The Sox noisily created a hole in the infield for themselves with their trade of Marco Scutaro last week. While they possess in-house options with Nick Punto, Mike Aviles and Jose Iglesias there are reports that they are looking outside the organization for some help.Shortstop is not the only open slot on the roster. The Sox are likely to still have interest in a starting pitcher...

Some things happening around Major League Baseball this week, let’s touch on them;Item: Prince Fielder signs with Detroit Tigers – 9 years, $214 million (breaking story, exact numbers may change)Thoughts: This is somewhat reminiscent of the Red Sox’ pursuit of Mark Teixeira prior to the 2009 season. While the Tigers have the “advantage” of incumbent DH Victor Martinez...

Pretty much everyone including your intrepid correspondent is predicting that the Sox are preparing a major push to acquire RHP Roy Oswalt. It seems that the general consensus is that this would be a wise acquisition benefitting the Sox but is that the case?Let’s look at the positives and negatives that Roy Oswalt would bring to the Boston Red Sox;PositivesOswalt is simply put...

The Red Sox pulled off a fairly surprising trade Saturday evening when they sent starting shortstop Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies for RHP Clayton Mortensen. There is a lot at work here to contemplate so let’s just pump out some bullet points;The TradeIn a vacuum this is a horrendous deal. To get Mortensen (5.12 MLB ERA, 4.87 minor league ERA) for Scutaro is just an...

It is commonly said that the Chinese symbol for crisis is a mix of the symbols for danger and opportunity. I am pretty sure that is an urban myth but whether it is true or not there is some accuracy in the concept.A smart organization in any business can turn all but the most negative of events into a positive with smart and decisive management. The question at hand is have Yu...

The Boston Red Sox generate about as much attention as any major sports team in the country.  With the exception of the Yankees, Montreal Canadiens and probably a few college football teams the Red Sox get a level of coverage and scrutiny that is rarely exceeded.As a result this leaves little in the way of the unexpected.  Every year we see that notion dismissed though with Daniel...

Earlier this winter I took a look at the AL East starting rotations and last week added the AL East infields to the mix. Seems logical to me that a glance at the various outfields is a pretty good place to go next.All projected outfields based on official club depth charts;#1 New York YankeesProjected Outfield – Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick SwisherThis is a heck of...

I have been tossing this around in my mind a bit lately. In the early and middle part of this past decade we saw the Red Sox and Yankees universally derided for the way they were perceived to dominate the sport. At the same time we saw runs being scored at a very high rate.Over the last couple of years the two clubs have been presented with new challengers in places like Tampa...

With their surprising activities Friday night the Yankees firmly threw down a gauntlet in the AL East. The question has been raised if the Sox need to counter the Yankees' machinations. When asked about the Yankee moves Boston skipper Bobby Valentine noted that they "probably" upgraded the Yanks.Tim Britton in the above quoted piece (“probably”) made an excellent...

The story is just coming in now but according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times the Mariners have traded young RHP Michael Pineda and minor league pitcher Jose Campos to the Yankees for uber-prospect Jesus Montero and RHP Hector Noesi.This is a stunning deal with dominoes aplenty. With this story yet to be written let’s quickly look at what this may mean;for Yankees –...

Earlier this winter I took a look at the AL East starting rotations in the wake of erroneous reports that Toronto had landed the rights to Yu Darvish. With no such foolish transactions at hand I wanted to take a moment to consider the state of the AL East infields today.All projected infields based on official club depth charts;#1 New York YankeesProjected Infield – Mark Teixeira...

It’s hardly a blockbuster move but the Sox have added some potential depth to the rotation by signing RHP Aaron Cook to a minor league deal. Cook is perhaps best known to Red Sox fans as the starting pitcher in Game Four of the 2007 World Series but he is an interesting guy too look at.When Cook is on his game he is a ground ball machine. Cook has a career ground ball rate of...

With the Hall elections complete I want to take a moment to look at the voting. As always there is something of interest within the voting patterns. The weak crop of first timers certainly helped as many players got a push forward.Each player is listed with the total number of votes received this year, the percentage this year and the change (up or down) with last year’s percentage...

Congratulations to the newest member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame; Barry Louis Larkin!!!Larkin was a great all around player who was the true epitome of the “five tool player.” Larkin was well respected during his playing days for this all around game receiving three Gold Gloves for his superior defense and starting five All Star Games for the National League.Off the...

Like many of you I am a diehard Red Sox fan. As long time readers know I have the ability to see the best of even bad situations related to the Sox.That does not mean I turn a blind eye to times when the Red Sox are clearly in the wrong. Certainly one area where the Sox have a historical track record that is less than pride inspiring is their track record with regard to race relations...

I looked at the first fourteen players on the ballot (alphabetically) this morning. Now, the final thirteen;Dale Murphy – YES – Murphy is similar to Mattingly as a player who appeared well on his way then faded. Where Murphy gets in that Mattingly does not is in two areas; first Murphy played a crucial defensive position extremely well (Mattingly was great defensively but at...

Well, we have looked at some of the current players making a case and I got in depth on Bernie Williams. Now what you have all been waiting for, my mythical Hall of Fame ballot. The first fourteen alphabetically now, the second thirteen later; Jeff Bagwell – YES – This is an absolute no brainer to me. His career OPS+ is 34th all time and while best known as the great hitter...

One of the most interesting candidates on this year’s ballot is also the only Grammy nominated artist on the ballot; Bernabe (Figueroa) Williams.He intrigues me for a couple of reasons.  First, his all around game was truly outstanding yet he seemed to be overshadowed by teammates in the public eye.  He was arguably the best player on those late-90s teams but it was Derek Jeter...

Yesterday we had our look at the American League so that leaves, yes, yes, I see it, the National League!!!To reiterate I feel there are three categories for players;- Yes – Players who are in- No – Players who are not in and are either not likely to get in or still need to do some significant work- Not Yet – Players who are not in but are likely to get inI am giving players...

So looking at current players and their chances of making the Hall of Fame I feel there are three categories for players;- Yes – Players who are in- No – Players who are not in and are either not likely to get in or still need to do some significant work- Not Yet – Players who are not in but are likely to get inI am giving players credit ONLY for what they have accomplished...

With Hall of Fame inductions just over a week away it is time to kick off another “Hall of Fame Week” here at Freddy’s. If you are a regular reader of the site you know that this is a regular feature at this time every year and I love doing this stuff because I consider the Baseball Hall of Fame of the utmost importance.Unlike other sports I think baseball fans truly cherish...

With 2012 now in full swing and most of us back to work and school I thought I would take an early look at some big storylines for this coming year;1. Is there a change in the balance of power?The off-season has been dominated not by the Eastern elite but by the powers of the West. With their major signings (C.J. Wilson, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish – maybe) augmenting already...

With the nightmarish way the season ended I never really did a look back at the positive moments of 2011. September will forever be in our memories in a bad way but the Sox took us to the final day of the season and won 90 games. You don’t do that without some exciting moments and here in chronological order are my choices for the ten best games of the year;May 1 – Sox 3 �...

With Wednesday’s trade it is likely that the Sox are close to done with their off-season maneuverings. Another pitcher is possible (Roy Oswalt? Hiroki Kuroda? Sidd Finch?) but the Sox have probably done the heavy lifting this off-season.With that in mind and the turn from 2011 to 2012 less than 32 hours away I figured I would close the book on 2011. To do this I wanted to look...