10/2 vs Yankees

[jacksonianmarch]

Soria is a different bird, IMO. He pitched through elbow trouble in 2011 and then had TJS. He should be totally healthy in 2013 and if he reverts to his healthier yrs (ie 2010 and before), then you have an elite closer. If he doesnt, then he gets some run in your middle relief core and Tazawa or Bailey can fight it out

[v2freak]

AGons, Beckett and Punto share the ignominious fate of having been part of the disappointment of two franchises in one season and from what has been posted have not gone unnoticed as having contributed next to nothing positive to the effort by the fans of the Dodgers. LA was three games out of the WC the day of the big trade and today they are.......three games out of the WC while being 250M or so lighter in the pocketbook.

 

While I don't expect LA to have the same kind of visceral reaction to it that Sox fans would have, I do expect that ultimately the day those three bozos showed up in LA will eventually be known as the day the music stopped or something equally depressing for LA fans.

 

I wanted the Dodgers and White Sox to make the playoffs so that at least some former Red Sox players from this season would be playing October ball. It's actually not a consolation at all to me that the Dodgers didn't make it.

 

To me, the only thing that stings is that while Gonzalez stayed the same over there hitting finishing the season very close to .300, Beckett pitched well and didn't do anything stupid. The Sox could have used a pitcher that gets the team into the sixth inning

[jacksonianmarch]

The funniest thing about Beckett is that he pitched to exactly the same WHIP in LA as he did in Boston, but his K rate went up, hence his ERA went down. The thing that was so inexcuseable IMO, about him is the fact that he learned how to pitch last yr with diminished velocity, but this yr, effectively threw both his middle fingers up and said, f*** this, I'm done. He goes to LA, starts mixing his stuff up again and hitting corners and he pitches well. And, he will reinvent himself next yr in LA, just in time for him to start talking extention with Ned Colletti, who I am sure will give him a 17 yr deal worth $37 mil per yr.

[jung]

Beckett isn't and won't be pitching a nit better than he did here. He simply does not have what it takes to pitch in the AL any longer. He will without doubt have more success in the NL but not because he is pitching any better. I expected Agons to have more success in the NL as well, although his diminished power numbers seem to be following him and may likely follow him wherever he goes. Still and all, I think Agons will not be quite the disappointment that he was here. Agons needs to hit it really pure these days to get it out. He should see better pitches to hit and that should yield him a few more HR's per year. Does not really change anything. Neither Beckett nor Agons would have enjoyed success here, just not quite for the same reasons.

[jacksonianmarch]

You had to do the deal you did. I think it was a great trade and gives the sox a chance to hit the reset button this offseason instead of languishing in mediocrity for another 3-4 seasons then resetting. I just think you are going to see a much better Beckett next yr since he is a prima donna who gave up this yr on Boston.

[redsoxfan3]

You had to do the deal you did. I think it was a great trade and gives the sox a chance to hit the reset button this offseason instead of languishing in mediocrity for another 3-4 seasons then resetting. I just think you are going to see a much better Beckett next yr since he is a prima donna who gave up this yr on Boston.

 

I agree. Beckett will be more consistent in the NL and a bigger ballpark. He is almost like a completely different pitcher in L.A. The sad thing is that if he were to stay in Boston, he would still have struggled and underperformed. He did not want to be here and was miserable. We have the payroll to rebuild and to sign free agents that will help us win. No more big contracts, unless it is to a true ace or to lock Ellsbury up long-term. Stay away from Hamilton. If we are going to sign free agents, two to three year contracts will be best. No more 7 year 100+ million contracts.

[jung]

I thought the Sox team deserved a lot of credit for matching the Spanks intensity last night and putting themselves in a position to win the game in the ninth inning. Guys with experience pitching in the 9th are supposed to be able to feed off the intensity of ninth inning baseball. I really don't care what Bailey has had to deal with up to this point. That was a complete fail of incredible proportions.

 

The biggest mistake this organization made between 2011 and 2012 is that it did nothing to make the point that the sort of performances we saw at the end of 2011 were unacceptable. If anything through early 2012 this organization did everything in its power to make what was already bad a total fiasco.

 

Your job is to close, your team makes what I would consider almost a heroic effort to put itself in position to win and you just go out there and simply throw meatballs one after the other. Nope...not for my money. I would dump Bailey in the off season. Don't want to see his fat useless blubber body anywhere near this place next season.

[jung]

I thought the Sox team deserved a lot of credit for matching the Spanks intensity last night and putting themselves in a position to win the game in the ninth inning. Guys with experience pitching in the 9th are supposed to be able to feed off the intensity of ninth inning baseball. I really don't care what Bailey has had to deal with up to this point. That was a complete fail of incredible proportions.

 

The biggest mistake this organization made between 2011 and 2012 is that it did nothing to make the point that the sort of performances we saw at the end of 2011 were unacceptable. If anything through early 2012 this organization did everything in its power to make what was already bad a total fiasco.

 

Your job is to close, your team makes what I would consider almost a heroic effort to put itself in position to win and you just go out there and simply throw meatballs one after the other. Nope...not for my money. I would dump Bailey in the off season. Don't want to see his fat useless blubber body anywhere near this place next season.

[Klare]

How would the situation be for us if we had that Lineup: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzales, Middlebrooks, Ortiz, Crawford,Saltalamacchia, Sweeney, Ciriaco.

[a700hitter]

Your job is to close, your team makes what I would consider almost a heroic effort to put itself in position to win and you just go out there and simply throw meatballs one after the other. Nope...not for my money. I would dump Bailey in the off season. Don't want to see his fat useless blubber body anywhere near this place next season.

We should be able to live without the 40 innings he would contribute.

[jung]

How would the situation be for us if we had that Lineup: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzales, Middlebrooks, Ortiz, Crawford,Saltalamacchia, Sweeney, Ciriaco.

 

Lousy....that's how they would be...lousy. Certainly they would play better than what they have now but they would still be strapped to those miserable contracts with no flexibility and no room to move. That is certainly no murders row for one thing and is more of a roll call of roommates at the hospital ward for another.

 

I suppose if you could get one year of healthy baseball out of that lineup it would be some fun but it would certainly not be any guarantee of going anyplace as it is full of poster children for a lack of timely hitting or even in some cases professional hitting. Mate that bunch to the pitching staff we have had and you would not have won enough games to have gone anywhere.