2011-2012 Offseason Thread

[Meh]

This is a the BL of this issue.

 

This was totally unexpected to me. Hell, suddenly our depth in the OF got short. Reddick is gone. Crawford is likely gone a couple of months. Only God knows when Kalish is coming back. McDonald is a piece of s***. Aviles is not a natural OF...

 

Our hopes rest on the kid that just arrived from Oakland who BTW doesn't scare nobody and is prone to injuries.

 

On the other hand a lot have already said about our pitching. A lot of "ifs" and "?", regardless NY, LAA, TEX, DET and if you rush me the Rays are above us at this point.

 

A700, You have solid reasons to feel this way.

 

The one HUGE mistake your GM made was letting Seth Smith go to the A's for nothing. I mean you should get on the phone with Beane right now and offer up a B prospect, that way he gets more out of the deal than he gave, just accept you made a mistake. Something like Alex Wilson and maybe Lars Anderson cause beane seems to like him and he's blocked and lost most of his value by now.

[seabeachfred]

Ellsbury and Sweeney.

 

Techically three 700 but Darling Darnell McDogshit is so pathetic at bat, in he field and on the bases that you'd be better playing with eight men and two outfielders. But guess what? He is most likely going to be playing out there and he sucks pure and simple. He is also one of the dumbest players in the game. Injury bug already and we haven't even got to ST yet.

[seabeachfred]

Left fielders

Pat Burrell (35) - Type B, no arbitration offer

Johnny Damon (37)

Jay Gibbons (35)

Jonny Gomes (31)

Carlos Guillen (36)

Bill Hall (32)

Willie Harris (34)

Raul Ibanez (40) - Type B, offered arbitration

Conor Jackson (30)

Austin Kearns (32)

Fred Lewis (31)

Juan Pierre (34) - Type B, no arbitration offer

Ryan Spilborghs (32)

Marcus Thames (35)

 

Center fielders

Rick Ankiel (32)

Yoenis Cespedes (26)

Corey Patterson (32)

Cody Ross (31) - Type B, no arbitration offer

 

Right fielders

Milton Bradley (34)

J.D. Drew (36)

Kosuke Fukudome (35)

Willie Harris (34)

Brad Hawpe (33)

Xavier Nady (33)

Magglio Ordonez (38) - Type B

Cody Ross (31) - Type B, no arbitration offer

Ryan Spilborghs (32)

 

This is the list of All-Stars left in the FA market.

 

Austin Kearns is my choice. I think we would thrive in Boston. Irish, looks like a Kennedy, and a RH hitter with some power. He's the guy I would sign and fast.

[Spitball]

. Stop complaining' date=' you could be a Royals fan, you could be an A's fan.[/quote']

 

I hear what you are saying, but there have been opportunities that we see as frustrating. Why can't Boston sign a Ryan Ludwick who could have platooned with Sweeny? He isn't a team changer, but he would be a cheap, postive gamble. Why not gamble $8 million on Oswalt? We want something.

 

The Yankees gambled on Kuroda who has pitched in the NL. They gambled on Pineda despite being potentially a flyball nightmare in Yankee Stadium. At least they made moves. We want to see some effort after a bad season.

[Spitball]

Austin Kearns is my choice. I think we would thrive in Boston. Irish' date=' looks like a Kennedy, and a RH hitter with some power. He's the guy I would sign and fast.[/quote']

 

No thanks on Kearns. Really.

[a700hitter]

How can we be so strapped that we can't afford Oswalt for 1 season at $8 million, when they so willingly threw $12 million at a pig like Jenks for 2 years of nothing.

[seabeachfred]

I don't know how others feel about this news. I have been trying to get myself prepared for the disappointment of not getting a starting pitcher and starting the season with pitching that is too thin. This was completely unexpected and it was like kick in the balls. Yes' date=' I am a ridiculous emotional fan.[/quote']

 

And according to one poster I'm a brat 700. Pumpsie says he can wait another year or two, but even though I may have to it's been four years and nothing to show for it. I mean we've won nothing the past four seasons. It is starting to look like the 1950's and early 0's all over again along Yawkey Way.

[a700hitter]

Cespedes: Cubs Are Leading Suitors

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [January 17 at 9:20pm CST]

 

Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes says the Cubs are his most serious suitor, according to Dionisio Soldevila of the Associated Press (link via DiarioLibre.com). The free agent outfielder isn’t yet a free agent, but he’s playing Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic and MLB teams continue eyeing him.

 

"Of all the teams who have come, the Chicago Cubs have been most interested in me," Cespedes said.

 

Last week Cespedes said the six teams with "more interest" in signing him were the Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Guardians. The Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays and Rangers also have some interest in Cespedes, but the Nationals aren’t involved. Marlins president David Samson recently acknowledged that his team intends to make an aggressive run at Cespedes, who is represented by Adam Katz of Wasserman Media Group.

[seabeachfred]

What in the world? Your payroll is going to be over 180 million this year... it's up from last year. What do you want? Do you want to have a higher payroll than the Yankees? It's crazy how red sox fans are getting worse than some of these Yankee fans I see on message boards. Just stop man... the red sox will have the second highest payroll unless the angels or phillies sign Fielder' date=' which they won't. Stop complaining, you could be a Royals fan, you could be an A's fan.[/quote']

 

Just what we need right now, some friggin' Yankee fan telling Red Sox fans how to feel and behave. We are in deep s*** Meh; we all know it now save for a couple of holdouts on this board. You rotation and lineup are set; ours is not. You probably mean well but you're patronizing us and it might be pissing some of us off.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

What in the world? Your payroll is going to be over 180 million this year... it's up from last year. What do you want? Do you want to have a higher payroll than the Yankees? It's crazy how red sox fans are getting worse than some of these Yankee fans I see on message boards. Just stop man... the red sox will have the second highest payroll unless the angels or phillies sign Fielder' date=' which they won't. Stop complaining, you could be a Royals fan, you could be an A's fan.[/quote']

 

Never compare us to the devils.

[seabeachfred]

No thanks on Kearns. Really.

 

I've always liked the guy Spitball and think he would do well in Fenway Park, but I respect your difference in opinion. Now you tell me----who do we get because we sure as hell cannot depend on McDogshit and Aviles to handle left field. Aviles is a decent hitter and good infielder and I like the guy but he is new to the outfield and darling Darnell is a liability in the field, on the bases and at bat. Who would you go after?

[iortiz]

Techically three 700 but Darling Darnell McDogshit is so pathetic at bat' date=' in he field and on the bases that you'd be better playing with eight men and two outfielders. But guess what? He is most likely going to be playing out there and he sucks pure and simple. He is also one of the dumbest players in the game. Injury bug already and we haven't even got to ST yet.[/quote']

 

 

Seriously, Crawford and Kalish are likely out a couple of months and this bum is as fresh as a fresh vegetable. There's a say in Spanish "yerba mala nunca muere" in english would be "bad herb never dies", I think

 

 

And according to one poster I'm a brat 700. Pumpsie says he can wait another year or two' date=' but even though I may have to it's been four years and nothing to show for it.[/b'] I mean we've won nothing the past four seasons. It is starting to look like the 1950's and early 0's all over again along Yawkey Way.

 

If true, Hopefully this bridge doesn't collapse

[User Name]

The one HUGE mistake your GM made was letting Seth Smith go to the A's for nothing. I mean you should get on the phone with Beane right now and offer up a B prospect' date=' that way he gets more out of the deal than he gave, just accept you made a mistake. Something like Alex Wilson and maybe Lars Anderson cause beane seems to like him and he's blocked and lost most of his value by now.[/quote']

 

This makes absolutely no sense. Even before the Crawford injury they had three Left Handed OF'ers with two of them having platoon problems. Why would they get ANOTHER LH OF'er who can't hit lefties?

[User Name]

No, they don't.

This is a rebuilding year and the main focus should be to stay under the cap and rebuild. That has to be the strategy IMO. The final record this year does not matter one bit to me as long as they remain under the cap and fix the clubhouse. Thats enough to do for one season.

 

So?

 

They can sign a cheap guy with little to no impact on the cap, like Jonny Gomes et al.

[iortiz]

The one HUGE mistake your GM made was letting Seth Smith go to the A's for nothing. I mean you should get on the phone with Beane right now and offer up a B prospect' date=' that way he gets more out of the deal than he gave, just accept you made a mistake. Something like Alex Wilson and maybe Lars Anderson cause beane seems to like him and he's blocked and lost most of his value by now.[/quote']

 

No my friend. If we go like this, the HUGE mistake would have been to have signed Ortiz. That would have been the dumbest move this offseason.

 

And please do not take me wrong, I like Ortiz but our priorities were somewhere else.

[Spitball]

I've always liked the guy Spitball and think he would do well in Fenway Park' date=' but I respect your difference in opinion. Now you tell me----who do we get because we sure as hell cannot depend on McDogshit and Aviles to handle left field. Aviles is a decent hitter and good infielder and I like the guy but he is new to the outfield and darling Darnell is a liability in the field, on the bases and at bat. Who would you go after?[/quote']

 

When he first came up to the majors, I was very high on Kearns. He was a complete player. Then, he became injury prone. Then, he lost his considerable skills.

 

Look at his career. He is a big guy (6'3" and 235), yet he has not had more than a couple of years in which he has shown much power.

 

Why did Cincinnati trade him? I have talked with some scouts who have observed him and say there are other issues. I think he is a player to stay away from.

 

Who else? I am not sure. Ludwick has not been very good since 2008 but would have been better than Kearns.

[example1]

Color me disappointed. WTF? Crawford out for a bit at the beginning of the season. Christ.

 

No obvious replacements for him.

 

Let's hope for a quick recovery.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I saw that on ESPN during my lunch break at work. I believe it was his left wrist correct? How did he hurt himself?

[Spitball]

Color me disappointed. WTF? Crawford out for a bit at the beginning of the season. Christ.

 

No obvious replacements for him.

 

Let's hope for a quick recovery.

 

McDonald is smiling...but we are not.

[jung]

Key words "At the end of last season". They probably just assumed that since he hadn't said anything that it was all healed and ready to go.

 

Been away from the board for awhile I don't think I explained this well enough.

 

The Sox "decided" not to conduct an MRI at the end of the season. In fact they "decided" not to do anything for a couple of months apparently to see if it would get better on its own. They new this issue was there and decided on a course of action. I just think it was the wrong course of action.

 

Also I don't understand the reluctance to ordering up an MRI for a player. This is at least the second time we have seen the Sox tardy in ordering up an MRI. What do they think.? Do they think the devil lives in there and that the player is going to come out possessed? I just don't get it.

[example1]

At least he should be back for the 2012 season. The same can't be said for Victor Martinez in Detroit. Bummer for him... I always liked V-Mart.

[NativeBostonian]

McDonald is smiling...but we are not.

 

McDonald makes me as sick to my stomach as the fast food place, McDonald's food.

[iortiz]

McDonald makes me as sick to my stomach as the fast food place' date=' McDonald's food. [/quote']

 

[Soxfan1]

How about Cody Ross? Carlos Quentin would have been a nice and reasonably priced snag a while ago.

[Soxfan1]

Getting the Braves to deal Jair and Bourn in a deal would be amazing, and would definitely blow away NYY's deal with Seattle.

[BSN07]

Color me disappointed. WTF? Crawford out for a bit at the beginning of the season. Christ.

 

No obvious replacements for him.

 

Let's hope for a quick recovery.

 

A rush of wanking jokes comes to mind as the reason for his wrist issues.

 

I used to like Crawford. But this guy is doing his best to become my most dis-liked Red Sox player(Jughead Lackey holds that honor at the moment). It's sad that him missing time is probably the best thing he's done since signing with the team(that goes for Lackey too).

 

I'm usually very optimistic about players, I just don't ever see myself warming up to CC. Maybe at some point he will be good enough for me to tolerate. I mean I don't blame the guy for signing with the Sox, I would have taken the money too. I guess I'm more upset with his production and the fact we will lose Jacoby, a far superior player because of his deal.

 

I supported almost everything Theo did while in charge. This is one thing that I may never be able to get over. Most of Theo's FA bumbles stunk, but they didn't hand cuff the team like the Lackey and CC deals have done.

 

Ok, end of rant, everyone enjoy your day

[BSN07]

Getting the Braves to deal Jair and Bourn in a deal would be amazing' date=' and would definitely blow away NYY's deal with Seattle.[/quote']

 

JJ has upside, but I think most people are over rating him. He has injury issues. He reminds me a lot of a young Burnett.

[RedSoxNC84]

Jurrjens does have upside, and he wouldn't be a terrible addition to the team, but there are the injury concerns, that and I personally think he wouldn't perform all that well in the AL East.

[Bellhorn04]

Been away from the board for awhile I don't think I explained this well enough.

 

The Sox "decided" not to conduct an MRI at the end of the season. In fact they "decided" not to do anything for a couple of months apparently to see if it would get better on its own. They new this issue was there and decided on a course of action. I just think it was the wrong course of action.

 

Also I don't understand the reluctance to ordering up an MRI for a player. This is at least the second time we have seen the Sox tardy in ordering up an MRI. What do they think.? Do they think the devil lives in there and that the player is going to come out possessed? I just don't get it.

 

Seriously, the Sox medical people have been criminally inept the last few years. They didn't think there was any point giving Buchholz an MRI last year either until that darn back pain just wouldn't go away on its own. Unbelievable.

[Bellhorn04]

This brings to mind Dr. Thomas Gill's infamous words 'We aren't going to MRI a bruise' which Ellsbury attributed to him. As it turns out Gill may be the single biggest factor in the Red Sox injury problems of 2010-2012. 'We don't MRI bruises' is probably the slogan that sits on his desk. Ellsbury, Pedroia, Buchholz, Crawford...Gill may be the worst sports medical guy in history.

 

My daughter plays high school basketball and before the year they were all sent for MRI's on their knees as a preventative measure. But the Boston Red Sox scrimp on MRI's.