UPDATE: Fire Brand now has polls! Look over on the right and vote!
8:30 AM: I don’t know what happened, but the post that I had slated to post today completely disappeared. I’ll attempt to rewrite as much as I can over the course of the day and add some notes that I want to talk about, but for now I have to leave and get to work.
10:00 AM: Okay, I’m somewhat situated at work. One of the things I wanted to talk about was Jim Rice, who may make the Hall of Fame tomorrow. Rice, who received 64.8 percent of the votes last year, seemed to have had his best shot pass him in 2006. However, his best shot may very well be this year. The great crop of Hall of Famers has yet to really materialize like we all thought it would before the steroid issue busted into the fore-front. The two locks are Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. We all know this, but now the comparison of Mark McGwire and Jim Rice has really brought Rice out into the light. I’m not going to get into Rice’s candidacy, as Jim Rice for the Hall of Fame web site does a great job, as do the Red Sox.
I think Jim Rice should join Gwynn and Ripken in the Hall of Fame. He was an absolutely dominating hitter, and while I regret not being able to witness his exploits myself, I really have to wonder how he’d be portrayed if he had a winning attitude. Was he the David Ortiz of the mid-1970s to mid-1980s with an Albert Belle attitude? Perhaps so. The issue here is that the steroid issue is still fresh in the minds of many. Last year, the steroid outrage was all the rage, and Jim Rice saw a boost in candidacy. However, this year the steroid issue is prevalent, but has progressed past the point of rage and into rationality. Rice now has a candidate to measure up against: Mark McGwire. If he can’t get in after matching up with Mark McGwire in the post-steroids aftermath environment we are in, I doubt he will ever get in. Then again, many said 2006 was Rice’s best chance. We’ll see.
Shane, hopefully this keeps you off the streets!
One more note: The only thing I dislike about this steroid outrage is the free pass the NFL gets, while the MLB doesn’t. Steroids in baseball can kill your career. In the NFL, it gets you elected to the Pro Bowl.
Next up: talking about J.D. Drew and Roger Clemens.
12:00 PM: November 29th. That was the day that I posted on this web site saying that J.D. Drew was going to sign with the Boston Red Sox. It’s January 8th, and he’s still not on the Red Sox roster. This is starting to get a bit concerning. Both sides are adamant that a deal has been reached, but the Red Sox are looking for a way to protect themselves against Drew’s balky shoulder. Apparently, they’re either trying to reduce the amount of guaranteed money by changing some of the money ($15 million of the guaranteed $70, to be exact) into incentives that Drew can easily attain should he remain healthy. Other reports have less guaranteed years with vesting options built in. Either way, the magnitude of silence on both sides of the deal (agent Scott Boras represents Drew) and the length of how long this deal has been in the works for is concerning. I have to wonder if this is exactly why Trot Nixon isn’t inking any contracts yet. If Drew falls through, I have no doubt the Red Sox would tender an offer to Trot Nixon.
I think at this point, we need to severely evaluate if J.D. Drew should be a Red Sox or not. I truly feel Drew would be an amazing complement to the Red Sox and would dramatically upgrade the team’s dynamics on offense, defense and speed. However, if Drew cannot seem to do that because of serious questions from his shoulder, I would also encourage the Red Sox to say “no thanks” and move on. Wily Mo Pena is maturing. David Murphy has packed on pounds. Brandon Moss is climbing up the ladder. Jacoby Ellsbury is about to knock on the door. Trot Nixon is still available, but is the final viable option unless one includes Cliff Floyd, but he’s a left-fielder and even more injury-prone than Drew. A decision needs to be reached soon.
The Red Sox are still very much interested in Roger Clemens, says both John Henry and the agent for Clemens. Assuming Clemens does not make his decision until around June 1st, this could benefit the Red Sox greatly. We will have gone through two full months of the baseball season, which will allow us to gauge who is working out, who is not working out, and who is hurt. Is Joel Pineiro stinking it up while Jonathan Papelbon is doing just fine in the rotation? Make Papelbon the closer, cut Pineiro, sign Clemens. Is the bullpen in disarray due to the lack of a viable longman? Move Tim Wakefield into the bullpen, get rid of the worst reliever, sign Clemens. Waiting until June does nothing to harm the Red Sox’s chances to gain Clemens. I personally think it actually increases the chances. Best case scenario? The Red Sox do a full-court press for Clemens despite no injury issues and everyone doing great on the pitching side of the Red Sox. Inking Clemens, dealing a reliever to fill a need on the hitting side or obtaining minor leaguers. One thing is for sure: the Red Sox want Clemens just as much as the Yankees want him. Remember, it was the Red Sox that wined and dined Clemens last year, not the Yankees. The Yankees will unquestionably be doing the wining and dining this year because right now, their rotation does not strike fear into me at all, and if it stands as it currently is, they’re asking for a 2006 Red Sox repeat of ineffectiveness and injuries derailing the rotation. However, all reports seem to be that Clemens regretted signing with the Astros last year and not the Red Sox. Maybe he doesn’t regret it anymore, but there were many whispers that he did regret it over the course of last season.
The Red Sox can offer Clemens exactly what he wants. They can offer money. They offer a chance at the World Series along with three of the youngest pitching phenoms on the planet: Beckett and Papelbon, both clones of Clemens and Matsuzaka, apparently the best pitcher in the world. The rotation offers old friend Tim Wakefield and prot
Loading ...
Hmm… Now I’m not sure about everybody else but I’ve become what some would call “addicted” to reading Firebrand. And I’m not sure how much longer I can go this morning before I become surly to my co-workers. Don’t make me try and find Red Sox analysis on the street Evan!
It doesn’t help Rice that Paul Ladewski of a suburban Chicago newspaper submitted a blank ballot in protest of the steroid era.
A lot of experts believe that the Yankees would not be willing to offer Clemens the option of starting his season in June, simply because they lack the depth in their starting rotation to give him that kind of luxury. The Sox, well, the rotation looks awesome at this point, and adding the Rocket for the latter half of the season and the playoffs would be amazing.
Nice article. I’ve been banging the drum for years when it comes to Rice, and I still think he belongs in there for being the feared hitter that he was for a decade-plus in the American League. I was listening to XM Radio yesterday, and they had a writer on there who submitted that Rice was the benificiery of playing in Fenway Park all those years. He also said Rice played in the DH a good deal towards the latter part of his career. I would say one, you could say the same thing about Wade Boggs benefitting from the Green Monster. How many of his singles would have been long fly outs in other parks? That’s the beauty of baseball, each aprk is unique, and you play not only against the other team, but also against the park. Do I don’t buy the argument that you keep Rice out because of playing in Fenway (writer said his numbers were staggeringly different on the road). And the DH thing, Rice had already done his damage before settling into that role late in his career. I think Rice belongs in the Hall, but some writers would rather vote a guy like Bonds in someday because “he would have been a Hall-of-Famer without the juice.” Please.
Evan, I was 12 when Jim Ed came up in late 1974, and I worshipfully followed his career every step of the way. You compared him to Albert Belle in personality. That is years of frustrated writers (like the CHB) talking, it is not how I remember him. He had a reputation for being all business, and for not wanting anyone or anything to get in his way while preparing for a game. He viewed beat writers as intrusions into his workspace, preventing him from being as good as he could be. However, if you made an appointment, he would keep it, and give you all the time you needed and be very gracious. I remember reading many long magazine and newspaper pieces on him, and almost every writer would comment somewhere in the article that Jim’s reputation seemed blown out of proportion. Watching his work on NESN in the last few years, the way he comes across there is almost exactly how I would have imagined him to be in his playing days. He is not Steve Lyons, trying for a little levity, he is all business. But neither is he Barry Bonds or Albert Belle, two corrosive personalities for sure. As for the DH thing, my recollection without benefit of research is that he did it some his first year or two, and then for the last two years of his career, but he was a solid fielder for a ten year stretch.
Randal-
Thanks for the clarification. Again I was not able to witness him, so I’m going off what I heard. I’ll make sure to note that he was NOT Albert Belle in personality the next time IM write about him.
Evan, Loved the positive thoughts about Clemens and I had been hearing the Yankees wanting any deal with him to be for a full season of play or at least an earlier start than June. It makes total sense that the Yanks will have a ton of cash as usual, especially with saving around $15 Mill on the Big Eunuch but one would have to believe they will have to demand that the Rocket begin earlier than June with the rotation they are currently sporting. I have to wholeheartedly agree with you that the Sox can wait, they have money, they offer a full circle completion of his HOF career, and the added plus of retiring his Red Sox number. I love the idea and the thought of having the Rocket pitching in Boston in October along with Schillie, Beckett, Dice-K, and Wake/Paps/Lester or whoever does not go to the closer/pen. I hope it happens. I would really love to root for Roger again.
Why at full validity of harm them and continue to apply in many areas of medicine and sports? WBR LeoP