Love it. The Dodgers will have Nomar at first base, so I guess they felt they could throw Choi away for nothing. Bizarre -- since he's still got one minor league option -- but he's ours now.
Another excellent pick-up for little money ($725,000) as the front office just keeps hitting bullseye after bullseye this winter.
Choi put up nice numbers -- .388/.495 in 95 games with Florida -- in 2004 before being traded to Los Angeles. He's good insurance at first base if Snow fizzles or if Yook has to move back to third because Lowell can't get it going. Plus the Sox can stash him away in Pawtucket until the time is right, unless they decide to cut Snow.
Plus: Who does PECOTA list as Choi's most comparable player for this season? ... David Ortiz, 2003. (4th best comp? Travis Hafner, 2004) Love it.
They were all completely influenced by the media. For people to think the Boston Red Sox would have just not even attempted to field a competitive team was ridiculous. The media wanted make it this "oh no" situtation, to sell more papers. I personally never worried one bit, and have my blog to prove it. However, ironically, I feel the last few moves have been kind of overkill, as I thought we were fine with Bronson being there to come in and maybe fill in for an injured starter, or still contribute as a long reliever. And these guys from the NL don't look as good to me as they seem to to everyone else. But I obviously hope for the best for Choi and Pena. Just don't see them as being gods, especially with their .240 and .250 averages.
ReplyDeleteAll the if's for this year could conspire to make this season a little disappointing -- not that they will, but they could. But the fact that so many of these moves are so future oriented is encouraging in itself, no matter how Wells/Lowell/Foulke do.
ReplyDeleteI am excited for this season.
I'm also very excited. Health is obviously an issue for several players (not only on the Red Sox, but the Yankees and Blue Jays).
ReplyDeleteThere are always questions before a season. Every year, every team.
The difference between Boston and New York is if someone goes down, we have decent replacements. The MFY do not.
I read at SoSH that John Kruk has predicted that Randy Johnson will win 30 games (didn't he say the exact same thing last year)?
ReplyDeleteShit, I'll bet Kruk $20 that the Big Ugly won't even start 30 games!
Why would anyone, ever, anywhere, for any reason, pay any attention to anything John Kruk has to say?
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