-hitter and no more. John Smoltz will not win more than 10 games anymore and Brad Penny isn't the same Brad Penny he is with the Dodgers. The last 2 i mentioned arn't fighting for a good contract. Red Sox could just waste their money with Penny and Smoltz like the Yankees might do with Burnett.

Beckett had a bad season by his standards but I wouldn't count him down and out just yet, this stuff happens. At 28 and 30 I don't think Beckett and Penny are done and there's a realistic chance of them turning things around (obviously not so much for the older guys), if Beckett declines further this year and Penny doesn't get his old form back with the Sox i'll accept that they might be past it but otherwise i'm staying optimistic.

As for Buchholz the ability is still there but he just needs to build his confidence back up, i'm pretty certain he'll stay in the minors for the first half (if not all) of this season. Dealing with him right now is risky, he might get his command back and develop into a top pitcher or never return and make us regret not trading him when we could. If i'm honest I wouldn't mind if we traded him for a good young catcher now.

The Red Sox could trade Lowell and Clay for Prince Fielder.

If the brewers trade fielder, their whole lineup will be all right handers, I doubt the brewers would make that trade

Don't blame Wakefield, blame the knuckler. Instead of everyone yelling at him, commend him for actually being able to throw the knuckler, not many can. He's something like 13 all time for wins in Boston. He's a fine pitcher, not the greatest, but a fine pitcher. I really really respect Wakefield.

And you don't know if Beckett and Penny will be good. As we don't know if Kazmir and Shields will do. As we don't know if Sabathia and Burnett will do good.

I agree on Beckett, it's amazing how people thing a players finished after one bad year. Look at Mussina, or how people are treating Cano after two years of 330+ (one 350+) batting. I feel good about Beckett (or bad, I should say haha) and not so good about Penny. Penny was a smart signing, but a little risky. I agree on Bucholz, it's the same with Hughes (I wasn't saying anything with the quote, I just love it so I put it in for Bartolo Colon).