Would Benitez going to Boston be a GOOD thing?

[chinch sacs]

they win a lot of games, and anywhere is better then the Mets (save TB or BAL) but will he get a good deal of opprtunity in BOS? I have Benitez as my "best" (and I use that loosely) closer
And BOS has hella closers...

does his value go up or down?

[Leiter Fan]

Stays about the same. With the money Armando makes, there's no way he's sharing saves with Lyon, or even Kim. If he goes there, he will be THE closer (and I would assume Lyon would move to setup, and Kim would stay in the rotation - which is where he wants to be anyway)

[jdh]

It probably would increase his value. The only thing to be concerned about is that so far this year, Boston hasn't really created many save opps, with Lyon only getting like 7 saves despite being the closer for most of the year, while Benitez got 17 so far with the Mets. It's possible that the BoSox tend to either lose or win big, and just don't have the save chances that a weaker offense like the Mets would.

The only thing to be worried about would be Benitez going to the Yankees and setting up Rivera. There are rumours today that the Urbina Yankees deal has fallen through because the Rangers demanded that the Yankees take on Chan Ho Park's contract if they get Urbina. If the Yankees can't get Urbina, expect Benitez to be the next on their target list.

[Leiter Fan]

Where did you see that story? I'd be interested in reading it.

And although possible, I don't see it too likely that Steinbrennar would send anything remotely of value to us for Benitez, for fear that it would come back to hurt him. I'm still shocked that he even sent us David Justice a few years ago!!!

[jdh]

http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/2010.htm

The Rangers also want to get Nick Johnson in the deal.

[The Jury]

His value would rise. Boston would create save opportunities with Pedro, Lowe, and Kim pitching and Manny, Nomar, and the rest of the crew providing offence.

On a side note, I'd MUCH rather have Benitez go to San Fran since I have both Lyon and Kim. I would love to have Kim and Benitez both as closers, to accompany my Koch and Izzy.

[rufus]

I think his point was that with Pedro etc. pitching and Manny etc. hitting, most of the wins will be decided by fairly large margins, and not be within save criteria.

That's definately been true to some extent this year. Though it has been offset somewhat by a lot of come from behind victories that have allowed the relievers to actually get wins (or more commonly, to utterly choke).

[quickfingerz]

I wouldn't say that. Lots of it is just chance. Atlanta has a very VERY different team this year and they are still offering save ops to Smoltz.

[HOOTIE]

I dont see his value increasing going to Boston. Shea is a great park to pitch in, Fenway isnt.