Just read in MLB Trade Rumors that Nick Cafardo is putting out information that the Sox are willing to listen to offers for Daisuke Matsuzaka … and his ’sources’ state that Daisuke would be willing to consider it.
Talk about stirring a pot that doesn’t need stirring. The Sox spent $51MM for this Japanese Legend, opening doors which gave them enormous bragging rights in Japan, which also gave them Oki, Juni Tazawa, Takashi Saito for starters, even while Oki and Daisuke helped us win the 2007WS and, with an 18-3 and miniscule ERA (no matter how lucky he was) helped carry us to the very end of the ALCS.
After Daisuke’s frustrated comments, Tito & J. Farrell felt insulted. They worked it out. They are adults, and know how to do that. Daisuke promises to come back better than ever and we need him, and we need to maintain our status in Japan and Asia. I am embarrassed to agree with many bloggers from the Yankees and other teams, that when Boston fans turn on a player, they are merciless, incapable of patience, incapable of giving the guy a break. Very often this incomprehensible vitriol is media driven. Caffardo’s article is irresponsible in this matter. Daisuke may not yet be an Ace, and he may have his own drummer, but 36W in two summers is not a fluke, and we could sure use them about now.
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I couldn’t agree with you more Gerry. He has been difficult to watch, even last year when things did go his way. I’d really like to see them allow him to get himself back in shape, and let him throw his marathon sessions “nagekomi”. I could see that they’d be hesitant to let a $103 million investment throw 300 pitch bullpens, but you really have to allow a guy to continue to train in the way that made him successful in the first place. I WILL NOT write this guy off until he’s given a chance to train HIS way, and then fails. If he fails under his training regiment, then he’s a flop/bad investment/bust whatever, but no sooner.
Dice K is what he is here in the “big” leagues. He’s a 5 inning pitcher who needs 100 pitches and 2 hours to get there. Look at his innings pitched last year when ~the bullpen won 18 games for him~.
Dice K is a diva and a prima donna who doesn’t mix with his teammates and no it’s not cultural (sorry Dice, your racist excuses don’t fly) because the boys LOVE Saito and Okie, both really great clubhouse guys. You bet the Sox would gladly trade the headache known as Dice-K if a fair offer comes their way. He’s simply not worth the trouble. His game doesn’t measure up to his ego.
Wow. You really are an idiot if you don’t know that Cafardo is simply doing his job. He doesn’t work for the Red Sox. He doesn’t work for you. He doesn’t work for the fans. He works for the Boston Globe.
Baseball Notes is a column. Like a lot of columns, it has a lot of reporting in it, but opinions are also mixed in, and that’s acceptable. That it’s a column in the sports section makes no difference.
You know Wooden, you could make your points without being such a hard-a$$ jerk. You are definitely right about it just being Cafardo’s job, but next time do it without insulting Gerry personally. Clearly you take yourself way too seriously.
I fully understand Nick’s job, and he has the choice of reporting the facts and giving his opinions on those facts . . . or stirring the pot with negative insinuations. This is the Globe, not a cheap tabloid, and editorial standards should be high.
With all the distracting, emotional, often negative rumors flying around re: Papi, Papelbon, Buchholz, Smoltz, Penny, Masterson, Hagadone, LaRoche, etc. all in the middle of a very tight pennant race, neither the fans nor the Sox need more rumormongering from mainstream media. The Daisuke thing is in the process of resolution, and gratuitous picking at the scars is not in Nick’s job description.
But its the job of the press to report on what’s going on with the team. The Red Sox and the Globe already have an uncomfortable relationship with one another (NY Times owning the Globe and part of the Sox), so anything that shows the Sox aren’t getting complete favor of the press is fine with me.
Cafardo’s job is to give his opinion on things and the speculation he made there are perfectly reasonable. His job is not to be the mouthpiece of the Red Sox but to give fans the reports he hears and his honest opinion and analysis of the team. He does a much better job of this then say a columnist like Callahan or Shaunnessy, so I have no complaints with him.
In fact his points about the animosity with Japan over Tazawa are pretty on point and something the Red Sox should be concerned about. The Japanese league teams were not happy to have Tazawa set a precedent of skipping the Japanese leagues for MLB. And he was clear with the Dice-K information that this was his opinion and not an actual rumor. Given that he was not talking about this year (when we actually might need Dice-K), I think its a perfectly reasonable thing to talk about trading him as a possibility.
Clearly you take yourself way too seriously.
As opposed to agreeing with me but making a big show about how you don’t like my tone?
I do not understand why 4-inning K would be an untouchable any more than I understand why Buchholz
would also be an untouchable. Neither one has earned that sort of respect, so if the club gets a good offer for either/both of them, excellent. If not, they should try to earn the “untouchable” tag through performance and results, not because they expect it.
Nice to see more sarcasm from you…All I’m saying is that you only insert yourself into conversations to bad-mouth other people on here. One of the things most of us like about Firebrand is that people are respectful of one another and can have differing opinions.
I happen to agree with you on this one and disagree with Gerry, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s an idiot. Gerry’s one of the best and most enthusiastic commentators on the site and I really don’t think its necessary to make it so personal every time you comment. I like to think that Firebrand operates on a higher level than your average ESPN or CBS comment thread.
^word.
Wooden,
You often have insightful and arguable points to make, you just set a tone that seems confrontational. It doesn’t make an attempt at conversation much fun, and given the presence of your own rs related blog, makes you look like a troll seeking traffic. Then again, maybe you’re just doing your job.
Feh, yeah he’s doing his job, but let’s not pretend that cafardo isn’t just a mouthpiece for the Red Sox like the rest of the Boston media. I actually enjoy reading the Globe online but everytime a player on the Sox gets in a little fight with management the Globe seems to move very quickly to start poisoning the well and it’s really not hard to see Luchhino’s hand in it. They did it to Nomar, Pedro, and Manny (though he really helped them out), they’ll do it now to Dice-K and Ortiz, heck they even did it to Theo during his hiatus. It’s a pretty familiar pattern that starts with a rip job by Shaughnessy, Mazz, or some other shill, followed by a bunch of incendiary rumors from Cafardo (I leave Ryan out because I’ve got a soft spot for him).
Another thing that always gets me is how they regurgitate the company line on every player the Sox miss out on. Like they couldn’t get Santana because the price was too high while the Mets got him without giving up a single player worth anything and how Teixeira wanted to play in NY all along even though the Sox xould have had him right at the beginning if they didn’t try to low ball him.
Gerry, I assume you’re right about Dice-K’s influence in the Tazawa signing, but I doubt his presence had much to do with Saito. Now every time the Sox sign a Japanese player, which all MLB clubs will be doing with more frequency, people will say the guy signed because of Dice-k. Saito is a veteran. If he wanted to play with Japanese guys he’d probably go back to Japan.
Care to name that “rs related blog” of mine? I’ll give you hint: I advertise on Jimmie Dimmick’s front lawn.
Fact is, I used a conditional statement that Gerry properly interpreted as such. It’s too bad you two feel the need to play den mother.
OK Wooden, so we want to protect the idea that this blog can be a place for adults to have reasonable discussions and arguments about our favorite team. Is that a problem?
I agree with MR that you do sometimes have good arguments but you just end up making it personal just about every time. More people would listen to your actual arguments instead of ignoring you if you wouldn’t call them idiots or make sarcastic comments about them.
Eh, I mean you are right about the Globe ripping Sox people in general. I don’t think Cafardo in particular is that bad. As the notes columnist he doesn’t really have the medium to do it and I’ve never gotten the impression that he cares to take part.
As for Shaunnessy and Mazz, I think they just look for the negative story. They did rip this ownership group way back when they were still bidding on the Sox and basically they’re just sharks looking for blood in the water on any subject. Lets face it, negativity sells papers in Boston. We may all hate the CHB, but his columns are usually widely read. Negativity has been a staple among Boston columnists all the way back to #9’s time. I’m sure that he and Mazz have their biases, but I don’t think they are that clear cut. Mazz has ripped Sox management all year this year for not getting Texeira for instance.