Wow 4 - 4

[Reffy]

How did this happen, 2 in one inning, GAH!
How could the sox let in 2 run, in the last darn inning!

[Reffy]

That made me cry....

[Gene Starwind]

Sox sux.

Yanks own.

Phillies are gods.


:D

[All-Night John]

Funny, you'd think gods would be better than 5 games over .500.

[Gene Starwind]

Funny, Sox have over quadruple the payroll of the Phillies, and yet aren't in first place.

[All-Night John]

lol, over quadruple, eh? I'm infinitely interested to see how you do math. Here's the teams' payrolls, according to ESPN:

Boston's payroll: $125,208,542 - 2nd highest in baseball
Philly's payroll: $93,219,167 - 5th highest in baseball

I'm not sure how you're crunching the numbers, but I'm not seeing quadruple, there.

Also of note, the Sox are in a division with a team who's payroll exceeds theirs by over $60 million, not including the luxury tax. The Phils are tied with Atlanta, who's payroll is $5 million less than theirs.

[Gene Starwind]

Jesus, Yanks must be towering over the Sox... The talent is by far more on the Sox than Phillies is what I mean, around quadruple.

But you have to remember, one of the lowest payrolls in baseball won the WS last year.

Phillies have no pitching and waste their money on crappy players... ugh...

[BennyHill]

I hope the Red Sox pick it up and give the Yankess some trouble. If not, I pray there is another Marlins or Diamondbacks type of upset team in baseball who will knock the Yankees from their throne.

[Raghnall]

everytime i see one of these topics about the sox, i think white sox first. i guess since the royals are in the central, it's only natural.

[MageMasher]

White sox won 14 to 0...The White Sox>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Than the cubs

[All-Night John]

Jesus, Yanks must be towering over the Sox.
The Yankees payroll is simply staggering. $184,193,950 is astronomical. How are other teams in the East expected to compete? Baseball truely needs a hard cap, or the Yankees payroll will just keep climbing, and the rest of the league will suffer.

[Maximus Paynicus]

Yeah. Everyone complains about the Yankees having the highest payroll in the big leagues, but let's talk about the beloved Red Sox for a moment. They have the 2nd highest payroll in the Major Leagues at $125,208,542. What would it say to the public if Boston not only lost the AL East, which they most certainly will do, but also missed the post-season, which is a very real possibility with both the ChiSox and Athletics half a game back. So instead of a salary cap being implemented, maybe the Boston GM should spend money on actual talent, instead of blowing your $3,425,000 on Byung-Hyun Kim or $4,166,667 on Ricky Guiterrez, and instead invest in players that won't be busts in Boston. Speaking of which, why the hell are you goys going after a guy who hit .182 with 5 RBIs prior to his sole game in the AL this year, anyways?

Finally, one last gripe about the Red Sox... $11,500,000 for a man who has hit .266 on the road over the past three seasons? Give me a break, people...

[All-Night John]

Of course the Sox aren't going to win the division. You give me $185 million and I can put together a better team than a guy with $125.

You think Kim has no talent? Sure, okay buddy. Have fun with that. Of course, he hasn't been worth his salary this year, due to injuries and all. But hindsight is 20/20.

The Sox are not spending $4 million on Gutierrez. That's what he would make in a year. You see, Jim, when you pick a guy up more than half-way through a season, you don't have to pay his entire contract. You only pay him for the time he plays for you. What a novel concept, huh? The Sox infield has been decimated by injuries, and they needed a back-up or fill in, and Ricky was the best available. Not necessarily for the Red Sox, either. The PawSox have been hit with injuries, and it's likely that Ricky will go down. He's also great against Yankee pitchers: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?batterId=2846&teamId=10. Planning for the weekend, Theo was.

As for "a guy who hit .182 with 5 RBIs prior to his sole game in the AL this year", thanks for assuming I know what you're talking about. I mean, it is real difficult to mention names and all.

And Nomar is one of the top SS in the game. Oooh, you threw out one stat. I suppose that was the worst one you could find, too. Please. You're probably the only person complaining about his salary.

There needs to be a cap because the disparity between teams is ridiculous, plain and simple.

[Maximus Paynicus]

I am quite aware of the BoSox only paying part of the contract on Guitierrez, and if you ask me, you could've got as good if not better for a fraction of Ricky's contract.

Throwing out that Nomar is merely an average hitter on the road, let's throw in a few fielding statistics. He hovers right around 20 Errors for a season, actually surpassing that mark four times in his career. Just for comparison sake, A-Rod has committed 20 in a season once, and Jeter twice. Hell, Carlos Guillen fields better than Nomar does when you look at the numbers. Other than 1998, where he played 22 games, he has never had a season where his Fielding Percentage was higher than .972. Respectable, even good, but not great. Nomar plays Fenway Park great, he doesn't play the whole league great.

As for BK Kim... he's a good reliever. Paid too much. He was given the salary he was given based on his 2002 stats, which weren't to be repeated. That was the mistake of the Diamondbacks. The BoSox mistake was getting BK Kim to help them down the playoff stretch, expecting to win. They didn't, and they got stuck with the salary with nothing to show for it. No biggie, the BoSox can afford it, right? Whaddaya know, BK gets hurt, then has throwing problems once he gets back, then gets hurt again--makes that deal look pretty much like a dud, padre. In fact, if you ask me, the only person in the BoSox bullpen who is worth the change is Scott Williamson. Maybe Keith Foulke, but definitely Scott Williamson.

I would get into the argument over whether or not that, in hindsight, the firing of a certain manager who's name I will not mutter out of, at the very least, respect for the BoSox and their fans, was a good idea... but this is about trades.

EDIT:
Ok, so this ISN'T the Trade Thread... I've gotta take a nap. :P

[All-Night John]

I am quite aware of the BoSox only paying part of the contract on Guitierrez, and if you ask me, you could've got as good if not better for a fraction of Ricky's contract.
If you were aware of it, why would you claim that the Sox were waisting $4 million on him, which simply wasn't true? And, please, feel free to list all SS who are available for dirt.

Well, if we're to compare Nomar to other SS, we should start with what this topic began with: salaries.

Rodriguez: $21.7 mil
Jeter: $18.6 mil
Nomar: $11.5

I'll take a few more errors and save over $7 mil, thank you. And did you happen to glance at the little stat known as "Total Chances"? Nomar's far exceed Jeter's. That's because Jeter's range is terrible. Rob Neyer ripped him for this awhile back: http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/neyer_rob/1415695.html. Here's more on his terrible fielding: http://www.baseballtruth.com/fielders_choice/choice_032304.htm He doesn't get to as many balls, and doesn't make the harder plays that occasionally turn into errors for Nomar. Certainly Arod is a better fielder. He also makes over $10 mil more than Garciaparra.

And Nomar is not an "average" hitter on the road. His batting average is average, but his other stats more than compensate. Let's compare:

Jeter on the road the last 3 years: 903 AB, 21 HR, 103 RBI
Nomar: 687 AB, 25 HR, 103 RBI

In 216 less ABs than Jeter, Nomar had more HRs and exactly the same RBI.

It's also very important to note that Nomar's numbers are distorted due to his injuries.

Simply put, it's ridiculous to question Nomar making $11.5. As I said, he's one of the top SS in the game, and well worth the price tag.

As for the pen, the only person not worth his money is Mendoza, because he hasn't played. While he's had minor struggles lately, Foulke has proven that he can be a definitive stopper. Williamson would the closer on many other teams. Embree is statistically the best pitcher in the AL to bring in with runners on base, and is simply a strong lefty, which many teams would kill for. Timlin is perfect for his middle-relief role. He's also probably making around the minimum for a guy with his experience. Plus, he's proven that he gets it done in the playoffs.

As for Kim, were it not for his injuries, he'd been starting this year. So, discussion of him as a bullpen pitcher is moot. He's shown he can be an affective starter. We'll see if it ends up panning out.