Goodbye Dave, Hello Matt
Dave Roberts, we hardly knew you. You may have only been here for 3 months, but damn did you ever make an impression. Without "the stolen base" we never would have made it to the World Series. And even though you didn't get the SB in game 5, you distracted Gordon enough to give up the hit that moved you to 3rd where you tied the game on the sac fly.
Unfortunately with the outfield set, there was no room for you next year. So Theo accomodated you and sent you off to be a starter in San Diego. I say to you what I've said to all the other guys who've left so far, thanks for the Championship, good luck in San Diego, and you'll always have a place here in this city.
Nice trade here by Theo. Although Jay Payton's numbers were inflated in Colorado, he's a solid right handed bat off the bench, good platoon partner for Nixon, and a good all around 4th outfielder. He can do most of the things Kapler did for us. He can play all 3 outfield positions and he can hit a little. He should step right into the role that Kapler vacated.
Ramon Vazquez will fill Pokey's shoes. He can play both middle infield positions, and although he's not as slick of fielder as Pokey, he makes all the plays. He's a much better hitter than Pokey was and he can run late in a game and steal a base.
And we got a 21 year old pitcher who could become a nice addition to the pen at some point down the road. This is a very nice haul by Theo.
Matt Clement is a nice addition to the staff. He was the best pitcher that was still available. Although he'll be 30 in August, he seems to be one of those guys who put it all together late. He's been known to have some control problems but he also seems to be improving. He'll give us 200 innings and keep his ERA around 4. It's also possible that he'll be even better than that.
This gives us a pretty solid rotation. Once Schill comes back we'll have 5 solid starters. Wake might be the only question mark, but I think he'll come back and give us the innings he always does and they should be a little better next year. I think Arroyo will be better as well. Boomer should be solid. Although we'll probably need to use Halama a few times until Schill comes back, he's much better suited as a reliever and should really be very effective in that role for us.
I like the way this team is shaping up. The only thing we're missing now is our catcher. We need Tek back. He's the last piece of the puzzle.
The starting pitching may not be quite as strong as this year, but it's very solid. The bullpen might be stronger with the addition of Halama and hopefully Mantei. The defense will be very solid, we have all of the key bench positions filled now, and the offense has a very good chance of being even better than it was this year. It should be driving a lot of starters to early showers.
We should be a very tough team and be right back in it again next year. We may end up needing another starter down the road, but I feel confident Theo will go out and get him. Ben Sheets is the guy to look at, even though Milwaukee claims he's untouchable.
Even with the "Big Unit" deal looming on the horizon, things are still very good here in Red Sox Nation.
Unfortunately with the outfield set, there was no room for you next year. So Theo accomodated you and sent you off to be a starter in San Diego. I say to you what I've said to all the other guys who've left so far, thanks for the Championship, good luck in San Diego, and you'll always have a place here in this city.
Nice trade here by Theo. Although Jay Payton's numbers were inflated in Colorado, he's a solid right handed bat off the bench, good platoon partner for Nixon, and a good all around 4th outfielder. He can do most of the things Kapler did for us. He can play all 3 outfield positions and he can hit a little. He should step right into the role that Kapler vacated.
Ramon Vazquez will fill Pokey's shoes. He can play both middle infield positions, and although he's not as slick of fielder as Pokey, he makes all the plays. He's a much better hitter than Pokey was and he can run late in a game and steal a base.
And we got a 21 year old pitcher who could become a nice addition to the pen at some point down the road. This is a very nice haul by Theo.
Matt Clement is a nice addition to the staff. He was the best pitcher that was still available. Although he'll be 30 in August, he seems to be one of those guys who put it all together late. He's been known to have some control problems but he also seems to be improving. He'll give us 200 innings and keep his ERA around 4. It's also possible that he'll be even better than that.
This gives us a pretty solid rotation. Once Schill comes back we'll have 5 solid starters. Wake might be the only question mark, but I think he'll come back and give us the innings he always does and they should be a little better next year. I think Arroyo will be better as well. Boomer should be solid. Although we'll probably need to use Halama a few times until Schill comes back, he's much better suited as a reliever and should really be very effective in that role for us.
I like the way this team is shaping up. The only thing we're missing now is our catcher. We need Tek back. He's the last piece of the puzzle.
The starting pitching may not be quite as strong as this year, but it's very solid. The bullpen might be stronger with the addition of Halama and hopefully Mantei. The defense will be very solid, we have all of the key bench positions filled now, and the offense has a very good chance of being even better than it was this year. It should be driving a lot of starters to early showers.
We should be a very tough team and be right back in it again next year. We may end up needing another starter down the road, but I feel confident Theo will go out and get him. Ben Sheets is the guy to look at, even though Milwaukee claims he's untouchable.
Even with the "Big Unit" deal looming on the horizon, things are still very good here in Red Sox Nation.
posted by Bob at 12/20/2004 10:38:00 PM
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