The Red Sox have signed third baseman Adrian Beltre to a one year deal with a second year option. The move is interesting because it basically forces a trade of Mike Lowell. Beltre is an decent player. He was a consistant 20 homerun threat when he was with the Dodgers until his walk year when he hit 48 homeruns. He then returned to his 20 homerun status once he signed with the Mariners. He's a bit of a free swinger, and doesn't like to get on base without a hit, thus the reason for his 19 walks all last season. When healthy he is a gold glove player and that should be a boost for our rivals. Does this move better the Red Sox? Well, when Mike Lowell's healthy, they're very comparable players. Beltre has a little more power, but Lowell hits for a better average. Either way, Beltre should be a decent boost for them. A game changer? No.
So far, the Sox have stabilized several positions of need. Lackey gives them a strong starter, while Cameron and Scutaro bring a veteran presence to positions that were held down by rookie's for large parts of last season. They'll be more competitive, but I'm afraid the Sox picked a rough market to improve their team in. With the contracts they're handing out right now, I wonder how much of a presence they'll have in next years market. They have several contracts that are up next year, which could free up some dough for them, but they're also losing some key players including Becket and V-Mart. Could be interesting to see how next years market shapes out.
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I've already heard about how Beltre's defense actually means he's better than A-Rod
Everybody knows that when you talk about the best player in Baseball, the conversation is Pujols and Beltre. That's why Beltre was this year's biggest free agent, and the Red Sox just landed him while the Yankees stood idly by and did nothing! Why even bother playing the season anymore?!
roberto you sound like gammons hahaha
I dont know, I think Beltre is going to have a pretty big year. He, like Lowell, is a right handed hitter leaving a cavernous ballpark, and coming to a pull hitter friendly ballpark, with a short wall. Plus, his home/road splits are pretty silly. He still doesnt get on base much, but he certainly hit for way more power on the road. You heard it here first!
He also missed time last year for getting hit with a ball where no guy should ever be hit, rupturing things that should never be ruptured. He gets points in my book for not dying from that.
That said the Sox defense infield defense has gotten quite a bit better this off-season. They can now leave Youk at first and Beltre is pretty slick with the glove. Scutaro is also decent. If Dusty continues to grow when he hits puberty he should be good.
Beltre does swing like he's holding an ax. He is back on his heels and has a really long swing. In my opinion the Yankees have improved and I'm not sure the Sox caught up to where the Yankees were last year. I still have hope Damon will be back on a reasonable deal and then the outfield has serious pop.
the sox are going in the direction the A's and Mariners are going in which is: if you cant outslug your opponent, prevent the runs from being scored in the first place. I think the sox are smart in taking this approach because they most definately can not keep up with the yanks offensively, so they are trying to find different ways to gain a competitive advantedge. They are simply playing "Moneyball", only with a much larger budget.
The Sox replaced a broken-down shell of a man with a great fielder on a one-year deal. I am not pleased.
The Sox are definitely stronger defensively, and Beltre should be a tenable replacement for Lowell (though don't expect as many doubles, Lowell's favorite type of hit).
What's interesting though, is that this almost certainly means the Sox are done trying to get Martinez from the Padres. Clearly it wasn't going to happen (largely b/c Jed knows how that would look), so the Sox moved on. That and Albert Mauer Beltre is the future of baseball.
well, that, and the talks would've started with Pedrioa and Youkilus, which wasnt happening. Sorry, keyboard is sticking, what a pain.
When is the next Vlog, ese? I thouroughly enjoyed the last one.
I think this move makes the red sox better next year but not by much and it didn't address their area of real need, offence.
When both are healthy, Beltre and Lowell offer roughly the same offencive production. They may hove gotten slightly better on defence but their lineup still does not scare me.
If Ortiz continues his decline, there is nobody in their lineup that scares me. No pop, no scary hitters and nobody to really drive in the runs.
The Yanks are a way better team then the BoSox on paper heading into the season and even though anything can happen (and usually does), I'm not that worried.
At the end of the day, I look at their team and wonder if that is really the best you can do with 170 million.
Kevin Youkilis is a scary hitter. Just look at him. Also, he can hit the baseball very well.
Youkilis is a good hitter, but I don't think he's a scary hitter like Manny or Ortiz when the pharmacy was open. He will drive in runs though. He just isn't a traditional masher. He usually has a pretty good numbers across the whole batting line. He's like Abreu, when the game is on the line he probably isn't the scariest hitter, but when you look back he drove in a couple earlier in the game and scored a couple of times. With runners in scoring position and the game is on the line he is a scary hitter. He makes contact and drives the ball.
Nice, Rich. I liked that.
I'll try to get another Vlog up next week. Hopefully the creative juices flow between now and then.
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