El Guapo's Ghost Rambles on about the Red Sox

WAIVER DEALS

It is tough to evaluate the Billy Wagner deal, as it is unknown who the players going to the Mets will be. As far as the other waiver deal, Alex Gonzalez gives the Sox a SS that they know will be solid in the field for a non-prospect. Assuming Gonzalez 2010 option will not be picked up; the Olde Towne Team is on the hook for approximately $.927M for a month and half, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. To compare, they will pay AGone seventy grand less than Adam Everett who will do the same job for Tigers but over the entire season. We are fortunate to root for a team that can overpay to fill holes - Lowrie's weird injury - in the heat of the playoff race.

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Rest In Peace Senator Edward M. Kennedy

IT AIN'T ALL BAD...YET

The Rangers are a good baseball team. In Texass, the Sox should come away with one win out of three, as they did. With Youk out of the lineup, a rookie starter that pitched in a semi-pro league last year in Japan and a one-pitch starter on the mound, the Olde Towne Team did a solid job.

The currently flawed Red Sox have to keep beating up on less talented teams and hold their own versus their postseason competition. They have done just that through their toughest two weeks of the season ending up only down a half a game.

We should not expect much more until Wake and Buchholz start posting quality starts and/or the offense starts putting up more crocked numbers than doughnuts over nine frames. And if they can't get that done over the next 13 games, then it is time to hit the panic button or make plans to hit Vegas in October.

RANDOM RUMBLING

We know this is a big weekend for the Sox down in Texass, as the Rangers have emerged as their top Wild Card competition. It is also the signing deadline for 2009 draft pick. More on these Sox subjects next week but now my take on various topics. As always, random rumblings are written in a joking and not so serious tone.

* My car can’t $hit properly. The pipe to the exhaust system has a hole. It is time for a new car. I’m thinking hybrid, although the consensus best on the market - Prius - screams self righteous green tool. And I want people to be surprised to realize that I’m an Arrogant Bastard (yummy good beer).

* As the newspaper industry is trying anything to survive, its demise seems primarily external and thus, no internal changes will save it. The internet reduced the barrier to entry in the news distribution thereby increasing competition on multiple fronts of their business model. As the printing press did to the town crier and other jobs, new technology eliminates the demand for some old products and services.

* Let me know when home sales have a quarterly year-over-year increase. Since home sales are a seasonal industry, not many relocate in the winter, run rates are relatively insignificant. A quarterly Y-O-Y increase COULD be the start of the stabilization in housing prices/most household balances sheets/consumer spending/70% of the US economy and period of sustainable GDP growth. But until that time, we still have a risk for a W shaped recovery (pun not intended initially).

* A triple play of thoughts on the so called Cash-for-Clunkers program: 1) it will increases state sales tax, 2) it saves the potential loss of payroll taxes and unemployment claims a.k.a. jobs, 3) the parent company (the U.S. government) gets a much lower interest rate than its subsidiary (G.M.); cheaper financing.

* We have larger issues to resolve as a society, but can’t we have tiered handicap parking. The more trouble you have the closer you get to park for the disabled. Conversely, your Body Mass Index should determine the section you park your vehicle. The Obese or Fatties could use the forced exercise. Maybe this provision is in one of the four health care reform bills in Congress.

* My biggest disappointment of the Obama Administration: If Ben Bernanke states twenty-five financial companies are too systemically significant to fail, then the discussion should be about breaking up the two-five not further regulation.

* Bill Maher: James Madison wrote that "pure democracy" doesn't work because "there is nothing to check... an obnoxious individual.” It is our right to be rude/speak but we don’t have a right to be listened too...well for another year.

THE BUMPER STICKER TEST

One of the concepts that stuck with me from my time studying a summer in DC is the bumper sticker test: If you can’t fit your slogan/product on a bumper sticker, then go back to the drawing board because it ain‘t gonna sell. The public has no appetite for anything more than short statements and rudimentary concepts. It is all about the headlines and sound bites. Most don’t have the time and/or interest to dig a little deeper even when information flows more freely today than ever. But when discussing the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball and playing jury as to whether a player or team is “tainted“, the details should matter if you are a fan of the game.

If the 2004 Red Sox World Series win is now “tainted“ with David Ortiz on “the list” and Manny Ramirez allegedly on “the list” as well as being suspended for using a banned substance in 2009, then the argument has to be: the banned substances taken in 2003 had to have a lingering affect that gave the sluggers an unfair advantage in 2004 and assuming that being on “the list“ equates to true positive test. It seems plausible, but we currently do not have enough information to render an educated opinion.

First, assuming it was an agreed upon positive test, we would need to know: what was taken, how it affects the body, would it help baseball performance and if so for how long. These questions would need to be answered for each confirmed positive test by a player before even discussing if the 2004 Red Sox had an unfair advantage on the field. We need to put on hold the discussion of asterisks.

***** Posts are going to be about once a week since I've found Twitter so follow El Guapo's Ghost. It is not lame. Twitter has a questionable brand right now; just like blogs and facebook did a year or so ago. It will pass too.

THINGS ARE BAD IN CLEVELAND

"There was some lack of conviction on the part of management on the team’s ability to contend next year, if we kept Lee and made zero additions in the offseason, which is what ownership said would have to be the case," Shapiro said. "So I had to weigh in my mind keeping Cliff and trying to contend next year, knowing that after next year Cliff, Victor, and Jake would all be gone."

Ownership a.k.a “management” made Shapiro’s decision to start the rebuilding process much easier in Cleveland. Indians fans be prepared for Kerry Wood, Jhonny Peralta and Jake Westbrook (I thought would be included in Sox deal for V-Mart, but it makes sense for the Indians to build up his value over the first four months of 2010). It is sad; Cleveland was such a great baseball city 10 years ago.

A solid core of position players and prospects which could prove to be a formidable lineup as soon as next year. The Indians needed pitching and got it from the Sox.

Justin Masterson is the most well known former Sock to head west, but Nick Hagadone is the key player in the deal. The third player going to Cleveland is Bryan Price.

Hagadone is a hard throwing southpaw with a plus slider coming off TJ surgery. Reports indicate his stuff is back so if he can show an average change, the prospect projects as a top of the rotation starter. If the change does not materialize, then he looks like a future closer. Of course, pitching in A-ball and coming back from TJ, Hagadone is high risk -high reward asset.

Masterson was never going to get a shot at the Sox rotation and to a lesser extent work through his issue against lefties. On the Olde Towne Team, the side-armer was their long reliever and middle innings ROOGY (right-handed one out guy). Masterson’s role is easily replaceable, but he was too good to send down for further development. He’ll get that shot with the rebuilding Indians in the Show. Unfortunately for the Tribe, he will be arbitration eligible in 2011. Even if Masterson does figure it out, he’ll start cost them some real money. Michael Bowden would have been a better option for the Indians.

Not much to say about V-Mart. He has no weakness at the plate. The catcher and first baseman hits for average, power, and gets on-base. V-Mart can’t run and he isn’t a good defender at either position, but he is here to hit at a below market rate. The question is who’s plate appearances does V-Mart take and how much of an upgrade will he be? Regardless of how it plays out in 2009, the only player who could possibly be tough to replace is Hagadone. With this being said, the Sox made a very good deal.