Free Agency Types

In case you haven't heard, these are the free agent types for this offseason for the guys that were on the squad last year.

Lowell: Type A
Schilling: Type A
Donnelly: Type B
Timlin: Type B
Gagne: Type B (surprise, surprise...)

The percentages of players that are Type A and Type B has been shrunk this year. Under the old rules, Timlin would have been Type A but Donnelly and Gagne would have both still been Type B.

If I had Theo's ear for an hour this offseason I'd first congratulate him on assembling one of the best teams I've seen in a long, long time. Then I'd request that he give Lowell a four year, $48 million - $52 million deal and Schilling a one year, $11 million deal with some incentives. Then, I'd humbly request that they make an effort to resign Timlin and evaluate Donnelly.

And then I'd demand they drop Gagne like it's hot.

Look for a full offseason rundown and set of prognostications later.

WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!

Lester pitched fantastically well and got us (with bullpen help) to another title! I'm going to go party some more so I all I can say is pump up "Shipping Up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys and rock out with Ace and Bot doing a jig!

Beckett as Best

From the Herald:

The legend of Josh Beckett keeps on growing. Further research by Major League Baseball determined that Beckett now ranks as the all-time postseason leader (minimum 40 innings) in opponents batting average after his win in Game 1.

Beckett, who allowed only one run on six hits in seven innings, lowered his opponents average to .159, moving ahead of George Earnshaw (.174), Mariano Rivera (.176), Sandy Koufax (.180) and Eddie Plank (.186). Beckett’s .209 opponents on-base percentage is also the lowest all-time, just ahead of Rivera’s .211 and Koufax’s .223.

The Pap-ajima show

"This was the Pap-ajima show tonight,'' starter Curt Schilling said after Boston's 2-1 victory.

Anyone have any issues with how Papelbon was handled all year, and how Okajima was handled in September? Here's how they are doing in October:

Hideki Okajima 9.2IP 5H 3BB 9K 0.00ERA 0.83WHIP
Jonathan Papelbon 7.2IP 4H 4BB 6K 0.00ERA 1.04WHIP

Francona (and whoever else was involved in the decision making) deserve a lot of credit on this one.

Nice Shot...

8:53 pm: J.D. Drew all is forgiven.

Game Five: Sawx @ Tribe

Josh Beckett vs. C.C. Sabathia. It all comes down to this. If we can win this one and bring it back to Boston then we have a shot. The hitters have had a great approach against Sabathia which has beaten him once. If we can keep that going then we're looking good.

In other news, do the Rockies lose baseball games? Ever? I mean they have played a full eighth of a season and lost ONE game. This is just ridiculous.

Kielty Likely Over Drew in Game 1

According to the Herald,

Manager Terry Francona wasn’t ready to announce a Game 1 lineup but acknowledged Kielty was under consideration because of his past success against lefty C.C. Sabathia, who will start the opener for Cleveland at Fenway Park.

“I haven’t spoken to any players yet about what we might do roster-wise or lineup-wise, (but) Bobby certainly has had some success against Sabathia,” Francona said.

Ronnie Mac should definitely get the start over JD when Sabathia pitches, and it has little to do with a few ancient AB's.

Here is Kielty's 3-year line vs. lefties: .313/.372/.494 (.866)

Here is Drew's: .234/.338/.347 (.685)

In fact, Kielty should probably pinch-hit for Drew in any meaningful late-inning situation vs. any lefty reliever, and particulaly against Perez who has an insane platoon split.