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BTW, while it's hard to think about Talksox not creating game threads for every game, I'm just hopeful that other people are actually living their lives too. For the past 8 years I have spent a shitload of time watching Sox games... weeknights, weekends, weekend days, all of them. They suck this year. I'm going to spend time with my 5 month old daughter and 3 year old daughter instead. It's a no-brainer and not at all reflective of my passion for the team. I hope others are in the same boat. Hell, Pedroia wouldn't watch this team if he didn't have to.

Yeah, the Sox should have #3 overall draft picks more often.

Is this still the case though? From what I can see, there were only four 1B in all of baseball who had more than 200 PAs and an OPS above .900 (Votto, Encarnacion, Fielder, Moss). Maybe the notion that 1B have to be 900+ OPS guys might not be accurate in this day and age.... or it was just a down year for the position. This year, good teams had 1B who were in the .810-.850 OPS rang, including guys like Teixeira and Konerko. Perhaps those teams did that well despite those players rather than because of them, but it's just interesting. If the issue becomes one of playing time for Middlebrooks vs Bogaerts, we might see them look elsewhere for Will. Of course, LF might make sense too.

Like others have said: as a backup it would be fine. As a starter, probably not... unless he absolutely is tearing the cover off the ball during spring training. I think Kalish has the skillset to be a very good MLB player. I'm just with a700 that if he comes back as a starter that means they didn't do what they needed to do in the offseason. I actually think the player who should be platooning should be Cody Ross. The media and many fans act as if the Sox absolutely must sign him for multiple years. I agree he'd be a nice player to have, but not as a starter. An .816 OPS driven by a 1.017 OPS against LHP has platoon writtn all over it. Unfortunately, he's going to want to start. A .311 OBP against RHP doesn't give me confidence that he's a must sign. He may be a relatively important guy to sign given a lack of options, but he's not an all-star or even close to it IMO.

They are going to have money and they have a spot in the rotation. I think Lincecum is a better pitcher than a lot of the other names out there (Haren, Ervin Santana, Garza) and he could be a novelty in the AL East for a year. He is expensive, but his contract is short (one season) and, as you noted, his bounce back potential is decent. If he returned to form, the Sox might be able to re-sign him and would have a special pitcher on their hands. Of course, that only applies if there is nothing wrong with his arm. His FB velocity is down to about 90mph from a high of 94 a few years ago. He's got a small frame and a weird delivery and his shoulder may have seen its best days pass by. Where would Wright play? Move Middlebrooks to 1B maybe? With Xander on his heels I've thought that moving Middlebrooks across the diamond would actually make some sense. I just hate the idea of parting with any decent prospects for guys like Wright or other veterans with no contracts left.

Pretty much spot on with this one iortiz. It's common sense. I think the right manager could move this team in the right direction and I don't have the anti-Farrell view that many seem to have, but he's not worth anything substantial. If this team was loaded and on the cusp of dominance, it might be a different matter. They should have just hired one of the guys they interviewed last year.

I doubt Kuroda gets out of NY if he's looking at 10-12m per year for two years. Just sayin. This will definitely be an interesting offseason for the Sox. Usually I have some idea of what I think they should do, who they should target, etc., but this offseason is a bit different. There just aren't great options obviously available through FA or trade, as far as I can see. I envision a rotation that includes Buchholz, Lester, Doubront and de la Rosa as a starting point. Perhaps Morales fits in there somewhere, but I actually think they have a bullpen that can be good enough to contend with a few additional pieces, and Morales might fit best in there. If they could move Lester for a few AA or AAA high ceiling pitchers I would have no problem with that, but most teams wouldn't be agreeable to that. Of course, the Sox have the money to pay a majority of his salary too, so perhaps a free Jon Lester for a few good prospects who are 2-3 years away would be a good start.

That highlight reel of Ordonez is impressive. Iglesias, in a very short time, has produced a few jaw-dropping plays too. If he plays in the league for 10 years that would be probably 1300 games. In that time there will be hundreds of astounding plays. People who have watched him in the minors (including the AAA manager) say that he makes about a highlight play per-night, plays that very few players could make. Unrelated question: Has a team ever aimed to maximize a player's defense by moving him where the ball is most likely to go? In other words, switch a SS and 2B back and forth based on left or right handedness of the batter? I realize the answer is probably no, and I can think of many reasons why (familiarity of position, skill-sets of SS vs 2B, etc.,). However, wouldn't a player like Iglesias touching the ball as often as possible make a noticeable difference over your average 2B?

I really like Eck's commentary. He's not a good main broadcaster, but as a color guy he's pretty good. And to keep the homer-ism going, Joe Castiglione is a very good play by play guy. He mixes providing the facts, uniqueness of voice, and just enough invested-in-the-outcome-ness to make him a very good hometown guy.

I have to admit that the most meaningful baseball-ish thing I'm doing these days is checking the standings to assure that the Sox are, indeed, among the worst ten teams in baseball, thus assuring themselves of a protected pick. I'm not rooting for them to lose, but I'm not rooting for them to finish with the 12th worst record either. Indifference with slight preference, I would call it.

Given that some are lamenting the loss of Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss, I'd say it would be stupid to "pull the plug" on Ryan Kalish. He's 24 years old.

It's really too bad Iglesias' bat is so damn bad. His glove is so damn good.

The only reason it was brought up seems to be because you linked previous WS victories with a comment about this FO not having built it. It was a shot at this ownerships claim to success. Obviously they played a huge role in transforming what they had into the team that won the WS. There's no question.. All that said, aside from whether or not they built those teams, you are right about them not having had a challenge like this before. The buzz from the big trade has worn off and now they have the money but it is questionable if the correct targets are even out there, especially before 2013.

Or the organization has been too talented for some of these guys to break thru and due to rules about 40 man rosters and the Sox having lots of these guys, they end up leaving one way or another... Not everything that goes against you is incompetence.

Alex Speiers most recent piece at WEEI is worth a read. He talks about how important it is that the six finish in the top ten draft picks and I agree completely. Do that and they can be aggressive with FAs this off season. Otherwise, signing even a guy like Edwin Jackson or Mike Napoli would cost them their first round pick, which is their highest since they drafted Nomar and, before that, Trot Nixon.

I have high hopes for De La Rosa too, but none of us should expect much from him next year or the year after. The Sox certainly can't plan to build around around him as a key part of the rotation any more than they could have planned to build around Felix Doubront this year. De La Rosa might be a key piece for them, but we won't be able to confidently pencil him in for another few years. The AL East is an extremely tough place to establish yourself as a #1. The Sox are really in a tough spot re: starting pitching. There aren't many obvious answers and they really shouldn't be parting with prospects for anyone who isn't a sure thing.

I don't know who is at fault for this terrible season, but I think it stretches from top to bottom in the franchise. Nobody is without blame--from the players to the manager to the ownership. If Valentine doesn't go then I will immediately lose all respect (which is waning anyway) for ownership broadly. I suspect many will be upset with the Sox if they don't go acquire a bunch of players with all the money they have saved. I'm mixed on this, as I don't see much point in spending bad money on mediocre players. Valentine hasn't had any impact in stemming the free-fall. In fact, this team is suddenly so bad that I'm tempted to think thy are TRYING to lose games. Again, I wouldn't blame them due to the draft pick issue. In other threads, we discussed that the majority of the best pitchers in baseball are top draft picks and that a top draft pick can provide a team with a foundational franchise player. Hopefully that's something the Sox get out of this dismal, dismal season.

I don't think there's much of a choice. We have to wait if they are going to do it right.

I agree. That's what makes this team at least tolerable. These results from a bunch of overpaid baffoons would be different. At least this team gives effort. That said, I'm pretty sure the Sox would LOVE an opportunity to knock the Yankees from the playoffs down the stretch.

Interesting twist here Jacko. I suspect the Dodgers would be willing to take a few of the Yankees players, but not all of them. This is going to be an interesting time for the Sox and Yankees. It's like the dinosaur huge-market teams are being taught a lesson. What will be fascinating is to see if the next generation of huge-market teams that are emerging, including the Dodgers, Angels and Rangers, will learn lessons or just jump right in. It is such a temptation to take well-earned money and throw it at the best available players... it's just dangerous. Texas will be faced with resigning arguably their best player to a team un-friendly contract. The Angels are already in deep and clawing to keep pace. The Dodgers, seemingly rich right now, will eventually regret their moves... I'm confident about that. I'm not sure what the alternate model looks like. Perhaps it is just spending on very short contracts. Signing the best players but sticking to your guns about how long those contracts last, and if the best players go elsewhere, so be it. Teams like the Sox (who are honestly the only team in this position currently, but there will likely be more as team payrolls fall) may not spend their entire cap money and will need to be steadfast against the pressure of fans to spend. Might we see deals that pay considerably more for one or two seasons? Would a two year, $66m deal for an in-prime OF be that absurd? Is that worse than getting in over your head with a 6-7 year deal? Hell, the Sox have had to pay other teams to take their players so I'm willing to bet they would be willing to pay a bit more for that flexibility. Interesting times, that's for sure.

What I said about you came off as less flattering than it was intended to. My apologies. You really took that and ran with it. Pom pom waver? Nice. You shouldn't think that I like the fact that they are losing. I said it was a 'silver lining' in a s***** situation that they are headed toward a higher draft pick with each loss. That part was obvious and shouldn't be turned against me. I will always root for them to win first and foremost. I can't even imagine doing otherwise. It sucks that you go through such agony when the team is this bad. I go through that when they are anywhere close to contention, but not at this point. After a few months of grieving and being down, I'm more or less emerging into being able to think ahead again. The first thing I think it "how can this situation be turned into a positive?" and my brain immediately goes to the draft (the game's compensation for sucking, basically). I guarantee any FO worth its salt considers how they will finish for the draft when they are this far out of contention. It's a natural part of the game to be strategizing from any position you are in.

I agree with everyone who thinks Jacoby isn't worth 20+m a year. He hasn't shown that consistently enough. However, I still think the Sox have to consider making a run at him very strongly this offseason. That way they can know where they stand, make a good faith effort and then trade him if he's not open to playing ball so they can be sure to get something good for him. On the flip side, I think he's one of the most talented players in baseball and at 29 and 30, he's one of the young(ish), highly talented players in the league. Budget flexibility or not, the Sox are going to need guys like that and I'm not sold yet on who that will be.

He should be canned. I thought giving him a second chance made sense, but he's clearly not adding any magic to this listless team. Not sure if it needs to happen today or at the end of the season, but sooner or later.

They don't just need the farm system to produce 3 or 4 good players a year. They need it to give them a legitimate star or two who quickly take on huge leadership roles with the team. That's what Longoria did in TB and he became the rock that team is built around, even as they switch parts around left and right. Hopefully Middlebrooks is already thinking about this being his team, because the next generation of Sox success will likely center around guys like him.

I was thinking today that the Sox need to be weary of who they bring on, both for players and coach/manager. There's such a tendency to take someone who is finding success on a successful team, and assume that their success will transfer. It's easy to watch Josh Hamilton hitting bombs when the team is blowing opponents out of the water and think "what if?". I think the same thing happened with Crawford. When there's a winning culture it is much easier to bring people in who will assimilate. When you are trying to build a winning culture you need to have a few players who set the culture and champion it. I'm not sure who those players are for the Sox right now. They might not have anyone who can do it right now. Pedroia is the strongest candidate but he needs some impressionable and moldable players around him. Not a bunch of douchebags.