2011-2012 Offseason Thread

[jacksonianmarch]

Alright, I have a theoretical for you guys. Right now, the sox have their rotation filled in in pencil. They seem to be content but are obviously searching for options. Let's add some instability.

 

Let's say Buchholz goes to throw for the first time this offseason and starts having back pain again. Let's say there is no timetable, but he's going to miss a significant amount of regular season time. What do they do? And....go

[iortiz]

Hey my good friend' date=' I'm taking a hiatus until tomorrow. Going to the movies to see the new Liam Neeson flick about the wolves. Knowing my love of canines, I'll probably be rooting for them over the pale faces. Have a great evening.[/quote']

 

Have fun Fred, enjoy the movie.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Come on 305' date=' we're all GM's on this board, real wannabes. That's part of the fun. Besides, don't you want to see some real passion from a "real Red Sox fan like me"?[/quote']

 

....rofl

[jacksonianmarch]

cmon guys, lets give a theoretical here.

[Bellhorn04]

Alright, I have a theoretical for you guys. Right now, the sox have their rotation filled in in pencil. They seem to be content but are obviously searching for options. Let's add some instability.

 

Let's say Buchholz goes to throw for the first time this offseason and starts having back pain again. Let's say there is no timetable, but he's going to miss a significant amount of regular season time. What do they do? And....go

 

Whoever's throwing the ball the best out of the retread gang-Padilla, Silva, Cook etc.

[Elktonnick]

cmon guys' date=' lets give a theoretical here.[/quote']

 

Their options are few. Other than bringing someone up for Pawtucket, their only other option is the Paul Bryd type plan sign a FA. That's the Wakefioeld scenario that has been mentioned

[iortiz]

By Mark Polishuk [January 28 at 9:05pm CST]

SATURDAY, 9:05pm: Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers will meet with Oswalt on Monday, assuming he's still a free agent by then. Fraley reiterates that Texas has not made the right-hander an offer.

 

[jung]

I suspect he will still be a FA by Monday. Oswalt seems to be having such a hard time finding a place and a price he likes it seems to me that he is likely to at least hear what Texas has to say. Heck it is a day or two at this point.

[jacksonianmarch]

From the sounds of it, an agreement is in place, but he has to pass a physical. Nothing is official until he passes a physical, which he very well may fail

[jung]

Why did something else happen on Oswalt tonight Jackson. Last I saw the Cards and everybody else had backed way off today. Did something more happen tonight?

[jacksonianmarch]

Why did something else happen on Oswalt tonight Jackson. Last I saw the Cards and everybody else had backed way off today. Did something more happen tonight?

 

Edes is saying that they are "close to an agreement". Other sources are saying they have an agreement, he just needs to pass a physical. He turned down $10 mil from the Tigers. Sufficed to say, he's gonna sign in the NL and the Cards are a logical stopping ground

[iortiz]

mmm... Let's say that he goes to STL and he performs solid. How long/much could be this future-contract? How old is he?... He announced his retirement a month ago, didn't he?...sox and STL already offered 5 M (according with media) and now he just refused 10 M?... c'mon!

 

My point is... Out there are a lot of contradictions about Oswalt.

[jung]

Well all the folks that said that Oswalt and the Cards had an agreement earlier in the day have retracted that and if the most recent reports suggesting that the Cards are trying to sign him as a relief pitcher are true, I would say they are a long way from signing him.

[a700hitter]

Well I hope you did a better job with your daughter than I did with mine when it comes to rooting for a baseball team. My daughter is an Angels Fan and so is my wife' date=' my son-in-law, his three brothers and three sisters-in-law, his mom and dad, and six of the grandkids including my now six year old grandaughter. Only my three year old grandson stands in the way of making me totally isolated at 18-1.. If I can bring Kyle along I will only be out-gunned 17-2. Pretty bad, huh?:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown[/quote']

It sounds like you have a nice big family. My daughter doesn't much care for baseball, but with me as her Dad and her boyfriend who is also a Sox fan she leans that way. My son is a Sox fan in his blood. I got lucky with that. He and I have taken in a bunch of games together. He makes most road trips to Fenway with me every season and he joined me three times in spring training.

[a700hitter]

Where on Long Island? I've lived on Long Island my whole life.

Massapequa. Where are you at?

[a700hitter]

How can that be true if a lot of people are throwing the white flag?

I don't think anyone has thrown in the white flag. We all just want a starting pitcher.

[a700hitter]

UN, it is easy for people to be both down on the sox and up. The optimists point to the fact that they were the best team in baseball for a 120 game stretch and the fact that they should start out the yr healthy. The pessimists look at the fact that they crumbled down the stretch because their pitching fell apart and as it stands, they've either gone backwards or stood pat compared to last yr. I dont think you can kill someone for being a pessimist, just like the pessimists shouldnt kill you for being optimistic.

 

Realistically, the sox have a bruising lineup, an average pen, and a starting rotation with the potential to be the best in the game but lacks true depth, lacks durability and proven back end performance. If things break right, they're in the playoffs. If things break wrong, it's a lost season. If they break about even, though, that's where the worriers are worrying. If you only lose one pitcher from your rotation for a substantial period of time (it happens to everyone), then what are your options? If you lose one position player for a prolonged period of time, what are the contingencies? (You're already down Crawford for the beginning). If healthy, the sox are world series caliber. But they havent been truly healthy in 3 seasons and return a similar cast of characters.

This objective and accurate.

[a700hitter]

I don't have a bias. Believe whatever you want to, but I sure don't. There has been plenty of times I've agreed with you, and plenty of times I have not. I don't try to stir anything up at all, and I certainly don't have negative views. That negative view s*** is just something you made up right now. For an example of this you can go back and look at my posts from the regular season and see how many times I disagreed with a700 and clashed with him, yet now I pretty much I agree with him.

 

And there is no solution because there is no problem. At least there isn't a problem for the people on this board who like to discuss things without getting so disgruntled over what others believe.

 

And no, I won't tell you to shut the f*** up or any of that garbage because I won't stoop to the same level you have of calling people idoits or acting condescending just because I don't agree. Believe whatever you want, that is fine, but stop getting on people's ass and acting pretentious just because they think differently than you.

Yep, you have definitely slammed me at times when you have disagreed with me, but you don't hold grudges and neither do I. You call'em as you see them. If people don't like that then they shouldn't be here. Posters may clash over issues, but it's not personal, and we move on.

[a700hitter]

....ok. You've been told multiple times by multiple posters that the names weren't funny. They're not creative either. It's hard to focus on the content when their isn't much. Yes you do lay out what you think is wrong with the team but then you go acting like you're a GM' date=' when in reality, you're not.[/quote']I like the nicknames. Most of them are corny, but they make me laugh. Fred is a Brooklyn guy and so am I, and everyone in Brooklyn had at least one nickname. They were very colorful, but not necessarily flattering. No one got upset about it. Here people get upset about funny nicknames about guys that wouldn't say hello to any of us if they passed us on the street. I don't get it. :dunno: Let Fred be himself and read his posts for the substance if you can't appreciate the entertainment value that he tries to work into his posts.

[a700hitter]

Alright, I have a theoretical for you guys. Right now, the sox have their rotation filled in in pencil. They seem to be content but are obviously searching for options. Let's add some instability.

 

Let's say Buchholz goes to throw for the first time this offseason and starts having back pain again. Let's say there is no timetable, but he's going to miss a significant amount of regular season time. What do they do? And....go

This is an Armageddon scenario, but one that is definitely possible, because they never determined what caused the stress fracture last year. If it is just his delivery that caused it, that could be a big problem. This possibility is a major reason why they need to solidify the rotation. With our current roster, we would be screwed. There is no quality depth at all. We'd be rolling out an assortment of bums, pig, misfits and losers every fifth day and losing almost all of those games while straining the bullpen for the other games.

[a700hitter]

With regard to the issue of compensation for Theo, Selig has said:

he'd like to have it done as quickly as possible. He said he gave the clubs more latitude in hopes they'd reach an agreement, but they couldn't. Selig said now it's his decision.

My inside source are telling me that we will get Bartman.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I like the nicknames. Most of them are corny' date=' but they make me laugh. Fred is a Brooklyn guy and so am I, and everyone in Brooklyn had at least one nickname. They were very colorful, but not necessarily flattering. No one got upset about it. Here people get upset about funny nicknames about guys that wouldn't say hello to any of us if they passed us on the street. I don't get it. :dunno: Let Fred be himself and read his posts for the substance if you can't appreciate the entertainment value that he tries to work into his posts.[/quote']

 

Hard to evaluate someone's post with such immature nicknames. I can't take someone seriously like that. Maybe if he'd stop with the names people would take him more seriously.

[a700hitter]

Hard to evaluate someone's post with such immature nicknames. I can't take someone seriously like that. Maybe if he'd stop with the names people would take him more seriously.

He's an experienced guy with a lot of knowledge about the game and at age 71 he is still a fired up passionate fan of the sport. People need to read around the nicknames if they don't find them funny. There's a lot of knowledge behind those posts. He's not always right and he is the first to admit it. His posts are not offensive to other posters, so we shouldn't have a problem with him. If Benny feels slighted or insulted and asks Fred to stop, i am sure that he would.

 

Seriously, in this age of reality TV where everyone is savaging each other and trying to outdo each other by acting like trash, are nicknames like Cherries Jubilee such an issue for people. How about getting the Jersey Shore and the Housewives of Where-ever-the-hell off the air? That s*** is offensive and will cause a loss of brain cells.

[iortiz]

He's an experienced guy with a lot of knowledge about the game and at age 77 he is still a fired up passionate fan of the sport. People need to read around the nicknames if they don't find them funny. There's a lot of knowledge behind those posts. He's not always right and he is the first to admit it. His posts are not offensive to other posters, so we shouldn't have a problem with him. If Benny feels slighted or insulted and asks Fred to stop, i am sure that he would.

 

Seriously, in this age of reality TV where everyone is savaging each other and trying to outdo each other by acting like trash, are nicknames like Cherries Jubilee such an issue for people. How about getting the Jersey Shore and the Housewives of Where-ever-the-hell off the air? That s*** is offensive and will cause a loss of brain cells.

 

Mike and Fred are great guys, I bet that if Fred join us in July, Mike and him will be very good friends, and who knows? Probably he could teach us some nicknames.

[RedSoxNC84]

Also' date=' "Red Sox Nation" is complete ********.[/quote']

 

I was using that more in the sense of unity, not the actual marketing gimmick the Sox and MLB have put on it. I meant that strictly as we are fans of the same team, we're supposed to be on the same side here.

 

Alright, I have a theoretical for you guys. Right now, the sox have their rotation filled in in pencil. They seem to be content but are obviously searching for options. Let's add some instability.

 

Let's say Buchholz goes to throw for the first time this offseason and starts having back pain again. Let's say there is no timetable, but he's going to miss a significant amount of regular season time. What do they do? And....go

 

Chances are they will bring up one of the retreads, I'm assuming it will be Padilla since he seems to have the most upside out of the bunch, that or maybe they give someone like Tazawa a shot, which I would like to see actually. I wouldn't be surprised to see guys like him or Bowden on the roster later.. perhaps only in a bullpen capacity, but nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised either way.

 

As long as we don't have Miller out there every fifth day, it might not be so bad.

 

I like the nicknames. Most of them are corny' date=' but they make me laugh. Fred is a Brooklyn guy and so am I, and everyone in Brooklyn had at least one nickname. They were very colorful, but not necessarily flattering. No one got upset about it. Here people get upset about funny nicknames about guys that wouldn't say hello to any of us if they passed us on the street. I don't get it. :dunno: Let Fred be himself and read his posts for the substance if you can't appreciate the entertainment value that he tries to work into his posts.[/quote']

 

This is something else I don't understand. I know a lot of you want to be completely serious while talking baseball, but I just don't understand how the nicknames and such are really all that annoying.. They are silly and corny, but that just seems to be part of SBF's character. I see he gets really emotional on occasion and sometimes says some off the wall things, but he's entitled to his opinion, as are the rest of us... I know it's others opinion that the nicknames keep him from being taken seriously, but I'm sure there are much bigger things around here to worry about..

[example1]

With regard to the issue of compensation for Theo, Selig has said:

My inside source are telling me that we will get Bartman.

 

I heard Bartman has a cannon and can strikeout from both sides of the plate.

[example1]

cmon guys' date=' lets give a theoretical here.[/quote']

 

Hope Bard pitches like a #3, bring up flotsam or jetsam from the pen/minors, continue to have one of the best offenses in baseball and be happy it is theoretically April. Seriously. This team is better than most on offense alone. They would be ok. Not WS winners, but ok, with a system to trade and time to do it.

[RedSoxNC84]

Worst case scenario:

 

Buchholz goes down with back pain again. Miller takes the ball in his place. Miller puts up a 5 ERA, while only being able to strike out Josh Hamilton, and no one else.

 

Beckett hyperextends his knee before the AS break, Silva takes the ball in his place.

 

Bard manages to go 90 innings before starting to complain about elbow stiffness.

 

Padilla beans every Yankees batter in the lineup in the first inning of his first start against them, and subsequently gets into a fist fight with Bobby V.

 

David Ortiz forgets how to hit LHP, and puts up another lackluster season.

 

Carl Crawford gets upset because Terry Francona criticizes his batting stance on baseball tonight, he soon after is on the DL with a vagina sprain.

 

Matt Albers has a great first half, but then he remembers that he's Matt Albers.

 

am i missing anything yet?

[iortiz]

Hope Bard pitches like a #3' date=' bring up flotsam or jetsam from the pen/minors, continue to have one of the best offenses in baseball and be happy it is theoretically April. Seriously. This team is better than most on offense alone. They would be ok. Not WS winners, but ok, with a system to trade and time to do it.[/quote']

 

I do not want to start a fight, but right now, do you really think that we are above NY, TEX, LAA and DET on paper?... IMO, right now and going like this, at very most, I see this team fighting with TB for the 5,6 spot in the AL. :dunno:

[Divinity]

Massapequa. Where are you at?

 

Ah, I'm a ways bit east, in Westhampton.