Comments on: Being Frank About Frank

By: R.J. Anderson

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:29:55 +0000

I suppose you could make that point. Growing up I always thought of Thomas as a big-time homerun hitter.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:21:22 +0000

I understand, but we did finish 2nd, granted Papi and Lowell were injured, but as we stand idle, the Rays and Yanks are getting better. Youk can’t have a better season, and same with Dustin. No hitter is in for significant improvements, except for maybe Tek.
Beckett will be better, but Penny is still a ?, and its not as if Colon pitched a lot. Masterson and Byrd held down the 5th spot and Penny will not be a huge improvement over those two (pitching in Fenway and the AL East is far different from pitching in pitchers paradise in LA and the NL West).
All I am saying is that by taking Lowell out of the question and adding Dunn, you are getting better on O and will not have to rely on Lowell for a whole season. It will be devastating if both him and Papi miss time, but if Dunn was their if Papi went down, it would not have the same consequences…..

I know I am looking at the worst possible scenarios and the Sox will be just fine and exteremly competetive, but a Dunn signing makes a lot of sense, IF, a few things happen
1) Make sure he realizes he will be playing for the Boston Red Sox and not the Reds, and he needs to take this seriously
2) Make him work out with players like Youk and Pedrioa for the next few months
3) Take hundreds of groundballs daily at 1B to sharpen his skills
If he would be willing to do these 3 things……by all means sign him

By: Jurgen

Jurgen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:20:25 +0000

“As an Athletic, Thomas saw his on-base percentage jump to .364, but still lacked the power that made him synonymous with homeruns in the 1990’s”

Not to quibble, but was Thomas ever synonymous with homeruns? Wasn’t the “complaint” against him throughout the ’90s that despite his linebacker size he didn’t hit more of ‘em? Sure, he’s accumulated a lot of them, but it’s always been that otherworldly OBP that’s been his calling card.

By: R.J. Anderson

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:51:46 +0000

The Sox are good all ready. There’s not much room for upgrade outside of landing Teixeira and just hoping for better health next season. Plus, Bard and Penny should be upgrades over Varitek/Colon.

By: R.J. Anderson

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:50:55 +0000

Yeah, definitely. Dave’s got analysis on the move coming up soon.

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:45 +0000

Wow, great deal for the Rays…………I am guessing it is a smaller contract because he will be mostly DH, with Joyce in RF. Great upgrades over Floyd and Gross……

It would seem that the Sox would need to do something with the Yanks and Rays getting better, but what should they do? They do not need to upgrade pitching and sign a Lowe, especially since they signed Penny.
The only feasible option would be to sign Dunn to play 1B to a 2 yr deal, and mve Youk over to 3rd, then when Lars is ready, he can step into the 1B hole in a few years……….sounds like the only reasonable option…………

Putting all of our chips on the health of Papi and Lowell is not very smart……….

By: marcello

marcello — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:37:51 +0000

That’s a pretty solid deal for the Rays. It makes the Ibanez signing look even worse.

By: R.J. Anderson

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:55:09 +0000

As I mention that, it appears the two sides are close to a 2-year 16 million dollar contract

By: marcello

marcello — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:49:09 +0000

I guess those guys have some value in their flexibility, in that they can sort of play a position in the field whereas Frank cannot, and with Frank you’re betting on health and a rebound to 2007 form. However, they are going to cost way more. If Frank were to return to 2007 form (a risk, no doubt), wouldn’t he be worth about the same value as those three except at much lesser cost?

By: R.J. Anderson

R.J. Anderson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:29:37 +0000

None to my knowledge. He’s probably on down the list, ahead of Ken Griffey Jr. and Eric Hinske.

Popular thinking has the Rays landing Burrell, Abreu, or Giambi soon.