Francona out as Boston Manager

Give it more time to catch on, just don't be expecting ESPN to lead the way.

They've already made it more palatable to non-dork types by not calling it VORP any longer.

 

Lame references that have been done to death aside, the Boston FA list is *exactly* what's WAR is good for. It provides a quick and dirty way to compare and combine the values of players from different positions.

 

This is a pretty sober look at the roster. It doesn't even mention WAR anywhere.

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/rob-bradford/2011/10/03/look-what-future-holds-red-sox-position-playe

 

And this item:

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2011/10/03/kevin-youkilis-on-teammates-leaking-info-to-media-dont-be-a-coward/

This is as much fun as the playoffs.

 

Here's a question - that article says that the Red Sox may get draft picks if Scutaro is offered arbitration and is a Type A or Type B free agent. How can that be right? Scutaro has an option - either the team exercises it or they don't. If they don't they lose the player - they don't get a draft pick. Correct?

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/09/marco-scutaros-2012-option.html

 

Scutaro also gives a fuck. Which means, if Youkilis comes back, they've got three-quarters of an infield that gives a fuck. Fortunately Adrian "God hates us and it's ESPN's fault we sucked down the stretch" Gonzalez only has seven years left on his deal.

 

If anything, I think Youkilis gives too much of a fuck. His performance was Hobson-ian in the final month, he's on the wrong side of 30, and he's probably entering his late career Mike Lowell phase at this point. People love that he got on Manny Ramirez a couple years ago, except that I'm not sure having a raging beast asshole at third base is so conducive to winning. I think you need a mix of personality, and it helps to have as many guys like JD Drew and Ramirez (passive and oblivious to pressure) as assholes like Youkilis, Millar, etc.

 

As L. Van Pelt would say, "That's not a fault . . . it's a character trait."

 

Much of this conversation is the reason why I think that if Sabathia opts out, the Yankees should thank their lucky stars, say thanks for a great 3 years and move on, even if it means a down year. If 3 years ago, they were given an option to pay just for the prime years and not the down years at the tail end of that huge contract they would have danced. That's the Halladay contract - it's a gift you don't get every day. Unfortunately, they are more likely to throw more money after him with an ARod-esque extension that will look really bad really fast. I think we'll be seeing many more nights like last night in the next 7 years.

 

That body type is always vulnerable, but he was on short rest, and he's not the same pitcher on the road as he is in the Bronx.
I really like the guy, but the timeline/value/price triangulation is always in play.

I'm not blaming him for last night. He gave it what he had. They don't have the pitching depth, as per usual, and they're going to pay the price for that, one more time.