Reliving the Curse

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I'm going to return to my roots with this dynasty. In my opinion, the best dynasty I ever did was my first, one many probably have not seen, but if you want to read it here it is. Anyways, I think that was my best, and I want to go back to doing what I did with that, writing about my favorite team and doing it on basically a month-by-month basis.

Now that that's done, let me explain the dynasty to you all. I'm going to start this dynasty with the '03 Red Sox, hence the name Reliving the Curse. As a Red Sox fan it probably would seem like I wouldn't want to relive the curse, but since they already broke the curse (twice ), I thought it would be fun to try to build the team myself and break the curse on my own.

I am going to be using House Rules and adjusting and tweaking settings, but if you really care enough to know what they are just PM me or post a reply asking, or even catch me on AIM if you want.


Season W-L Record (Playoff Result):

(To be used)

All-Stars:

2003: C Jason Varitek (1,336,093), LF Manny Ramirez (1,296,090), DH David Ortiz, SP Pedro Martinez, CL Jon Papelbon, SS Nomar Garciaparra

(To be used)

Awards:

(To be used)

1st Draft Selection:

2003: SP Andrew Miller

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Red Sox Head into '03 with a Strong Team

The Red Sox will head into '03 still without a World Series title in over 80 years. However, this year they head into the season with one of the best teams they've had in recent memory. Manny, Ortiz and Nomar lead the offense, while Pedro retains the ace title in the starting rotation, coming off six seasons in a row with a sub-3.00 ERA, and 22 year old rookie Jonathan Papelbon will enter the season as the team's full-time closer.

With that said, let's delve deeper and see exactly what this Red Sox team is packing for the '03 season.

The Starting 9 (Previous season stats):

1. CF Johnny Damon L/L (.286/.356/.443, 14 HR, 63 RBI, 31 SB, 118 R)
2. RF Trot Nixon L/L (.256/.338/.470, 24 HR, 94 RBI, 4 SB, 81 R)
3. DH David Ortiz L/L (.272/.339/.500, 20 HR, 75 RBI, 1 SB, 52 R)
4. LF Manny Ramirez R/R (.349/.450/.647, 33 HR, 107 RBI, 0 SB, 84 R)
5. SS Nomar Garciaparra R/R (.310/.352/.528, 24 HR, 120 RBI, 5 SB, 101 R)
6. 1B Kevin Millar R/R (.306/.366/.509, 16 HR, 57 RBI, 0 SB, 58 R)
7. C Jason Varitek S/R (.266/.332/.392, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 4 SB, 58 R)
8. 3B Shea Hillenbrand R/R (.293/.330/.459, 18 HR, 83 RBI, 4 SB, 94 R)
9. 2B Todd Walker L/R (.299/.353/.431, 11 HR, 64 RBI, 8 SB, 79 R)

The lineup looks very strong from top to bottom, and should be one of the strongest in baseball this season. The 1-5 of Damon, Nixon, Ortiz, Ramirez, and Garciaparra should be one of the best 1-5's in baseball. The 6-9 isn't too bad either though. All four of Millar, Varitek, Hillenbrand, and Walker hit ten or more home runs last year, and all four could be middle or top of the order hitters on any other team in baseball. Expect this team to put up A LOT of runs this season, and if the pitching suffers the offense could very well lead them to the promised land.

The Bench:

1. IF Freddy Sanchez R/R
2. C Doug Mirabelli R/R
3. IF Damian Jackson R/R
4. 3B Bill Mueller S/R
5. LF Jeremy Giambi L/L

The team is pretty deep off the bench as well. Freddy Sanchez will be starting at 2B against lefties, and if any of the infielders struggle throughout the season don't expect any hesitation in getting Sanchez on the field in place of one of them, for a while at least. Mirabelli could start on some teams and should be spelling Varitek at least once a week. All-in-all, the team is very strong coming off the bench and shouldn't have any problem filling in injuries.

Starting Rotation (Previous season stats):

1. Pedro Martinez R/R (20-4 W-L, 2.26 ERA, 199.1 IP, 40 BB, 239 K, .197 BAA)
2. Derek Lowe R/R (21-8 W-L, 2.58 ERA, 219.2 IP, 48 BB, 127 K, .209 BAA)
3. Tim Wakefield R/R (11-5 W-L, 2.81 ERA, 163.1 IP, 51 BB, 134 K, .203 BAA) In 45 games, 15 starts
4. Frank Castillo R/R (6-15 W-L, 5.07 ERA, 163.1 IP, 58 BB, 112 K, .269 BAA)
5. Bronson Arroyo R/R (2-1 W-L, 4.00 ERA, 27.0 IP, 15 BB, 22 K, .280 BAA) In 9 games, 4 starts

The team has a very strong rotation to go with its lineup. Pedro is, well, Pedro. He should be a Cy Young candidate and one of the best in baseball again this season. Lowe is heading into his second season as a starter, after winning 21 games in his first, and despite the low strikeout numbers, he gets loads of ground balls, coming in with a ground ball percent of 64.0%. After the top two, the 3-5 of Wakefield, Castillo, and Arroyo are somewhat pedestrian. Wakefield hasn't been a full-time starter in five years, Castillo had an ERA over five in over 160 innings last year, and Arroyo has only a very small sample size at the major leave level. Pedro and Lowe are entrenched, but don't be surprised to see some moves made to improve upon the 3-5 of the rotation.

The Bullpen (Previous season stats):

• CL Jonathan Papelbon R/R (50 G, 1.23 ERA, 58.1 IP, 13 BB, 82 K, .215 BAA, 41 SV) At A-ball
• SU Mike Timlin R/R (30 G, 3.79 ERA, 35.2 IP, 7 BB, 15 K, .205 BAA, 0 SV)
• SR Alan Embree L/L (32 G, 2.97 ERA, 33.1 IP, 11 BB, 43 K, .198 BAA, 2 SV)
• SR Cla Meredith R/R No stats
• MR Bobby Howry L/R (20 G, 5.00 ERA, 18.0 IP, 4 BB, 14 K, .286 BAA, 0 SV)
• LR John Burkett R/R (29 G, 4.53 ERA, 173.0 IP, 50 BB, 124 K, .283 BAA, 0 SV)

The bullpen should be the one thing fans should have reservations about. The closer, Jon Papelbon, has nasty stuff, but has no experience above A-ball prior to the start of this season. Cla Meredith has no experience in pro-ball whatsoever, but also has nasty stuff, and the others appeared in somewhat limited duty at a relief level. The bullpen will probably either be dynamite or blow up completely, with not too much middle ground.


Next up will be the AL season predictions.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

I loved this team! I remember when Posada hit that double of Pedro, then had that primal scream at second base. That ripped my heart out.

Then Aaron Boone stomped on it...

Fortunately the 'curse' is over, so I can enjoy this! Go Sox!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I loved this team! I remember when Posada hit that double of Pedro, then had that primal scream at second base. That ripped my heart out.

Then Aaron Boone stomped on it...

Fortunately the 'curse' is over, so I can enjoy this! Go Sox!

I didn't really start watching baseball consistently or become a "student of the game" until the beginning of the '04 season, so I have almost no memories of this team. I caught a couple games here and there in '03, but I didn't care enough at the time to distinctly remember them.

The fact that I DIDN'T start watching baseball until '04, after the heartbreaking, ripping out, then stomping on that occurred in '03 is probably part of the reason I can stomach taking this on. Like I said before though, I thought breaking the curse on my own, with partially my own players, would be a lot of fun.

As an FYI, I resigned some players with expiring contracts (Nomar and Manny) because I equalized cities, adjusted league revenue and contract demands, and recalculated salaries and after doing all that I had roughly 105 million dollars in salaries and a 25 mil budget. Because I lowered contract demands they were asking for a lot less than they were making and I needed to cut some costs, being so far over my budget.

The contracts are:

Manny Ramirez - 5Y (through 2007) @ 8.5 mil a year with a NTC
Nomar Garciaparra - 3Y (through 2005) @ 6.6 mil a year (Hanley will be 21 or 22 after his contract expires )

[Red Sox Fan 734]

This brings back some bad memories lol, but i can forget about it since we have won 2 World Series in 4 years. Good luck with this dynasty

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

AL 2003 Standings Predictions

AL East:

1. Boston Red Sox (108-54)
2. New York Yankees (104-58)
3. Toronto Blue Jays (76-86)
4. Baltimore Orioles (63-99)
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays (52-110)

The Red Sox and Yankees should be in for a dogfight all season long. They are, essentially, each other's opposite, as the Red Sox have the high octane offense with mostly solid pitching, and the Yankees have a deep, strong rotation, but a more or less average offense. Aside from those two, this division is pretty weak and will probably be victimized by the Red Sox and Yankees regularly. The Wild Card will probably come from this division, with money on the Red Sox to pull out of the division.

AL Central:

1. Chicago White Sox (92-70)
2. Minnesota Twins (80-82)
3. Cleveland Indians (78-84)
4. Kansas City Royals (52-110)
5. Detroit Tigers (56-106)

The ChiSox should have virtually no competition in this division. With no other team predicted to finish above .500, it would be a complete shock if they didn't win this thing. You can probably expect a couple top 3-5 picks to be coming to this division, though.

AL West:

1. Oakland A's (103-59)
2. Anaheim Angels (95-67)
3. Texas Rangers (89-73)
4. Seattle Mariners (86-76)

Wow, talk about a competitive division. All the teamss are projected to finish well over .500 and all of them are easily good enough to come out on top and make the playoffs. The A's are easily the best in the division, but don't be surprised if one of the other teams does win it. This should be a fun division to watch throughout the season.

Playoff Teams and matchups (based off proj. standings):

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Chicago White Sox
AL West: Oakland A's
AL Wild Card: New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago White Sox
Oakland A's vs. New York Yankees


NL next.

P.S.

I was gonna wait to do these, but I really want to start simming and playing games, so I'm getting these out of the way tonight and I'm gonna start with my season tomorrow.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

NL 2003 Standings Predictions

NL East:

1. Atlanta Braves (100-62)
2. Florida Marlins (91-71)
3. Philadelphia Phillies (87-75)
4. New York Mets (83-79)
5. Montreal Expos (76-86)

This should be a pretty fun division too. The Braves are the early favorite (as always), but the Marlins, Phillies, and Mets should all give them a run for their money. Even Montreal should be able to play spoiler. The Wild Card will probably come from here.

NL Central:

1. St. Louis Cardinals (87-75)
2. Houston Astros + Chicago Cubs (83-79)
3. Pittsburgh Pirates (77-85)
4. Cincinnati Reds (69-93)
5. Milwaukee Brewers (55-107)

The top three teams in this division, the Cubs, Astros, and Cardinals, all figure to be very close and anyone of them could pull it out. The projections say the Card's, but any of them could win it.

NL West:

1. Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77)
2. San Francisco Giants (84-78)
3. Colorado Rockies (83-79)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (81-81)
5. San Diego Padres (70-92)

It's not about quality as much as it is quantity in this division. The division lacks a clear cut favorite, but the top four teams in this division are all projected to finish within five games of each other. Projections say the D'Backs, but you may as well throw projections out the window in this division.

Playoff Teams and matchups (based off proj. standings):

NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Wild Card: Florida Marlins

Atlanta Braves vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Florida Marlins

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Opening Day!

After a long winter of football and basketball of both the pro and college variety, spring is in the air and it's time to start a new season of Major League Baseball.

The Red Sox opening couldn't have gone much better if they'd drawn it up.

Pedro pitched a solid 5 2/3 innings. He allowed nine hits, walked one, gave up three runs, all of them earned, and struck out five on 127 pitches. Cla Meredith picked him up in the pen with three combined scoreless innings.

Offensively the team kept the scoreboard operators busy. Jason Varitek and Nomar both started their season with a 3-4 game. Varitek had the biggest blow of the night, wrecking a Jarrod Washburn over the fence in the bottom of the fourth inning for a three run home run. Ortiz and Shea Hillenbrand each chipped in two RBI's of their own. Every player who came to bat except for Manny reached base in some way.

"It's only the first game of 162, but it's always nice to get the season started out with a win." said catcher Jason Varitek.

BOXSCORE:

Anaheim Angels at Boston Red Sox
April 1, 2003

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
        Angels (ANA) 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0    3  9  1
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 3 x    8 12  1

ANAHEIM              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
D. Erstad (CF)        5  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
D. Eckstein (SS)      4  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .500
G. Anderson (LF)      4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
T. Glaus (3B)         3  0  1  1  0  0  1  0    .000
B. Fullmer (DH)       4  2  0  2  1  2  1  0    .500
T. Salmon (RF)        4  1  0  0  0  0  2  0    .250
S. Spiezio (1B)       3  0  0  0  0  1  0  0    .000
B. Molina (C)         4  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .500
A. Kennedy (2B)       4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .250
TOTALS               35  9  1  3  1  3  7  0

   2B:  B. Fullmer (1), G. Anderson (1)
   HR:  B. Fullmer (1)
   CS:  D. Eckstein

         ANAHEIM   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     J. Washburn  5.0  7  2  1  4  4  1  84   7.20
      S. Shields  1.2  1  1  0  1  1  1  37   5.40
        B. Weber  0.2  4  0  0  3  2  1  23  27.00
    F. Rodriguez  0.2  0  1  0  0  0  0  20   0.00
          TOTALS  8.0 12  4  1  8  7  3 164

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Damon (CF)         4  2  1  1  0  0  1  0    .500
T. Nixon (RF)         4  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .000
D. Ortiz (DH)         4  2  1  0  0  2  1  0    .500
M. Ramirez (LF)       4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
N. Garciaparra (SS)   4  3  0  2  0  0  0  0    .750
K. Millar (1B)        3  0  1  1  0  0  1  0    .000
J. Varitek (C)        4  3  0  2  1  3  0  0    .750
S. Hillenbrand (3B)   4  1  0  1  0  2  0  0    .250
F. Sanchez (2B)       4  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .250
TOTALS               35 12  4  8  1  7  3  0

   2B:  N. Garciaparra (1), J. Damon (1)
   3B:  S. Hillenbrand (1)
   HR:  J. Varitek (1)
   GIDP:  S. Hillenbrand
   CS:  J. Damon

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     P. Martinez  5.2  9  1  1  3  3  5 127   4.76
     C. Meredith  1.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  16   0.00
        B. Howry  2.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  19   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  9  1  1  3  3  7 162

     WP: P. Martinez (1-0)
     LP: J. Washburn (0-1)
     SV: B. Howry (1)

     Temperature: 68F
     Wind: 3 MPH (in from left)
     Attendance: 40,270
     Time: 3:04

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Red Sox Start Season Strong

The Red Sox fell just one win shy of a 20 win April, closing the month out at 19-7. That's good for a 7 1/2 game lead over the Yankees, whose record currently sits at 13-16. The team managed to stay mostly injury-free throughout the month. Shea Hillenbrand and John Burkett both suffered minor, week-long injuries, but Tim Wakefield is currently rehabbing a broken foot that kept out for the last half of April and will keep him out of action for most of May.

Month Record (Overall Record and Standing): 19-7 (19-7, 1st place 7.0 GA)
Team Batting: .291
Team ERA: 4.31
RS: 154
RA: 121
Pythagorean W-L: 16-10

The Good:

1. David Ortiz is looking like an early candidate for MVP. After one month of play Ortiz is hitting .373/.431/.718 with 8 homers and 30 RBI's.
2. Nomar has been a stud in the five hole as well. He's hitting .327/.354/.523 with three homers and 18 ribbies.
3. Damon has done a great job of setting the table for the Sox, hitting .336/.416/.505 with nine steals to two caught stealing in 107 AB's.
4. Perhaps the greatest surprise offensively has been Jason Varitek. He's hit .290/.355/.516 with six homers and 19 RBI's.
5. Lowe has been the team's best, most consistent starter by a mile so far. He's 4-1 with an ERA of 2.23 in 40.1 innings.
6. The 22 year old closer Jon Papelbon has been almost automatic at the back of the bullpen. In 11 games, he's 2-0 with an ERA of 0.82 and 17 K's to only 2 walks, and hes 9/10 in save opportunities.
7. Pap's setup man, Cla Meredith, has been great as well. In 16 innings he's allowed only three runs, for an ERA of 1.69, struck out 11, walked four, and held opposing batters to a .183 clip.

The Bad:

1. Despite nine homers this season already, Manny hasn't been Manny. He's hitting only .240 and getting on base at a .316 mark, as well as striking out 29 times in 104 AB's.
2. Todd Walker has been a complete flop at second base at this point in the season. His OPS is barely over .600 (.612 to be precise), and he has yet to hit a home run and has only 8 RBI's. Look for Freddy Sanchez to start getting more playing time against righties.
3. Pedro has not been Pedro at all. He's got a 4-1 record, but his ERA is 5.59 and his BAA is .318.
4. Frank Castillo and Bronson Arroyo have NOT been impressive in the #4 and #5 slots. They combine for an ERA of 6.11 in 49 innings.

Red Sox MVP so far: DH David Ortiz - .373/.431/.718, 8 HR, 30 RBI

Red Sox Cy Young so far: SP Derek Lowe - 4-1 W-L, 2.23 ERA, 16 BB, 30 K, .239 BAA, 40 1/3 IP

Minor Leaguer to Keep an Eye on: SS Hanley Ramirez (AAA) - .,359/.419/.650, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 12 SB, 3 CS, 27 R

Batting Stats:

Player Name	P	H	AB	Avg	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	SB	SB%
Ortiz, David	1B	41	110	.373	.431	.718	12	1	8	20	30	0	0.0
Garciaparra, Nomar	SS	35	107	.327	.354	.523	8	2	3	18	18	2	100.0
Damon, Johnny	CF	36	107	.336	.416	.505	9	0	3	29	12	9	81.8
Ramirez, Manny	LF	25	104	.240	.316	.538	4	0	9	16	25	0	0.0
Millar, Kevin	LF	26	99	.263	.305	.444	12	0	2	9	13	0	0.0
Varitek, Jason	C	27	93	.290	.355	.516	3	0	6	17	19	1	100.0
Hillenbrand, Shea	3B	22	82	.268	.322	.427	2	1	3	14	8	0	0.0
Nixon, Trot	RF	17	81	.210	.333	.321	3	0	2	13	10	2	100.0
Walker, Todd	2B	14	58	.241	.302	.310	4	0	0	7	8	0	0.0
Sanchez, Freddy	2B	13	41	.317	.349	.488	3	2	0	5	3	0	0.0
Giambi, Jeremy	LF	5	24	.208	.240	.375	1	0	1	3	3	0	0.0
Mueller, Bill	3B	5	11	.455	.500	.727	0	0	1	2	2	0	0.0
Jackson, Damian	2B	2	5	.400	.400	.600	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.0
Mirabelli, Doug	C	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0

Pitching Stats:

Player Name	Team	Starts	W	L	ERA	IP	K	BB	SV	CG	OBA
Martinez, Pedro	BOS	6	4	1	5.59	38.2	46	6	0	0	.318
Lowe, Derek	BOS	6	4	1	2.23	40.1	30	16	0	0	.239
Burkett, John	BOS	2	0	0	3.68	22.0	17	3	1	0	.273
Castillo, Frank	BOS	5	1	2	7.07	28.0	15	9	0	0	.303
Arroyo, Bronson	BOS	3	2	1	5.14	21.0	19	7	0	0	.282
Papelbon, Jonathan	BOS	0	2	0	0.82	11.0	17	2	9	0	.200
Meredith, Cla	BOS	0	1	0	1.69	16.0	11	4	0	0	.183
Embree, Alan	BOS	0	0	0	1.17	7.2	9	3	0	0	.267
Timlin, Mike	BOS	0	1	1	5.40	10.0	7	0	0	0	.386
Howry, Bobby	BOS	0	2	0	3.07	14.2	11	4	1	0	.259
Fox, Chad	BOS	1	1	0	9.00	4.0	2	1	0	0	.389

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

League Summary

I accidentally simmed about four games before I did this, so this it's partially into May as well

Division Leaders:

AL East: Boston Red Sox, 21-9 (New York Yankees, 17-16, 5.5 GB)
AL Central: Chicago White Sox, 17-13 (Detroit Tigers, 17-14, 0.5 GB)
AL West: Oakland A's, 22-10 (Texas Rangers, 20-10, 1 GB)
AL Wild Card: Texas Rangers, 20-10 (Detroit Tigers, 17-14, 3.5 GB)

NL East: Atlanta Braves, 22-10 (Philadelphia Phillies, 20-11, 1.5 GB)
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals + Chicago Cubs, 18-11 (Houston Astros, 16-13, 2 GB)
NL West: San Francisco Giants, 20-11 (Arizona Diamondbacks, 17-12, 2 GB)
NL Wild Card: Philadelphia Phillies, 20-11 (Chicago Cubs + St. Louis Cardinals, 18-11, 1 GB)

League Leaders:

	AL					NL
BA: Carlos Beltran (KCR) - .372		Lance Berkman (HOU) - .387
HR: Frank Thomas (CWS) - 14		Sammy Sosa (CHC) - 16
RBI: Garret Anderson (ANA) - 41		Tino Martinez + Albert Pujols (STL) - 36
SB: Carl Crawford (TBD) - 13		Juan Pierre (FLA) - 16

W: Johan Santana (MIN) - 6		Russ Ortiz (ATL) - 5
ERA: John Thomson (TEX) - 2.06		Jason Simontacchi (STL) - 2.25
K: Johan Santana (MIN) - 59		Roy Oswalt (HOU) + Hideo Nomo (LAD) - 47
SV: Jonathan Papelbon (BOS) + Rafael Betancourt (CLE) + Keith Foulke (OAK) - 10		Dave Veres (CHC) - 9

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Pedro Masterful as Sox Slam Tigers

--May 11, 2003

If there was any doubt about Pedro during April, he dispelled any ounce of it with his latest start against the Tigers.

Pedro was masterful last night, going all nine innings without allowing a run, allowing just four hits and walking one, and sending seven down on strikes.

This wasn't some 1-0 or 2-0 pitcher's duel though. The Red Sox offense hit the Tigers pitcher's up often and heavily, tagging Tigers' starter Justin Verlander for five runs in 6 2/3 innings and getting reliever Chris Spurling for three runs in only a third of an inning. Manny Ramirez collected two hits in five at bats while knocking home three runners. Shea Hillenbrand also went 3-4 and brought two runners home.

BOXSCORE:

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers
May 10, 2003

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 3    9 13  1
        Tigers (DET) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  4  0

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Damon (CF)         5  1  0  1  0  0  2  0    .283
F. Sanchez (2B)       5  3  0  2  0  2  0  0    .289
D. Ortiz (DH)         4  1  1  0  0  1  1  0    .345
M. Ramirez (LF)       5  2  0  1  0  3  1  0    .235
N. Garciaparra (SS)   4  1  1  1  0  0  0  0    .285
K. Millar (1B)        3  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .248
J. Varitek (C)        3  1  2  2  0  1  1  0    .268
S. Hillenbrand (3B)   4  3  0  1  0  2  1  0    .322
J. Giambi (RF)        4  1  1  1  0  0  2  0    .214
TOTALS               37 13  6  9  0  9  8  0

   2B:  D. Ortiz (15), F. Sanchez (5)
   3B:  S. Hillenbrand (3)
   HBP:  K. Millar
   GIDP:  K. Millar
   CS:  J. Giambi

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     P. Martinez  9.0  4  1  0  0  0  7 118   4.12
          TOTALS  9.0  4  1  0  0  0  7 118

DETROIT              ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
C. Granderson (CF)    4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .195
C. Ross (RF)          4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .245
B. Higginson (LF)     4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .310
D. Young (1B)         4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .271
D. Palmer (3B)        3  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .246
C. Monroe (DH)        3  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .348
B. Inge (C)           2  0  1  0  0  0  0  0    .266
W. Morris (2B)        3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .310
R. Santiago (SS)      3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .192
TOTALS               30  4  1  0  0  0  7  0

   GIDP:  D. Young
   CS:  B. Higginson

         DETROIT   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
    J. Verlander  6.2  8  3  0  5  5  5 119   4.14
       J. Zumaya  1.1  3  0  0  1  1  1  27   5.49
     C. Spurling  0.1  2  2  0  3  3  1  22   5.63
     M. Anderson  0.2  0  1  0  0  0  1  13   7.64
          TOTALS  9.0 13  6  0  9  9  8 181

     WP: P. Martinez (6-1)
     LP: J. Verlander (3-3)

     Temperature: 85F
     Wind: Calm
     Attendance: 26,609
     Time: 3:22

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Sox Engage D'backs, Padres in Trade Talks

The Red Sox have reportedly reached out to the Padres and Diamonbacks in trade talks, seemingly in the hopes of acquiring an ace pitcher.

Reports indicate that the likely trade targets are Jake Peavy (94/95) and Brandon Webb (93/94). Both deals would involve the Sox trading a myriad of highly touted prospects. Names that have been discussed include reliever Craig Hansen (67/97), Clay Buchholz (72/95), Daisuke Matsuzaka (77/90), Dustin Pedroia (77/91), Jacoby Ellsbury (72/92), and Brandon Moss (65/94). The Diamondbacks asking price on Webb was reportedly too high for the Red Sox, but a deal for Peavy remains a possibility.

In order to get either of them the Red Sox would have to surrender at least three of the aforementioned prospects, more likely 4 or more.

Aside from the top two of Pedro and Lowe, the Red Sox starting rotation has been mostly ineffective. Number four starter Frank Castillo has an ERA over seven and five starter Bronson Arroyo has been extremely inconsistent. the In addition, the #3 starter entering the season, Tim Wakefield, has been on the DL for almost a month with a broken collarbone.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

So what do you guys think.

Webb is almost completely out of the question, unless I want to give up all the guys up there AND Hanley Ramirez (83/90, at only 19 years old), which I don't want to do.

Jake Peavy is a possibility, I'd be sending about four of the guys up there away. I actually almost made a deal for him but I wasn't 100% on it.

Hansen I wouldn't mind trading, with Papelbon locking down the closer role for a while and Meredith as his setup man, and I have Jon Lester who is basically just as good as Buck but left handed. Basically Pedroia is the only one I'm hesitant to trade. And maybe I could substitute one of the prospects for Castillo or Arroyo so it wouldn't be such a steep a loss.

Thoughts, questions, ideas?

[SrMeowMeow]

Trade Pedroia before Danny Cabrera delivers god's justice to him at 99 miles per hour.

[OregonDuck1989]

I'm not sure you need yet another ace in that rotation. Lowe and Pedro are going strong and adding Peavy into the mix would help but at the cost it seems like it's just over kill at the SP spots.

But it is up to you.