In Game Chats are about to Start

During the season, every night (or day) when their is a game on, we can chat about whats going on in the game. This chat will be held in the comments page for the latest article before the game. If your interested, please comment on this article and we will have a chat on tonight's game in this post's comments page. Thanks to you who participate.

Adrian Gonzalez Announces New Contract With the Red Sox

 

After months of speculation, the Red Sox finally signed Adrian Gonzalez to a long term deal. This deal is the ninth  largest in MLB history for 7 years and 154 million dollars. The Red Sox had been looking to trade for Gonzalez since 2008 but they got a deal done this past off season. The Red Sox acquired Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres for four good prospects. It made a lot of sense that they would sign him to an extension at the beginning of this season since they spent good prospects for him. About four months ago after the trade, the Red Sox had a negotiation period before the deal was completed. The deal was eventually done without a new contract but many believe that the contract has been in place with Gonzalez since then but the Red Sox wanted to hold off on the official signing so they wouldn't have to pay luxury tax. This is why many believe he sign during the beginning of the season. Adrian Gonzalez is perfect for Fenway because he has pull but he also hit the ball to left quite often and he will hit many balls off of the Green Monster this season. This is what Adrian Gonzalez said about the contract:


              "I'm a person that for the most part, I want to be in a place where I'm comfortable, where I want to be," Gonzalez said during a news conference at Fenway Park. "This was a place that was a perfect fit for me as well. ... It's a place where I'm going to have a lot of fun. I'm going to really enjoy playing here."


These are Theo Epstein's comments about the deal:


              "Were thrilled to have him here and know he'll be a core member of the organization for a long time. We couldn't ask for more from him as a player and as a person. ... I couldn't be happier about it."


Here are the top 11 most paying contracts: 

Alex Rodriguez   NYY   $275M   2008-17

Alex Rodriguez   TEX   $252M   2001-10 

Derek Jeter   NYY   $189M   2001-10

Joe Mauer   MIN   $184M   2011-18

Mark Teixeira   NYY   $180M   2009-16

CC Sabathia   NYY   $161M   2009-15

Manny Ramirez   BOS   $160M   2001-08

Troy Tulowitzki   COL   $157.75M   2011-20

Adrian Gonzalez   BOS   $154M   2012-18 

Miguel Cabrera   DET   $152.3M   2008-15

Carl Crawford   BOS   $142M   2011-17

Lowrie Doing Well and Seeing More Plate Appearances

Over the last few weeks as the season is starting, the Red Sox are slumping but Jed Lowrie isn't. So far this season, Lowrie has gotten quite a few more appearances than most utility men. In these appearances, Lowrie is hitting .438 and was 2 for 4 with 2 doubles in Tuesday's 2-3 loss. Lowrie was penciled in for Wednesday's game v. the Rays at shortstop but the game was postponed. If Lowrie keeps up his average and adds some pop to his swing, he could very well be the Red Sox new starting shortstop in place of Scutaro. This would be great for the Sox because they would get to trade Scutaro for a reliever. Terry Francona is definitely recognizing Lowrie's good start:


            "Jed's hitting about .480. We don't have a lot of guys hitting .480," Francona said. "[He] swung at a lot more balls out of the zone than we've seen,".  "Maybe some of that's just early Spring Training, but he's a good hitter, and again, we've said that we're trying to find ways to get him in the game."


This is what Lowrie said about the beginning of the season:


            "You know what? I'm not focused on that," Lowrie said. "There's enough anxiety in this game -- especially in the role I'm in right now -- to worry about that. I'm just going to continue to do the work, continue to do what I need to do to prepare myself, no matter what they ask me to do. Of course, that's the idea -- go out and make the most of every opportunity you get."


If you would like to share your opinion on who is the better shortstop, please comment.

Game 14/162, Red Sox Have Gotten a Two Game Winning Streak

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1

Blue Jays - 010 000 000 - 1 7 2 

Red Sox   - 040 002 02x - 8 8 1

Today, the Red Sox had another good day as they won to begin their first two game win streak to start the season. Lester did well as he gave up 1 ER in 6 IP. Lester and Beckett  have been the only two consistent and good starting pitchers that the Red Sox can trust. The bottom half of the lineup really hit well today. Especially Salty and Ellsbury who combined for 6 RBIs. Ellsbury hit a three run homer which is his third homer of the season. Their are two interesting facts about his homers this season; One, he is leading the team in homers and, Two, he already has 3 homers this season while his 162 game average is 10 homers. This means he is gaining power or he is getting lucky. Salty had a RBI single along with two run single later in the game. Hopefully the Red Sox will start to work together to collect wins. This game makes them 4-10 which is 4.5 games behind the Yankees and the Yankees are playing Texas at 8:05 PM ET.

Notable Players:

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs

Jacoby Ellsbury, 1 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBIs

Jon Lester, 6 IP 1 ER and 5 Ks

Please feel free to comment, I appreciate good comments.

2011 Red Sox Game Photos Contest

This year, many of us are going to go to Red Sox games. Here is what to do to enter:
1. Take a picture at the game. This can be of the field, of a player, etc.
2. Email the picture to me (redsoxblog360@gmail.com), or upload it to our Facebook or Twitter page.
Rules:
1. Must be taken by you, not found on Google or you will be disqualified.
2. You can only upload one picture so make sure its good.
All of your pictures will be on our Fan Photos Page. If its not their, email me and notify me so I make sure it is entered in the contest.
Prizes!!!
The winner will win either a pair of Red Sox sunglasses, a Red Sox Mr. Potato Head, a Red Sox arrow sign, or a Red Sox logo baseball.

Buchholz Agrees to a 4 Year Extension with Boston

Today, the Red Sox locked up another great player that has come up through THEIR farm system. Over the past few years, the Red Sox have locked up Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Jon Lester. Over the off season, the Red Sox tried negotiating a contract with Buchholz and used Lester's contract as a starting point. Of course, Lester is better at the moment and the Red Sox got a much better deal on Lester than on Buchholz. Lester got a 5 year, 30 million dollar contract which is one of the most team friendly contracts in baseball especially due to the fact that Lester is a workhorse and is capable of a Cy Young season almost every year. One of the only contracts that is more team friendly that Lester's is Evan Longoria's contract that was made to him right after he debuted due to the Ray's belief that he would be a great player. Clay Buchholz had a no hitter a few years ago that was very nicely pitched. Over the past few years, he has struggled, but last year, the young pitch put together a great season in which he had one of the best ERAs in the AL and almost won the Cy Young.   Over the last few years, Buchholz has been a very highly regarded prospect and has been a very big trade chip but his potential value was greater than what the Red Sox were willing to give up so they kept him. This of course meant waiting a couple years for Adrian Gonzalez and missing out on Roy Halladay but they kept Buchholz and they eventually got Gonzalez for a lower price. Buchholz signed a 4 year, 30 million dollar deal with a few club options. Here are the details:


2011: $550,000 (+ $1 million signing bonus)
2012: $3.5 million
2013: $5.5 million
2014: $7.7 million
2015: $12 million
2016: $13 million team option (or $245,000 buyout)
2017: $13.5 million team option (or $500,000 buyout)
(2017 option increases to $14 million if Buchholz finishes either first or second in Cy Young voting during the contract.)

Red Sox Inbox

Over the next few week I will be taking Red Sox questions and answering them. There is a high chance your question will be answered. You can ask up to three questions. I will only choose questions that are appropriate and relevant to the Red Sox. To ask me a question, email me at redsoxblog360@gmail.com and ask the question, leave your first name and the state you from. for example: Jerry from Tennessee. You can also just comment your questions.