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Originally Posted by VonErich Lives
my take, it does hurt the Sox, but he's replaceable, he's a good fielder with a horrible arm. He's a great leadoff hitter, but keep in mind last year was a contact year and he put up his best numbers ever, will he keep it up? we'll see. I'm not worried about his HR's and Rbi's, you don't expect that from your leadoff guy, the word is Loretta will hit leadoff and if he hits like last year I'm good with that.
Defense and Pitching win championships, plain and simple, the Yankees proved that, the sox (white and red) proved that.
The sox getting Beckett is a big upgrade, the key still remains to me, does Foulke return to the old Foulke or can Timlin handle being the closer.
I'm still waiting to see what happens with Manny, that decides the team, what they get for him or if he decides to stay.
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I'm not to sure of your assesment of Damon being replaceable. I agree he has a horrible arm, but i feel he made Manny and Ortiz way better. Good leadoff hitters are hard to find. Having your leadoff runner on makes it possible for your 3rd and 4th batter to come up with runner(s) on (unless someone hits into a dp). Loretta may do ok, but he's not in the same league as Damon IMO as a leadoff hitter.
As for Beckett, i'm not sold on him at all. He had an awesome playoff and World Series run in 03, but what has he done since? He was dominant that year and he hasn't even come close to repeating that performance. Granted he was on Florida, but still he hasn't come close to 03. It seems like he's on the DL for blisters atleast once a month. We'll see what happens though.
Manny will be the key for you guys. If he goes and you don't replace him with someone close to his caliber, than i believe Ortiz's numbers will decline. Manny make Ortiz better. Pitchers will pitch differently to him if there is not a dangerous hitter in front of him.