A Red Sox Christmas Wishlist
BY Joshua Hynes ON Thursday, December 18, 2008 @ 9:44 am
With the Christmas just a week away, I thought I’d pull together my wishlist of things I’d like to see from the Red Sox this coming season.
- Start locking up your good, young players. The front office has already started this process by locking up 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia and are reportedly starting discussions with Gold Glover Kevin Youkilis, but the Sox need to do more. Pitchers like Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon should be locked up as well. And while we’re looking at locking up talent, shouldn’t they consider contract extensions for Josh Beckett sooner than later? If C.C. Sabathia can command $161 million over 7 years, what will Beckett be worth in 2 years on an open market?
- A new shortstop. Jed Lowrie showed he’s capable of filling in at shortstop through the end of last year, but you could see he went through the typical rookie swoon in September and October, having never played as long of a season before. Will Jed bounce back this year? Will he be able to wrestle this job away from “supposed” incumbent Julio Lugo in Spring Training? And if the Sox are unable to move Lugo, will they ask him to play a bench role of shortstop and second base and then not bring back Alex Cora? I wouldn’t put it past the Sox, though I also don’t think the front office would like their back-up shortstop making ten times as much as their starting shortstop. Personally I say look for Lugo to get a shot at taking the job back, as the team tries to showcase him through the first few months of the season and he’ll be dealt some time closer to the trade deadline.
- A catching plan. Whatever happens with Jason Varitek, the Sox know they need a plan moving forward concerning the catching position. It’s true they have a few prospects in the farm system that they think could fill the role admirably, but that’s at least two to three years away. So what to do in the intervening years? Despite the hesitation to commit large dollars and playing time to a declining catcher, I have to agree with some voices that the Sox now have to almost bring Varitek back. I’m not saying they have to overpay on years and dollars as the Yankees did for Jorge Posada, but they have to give a fair contract and not low-ball him. This is the man the team trotted out after a World Series win in 2004 when all their major stars were walking away for larger dollars. While Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Nomar Garciaparra were moving onto other teams, Varitek was being sold as the team’s captain. In the end, I have to admit that my dad is right in asking the question: how do you not re-sign your captain? I think the Sox will probably lock him into a 2 year deal, maybe with appearances and certain offensive contribution numbers vesting the second or third years. In an ideal world, Varitek would take this contract now and retire at 39 or 40 as a Red Sox, riding off into the sunset as one of the most loved catchers in team history along with Carlton Fisk.
- Strengthen the heart of the order. With Manny Rameríz gone, David Ortiz coming off of knee and wrist injuries and Mike Lowell coming off of hip surgery; it would be advisable for the Sox to find a new middle-of-the-order bat. Currently the Sox have been tied to Mark Teixeira, who represents one of the best power bats on the market for the next two or three free-agent classes. The problem that arises with a signing like Teixeira is where to place him in the field. As a two-time Gold Glover first-baseman, Tex would most likely slide in at first-base, moving Youkilis over to his natural position of third-base. The problem is that this leaves Mike Lowell as the odd man out. Only in the second year of a three-year contract, moving Lowell is regrettable as you would love to play Tex, Youk and Lowell all in the same line-up everyday. Yet unless Lowell is able to magically able to start playing shortstop, it’s unlikely to happen. While there’s some short-term pain with the signing of Tex, by the end of 2010 this team will be without Lowell, maybe Ortiz, Varitek, Lugo and possibly Tim Wakefield. Ever in a state of needing to look ahead, this team can’t just sit still. The Yankees are reloading and the Tampa Bay Rays are a good, young team that’ll be difficult for the next half-decade. Signing Tex is the first step in not only solving a short-term power loss of a Rameriz-type-bat, but also lock-up a solid defensive infield for next 5-6 years with Pedroia, Tex, Youkilis (given that he does sign a long-term contract) and Lowrie. In the long-run it’s a smart move and one I hope they make it.
That’s what I’m hoping the Red Sox accomplish this off-season.
LunchBagArt
BY Joshua Hynes ON Thursday, December 4, 2008 @ 9:42 am
I ran across this amazing website yesterday and just never got around to posting about it. LunchBagArt is just the daily postings of a father’s drawn artwork for his kid’s lunch bags. He states he does them on his lunch break, but I have to wonder if he starts and completes them because these seem pretty involved at times. Either way they’re awesome and you should check them out.
“The Kingdom” Opening Credits
BY Joshua Hynes ON Wednesday, December 3, 2008 @ 12:49 pm
I finally got around to watching Peter Berg‘s The Kingdom last night and I was blown away by opening credits to the film. So much so that I restarted the movie just to watch them again. How often does that happen? I thought the movie was a great action, culturally-relevant movie and the opening credits just enhanced the experience. It’s out on DVD now. PIC Agency put together these amazing credits.
Imitation Has To Be Effective For People To Keep Doing It (Surowiecki)
BY Joshua Hynes ON Tuesday, December 2, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
In a sense, imitation is a kind of rational response to our own cognitive limits. Each person can’t know everything. With imitation, people can specialize and the benefits of their investment in uncovering information can be spread widely when others mimic them. Imitation also requires little top-down direction. The relevant information percolates quickly through the system, even in the absence of any central authority. And people’s willingness to imitate is not, of course, unconditional. If I get a couple of tickets because of bad information, I’ll soon make sure I know when I have to move my car. And although I don’t think [Stanley] Milgram and his colleagues ever followed up with the people in their experiment who had stopped to look at [an empty] sky, one suspects that the next time they walked by a guy with his head craned upward, they didn’t stop to see what he was looking at. In the long run, imitation has to be effective for people to keep doing it.
James Surowiecki
The Wisdom of Crowds (2003, pgs. 58-59)
The always amazing Kevin Cornell hilariously illustrates how to build a better pizza box top. Accompanying illustrations for the win.
An amazing little website from St. Francis Health System promoting the benefits of Greenville, SC. (via)
Scotty Reifsnyder
BY Joshua Hynes ON Tuesday, December 2, 2008 @ 9:53 am
Seeing work like Scotty Reifsnyder‘s just fuels that side of me that loves great illustration and wishes I worked harder at it. Check out the rest of Scotty’s work. You will not be disappointed.
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