Theo's Strategy

[60'sfan]

At the beginning of last year, the Sox had five starters who at one time were considered potentially #1 starters for any team. Josh Beckett had been a dominant pitcher at times and practically carried the Sox to top in 2007. He should have won the Cy Young that year IMO. John Lester was a very good lefthander who many considered to be one of the best pitchers in baseball for a while. From 2008 thru August of 2011, he was pretty impressive. John Lackey was arguably the leading Angels pitcher from 2005 thru 2009. He had an impressive ERA in the post-season and always wanted the ball in the tough situations. Clay Buchholtz had seeming arrived in 2010 posting at 17-7 record and an ERA of 2.33 at the relatively young age of 25. He had a no-hitter in his rookie year. Dice K was the dominant pitcher in the World Games for two years. Everyone wanted him but Theo found a unique way to land him. It all seemed to pay off when in 2008 he was 18-3 with an ERA of 2.90.

Theo's strategy was to secure these pitchers during their prime years. I admit that I thought he was on the right track but in retrospect, the Sox starting pitching is a mess. Should he have known better or was he just unlucky? What do you think?

 

[Waquoit]

Should he have known better or was he just unlucky? What do you think?

The only move concerning starters I didn't like 1st guess was Lackey.

 

[NHUConnfan]

I think Theo was probably a bit unlucky, but there's something to be said about signing players in their prime to monstrous deals. I have less issue with the deal the Reds signed with Joey Votto, because he'll be All-Star caliber for at least another 5-6 years. But signing people when they're 30-31 for 5-6 year deals is really dangerous. Sox got themselves into many of those types of deals.

Ben Cherington seems to be more conservative. Maybe Sox fans will hate him for that. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. If the Sox are more vigilant to find gems in the rough like Franklin Morales...then they may be able to put together a really good staff for half the cost.

Luckily new regulations on signing international FA (or whatever that deal is) will help teams like the Sox and the Yanks avoid albatross contracts like Dice-K and Igawa.

 

[60'sfan]

I agree on the long contracts for players (especially pitchers) over 30. Certainly Lackey and Beckett were risky deals. The others however were much younger and (except for Dice K) may turn out to be good deals. Theo did his worse work in trying to find a reliever who could replace Papelbon. Bobby Jenks was a disaster. But I think his worse deal was trading Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati for Willy Mo Pena.