Plumpamania

During the offseason Papelbon publically stated that he wanted to be a starter. That he didn't think his shoulder would last in the pen for a career. You won't see Papelbon in the pen after this year. Craig Hansen is your franchise closer. That's why he was drafted. Papelbon was changed to a starter by the Red Sox for a reason. To start. Bucholtz, Lester, Papelbon, Matsuzaka, Beckett is a helluva young rotation.

Who's Mench first off all. The last I checked: Mench, Kevin OF Milwaukee, was never getting paid 11 million a year over 5 years. Second, Matsuzaka doesn't throw 100 MPH. That's a stupid statement. Thirdly, sure the rubber arm helps, but we could say it's a bad thing that he has that many miles on his arm at such a young age. Now your Matthews point. You're going off a horrible move (much worse than anything Lucchino has induced this offseason), to make this horrible move sound good/right? That's 2 wrongs, and 2 wrongs don't make a right. And how is my assessment really unfair? Has he ever thrown one pitch in a MLB game that we can judge him off of? Or can we go by his dominance of Japanese hitters (in which the two best ones in recent history already play in MLB for almost if not all of his career in the Japanese Leagues) and the MLB lackies that play in Japan? Not to mention that the Japanese Leagues strike zone is considerably bigger than the MLB strike zone. Now I don't think Matsuzaka was a bad move. But we can't call him an ace by any means until he does something during the MLB regular season. I don't see the blind faith some of you guys have in the moves made this offseason. Never once did I say that upgrading offensively was a bad thing. Never. What I did said is that $30 million for a SS who's career OPS high was .786 (again never had an OPS of .800 or higher). Not properly addressing the Closer role properly is another reason I'm disappointed. This offseason was a pure Lucchino march, not the Epstein Show. If you can prove me statistically wrong that Lugo is a good signing do it. But I doubt you can.

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Unfortunately it seemed as though last year that Josh Bard wasn't going to be able to catch Wakefield. We raped in terms of the Loretta/Mirabelli deal. But we were forced to get him back due to the defense the catchers were providing us with while Wakefield was on the mound. I'm not sold on Marte. Crisp was projecting last year to be better than Johnny Damon. He started off the season on a tear. Then the broken finger and well, the rest has been complete s***. Crisp is only going into his age 27 year, and even with a horrible spring, I hope he bounces back. Crisp, when obtained was projected to hit 25-30 HR by his age 30 season, with reasonable defense in a corner outfield position. I believe that this past offseason, we didn't address the needs properly outside of JD Drew. Sure Lugo is an offensive improvement, but is he worth $30+ million? No. Did we properly address the closer front? No. However we are lucky to have Papelbon willing to go back to the pen. Sure we lose his 200 IP from the SP role, but we get a great 80 IP from the closers roll, and he'll be protecting the 200 IP from Schilling, Beckett and Matsuzaka. I believe Lester, with the necessary improvement in control, will be up by mid May to take the #5 spot in the rotation, with Papelbon going to the rotation in 2008.

I never named Dice-K as a bad move. However, he's still an unproven commodity. Spending $30+ million on Julio Lugo isn't a good move. I don't care if he continues to put up a .350 OBP. It's just not a good move to give out that much money to a guy who's never had an .800+ OPS before. I can kind of live with JD Drew, aside from his injury history. I sort of like that move. Sort of. And I don't think this offseason was much of an Epstein off season, I thought I blatantly pointed that out. Larry Lucchino seemed to be in charge this off season. I don't see Epstein signing Lugo to that horrible contract. I really do believe that the Red Sox will be an improvement for the next couple of years due to this off season. But I don't think that in the long term that these moves will have been worth the good two or thee years. I'm not sure you all read what I said. I wasn't satisified with a 3rd place finish. However it was an understood with all the injuries this team had last year. We were in first place into July. I like the Drew signing, but I hate the Lugo signing. And I don't understand why we didn't spend the extra $2 million on Gagne than Piniero. Neither was a solid gimme signing. And there were other options to explore in terms for a closer. Dan Wheeler and/or Chad Qualls and/or Brad Lidge for example. I'd rather have Jorge Julio than have gone into camp with Joel Piniero leading the way. Please read between the lines in posts Mannyhof24. Because you sir, are the idiot.

I am extremely disappointed in our front office as of today. I wasn't that happy during the offseason either, but after looking at all the moves made, I'm extremely unhappy. First off, I know the market was horrible. I understand that. I understand they want to put a winning combination around an aging Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Curt Schilling. But the contracts handed out where horrific. Julio Lugo, I defended because of the market and of the position he plays. But he isn't worth anywhere near his paygrade. J.D. Drew is a fantastic player if he goes back to his Atlanta form, and he's still in the prime of his career, and I think that will only help his numbers. But he's a *****. Plain and simple. We had a good farm system that needed some work. This offseason was a clear example that Theo Epstein wasn't given what he was promised, and that is full control of baseball operations. This offseason reeks of Larry Lucchino and his brass. They took what Epstein learned from Billy Beane and his studies of Bill James and the others, and Larry just looked at matured players that had the values that Epstein brought to the Red Sox organization. If you look at the Red Sox organization before Theo Epstein arrived, the team was full of free swingers and hackers who went up to hit, not get on base. Epstein then brings in Millar, Mueller, Ortiz and Bellhorn, all undervalued players who...guess what...got on base. He rid the team of hackers like Shea Hillenbrand and others who refused to remodel their games and take more pitches and to accept a BB. And he did it all at the token of only a few million dollars. Including David Ortiz who was signed for $1,000,000. Now we see a total change in philosophy all of a sudden and the Sox went spend happy with huge, long contracts. Something Theo Epstein was against since Day 1. He stated many times that he didn't like anything more than a 3 year contract and hated giving out any type of a no trade clause. However what do we see given to Lugo and Drew? The exact opposite of what Epstein wants. Last off season was a pure Epstein offseason. Despite his undervaluing of a sputtering Hanley Ramirez, who hadn't done what was expected of him in AA (and we all know how he turned out for his MLB squad) and Anibal the Animal Sanchez for then a premiere SP in Josh Beckett whom was only 26 years old, and had beaten the dreaded Yankees in October before. And the trade of Andy Marte for Coco Crisp. That was a total Epstein offseason. (Including the dumb idea of trading Mirabelli, who even while aging, was more valuable for Wakefield). This offseason wasn't an Epstein offseason. And that's what is pissing me off. To Larry Lucchino. **** you. Love Plump.

Hey guys. I'd just like to chime in. I think that this is a horrible move. Papelbon's shoulder won't continue to hold up in my opinion. If he couldn't hack it last year, how is he going to hack the pen this year? (Health wise of course, not performance). The starting rotation was the best in MLB with him in it. The rotation until an expensive Clemens or a revamped Lester comes back to it. I understand that the trade market for quality relievers is horrible. I know that Bowden was asking for Lester, Hansen and either Ellsbury or Pedroia for Cordero, and I agree that we were right to leave that offer out there. But Houston has Dan Wheeler or Chad Qualls, who were both quality relievers that are ready to step up for the closer job. It was said that Purpura was asking about David Murphy and either Hansen or Delcarmen for either reliever, and that is something I would have liked to have done. Sure we have an average pen right now. To Average from Below Average. But now our rotation went from Best to Average. I don't like that trade off.

Hrm: I think I DID post them and RESEARCH them. So how about you do some research about how not to look like a complete idiot? Yes, he has an ERA that is worse. He's a finesse pitcher. Both of them suck. I said the signing sucks, we have a sucky back up already. So how about instead of trying to kick me in the nuts you stfu? John Danks has a similar minor league ERA, and was just dealt for Brandon McCarthy. I never said Alvarez was good enough for a shot. But I was questioning the signing when we have a Snyder who can start, a Tavarez who can start, a Pauley who can start and a Lester when back that should be solid. THAT WAS MY POINT. I wouldn't take either of them. You can go take Hernandez. I'll take Snyder.

Abe has a 27-24 record in the minors and is 0-1 in MLB (the year Baltimore owned us). And a 4.47 ERA in the minors, even despite a horrible 2006. Hernandez MLB: 25 W 33 L 5.38 ERA Hernandez Minors: 31 W 24 L 3.34 ERA We've only see one MLB start from Alvarez. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more.

You're right it's not a bad pick up. It's a down right horrible pick up.

Personally: 1). SS Lugo 2). 1B Youkilis 3). DH Ortiz 4). LF Ramirez 5). RF Drew 6). 3B Lowell 7). C Varitek 8). CF Crisp 9). 2B Pedroia That's the Francona line up.

After Pettite's not so stellar few years in the Nl Central where my Grandmother could have hit clean up on a few teams, he comes back to the AL East after he was considering retirement. Along with lingering elbow problems I wouldn't take him over Schilling. I call Schilling and Mussina a wash. They were only 9 ERA+ points away from each other. And two out of the last three years Mussina has put up an ERA+ under 100.

So I joined the site pretty much around the time it started to my knowledge. I wish BoSox Rule was around still, but I'm RE-introducing myself. You'll either love me or hate me. Jackson I guarantee will hate me ^__^.

Maybe that doctor can recommend an economist to handle my finances. They could use a miracle too!

I'll say, I didn't read any of this thread. But from what I hear is we'll be lucky to have him back by the All-Star Break. I say release him.

Enjoy his 4.50+ ERA back in the AL and his 'tender' shoulder. I find it hilarious that they didn't resign him initially b/c of their worries about his elbow. But after he sat out the first year practically of his 3 year deal due to elbow problems and the problems in the first half last year, that they welcome him back. Funny.

Even a "pwnd".