What they need to do

[Dojji]

Too much up in the air right now and too many roles undefined. If the team is playing uninspired ball, defining roles and helping people to understand where they'll settle into the team can help.

With that in mind I see these as our major priorities over the days leading up to the deadline.

-- stabilize the middle of the rotation. Determine if a new veteran arm is a luxury or a need. Knowing how to tell the difference is part of what separates a good GM from a bad one. If you need one, don't pull punches in getting the best one you can.

-- stabilize the bullpen roles. Right now Bard needs to be the setup man and everyone else needs to have an idea when they're coming in. If you need to change the mix don't be afraid to be aggressive. If you need to buy an upgrade, buy it. If you need to promote a rookie, promote him.

-- Stabilize the defense and lineup. Right now our only stable long term positions are 2B and CF. We need a signal from Tito who the starting SS is, or we need a new SS. We also need to know how things are going to play out longterm at corner infield. We could use an answer to the Bay question. Finally, we could use a catcher who can control the running game.

-- We probably also could use a middle of the order bat if we can find one that doesn't cost the moon, sky and all the twinkly little stars, which will be somewhat difficult. I consider that the lowest priority because our team has the offense to win ballgames if the team is going right and if it isn't, no one bat is going to save us.

[Youk Of The Nation]

1B isn't a stable long term position? Where is Youk going?

[Dojji]

Iunno, 3B? If Lowell goes down for the rest of the year Youks is going to the hot corner and staying there until the offseason. that means both corners are in flux.

[Dojji]

Oh, to this add -- it's time to bid a fold farewell to the remnants of 2004. Big Papi and Varitek are no longer what they were and it's time to treat them accordingly. Tek's role needs to be stepped down even if he continues to perform, and Ortiz needs to play out the string and then let some other team waste too much money on some mediocre declining years a la Mo Vaughn.

[TheKilo]

Oh, to this add -- it's time to bid a fold farewell to the remnants of 2004. Big Papi and Varitek are no longer what they were and it's time to treat them accordingly. Tek's role needs to be stepped down even if he continues to perform, and Ortiz needs to play out the string and then let some other team waste too much money on some mediocre declining years a la Mo Vaughn.

Don't make me go look up the posts where you predicted Ortiz would be a productive player through the course of his contract.

Hell, I'm pretty sure you advocated giving him an extension.

Please, please don't make me do that.

[The_Destroyah]

Oh, to this add -- it's time to bid a fold farewell to the remnants of 2004. Big Papi and Varitek are no longer what they were and it's time to treat them accordingly. Tek's role needs to be stepped down even if he continues to perform, and Ortiz needs to play out the string and then let some other team waste too much money on some mediocre declining years a la Mo Vaughn.

ok well any suggestions on what moves we make to replace them?
i pretty much agree, as much as i love em both, but who do we get from where for what to replace them?

[BoSox21]

to sum up....

"let's replace all of our bad stuff and replace it with good stuff!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!"

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

1B isn't a stable long term position? Where is Youk going?

3B I suppose, its harder to find a good 3B than a good 1B.


Don't make me go look up the posts where you predicted Ortiz would be a productive player through the course of his contract.

Hell, I'm pretty sure you advocated giving him an extension.

Please, please don't make me do that.

Changes of stance frowned upon?

[Paradisecity]

Don't make me go look up the posts where you predicted Ortiz would be a productive player through the course of his contract.

Hell, I'm pretty sure you advocated giving him an extension.

Please, please don't make me do that.

I remember posting something on the odds that Ortiz returns to form healthy combined with the odds Lowell returns to form healthy, and how when you combine the two, we should be aggressively shopping for a 1B/3B/DH last offseason.

I also remember this being shot down, rather quickly.

[TheKilo]

Changes of stance frowned upon?

Not when it was pretty obvious that the healthy return of Ortiz AND Lowell AND Drew was very unlikely.

Or, what PC said.

This team had no contingency plan for if/when Lowell went down. Kotsay wasn't the answer.

They were lucky Pittsburgh dealt them LaRoche.

[Mr Crunchy]

Whats sad is 50- 60% of the payroll being dedicated to Lugo,DiceK, Drew and Ortiz.
I dont want to hear about any monetarial concerns preventing this team from making a move on a stud come Friday.

[Rdsxmbnt]

More like 33%, but more importantly it's pretty easy to make that statement now compared to say 07-08 when those guys (sans Lugo) played critical roles. And money won't be the reason why a deal doesn't gets done come the deadline

[Mr Crunchy]

All I ever wanted in life was tomorrows newspaper delivered today

[Dipre]

The only thing this team need to do is stop the fucking suck.

When they hit, they don't pitch, when they pitch, they don't hit.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

[SCM33]

They need to do something similar to what they did in 2004.

I am not sure they have any big need, I think they have a multiple of smaller problems which can be fixed in smaller moves, however a larger deal/along with smaller deals could solve major problems.

If they acquire Halladay, all of their rotation problems are fixed with a surplus remaining to round out the rotation, especially in a playoff series when you only need 3 starters (Halladay, Beckett, Lester).

They need a SS. Lowrie wont cut it, they need a SS. In a Halladay move, it could maybe net us Scutaro, with Lowrie going to Toronto.

They have found their solution to spell Lowell, Laroche can provide some offense with Youk going to third.

I think at this point, Green needs to go, and they need to find a utility inf who can play all of the infield positions adequate defensively.

They need an outfielder who can play all three OF positions, and bring them some speed, someone like Juan Pierre who has seen his appearances diminish since Manny has returned.

In summary:
Halladay and Scutaro to Boston, the usual suspects and Lowrie to Toronto.

Green leaving, bringing in an INF who can play 2B, SS, 3B

Juan Pierre for a couple mid-level guys.

C Varitek/Bard
1B Youkilis/Laroche
2B Pedey, util inf
SS Scutaro/until inf
3B Lowell/Youk/util inf
LF Bay/Pierre
CF Ellsbury/Pierre/Baldelli
RF Drew/Baldelli/Pierre
DH Ortiz/Laroche

Bench:
Bard
Baldelli
Pierre
Laroche
Util Inf

Rotation:
Halladay
Beckett
Lester
Wakefield
Penny/Smoltz

I think they could reasonably get this done.

[TedWilliams101]

I would cream my pants if that happened, and I mean that literally. :blink:

[jacksonianmarch]

The Halladay move would be important, but the rest would be change for the sake of change. I think the sox could be better served by going after a reliable, but not top flight starter like Washburn and then adding a bat like Martinez. Halladay doesnt fix their lineup alone and Martinez doesnt fix their rotation alone. Now, one could argue that the sox dont need offensive help, that the guys will start hitting eventually. Well, I agree that they wont stay this bad, there are some alarming things happening to make this month incredibly bad.

First of all, here are some stats month to month

April- 126 runs (5th in MLB ), 5.7 R/G, .275BA (7th), .364OBP (4th), .463SLG (5th), .827OPS (3rd)
May- 141 runs (11th in MLB ), 4.8 R/G, .273BA (11th), .350OBP (6th), .452SLG (7th), .802OPS (6th)
June- 138 runs (5th in MLB ), 5.3 R/G, .260BA (12th), .348OBP (4th), .433SLG (8th), .781OPS (6th)
July- 107 runs (16th in MLB ), 4.6 R/G, .241BA (25th), .323OBP (18th), .405SLG (20th), .729OPS(19th)

Anyone noticing a trend here? While the sox have seen their runs yo-yo between April-July, the BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS have dropped in every month. This has a lot to do with the type of players the sox have and the ridiculous offensive start that some guys had, namely Youk and Bay. To be honest with you, the way the sox have played this yr, there arent too many guys I am waiting on to just absolutely break out and be awesome. I do expect some guys to improve over their recent stretch (Bay). I expect some guys to continue their level of play (Youk and Pedroia). And I expect some guys to slow down as the season continues (namely Tek and Lowell). Regardless, I think the trend speaks loudly for the acquisition of a bat.

[jacksonianmarch]

And the rationale for the acquisition of a starter is pretty obvious. DiceK is on the shelf for who knows how long. Penny has started to really suck this month with an ERA close to 6. Smoltz has an ERA north of 7. And while Buchholz has a respectable ERA after 3 starts, his WHIP is 1.70 and his IP per start sits at a lowly 5. If Wakefield doesnt come back vintage, the sox will truly have a Beckett-Lester pray for rain scenario in the works. And, with the slide of the offense, they will need to get good pitching performances more than half the time in order to play above .500 ball. Penny got bailed out of a few of his beauties earlier in the yr, but that is going to happen with less frequency as long as the offense stays as is.