40-29, 2nd Place in AL East, 0.5 Games Back

FIC Local Spin:

Lost in the hubbabaloo over the state of the Red Sox pitching staff is the fact that Brandon Lyon has converted 8 of 8 save opportunities. BK Kim, as the locals have taken to calling him, looks to be solidly entrenched in the starting rotation for the time being. The advantage for the squad of BK’s flexibility is that the Red Sox can choose to go after either a starter or closer for pitching help, and then use BK accordingly. This will likely cause most fantasy fans to pull out their hair in frustration, but BK will either be a solid starter with tons of run support, or an ace closer. Either way, he’s worth having on a fantasy squad. If you’re speculating that he’ll become the closer at some point, please reference Brandon Lyon’s record as the closer. The problem hasn’t been Lyon – it’s been in getting to Lyon.


For the Sox, Kevin Millar is still looking like a solid addition, and David Ortiz has been swinging a hot bat lately. On Tuesday night, however, Grady Little sat Ortiz in favor of Jeremy Giambi against ChiSox ace Bartolo Colon. Giambi had been 1-10 lifetime against Colon, and Ortiz had been 4-20, so the move was based on a hunch more than a matchup. Little admitted after the game that he wanted to give Giambi every chance possible to get hot. This flip-flopping decreases the value of both Ortiz and Giambi, especially in weekly leagues.


Pedro is clearly back into the swing of things, looking good in both of his two rehab stints. When a guy takes his rehab starts at the major league level, then that says all you need to know. For those who didn’t get a chance to watch Mr. Martinez, he looked sharp in both outings, he was using all of his pitchers, but not relying too heavily on his cutter (a typical sign that Pedro is feeling tired). In other words, he looked like the dominant version of Pedro, not scared, nervous Pedro. Pedro threw 70 pitches on Monday night, and will apparently throw about 100 during his next outing. Feel free to activate Pedro, if for whatever reason you haven’t already.

Latest Team Info:

The Red Sox have been playing well lately, sweeping the Astros at home and taking 1 of 2 from the White Sox thus far. The Red Sox bats haven’t quieted down yet this year, with Manny, Nomar, and company doing their usual thing. Manny is 7-22 in the past 7 days, with 11 walks to accompany that. The tendency for coaches to walk Manny when he gets hot is a double-edged sword. His ABs decrease, but his OBP skyrockets, so any leagues with OPS or OBP as categories gets a big bump from this respect that Ramirez gets.


John Burkett looked great on Tuesday night in his matchup against the Chicago White Sox, giving up 4 consecutive doubles but settling down to retire 18 in a row and 20 of 21. He only allowed one walk, and his location was on for most of the night. He finished with 7 & 2/3 IP and 9 Ks. It was encouraging for Burkett, but don’t expect him to have this sort of game against many teams. The White Sox are a good fastball hitting team, and once Burkett got away from his fastball he looked good. Veteran teams that hit junk will still probably eat Burkett alive, and he’s not someone who will dominate consistently. I’d wait for another good start or two before adding him onto a fantasy roster.


Casey Fossum will likely go to the bullpen upon his return from shoulder tendinitis. No structural damage was found after an MRI on the shoulder was performed, so it appears that this shouldn’t set him back too far. Fossum has no history of shoulder woes, but with that risk and his apparent move to the pen, his fantasy value is pretty low right now.


Bill Mueller has cooled down quite a bit, which is to be expected, seeing as how I lauded him for his consistency in my last report. He has been batting 2nd on occasion, but is mostly stuck in the #7 spot, which still isn’t a bad place to be hitting in this lineup.


Johnny Damon appears to be waking up from his season-long slump, batting 12-34 over the past seven days with 1 HR, 7 runs, and 5 RBI. His SB total still isn’t that great, but if you drafted a Red Sox expecting stolen bases, well, that’s your own fault.


Trot Nixon is also hitting well, with 2 HR, 5 RBI, and a .318 average over the past week. Trot will go on spells like this, so activate him while he’s hot.

Todd Walker has hit a cold spell, going 8-31 in the last 7 games, with only two runs scored. If you’ve got a similar option at 2B or MI, you may want to use it until Walker starts hitting the ball again.

Rumor Mill:

Ahhh…rumors. There’s always plenty of them involving the Red Sox, so let’s take look at a few of the good ones:

Tom Gordon: the former Red Sox closer was used by the White Sox to close out the game on Monday night, and that led to some speculation that they were showcasing Gordon. Gordon is among those who is expected to be traded by the ChiSox if they fall much further back in the standings. It would be a nice fit, considering that we know Gordon can handle pitching in Boston, and he’s still beloved by Red Sox fans.

Bartolo Colon: Seeing a pattern? The White Sox might as well put a “For Sale” sign on U.S. Cellular Field, but there appears to be no movement towards trading for a big gun like Colon. If he were traded, or if a White Sox firesale occurs, it would likely be after the All-Star break, which is being held at Cellular Field. Any firesale would also probably be preceded by the firing of Jerry Manuel, who’s been on the hot seat so long you’d think he was a spokesman for a heating pad company.

Chuck Finley: Finley reportedly turned down $2 million to go to Houston, and has an apparent aversion to pitching on the East Coast. With two daughters and a psycho ex-wife, I’d be shocked if Finley goes anywhere far from California. Finley on the Giants would be intriguing, however.

Ugeuth Urbina: I’d imagine that, with the number of good teams in need of bullpen help (including San Fran, the Yankees, Seattle, and Boston), that there will be quite a bidding war for Urbina’s services. I still say that San Fran has the best pool of prospects to offer for Oogy’s services. We shall see, but I doubt that the red Sox can get this trade done.

Whatever the case ends up being with the staff, Sox president Larry Lucchino has indicated that the Sox are definitely prepared to add to their payroll if necessary, and that they’ll add the best available pitcher if the trade is good, be it starter or closer.

Another rumor that relates to an earlier note in this column is the idea that Jeremy Giambi is merely getting ABs because the Red Sox want to increase his value before trading him. That does happen quite often, but it seems in this case that it is more likely that Giambi will be with the squad all season, and Freddy Sanchez will eventually return to the minors so that he can get more plate appearances.

On the Farm: 1st round pick David Murphy signed his contract quickly, apparently because he wanted to be playing for the Lowell Spinners, the Sox Class-A affiliate, right from the start of the season. Murphy went two for three in his debut with Lowell, and I must say that it’s refreshing to see that the Red Sox finally have a guy named “Murph” in their system. All we need now is a few Sullys, and we’ll be all set.

Quick View:

Add: Millar, Ortiz, Lyon, Lowe, Wakefield. You can still buy low on many of these players.


Drop: Fossum, if in a non-keeper league or any league with a limited # of bench spots.

Trade: Mueller might have hit his peak value, I’d dump while the dumping’s good. Try to get an Ensberg or Blalock for him, if anyone will fall for it. Joe Crede or Eric Hinske also might be nice options, especially in keeper leagues.

Hold: Giambi, Kim. Kim is valuable either way. If someone in your league picked him up hoping he would close and is now willing to give him up, take him. Kim’s looked great starting for the Sox so far. With Giambi, you might catch him starting to heat up right now, but don’t go out of your way to acquire him. Then again, if he hadn’t hit a homerun last night, he’d probably be in the “drop” pile.