Who is our opening day starter?

[Jack Flap]

You all need some Krampus.

[cp176]

As for the last 60 posts of nonsense: YOU ALL NEED SOME CHRISTMAS SPIRIT.

 

have I just been scrooged?

[a700hitter]

 

When I point out I have always said I loved the Sale trade and never used the term in a vacuum, there's no admitting your confusion. Instead, you accuse me of stepping into an argument that has been going on for weeks. Again, I have zero regrets trading op prospects for Sale. I wouldn't be complaining about the deal, even if we included Swihart. You keep confusing my disgust with the Pom & Kimbrel trades and their affect on our long term future with my position on the Sale trade. They are separate deals.

 

And by the way, every poster has the right to respond to a post made, even if it wasn't directed at them. You do it yourself often enough.

 

You caused the confusion. And I admitted to that. Twice yesterday, you injected yourself in a discussion to argue with me even though you didn't agree with the point that I was arguing against.

 

You need to give it up, not me.

[Wade Boggs]

Ok. Sorry for logging off and on. I'm in work. That is how that goes.

 

IMO I said Sale is the #1. But I would give Porcello the ball. Just out of respect for him winning the Cy Young. The moment I have a chance. I would adjust it...Sale/Porcello/Price/Erod/Wright. If Bucholtz or Pomeranz is traded or gets injured. I guess in the long run it doesn't matter.

[a700hitter]

a700 doesn't "just voice" anything.

 

He constantly misread posts and derides people for his misinterpretations. And then he passes his judgment, tosses in an insult andbthen gets angry at them. And the only thing that makes him angrier is if you do the same thing to him.

 

He does stop thst immature behavior only long enough to alternate posts calling Sandoval a "fat slob" with posts explaining why "fat slob" is a term of endearment.

 

And absolutely, yes, he does start the name calling and childish behavior.

Uh, the name-calling started with you in post #37 with the "judgmental prick" comment directed at me. Read the thread, jackass. Your accuracy rate is about 10%.

[notin]

Why not? It was his day to pitch. He earns his money by pitching well. If he doesn't want to play in a certain uni due to comfort, I believe he has that right. He wanted out and he got out. He clearly made the right call.

 

The Sox always wore the red jerseys for DLowe games. Was he being a bad teammate by wanting to chose the jerseys everyone wore?

 

I can see that point, but I think the issue could also be the manner with which he handled the situation.

 

The counterargument is that he was paid to pitch by the White Sox, and while I would agree that promotional throwback jerseys are pointless, if they want him to wear one, that is part of the job for which they were paying him.

 

Ad Red Sox fans, we may have benefited from his tantrum, so in that respect it worked out...

[mvp 78]

You caused the confusion. And I admitted to that. Twice yesterday, you injected yourself in a discussion to argue with me even though you didn't agree with the point that I was arguing against.

 

You need to give it up, not me.

 

Step 1: Get some Hood Golden Egg Nog

Step 2: Add shots of Spiced Rum to taste

Step 3: Pinch of nutmeg

 

I'd also recommend some cookies to go on the side.

[mvp 78]

I can see that point, but I think the issue could also be the manner with which he handled the situation.

 

The counterargument is that he was paid to pitch by the White Sox, and while I would agree that promotional throwback jerseys are pointless, if they want him to wear one, that is part of the job for which they were paying him.

 

Ad Red Sox fans, we may have benefited from his tantrum, so in that respect it worked out...

 

Did he cover himself in glory? Of course not. I think he was frustrated with the situation and didn't know how to be a leader. I can't see this situation happening the same way in Boston.

[a700hitter]

So is it your opinion that none of the players Dombrowski traded will contribute in the majors during this decade? That's not an attack, but an honest question. You seem pretty hung up on the year 2021 for some reason...is this the arbitrary date when prospects are supposed to arrive?

Honest answer. That is not what I am saying. Several of them will be in the majors in the next year or so. The reason why I refer to 2021 is that's when others are projecting that this team will fall off a cliff. I don't buy into that prediction, and I am content to enjoy the next 3-5 years of teams with lots of top talent.

[a700hitter]

From where I sit, this whole conflagration started because several people were talking about Sale's jersey-cutting incident (and let's be honest, you can think he's an extraordinarily talented pitcher and be ecstatic that we have him and still wonder WTF he was doing there), and a700 responded with a rant about a bunch of people who hate Sale and Price because they pine for the glory days of Ben Cherington and think Dombrowski has ushered in the death of the franchise. Since these crowds of people who keep denouncing the Sale acquisition don't seem to exist, several posters guessed that he might be indirectly talking about them and mischaracterizing their own views and decided to rebut these remarks, and things got overheated and personal from there.

 

I've never had a problem with differing opinions, but I think we all need to be careful not to slip into arguing against straw men or reducing the opinions of those we disagree with to a caricature...and I include myself in that. As you said, we're all fans of the team, and most of the time people's reasons for their stances are a lot more complicated than simply hating Player X and loving Y.

 

Baseball can't come soon enough indeed.

I think that this is as very accurate and comprehensive recap of the back and forth yesterday. That is exactly what happened.

[a700hitter]

Step 1: Get some Hood Golden Egg Nog

Step 2: Add shots of Spiced Rum to taste

Step 3: Pinch of nutmeg

 

I'd also recommend some cookies to go on the side.

Good advice.

[sk7326]

Did he cover himself in glory? Of course not. I think he was frustrated with the situation and didn't know how to be a leader. I can't see this situation happening the same way in Boston.

 

As Bill Barnwell noted, the Sox probably should just run their Saint Patrick's day jersey design past Sale - just to be safe.

[Jack Flap]

Honest answer. That is not what I am saying. Several of them will be in the majors in the next year or so. The reason why I refer to 2021 is that's when others are projecting that this team will fall off a cliff. I don't buy into that prediction, and I am content to enjoy the next 3-5 years of teams with lots of top talent.

 

Fair enough. For what it's worth, I don't see us "falling off a cliff" any time soon, either.

[mvp 78]

As Bill Barnwell noted, the Sox probably should just run their Saint Patrick's day jersey design past Sale - just to be safe.

 

Those jerseys are the same material as the normal ones though and that promotion is in ST.

[sk7326]

Those jerseys are the same material as the normal ones though and that promotion is in ST.

 

The marketing folks should just invent throwback ideas to mess with him.

[mvp 78]

The marketing folks should just invent throwback ideas to mess with him.

 

How soon until this is a commercial for NESN that gets played every 5 minutes?

[sk7326]

How soon until this is a commercial for NESN that gets played every 5 minutes?

 

Wait, it hasn't already?

 

I don't think the Nation can rest until Sale negotiates his first Friday Night Fenway start without incident.

[mvp 78]

Wait, it hasn't already?

 

I don't think the Nation can rest until Sale negotiates his first Friday Night Fenway start without incident.

 

The Wally Wave will be replaced with the Sale Shake.

[a700hitter]

On yesterday's conference call with Porcello, he was asked for the reason behind his turnaround from 2015. He was very forthright about wanting to make a good impression with his new team and that some things didn't go well for him out of the gate and sort of snowballed on him and got in his head. He didn't use the term "snowballed" , but that was the tenor of his remarks. He put a lot of emphasis on the mental aspect of the game and how that can impact your approach and performance. He said that it is easy to let the mental side of the game beat you. A lot of us have been wondering why there has been a pattern of under performance of pitchers in their first season with the Red Sox. We now have an answer for Porcello.

[Wade Boggs]

Not Clay Bucholtz . He's been traded ... Phillies for Josh Tobias 2B.... John Heyman reports. Philadelphia will assume all of the contract.

[Bellhorn04]

On yesterday's conference call with Porcello, he was asked for the reason behind his turnaround from 2015. He was very forthright about wanting to make a good impression with his new team and that some things didn't go well for him out of the gate and sort of snowballed on him and got in his head. He didn't use the term "snowballed" , but that was the tenor of his remarks. He put a lot of emphasis on the mental aspect of the game and how that can impact your approach and performance. He said that it is easy to let the mental side of the game beat you. A lot of us have been wondering why there has been a pattern of under performance of pitchers in their first season with the Red Sox. We now have an answer for Porcello.

 

Yeah, none of this surprises me.

[Kimmi]

Why not? It was his day to pitch. He earns his money by pitching well. If he doesn't want to play in a certain uni due to comfort, I believe he has that right. He wanted out and he got out. He clearly made the right call.

 

The Sox always wore the red jerseys for DLowe games. Was he being a bad teammate by wanting to chose the jerseys everyone wore?

 

I strongly disagree that he has the right to cut up all the jerseys to get his way. That was not his call to make. He has the right to voice his displeasure to the FO or to whomever was in charge of selecting the jerseys, but ultimately he has to do what the owner wants him to do.

 

He let his teammates down by 'getting out of it'.

 

DLowe was not a bad teammate for wanting to choose another jersey. If he pouted and refused to pitch because of it, that would not necessarily make a bad teammate, but he would have been wrong and he would have been letting his team down by not playing.

 

Personally, I think the White Sox brass was wrong to insist on those jerseys, but that still does not excuse Sale's behavior.

[Northern Star]

It's obviously going to be Henry Owens.

[Emp9]

On yesterday's conference call with Porcello, he was asked for the reason behind his turnaround from 2015. He was very forthright about wanting to make a good impression with his new team and that some things didn't go well for him out of the gate and sort of snowballed on him and got in his head. He didn't use the term "snowballed" , but that was the tenor of his remarks. He put a lot of emphasis on the mental aspect of the game and how that can impact your approach and performance. He said that it is easy to let the mental side of the game beat you. A lot of us have been wondering why there has been a pattern of under performance of pitchers in their first season with the Red Sox. We now have an answer for Porcello.

 

so, he couldn't mentally distinguish between his sinker and his fastball?

[a700hitter]

so, he couldn't mentally distinguish between his sinker and his fastball?

LOL! He also mentioned that he was more of a contact pitcher when he was with the Tigers and that he throws more 4 seamers now and fewer sinkers.

[bosoxmal]

Coin Flip

[cp176]

LOL! He also mentioned that he was more of a contact pitcher when he was with the Tigers and that he throws more 4 seamers now and fewer sinkers.

 

He sure as hell threw fewer stinkers than ever before this year. If he really has figure out how to pitch, he could be good for a long long time. He works quickly and had a great command of the plate and strike zone this year.

[SoxnCycles]

There's not a lot else going on right now to talk about, so what's the harm of having a civil discussion about it?

 

If you don't want to join the discussion, then don't.

 

There is no need to attack someone else who does.

 

You should know that I'm one of the most positive posters around, so much so that I've been called a homer or a pollyanna more times than I can count. For anyone to now paint me as a whiner or a negative person is laughable.

 

Perhaps there's a list of acceptable topics.

 

There are still posts about how much Ben C sucked, but don't talk about the job the current GM is doing! LOL

 

You can't make this s*** up...

[a700hitter]

There are no posts about what DD is doing? I think you just made some stuff up.

[mvp 78]

We're about 18 months into DD's tenure. A lot of his moves can't really be measured at the moment and we need to let things play out a little. If Pomeranz never stays healthy, that trade ends up being a blunder no matter how Espinoza turns out. I can't fault DD for the Kimbrel trade or Price signing as both moves were reasonable. The Sale trade seems like his best get yet by trading Kopech away when he was at his peak value for a real ace. They fixed Hanley by moving him to 1st, but still need to do something about Pablo. If he can get Pablo to stay healthy and contribute, it feels the biggest hole the Sox have right now. If he can't stay healthy, they need to get out from under that contract somehow. My real concern about the job he's done this offseason is that I wish he was more active in signing RP's. They are basically replacing Koji, Taz and Ziegler with Thornburg. That seems like a risky strategy to me.