2007 Spring Training Game Thread

[example1]

Also just to clarify:

 

If this were your boss, and you had made the playoffs for 3 out of 4 seasons, could have made a 4th except for injuries, had secured some very important pieces for reasonable prices for an extended period (including Ortiz, Beckett and Matsuzaka) and introduced the Red Sox to all of Asian baseball, would you be worried about your job? I wouldn't.

 

Excerpt from Q & A with John Henry

 

Q. Generally, what's your overall hope for this team?

 

A. Each year we set a goal of making the playoffs while at the same time building our farm system and seeking to ensure that what we do during any particular year is not going to substantially hurt our chances to make the playoffs in the future. It isn't easy to do any of these three and very difficult to do all three each year. But those are our goals. Those are our goals because we know the fans have the same goals.

 

a) make playoffs, 3 out of 4, check.

build farm system (have acquired Ellsbury, Bard, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson, Place, Anderson, etc., etc., last few years with 1st and 2nd rated drafts in last 2 years) Check

c) not do anything to jeopardize ability to compete now and in the future (retained Jon Lester, got Matsuzaka, kept Ellsbury and B's... not giving away future for current team). Check.

 

Theo aint losing his job unless this team finishes in last or second to last in AL East.

[a700hitter]

Pedro isn't and wasn't in his prime. He has a torn rotator cuff and was pondering retirement not 2 months ago. It can look rosy' date=' like he'll come back and be very efective Pedro for a few more years, but it certainly wouldn't if he was on the Sox.[/quote']Granted he was no longer the Pedro of 1998-2000, but he was still a top pitcher in the game whether in the AL or the NL. The Pedro of 1998-2000 would command more than $20 million/year. If he comes back healthy and can hit 88-90 on the gun, he will be a top pitcher again. He was worth the risk. He was one of a kind, and you don't let that kind walk unless they are already done. It looks good to give the FO a pass on this now because of the surgery, but the last chapter in Pedro's book may still be to come. I don't give them a Pass, because they took the money that they saved and flushed it down the toilet for the last 2 years. Clement? Seanez? Jason Johnson for $1 million and on and on. They did not redeploy their resources in a smart fashion. They could have used the savings to re-sign Damon, but they didn't and the Yankees got better and the cumulative effect of the FO bad moves and injuries resulted in a disastrous 2006 for $130 million.

You put too much weight on whether or not Pedro would have won them a WS. All he could have done was put them in a position to win the playoffs. Without him in 2005 this team made it to the playoffs and was simply outplayed by a better team.

They were the better team because they had the better starting pitching. Pedro would have negated that advantage. Clement embarrassed himself and the whole Red Sox organization with his meltdown in game 1. Think about it. Our game 1 starter in the playoffs had been banished to the bullpen by the Cubs in the stretch drive in 2004. What was the FO thinking?

I guess. I didn't know that a repeat got them carte blanche for a decade' date=' but a single victory only gets 2 years. Where does it say that's the rule? Where does it say that 2 championships in 5 years is considerably less valuable than a repeat? I think its an arbitrary argument, not because a repeat is insignificant--it's not--but because a single championship is still enough for me to rest my hat on for a few years. [/quote']In the past 7 years there have been 7 different Champions. No team has won two championships whether consecutively or not in those 7 years. In the past 40 years, back to back championships have been accomplished 4 times. Twice by the Yankees. A repeat would have been huge, but that's just my opinion.

Two would have been nice' date=' but even the first was a product of luck as much as it was great players and management. No dave roberts, no ground rule double, no world series. All teams win that way. Like Billy Beane says, you can construct a team to get to the playoffs, from there its luck. Who would have predicted that the Tigers would lose on PFP issues?[/quote']You quote Billy Beane. I'll quote Branch Rickey: "Luck is the residue of design." It's another way of saying that you make your own luck. The 2005 Red Sox team's pitching was so poorly constructed that I think they were a bit lucky to be able to offensively bludgeon their way to the playoffs. As for the Tigers, they weren't unlucky in the WS. The Cards were the healthiest that they had been for several months and they were the more experienced team in that series. It was the Tigers inexperience that beat them. You didn't see Kenny Rogers throwing balls up the LF line. Their kids did that. Luck has nothing to do with errors caused by inexperience. It's the inexperience that is to blame. Luck would have been if the fielder lost the ball in the lights, or the ball hit a rock and bounced over the fielder's head, or Bartman sticks out his hand. That is bad luck. Throwing balls all over the place. Those are mistakes and you deserve to lose.

And would you have been willing to throw away a full season (which he will have missed when he comes back around the ASB) plus the next year and a half since we don't know if he's coming back for a chance to be competitive in the playoffs in 05? We were in the playoffs in 05.

This doesn't even make sense. I wouldn't have signed him with the expectation that he would blow his arm out after 1 1/2 years. Did they sign Clement with that expectation? I'd rather have 1 1/2 years of Pedro than Clement. You never know when a pitcher's arm is going to fall apart. Don't give the Red Sox FO so much credit because it happened with pedro' date=' because it happened with Clement too.

Are you saying the Sox should have given Pedro whatever he wanted? If you ask me whether I would rather have Matsuzaka or Pedro at this point I will say Matsuzaka time and time again.

I am not saying that they should have paid him whatever he wanted. They should have paid him market value. The Mets established the market. The Red Sox should have matched. As for the fact that you would rather have Dice K than Pedro, I would have said that I would rather have Pedro in 1998 than Clemens, but that doesn't mean that I agreed with letting Rocket walk. Pedro and Dice K are not mutually exclusive. We have three very high paid pitchers right now.

If your boss agreed with you about what you did' date=' had active discussions with you about what to do, and ultimately gave you the okay for your decisions, do you think you would get canned if thing went wrong?[/quote']This statement makes me fairly certain that you don't work, and if you do work you must n't have a job with very much responsibility, because I work for a Fortune 100 company and I can tell you that this happens a lot. The boss doesn't fire himself even if he agree with the idea. If it was your idea and you sold it to management and it fails, you go down in flames.

I get no sense that John Henry or Tom Warner are disappointed with what Theo has done.

I don't know how they view Theo's performance' date=' and neither do you, but they were clearly embarrassed by the performance of last years team and JH was talking about building the team aggressively soon after the season was over.

He has put a team on the field that has sold out games for years and years. They are maximizing revenue while putting out a competitive team. What more could an owner want?

This puzzles me, because you are a fan, not part of management. It doesn't matter to me that they are good enough to sell seats. As a fan I don't want them to max out their profitability at the expense of the product on the field. If they want to max out profits, let them fire a few VPs.

Agreed. Bullpens haven't been his strength. Good thing its not bullpens that cause people to buy tickets' date=' when the sox sell out half a stadium in Seattle or Kansas City or Philadelphia. [/quote'] Again. I am puzzled. Are you give them a pass for building teams that are poorly constructed to win, but that are appealing enough to sell tickets? Why don't we just have a team like the Marlins but hire the Hooters girls to be the ushers, do the concessions, and work on the ground crew. We could also hire the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. That should sell tickets.

ONce he did it became a different decision whether or not to resign Pedro or to give Damon 5 yeras when this team was trying to move in a different direction.

...and that direction was Coco Crisp? Bad direction especially since the direction included the not insignificant fact that Damon makes the Yankees much better.

Which moves do you like of theirs? (notice I'm asking' date=' not assuming).[/quote']I listed some of them in my prior post, but you don't seem to notice when I agree with the FO. You seem to fixate on the instances when I am critical. There is more discussion about those instances, because those are the ones that are not clear cut. The successes like Ortiz are clear cut, so there won't be too many posts from anyone stating that opinion. The moves like Clement and Seanez aren't debated too often either, because they are pretty clear cut too.

I haven't heard you praise the FO in quite awhile' date=' and usually your criticism (about guys the FO likes, such as Pedroia and Youkilis) makes me think you believe they don't know what they're doing and that their philosophy is wrong. When you link everything back to their ineptitude then, yes, I take it as a blanket statement rather than as a statement along the lines of "you win some, you lose some".[/quote'] Again, it is obvious to me that you don't work. When you do work, this is how it will go. The boss or the Company will take a moment to acknowledge your success, and the rest of the time is spent trying to do things better. That is the nature of competition. If you want to get better, you work on improving. You don't say, you win some you lose some.

When you're calling for Theo's head after one more season then I take that as a blanket condemnation rather than a recognition of the success they've had the last few years or the types of teams they build.

I am not calling for his head. I am stating what I think will be the outcome if this team doesn't make the playoffs. That's a prediction not a condemnation. Again' date=' you are putting words in my mouth. You just can't help yourself.

They are still selling out every game and have the most devoted fanbase in the world.

Selling seats doesn't matter to me. In fact, I wish the demand for tickets was less so I could get better seats to more games. Selling seats only matters to me because it gives them the resources to put out a superior team. I've made no secret of my anger when the FO, past and present, would play the poverty card by telling us they couldn't spend like the Yankees while they were selling every seat in the house for the highest ticket prices in the league. That was BS and too many fans believed it. I hope everyone realizes that it was BS after this off season's spending spree.

So are your comments merely to get people to debate and discuss rather than your real convictions? If you truly believe that the Sox have a better franchise than most' date=' and if you believe they have a competitive team made up of some of the games greatest superstars, then perhaps that should outweigh the minor mistakes they have made in your rhetoric.[/quote'] They are premier franchise, but that doesn't mean they do everything right. Patting them on back on message boards would bore me. Are you afraid that I am hurting their feelings by being too critical? I don't think they are trolling these boards. Why are you offended by these criticisms, or more pointedly why are you concerned whether I give credit to the FO.

Varitek has played in 10 times the number of games that Pedro has over the past few years. The choice to resign a catcher--who is also a consumate team leader' date=' a great role-model for younger players, the first CAPTAIN in a number of years--is different from resigning a pitcher who throws occasionally. The correct move could have been to resign Damon and Varitek, but I certainly don't have a problem with giving Varitek 10m a season to be the rock behind the plate that he has been. [/quote'] Calm down. I agree with re-signing Varitek, but the production has not been there. I just can't rationalize signing Varitek, but not re-signing Damon when the Yankees had a gaping hole in CF.

[a700hitter]

Also just to clarify:

 

If this were your boss, and you had made the playoffs for 3 out of 4 seasons, could have made a 4th except for injuries, had secured some very important pieces for reasonable prices for an extended period (including Ortiz, Beckett and Matsuzaka) and introduced the Red Sox to all of Asian baseball, would you be worried about your job? I wouldn't.

 

Excerpt from Q & A with John Henry

 

Q. Generally, what's your overall hope for this team?

 

A. Each year we set a goal of making the playoffs while at the same time building our farm system and seeking to ensure that what we do during any particular year is not going to substantially hurt our chances to make the playoffs in the future. It isn't easy to do any of these three and very difficult to do all three each year. But those are our goals. Those are our goals because we know the fans have the same goals.

 

a) make playoffs, 3 out of 4, check.

build farm system (have acquired Ellsbury, Bard, Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson, Place, Anderson, etc., etc., last few years with 1st and 2nd rated drafts in last 2 years) Check

c) not do anything to jeopardize ability to compete now and in the future (retained Jon Lester, got Matsuzaka, kept Ellsbury and B's... not giving away future for current team). Check.

 

Theo aint losing his job unless this team finishes in last or second to last in AL East.

If they don't make the playoffs this year, it will be only 3 out of 5 and two years in a row out of the money. Not making the playoffs at $130+ million and $160+ million will be checkmate for Theo.

[Dana Kiecker]

700 im usually a follower of your thinking.. but signing Tek at 4 years was a stupid move

 

Not signing Vlad was a stupid move... Not re-signing Jesus was a stupid move and over paying/over yearing jd Drew was f***ing assinine..

 

my 2 cents

[a700hitter]

700 im usually a follower of your thinking.. but signing Tek at 4 years was a stupid move

 

Not signing Vlad was a stupid move... Not re-signing Jesus was a stupid move and over paying/over yearing jd Drew was f***ing assinine..

 

my 2 cents

LOt's of people passed on Vlad. He ended up being a bargain. WIth Tek, I really think they could have gotten that done for only three years. Who else was after him? The Yankees had Posada.

[MANNYHOF24]

I agree if Tek can make it through just one more season I will be fairly suprised. This guy IMO, is almost at the end of his career. It's not like a another AL team will be dying for him to be the every day DH.

[jacksonianmarch]

I see the sox cutting Mirabelli half way through the yr when it is obvious that Varitek is well past the point of being a full time catcher. I see Kottaras finishing the yr splitting time with Vtek.

[MANNYHOF24]

I see the sox cutting Mirabelli half way through the yr when it is obvious that Varitek is well past the point of being a full time catcher. I see Kottaras finishing the yr splitting time with Vtek.

 

It's possible, if Tek is willing to catch Wake. However, the Wake was 0-4 in 2005 when Mirabelli went down with injury. The rest of that season he was 16-8.

[jacksonianmarch]

If Vtek is having trouble hitting his weight come july, it wont sound so far fetched.

[example1]

If they don't make the playoffs this year' date=' it will be only 3 out of 5 and two years in a row out of the money. Not making the playoffs at $130+ million and $160+ million will be checkmate for Theo.[/quote']

 

Instead of responding to every single tedious point in our back and forth, I'll respond to this one and from the other points you made by memory.

 

First, your smug comments about whether or not I work were completely uncalled for. I do work. I have a master's degree and manage a school for kids with emotional problems. My job carries a tremendous amount of responsibility and stress (unfortunately, the pay doesn't match ) including kids who can't help but attack you when they're frustrated. I can't say I know what its like working for a Fortune 100 company and I can't say that it makes me admire you any more (or less) that you name-dropped your Fortune 100ness in the discussion.

 

The quote above is pure backtracking. Now you're saying that making the playoffs IS enough for you to be content and that making the playoffs is the point. You should be content with this team then. I thought the point was to win championships and that nothing less would suffice for success. If they don't make the playoffs this year there could be trouble, yes. Of course, the season hasn't started yet. In fact, given that the season hasn't started is there any reason to be pessimistic, at all? Why even mention IF they don't make the playoffs? Do you think this is a better team than last year? I sure do. I think they are in great position for this year and next and the year after that, etc., with Beckett, Papelbon and Matsuzaka.

 

Once this team won the championship in 04 they could start the vital rebuilding process that they had hoped for when they first purchased the team. Let's think about what this team would have had with Pedro instead of Clement in 05. They would still have been without a #2 starter, as Schilling--if you remember--was out for most of the season and was so ineffective when he returned that he didn't even start a playoff game. So we would have resigned Pedro to pitch decently in 05, without a second starter to push them through the playoffs. Then he would have gotten hurt half way through the 06 season (like Clement) and not return until halfway through the 07 season, at best. Clement was an all-star in 05, just to refresh your memory.

 

You write about Pedro:

I wouldn't have signed him with the expectation that he would blow his arm out after 1 1/2 years.

 

Well, neither would the sox have done that. They were suspicious about his rotator cuff for years, offering him 3 years because they knew he had a little time left in the arm and that it would appear to be a PR disaster for one of Boston's most beloved players among the fans. They knew that people like you and others here would be criticizing them for not re-signing him even IF he blew out his arm. Which he did. When pitchers go from 97 mph to 91 (on a good day) there is something wrong. It didn't take a genius to see that and the Mets got the contract knowing this was likely. For them it made sense, for the Sox it didn't.

 

I am not saying that they should have paid him whatever he wanted. They should have paid him market value. The Mets established the market.

 

Yeah, the mets established the market by giving Pedro what he wanted. Including that coveted 4th year, which at this point looks like a good PR move but a bad baseball one. some teams are in positions to go for the good PR move over the good baseball ones, other teams are at different stages. I'm sure you get that.

 

Have you read Feeding the Monster? Did you read the parts about the entire FO sitting around agonizing about the painful discrepency between overpaying for guys to put a competitive but injury prone and non-winning team on the field for the next few years (05 and 06 specifically), vs. building a solid core to be competitive for the next decade? Theo and the FO have explained multiple times that there would be some down times--particularly knowing that Schilling was going to be out for much of the 05 campaign and that Pedro's rotator cuff was not far from tearing--fortunately for us those included a playoff appearance and a team that had a monumental collapse after looking like a WS caliber team through July. Yeah, having pedro for another season would have been nice but I see no reason to expect that he'll come back completely healthy and put up Cy Young quality numbers.

 

Willie Randolph just used the words "wishful thinking" when talking about Pedro coming back around the All-Star break. That's a far cry from "we'll get near- Cy Young quality stuff when he returns". He's saying "he may return by the all-star break, that's wishful thinking of course, and it would be great". For the Mets he's a PR guy as much as a pitcher. He signified the idea of bringing people to the park and adding some excitement to the ballpark. That is part of the cost-benefit analysis that teams make when deciding whether or not to sign a player. With Ortiz, Manny, Schilling and now Matsuzaka, Beckett and Papelbon the Sox aren't short on guys who will attract attention. At the time the Mets were. That's a big difference.

 

I guess the Tigers lost because of inexperience. I consider an error on a play that could be made 98 times out of 100 to be essentially luck, you consider it to be inexperience. In neither case is it something you could control for or predict when constructing your team. Should the Tigers have kept Zumaya and Verlander off their roster in favor of, say Mike Maroth and Fernando Rodney? Or are those the guys who got them there? The Tigers FO isn't to blame for those mistakes. They had the players to win and they got to the situations necessary to win, the ball just didn't do what it usually does and they lost, inexplicably, on numerous errors in a number of days. Simple, unpredictable and tragic for them.

 

...and that direction was Coco Crisp? Bad direction especially since the direction included the not insignificant fact that Damon makes the Yankees much better.

 

If by much better you mean go from 95 wins to 97 then I guess I agree. When johnny joined the Yankees last year he said essentially "they had a tremendous lineup before I got here, now put me on top of it and we'll be unstoppable". Was he right, or did they get stopped last year? You know the answer to that one.

 

The boss or the Company will take a moment to acknowledge your success, and the rest of the time is spent trying to do things better. That is the nature of competition. If you want to get better, you work on improving. You don't say, you win some you lose some.

 

You also don't poo poo a bunch of new investments in fledgling companies (by analogy). John Henry said (as you read above) that reinventing the farm system is his second goal, but you consistently say not only that you don't pay attention to it, but that those players and acquired draft picks pale in comparison to the players who were lost, no matter how injured (Pedro) or greedy (Damon) those players may be.

 

Selling seats only matters to me because it gives them the resources to put out a superior team.

 

and from the same post...

 

It doesn't matter to me that they are good enough to sell seats.

 

Uhhh yeah. You can't be so compartmentalized in your thinking to think that these are separate issues. In order for the Sox to remain competitive they have to be one of the most public teams--that means national (and international) exposure, it means being smart economically (because a sold out stadium is nice, but it is a FINITE income which requires decisions about finite amounts of money) and not spending money just so the fans will feel comfortable that one of their favorites is leaving. (Most) fans get over losing a beloved player. (Most) Fans are over Damon leaving, as his #18 has been replaced by possibly one of the 5 or 10 best pitchers in the world who is (as you love to point out about Pedro and Damon) ENTERING his prime years and signed for a VERY reasonable price.

 

Why do I care if you're critical of the FO? I don't. What I care about is this Boston sports mentality where everything is critical. Timlin can't take a s*** with some green in it without people wondering about his diet, and Theo can't hold onto some top pitching prospects without being compared (negatively) to Cashman--who added Abreu's bat for some draft picks, and then semi-quietly turned around and sold some of their top veterans for young arms.

 

Fortunately, the FO doesn't care what people say. In that sense they are different from past front offices, particularly in Boston. It is an impossible city to work in in this respect and I think that criticisms like yours only add to that stereotype/truth.

 

Also, I think there are times when it feels good to come here and hear someone patting the team on the back, rather than bitching about every little move. yeah, it would get boring to talk about Ortiz, Schilling, foulke, matsuzaka, etc., signings all the time. It also gets boring to hear irrational criticism of the FO based on them having made a mistake with Damon or "only" making the playoffs for 3 out of the last 4 seasons and having injuries last year. This is particularly so when the FO themselves have said that the fans needed to be prepared for a year or two of "retooling". Few people around here seem to have rememberd that caveat.

 

This should be a very successful year and if they blow it perhaps I'll join you in the heavy criticism camp. Until then I'll remain optimistic given the players this team has, their current health and their farm system.

[jacksonianmarch]

popcorn@!!

[a700hitter]

Only three things

 

1. Now that I know the details of your employment it is obvious to me that you don't know what it is like to work for a company that is intent on profits. I didn't drop the Fortune 100 on you looking for your respect. I dropped it on you because big companies are all about profit and their operation is not nearly as public as a major league ballclub. Boards of Directors know that losing market share will eventually result in lower earnings and lower share value. Baseball clubs know that losing games and not making the playoffs will hurt the value of the franchise. If they lose, when they think they should be winning because of the resources invested in the team, they will change people in their baseball operation if they are serious about making money.

 

2. I haven't backtracked one bit. Please explain.

 

3. Stop whining about my criticisms of the FO. Like you said, this ownership group does not care about fan criticism, so I am not hurting there feelings. As for you, if you are coming here to be uplifted, maybe you should consider listening to a motivational tape or practicing some self affirmation therapy.

 

4. If you think that criticism of the FO based on Johnny Damon is irrational, then you must be delusional. BTW the Boston FO was widely criticized ouside of Boston last season, or didn't you seem to notice, and they weren't getting much positive attention nationally this offseason with regard to the Drew signing.

 

5. Please make a better effort not to put words in my mouth.

[example1]

Only three things

 

1. Now that I know the details of your employment it is obvious to me that you don't know what it is like to work for a company that is intent on profits. I didn't drop the Fortune 100 on you looking for your respect. I dropped it on you because big companies are all about profit and their operation is not nearly as public as a major league ballclub. Boards of Directors know that losing market share will eventually result in lower earnings and lower share value. Baseball clubs know that losing games and not making the playoffs will hurt the value of the franchise. If they lose, when they think they should be winning because of the resources invested in the team, they will change people in their baseball operation if they are serious about making money.

 

Or they will change the personel who comprise the team. I think they have done the later. I don't think Theo will need to look over his shoulder until Tito is looking over his.

 

2. I haven't backtracked one bit. Please explain.

 

Nah, too tired. I just had the impression that you weren't appreciating the fact that this team made the playoffs 3 of 4 seasons and close to 4 of 4. Then you read the John Henry quote and suddenly the main goal was to make the playoffs (which means 3 of four seasons were successful, a far cry from the what have you done for me lately approach criticizing them for not winning 2 in a row). Minor point, I think.

 

3. Stop whining about my criticisms of the FO. Like you said, this ownership group does not care about fan criticism, so I am not hurting there feelings. As for you, if you are coming here to be uplifted, maybe you should consider listening to a motivational tape or practicing some sel affirmation therapy.

 

I just think the constant criticism starts to lose its effectiveness. Why should anybody listen when you're just venting? I would think that a criticism from someone who is always critical needs to be taken with a grain of salt, vs. a criticism from someone who seems a bit more balanced and is able to weigh both the positive and the negative equally. You come here to vent about a poorly run club, I come here to discuss a good club with other fans. We both get our needs met. No need to change, I suppose. :thumbsup:

 

 

4. If you think that criticism of the FO based on Johnny Damon is irrational, then you must be delusional. BTW the Boston FO was widely criticized ouside of Boston last season, or didn't you seem to notice, and they weren't getting much positive attention nationally this offseason with regard to the Drew signing.

 

Where did I say criticizing the Damon move is irrational? My point is that its been done. You're not doing anything new here by criticizing it, yet it comes up in every single discussion about the Red Sox. Meanwhile he hasn't won a WS on a loaded Yankees team, so its not like he took his talents elsewhere and made them into the team we want the Sox to be. The sox should have made the playoffs last year, even without Damon. If Crisp were healthy and put up a traditionally Crisp season then this discussion wouldn't be happening in the first place, in my opinion.

 

 

5. Please make a better effort not to put words in my mouth.

 

I will man. I apologize if I've put words in your mouth.

[a700hitter]

Or they will change the personel who comprise the team. I think they have done the later. I don't think Theo will need to look over his shoulder until Tito is looking over his.

Teams usually change personnel first. That is what they are doing this year' date=' and the FO has opened the treasury for Theo and he has spent freely. If they don't compete again like last year and there is another August meltdown, I think he is in danger. They might give him one more shot, but I would not be surprised if he got canned or demoted.

I just think the constant criticism starts to lose its effectiveness. Why should anybody listen when you're just venting? I would think that a criticism from someone who is always critical needs to be taken with a grain of salt, vs. a criticism from someone who seems a bit more balanced and is able to weigh both the positive and the negative equally. You come here to vent about a poorly run club, I come here to discuss a good club with other fans. We both get our needs met. No need to change, I suppose. :thumbsup:

I actually criticize very few things about the team. However, I do have my pet peeves, and I do tend to beat them to death sometimes. I really like the top two-thirds of the lineup, but I am concerned about the bottom of the order. They'll need to step up if we are going to win. I am very concerned about the bullpen. That could be the Achilles heel of the team. I like the top of the rotation a lot, but we need a 5th starter to make the rotation formidable. Although I have criticized the bench as not being deep, I think it is adequate to get through the season barring major injury. Finally, you may be shocked to know that I think Pedroia should be okay. I don't have a problem with him, nor am I rooting against him. I just think it was a very poor management move to give him the job without competition this spring. When the team is putting so much into this team, I would have had a better backup option. If this guy starts slow and crumbles under the pressure, the FO will have to concentrate its efforts on getting a second baseman. If they had a better backup option, they could just concentrate on building the pen. I hope you think this is a balanced view. I think it is.

I apologize if I've put words in your mouth.

Apology accepted. Enjoy opening day!

[example1]

Teams usually change personnel first. That is what they are doing this year' date=' and the FO has opened the treasury for Theo and he has spent freely. If they don't compete again like last year and there is another August meltdown, I think he is in danger. They might give him one more shot, but I would not be surprised if he got canned or demoted. [/quote']

 

We differ here. I think Theo is taking the sabermetric approach that is the proven practice in baseball these days. I think he would be one of the most coveted GMs in the entire sport and he is so young and talented that there is no way the Sox feel confident that they can find someone who could replace him adequately.

 

Don't you think a lot of last year's failure had to do with a) a general retooling approach that kept the team from being as deep as it was in 05 and injuries? To me, without injuries, this team might have made the playoffs and, given the competition (the tigers for christsakes?) they could have done pretty well.

 

You're right though in that the personnel have been changed and the pocketbook opened. I see no reason why the team shouldn't be successful this season. I'll tell you this, I bet most fans of most teams would gladly trade their team's shot this season for the Sox team's shot. Just sayin'...

 

I actually criticize very few things about the team. However, I do have my pet peeves, and I do tend to beat them to death sometimes. I really like the top two-thirds of the lineup, but I am concerned about the bottom of the order. They'll need to step up if we are going to win. I am very concerned about the bullpen. That could be the Achilles heel of the team. I like the top of the rotation a lot, but we need a 5th starter to make the rotation formidable. Although I have criticized the bench as not being deep, I think it is adequate to get through the season barring major injury. Finally, you may be shocked to know that I think Pedroia should be okay. I don't have a problem with him, nor am I rooting against him. I just think it was a very poor management move to give him the job without competition this spring. When the team is putting so much into this team, I would have had a better backup option. If this guy starts slow and crumbles under the pressure, the FO will have to concentrate its efforts on getting a second baseman. If they had a better backup option, they could just concentrate on building the pen. I hope you think this is a balanced view. I think it is. Apology accepted. Enjoy opening day!

 

I agree with you everywhere here, although an optimist would add "there isn't a complete team in baseball right now."

 

I'm not as concerned about the bullpen as you are. I think that we will be happy to have three lefties in the pen against the Yankees (Lopez, Okijima and Romero) and other left-strong teams. I think Papelbon will be a huge asset and when Timlin is back he will be adequate. Last year there were times when we had two pitchers who could be semi-reliable: Timlin and Papelbon. This year we have added other semi-reliable pitchers like Donnelly to the mix to add some depth. Depth seemed to be one of the biggest problems last year.

 

As for the lineup, I too am happy with the top 2/3 or the lineup. I am most concerned offensively about Varitek--but can explain it away with his defense and leadership skills. I think Crisp will have a good season as will Pedroia, eventually. I'm also concerned about Wakefield and Tavarez, but every team is concerned about its 4 and 5 starters.

 

Otherwise, this is a solid team.

 

Enjoy the games tomorrow. I wish I could have the day off!

[TheKilo]

So who starts the first game thread?