The Sports Tutor

Red Sox 25 man roster

2006-01-31T17:19:00.000-05:00

This is how the opening day roster should look:

Infield:
1. Varitek
2. Youkilis
3. Loretta
4. A. Gonzalez
5. Lowell
6. Manny
7. Coco
8. Trot

Starting Pitchers:
9. Schilling
10. Beckett
11. Clement
12. Wakefield
13. Wells
14. Arroyo
15. Papelbon

Relievers:
16. Foulke
17. Timlin
18. Tavarez
19. Seanez
20. Riske

Bench:
21. John Flaherty
22. J.T. Snow
23. Alex Cora
24. Tony Graffanino
25. Adam Stern (?)

Jim Rice

2006-01-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

Jim Rice once again got shafted by the BBWAA, an utterly contemptuos organization that is ruining Cooperstown. Rice's numbers have been aganozied over for years, and with the many different metrics we now have for measuring baseball players, Rice's exclusion from the hall is an egregious mistake that may never be corrected.

Bill James has a book titled "What ever happened to the Hall of Fame?", and the question increases in significance every year. I've been to Cooperstown a handful of times when I was younger, and it was always an amazing experience that I walked away from loving the game of the baseball. But as time goes on, the realization that some truly average players grace the halls, while guys like Rice and Rose are left out, makes me re-think that being what being an HoF'er really means. While the designation will always remain prestigious, I think that some of the mystique dissipates every year.

Congrats to Bruce Sutter, but you shouldn't be walking in there alone.

Manny

2006-01-06T16:44:00.000-05:00

So Manny finally said that he wants to stay in Boston, with his friends, and where he has a chance to continually win. That's all well and good, but it doesn't change anything from two months ago.

If you've talked to me at all since the first (fifth? tenth? 30th?) trade demands came out this summer, I've constantly said that Manny most likely plays in Boston next year, and has his usual .300+/40/120 season. What made me so sure? A few things.

1) The most obvious is the contract. Even before the whispers that Manny wanted one (or both) of his $20 million options excercised, he was still owed $57 million over the next three years. Last year only two-three teams could even think about acquiring Manny, but this year the number jumped to a dozen or so. Still, it didn't really matter. Despite the fact that the numbers he puts up are close 20 a year, the new market doesnt hand out that much money AAV (average annual value). So very teams even seriously considered trying to trade for him, especially considering...

2) The Red Sox were not going to take much less than equal value in any trade. Most of the rumors going around over the last two years have not even been close in terms of equal talent being exchanged (at least until the Tejada deal, which I'll get to). Without Mr. Ramirez in the lineup, a gargantuan hole opens up around Ortiz, and the main reason the team has led the league in runs for three years running would be missing. The Sox knew that dollar-for-dollar probably wasn't going to happen, but they wern't going to take 60 cents on the dollar either, mostly because...

3) Manny wasn't going to sit out next year. Why? As Tony Massarotti wrote the other day, the same man who just said he wouldn't accept a trade unless he gets an extra 40 million isn't going to sit out and not get paid 19 million this year based on something called "principles." The Sox are also pretty confident that Manny won't tank the year, which I also believe because I don't think Manny knows how to do it. Is he not going to try to hit? Is he going to space out more often in the outfield? Unless he starts purposely running in the opposite directon of where the balls going there is no concern. Remember, this is same player who once cut off a Johnny Damon throw by making a diving stop in the middle of the outfield. Even if he is tanking it, I'm not sure anyone can tell the difference.

The Miguel Tejada trade rumors were interesting on a number of levels. Here, the Sox got as close to equal value as they would get, filled a hole in the infield, and made Ortiz even happier. I don't know if I ever thought it would get done, but this is the only trade that has even been close to realistic. Throw in the bonus of dropping Clements contract, and opening up a rotation spot for Papelbon/Arroyo, and the deal was close to a no-brainer. Balitmore was standing in the way, as the Sox wanted an outfield prospect that the O's didn't want to give up, and both teams were probably a little wary of trading within the division.

The other blocker was the Cubs offer of Prior. If I'm Peter Angelos, the Prior deal is done as quickly as possible. You need pitching, and I'm not sure anyone of Prior's skill/potential is going to come along in the next five years for a decent price.

Whatever happens, expect Manny to be lolly-gagging out under the Monster as usual, and unless starts smoking pot before every game, I don't think there's much to be worried about.

Linebackers, Special Teams....and Injuries?

2005-12-27T23:46:00.000-05:00

Much of today's sports radio was driven by callers wanting to complain about Tedy Bruschi playing on special teams and getting hurt on a punt against the Jets last night. However, this is not an issue on any level. Anyone who feels that Bruschi shouldn't be playing on special teams has not followed the team over the last four years, since that is precisely what he has done.

Belicheck is getting this team ready for the playoffs to make an improbable threepeat, and to do it he needs his starters on the field, gelling and meshing and becoming the proverbial "cohesive unit." The rush defense has jumped from 27th to 4th in the NFL, an amazing leap, and Bruschi is as big a reason for the leap as any.

What does this have to do with special teams? It's all in the philosophy. The Patriots have redefined the "one game at a time" mantra for modern sports, and Belicheck has his players believing in it. Bruschi getting hurt on a freak play on a punt is not reason enough to remove a central special teams component, along with creating doubt in the team philosophy.

The Patriots have gone through a series of injuries to key players on special teams in the last few years, but when new guys step in they never do the job aptly. One of the biggest concerns last year was kickoff coverage, as most teams started at the 35 or 40 because of shoddy tackling. Special teams needs some starters out there kamikazi-ing their way to the ball. That's just how it is.

Bruschi also has not fully hit his groove yet while on the field. His mind is as sharp as ever, and he recognizes offensive plays as well as any signal caller in the league. His body is still catching up, and if you're going to give him a rest, it needs to be for the whole game, not just for the two-three punts that Josh Miller puts 60 yards downfield.

Should Belicheck rest Bruschi, Asante, Corey...Brady? Probably, but only because the Pats don't have a bye week. If most of them play, I have no problem with it, as they'll be fighting for the third seed and the right to play a Pittsburgh team that they've absolutely destroyed in the playoffs. If they had gotten a two seed, then I guarentee all of the healthy starters would play a majority of the game.

In case anyone has forgetten, the motto in New England hasn't changed:

In Belicheck we trust.

2005-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas. Commentary coming soon.

Save a prayer for Tony Dungy and his family.

An Introduction

2005-12-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Sports Tutor's Blog. Here I will be discussing various sports-related themes that I feel the general public is getting wrong on a consistent basis. Being based in the Boston area allows me listen to quite often to "yahoo-ism", that is, people who think they know sports and will debate to the end a subject they know nothing about, yet will never admit they were wrong despite all evidence to the contrary. Lesser forms of yahoo-ism consist of most Red Sox fans, including the ones that have prompted this blog.

Johnny Damon is a Yankee.

That's all that happened, and millions of Red Sox fans suddenly felt as if they were dumped by the weird guy with long hair that had a speech impediment. Or they felt betrayed that someone they had grown so close to (through the television) suddenly up-and-left and joined the arch-nemesis, the hated Yankees.

Don't get me wrong, I loathe the Yankees. But Johnny Damon joining the Evil Empire for more money is just not that big of a deal. Why is anyone surprised? Because he said he would never play for them? What would the uproar have been if he pulled a Manny and said he wouldn't mind donning the pinstripes some day? People forgive Manny because he's a little kid. Damon is a jackass, but he would never jeopardize his public persona by telling the truth. He wanted money. He got money. Hopefully the Yankees have another centerfielder they'll be overpaying while he two-hops throws to the shortstop and his body gives out after crashing into another wall in a year and a half.

The Sox will move on. If you had some weird crush on a hairy, adulterous drunkard that chases cars in the off-season, you should move on too.