November 21, 2008

Dice Looking Ahead To WBC; Sox Have "Lust" For Teixeira

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the MVP of the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, says he'll pitch for defending champion Japan if asked.
I'll pick up the pace of my training in December so that I won't have to scramble at the last minute.
Japan's first game is scheduled for March 5.

Michael Silverman, Herald:
One baseball source, familiar with the Sox' thinking this offseason, said the club's "lust" factor is very strong for Teixeira, who was on the Georgia Tech sideline with Sox catcher Jason Varitek for last night's ACC football game against Miami in Atlanta.

"For a team that liked J.D. Drew, they absolutely love Teixeira," said the source.
Things should heat up at the winter meetings -- December 8-11 in Las Vegas. ... Silverman sees Paul McAnulty as a possible replacement for Sean Casey. ... The Red Sox added LHPs Felix Doubront and Hunter Jones and catcher Mark Wagner to its 40-man roster (now at 37).

Ramon Ramirez, the latest addition to the bullpen, says he
couldn't be happier right now. I'm ecstatic. ... As far as my demeanor, I like being aggressive. I like attacking the strike zone, it doesn't matter what the count or what situation I'm being brought into. I just want to be as aggressive as possible and go right after hitters.
Tim Wakefield, on 16-year-old Japanese knuckleball pitcher Eri Yoshida:
Hope I can see her pitch one day. I'm honored that someone wants to become me. I wish her the best of luck. Maybe I can learn something from her. ... It's funny that I've reached that point in my career that people want to emulate me. I'm glad I had people like the Niekros, Charlie Hough and Tom Candiotti that I could look up to. I am deeply humbled that it is me this time.

22 comments:

laura k said...

Beautiful quote from Wakefield.

I hope we get to see Dice-K in the WBC!

laura k said...

the club's "lust" factor is very strong for Teixeira

Or what we at JoS call The Andy Factor.

Peter N said...

As long as WBC isn't related to the boxing WBC. And yes, Teixeira will help SO much.
RR was a great pickup...thanks, Coco.

Gambrinus said...

I hope we get to see Dice-K in the WBC!

We may be saying, 'Wait, how the hell did he walk that many guys and still beat us?'

allan said...

I'd rather not have any Sox in the WBC, though that is unlikely.

When the hell do single games tix go on sale?

tim said...

I hear that, redsock. Doesn't look like many people are buying the packs. There were tons of primo seats for the packs that I could have gotten today but I would only be able to attend the first game anyway, Canada vs. USA, on the Saturday afternoon.

Could've got those "In the action" seats too! At a grand per pack. I do not possess the wealth for that, nor would I spend it on that if I did. I didn't even know Italy had baseball!

Patrick said...

I wish Daisuke wasn't going. Save that arm! Oh well.

"The Andy Factor" is hilarious! I hope Theo doesn't offer Tiexiera a sponge bath. That would be an Andy Factor of maybe 2 out of 10. Let's not even discuss level 3.

9casey said...

The thing with getting Texeira is and we have to deal Lowell...In my mind Theo starts to look swarmy....Lowell signs fo less money to stay here and we trade him, They did the same thing to Bronson , for no apperent reason, that still might be one of the worst deals ever, and Bronson hasn't really been that good, it's just that Wily Mo sucked ass......

allan said...

One nice thing about Theo is he doesn't give a damn how he looks to other people. Lowell knows the risks. Who would want Lowell, though?

allan said...

Friggin ticket strips. I saw seats in 121, row 25 or so. Pretty much where we usually sit for Sox games.

But we'd would miss the first 3 games (weekend). I could probably sell the others, but $650 for two sets of tix ..... no. It's only about $50 per game -- which actually seems low for this -- but still. I'm not that invested in the WBC.

I'd like to go to the Monday game. It's the losers of the first two games, so we'd see either Canada or the USA.

9casey said...

redsock said...
One nice thing about Theo is he doesn't give a damn how he looks to other people. Lowell knows the risks. Who would want Lowell, though?


We would ,and last time I looked we were a contender and he won a World Series MVP, he's a pretty good player....

laura k said...

last time I looked we were a contender and he won a World Series MVP

9C, you might make an argument for keeping Lowell, but this isn't one of them. It doesn't matter how good a player was once, what WS teams he was on, how many rings he has.

Players do reach the end of their careers. Timlin, Varitek, Lowell, etc. - each an important piece of the puzzle in his day, but not forever.

9casey said...

L-girl said...

Players do reach the end of their careers. Timlin, Varitek, Lowell, etc. - each an important piece of the puzzle in his day, but not forever.


Lowell had a injury that was fixed......and now he's done?is Papi done? when Lowell was healthy this year he was very good.If would have played 162 he easily would have had 100 rbi's and 30 hr's easily ,this guy isn't washed up by any means..

laura k said...

Lowell had a injury that was fixed......and now he's done?

I didn't say one way or the other. I said your response "last time I looked we were a contender and he won a World Series MVP" is not a good argument. A man can win a WS MVP and still be finished a few years later.

laura k said...

Tim, we also didn't want to shell out major money on the packs, especially since we could only go to half the games. I'd love to see US v Canada, but oh well. I'll settle for one game.

Rob said...

These days some of the higher regarded players can request/demand that good ol' no-trade clause. Lowell didn't demand it, as far as I could tell - not enough not to re-sign with Boston... So obviously no no-trade clause means you're fair game.

andy said...

Yeah Lowell is a liability now. Yes, Papi may be too if his hand will not heal 100% and he can't show us hitting in the first month. If he starts off where he finished, and I mean the shitty regular season, then he is a huge liability. We could easily pick up a veteran DH that could produce more than Papi immediately. Marky Tex is a younger player with a long runway ahead of him. I would like to see that. So Tex at 1b and Youk at 3b? I am very good with that. Youk will go down as one of the very best all around in fielders if he plays awesome at 3rd for a couple years on top of his 1st base history. You gotta keep Drew here too because he is younger and he can play for huge chunks of the year healthy and matter big time. Tek is the biggest problem if we don't land Tex and get DH production. We won't be able to afford the hole in the lineup rivaling the National League. With Timlin in the woods for good now we cleaned out the dead wood in the pen. I would love to see Masterson become a top tier starter or a closer. We have a closer now so he would have to be a starter. He is too good to bury in a 7th or 8th inning guy. We need him to give us impact. I know it would be good to have the last 6 outs locked down but we have Jeemer and MDC. They will be good again like 07. I'd keep Byrd as a long reliever. Can you imagine Randy Johnson as a reliever for a year? Have him warm up every other day and put him in right after the starter no matter what. Give him an inning or two here or there. That could mean winning a 3 game series a lot more. How about Wake coming in for one batter. If he can be a left hander specialist that would be cool. I am afraid though that I may be trying to make excuses for Wake to keep him around kinda like how Tito kept Timlin. I am excited. We are keeping all of our good and improving our bad. So far it is really working out at least it's heading that way.

9casey said...

Ish said...
These days some of the higher regarded players can request/demand that good ol' no-trade clause. Lowell didn't demand it, as far as I could tell - not enough not to re-sign with Boston... So obviously no no-trade clause means you're fair game.



Mike Lowell 3b
3 years/$37.5M (2008-10)

3 years/$37.5M (2008-10)
re-signed by Boston as a free agent 11/19/07
$1.5M signing bonus
08:$12M, 09:$12M, 10:$12M
no-trade protection

9casey said...

L-girl said...
Lowell had a injury that was fixed......and now he's done?

I didn't say one way or the other. I said your response "last time I looked we were a contender and he won a World Series MVP



My respone was to Redsock when he asked who would want Lowell I said we do and we are good if not great and he won a ws mvp , meaning he was pretty good as well....A lot of team s should want him...

laura k said...

Yeah, I understood. That's what I was replying to.

9casey said...

L-girl said...
Yeah, I understood. That's what I was replying to.



Gee, we must be bored.......:)

How's everything else, is the economy hittin the shitter up there to?

laura k said...

Gee, we must be bored.......:)

I guess so! :)

How's everything else, is the economy hittin the shitter up there to?

Nowhere near as bad as the US - the banking industry is still regulated here, and you have to actually afford a mortgage to get one, they don't just hand out credit to everyone.

But Canada's economy is still very tied to the US, whatever happens there, hurts here too.

So it's bad, but not as bad.

Monday we're taking our annual US Thanksgiving road trip to NY/NJ. So we're happy gas prices fell. :)