08/15 Sox @ Texas

[a700hitter]

Disagree. The hill really wouldn't be steeper. I love the front two of Lester-Buchholz. The Yankees also have a good deal of age. But no matter what the AL East is tough. At the end of the day' date=' this is a Red Sox team that might have been leading their division if not for a shitload of injuries.[/quote']So, Lee wouldn't make the Yankees a better team?

 

Also, let's not forget that the Sox played so poorly early in the season that they were in danger of falling out of the race behind the Yankees and Tampa before most of the injuries had hit.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

So, Lee wouldn't make the Yankees a better team?

 

Also, let's not forget that the Sox played so poorly early in the season that they were in danger of falling out of the race behind the Yankees and Tampa before most of the injuries had hit.

 

Lee would make any team better. Anyone could see that.

[Palodios]

Thats pretty much exactly what I said. The team has a good core' date=' but Theo could easily bring in the wrong pieces if he goes cheap. If they spend the money, they can put together a good team.[/quote']

 

You sounded doom and gloom. I personally think the core is strong enough that if they don't dick around in the offseason, they can easily win a WS in the next three years.

 

 

Also' date=' let's not forget that the Sox played so poorly early in the season that they were in danger of falling out of the race behind the Yankees and Tampa before most of the injuries had hit.[/quote']

 

Let's not forget that the team's ace pitches poorly in April, it took them a few weeks to figure out that they needed to check on baserunners, Ortiz was slumping hard, and Beltre still didn't have an XBH yet.

[a700hitter]

You sounded doom and gloom. I personally think the core is strong enough that if they don't dick around in the offseason, they can easily win a WS in the next three years.

 

 

 

 

Let's not forget that the team's ace pitches poorly in April, it took them a few weeks to figure out that they needed to check on base runners, Ortiz was slumping hard, and Beltre still didn't have an XBH yet.

I agree. People are laying this all off on injuries, but this team almost played its way out of contention in April and early May when everyone was healthy. They fielded poorly and ran the bases very poorly. They gave away several games with sloppy play. Beckett stunk and the rest of the rotation was not a lot better. The bullpen was atrocious. Ortiz and a almost everyone other than Beltre started with a slump. None of this was caused by injury. A lot of people said that it was a long season and it wouldn't matter in the end. I am of the belief that a game in April is just as important as a game in September. We gave away about a half dozen games in that period to stupidity and sloppy play. That makes a difference. If the FO thinks that they just need to get healthy, they are mistaken. This season cannot be blamed solely on injuries.

 

This team needs a catcher, who can play defense and hit. They need to part ways with Beltre and move Youk permanently to third base. VMart should be the primary first baseman, but he should go behind the plate to spell the starter for 30-35 games. If Lowrie ever gets his strength back, he can handle all of the IF backup work.

 

They need to bolster the OF. Drew has been the iron man in the OF this year. I never thought I'd say that. Ellsbury's trade value is in the toilet, so he will have to stay as the starting CFer and redeem himself. Cameron has another year on his contract and he will have no trade value. He should strictly be the 4th OFer- not a starter. We need a LFer? McDonald, Nava, and Patterson are not a consideration. If they want Kalish on the team, he could platoon with Cameron, but I am not crazy about that. I'd prefer they get a full time LFer and let Kalish start the season in AAA ready to come to Boston when Ellsbury starts his spa treatments, or when Cameron tears up his other testicle or his arthritis acts up. Crawford would be really nice. That would give us a ton of speed. It would be really hard to drop a hit in between those guys. If Ellsbury makes a comeback, he could be traded after 2011, and Kalish could take his spot.

 

The starting rotation is set. If Beckett starts out bad like this year, they should send him flying with a Yankee pilot.

 

Finally, the bullpen. A lot of work and creativity is needed here. First, I'll address the low hanging fruit. Wakefield needs to be put out to pasture. Screw the quest to pass Clemens and Cy Young in wins or whatever else. Let's be frank. He is not in their class- not even close, so he doesn't deserve the record. He's had a really nice career for a guy with a trick pitch and not much else. Keep Papelbon and Bard together for another year at the end of the bullpen. That has been the one strength of our pen. Get a real lefty reliever. Oki can go back to Japan. Get a lefty who is capable of pitching the 7th, 8th or 9th innings. Dubront can compete for the second lefty spot. There will be additional renovating to do with the pen which is probably every GM's biggest challenge.

 

In a nutshell:

 

Get a catcher

Move VMart to first

Move Youk to third

Get Carl Crawford

Get a top lefty for the pen

 

 

I think this is all very achievable, and it would improve the team.

[ORS]

I agree. People are laying this all off on injuries' date=' but this team almost played its way out of contention in April and early May when everyone was healthy. They fielded poorly and ran the bases very poorly. They gave away several games with sloppy play. Beckett stunk and the rest of the rotation was not a lot better. The bullpen was atrocious. Ortiz and a almost everyone other than Beltre started with a slump. None of this was caused by injury. A lot of people said that it was a long season and it wouldn't matter in the end. I am of the belief that a game in April is just as important as a game in September. We gave away about a half dozen games in that period to stupidity and sloppy play. That makes a difference. If the FO thinks that they just need to get healthy, they are mistaken. This season cannot be blamed solely on injuries.[/quote']

All that said, they righted the ship, were ahead of Tampa and 1/2 game back of the Yankees when the string of injuries became ridiculous. Since then, they've actually maintained pace at about 4/5 games back while losing their MVP level 1B. A healthy team is right in the hunt, maybe even ahead, IMO.

[a700hitter]

All that said' date=' they righted the ship, were ahead of Tampa and 1/2 game back of the Yankees when the string of injuries became ridiculous. Since then, they've actually maintained pace at about 4/5 games back while losing their MVP level 1B. A healthy team is right in the hunt, maybe even ahead, IMO.[/quote']I agree, but if they had not played like the Bad News Bears in April and May they would be right at the top despite the injuries. Injuries happen, and there is nothing that can be done about them. We have had more than our share. It's part of the game, and it can't be controlled. Stupid play and coaching in April and May was something that never should have happened. Really good teams don't put themselves in situations where they need to overcome their own stupidity to get back into a race. Really good teams put distance between themselves and teams that play stupidly. Could we have gotten back into this race had it not been for the injuries? Definitely. This is a very talented team, but they haven't played like a very good team at many crucial stretches during the season, even when there were no injuries.

[ORS]

Bad play, however unfortunate, like injuries, is part of the game, even for very good teams. In fact, I think you can count on losing more games annually to bad play than you can to losing two MVP level players for a chunk of time. While losing two players that good may be more rare, it's impact is probably more damaging, which is what I think is occurring here.

[TedWilliams101]

I don't think we should resign Vmart if we intend to move him to first. There are 2 major problems here:

1. He will want to be paid as an elite Catcher

2. He is a career .832 OPS, .464 SLG hitter. 1B is a power position, those numbers just don't cut it for at 1B and on top of it, he might cost a pretty penny.

 

Either resign Beltre (which I agree will be expensive and could be dangerous) or sign/trade for a big bat at 1B.

 

Beltre has been the big hitter in our lineup, I don't think it would be wise to let him go and not replace him with an equally dangerous bat (and lets not forget if we resign Ortiz, he will likely continue to regress).

 

As I said before the bullpen is my biggest fear. As of today I don't feel safe having Paps as our closer anymore. They need to do a LOT of work in the pen.