So you're the Sox' GM...What's your plan?

[a700hitter]

Well' date=' you watched him for 143 games and 403 PAs in Boston. I don't remember you thinking he was a very good major leaguer at the time.[/quote']Two points:

 

1. I always gave very positive reports about Reddick from the first Spring Training that I saw him. The only question with Reddick was whether he could be consistent enough to stay at this level. He certainly had the tools. If you are going to take a shot at me, try to get it right.

 

2. Rather than try to play gotcha with me try addressing the real issue. The real issue is whether the FO made a mistake. It doesn't matter what the fans thought in assessing whether a move was right or wrong. It has proved to be wrong, and it was the FO that made the mistake.

[a700hitter]

With hindsight, everyone wanted to keep Reddick.

The issue isn't whether the fans wanted to keep him. The answer is whether the trade was a mistake. The answer to that is pretty clear.

[jung]

It is time to face up to the fact that the real mistake in Redick for Bailey/Sweeney was in thinking that the Sox had any kind of a chance this year that suggested they needed to trade for a proven closer.

 

If there is one lesson that should come out of this season (and in truth there are many) it is that if you don't have much of a team to begin with, who you have closing is hardly something that should come up on the radar screen and most definitely is not something worth trading a fully developed prospect for. Reddick was ready to play at the ML level or certainly within months of it. Does anybody think Bailey would have made much of a difference in this team? If you still think that, wait about twenty more games....that should just about do it.

 

If you look at what the bulk of teams do for a closer....it basically amounts to picking somebody and that is what the Sox ultimately did this year. When you are only playing better than four or five other teams in baseball, just picking somebody would have been just as good as anything. This team looked doomed from the start and should have held onto its developed and underdeveloped prospects for the same reason we want them to hold onto them now.

[example1]

Two points:

 

1. I always gave very positive reports about Reddick from the first Spring Training that I saw him. The only question with Reddick was whether he could be consistent enough to stay at this level. He certainly had the tools. If you are going to take a shot at me, try to get it right.

 

2. Rather than try to play gotcha with me try addressing the real issue. The real issue is whether the FO made a mistake. It doesn't matter what the fans thought in assessing whether a move was right or wrong. It has proved to be wrong, and it was the FO that made the mistake.

 

A bit defensive, are we a700?

 

I remember you liking Reddick's power. I also think the FO made a mistake moving Reddick. That's obvious now. What wasn't obvious was that Reddick would become a 30+ HR star. It just wasn't. It wasn't obvious to front offices, it wasn't obvious to scouts, it wasn't obvious to me and, as I pointed out, it wasn't obvious to you.

 

Hard to hold people to impossible standards. Yes, it was a mistake to trade him, but was it a preventable mistake given what people knew about him at the time? In the real world (where decisions happen in real-time with finite information) it is hard to say it was something they should have known better about. That's all I was saying.

 

Don't get your panties in a bunch man, it's not that big a deal. Even with Josh Reddick this team is likely still in its current spot.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Trade Shoppach, make Lavarnway the backup C.

 

Trade Punto, Aviles is the new utility player, call up Iglesias. Aviles has a .678 OPS. I'm sure will see a drop off in production, but I mean really, is there really a difference between a .678 ops and a .600 or .595 ops?? To me, I want the glove if we are getting next to nothing from the bat, and that's what Aviles has given us.

 

Listen on Beckett, but he's going to have to get around equal return. I'm not just dumping him unless someone picks up his entire salary, which I don't see happening.

 

Send Crawford to have his surgery, and see if you can swap bad contracts with another team (Werth?) during the offseason. If you can get Crawford in a situation where he is able to return for the 1st game of the year next year, you will have a better chance of trading him in the offseason. I agree with UN? to go get Werth and see if the Nats will make that deal. Werth is the middle of the order RH power bat that we could use. Crawford would likely be a much better player in an open left field in a less pressure market.

 

Get the youngsters some reps and iron out some of the kinks. And trade for an ace this offseason, that's the#1 goal this offseason.

 

We really should stick Morales back into the rotation and see exactly what we have with him at the end of this season.

[SoxSport]

After reading a few tweets today, I think the next thing that will happen is V will quit. There is indeed a power struggle with the front office through Reinhold, the trainer--who has veto power over who plays and doesn't play. Crawford isn't playing today because of Reinhold--but is it really the front office exerting its authority on the manager?

 

The Red Sox have coaches like Tuck and some holdover players--who were laughing with Francona today in the locker room. Crawford came in, and immediately left. The holdover coaches are anti-V.

 

This club has deep, deep division problems that a trade or two isn't going to solve.

 

Valentine should get the hell out of that environment before he loses his health.

[a700hitter]

A bit defensive, are we a700?

 

I remember you liking Reddick's power. I also think the FO made a mistake moving Reddick. That's obvious now. What wasn't obvious was that Reddick would become a 30+ HR star. It just wasn't. It wasn't obvious to front offices, it wasn't obvious to scouts, it wasn't obvious to me and, as I pointed out, it wasn't obvious to you.

 

Hard to hold people to impossible standards. Yes, it was a mistake to trade him, but was it a preventable mistake given what people knew about him at the time? In the real world (where decisions happen in real-time with finite information) it is hard to say it was something they should have known better about. That's all I was saying.

 

Don't get your panties in a bunch man, it's not that big a deal. Even with Josh Reddick this team is likely still in its current spot.

It was mistake, and I am cranky watching a team out of the race in July in a season when there is a new playoff spot available. First, it doesn't matter what I would do. I don't run the team. Second, I never would have tabbed the injury prone Bailey to be Papelbon's replacement. In my bold predictions before he got hurt i predicted that he would end the season with surgery. My bad, he started the season that way. I am not holding anyone to "impossible standards." I am just evaluating Benny's record. The trade bombed. It doesn't matter how anyone thought it would turn out when they made the trade, because a trade or acquisition is evaluated after the fact based on whether or not it worked out. By your definition, no one would ever make a bad trade as long as they had reason to believe it would work out and some other people agreed with them. That's not the way it works. I don't think a GM would intentionally make a move that they thought was a bad move. That would be insane. Reddick's live bat was not unknown to scout's. His consistency was in question. Bailey's elbow problems were well known too. At the time of the trade, it could have gone either way. Reddick could have ended up in the minors and Bailey could have saved 35 games. It didn't work out that way. The trade worked very well for the A's, but bombed for the Sox. The results matter. When Benny makes moves that turn out well, he'll get credit like he has with Ross. Ross's season has been better than expected, but Benny still gets credit for it. IMO, his duds outweigh the good moves, and he did nothing to address the starting pitching. That is his biggest demerit IMO. He did not address the teams biggest need in any meaningful way. Dice K, Cook, Ohlendorf and padilla were not depth for starting pitching. Padilla has done a good job in the pen, but none of them panned out as starters,and that was completely foreseeable.

[jung]

We are all cranky. It happens....just so much of this anybody can take. The Sox from top to bottom are so dead set it seems on ripping us today...stinging us tomorrow and bitting us the next day.

 

They are leaving us with nothing this time...stripping us right to the bone. Think you have a baseball team? No, you have an oddly and poorly matched collection of malcontents combined with guys to young to know better wondering if this is really what a career in baseball amounts to with an occasional solid sort thrown in for a little variety. Apparently the older guys can't squeeze their own everyday wants and desires enough to the sidelines to figure out who is pitching against them today cause they don't go to the plate with any different idea from one day to the next each at bat taking on a sameness that you would think one had to work at to perfect. The younger guys are the guys I really feel for as they have another year of wondering what in Gods name this really is.

 

Think you have a FO that can right the ship? No, you have the left overs from TheoWorld, that fantasy land where you don't pay for your mistakes but just keep making the same one over and over and over again. Some would call that a nightmare but I guess if you can get paid thousands of dollars to do it and then bump off to a new city promotion in hand it is more like a lottery ticket that keeps hitting every week. Heck do the same thing enough times badly and it looks like the right thing to do after awhile. BC probably spends all his time trying to figure out how to play the same parlay.

 

Think you have an ownership and upper management group that will rip though this facade and make the wrongs right? No, you have a bunch of carpetbaggers intent on using the good name of the Boston Red Sox to ply their wares on an unsuspecting and ever hopeful clientele .....bats, balls, bricks hell you name it we will slap the Red Sox logo across the front of it and treble the price or we will outfit our players in it for one game or one season or something in between prompting you to buy it to keep your collection whole and current. What is next...Sox of red plaid....sure lets do plaid...we have not had that one yet.

 

The Boston Red Sox have even found a way to defy gravity. Here in Boston s*** does not even roll downhill. s*** flows in circles, the players to the front office, from the front office to the owners, and from the owners to the fans and back around again the circle keeps feeding itself and feeding on itself at the same time. Einstein would be proud...must be all these universities in close proximity.

[iortiz]

It was mistake' date=' and I am cranky watching a team out of the race in July in a season when there is a new playoff spot available. First, it doesn't matter what I would do. I don't run the team. Second, I never would have tabbed the injury prone Bailey to be Papelbon's replacement. In my bold predictions before he got hurt i predicted that he would end the season with surgery. My bad, he started the season that way. I am not holding anyone to "impossible standards." I am just evaluating Benny's record. The trade bombed. It doesn't matter how anyone thought it would turn out when they made the trade, because a trade or acquisition is evaluated after the fact based on whether or not it worked out. By your definition, no one would ever make a bad trade as long as they had reason to believe it would work out and some other people agreed with them. That's not the way it works. I don't think a GM would intentionally make a move that they thought was a bad move. That would be insane. Reddick's live bat was not unknown to scout's. His consistency was in question. Bailey's elbow problems were well known too. At the time of the trade, it could have gone either way. Reddick could have ended up in the minors and Bailey could have saved 35 games. It didn't work out that way. The trade worked very well for the A's, but bombed for the Sox. The results matter. When Benny makes moves that turn out well, he'll get credit like he has with Ross. Ross's season has been better than expected, but Benny still gets credit for it. IMO, his duds outweigh the good moves, and he did nothing to address the starting pitching. That is his biggest demerit IMO. He did not address the teams biggest need in any meaningful way. Dice K, Cook, Ohlendorf and padilla were not depth for starting pitching. Padilla has done a good job in the pen, but none of them panned out as starters,and that was completely foreseeable.[/quote']

 

We all have seen tons of good trades in other teams and a sea of possibilities in order to improve this team in the recent years and seems that our front office simply had "bad luck" . We had bad luck with Melancon. We had bad luck with Lackey. We had bad luck with Jenks. We had bad luck with Crawford. We had bad luck Bailey. We had bad luck with D-K..... Bad Luck, Bad Luck.

 

What would be my plan?.

 

Bring Friedman and let him rebuild this team... And please, Get rid of LL.

[BornToRun]

Trade Shoppach, make Lavarnway the backup C.

 

Trade Punto, Aviles is the new utility player, call up Iglesias. Aviles has a .678 OPS. I'm sure will see a drop off in production, but I mean really, is there really a difference between a .678 ops and a .600 or .595 ops?? To me, I want the glove if we are getting next to nothing from the bat, and that's what Aviles has given us.

 

Listen on Beckett, but he's going to have to get around equal return. I'm not just dumping him unless someone picks up his entire salary, which I don't see happening.

 

Send Crawford to have his surgery, and see if you can swap bad contracts with another team (Werth?) during the offseason. If you can get Crawford in a situation where he is able to return for the 1st game of the year next year, you will have a better chance of trading him in the offseason. I agree with UN? to go get Werth and see if the Nats will make that deal. Werth is the middle of the order RH power bat that we could use. Crawford would likely be a much better player in an open left field in a less pressure market.

 

Get the youngsters some reps and iron out some of the kinks. And trade for an ace this offseason, that's the#1 goal this offseason.

 

We really should stick Morales back into the rotation and see exactly what we have with him at the end of this season.

 

I really like these suggestions. Contrary to popular belief, we are still in decent shape for the next few years. Add a piece here and there and do some tweaking and we are set to compete in 2013.

 

I'm very excited to see what happens with this team in the coming offseason.

[jung]

They have some good pieces but don't have a team and that is the real problem. Clearly within that mix the starting pitching is the biggest issue.

 

Moving Beckett is such an issue....but whether they move him or not they still need a top of the rotation guy.

 

If they are able to get a top of the rotation guy, and Lester can come around in the off season, the way Buch is going maybe their starting pitching issues can be turned around. I still want Beckett gone cause the combined weight of Lackey and Beckett is crushing and Lackey is not going anywhere. However if you have a real deal #1 who is a leader in every sense maybe even the combined weight of Beckett and Lackey can be mitigated to enough of a degree.

 

Beyond that, this "team" does not help each other. The way it is constructed forces its deficiencies to have an additive effect.

 

I almost don't care what it takes, they have to do a better job at run prevention. At this point I would keep Ortiz cause he has proven he can hit and is in fact the best hitter the Sox have. Keeping Ortiz gives them a luxury I think allowing them to at least be strong up the middle defensively. They can afford to have a Ciriaco at SS or even an Iggy at SS. In point of fact, I don't think they can afford not to have a really good defensive SS. Their pitching will still likely have some question marks and as debilitating as pitching giving up early runs is to the offense, the defense giving the opposition extra outs is very debilitating to the pitching staff. Give me a plus defensive SS at least...somebody that not only makes all the plays he should make but also occasionally makes plays he has no business making....plays that bail his pitcher and his team out. Give me a SS that the staff is thankful to have. At no other position in baseball is that more possible than at SS.

 

Then at catcher keep Shop and bring up Lavs. Here I am speaking out of turn because I have seen nothing of Lavs since he left here last year. I guess I would reserve judgement on this one hoping that he comes up in September and we can see what he has. Assuming he is at least as good as Salty defensively, I would like Shop and Lavs to be our catchers next year. Salty is another guy that under the right circumstances might bring us something in return.

 

If Iggy is the SS, Ciriaco becomes our utility infielder. Punto and Aviles are gone.

 

Unless somebody gives me a deal I have to take on Ells, just keep him until his contract runs out and let nature and Boris take their course. Bradley can't be far off by 2014 anyway. Try to move Crawford if possible but I don't think there is a way to make it happen. We keep hoping to pull something off with the Marlins but I think they want to dump salary so all of these Rayes for Crawford deals and Hamram for Crawford deals don't work cause I don't think the Marlins think much of Crawford's play, this injury issue with Crawford has gotten totally out of hand, the result being I just think they want the Sox to take to much Salary on Crawford.

 

If somebody wants to do a deal for Ross that rewards me for being a seller in a sellers market I do it. If not I would be happy to have Ross next year assuming I can sign him.

[SoxSport]

Very true' date=' last night while watching YES, they said on the broadcast that the Sox were going after Jose Reyes in exchange for maybe Crawford. No joke.[/quote']

 

In their dreams.