Shipping Up To Boston

So, the Red Sox made another confusing move yesterday. Add another one to the list.

On the surface, it’s a reasonable move. The Sox traded for an all-star closer and a prospect by giving up a set-up guy and a couple prospects. Makes sense to me. The Sox even went to their stock explanation that they weren’t trading for a closer. Much like when they signed Keith Foulke, they simply traded for an elite pitcher. This pitcher just happened to be a closer. Not a bad thing to do at all.

I had the opportunity to see Joel Hanrahan pitch live a couple years ago. When I was at PNC Park, he came in to close out the game. When he entered the game, there was an energy in the crowd. That’s saying something considering the sparse crowd at PNC. If he was good enough to ignite those fans, that was pretty impressive. So, it’s not that I disapprove of the move. The real question is, why?

When I talked about the Drew deal, I questioned the motive. Why would a team in a rebuilding phase sign a middle of the road shortstop to a one-year, $10 million deal? If you’re going to lose a bunch of games anyway, there are cheaper options out there. Was it simply to appease the fans? Look, we have honest to goodness major league talent at every position…come buy tickets! Or, do the Sox actually think they can compete in 2013? Did they fix the most glaring hole in their line-up in order to make a run?

This move confuses me in the same way…but to a larger degree. It’s one thing to admit that Jose Iglesias isn’t ready. They actually needed a body of some sort to play shortstop. You could argue that paying too much for Drew to make the team at least worth watching wasn’t a terrible move. But, what about this one? The Sox have a closer. Heck, the Sox have at least three closers. The Sox even already had a two-time all-star closer. What did they need another one for? Why did they need another one when he is about to make actual money? Why did they need another one when he is going to be a free agent after a year? Why rent an extra closer?

Are they planning on making a run?

This addition does make a pretty good bullpen. Are they planning on having that compensate for inferior starting pitching? The line-up they’ve been putting together isn’t terrible. They won’t lead the league in runs, but they’ll be middle of the pack. That might make for an interesting team, except for the lack of dominant starting pitching. Are the Sox planning on having the bullpen cover for that?

In 2009, the Sox acquired Billy Wagner. It made for an great bullpen. I don’t remember all the players, but the Sox really had two different sets of top bullpens. It was fun to watch. Is that where the Sox are going this year? Say Lester goes six solid innings. Then, the Sox can follow with one inning each from Aceves, Bailey, and Hanrahan. The next night, Buchholz also only goes six innings. They Sox can then use one inning each from a rested Bard, Miller, and Uehara. The night after that, Lackey only goes six. Well, Aceves, Uehara, and Hanrahan are rested and ready to go. If, perchance, a starter can actually go seven innings, one of the pen guys gets some extra rest. If a starter only goes four or five? Morales is there to mop up.

Suddenly, you don’t need any aces. You need decent starters. A quality start is plenty, even with a moderate offense. Is that the plan?

Could it actually work?

2012 Wantlist

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering when I was going to post my 2012 Red Sox wantlist. Ok. None of you even noticed that I didn’t do it, did you? Well, I’m giving it to you now anyway. Ready? Here we go.

Topps Family of  Products

            Any Red Sox inserts

            Any Red Sox SP

There. That was quick and painless. What’s with the short list this year? I tried something new in 2012. I’ve mentioned before that I have been attempting to make my collection self-sufficient. So, I purchase blasters. I keep the Red Sox, and sell the rest (that I can). Use the money to buy a blaster. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. As you can imagine, I wasn’t getting the turnaround on a blaster I would like. From one blaster, I’d get a couple Red Sox cards, and a handful of cards I could resell. I started to realize that if I bought complete sets, and break them up, I could do better. The entire 2012 Topps set didn’t cost much more than a blaster. Then, I would get the entire Red Sox team set in one shot. I would also get a pile of stars that could be flipped. It was great. The only drawback? (other than it not being quite as much fun?) I only got the base cards. So, I’m still missing any sort of insert or short printed card from these sets. I think it’s still worthwhile to go with this route…for the time being. It just means I need your help.

I’m assuming that with the number of SP and inserts out there, I don’t really need to specify which ones I don’t have. Odds are that it will take a while before somebody sent me a duplicate. Besides, I’m not even sure I know the names of all the insert sets out there, or which Red Sox cards are short printed. So, I’ll just take what I can get and go from there.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

List of 36: Things I Wouldn’t Mind Seeing Under the Tree on Christmas

1. 1934 Diamond Stars Lefty Grove

2. 2013 Fenway Park calendar

3. Brick from Fenway Park

4. Ted Williams autographed “All-Century Team” panoramic photo

5. Kevin Millar autographed 2004 WS Ball

6. LFC Ball

7. 1914 Cracker Jacks Harry Hooper

8. 11x14 photo of Pedro at 1999 ASG

9. Red Sox Coffee Mug

10. 1999 All-Star Game ball signed by Pedro Martinez

11. Ball signed by Garciaparra, Meintkiewicz, and Saltalamacchia

12. 1912 T207 Duffey Lewis

13. Alan Embree Autographed 2004 WS Ball

14. Pedro Martinez Starting Line-up Figure

15. Fenway 100 Seasons Tervis Cup

16. Red Sox Trash Can

17. Kelly Clarkson autographed 2004 WS ball

18. Fenway Park Dirt

19. 1914 Cracker Jacks Joe Wood

20. Red Sox Mousepad

21. Keith Foulke Autographed 2004 WS Ball

22. Josh Beckett Replica Home Jersey

23. Will Middlebrooks Jersey-T

24. Grady Little Bobblearm

25. Millar/Youkilis “The Streak” bobblehead

26. Fenway 100 Seasons Game Hat

27. 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski

28. Gabe Kapler Autographed 2004 WS Ball

29. 1999 ASG Press Pin

30. 2004 WS LR Used Champagne Bottle

31. Game used Gatorade Towel from 2004 World Series

32. 2010 Winter Classic puck

33. Pedro Autographed GU Welch’s Toast Bottle

34. 1952 Topps Johnny Pesky

35. Pokey Reese Autographed 2004 WS Ball

36. Baseball Display Case

Red Sox 1-36: 18 is for…

18 wins by Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2008

You forgot about that, didn’t you? You completely erased Dice-K’s 2008 season from your memories. But, that’s too bad. Maddening Matsuzaka went 18-3 that year. That’s pretty impressive.

Or is it? Basically, this season is the perfect analogy for who Dice-K is as a pitcher. Yes, he got 18 wins. But, we all know that wins mean very little when it comes to pitching ability. What about some other numbers? He had a 2.90 ERA that year, third in the league. But, he only threw 167.2 innings. He led the league by holding batters to a .211 average. But, he walked a league leading 94 batters. He didn’t give up a hit all year with the bases loaded. But, he loaded the bases fourteen times that year. What did all that mean?

I’ve always thought that Dice-K was very honest with himself when it came to facing batters. He knew which hitters he could get out, and which ones he couldn’t. He didn’t mind base runners. He knew that having people on base didn’t matter in the least if he struck out the next guy to end the inning. It looked like he knew that there were three or four guys in every line-up he knew he’d have trouble with. He also knew there were three or four guys he had no problem with. So, like any decent pitcher, he would pitch carefully to those he had trouble with so he could attack those he didn’t. So what if you walk three guys to load the bases if the next three strike out? It was like every batter he faced was either Manny Ramirez, or Jose Iglesias. Any pitcher would pitch carefully to Manny. Don’t give him a pitch to hit. If he makes an out hitting a bad pitch, great. If he takes the walk, that’s fine too. If Manny was followed by Iglesias in the line-up every day, Manny would be walked plenty of times by every pitcher. That was Dice-K.

Now, he ended up throwing plenty of pitches doing that. Which is why he only threw the 167 innings. But, did that come from the American way of handling him? Looking at his numbers in Japan, he certainly walked his fair share, and threw plenty of pitches. Remember the legendary high school game where he threw 250 pitches? Even in 17 innings, that’s a ton of pitches. Nobody worried about that then.

So, wrap that all together and what do you get? 18 wins for the Sox during the season. It may have been annoying to watch. But, was it all done with a plan?

18 is for 18 wins from Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2008.

Collecting the Sox: Calendars

I couldn’t help but chuckle the other day when I saw that the 2013 Red Sox calendar was on sale. How did they print that, I laughed to myself. How did they find twelve players they knew would be on the team in time to print a calendar? I had to go see how they did it.

Turns out, they didn’t do it. As I glanced at the featured players, I saw Mike Aviles smiling back at me. OK. He was a relatively recent change. They can’t be expected to be that on top of things. Then, I saw Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez staring at me from their own months.

So, that’s how they did it. They just went with players not on the team anymore. I guess it was a better idea than giving Daniel Nava a month. I’d probably rather be reminded that A-Gone was once on the team than remember that Pedro Ciriaco still is. I wonder if any of them made the Dodgers team calendar too.

I’ll probably still buy the Red Sox one though. Why? Because I have a problem. I collect things. To be fair, a calendar is a bit of a different collectable. It actually has a useful purpose. They aren’t baseball cards, whose only purpose appears to be filling up binders. They’re not bobbleheads, whose only purpose is to clutter up a shelf. I actually need a calendar so I know what day it is. You know, in case I really need to know what day it is when I’m not near a computer, or cell phone, or tablet.

OK. Maybe saying I need one is overstepping a bit. But, it actually is useful. It hangs on the wall by my desk, and gives me what I need in one quick glance. Once it’s been up there for a year, I can either throw it away or store it in a cabinet. The choice seems pretty obvious to me. Plus, since I don’t really “need” one I can wait out deals. I don’t need to buy a calendar in December. I am perfectly happy to muddle through for a couple weeks in order to get one on clearance. So, it’s not that pathetic.

And, as collectables go, calendars are nice ones. They have a major downfall, which they share with many collectables. What do I do with them? They’re pretty big, so it’s not like I can have 20 of them hanging on the walls. Plus, having out of date calendars out in the open just seems like asking for trouble. But, right now I don’t mind keeping them stacked in a pile, and only flipping through them once in a while.

For that purpose, they’re great. They’re colorful. The wall versions have nice big pictures of Red Sox players. Some of them are fun. I have one that was given away to help support animals. Each month has a picture of a Red Sox player and their dog(s). How great is that? Plus, there’s the historical aspect of them. I can flip through the 2003 edition, and see some of the players who were on the team that year. Or, at least the year before. That’s pretty neat.

They also have the page-a-day versions. Admittedly, they don’t seem to be as collectable. However, I did save every page for a year once. I have all the pages in a plastic bad. Have no idea what I plan on doing with them. Maybe wallpaper the room?

What else should I do with them?