Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Talkin' Baseball

Lol Sean, I like both teams but I've been a Dodger fan since way back when I used to listen to Sandy Koufax and Vince Scully on the radio, my mom actually followed them over from Brooklyn so it was ingrained at a young age.

So I'm hearing Youkilis was traded today. I know a little about Zack Stewart that was apart of the trade. He was a prospect within the Jays organization. He was brought to the majors with being #3-#5 within a young starting rotation with the Jays at the time. Soon traded away (months) as he was brought up. The last I saw of him was this year and he was bullpen fodder for the White Socks.

Is Youkilis a rental player? To be honest I don't know what his contract status is.

This was the last year of Youkilis being under a Red Sox contract, There is a club option for 13 million for next year, or a million dollar bye-out if it's not picked up. Kevin has spent a lot of time on the DL over the last two full seasons. Down the stretch last year when the team was really struggling, he came up with a quad injury ( DL for the second time in 11 ) and was lost for the remainder of the season. He had also spent much time on the DL the year prior.

More of the same this year, as he only played in 42 of the Red Sox 72 games before being traded. During this off season the Sox really cleaned house after that dreadful finish last year. Yeah, most people who follow the game knows they let the GM, and the Manager go. But the Bench Coach, Pitching Coach, and the First Base coach were gone as well. One other note, unless you follow the Sox extremely close, you would have missed the fact that they also fired all of the team's trainers as well.

All the good that did, as of yesterday Boston was leading MLB in games lost being on the DL. It was 895 games. The next team on the list had 715 games lost to injuries. And today they put Bucholz on the 15 day DL. Boston has played their best baseball of the season over these last two weeks. As they get healthier, I believe they will be steam rolling over a lot of teams down the stretch.

Been watching Salvador Perez the catcher for the Kansas City Royals. What a great player and only 22. He reminds me of a Pudge Rodriguez lite but at 6'3 200+! He is really limber for his size around the plate, demands a lot from the pitching staff, shows a great target, excellent framing, great blocker and a CANNON of an arm. His hands are HUGE.

...and he can hit too...

I hope his knees hold out...fun to watch this guy play.

Big ten player trade between the Jays, and the Astros. Both teams seemingly helping their own cause, time will tell as always who got the better end of this deal. Looking at it on the surface I believe Houston should prevail as they are going nowhere soon, but are building for the future. With the four prospects they secured two were selected in the first, or second rounds and are already producing in A Ball. I also believe the two veteran pitchers they picked up will be traded again for even more prospects before the trade deadline, as it make no sense for them to be on this team.

Toronto doesn't seem to have enough pieces in place to contend against the likes of the Yanks,and Sox. They have some young talent on their ML roster and may have been better suited growing their farm system and reaping the benefits 2-3 years out. I think Toronto's trying to make a statement here to both their fans, as well as MLB. That they are poised to make a run this year, and remain contenders going into next year also.

The trade might seem "huge" but in reality it's pretty insignificant for both teams. The Blue Jays receive some pitching depth and the Astros receive some depth to their farm system. I think the Jays dump some salary getting rid of Coco and Francisco in the process. Both of those guys were fodder. The Jays gave away middle of the road prospects that are longs way away right now, currently in A or AA.

In terms of prospects, its not that big of a deal because of how much depth they currently have. They surely hold more value for the Astros.

Trades that I would consider significant is picking up players like a Dempster or Garza from the Cubs or a Justin Upton that under control for atleast another year. Though to get those guys we would probably have to give up some of our high ceiling prospects that are major league ready like Gose or d'Arnaud or perhaps even some of our high ceiling pitchers in A and AA which GM's cream over.

We have the talent to compete this year but just WAY to many injuries right now to make that a reality. We are down to something like 26th on our pitching depth chart. Starting pitching and bullpen is in shambles. No team has that much depth to their staff.

Well, Steve Delabar goes from the Mariners to the Jays for Eric Thames. Delabar is a competent major league pitcher. What do you say about Thames?

Could be an interesting day.

Eric Thames upside is his bat and still is. He is capable of some pop and driving in runs. Another positive is he is a great "team, clubhouse guy". On a personal level just a likeable guy that you want to see succeed.

The Jays hoped he would be the starting everyday left fielder once Travis Snider was sent down. However, up to this time Thames has struggled with left handed pitching and is a liability defensively (at least to the other talent in our outfield) . Thames was rendered to a platoon player because of this.

On the positive side he is young. If he can somehow learn to punish left handed pitching he can be a productive everyday player in the majors.

Lots of chatter, as usual, about whether the Red Sox will buy, sell, or stand pat. Beckett has been lousy both on the mound and in the clubhouse. I'd encourage the Rangers to give him a fresh start, since he's from Texas. However, I realize that the odds of my wishful thinking coming true are somewhere between "You wish!" and "WTF are you smokin'?!"

The other thing I wonder is whether the Nationals will have Strasburg on an innings/pitch limit and pull him sometime this season, or if they'll let him pitch into the postseason.