24 replies to this topic

[David Laurila]

The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Taylor Buchholz off waivers from Toronto.

[DieHardSoxFan1]

Buchholz has shown interesting numbers as a reliever (.224/.279/.339 against with a nifty 2.5 BB/9 in 134 IP), and he's shown a neutral platoon split during his career.

At the very least, he gives them a different look.

[SoxFanSince57]

Taylor Buchholz
Born: 1981/10/13 Age: 29
Height: 6-4 Weight: 220
Place of birth: Lower Merion Township, PA
Bats/Throws: R / R
Seasons: 4
Drafted by: the Philadelphia Phillies in 2000 (6th round)

Scouting Report
Assets: Owns a devastating curveball, and adds a fastball that can reach the mid-90s. Is able to change speeds. Can be effective against hitters from both sides.
Flaws: He's prone to overthrowing, which has caused problems with his mechanics and led to injuries. Struggles with runners in scoring position.
Career Potential: Middle reliever, when healthy.
Awards: Florida State League (A) - All-Star TeamFlorida State League (A) - Most Valuable Pitcher

http://www.sbnation....Taylor_Buchholz


Baseball-Reference.com

Buchholz, 29, tossed 21 1/3 innings in the minors this year and another 12 in the bigs. He had Tommy John surgery in June of '09 after an excellent '08 season for Colorado. He earned $1.055MM in each of the last two seasons and will be arbitration eligible again this winter.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

Edited by SoxFanSince57, 15 November 2010 - 02:34 PM.

[Bowlerman9]

Last year we had a monopoly on Ramon Ramirez. This year it's Buchholz.

[I am an Idiot]

Third.

[someoneanywhere]

Dave (or anyone): I suppose the arb-eligible is the main reason an intriguing option like Buchv.2 falls this far down the waiver wire?

[bd11]

Dave (or anyone): I suppose the arb-eligible is the main reason an intriguing option like Buchv.2 falls this far down the waiver wire?

His health and inactivity are likely the biggest reasons.

[BucketOBalls]

His health and inactivity are likely the biggest reasons.

And the money. And the Sox are higher on the waiver wire than usual this year.

According to wikipedia.

He is not related to Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz.

Incidentally(same link), he was claimed Sept 9 by Toronto...and got waived again almost a month later. Not much of an intriguing option actually.

[mabrowndog]

Dave (or anyone): I suppose the arb-eligible is the main reason an intriguing option like Buchv.2 falls this far down the waiver wire?

That's likely one of the factors, but it varies by club. BD11 mentioned his medical status. Teams may have passed because he'd be a superfluous addition, or because they'd rather use their 40-man roster vacancies to protect prospects already in the system before next month's Rule 5 draft. Or, as hard as it may seem to believe, because they just weren't paying attention.

FWIW, the Sox' 40-man now stands at 36 players. We might see Theo to try to sneak Taylor through waivers sometime over the next several weeks, along with recent additions Dlugach and Miller, to ensure they have sufficient slots to protect other players (see this thread for further background) and/or sign free agents. Nine clubs finished with better records than the Red Sox last season, so 19 teams passed on the chance to claim Buchholz The Elder before Boston grabbed him.

[David Laurila]

FWIW: I just noticed the thread title and I have no idea why it reads "[I am an idiot]" rather than "Buchholz." I didn't type that, so I assume I'm missing an inside joke perpetrated by someone with the power to change such things.

[Red(s)HawksFan]

FWIW: I just noticed the thread title and I have no idea why it reads "[I am an idiot]" rather than "Buchholz." I didn't type that, so I assume I'm missing an inside joke perpetrated by someone with the power to change such things.

I'd wager you mis-spelled Buchholz in some way, and the automatic word filter caught it. "I am an idiot" is the word filter replacement for permutations of Buchholz, such as B-u-c-c-h-o-l-z = [I am an Idiot].

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

FWIW: I just noticed the thread title and I have no idea why it reads "[I am an idiot]" rather than "Buchholz." I didn't type that, so I assume I'm missing an inside joke perpetrated by someone with the power to change such things.

1,500 posts and you don't know that mis-spelling Buchholz results in an autocorrect of "I am an Idiot"? That's shocking.

Edited by MyDaughterLovesTomGordon, 15 November 2010 - 04:37 PM.

[86spike]

leave the title the way it is. It humors me.

[MHead81]

leave the title the way it is. It humors me.

I agree. I thought it was intentional since I knew why it happens. Keep it.

[jacklamabe65]

I haven't beenthis excited since we added Ken and Jarvis Tatum.

[pokey_reese]

I like this move a lot. The bullpen was a substantial weakness for the team last year, and Buchholz is at worst probably a league-average relief pitcher (106 career ERA+), with an upside that he showed in 2008 with the Rockies. His BABiP in that season was very lucky at .222, driven mainly by an incredibly low .145 BABiP on ground balls, but it was combined with his career best strike out rate of 7.6 K/9, so he was a combination of both lucky and good. Still, his career K/BB ratio has been 2.60:1, and despite pitching most of his career in Coors he has very little in the way of home/road splits (.712 OPS against at home, .718 away). While no one can expect him to match the success of a very lucky year while moving to the AL East, his numbers were all trending in the right direction before his injury, and if he can just be better than MDC or Ramirez, he will be fine.

Not to mention the fact that it gives the FO a little more flexibility in developing guys like Tazawa and Doubront slowly at AAA, and as starters if that's what they want them to work on, rather than forcing them to be bullpen help in the majors.

It seems like a good flyer to take, and it shouldn't stop Theo from going out and signing one of the bigger-name relievers on the FA market. Of course, every reliever added muddies the Wakefield waters, but there is still a lot of time for that to play out.

[Larry Gardner]

1,500 posts and you don't know that mis-spelling Buchholz results in an autocorrect of "I am an Idiot"? That's shocking.

Lurker reading every day, several times, and I always wondered why "I am an Idiot" was Clay's nickname...thought maybe he said it in an interview somewhere. Thanks, I'm sure, from more lurkers than just little me, for clearing this up!

[Larry Gardner]

I haven't beenthis excited since we added Ken and Jarvis Tatum.

Jack-- you'll remember this one, also....but I haven't been this excited since Reggie Smith and George Smith (1966)...

[Eric Van]

As a rule, Theo has gone into ST with more veteran (out of options) bullpen guys than there are roster spots -- usually one more. Buchholz looks like this year's Wes Littleton or Boof Bonser, a guy they'll take a look at in ST and see if he fits in somewhere, perhaps because of injuries to guys ahead of him. (IIRC, Aardsma was just such an apparently extra body.)

[RingoOSU]

Lurker reading every day, several times, and I always wondered why "I am an Idiot" was Clay's nickname...thought maybe he said it in an interview somewhere. Thanks, I'm sure, from more lurkers than just little me, for clearing this up!

I know this will fall on deaf ears, but this is why I think the word filters cause more confusion than teach anything and really aren't necessary.

[Eric Van]

Jack-- you'll remember this one, also....but I haven't been this excited since Reggie Smith and George Smith (1966)...

Neither the Tatums nor Smiths can compare to having Javier Lopez and Javier (Javy) Lopez, and it remains criminal that they never brought in Javier Lopez to pitch when Javy Lopez was catching. (The closest they came was when Lopez caught the first, third and fifth games of the five-game Yankee sweep in August and Lopez pitched in the fourth.)

[cannonball 1729]

I know this will fall on deaf ears, but this is why I think the word filters cause more confusion than teach anything and really aren't necessary.

I think you might be fighting a fight that's already been won. I'm pretty sure all of the word filters except the Buchholz one have either been eliminated or changed to something helpful (e.g. the misspelling "Pettite" defaults to PettiTTe).

Plus, it's always fun to see a new poster flip out when they can't figure out why their post is saying something they didn't mean. Occasionally, they'll even get huffy and accuse one of the dopes of changing their posts and go into a profanity-laced tirade (like the dearly departed "pakdog"). It's always a good time.

Edited by cannonball 1729, 15 November 2010 - 08:25 PM.

[chrisfont9]

As a rule, Theo has gone into ST with more veteran (out of options) bullpen guys than there are roster spots -- usually one more. Buchholz looks like this year's Wes Littleton or Boof Bonser, a guy they'll take a look at in ST and see if he fits in somewhere, perhaps because of injuries to guys ahead of him. (IIRC, Aardsma was just such an apparently extra body.)

Or a relief version of Wade Miller and Brad Penny. Hey, one of these injured/upside moves has to pan out someday... Or at least there's no PR cost, because people (like me) fall for them every time.

[curly2]

Hey, one of these injured/upside moves has to pan out someday.

He wasn't injured, but Bronson Arroyo was definitely an "upside" move.

[sfip]

FWIW: I just noticed the thread title and I have no idea why it reads "[I am an idiot]" rather than "Buchholz." I didn't type that, so I assume I'm missing an inside joke perpetrated by someone with the power to change such things.

At first when I saw it spelled right in your post I thought you did this with a sense of humor. This is awesome.