Red Sox:ARod or Lowell? I'll Take ARod
All of Red Sox Nation is nervously awaiting word from Fenway Park,the Internet,sports radio,
thier fortune teller that the Boston Red Sox have re signed their new hero/icon Mike Lowell.
The Sox brass are in their offices trying to piece together next years team and crunching financial numbers. Since ARod has officially filed for free agency the team can legally tell his agent Scott Boras (like other teams) of their desire to have ARod. Only the Yankees can negotiate financial terms with Boras until Nov.12th.
Because Lowell has yet to officially file for FA,he remains property of the Red Sox and is still on the clubs roster,thus teams cannot even talk to Lowell.
Its interesting because Lowell and Arod are the top 2 FA's on the bland 2007 FA market.
Could Lowell be holding off on filing to show his loyalty/desire to remain a Red Sox?
Who knows.
Boston has a great relationship with Scott Boras having quite a few of his clients:
Dice K,Julian Tavarez (option recently picked up).Jason Varitek (contract up in '08-looking for extension),J.D. Drew,Julio Lugo,Alex Cora and of course Eric Gagne.
No doubt the Sox have the financial resources to land ARod BUT here's a unique kicker:
If Boston signs ARod a Type A Free Agent: The Yanks would get a Red Sox 1st round draft pick for signing Arod from them. Boston as compensation for losing Type A FA's via free agency have gotten such players as Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Lets say Red Sox GM Theo Epstein hit his head on the way to the Fax room and went into a coma. His asst. GM Jed Hoyer just lost his mind.
I am the new GM of the Red Sox and I get to make the call:
RE SIGN MIKE LOWELL or SIGN FA ALEX RODRIGUEZ:
I tell owners John Henry,Tom Werner,Larry Lucchino-I want ARod.
ARod at $31M per year for 7-8 years with some of that money deferred.
OFFENSE
1-ARod is a much better offensive player than Lowell.
Lowells offensive numbers were made possible by Fenways Green Monster. He tattooed it.
He turned wall hits into doubles.
Give ARod half a season hitting at Fenway and you might have to repair the Monster. ARods a faster runner than Lowell and those Wall Ball doubles turn into triples.
Simply put-ARod would put up MLB record numbers hitting in Fenway. Cars on Lansdowne St. would be under seige from HR balls. No contest take Lowell out of Fenway Park a half a season into Yankee Stadium and he's offensively human.
DEFENSE
2- Lowell may have an edge here over ARod however Arod didnt exactly have a Kevin Youkilis playing 1B to throw to either. ARods hitting will getyou back into games he may lose with his glove.
3- VERSATILITY
Unlike Lowell who is strictly a 3B,ARod can play SS. We Sox fans all want Lugo out of town but you can't move Lugo out yet. He's making $9M a year til his deal runs out in 2010.
Lugo would be tradeable after '08 or '09-from there you can move ARod to SS,Youk to 3B and bring up a 1B or sign one that can hit. Simple.
Say Lugo goes on the DL in '08. Slide ARod to SS,Youk to 3B and call up a slugging 1B.
End of story.
4- MARKETING
ARods much more marketable. He's the best player in MLB,a perennial MVP candidate,
goodlooking guy who talks to the media,has records to break upcoming,biggest name in baseball all over the world. Everyone knows ARods name. He's money for the team that signs him.
ARod merchandise brings in more revenue than any player on the Red Sox merchandise.
5- THE RECORDS
ALL TIME HR RECORD
ARod currently sits at 518 HRs all time. He's hit the 50 plus HR mark 3 times. Twice with Texas,once in NY. ARod hitting in Fenway 80 games a year and the other parks he loves to hit HRs in (Yankee Stadium) could hit 60+ HRs a year.
Its A LOCK Alex Rodriguez will break and shatter the All Time HR record by his 4th or 5th year playing for the Red Sox.
TRIPLE CROWN
Now the Triple Crown has not been won since 1967 when Bostons Carl Yastrzemski won it.
You need to win the batting title-HR title and RBI title.
ARod certainly wins the HR and RBI categories every year. Now again-hitting in Fenway has to jack up the batting avg. numbers. He's a career .308 hitter.
6- MANNY INSURANCE
Manny's currently happy. For now. Come spring: who knows.
Ramirez enters his final year of his contract in '08 where he'll earn $20M. Boston has club options on Manny for '09 and '10 at $20M per.
Say the Sox go to re sign Ramirez. This is Ramirez' first shot at FA in 9-10 years.
He could command $28-$30M and go anywhere-even the Yankees.
Here's the plan...After '08 exercise Manny's '09 club option and trade him.
Manny has complete no trade clause in his contract so the Red Sox would negotiate a trade with anyone other than the Yanks. Give that team a window to negotiate an extension with Ramirez.
This keeps Manny from going to the Yankees and haunting you.
BAD CLUBHOUSE RAP
I'm not buying this arguement because there is not a team out there who if offered ARod would say no because of his bad clubhouse rep. Manny Ramirez plays when Manny wants-how difficult is that?
THE CONTRACT:
$30M per year is going to be cheap compared to the contracts that other top hitters get in the future as MLB makes more money. Besides. The best player in baseball should make the most money of all the players.
HALL OF FAME:
ARods next contract will be his last. He's a lock as a 1st ballott Hall of Famer. He'll take all time records into the HOF with him and wear the hat of the team that signs him to the next contract.
The best player of all time should wear a Red Sox hat into the HOF.
Sign ARod. Its no contest.
You're 2008 Roster should be:
Youkilis-1B
Pedroia-2B
Ortiz-DH
Ramirez-LF
ARod-3B
Drew-RF
Varitek-C
Lugo-SS
Ellsbury-CF
Rotation: 1-Beckett 2-Buchholz/Santana 3-DiceK 4-Wakefield 5-A FA or Lester
BP :Okie-Linebrink-CL Papelbon
posted by quikdraw @ 1:25 PM
5 Comments:
Blasphemy. Hazel Mae, how could you. You cold hard facts are correct, of course leaving out the one most important of all. A-Rod sucks in October. Not only that but he stands for everything that Red Sox fans hate. I cannot help but laugh everytime a media person talks about how A-Rod is never going to be a "true" Yankee. Well lets dissect that statement. 1: He cares about nothing but himself, his stats, and his records. 2: He does not have a good relationship with his teammates or coaches because of his selfish and poor attitude. 3: He has the highest salary in MLB history, yet is looking for more money rather than winning a championship. YEP, Sounds Like a Yankee to me!!! I agree the logistics and regular season numbers support your argument. However, I, and I would imagine a large portion of Red Sox Nation would rather see Lowell, a guy that has become embraced for stepping up his game in October, than A-rod in a Sox uniform come spring. My sentiments were summed up by a t-shirt I saw yesterday. Above a picture of A-Rod was the title, Mr. April, MISS October
Anonymous-
Thanks for the post.
I respect your comments and you are right. A large number of fans and players want to have Lowell back.
I think when you have the chance to get the best player in baseball-you have to get him.
Without ARod supporting the Yanks anemic offense and supplying the runs their horrible pitchers were letting in-NY would've been in 3rd or 4th place.
Without ARod-No playoffs.
You got to get to the October dance first.
Red Sox will love ARod after seeing him blast moon shots over Landsdowne St. They players will love ARod winning tight games with a swing of the bat.
October? Hitting in Fenway? I like ARod. He's faster,stronger and will be Bostons new Mr. October.
True again, but still passing over the fact that he has proven that he cannot perform in the clutch. Yeah he hit a couple of walk offs this year.....In the REGULAR SEASON. And to call him the best player in baseball I think is a little preemptive. Yeah batting titles are nice and so are homerun records that, yes, someday he will probably break. However without the gold gloves behind them I do not think they alone make the best player in all of baseball. He is nothing but a talented CHUMP. Yes he provides a more dangerous bat than Lowell, however the character of Lowell, his glove, not to mention the hardly shabby 120 regular season RBI's, and, oh yeah, a world series MVP trophy, make him in my opinion as well as many others, a much more valuable player to the Red Sox. Probably not the case to many other teams. For the Sox however, trying to repeat a world championship, the last thing they need is, for one, to lose their gold glove-World series MVP. And two, to gain a huge distraction in not only the clubhouse but also the media. They don't need a single superstar to overshadow the rest of them. How much tension do you think that would cause between Manny and Papi and him. Yes he would be a huge benefit to most teams, but he needs to have a team built around him, not come into one that already has a core group of superstars and die hards. We have watched the Yankees prove that. I was at game 4 in Colorado first row next to the red sox dugout leading the "Re-Sign Lowell" and "Don't Sign A-Rod" chants while John Henry,Theo, Tek, and Coco came over and slapped us all high fives. (by the way one of the coolest experiences of my life, being front row for game 4 of the world series and watching the sox clinch) To conclude I do think he could hit effectively in Fenway, in April through August. But the past doesn't lie, he doesn't hit in the postseason, and for that even if the sox do sign him(please god, don't let it happen), he will never be their MR. October
Anonymous-
Red Sox Nation didnot want to see favorite son Nomar Garciaparra go and were pissed at Theo for not re signing and coughing up the dough for Damon and Pedro.
Lets see. Thank God Nomar didn't sign that big contract offer Theo offered him to stay in Boston because we wouldn't have been able to trade him for Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera who helped us win our first World Series in 86 years.
Nomar went on to injury prone seasons. Again. Fans loved Nomar more than Lowell correct?
I thought he sucked at SS myself.
Too many errors.
Pedro:
Pedro went on to sign the big Mets contract and RSN hated Theo again. Pedro's years of hard throwing tore up his body and put him on the DL. If we kept Pedro? There's
2 fan favorites eating big money on the DL right?
Damon. RSN was heart broken Theo didn't out spend the Yankees to keep Damon. Damon? DL'd.
So there's 3 players who fans,players loved on the DL for most of the year due to injuries all totaled much more than $30M per year.
Keep Nomar-no WS in 2004.
Keep Pedro and Damon and Nomar?
No WS in 2007.
Well here is my rebuttal
OK, however, Pedro and Nomar were both players that RSN loved but everyone knew were not playing like they should. Pedro, as everyone knew had rotator cuff issues and was questionable for more than a year. Theo was willing to offer him 2 years, until Luchino insisted that he was given 3. Even after that big push the mets disregarded the facts and offered him 4. Lucky for us. RSN new the 3 year offer was more out of gratitude then an expectation of 3 years of solid pitching. Nomar was a walking disaster in his play, especially hitting. Again RSN new he was a liability and if you remember, towards the time that he was traded at the deadline RSN was starting to give up on him as being the prodigal son. Yes everyone still liked him but they had realized that he was injury prone, sporadic with his hitting and his fielding. I could have dealt without mentkewicz but believe "O" was worth the trade alone. In fact that was my only bitch about theo's work, on that particular transaction. That he didn't go harder to keep Cabrera after 04. In terms of Damon, you have to consider why RSN embraced him. It wasn't because he was a superstar on the field. Hell, the guy has a rag arm, and plays defense on around the same level of, dare I say it, Manny (I'm sorry Manny, I love you man). At this point I would actually say Manny has picked up his game defensively while Damon has not done a damn thing to improve. Damon was a fan favorite because he embodied the image of the 04 team. He was the poster "Idiot". His charisma and attitude, not his play made RSN want him around (it didn't hurt that he looked a little like Jesus for all the Boston Irish Catholics, either). Yes he had times with the bat but they were sporadic.
What it all boils down to is that Lowell has shown no signs of being injury prone, at the end of his rope production wise, or buckling under pressure. He has a team mentality, and doesn't bask in the spotlight. He wants to win ballgames, wherever he is. A-rod wants to get PAID and break records. Thats all. I'm sure he also wants a ring, but for different reasons than most. He wants another trophy for his shelf, not the sense of accomplishment that a real ball player yearns for. RSn, hopefully, is learning to trust Theo. His moves that we spoke of have indirectly earned us two amazing young prospects, Ellsbury and Buckholz. By trading Pedro and Damon we gained those draft picks and now have 2 prospects that are looking like they may start becoming full blown contributors, if not stars, starting next year. If we pick up A-Rod, we give a first round pick to the Yankees under the class A free agent rule. For me, the ultimate test for Theo will be what he does with this situation. I definitely see your point and understand the logic. The reg season #'s are there and the potential to put up great ones at Fenway are there too. However, the postseason #'s, the fielding and the fielding quality aren't. On top of that, the crappy clubhouse repoire, the dirty play, the selfishness on salary issues, and the media distractions make A-rod a bad investment. I hope, and I believe Theo will see all of those factors and let him pass without so much as a offer to Boras. If he does this RSN will thank him for it and he will get support in the future when making seemingly questionable maneuvers.
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