SchillingIsTheNatural

I think its the new computer language. I have seen people who talk that way all the time on the internet. Most of the time I see it on AOL instant messenger. Its real confusing and annoying. Thank god this forum does a great job keeping them out.

I guess everyone hates certain players and thats fine. My personal thing though is I never hated Roger Clemens. He was my favorite pitcher when he was with Boston and it broke my heart to see him go and hear the comments from Dan Douchebag. It wasn't like he pitched bad for us his last two seasons. His record wasn't great but I've always believed the pitchers record is the most overrated stat anyways. He can't control what the offense did or what the bullpen did....and at the time they all sucked. More than anything I hate the fact we gave up on Clemens then turned around and signed Pedro Martinez. How would life have been for us had we included Clemens in future plans. A 1-2 punch of Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. Thats the kinda of stuff that pisses me off....the opportunity we had to win more World Series and instead we barf it up.

If he comes here and starts winning games (and he would) then you guys will be eating your words. I don't care what happened in the past because to be honest...we were the ass holes not Roger Clemens. It was the Red Sox that screwed everything up and Clemens was the victim. It would be a truely amazing story to a final chapter in a amazing career as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. As an update...Lucchino, Henry, Epstein, and Hendrickson are all very silent on the situation which usually means a good thing.

Maybe we would have older pitchers but whats the draw back?? Clearly the one thing to be worried about is age. Considering our depth we have nothing to worry about when it comes to pitching depth... If any of them miss time due to injury then we have backup plans. Besides we are talking about Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Tim Wakefield, and maybe David Wells.....three hall of famers and one guy who knows how to pitch for Boston better than anyone. I wouldn't be worried about the age of the rotation considering we still have young guys coming up behind them.

I agree with that but none the less...I would rather see him feast on bad pitching than stuggle against bad pitching. I have no problems if people want to get excited and I hope Alex Gonzalez can get excited...perhaps let this carry over to the MLB.

If we are talking about a one year deal I would certainly take Mark Loretta over Robinson Cano. My reasons: Robinson Cano needs to learn how to walk, he swings at everything and although he doesn't strikeout a ton I would imagine he drives some people crazy swinging at bad pitches. His OBP would be much higher if he would hold himself back a little and read the pitches. I think he could develop this over some time but even in the minors its what he did. Certainly I'm not saying his career is stuck that way. The biggest reason...defense. Loretta is an excellent defensive player. His fielding % is always high, he doesn't make a lot of errors, he is simply someone you can depend on. Everytime a ball gets hit toward Cano you have to hold your breathe. Because of his age he makes a lot of mental mistakes. Again he may not be that way his whole career but I see a lot of Alfonso Soriano in the field when I watch him.

if Theo gets this wrapped up he is a god. Goes to collect Curt Schilling and then has a chance to pick up Roger Clemens. My god could you imagine the starting rotation with Clemens, Schilling, and Beckett....perhaps Wells would have a change of heart and want to stay cause I think he is friends with Schill and Clemens

I won't go that far. Felix Rodriguez is 19 years old and a very rare talent. I was impressed with Santana in the playoffs when he farted all over the Yanks. Perhaps there is no way they deal Santana but if they don't throw some top names in the mix then its a bad deal for us. Don't forget (like so many others do) we are talking about one of the premier hitters in the MLB. The Angles are loaded with young talent and could afford to move some while not losing there team.

Steven Shell not Scott Shell....I didn't see Scott Shields name but it should be in there.

not sure if this was posted but the latest rumor of Manny to the Angels is coming from mlbtraderumors. Red Sox receive Steven Shell, Kelvim Escobar, Juan Rivera, and a top prospect ....bad deal if you ask me. I would want to replace Escobar with Ervin Santana and Scott Shell with Scott Shields.

That guy isn't a Yankee fan at all is he. Roger Clemens just released his new restaurant near the Houston area. He mentioned he wants to be close to the operation and if thats the case he would retire, play for the Astros, or play for Texas.

LOLOLOL, you should

I wouldn't make a decision between Jon Lester and Papelbon. We all saw what Papelbon could do and Lester is the same just left-handed. What happens if Josh Beckett can't stay healthy? What if one of the two stud prospects doesn't work out? What if Bronson Arroyo continues to be a 4.5 ERA guy? You can't have enough pitching but these top hitters DO reach the market and we can sign them to put together a potent offense. Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Vlad Guerrero, Paul Konerko....all of these players were free agents. There will be more of them.

Actually I agree with you. Every now and then a player comes along that embraces the oppotunity to play in Boston and steps his game up. If that happens the Red Sox probably would offer him a longer contract. Perhaps all he needs is one adjustment in his swing and he will be a force. I've seen it happen..

We have too many pitchers. I don't think we are set.

I watch every Red Sox game and unfortunatly (being in NY half the time) I have to watch the Yankee games. Toward the end of the season Curt Schilling was hittin 92-94 MPH. I did not see him hit 96 MPH on the gun and CERTAINLY did not see him hit 98. Randy Johnson was hitting 93-95 and sometimes would hit 97. You are incorrect with your statement and overall argument. You have to do some research if you plan to post here otherwise we will rip you to pieces.

Agreed, Adam Stern is worthless. I hate that rule 5 thing too that made him stay on our team or we lose him. He isn't a great player or great talent so who cares. Dustan Mohr has been around for a while now and Coco Crisp doesn't need a mentor since he is 26 years old and an established major leaguer. Trot Nixon is good in the field, hits for some power, gets on base, knows the organization well so there is no risk that he struggles with the Boston atmosphere. The players we have mentioned in possible trade candidates don't seem like huge upgrades. Carlos Lee, Bobby Abreu, JD Drew, etc....I think they can upgrade the offense and play solid defense but its not worth it when including a 200 inning all star pitcher.

If you know anything about baseball you could clearly see the difference in his pitching mechanics last season. He couldn't hide the splitter to any extent and thats his money pitch. He wasn't able to get the velocity and make a full push when delivering his fastball which means......................no pitches are getting set and the pitches he made wouldn't move enough with the down velocity meaning his pitches wouldn't hit the locations...lets talk about someone else who has to deal with something like that this season.... Randy Johnson is 43 years old and for anyone that saw...his velocity was down last year. That really hurt the slider more than anything cause he couldn't get it to drop down. The games he got hammered were the games he was unable to get the slider down in the zone. Luckily his fastball velocity was down but he was still able to hit 95-93. The big problem with Johnson is his age and he is losing strength. Once it starts going....it will start going quick. Between the two of them...whoever is in the best shape going into this year will have a better season. Everything I have heard was that Curt Schilling was making great strides and in fantastic shape (I saw a pic..he is in great shape for Schill standards). I haven't heard anything from Johnson and he will reach a peak age before Schilling....should be interesting to watch but I will deffinitly put the excuse on his injury. I wanna see you push off with an injured foot and see how you do.

I agree thats why I mentioned Chad Billingsley from the Dodgers. He is there top pitching prospect. Perhaps there was a way they would deal him as opposed to us dealing Lester. I think this is a bunch of crap as well though. I'm hearing a lot of rumors but everything is being thrown around with no truth.

Here is the fun rumor which apparently started on WEEI: Dodgers Send: Derek Lowe, Hee Sop Choi Red Sox Send: David Wells, Alex Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Tony Graffanino Orioles Send: Miguel Tejada, Luis Matos Dodgers Get: Wells, Graffanino, Matos Red Sox Get: Tejada, Choi Orioles Get: Lowe, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Lester .....remove Lester and I like the trade (perhaps get the Dodgers to involve Chad Billingwhatever) while we send the Dodgers a different player

Although I agree, you have to also consider where we ended up last season with all the things that went wrong. I think our success really came from David Ortiz and the fact no other teams stepped up in our division. This year whichever team can put together a top pitching staff will win the division (my prediction). The Blue Jays have two good top end rotation pitchers both with injury problems. The Orioles do not have a closer. The Devil Rays pitching staff still sucks. The Yankees have as many question marks as we do with the exception of Mariano Rivera. The one thing we would have going for ourselves (if the deal went down) is our options. You are talking abut getting a rotation and bullpen with the following names: Schilling, Beckett, Wakefield, Wells, Clement, Arroyo, Papelbon, Lester, Santana, Foulke, Timlin, Hansen, Delcarmen, Riske, Tavarez, Seanez, DiNardo......not to mention...everyone of these guys are good pitchers (certainly some real gems in the group) I don't think we would be giving up the division....I think these young pitchers would be just what we need to get over the other teams in the division. Top pitchers are better than top hitters (again my opinion)

Erstad, Figgins, Wood, Santana, and Kendrick.....holy crap! This is hard to imagine but the Angels would have to at least THINK about it. The Red Sox saved some money this season, I would help them take care of Manny's contract if they gave us those players. It would certainly hurt us for this season but just thinking of a rotation involving Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, and Ervin Santana...I would make an attempt to get Jared Weaver involved too (you just never know). If by some miracle this happened...the Red Sox should turn around and deal one of those young pitchers and another player to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada. Really this sounds like too many moves this close to spring training..but I wouldn't put it past the great Theo Epstein.

I agree I'm done...just difference of opinion but to be completely honest...I don't think either is a real upgrade with what a "healthy" Trot Nixon can provide. There are pros and cons will all three players but the difference would be us giving up a pitcher. I'm not so sure thats worth it.

I would too. Miguel Tejada is an awesome player...but power throwing lefty pitchers are hard to come by. Lester can throw some gas and how much would we love to have Johan Santana?? Not saying Lester is Santana but you never know....he could be

What is all this hitting under pressure stuff??? You need those runs in the third...I'm not worried about Abreu hitting a HR in the 9th....the only guy who does that is David Ortiz....rarely there are exceptions and sometimes players come through but it doesn't happen often. Bobby Abreu is better than Carlos Lee in almost every category. The biggest difference is the OBP which the Red Sox build there offense around. I'm looking at the stats and I just don't see it. Another thing I have to mention...Philadelphia sucks...I've lived there and the people are terrible. I'm not suprised some guy threw a hot dog cause the fans suck. If I was Bobby Abreu I would be an ass to get out of there. Boston is tough to play sure....but what makes you think Carlos Lee can do it?? He has done well for the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers...big difference One other suggest I would make and I know certain people will jump on me for this is JD Drew...apparently the LA Dodgers are picking up former Red Sox. If the Red Sox can find ANY way to keep JD Drew healthy I think he is an awesome player. Its really never been done and you need one hell of a backup behind him but the guy can be one of the best if he can stay on the field.