He got left in an inning too long. His peripherals still look decent...let's give him another few starts before deciding anything. He would still be pretty valuable as a set-up guy. And just think after winning two championships in 5 seasons and only missing the playoffs once, what this team could be with a GM that had a clue what he was doing. edit: And to be fair, they committed the money they were supposedly going to give to Teix to international guys like Junichi Tazawa and signed a domican shortstop to a record deal, not just Penny and Smoltz. Penny and Smoltz alone obviously doesn't make up for that, but spending millions extra on player development instead of just one guy's past performance seems smart enough to me.
That Dominican shortstop is going to end up being a bad move. He's good with the glove but not so good offensively and has "fringe average" speed. Tazawa signed before Teixeira, and even so, there are different budgets for international scouting and development and the Major League roster. They don't cut back on that when they sign a free agent.
I honestly don't know that much about the guy, and the amount they gave him seemed to be huge overkill on one player. Record money for someone who at best projects to be O-Cab (at least from what I've read about him) is kind of strange. But that's besides the point. Year to year they probably have an idea of how much they want to spend as a whole, so the two balance each other. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but it seems like they've been on a spending spree in search of a future star shortstop. If they actually do go out and spend the money on player development, that's fine.
Im pretty sure Posada is much slower then Lowell. His hip is fucked too so there is a reason hes slow.
Wake to the DL, Buchholz to replace him. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2009/07/wakefield_on_dl.html Hard to tell if he is actually hurt or how serious it is. He's come down with back and shoulder problems a few times, but time this could just as easily be a a two week vacation that also lets Clay get some starts while allowing some extra rest for the old guy.
no, he hasn't. he's hasn't managed to get out of the 7th inning , and his ERA is above 5. your irrational hate on smoltz is just that. smoltz will turn it around. when your k/bb is 5.5, you're going to turn it around.
not to mention penny is notorious for having 2nd brutal halves. i hope you'll agree with me by season end.
You apparently ignored my other post. Penny has had 3 bad starts. Just 3. Out of 18. Outside those, his ERA is 3.78, which is more than acceptable for a 5th starter. Smoltz has had 3 bad starts and 1 incomplete out of 5 starts. I don't doubt that he would eventually turn it around, but it's too late in the season to wait around for it. And with the trade deadline approaching, these decisions need to be made. They don't have the luxury of waiting for Smoltz to turn it around. If he wasn't ready (which he clearly isn't) he should have made some more starts in AAA until he was.
i don't disagree that he isn't ready for the bigs yet (which is kind of funny to say cause it's smoltz). but again, penny is frustrating to watch with his early exits every.single.time. i think we'll see him fade in the stretch as he does all too often.
Yeah. Except no. His splits from first half to second half aren't that drastic. His WHIP is identical at 1.35, his K/BB and K/9 actually are BETTER in the second half. His ERA is worse, but hardly brutally so as it goes from 3.97 to 4.37.
i mean since he was more or less a dodger. k/9 hardly matters to me with penny considering he doesn't strike anyone out anymore. and yes his ERA is worse. the bottom line is i would feel a lot more comfortable with smoltz then penny down the stretch. when smoltz has been healthy he's been dominant basically his whole career.
clearly they feel there is offense that can be taught there. the sox have done a nice job with their current IFA's in the system (doubront, pimentel etc) and when you START with ozzie smith comparison defense, you can work on your hitting, so I think its a great move.
