Bleacher Report - Articles by Blaise Collins

Rebuilding A Nation: BoSox in 2010

Blaise Collins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:37:33 -0500

First of all, I'd like to advise all Red Sox fans to start living by the advice of Douglas Adams; author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Don't Panic.

The Red Sox have a lot of positives heading into the offseason this year. One of them being the new found level of monetary gluttony being exhibited by the New York Yankees:

$112,500,000.

That is the combined 2010 salary of Yankee staples C.C. Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira. And unlike last off-season, the Yanks will not be dumping nearly as much salary this year, which has led to many reports citing Yanks executives as saying they will not be making big ticket free agents a priority this off-season including Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, John Lackey. All of this, despite the fact that left field could be a high-need position with the departure of either Johnny Damon or World Series MVP Hideki Matsui (perhaps both).

So where does this leave the Red Sox? In a position to restock their team the Theo Epstein way. Big FA Signing and Low Risk, High Reward. So here are some predictions on Red Sox offseason moves and the chances of them happening:

- Sign Matt Holliday (6yr / $154M) 75 percent (Only real competition seems to be the Mets)

- Sign Rich Harden (1yr / $7M) 50 percent (Sox have wanted this guy for a while...)

- Trade for Roy Halliday 25 percent (Sox are reported to be going hard after him already)

- Trade for Adrian Gonzalez 2 percent (Sorry... But Jed Hoyer's not doing us any favors)

- Trade Jon Papelbon 0 percent (No way. Daniel Bard is not ready yet, and there are not any free agent closers out there good enough to bridge Bard for two years.)

The chances are overwhelming that the 2010 Red Sox opening day roster will look pretty good on paper, maybe even good enough to have them favored to win the division over an older (although getting younger) Yankees team. But remember, no matter how hot the stove may get...

Don't Panic.

The MLB's Top Five Possible Comeback Stories in 2009

Blaise Collins — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:04:59 -0400

Don't call it a comeback. Yet. The 2009 MLB season has been going on for almost 2 months now, and in that time fans have been forced to watch in horror / treated to 2 of the oddest months of baseball in recent memory. One of those oddities was David Ortiz going 133 ABs without a home run, but last nights bomb off Toronto youngster Brett Cecil put the wheels in motion for a possible return to glory for the slumping slugger. Here's a look at 5 stories of teams/players taking the right steps to not be forgotten or reduced to a punchline.

Begin Slideshow

Josh Beckett Suspended For Head Hunting

Blaise Collins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:21:53 -0400

Two days after Josh Beckett caused the first bench clearing incident of the 2009 season, he has received his punishment.

On Tuesday, Bob Watson, MLB Chief of Discipline, handed down a six-game suspension to Josh Beckett for his part in Sunday's bedlam that bled onto the field. The press release from MLB stated that Beckett is suspended for: "Intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of the Angels’ Bobby Abreu and for his aggressive actions after the pitch that incited the bench-clearing incident."

Angel's hitting coach Mickey Hatcher is suspended for one game for his part in the scuffle. Hatcher's suspension also came for his "aggressive actions during the incident."

Both suspensions are to be served starting tonight.

On top of the suspensions were fines of undisclosed amounts handed down to Angel's Manager Mike Scioscia, and Angel's players Torii Hunter and Justine Speier.

Contrary To Popular Belief: Rays Rotation Explosive, Not Implosive

Blaise Collins — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:09:07 -0400

With 2008 in the rear-view mirror, and the Tampa Bay Rays the newest force to be reckoned with in the Majors, naysayers are still lining up around the block to discount the Ray's chances at making the postseason once again.

The trendy worry...workload.

The spectre of the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox is often invoked when trying to explain the reasons that a staff being too good. Being overworked can spell disaster the next year.

Which I understand mind you, but it's apples to oranges when you look closer.

The similarities are there if you look; Both staffs had four starters with 30+ starts and 180+ innings.

Also, both teams pitched into the World Series.

That's about where the similarities end.

The White Sox had a staff with an average age of 30.6, whereas the Tampa Bay Rays are sporting a spry young average age of 25.6 among their starting rotation this year.

The only pitcher to experience a heavy change in workload from '07 to '08 on the Rays was Matt Garza (Going from 83 IP to 184 IP); Granted, the only pitcher to receive a boost in workload among the '05 White Sox was Jose Contreras (from 74 IP to 204 IP).

However, all three of the other starters who started 30+ games for the White Sox in '05 had 200+ IP at least four seasons!

These were by no means fresh arms.

Down the stretch, people expected the Tampa Bay Rays to implode on themselves since the arms hadn't pitched that long before (Which was wrong since Shields and Kazmir had both pitched 200+ innings the year before).

The Rays overcame, and went on to win the American League Pennant.

Whether the talk starts in May, June, July, August, or September, sports writers and skeptics around the Majors will count out this rotation for the exact opposite reason they counted them out last year.

They've been their before, too recently.

In this writers opinion...don't believe the hype.

Jason Bay: Boston Red Sox Looking To Extend Contract

Blaise Collins — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:09:43 -0500

A season removed from Manny Ramirez, the Boston Red Sox have taken a liking to their new left fielder, Jason Bay. So much so that baseball sources say the Sox may resign Bay before the start of the season.

A Boston Globe article cites a soft market for outfielders as the reason the front office is interested in resigning Bay. If Bay were to resign, he would be forgoing his first dance with arbitration.

Signing with the Sox makes more sense for the Red Sox than it does for Bay. With Matt Holliday likely to test free agency after the 2009 season, the Red Sox would be perfect suitors to the power hitting left fielder.

If Bay signed a long term contract at his current market value, he would be excellent trade bait to land another big time bat to cure the potential offensive woes of the Red Sox. An example would be Prince Fielder, whom the Sox have been pining for.

However, this makes little sense for Bay to sign.

Bay could put up phenomenal numbers in the band-box that is Fenway Park, compared to his numbers in the cavernous PNC park. Bay put up 31 homers and 101 RBI in more games in a pitcher's ballpark. He went from the three hitter in a terrible Pirates' offense to a six or seven hitter with the Red Sox, where most of his RBI chances were stolen by Pedroia, Youkilis, and other Sox.

Bay could contribute over 35 homers and 130 RBI depending on obvious variables. On top of that, this may be be Bay's one chance at a pay-day contract. He will be 30 years old this season.

If the Red Sox and Theo work their magic and sign Bay before opening day, it would be an exclamation point to an already excellent off-season. All this, despite losing out on big-ticket free agents.

Red Sox '09: Log Jamming into the Eighth Inning

Blaise Collins — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:01:45 -0500

With the signing of Takashi Saito, the Red Sox have added yet another big arm to the 2009 bullpen, and also added yet another contender for the set-up roll which seems to be up for grabs going into the 2009 season.

2008 saw Hideki Okajima returning as the set-up man to Jon Papelbon only to lose the job to converted starter Justin Masterson later in the season. It was in the playoffs that Terry Francona went back with his "guy" in Okajima for set-up duty.

With the signings of veteran starters Brad Penny and John Smoltz, it is unlikely that Masterson will see significant time in the rotation barring injury. So this means that he, among other relievers, will be competing for a job that was relatively unsettled at the close of 2008. Setting up Paps.

The way I see it there are five contenders for this job. Here's my take on the log jam that is the bump in the eighth inning.

Hideki Okajima—The guy was a phenom in '07, but just seemed to fade into mediocrity in the '08 season. Although he seemed to reach back into his bag of tricks (Perhaps that's what he's looking at during his delivery) in the '08 playoffs, his specter of mediocrity looms large coming into this season.

I see this becoming the year Oki begins to get his time squeezed a bit. Tito will cherry pick him as a late inning lefty-specialist for a majority of the season.

Justin Masterson—He became the defacto set-up man towards the end of '08, but never seemed to lock down the look of a true top-flight reliever even though he showed many bursts of promise.

Look for him to secure a steady job as the seventh inning guy. This could really help shorten the game for a rotation that has it's days making it past four innings, never mind six.

Ramon Ramirez—This guy begins the three-headed monster I see having a real chance of being a top of the line set-up man for the Sox in '09.

His fastball is in the high 90s, he would have been closing for Kansas City if they didn't have the most dominant small-market closer in the game, and his demeanor on the mound just has the look of closer-in-waiting. My worry is that he hasn't done it in the pressure cooker that is Boston. I see him getting a shot at the role, but not until later in the season.

Manny Delcarmen—With three years of steady improvement under his belt, Delcarmen is the reason the Sox felt no pain in sending away top prospect Craig Hansen last year.

Delcarmen, a Boston native, has been a struggle to watch in the clutch at times, but seemed to put the worst of it behind him last year. If his progress continues this year Delcarmen could turn into a bonafide set-up man, and could be the first to be thrown into the role.

Takashi Saito—A bad elbow, needs Tommy Johns surgery, and left off the Dodgers postseason roster in the second round. Saito has a lot of reason to have had a terrible 2008 season.

Oh, but wait, he didn't! Despite being injured Saito put up 41 innings of work that were spectacular. He saved 18 games, put up a 1.19 WHIP, Had a K per 9 of 11.49. Saito also has an off-season of rest the thumbs up from the Red Sox medical staff. I see no reason why the set-up job isn't his to lose. He may be 38, but boy can he still pitch.

And well...if all else fails we could put John Smoltz back there!