I questioned the acquisition of Thome, patially because I worried
about Thome's ability to get and stay healthy, and partially because the
deal probably meant that Thomas would be gone. Clearly, I was wrong
insofar as Thome had a great season (although Thomas' wasn't bad, ether).

I also questioned the Vasquez trade. I still do.

The shit sox lose, The shit sox lose. hehehe

Gary S. Simon wrote:

Without the stats in front of me it sure seems as though the '06 Sox
grounded into many more inning ending double plays. Thome is not
slower than Thomas and/or Everett, but Thome and the '06 Sox seemed
much slower and plodding. Last night was just another example of their
lack of execution, bases loaded in the first inning and the result is
only one run scored.


Vasquez was better than the collection the Sox had as #5 starters last
season. Where this trade hurt the Sox was the loss of Luis Vizcaíno.
The Sox '05 bullpen was terrible and Vizcaino did a good job in the
second half of last season whereas Cotts, Polite and others in the Sox
'06 bullpen have been gas cans.

We'll see in the long run what Chris Young does. When he was called up
he went on a streak but has leveled off since. It will be interesting
to see who develops into a better player, Anderson or Young.

On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:39:35 GMT, "Gary S. Simon"
<garscosi@thisisatypo.pipeline.com> wrote:


I didn't like the Thome Rowand trade to begin with and still don't.
Thome had a great HALF of a season. The second half for whatever the
reason was almost mediocre. Gone with Rowand was a certain amount of
grttiness and blue collar (grinder if you will) attitude. In 2 years
Thome will be gone and for the next 6-8 Rowand will be playing great
defensive centerfield and hitting 270-290. As usual KW gave up way too
much to get HIS guy. Probably could have had Thome for a song for what
he was getting paid (with the emergnce of the other first baseman (his
name escapes me at the moment)).




And you should. Really the Sox didn't improve any with the trade. I
think they bought innings (Vasquez has always thrown around 200 per
year) and upside (because of his age) What they have found is that
Vasquez is the same pitcher he has always been. His ERA in Monreal
was about the same (if you adjust for the DH ) as it was in 2005 for
the Sox. His ERA this year is about the same as it was for the Yankees
and for Arizona (same adjustment) . With the stuff he has I think the
Sox probably felt he might finally turn the corner and become the
pitcher he could be. He reminds me of a guy we had a long time ago
named Jose De Leon. Tremendous stuff but always pitched just good
enough to lose.( I think he lost 19 games a couple of times And was
often refered to as the best 4-19ptcher you had ever seen) (BTW we
traded Bobby Bonilla to get him)

Just my 2 cents