I am hearing that the Sox are wrapping up deals with Smoltz and Baldelli. Love both of those deals and love both of those players. I mean in their primes they were both amazing even though they had completely different career paths. Baldelli had a short time as a star as opposed to Smoltz who has been good for decades. At this point though Smoltz won't pitch until May and is 42 years old. Baldelli has had a million different torn ligaments, tendons, and was even diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. They aren't the players they used to be, but that doesn't mean they can't help us win a few games.
Recently Baldelli received good news with a diagnosis that his fatigue case might not be as much of an issue anymore. Having the Woonsocket Rhode Island native as a 4th outfielder is cool with me. I've always pictured/wanted Rocco as a Red Sox when he was using 5 tools for Tampa Bay years ago. What can he do for us now? Realistically, picture what Kapler gave us and expect those kind of skills and contributions. Both are free swingers with a little pop and the athleticism to play all three outfield positions. Actually both tore their achilles tendon too which is strange and awful. Anyway, the backup role won't put too much strain on Baldelli's body and still should be a solid player that we can plug in when JD Drew goes down for his annual 5o-60 games.
Some fans are saying that signing Smoltz might point to the lack of faith in Beckett's health. That could be true, but lets not stress out over speculation. Smoltz is a nice depth signing and even though the guy is old and didnt really play at all last year, he still struck out 408 guys throwing 95mph in 2006 and 2007. A lot of people don't know that Smoltz is one of those guys that can play any sport and be a champion. Guy is a scratch golfer, can ball, bowl, etc. Hes a natural born winner. Having Smoltz also sort of replaces the Schilling presence that won't be around this season which usually gets overlooked. Bottom line, great guy, low risk, high benefit.
I'm not sure what Baldelli will sign for but I assume its short money and incentive laden. Smoltz is 5m base with 5m possible in incentives. Neither move is a real big splash but both do add needed depth to the squad. This team is still like 30 million under the normal payroll so don't give up on them in January. We still could get that other bat we all want. It just might take some maneuvering. And dont forget that Youkilis had a higher slugging percentage last year than 180 million dollar Mark "horseface" Tashera. We also have a little bastard playing next to Youk, who happened to win the American League MVP last season. God damn I love baseball.
(Wish I had more time to put into this post. We'll do some baseball stuff again in the near future though.)-Jared Wolfe
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