I was walking from the office to my car today, it’s about a half mile. I park there because I can’t justify buying a parking pass for $90/month just to park for work; I feel like many share my sentiment but arn’t willing to walk the half mile to work every day (especially in the cold). I don’t so much mind it, I get some exercise, so it’s nice on days I don’t make it to the gym.

Anyway, that’s not to point of this post. I haven’t written anything in a while and I have a large writing project coming up, so you could say I’m stretching out my fingers right now.

So, here we go… I was walking to my car from work today, all bundled up with the gloves and hat I got for christmas, vitamin C running through my viens to fight off any cold, and the wind burning my face. I came to the corner of Babcock St in Boston and started crossing as a car whipped around the corner and my thoughts were “Wow, I hope I don’t get hit, today.”

Note the word “today“. Normally, you’d think “Is tomorrow a better day to get hit by a car?” Sorta, yea.

Here’s what I was going through my head at that moment:

1. It’s really cold.
2. A car is coming at me
3. I’m pretty sure I can make it to the curb at my current walking pace w/o getting hit
4. I wish I had tightened my belt more this morning.

I put all those together and thought if I got hit by a car I’d be lying in the road… which is mostly likely really cold asphalt; my pants are a little loose so if I land on my back my shirt will probably come untucked and my bare skin would be right on the cold road.

So that’s why I didn’t want to get hit by a car today… I didn’t want the cold road touching that little bit of exposed flesh when your shirt pulls up a bit. And I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason.

Brb, I’m gonna go eat some pasta, then write a book.

This off season, the Red Sox made a lot pretty big moves including: Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, and John Lackey.

So, I want to take a look at some of the bigger moves they made.

Mike Cameron & Jacoby Ellsbury

Mike Cameron is a 37 year old center fielder who has a history of solid defense. He must be pretty great since they decided to move Jacoby to left in order to make room in the outfield.

There’s been a lot of talk about how great an outfielder he is but little talk of the actual numbers. It’s true, he’s a very good center fielder, only making 4 errors in 147 games last year and averaging about 5 per year. Very good stats. But Jacoby’s no shlub making only 2 errors in 153 games last year.

I’m not sure where the Jacoby-hating is coming from, but the guy’s a really good center fielder, and he’s only 26, they don’t need to “save his legs”, the guy stole 70 bases last year. How ’bout saving the legs of the 37 year old? Maybe he could focus on raising that .250 AVG / .340 OBP.

I’d like to see Jacoby patrolling center field at some point in 2010, chances are he’ll be moving back there in a couple years anyway unless Ryan Westmoreland rockets up through the minors and takes over CF. Remember, they still have Josh Reddick who can play both right and left field and looks like a really good prospect. With a little more development I can easily see him starting in 2012 after Cameron’s contract is up.

Final word on this: OK with the Cameron pick up, against moving Ellsbury

Adrian Beltre / Mike Lowell

I don’t like this move at all. I get what they were planning to do: trade Lowell to Texas for Max Ramirez and sign Beltre to fill the hole at third or move Youkils to third and sign Adrian Gonzalez. Disagreement with that move aside, when it doesn’t work out, why would you still go get Beltre? You have a good 3B in Mike Lowell.

Some are syaing that Lowell’s range is worse now because of his hip but how much range do you need at third anyway? It’s more about reaction time. If they hung onto Lowell as the starting third basement for a few month in the season they could have tried to pick up someone like Prince Fielder or Adrian Gonzalez (if Lowell / Ortiz were struggling), move Youklis to third and platoon Lowell / Ortiz at DH. I dunno, I think Mike Lowell has earn the benefit of the doubt. They weren’t hard up for a 3B and now they just created an awkward situation.

Final word on this: Could not be more against it. Mike Lowell has been an all around solid ball player in Boston he never causes any trouble and it’s a shame to see the front office push him out like this. I’ve never liked Beltre, and no one ever seems to bring up that year before he signed his huge contract and hit 48HRs, an obvious steroid season (yea, I said it).

Marco Scutaro / Jed Lowrie

I get this move. I’d rather see Jed out there, but he gets hurt too much and just doesn’t look like he’s working out. It’s a shame, because he has a lot of potential. I hope he gets healthy, strong and another shot to start, even if it’s not in Boston.

On to Marco. Solid SS, about 10 errors last year in 145 games (played 2 games at 2B). He had a good offensive year, but it’s more the exception than the rule. He hasn’t been a strong hitter in the past with a .262 AVG and around 7HRs a year. This is another 2 year deal, so even if it doesn’t work out it’ll give the guys in the minors (Jose Iglesias) some time to develop and hopefully close that revolving door that is SS in Boston come 2012.

Final word on this: I’m OK with this one, it’s a pretty small contract and we’ll hopefully get a full season out of a SS this year. But this is obviously a temporary fix; there are a few SS coming up through the system that look promising.

John Lackey

This was awful. Now they have a 6 man rotation and someone is going to get left out. It looks like they’re hoping to have 1 pitcher injured at all times so this problem “takes care of itself”. Why do I hate this move?

Young starting pitchers in the Red Sox system:

• Clay Buchhloz
• Michael Bowden
• Junichi Tazawa
• Casey Kelly
• Charlie Zink
• Stomly Pimentel

Maybe all those guys won’t make it up, but 3 have already pitched in Boston and have torn through AAA. Are we just going to trade them all away? I don’t know. I like the homegrown talent in Boston and I hope we stick with it and don’t just buy players to keep them away from the Yankees.

Final thoughts on this: It looks more and more like they signed Lackey so they don’t have to re-sign Beckett next year or in anticipation for a Tim Wakefield retirement (not sure why they signed him to a 2 year deal if that was the case). I’m not a big Lackey fan, he does eat innings (and pie) but what good is an innings-eater when he’s not winning games, and you have a killer bullpen?

Overall reaction

Overall I’m not completely thrilled with the moves that the Red Sox made this off season, I understand them, but don’t totally agree. I like Cameron and Scutaro and I strongly dislike Lackey and Beltre (not as people, I just don’t think they add much more than a higher payroll to the team). I like the Hermida pick up as well. I’d actually be fine with him and Reddick platooning in LF all year if the Sox never picked up Cameron.

I would have much rather see the 5 man rotation we had last year with Bowden / Tazawa filling where applicable and developing more as starters so if Beckett leaves, one of them could slide in as a #5 starter, then the other when Wakefield’s contract is up in 2012.

One last thing since this is getting long and I want to see what everyone else thinks. Why would anyone want Kevin Youkilis at any other position than first base? He’s a gold glove caliber player, leave him alone. He’s a great ballplayer and I look forward to many years of him in a Boston uniform.

Posted on OkayTim.

I have a lot of traveling in the coming months, lots of flying around and I just wanted to stop by and list out me stuff I’ll be doing so when I don’t reply to e-mail no one gets mad.

1. Nov. 26-Nov. 30 – Mrytle Beach, SC
2. Dec. 8 – Dec. 12 – New Orleans , LA
3. Dec. 24 – Dec. 30 – Myrtle Beach, SC
4. Dec. 30 – Jan. 4 – Boston, MA

I’ll leave you with a quote:

To me, it’s a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, Hey, can you give me a hand? You can say, Sorry, got these sacks. — Jack Handy