A Celebration of the Pedroia Deal

As you know by now, Dustin Pedroia signed an extension with the Red Sox that will keep him playing in Fenway until he's 38. At first glance, this seems like another one of those absurd long-term baseball contracts that never seem to pan out at the end (A-Rod, Pujols, etc.). But there's a couple of mitigating circumstances that seem, to me, to make the deal a good one. They are:

• The compensation is a bell curve. Rather than the most expensive years of the contract coming at the tail end, Dustin will be making his most money in the middle of the deal (2017-2019) and only (only?) 13 and 12 mil respectively in 2020 and 2021. This becomes even more important when you take into account the endlessly escalating salaries for players. if Pedroia is an average player at the end of this contract, the Sox will most likely be paying for an average player.
• The Sox are averaging out the cost of his early years. Most arguments against these types of deals is that the teams are "paying for past performance. While i'm sympathetic to that argument, the fact is that Pedroia was a steal for many years. Fire Brand of the American League took at look at his 2008:
  

  In 2008 he had 213 hits, 54 doubles, 17 home runs, 20 stolen bases (and was only caught stealing once), and an outstanding .326/.376/.493 slash line. He posted an outstanding 6.9 WAR and was the starting second baseman for the AL All Star team. In addition to that, he took home the Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, and MVP awards. All of this from a player who celebrated his 25th birthday during the season, and pocketed a salary of just $457,000.

  So we can see his bigger salaries as evening out the cost of his earlier years. Of course, there's no guarantee that Pedroia will continue to be the excellent player that he currently is. But even if he becomes average, the value of the contract can be averaged out by looking at how much of a bargain he was for many years.
  
• He'll be the face of the franchise. Currently, the only reason Dustin is not the main man on the Sox is the presence of one certain Large Father. But as impressive as Ortiz' late career resurgence has been, he won't be wearing the B for much longer and then Pedroia will be the main man on the team. Does this make sense from a baseball perspective? No. But from a business perspective - from the eyes of the owners who need to sell the team - it's a big deal to have a much-loved role model as the face of the franchise. I love the fact that "our guy" will be a 5'8" firecracker rather than some "perfect" player that has half of his personality.
  
• Attitude. As a fan, I love how Pedroia plays the game. With passion, spunk, and unrelenting effort. I love the fact that he has never once talked or complained about his contract or how much money he has made. I love the fact that despite he's one of the best players in the league, he actively pursued a new deal that made him a Sox for live, regardless of the money. As he put it himself:

It was a no-brainer to me. This was a place where they gave me an opportunity to play professional baseball. I want to make sure I do all I can to prove to those people who take a chance on me right. I'm not here to set markets or do anything like that. I want to make sure the team I'm on wins more games than the other team's second baseman. That's the way I look at it.

Anyways, that's just details. In the end, I just love watching the guy play. I'm excited to know that Pedroia will be in Boston until he retires - it's just no fun watching your favorite players go to other teams. So for the next 10 years, you'll find me wearing my #15 shirt and rooting for the little guy!

American League MVP

And the winner is . . . Justin Verlander.

It was a very close vote.  Verlander received 280 points, while Jacoby Ellsbury received 242 points, coming in second.  Jose Bautista, who looked like a lock at mid-season, ended up with 231 points.

Compare that to 2010, when the winner (Josh Hamilton) received 358 points, or to 2009, when the winner (Joe Mauer) received 387 points.  In fact, the voting hasn't been this close since 2003, when Alex Rodriguez, who was still in Texas, edged out Carlos Delgado.

I suspect that it was a career year for Ellsbury, and we should not expect quite the same electricity in years to come.  But I hope he will prove me wrong.

Congratulations also to Dustin Pedroia, who received 48 points and came in 9th. 

David Ortiz, who looked like a vote getter until late in the season, ended up without any points at all, which seems like a travesty considering that Alex Gordon, Asdrubal Cabrera and Ben Zobrist each ended up with a handful. 

The full results are at Baseball Reference.

Related posts:
Golden Gloves
Ellsbury's RBIs

Golden Gloves

For the first time since 1979, a trio of Red Sox players have taken home Gold Glove awards: Adrian Gonzalez (1B), Dustin Pedroia (2B) and Jacoby Ellsbury (RF). 

It's no coincidence that each of the three has also been talked about as a possible MVP candidate.  They should look back on their personal accomplishments in 2011 with pride.

This is Why They Play the Games

Remember those odds I was posting on the Red Sox making the post season? Turns out someone summarized them all on a graph for us to "enjoy."

Really does put this epic collapse in perspective. An all-around choke, this one.

And that'll be my last writing on the Sox for a bit methinks. I'd like to put down my thoughts on what to do in the offseason but it's just too soon. For now, my immediate reaction is that the only people I'd keep without a doubt are Ellsbury, Pedroia, Aceves, Francona, and (surprisingly) Scutaro.

Historically Good

I knew that the Red Sox lineup was amazing, but this fact is incredible:

Each of the top five hitters in the Red Sox lineup has an OPS over .865:

Jacoby Ellsbury .911
Dustin Pedroia .893
Adrian Gonzalez .973
Kevin Youkilis .890
David Ortiz .960

The rest of the American League combined has five.

Jose Bautista Blue Jays 1.138
Miguel Cabrera Tigers .986
Paul Konerko White Sox .935
Curtis Granderon Yankees .930
Jhonny Peralta Tigers .901

Quick Thoughts about Sox/Phillies

Last night's game was ugly, but at least it was Cliff Lee, so we can rest easy that a lot of teams look really bad against him. I'm also chalking Beckett's sub-par performance to his sickness .

I don't feel good about tonight's game because:

- Lackey's pitching. Ugh.
- Gonzo's playing Right Field! WTF? If Tito was going to play him in RF, wouldn't you think he'd do so on a night where the pitcher typically gets lots of ground balls, rather than "all these runs aren't my fault" Lackey? As Pedroia says: "It will be good for us offensively, but damn, I’m going to have to play second, first and right."

Pedroia's Stuggles Explained?

I always check in with Joy of Sox in the morning for a synopsys of the previous night's Sox game. Imagine my terror when I opened it up to see this headline: "Pedroia Returns To Boston, Surgery A Possibility"

Petey's knee is bothering him, which explains his uncharacteristic troubles at the plate. It sounds like this is just a precautionary measure, but I wouldn't be suprised to see him on the DL soon. With Lowrie's shoulder hurting, I'm not sure who would be taking his place at 2B - would the Sox have to call someone up? Iglesias up to play SS, with Scutaro moving to 2B?

Hello!

Two friends of mine spend a lot of time thinking about and writing each other regarding reading, running, and the Red Sox. Free free to share along with us!

A brief introduction from me about the three topics:

- Reading. I have an eclectic taste in books, preferring fiction leaning towards the fantastical and thought provoking. Favorite author: Thomas Pynchon. Books i'm reading right now: Out Stealing Horses by Per Patterson, Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, and Finder by Carla Speed McNeil.

- Running. After a long hiatus as an occasional runner sporting 20 extra pounds, I'm now really getting back into pounding the pavement. I typically run around Framingham and Ashland MA, focusing on competing in 5Ks, although am practicing to run in more 10Ks. Dreaming of a marathon someday, but i'm not there yet.

- Red Sox. Not sure what to say about the Sox this season, so i'll share a few random observations I hope to expand upon in the near future. 1) Jacoby Ellsbury is suprisingly good this season. It's looking like Theo will regret not showing him the money. 2) When the Sox signed Carl Crawford, all I heard about was his speed, but all I see from him in the outfield is him jogging towards fly balls landing softly in front of him. 3) I love them as much as you do, but Wake and Tek are done. The lack of a better catching plan was the biggest flaw in this offseason, even more so given that Victor Martinez was in the house. 4) Dustin Pedroia batting is assignment television. I'm still recovering from his 10 minute at bat against Weaver last Monday night. 5) I'm still not sure how such a talented group of players isn't above 500 yet.

So there you go. Much more to come, hopefully. As for the others, I hope they'll be joining me soon. If you're anything like me, you'll be interested in what they have to say.

Cheers!