While Josh Bard simply isn’t the answer to our catching situation it is a start. He showed in San Diego that his bat does have some life as the Red Sox initially thought in 2006. I still hope he doesn’t start more than twice a week for us unless his bat gets hot. There is still time to sign Varitek or trade for another catcher like Saltalamacchia or Miguel Montero from Arizona. Montero is available if the Sox are willing to trade Bowden for him which so far they have not. Teagarden seems like he will come at a higher price than Salty. While it is still possible the Sox pair Varitek with a young catcher I think it is getting more and more unlikely that is what they do but you never know.
I talked a bit about Brad Penny in the last post so I'll keep it brief. I think he is good fit for the back end of the rotation and really could be bounce back material. While his career era in the AL is not good it is a small sample size. I have a feeling there will be some growing pains here and there but I can see an era in the low 4.00’s with a good amount of wins and that’s great for a 4th/5th starter.
Rocco Baldelli is a signing that I had hoped for when the offseason began. If Baldelli can stay on the field than I certainly believe he is an upgrade from Coco Crisp, whom I was never a fan of his bat. Hopefully, Rocco can stay healthy because there is a lot of at bats as a fourth outfielder and complements left-hitting Ellsbury well. He offers a lot more power than Jacoby and will start against many lefties either subbing in for Ellsbury or Drew.
Out of all our low-risk high-reward type signings my favorite is John Smoltz. As many of my readers and friends know I have been pulling for us to sign Smoltz all offseason. I fully believe that when he is healthy he will have his usual ace-stuff. He is the quintessential gamer and I think he will pitch brilliantly in a big pennant race. Imagine a playoff rotation of a healthy Beckett, an even more improved Lester, DiceK, and Smoltz. If the bats are even doing the average I would think a lot of people would pick a rotation like that to dominate a series.
Mark Kotsay is a good signing for depth. He would have been a borderline starter for another team that could have used an outfielder but thanks to this market he wasn’t given many offers. He gives us the flexibility of keeping 12 pitchers on the roster instead of 11 because he can back up 1B as well as OF. Baldelli will get more starts in Kotsay if he is healthy though.
Takashi Saito will be 39 by the start of the season but he put up beyond good numbers in Los Angeles. He does have some elbow trouble but if he’s healthy he can be an elite set-up man. In September after a long DL stint Saito was still able to hit 94 mph on the gun which is a good sign. Here’s hoping that he can stay healthy for the Sox’s sake. Luckily with so much bullpen depth they can set a target for his innings pitched and they don’t have to lean heavily on him.
Well that does it for the signings. Kotsay’s isn’t official because he is in the Caribbean but it should be soon after his physical. Smoltz is taking a physical on Monday and by the sounds of it that should be a non-issue. All these signings give us some of the deepest depth in all of baseball, if not the best. Where else can you find someone with such a good career BA as a fifth outfielder like Kotsay, where else can you find a John Smoltz as the fifth starter (of course he is one of the better pitchers on the team if healthy), and where else can you find a Saito that doesn’t have to be relied heavily on. Some of these signings inevitably won’t work out like we hope but I think the majority of them have a great chance. They may be mostly one-year deals with no options but I truly believe that this makes a much better team than last year, which is saying something since we were one game from the World Series. These low-risk moves also allow us to be major players again in the market in 2010.
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