[Matthew-Spaltro]

Jeff now has company. We give our beloved team all of our love and in return they make one boneheaded decision after another. Shea has the
skills to be a great player. As of this point, Kim's only claim to fame is that almost single handedly cost the Diamondbacks the World Series two years ago. It makes me feel warm inside to know that the Boston braintrust signed the Bob Stanley/Calvin Sharaldi of the new millennium. I bet Shea will have a brilliant career in the National League and we will spend the next ten years wondering how we ever let this him get away.
This is just one more player of Red Sox superstars that we let slip
away. Somebody pass me the airsickness bag.

 

[spaceman]

My feelings exactly! I watched Shea in Portland when he played for Trenton. What pisses me off more than Boston trading Shea, is that they continue to move a lot of their young prospects out of the organization, something the Yankees rarely did until last year. Now, get this, Boston supposedly has one of the strongest farm systems in the AL, so lets see if they start culling out all that good talent. As for Shea, yes, Bill Meuller is good, and will continue to serve well at third. However, Shea is a lot younger, and it is hard to tell how long Meuller will be around. Oh, and while I'm at it, Ramirez needs a good kick in the ass! His fielding as of late, especially in NY, sucks......and his bat is lagging as well. Only time will tell.....but I would like to see a World Series win before I leave this planet!

 

[BoyElroy]

As a Yankees fan, I can only say...BWWAAAAAHHHHHHHahahahaha!!!!

 

[williamgoody]

Quote:

Oh, and while I'm at it, Ramirez needs a good kick in the ass! His fielding as of late, especially in NY, sucks..

Ramirez has always been a butcher in the outfield as far as I can remember. Remember in game 6 of the 98 Championship Series against NY where Jeter hit one out to him in right, and he ended up going up against the wall turning his back to the ball and bracing himself WITH BOTH HANDS leaping onto the wall......as the ball fell at his feet?

To this day I don't know what he was trying to accomplish on that play.

 

[tom hankins]

Also being a Yankee fan I was glad to see his 1rst inning pitched in a Boston uniform. Not to good.

 

[swalker]

Jeff Bagwell and Shea Hillenbrand? They aren't even comparable IMHO.

I never understood why some people love Hillenbrand so much. Here's his stats courtesy of ESPN

Season TM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2001Bos139468521232021249136134.263.291.391.682
2002Bos156634941864341883259542.293.330.459.789
2003Bos49185205617033872610.303.335.443.778


If he is a young 2nd baseman with these stats I'd more interested in him but he is a 3rd baseman who is soon to be 28 years old. Of course he might learn to discipline himself at the place ala Sammy Sosa, but unlike Sammy who had shown scary potential, Hillenbrand hit only 12 and 18 homers in each of last two seasons.

Despite Kim's failures in the world series, the fact remains that he's a young power pitcher who strikes batters out. People tend to glorify atheletes just based on a few moments, how they like to "give %110" on the field and how they are "so intense and focused on the field." but at the end, the regular season performance matters. Just ask St. Louis how they feel about Tino Martinez.

I actually think it was a very good trade for Red Sox. Of course you are never sure with young pitchers with funky deliever like Kim who also had some tough moments but I'd rather take a 24 year old pitcher with 10.6 K/9 innings ratio and a 36 sv/2.04 ERA season over a 27 year old 3rd baseman with a career 335 on-base percentage anyday.

at the end, as a Jays fan, I just "know" that Boston will go down