Globe columnist Tony Massarotti says Mark Teixeira is high on the Red Sox list.
Pros: Excellent all-around player. Sound defensively. Can hit for average and power. Future Hall of Famer, and still young. Sox can afford it.
Cons: The Red Sox don't NEED him. Kevin Youkilis had an MVP season, and played very well at first base again. You've still got Lowell coming back, and he's signed through 2011. The Sox just made that transaction before 2008, and Lowell's still got some left in the tank. You don't want to eat that deal, and you'd have to move Youkilis to 3B if you got Teixeira. Or to LF, where Jason Bay is a solid player with one year left. The Sox are going to want to sign him long term in 2010. And anyway, that is A LOT of money for one player. Didn't help the Yankees, did it? Teams are finding ways to win withoug superstars. The Sox have been no different, building the franchise up with role players and cheap, cheap, cheap homegrown talent. Why change it up?
Solution: The Sox should concentrate on pitching. C.C. Sabathia is an obvious choice. A.J. Burnett is risky, but talented. Same with Ben Sheets. Shoring up the bullpen should be another focus.
3 comments:
Caving to the populist outcry to re-sign Mike Lowell just keeps looking worse and worse, doesn't it?
If I'm Epstein, I consider Lowell's contract a sunk cost and go after Teixeira with guns a-blazing (whatever that means).
I agree with Con...errr, Annie. They never should have signed Lowell last year; despite the public outcry after 1998, management was ultimately proven right in not re-signing Mo Vaughn. And Lowell was never even close to the player that Mo Vaughn used to be.
The playoffs exposed the Sox' biggest weakness: a soft lineup. Guys like Youkilis, Bay, Drew, and Lowell are great to have in the lineup. But, they should complement the big power hitters. Other than maybe Ortiz, the Sox have no big power hitters. Even Teixeira won't hit 40 HR per year, but he is the second best option out there (the best, of course, the Sox won't even dare to extend an offer to).
Though Sabathia has proven to be one of the most durable pitchers in the game, his use toward the end of the season and in the playoff was extremely heavy (it'd be interesting to find when was the last time someone was used as heavily as he was over that stretch)... For that reason, I would be very reluctant to get tied down to several years of Sabathia.
The thing about Teixeira is that he is very low-risk. He doesn't really have an injury history to speak of and his skills have been very stable since he got called up.
Steve, as far as your implicit reference to Manny goes... They'd have to beat the $25 million/year the Dodgers have already offered, and I just don't see that being a good risk to take on a 36-year-old.
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