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Find a place where I was ecstatic with the Drew and Lugo signings. I didn't poo-poo them right away, but ecstatic? Ha! I thought both would produce about to their career averages. Who would be ecstatic about gettnig a guy who has an injury history and is the 3rd highest paid player on the team? I could be happy with the signing, because he was supposed to be an upgrade over Trot (I argue that by the end of the year he will have endeared himself to Sox fans more than he has so far), but ecstatic is how I felt when the Sox got Matsuzaka. You're right, Matsuzaka has been good, but not lights out. He's only stayed healthy, is in the top 10 in wins, and top 5 in K's. If you want to declare that he isn't "lights out" now, go ahead. He's 3 months into a 6 year contract. I guess the nay-sayers have been right more often than I have. Of course, your blanket representation of the nay-sayers covers everyone, so it is a little hard to say they have been right more than I have. I supported Lugo and Drew (meh, jury's still out), Matsuzaka (I supported him big time), Pedroia (I supported him big time), Youkilis (same, while others were saying he just wasn't a very good hitter) and Crisp (who I supported throughout his struggles). Everyone nay-says a little bit, but it is worth being aware of the fact that there are differences. A lot of people here like to nay-say EVERYTHING this FO does. I'm not one of them. In any case, who are you and why do you have only 22 posts? You must have changed your name.

It seems pretty rare to pay 1.5 m or 2m for a 16 year old. With Tejada and Beltre they have a number of very long term projects who the Sox may be happy to have in a few years.

Also, Francona apparently doesn't care about the rotation, in terms of the #1 being the best pitcher and #5 being the worst. He's never seemed to care too much about that.

How excited should Sox fans be with the acquisition of Michael Almanzar scaffolds? Seems like the dude could be a monster.

What I was in the middle of writing as you responded--as is my tendency to respond to my own posts--was that while a great 40 speed indicates great speed, it doesn't represent the ability to run bases or field. the 40 is a relatively crummy measurement of speed when it comes to baseball. Home to first or First to Third would be better measurements, and those numbers don't exist as far as I know. This whole discussion started over my comment that Ellsbury would have caught that ball the other day, based on a combination of better speed (opinion based on sb numbers, scouting reports, my own eyes) and his reputation for taking good routes to balls and getting great jumps in CF. Like I said, Crisp doesn't have the same reputation. We all saw (and MANY complained) Crisp climbing the wall last year while the ball bounced on the warning track. He doesn't always take good routes to balls and doesn't always get great jumps. He makes up for that with his speed, but the elite CF will get great jumps and have great speed.

I'm not doing anything flashy here. No pictures, lineups, anything. Worst. gamethread. ever. I only started the thread because Brandon Moss just hit a bomb in the 1st inning. He CRUSHED a shot to the opposite field. Looked like a metal bat HR. Very impressive. What the hell are we going to do with Brandon Moss?

I would rather deal Lowell too. Youkilis could be a key component to this offense for years. He epitomizes this lineup and the FO's philosophy.

I really don't know. They would probably tolerate a move of Lowell or Youkilis in order to get a good power/OBP guy in the lineup. I would prefer they move Lowell because Youkilis is a good boston player and has entrenched himself with the fans. Lowell, though great, has always seemed like a rental. I think you and I agree that Todd Helton would be a nice guy to add to the middle of that order. Offer Lester, Ellsbury, WMP and Bowden for Miguel Cabrera? Lowell, Lester, and Hansen for Teixeira? Lester, Hansen, Lugo, Lowrie and cash for Michael Young? :dunno: The farm system is deeper in some areas than it has been in the past and the roster is full of players who are signed to long term deals. Given how this team looks when it is healthy that is a very GOOD thing. They are one or two pieces away from being a juggernaught, whereas now they are just a really good team, competitive but not necessarily better than the other best teams in baseball. If they deal from a position of strength they can afford to take a hit to get a big bat. Of course, it also seems like it is going to be a sellers market this offseason, as there aren't many guys who are just waiting to be traded--particularly with guys like Ichiro and Buehrle resigned.

We wouldn't get him. If it were a bizarro world where we DID get him then Drew would sit, because the FO would have given up on him and be willing to put him on the bench. OR, we would deal Lowell or Youkilis, put Manny in the DH spot and put Ortiz at 1B. In either case, I imagine they want to look for someone NOT a corner outfielder.

The quesiton is whether the team he puts out there is competitive or not. That's the best any front office can do. Matsuzaka was such a big signing. Without Daisuke we're looking at a rotation of Beckett and Wakefield and tavarez and two rookies. Just like last year. Also, we're likely looking at him in NY, as it turns out playing for the Mets, but Theo's goal was to blow the Yankees out of the water and that's what he did. If Matsuzaka is a Yankee right now all of the woe about their pitching staff would have been lessened, the entire dynamic in NY would be different. Who knows what could have happened? :dunno: All I know is that the Sox are in 1st place, the Yankees are a ways behind. I guess he had a bad last year... So if they are using certain statistics to determine which player to buy, or which player to use in certain situations, etc., and you agree on the statistics they are using to make that determination (i.e., you agree which statistics should be valuable), then isn't criticism kind of like blaming a computer for faulty output? They essentially use a formula based on proven statistical correlations with winning, and acquire their players that way. I wouldn't say that he's (they) immune to criticism, but personally I think that criticism is pretty pointless if you agree with the philosophy and most of how it is carried out given the players who are available, the various agents involved, the players asking price, the trade demands of other teams, revenue sharing, luxary tax caps, draft rules, etc., Obviously Theo and Co. don't perform in a vacuum, so it is impossible to expect perfection; they make decisions based on a scientific understanding of baseball, which does not guranatee victory. Do you critique a doctor who isn't able to effectively treat every cancer patient, but who tries nonetheless using his best available knowledge? Theo and his co-hort are pretty widely seen as some of the most advanced and savvy front offices in baseball. They spend a lot of money and win a lot of games in an extremely competitive league. They have averaged something like 92 wins a season over the past 4 years, and are in pace to raise that average this year. All that at a time when their biggest rival is loaded with all-stars from top to bottom and when the rivalry is at its peak over a long span. During that span they won a World series and made the playoffs 3 times. Jacoby Ellsbury is faster than Crisp and is a lifelong CF who has been called an amazing fielder at every level. Crisp's best defensive position--until this season--was LF. He has historically been a very average CF. This year he is obviously very good. Are you saying that Coco Crisp is the fastest outfielder in the Sox system?

Yeah, Polanco, get the HELL out of the way. Reyes tags if Polanco catches that, but Vlad's cannon? That's something even Reyes wouldn't challenge.

C'mon Ortiz and Manny. Use these as ABs to get yourselves going.

Two threads, hmmm. It is pretty amazing that we, as Sox fans, are blessed enough to have the #3 hitter in THAT lineup. What an amazing group: Ichiro, Jeter, Ortiz, A-Rod, Vlad, Maggs, Pudge, Polanco. That the Sox would have the MEAT of that order is pretty impressive. Let's be thankful! (while we wait to actually watch a 'baseball game').

There's Cole Hamels. 9 months older than Clay Buchholz. Tremendous pitcher, was a tremendous prospect. Buchholz needs to be pitching for the Sox by the end of the year. His stuff is overpowering compared to even a guy like Curt Schilling at this point. I'm sick of all this "he's too young" crap. If he can contribute to winning this year--and clearly people his age can--then he should play. That's my 2c on the buchholz issue.

Sorry guys, but what the f***? These count as posts these days? At least put them in a thread that wasn't started in February. Jeez.

Great status report Scaffolds. Do you think their lack of top-tier RHP prospects besides Buchholz and Bowden is a reflection on a weakness of the system, or of how good Bowden and Buchholz could be? How does this compare with other teams, in terms of overall talent? My sense is that Buchholz is about as good as any pitcher in minor league baseball right now. He seems to have separated himself. So at the very top the Sox have to be up with any other team in terms of just pure RHP talent. My guess is that there are a number of teams who believe they have a pitcher like Michael Bowden near the top of their prospect list, and that Bowden hasn't separated himself nearly as well as Buchholz has.

He deserves to pat himself on the back. there were so many people on this board who absolutely DESTROYED Theo and Co., because of their view that Pedroia was ready, despite his struggles at the end of the season last year. There are a number of people on here who have no faith in scouts/coaches ability to judge good players when they see it--as if Moneyball's stressing of statistical performance over the "old guard of scouts" is the only thing that matters. What is confounding about that is that the front office uses the most advanced sabermetrical tools to evaluate players, and it forces coaches and scouts to abide by the principles of years and years of accumulated knowledge. The front office hires managers, coaches and scouts based on their philosophy of how to balance sabermetric principles with traditional scouting techniques. Of course, they are not alone in this as many of the top teams rely on principles explored by sabermetricians--OBP, BABIP, Runs Created, etc.,. For me, I am pretty confident that the Red Sox staff know better than anyone on this board whether a player is good enough to play for this Sox team. That doesn't mean they are always right; they are often wrong. Riverside and others like him predicted that Pedroia would be good. Just about all of the evidence indicated that Pedroia would succeed, there wasn't a whole lot of evidence to the contrary. So if he ended up s***ing the bed people that were critical of him wouldn't even have based their criticism on any relevant evidence--except, perhaps on an end of the season call-up, or because of his size. Nothing that is really critical when evaluating a 2B. Go ahead, Riverside, pat yourself on the back. There were a number of people here who were absolutely wrong and who were so assertive about it they deserved to get called out. It's all in the archives. You had pretty steadfast faith that Pedroia would be a very good player when others guessed--for some reason, against all evidence--that he wouldn't be good enough to start. We will go through this discussion again this year when talking about Ellsbury. There are some players you want to have on your team while they are in their atheletic prime: Ellsbury is one of those guys. For what it's worth, Ellsbury catches that ball that lost the game (Papelbon vs. Rodriguez) a few nights ago. Crisp missed by a foot making an unbelievable play, ellsbury gets it.

A little Oswalt action? That's what I'm talking about. It likely isn't going to happen, but its nice to think about.

It's just not going to happen Ksushi. I don't see this team dealing Drew this season. Dunn would be nice(ish). He's a solid player.

Ellsbury goes down looking again. Good AB, tried to get the call on the 3-2 breaker and was bested by the pitcher. Still, good AB.