noonanberg

I would just like to point out that among other things, J.D. Drew is making as much money as.............. Albert Pujols

yeah, thats also what we used to believe about Andy Dominique and Kelly Shoppach and look how they turned out.

yeah, or do that.

personally i've never been a big fan of Tito. i dont think he's a good manager at all and his success in '04 and '05 was more because of a talented team than his managing ability. also, i think guys like Tek, Papi and Schilling kept the team together more than he did. Speaking of Tek maybe when he retires....? but anyways, girardi, wouldnt work in Boston. Why? one player. the same player that is the reason we keep getting soft, useless managers. MANNY RAMIREZ (pedro used to play a part too, but now it's just manny). God forbid anyone upset the almighty manny. girardi is more of a hard lined manager and a little more demanding than tito and he would not work well with manny i dont think. basically the sox wont be able to get a real manager until manny's gone. so we may as well save the money and just throw a wally bean bag on the bench as our manager.

i thought wake got a contract extension? maybe i'm wrong. depending on how he does down the stretch, he has shown a flash or two of his old self since coming off the DL, i wouldn't be opposed to keeping Foulke. after all we could use all the bullpen help we can get, it's not like we're going to be able to get five reliable guys over the summer. i like timlin but he's getting old, let him go. i think crisp deserves another shot, there's not many out there who can really replace him. juan pierre would be a waste in boston, and i dont think he's that great anyway. andruw jones' knee could be an issue. gary matthews may not be bad, but he would probably be more costly. if he's healthy i'd keep Gonzo, although I still say the Sox screwed up big letting OCab go. everyone else can go, altho i'll be sad to see Trot go, but clearly the Sox don't want him anymore. loretta may be worth keeping, unless Pedroia makes a strong case for the position down the stretch. otherwise maybe keep loretta until pedroia steals the job and then trade mark.

hopefully lester gets well soon. good thing he's a young guy. if he does get healthy before the end of the season i say just send him to the minors. let him get some confidence and play with less scrutiny. things just keep getting worse for the poor kid, let's hope he rebounds strong.

well Papi is a big boy, so I'm sure that may play a part in his heart problems, or maybe not it could be genetic or bad luck. either way i hope he gets better. he picked a good time to have the problem, not like we need him anymore. hopefully he gets healthy soon. if i were the sox i would give him plenty of time off. we're barely in the playoff hunt, and papi's long term health is more important than rushing him back trying to help a lost cause.

the worst part is quality catcher's are hard to come by. especially ones that can both catch a good game and be effective at the plate. at this point unless we get lucky with a free agent signing or trade we have to hope we can get even luckier by drafting a catcher with some talent and developing him.

and you wonder why Boston has so many drinkers.......

damn, shoulda swung at that 2-1 pitch

well the good news is both the white sox and twins lost...

i dont know if this is calling it quits yet. i've heard gonzalez is going on the DL so Pedroia will probably replace him. given the way gonzo was hitting that's not a bad thing. hopefully pedroia will spark something. maybe he'll get the veterans playing a little harder knowing that this kid could take one of their jobs. granted loretta is probably one of the hardest workers so he doesn't need to worry i think, but nevertheless bringing this kid up should be good. i too have been looking forward to seeing this kid play and i hope he does well.

here's a crazy suggestion. i don't know how many have heard of him, but how about giving charlie zink a try? zink is pitching in pawtucket and is having a solid year. W L ERA G GS CG SO S IP H R ER HR BB K 8 2 3.82 20 12 0 0 0 94.1 85 45 40 6 54 49 Zink has converted himself to a knuckleballer, but he also has a deeper arsenal which can make him a deadly pitcher once he masters his command a little more. According to bostondirtdogs.com Zink has a low 90s fastball and decent curve. i don't know how zink has been pitching (pitch selection wise) in the minors, but with that arsenal he could be hard to handle. imagine being a batter and having to sit on either the 70 MPH knuckler or the 90 MPH fastball. that wouldn't be fun. from my understanding zink's knuckler isn't as deadly as Wake's, but wake also can't throw the ball 20 MPH harder when he wants to either. zink could be a great bullpen or rotation pitcher who might help the sox. giving their recent woes, i don't see why you wouldn't give him a shot.

Well however hard Meredith was hit, he's not doing bad now. Got the W for the Pads last night. They were saying he's only let up like 4 hits against righties in 54 innings or something ridiculous like that. Those numbers probably aren't exactly right, but whatever they were it was impressive. I guess the key for young Sox talent is to get traded to the Padres.

I'm not jumping off the bus yet because the wild card is still a fair possibility and heck even the AL East could happen by a stroke of luck, however, I don't think the Sox can win with the team they are fielding and way they are playing. I think a few things need to change. First Jason Johnson should never be allowed in a ballgame again. He's brutal. The minute Wakefield gets back he should be sent down. And speaking of Wakefield he is the key. He's been overlooked with all the Varitek talk, but we need him. He can always give you seven innings. He will finally give us a respectable rotation. When Wake comes back, tandem Lester and Snyder. By that I mean let Lester know, hey, we want you to give us at least four good innings. That's it. After that we'll bring in Snyder to get to the bullpen. I think Lester is trying to do too much because he knows how valuable the games are and how much they need him to go deep in games. I don't think that's helping his psyche. Maybe if you tell him he just needs to give four, anything more is a bonus, he'll relax a little more and maybe throw a little better. Then again maybe he won't, but it's at least worth a try because let's face it our fifth starter when Wake comes back is either him, Johnson or Snyder, so take a pick. I just think by utilizing both Lester and Snyder as a combo they may both be more effective. Third, and I'm probably going to get killed for this suggestion, get Willy Mo out of the everyday lineup. Yes, I know he can hit the ball as hard as anyone. And sure, he may be a great power hitter in a couple years, but right now this guy is just a slightly better version of Mark Bellhorn. Put Hinske in right and get someone who can both field and hit. Willy Mo's been costing us in both areas. When lefties are pitching, sure, start Pena, but for righties keep Hinske in. Fourth, give Foulke the set up role. Let's face it Timlin and Hansen can't do it. Delcarmen is off and on. Just go with Foulke, he can't do any worse than anybody else, and maybe just maybe he'll do better. Maybe he'll actually keep the leads at 2 & 3 so Papelbon doesn't have to save games with the bases loaded in the eighth, or with two on and no outs in the ninth like it seems he does way to often. If Foulke fails all you are is where we've been all along. Fifth, like this would ever happen, Francona needs to start getting creative. Do you know why the Yankees win? Because, minus when ARod is batting, they don't ground into many double plays. They get runners in scoring position whenever they can. And they get those runners home however they have to. Francona doesn't even try. The stupid Sox mentality of no stealing has got to go. Crisp should have 20+ steals right now. Gonzalez should be in double digits. You can even steal with a few no namers every once in a while. It could work. But it's not just steals. Bunting. Move runners more. Hell, have Ortiz bunt now and again and give many someone to knock in. Hit and runs with the bases loaded. Suicide squeezes. Whatever. Do something besides hunch over in the dugout and spit seeds. Yeah, I know those things I just mention don't always work, but no one expects us to do some of them either. Why not chance it? The batters aren't doing a good enough job of knocking the runs in themselves (as evidenced by this weekend's disgraceful LOB total). Try to get those runs across anyway you can because the bullpen needs a five run lead at least just to have a chance. Most of all, the players need to want it and I don't think that's been the case. The Yankees win because they don't want to lose. The Sox win because they had a good day. That's the difference between the playoffs and an early off- season. Schilling wants to win. Lowell wants to win. Papi and Paps want to win. Loretta wants to win. Youkilis wants to win. Everyone else just wants to not lose. Not to surprising that everyone else is usually the reason we do lose.