Inside the mind of Jimmy Ballgame

Hanley vs. Beckett

2009-06-16T13:20:00.020-04:00

I am sick of people looking at me crazy when I say that Boston made a mistake trading Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. I understand that Beckett helped us win a World Series but you can not say that a player who plays every 5 games won it for us solely. Since Nomar left the Boston Red Sox in 2004 short stop has been a revolving door every year. Below are the stats of Hanley Ramirez since leaving Boston and Beckett and Lowell since coming to Boston.

Hanley Ramirez since leaving Boston

D.O.B = Dec 23. 1983

Runs = 369

Hits = 574

2B = 128

3B = 21

HR=79

RBI=271

SB = 137

AVG = 308

E= 72

FPCT= .964

G= 467

1 All star
1 ROY
1 Silver Slugger
0 Gold Gloves

My Scouting Report
Hanley Ramirez is the best short stop in the game. He is a five tool player that can hit with power. When he isn’t hitting home runs he is stealing bases. He is average at short with a strong arm but needs to work on accuracy. Face of the franchise and future hall of famer.

Josh Beckett since joining Boston

D.O.B = May 15, 1980
1 All Star
2007- Most Wins in AL 20
W= 48

L=28

ERA = 4.11

G=90

K= 524

My Scouting Report
Before last season he was known as one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors. Wont blow you away with his fast ball but will get you looking with his nasty curve and good change up. Doesn’t walk many and a very good competitor. Has been injury prone with blisters on throwing hand. Can lose his composure on the mound. Ace of your team and Cy Young contender.

Mike Lowell since joining Boston

D.O.B = Feb. 24, 1974
1 All Star
WS MVP 2007
0 Gold Gloves
0 Silver Sluggers

Runs = 216

Hits = 469

2B = 111

3B = 3

HR= 58

RBI= 273

SB = 7

AVG = .297

E= 31

FPCT= .975

G= 420

My Scouting Report
A great doubles hitter especially in Fenway. Doesn’t strike out much and average in the field. Not fast and is streaky. His best days might be behind him and may not bounce back from this injury. Over all he is a above average third baseman.

The Short Stop situation
As stated before the Boston Red Sox have yet to find a franchise short stop since trading the face of the franchise Nomar Garciaparra in 2004. Since the trade in 2006 the Red Sox have had 3 starting short stops. It is very hard to find a great short stop that can do everything and the Red Sox had one in their hands but traded him away.

Red Sox Short stops since Hanley Left

2006:
Alex Gonzalez

2007:
Julio Lugo

2008:
Julio Lugo
Jed Lowrie

2009:
Jed Lowrie
Julio Lugo
Nick Green

2006 Stats

Alex Gonzalez Boston Red Sox

G AB R H 2B 3B HR

111 388 48 99 24 2 9

RBI BB K SB AVG

50 22 67 1 .255

Hanley Ramirez Florida Marlins
Rookie of the year

G AB R H 2B 3B HR

158 633 119 185 46 11 17

RBI BB K SB AVG

59 56 128 51 .292

In Hanley’s rookie season Hanley tore it up winning the rookie of the year. Not only did he almost double the amount of homeruns Gonzalez hit he also stole 50 MORE bases! He also knocked in 59 RBI’s on a crappy Florida Marlins lineup.

2007 Stats

Julio Lugo Boston Red Sox

G AB R H 2B 3B HR

147 570 71 135 36 2 8

RBI BB K SB AVG

73 48 82 33 .237

Hanley Ramirez Florida Marlins

G AB R H 2B 3B HR
154 639 125 212 48 6 29

RBI BB K SB AVG
81 52 95 51 .332

Hanley only played in 7 more games then Lugo but scored 125 times to Lugo’s 71. He also tripled the amount of homeruns Lugo hit. Lugo might have stuck out 13 times less but Ramirez hit .100 points higher.

2008 Stats

Julio Lugo Boston Red Sox

G AB R H 2B 3B HR
82 261 27 70 13 0 1

RBI BB K SB AVG
22 34 51 12 .268

Jed Lowrie Boston Red Sox

G AB R H 2B 3B HR

81 260 34 67 25 3 2

RBI BB K SB AVG

46 35 68 1 .258

Hanley Ramirez Florida Marlins
All Star

G AB R H 2B 3B HR
153 589 125 177 34 4 33

RBI BB K SB AVG
67 92 122 35 .301

In 2008 the Red Sox could have used Hanley’s 153 games because they had 2 players split time at short stop. Hanley hit 30 more home runs then both Lugo and Lowrie. If the Red Sox had Hanley in their lineup then trading Manny would not have hurt the team as much. David Ortiz would also have the big bat he was asking for.

The 2009 season is still very young but Josh Beckett has has some struggles he is 7-3 with a 4.15 ERA. But Mike Lowell has been playing some great ball batting .299 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI's. You can still tell he is still bothered by his hip injury when he hits the ball into the outfield and only gets a single. The short stop situation is Boston has been ugly so far this year with Jed Lowrie on the DL Terry Francona has had to play Julio Lugo (who started out on the DL) who is batting .300 with only 90 at bats this season or Nick Green who has stepped up and has been batting .286 with 3 home runs. Hanley Ramirez is having an all star year batting .330 with 8 home runs, 34 RBI's and 9 stolen bases. Even with struggles at short stop the Red Sox are in first place leading the Yankees by 2 games. You would have to wonder how the line up would be if you places Ramirez's power and speed into it.

Here is a quick look at what the players have made and will be making with their current team.

Contracts

Hanley Ramirez
2006: 327,000

2007: 402,000

2008: 439,000

2009: $5.5 million

2010: $7 million

2011: $11 million

2012: $15 million

2013: $15.5 million

2014: $16 million

2015: Free Agent

Total: 71,168,000 over 11 seasons

Josh Beckett

$2 million signing bonus

2007: $6.5 million

2008: $9.5 million

2009: $12 million in 2009

2010: $12.5 million club option

2011: Free Agent

Total: 42.5 over 4 seasons

Mike Lowell

2006: $9 million

2007: $9 million

2008: $12.5 million

2009: $12 million

2010: $12 million

2011: Free Agent

Total: 54.5 million over 5 seasons

Julio Lugo

2008: $9 million

2009: $9 million

2010: $9 million

2011: $9 million club option

2012: Free Agent

Total: 36 million over 4 seasons

When you first look at Hanley Ramirez’s contract you may think HOLY CRAP 70 MILLION BUCKS, THAT’S A LOT! But compared to what we are paying Julio Lugo to do nothing for 4 seasons it’s a BAHGAN. Lowell is a great player don’t get me wrong but over 10 million in each of his 5 seasons is crazy. Plus we will lose him in 2010, he will retire if he makes it that long. And who knows maybe our savior and cornerstone to this argument Josh Beckett will be gone after the 2010 season. Then come 2015 we can pay a ridiculous amount for the best player in the league Hanley Ramirez, unless he signs with the Yankees you have to think Jeter will be long gone by then.

This could be on of those rare trades that works out for both teams, Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell have been great players for boston and Hanley Ramirez has been Florida's MVP. But would you rather have a great player that plays every 5 days or a great player that can go out there every day?

What I would give to see this again.........

Now what Arod?

2009-04-30T18:27:00.004-04:00

While Alex Rodriguez was on the fields playing in extended spring training games new reports are hitting the wire at ESPN. But these reports have nothing to do with Rodriguez's hip injury. No these are new reports that are being leaked from a tell all book written by a reporter who got some inside scoop.

Here is a quick refresher if you don't remember what went down during February 2009. Out of nowhere a reporter leaks information from her book that Alex Rodriguez failed some steroids tests a couple years ago while he was playing with the Texas Rangers. Alex then came out and said it was true that he did use steroids while with the Rangers but that he stopped when he was sent to the New York Yankees.

Now new reports that have been leaked today is saying that Alex used steroids in High School when he put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years. Also in the report is a anonymous former Yankee teammate said that the team nicknamed Rodriguez "B****h T**s" in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the off season. The sudden gain in weight made him have round pectoral muscles. This is a common condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.

Here comes the most puzzling report of them all. Alex Rodriguez tipped pitches while playing short stop for the Texas Rangers. Reportedly he did this during blow out games in hopes that other players would do this when he was struggling at the plate. Now I am not endorsing steroids at all but I think that tipping pitches is FAR worse then steroids and here is why:

When taking steroids you are trying to make yourself better, therefore helping out your team and teammates. If you are tipping pitches then you are hurting your own pitchers. I don't care if the game was out of reach! The pitchers that come in during mop up roles are trying to make a living just like everyone else. If you start to tip their pitches then you are throwing them under the bus. If I was one of Alex's teammates back then and get to face him this season I would throw a ball up under his chin. Teammates are supposed to be able to be trusted and he is out there helping out the other team in hopes that they will do the same to inflate his stats?

MLB officials really need to look into the NEW reports that Alex Rodriguez was tipping the pitches because was hurting his own teammates. I am sure on May 4th when the new book "AROD" comes out there will be plenty more to boo Arod about. And the Yankees really need to look at themselves for letting this cheater put on their jersey. Look at some of the greats who put on that uniform. Joe Dimaggio, Lou Gehrig and now Alex Rodriguez. If the Yankees really care about their own history then they need to get rid of that last name on the list.

Let the fun start!

2009-04-23T17:58:00.002-04:00

Friday night the fun starts! The New York Yankees will make their first appearance in Fenway Park throwing Joba Chamberlain against our young lefty stud John Lester. Chamberlain will be making his first start of the season instead of Chien Ming Wang.

The Red Sox will becoming into the weekend series VERY hot. They have a 7 game winning streak including yesterdays sweep of a double header. The Yankees come in with a 3 game winning streak including yesterdays 14 inning slug fest that ended in a Melky Cabrera home run.

It will be interesting to see how the Yankees do playing in Fenway Park instead of their new launching pad ballpark. The first home stand has seen 26 home runs leave the new Yankee stadium in only 6 games. 17 of those homers were hit to right field or right-center field. Some of those would just be pop flies in Fenway Park.

The pitching match ups looks like this:

Friday 7:10 : NYY Joba Chamberlain (0-0, 5.06 ERA) VS. BOS John Lester (1-2, 5.50 ERA)
John Lester was supposed to pitch on Saturday but because of Becketts 5 game suspention and a off day they flipped Lester and Beckett so Beckett would not miss a start.

Saturday 4:10 : NYY A.J Burnett (2-0, 3.20 ERA) VS. BOS Josh Beckett (2-1, 3.79 ERA)
Best Match up of the series with former Florida Marlins teammates facing off. Josh Beckett was supposed to miss this series because of a 6 game suspention but MLB changed it to 5 games.

Sunday 8:05 : NYY Andy Pettitte (2-0, 2.35 ERA) VS. BOS Justin Masterson (1-0, 3.18 ERA)
Masterson will be making his 2nd start of the season in place of Daisuke Matsuzaka who was the first major casualty of the World Baseball Classic.

This is just great

2009-04-15T05:19:00.007-04:00

Let Japan pay Dice K's 8 million check this year

Dice K has been put on the 15 day DL with arm fatigue.....Wait arm fatigue? You have only pitched 6.1 innings the ENTIRE season how is that possible? OH WAIT I remember now Dice K went balls to the wall for his home country while becoming the 2 time World Baseball Classic MVP while pitching Japan to their 2nd World Baseball Classic Championship. In Dice K's first game he only pitched 5.1 innings and and gave up 4 earned runs and 3 home runs. But he was forced to throw 100 times in that one game. Then in his second start he barley got out of the 1st inning giving up 5 earned runs which ballooned his ERA to 12.97.

The problem with the World Baseball Classic is that in Dice K's 3 games for Japan he threw 65, 86 and finally 98 pitches in his outings while back at spring training the rest of the Red Sox team were in the 60-80 pitch range. If you look at his first 2 games you think that he was not that far off but you have to think about the pressure he is facing. He is pitching for his homeland and its do or die. When you are pitching in Fort Myers facing double A hitters its not a big deal.

So congratulations Japan you may have won the meaningless World Baseball Classic for a 2nd time but you also may have blown the season for your star pitcher while crushing the dreams of Red Sox Nation.

Dont Raise that MVP trophy too High Dice K, wouldn't want your arm to be to tired to earn your pay check.

Oh Boy......

2009-04-14T23:08:00.010-04:00

Well the 2009 season has started out with a bang! uhh I mean a dud.... I am sitting here on a Tuesday night watching the 2-5 Red Sox play horrible on the west coast. What a week it has been for Red Sox nation.... The Sox open up the season playing awesome ball winning 5-3 and I thought this season would be a good one. Then I go to the game on Wednesday and think we have a great chance of winning because my 2009 Cy Young winner is pitching....boy was I wrong. We end up losing the next 2 games to the 2008 AL East champions.

Then the sox have to fly to LA to play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California in the United States of America. You have to feel bad for the Angels with the passing of their top prospect Nick Adenhart who was killed by some drunk ass hit and killed him and 2 of his friends. Not only was 3 20 somethings lost but the driver who has been pulled over before for driving drunk was hit with 3 counts of murder...oh he was also 22.

And to make matters worse Adenhart pitched the game of his young life on Wednesday night, he was killed just a few short hours after.

So the next game for the Angels was Friday night against the sox and I had a feeling they would come out swinging. The emotional Angels won Friday night 6-3 beating Tim Wakefield. Then on Saturday the Red Sox had their first comeback of the season winning behind Brad Penny 5-4. The Sox were winning 5-3 but their usually reliable closer gave up a run in the 9th inning and almost blew the game.

Then came Easter Sunday...... Our ace Josh Beckett was on the mound and I thought that they had no chance against us....

Then in the first inning as Josh Beckett was facing Bobby Abreu a bench clearing brawl broke out. What was weird about this was that no one got hit or anything. What had happened was that Abreu thought that Beckett was taking to long to pitch and called time out. The problem was that Josh was already in his pitching motion and could not stop. Now this is were things got weird. Josh continued to throw the ball but when he let it go to went in the direction of Abreu's head. Then Abreu and Beckett started to yell while both bench's charged the field.

This little fight resulted in 4 ejections but none of them were any Red Sox players and Beckett was allowed to play the rest of the game. The sox ended up losing the game 5-4.

Then MLB announced that they were going to suspend Beckett for 6 games (which equals to 1 start) for not acting remorseful to which Josh Beckett said "Am I supposed to go give him a hug? I wasn't really in a hugging mood right then. I don't really know what he wanted me to do."

Now I dont really agree with the 6 game suspension because the umps at the game decided it was unintentional so now Bud is overruling them. It is a hard thing to make a call on because as a pitcher you are taught to throw the ball no matter what but you never throw at someones head.

April 8th......First game of the year for me!

2009-04-09T01:08:00.012-04:00

Well the night started off great, we arrive at Fenway early to hang out and I thought that I bought tickets to the right field grandstand but to my surprise we are two rows from the field! I cant believe 50 bucks got me that close to the field!

We got there during batting practice and a few balls were hit near us but I didnt get any.

Once the Rays were done with batting practice Lester came out with Varitek to warm up in the outfield.

Everything was great until the top of the third when the Rays scored their first run but when we got up we also scored. Lester didnt pitch a good game at all and the wheels fell off in the 5th inning when we gave up 4 runs. Tampa bays pitching looked great but I dont think they were playing great but the sox hitters were horrible. The game never really got exciting until the 8th when we scored another run.

Final score- Tampa 7 - Sox 2

Damn rain.....

2009-04-06T15:00:00.006-04:00

Well I was planning on writing about the game today but mother nature has other thoughts! Now the game will be tomorrow (Tuesday) with the first pitch at 4:06 (tribute to Ted Williams). So with some time on my hands and a crappy day I have decided to do a marathon of baseball movies!

Here is a list of some great baseball movies to get you through any rain delays!

Fever pitch
Summer Catch
For love of the game
Major League 1 & 2
Bull Durham
Angels in the outfield
Field of dreams
Fear strikes out
Hard Ball
The Natural
Little Big League
The Sandlot
The Rookie

I know there are a lot of movies but these are my favorites!

I will be going to the game on Wednesday night to see Lester take on the Rays. I will write a blog about my experience and also about any updates made in Fenway! Maybe even add some pictures from the game!

April's player profile of yesteryear - Who is THE Mr. Red Sox?

2009-04-02T02:38:00.020-04:00

Aprils past player profile is a very important man. This man has been with the Boston Red Sox for 58 of his 70 years in his baseball career. He has done everything he could for the Red Sox, he was a player, coach, announcer and ambassador. He is one of the last true baseball men in baseball history. He is also a World War II veteran who served his country and then came back and played his heart out. He has met Babe Ruth, played and became best friends with Ted Williams, and has 2 world series rings with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. He has the right field pole named after him in Fenway Park and he also had his number 6 retired on Sunday September 28th 2008 just 1 day after his 89th birthday. If you don’t know his name by now I cant tell you anymore hints, his name is Johnny Pesky.

When Pesky was about to get signed there were 3 teams at his house. The Yankees, Cardinals and Red Sox. Out of all of them the Red Sox offered him the least amount of money and coming from a poor immigrant family he was very surprised when his mom told him to sign with the Red Sox. She told him he better sign with the Red Sox because she felt like they cared about him and that the scout was much nicer.

Pesky started his career in 1942 with a bang batting .331 but his baseball career was put on the back burner by World War II, joining the Navy and served his country until 1946. He played with the Red Sox for 8 more years until being traded to the Detroit Tigers and retired in 1954 with a career batting average of .307 batting average.
Pesky will always be known as a life long Boston Red Sock. He has devoted his life to the game of baseball and helped teach the right way to many Boston Red Sox greats.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Red Sox and it was a day I would never forget he is a class act that can change the way you look at life in meeting you for just one second. If you are lucky enough to see this great man at Fenway Park please just stop him and thank him for all he has done for the Boston Red Sox and the game of baseball.

New look Red Sox?

2009-04-01T16:13:00.000-04:00

The 2009 Boston Red Sox not only look different on the rosters but will also will have other material changes. During the 2008 off season the Red Sox brass announced a couple changes to their Jersey's and hats. When this was announced not a lot of people liked it even before they saw the new threads.

The biggest change was the NEW away jersey that they would wear. The Sox would keep the grey jersey's but would change the lettering from Red to Blue. They also added a patch to their sleeve of their new logo which is now the dual sox. If you look at the new jersey it looks like the jerseys the team wore throughout their historic presence.

New 2009 away Jersey

Boston Red Sox 1957 away Jersey

See a resemblance???

Another big change is the primary logo. The new Red Sox logo is the dual sox that is now their new alternate hat.

Also with the new alternate hat there is a new alternate away jersey which is blue with red lettering.

Some people don't like the change but I think we should welcome it with open arms.... Wasn't change what Barack-O wanted?

A NEW season........a FRESH start

2009-04-01T01:58:00.000-04:00

Well Baseball fans its now down to 5 days until Opening day! It is going to be a very hard season for our hometown team but I feel pretty good about our chances. Last years team was only ONE win away from making it to the World Series and we are coming in with that same team but with better additions.

Here is a run down of the key pickups and releases.

Key Trade of the off season: Center Fielder Coco Crisp for RP Ramon Ramirez

Starting Pitching

Returning Players:
RH Josh Beckett
LH Jon Lester
RH Daisuke Matsuzaka
RH Tim Wakefield

Key Addition:
RH John Smoltz
RH Brad Penny

Key Release:
RH Curt Schilling (retired)
RH Paul Byrd

Studs to watch for?
RH Clay Buchholz
RH Michael Bowden
RH Jenichi Tazawa

Ballgame Buzz
We have some great arms down on the farm so don't be surprised to see Brad Penny or Tim Wakefield be on a short leash. Also John Smoltz wont make his first start until a few months even though he is saying he is feeling better then he has the past few years. Watch out for Justin Masterson to maybe make the jump to starter.

Bullpen

Returning Players:
RH Manny Delcarmen
LH Javier Lopez
RH Justin Masterson
LH Hideki Okajima
RH Jonathan Papelbon

Key Additions:
RH Ramon Ramirez
LH Takashi Saito

Key Release:
RH Mike Timlin
LH Julian Tavarez

Studs to watch for?
RH Daniel Bard
RH Charlie Zink

Ballgame Buzz
Watch for Takashi Saito to become the sox new setup guy to take some of the load off of Hideki Okajima. Also cant wait to see Daniel Bard make his way up to the big league, during spring training he was hitting triple digits on the radar gun....

Catcher

Returning Players:
C - Jason Varitek
C - George Kottaras (Called up last September played in 3 games with 5 atbats batting .200)

Key Addition:
Resigning Varitek

Key Release:
Kevin Cash

Ballgame Buzz
Biggest mistake this year? Not making a move for a better back up. Look for Theo and the boys to pursue making a trade for our future catcher using hometown boy Manny Delcarmen as trade bait.

Infield

Returning Players:
1B - Kevin Youkilis
2B - Dustin Pedroia
SS - Jed Lowrie
3B - Mike Lowel

Key Addition:
None

Key Release:
2B Alex Cora
1B Sean Casey (retired)

Bench:
SS Julio Lugo
IN/OF Mark Kotsay

Stud to watch for?
1B- Lars Anderson

Ballgame Buzz
Watch for Julio Lugo to get games in at short while Jed Lowrie moves over to third to give the ailing Mike Lowell some nights off.

Outfield

Returning Players:
LF - Jason Bay
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury
RF - J.D Drew

Key Addition:
CF Rocco Baldelli

Key Release:
CF Coco Crisp

Bench Players:
LF Chris Carter
CF Jonathan Van Every
IN/OF Mark Kotsay

Stud to watch for?
OF Josh Reddick

Ballgame Buzz
Even though Coco was a fan favorite we got a great deal on Rocco. He has had some health issues but doctors say they have figured them out so maybe we got a good player at a cheap price.

Designated Hitter

Returning Player:
DH David Ortiz

Key Addition:
None

Key Release:
Sean Casey (retired)

Ballgame Buzz
David Ortiz came into training camp looking slimmer then normal but not weaker. The wrist injury might have taken some pop out of papi's bat but maybe losing some weight will help him beat out some doubles. Look for Theo and the boys to make a mid-season trade the the big bat papi needs.