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Hey folks, it's April. Settle down a bit. The Yankees and Rays are really good teams and they have both started off looking like really good teams. The Sox may not catch them this year, but with 140+ games remaining I'm hesitant to say they won't. And, frankly, if they don't catch them I'm still not willing to say they aren't possibly the 3rd best team in the AL. That's just the way s*** goes. As for Cameron, give him some time. Nobody would be saying this s*** if he hadn't made that horrible error that cost them the game last night. I'm not excusing the error, just saying that I never imagined he would go a whole season without some errors. Time. Give it time.

Can I just say Buchholz is actually pitching really well. He shouldn't get too much s*** for this pathetic game.

What's it called? I read "Feeding the Monster" by Mnookin, but have no reason to think Theo co-wrote it. Also, stop with all this leaving and staying discussion s***. Nobody cares one way or another... and that's not an offense to you, it's true of just about everyone here. I could leave and few would care, same with many of the other many year posters. If you want to contribute something, contribute it, but don't waste a bunch of space ranting (as you already know).

I would be happy with Napoli and Wagner as the catchers. Dropping Ortiz. VMart to DH/1B.

Theo wrote a book?

Do you have any clue how quickly Theo would be hired by another team if he were to become available? I'm saying like 10 seconds before the first phone call, and probably 25 offers before he chooses, with the others being teams like the Phillies and the Yankees who can't possibly explain to their fans why they would ditch their current GM for another one. Also, who would you replace him with? How about Francona? Who would you replace him with?

Buchholz needs to just throw strikes. The Red Sox should hire someone who tells him to just put the ball over the plate. When he misses he seems to miss so badly that hitters don't need to think twice about it. I know it's easy to be critical, but his stuff is phenomenal. The Sox need to use it or move it. EDIT: this AB is a perfect example. 0-2, then a bunch of not-close pitches and now its 3-2. He got the K, but great pitchers get 0-2 and never let themselves get 3-2. MAYBE 2-2 if the hitter is good enough to take some close pitches, but they don't waste pitches.

This team is really disappointing. I'm not one who necessarily put money on Cameron and Scutaro and others being the answer this year, and I'm not writing the team off yet. I really like the Lackey signing longterm. I feel like they will win a championship during his tenure here. I also think this team is constructed to be a wild-card winner... at best. Hope I'm wrong.

You sound annoyed that this discussion has not led to a Gom love fest. I think it's what you get for being condescending about your baseball knowledge and your superior fandom. I wrote a long reply too but decided to scrap it because it was too argumentative.

Ichiro will be in the MLB HOF.

Are people really getting 17/20 right? Seriously? You knew the numbers of both Ramon Ramirei? You knew Jim Corsi didn't wear a certain number? Jesus, that's savant-like. I got 7 out of 20 and thought that was pretty good.

And they traded a few minor leaguers for another highly touted young player who hadn't reached his peak and so far Hermida appears to be a pretty good investment, no? I say if it doesn't hurt the big club, they should cast a wide net and hope to catch lightening in a bottle.

And yet that is true of 95% of the players in levels A-AAA. The FO expends resources on all of them to field teams and get depth. We agree, it's not the end of the world.

Good lord. Boof Bonser had one bad start and suddenly he's the next in the line of bad acquisitions by the FO? He makes $650k, for crying out loud. Oh yeah, and his bad start was in AAA.

Saw this quote from Orlando Hudson mentioned on Baseball Tonight: Pretty provocative. Definitely doesn't seem as black and white as that though. First of all, Sheffield isn't a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Secondly, he's implicated in steroid usage. Third, he's old and injury prone. I can completely understand why teams wouldn't want Sheffield on their team. Why would a mediocre or mid-market team want to spend millions of dollars to have Sheffield when they all have rookies/younger players who can provide a similar production for a fraction of the cost? It isn't like Sheffield will mean the difference between playoffs and not-playoffs for teams like Houston or Florida. As for Dye, last year's .250/.340/.453 line isn't super impressive, but he's only 35 and he appeared in 140+ games for 4 of the last 5 years. I'm skeptical of racism as the main reason and think its a strong accusation to level at owners who skeptical of spending millions of dollars on almost washed-up ball players.

I'm just curious, how can you tell he's ataxic? I'm not doubting that you know ataxia, but when I type in "Westmoreland + ataxia" I get your post, nothing else. I assume it's not just from the picture (same with the facial droop). I have no doubts that his condition/recovery is serious, and that his future in baseball is highly in doubt, I'm just curious about how you can tell so much about him with limited data.

It seems that the Yankees are willing to pay more per value-added than any other team in baseball. The Red Sox pay a lot per win too, but not as much as the Yankees. I think all teams set their value for these wins and refuse to budge beyond it. Players like CC, Teixeira and A-Rod all break the bank but they are worth it, for the Yankees, at that cost. For some reason, a player like Carlos Beltran was not worth it for the Yankees, but he's really the only player I can think of whose cost has appeared prohibitive for them. Matt Holliday might also fit into that category, as he was the best available OF in a year when the Yankees needed an OF, and they didn't touch him. A comparable signing for the Red Sox is someone like JD Drew, whose contract dwarfed anything else being offered to him and has many wondering if he is worth it. I'm pretty confident that he is worth it to this team, but wouldn't be worth the same salary for, say, Houston or Oakland.

What a f***ing error by Hall. Why would that ever the SS ever need to touch that ball with ellsbury out there? C'mon, for the love of god.

I think it is important to point out that the whole "pitching and defense" thing was overblown. The strategy doesn't represent some new direction in baseball philosophy--as all the baseball pundits want to point out--not directed at you, a700, but baseball tonight, etc--but rather a reasonable approach given the market last offseason. Beltre and Cameron were second-tier players at their positions who at least offered a defensive upgrade for the team overall and thus mitigated some of their offensive fall-off. Nobody was saying they would be better options than ARod or Grady Sizemore or Adrian Gonzalez. Even though the ESPN and MLB guys love to talk about a "new philosophy" Theo called it a "bridge" for a reason, and their contracts reflect the temporary nature of their involvement. Now, to your point, the only way the above "bridge" would work is if the 2009 team didn't implode in areas that we all thouht were strong. I agree about the bullpen. I think it is a real concern. I like Bard's stuff, but it's his second full season and they are relying on him to play a huge part. Oki has been holding on with guile the past few years, and other than that I think there are lots of questionmarks. Bullpens can be improved more easily than starting pitching, but they really need to be able to win as many low-scoring, close games as they possibly can. I'm still very confident about this team being playoff caliber, but there are concerns.

This is absolutely one of those games that teams just lose. They will win games like this. That said, the list of players I am missing already in 2010 includes Billy Wagner. They could absolutely use a 97mph lefty in the pen. Sadly, if something happens to Bard they are screwed.

I think the jury is still out on Scutaro. My impression of him is that he is a good everyday MLB SS. He isn't spectacular but he will make most of the plays and make some very good ones. Offensively he's considerably better than Alex Gonzalez, probably not as good as Jed Lowrie was supposed to have been. We will agree to disagree. V-Mart comes across as a hitter with fewer vulnerabilities. He plays a more important position (and thus adds offense from a more valuable place) and he's a switch hitter who fits nicely in the middle of the lineup. I also think he will command less than Jason Bay did.