MANNY AND BURNETT

Boston.com Story
So Manny Ramirez wants a trade. This despite the fact that he begged not to be traded in the whole A-Rod non-deal. This despite being thrilled not to be picked up by anyone else. I'm not going to look too much into this story. Manny seems like he is prone to whimsical thougts and ideas none of which has any long term implication or bearing. The stories Jerry Remy tells about Manny proclaiming where he'll be traded too are both funny and indicative of Manny's say what you feel attitude.

Here are some reasons why the Red Sox should get AJ Burnett:
1. Lack of depth at starting pitching. Matt Clement has come down to earth, Wells has been decent but he's no #2, Miller is a #5 guy, Wakefield is a decent #4 but no better than that, and Arroyo just isn't consistent enough. This team needs more starting pitching from somewhere. Either from Schilling or from someone outside the team.

2. Schilling doesn't look impressive. He can be lights on or lights off. He doesn't seem capable of pushing off his leg in a comfortable way. Usually when starting pitchers move to the bullpen, their velocity increases. In Game 7 of the ALCS last season, Pedro came in and threw 97 even though in starting situations he rarely got to the 94 range. Schilling has been hovering around 88-92. That isn't the way it should be. When/If he returns to the rotation, how good will he be?

3. Despite the demand for Burnett, no-one seems to be willing to take Lowell. Lowell is making quite a bit of money. Lowell is having a very unproductive season, but his numbers in previous seasons are good. He batted .293 with 27 HRs in 2003. From 2000 to 2004, he averaged 24.6 HRs, and 94.6 RBI. He's a pull hitter and a righty which means The Monster would be very inviting. I think if we got this guy, he would produce for us. If we got this guy, we could trade Mueller to the Twins for JC Romero. If Lowell continued to struggle, we could plug Youkilis in there.

4. The money situation isn't that bad here. Lowell and Burnett would cost about $3.3M total for the last two months of the season. I'm sure Florida would send a few bucks for Lowell's salary. The Red Sox are at $121M right now which is high, but if you're going to invest $121M, wouldn't you be willing to risk $3M more in the hopes of putting you over the top. Besides, the Red Sox pull in around $200M in revenues and its not like they're trying to save money for a new ballpark. The Red Sox have about $20M worth of players that will be free agents next season. Bellhorn will be gone, Mueller probably won't be here, Damon is still unclear and might be swept up by New York, Timlin could be replaced by a younger player. The Red Sox have some younger, cheaper players in the minors so we could afford to re-sign AJ Burnett. I think Burnett would really help the rotation for the next few years.

5. Arroyo could move to the bullpen and improve that area of the team.

6. A potential playoff rotation of Clement, Burnett, Schilling, and Wells wouldn't be too shabby.

7. AJ Burnett has 3 fewer homeruns than Millar in 248 fewer At-Bats. Burnett's pace would result in 6 homeruns in the amount of at-bats Millar has had.

Makes you realise how much Millar sucks

The Red Sox called up Hyde Park's own Manny Delcarmen from AAA Pawtucket. Delcarmen is the first seriously good pitching prospect the Red Sox have brought up since Brian Rose. Hopefully Manny Delcarmen will do much better in the long run.

SOX BATS CONTINUE TO SLEEP

The good thing is, our pitching has come around just a little bit. The sad thing is, the bats haven't been producing what we need to win. Three or four runs just isn't enough to win consistently. And keeping inferior teams in the game just gives them confidence to beat us. Since scoring 17 runs against New York a week ago from last Friday, the Sox have averaged 4.2 runs a game. That just isn't good enough to win.

Let's start with Friday's game against Chicago. The offense performed poorly putting up only 4 runs but Wakefield was just terrible for a few pitches. The Sox go out and get a 1-0 lead off Garland, Chicago's 2nd best pitcher, and Wakefield gives it right back with a solo shot by Rowand. Then with 2 outs in the 6th, he just melts down and gives up a pair of three run homers. The game was over at that point.

The Man of the Game is Aaron Rowand who went 2 for 3 with a solo HR and an RBI single. He had 2 RBI and scored twice.

The Bitch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.6 - 5.2 IP, 7 ER
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Mirabelli: 0.2 - 1 for 4, 3 K, 5 LOB

Saturday's game was Wade Miller's best start this season. The White Sox don't have a very good offense so if you can keep their bats quiet and prevent them from producing any runs, you will get to their pitching for a few and can take down a victory. That's what happened in this game. Miller gave up alot of baserunners but the White Sox weren't able to get the big hit to change the game. Myers and Timlin both did well. Schilling was shaky in the 9th though. More on that whole situation later.

The Man of the Game is Wade Miller who went 7 scoreless. He gave up 5 hits and walked 4, but he was able to pitch around all that and keep the White Sox scoreless.

Sunday's game was just sad. It started sad and it ended sad. First of all, why would you put Graffanino AND Cora in there on the same day against the team with the best record in the AL? Second of all, why would you put Mueller in the 2 spot of the lineup where he has never succeeded. Why not put Varitek there? Why would you ever bat Millar ahead of Varitek? Why does Millar even play? How come Youkilis is wallowing in AAA while Millar is about to be passed by AJ Burnett on the homerun list this season? How come you don't pinch hit for Cora or Graffanino in the 8th? How come Renteria didn't pinch hit/run for anybody? How come Olerud is only used as a defensive replacement? What the hell was Millar thinking trying to stretch a single into a double in the 6th down by 3? Did Johnny Damon lose the bat he was using for the hit streak? When will Trot Nixon ever get a big hit?

Bronson Arroyo started off the season as the Ace of the staff. Lately though, he's been mediocre or worse. Worst of all, he's been inconsistent. He'll have a great start, then a mediocre one, then a great one, then a mediocre one. I think he could best serve this team in the bullpen. more on THAT later.

The Man of the Game is Tadahito Iguchi. He went 3 for 4 with a homerun, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. His homer in the 2nd was big and his RBI single in the 7th gave the White Sox a comfortable cushion.

The Bitch-Goat:
Arroyo: 0.6 - 6.2 IP, 6 ER
Damon: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Ramirez: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 3 K, 2 LOB
Graffanino: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 5 LOB

This series proved that the White Sox aren't that great. Their pitching shut down our hitting. Kind of. Our hitters left a total of 35 runners on base. That isn't very good considering we only scored 17 runs. We grounded into some large double plays and made some mistakes on the basepaths. Typical Red Sox baseball. Wait around for the 3 run homer. Then get thrown out at 2nd and now its only a 2 run homer. If we can get our bats going a bit, we can do some serious damage against anyone in the American League.

Losing to the Devil Rays is not an excusable thing to do. We should be sweeping the Devil Rays. We've played Tampa 10 times and are only 6-4. We should be 8-2 or better. They're such a terrible team and we get to play them 20 times a year. Thankfully, the Yankees are 3-7 against their Tampa rivals. The Red Sox have got to pick it up within the division. They're 20-26 against the AL East. We've had opportunities to beat up on Tampa and Toronto and knock Baltimore and New York a few games behind, but we haven't. Ever since we catapualted into first place with that great run in July, we've been the Copmplacent Sox once again.

The Man of the Game for Monday's loss is Julio Lugo who went 3 for 5 with a double.

The Bitch-Goat:
Wells: 0.1 - 6.1 IP, 3 ER
Schilling: 0.2 - 1.2 IP, ER
Nixon: 0.1 - Didn't evade a batted ball, overan a fly ball allowing for a run scoring double instead of just playing conservatively off the wall. and why wasn't he playing at the wall anyway with a runner on 1st and 2 outs? If Manny had made these errors, people would be all over him. Instead, Trot F's up and people still love him.
Ramirez: 0.2 - 0 for 4, K, 5 LOB
Millar (why the hell is he playing?!?): 0.2 - 0 for 4, 3 K, 4 LOB
Francona: 0.1 - for playing Millar every freakin' day
Renteria: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 2 K, 2 LOB