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Damn.... This offseason I claimed they needed to sign another starting pitcher to kick Lackey, Beckett and Dice K in the ass. Little did I know that they REALLYYYY needed a starting pitcher to REPLACE DiceK or Lackey.

If I am going to dish out the bad, I may as well be fair and point out the good. Salty the other night, not a bad game. 2-4 with a home run. Right now, we are 1/4 of the way through the season. In my mind, at this point with the way Varitek has been hitting....I think it is a no brainer in terms of who should start. The bigger question is this.....we are 1/4 of the way through the season, and have essentially got a NL lineups production out of the #9 hole between Varitek and Salty. Will they make a change?

Is there really any question who the starting catcher should be? Really????

It wasnt just Dipre, it was a lot of people on the board who no longer argue the point, or are no longer around period. He wasnt great, he wasnt terrible and he wasnt worth 17 Million a year. He was average for 3 years, and a backup for 2 years....... Then Lowrie does that....WOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I laugh when I think about all the "fights" on this board about JD Drew and how good he was and his value. He sucks, cant wait til that contract is gone. He literally got paid a ton of money for almost nothing but being average for almost 5 years, What a joke.

Sometimes, you have to admit when you are wrong. Funny to read about projections and compare them to the results. I think just about all of us were wrong about this guy. Follow up question.....how does he go from a 4th OF, to a big time power threat at 31 years old? Simple adjustments change you from a guy with 13-15 homer per year range to a 40+ homer per year player?

Hes had to pull guys early and leave guys in too long because of the ineffectiveness of the bullpen. Guys hes pulled early have been because of over use in starts prior. Guys he leaves in too long are because of a tired bullpen. Lackey last 2 starts, and Wakefields last start have caused the bullpen to be overused to the point where they have had to send guys down to AAA and bring up others to fill in. Lackey has singlehandedly destroyed the bullpen over the last 2 weeks. If he leaves Hill in, he is no good for the next few nights. When Lackey or Wakefield are lined up after a game Hill pitches in, then he needs to save him because he knows he will be going to the pen early. The fact that he isnt getting enough innings out of his starting pitchers is creating a vicious cycle that is slowly killing this team.

Doesnt matter who he manages the pitching staff when Lackey continues to suck AND kill the bullpen. Doesnt matter how he manages the staff when they have to call on Wakefield to kill innings during games that are already over. Doesnt matter how he manages the pitching staff when he had to turn to guys like Jenks, Wheeler, Reyes and Okajima. The bullpen has been brutal. Why is that Titos fault? Why is it Titos fault that Lackey has KILLED the bullpen for almost 3 weeks now because of his terrible starts? Why is it Titos fault that he was forced to start Wakefield twice this season already?

Baby looked OK against 2nd and 3rd stringers when the opposition was deep in to their bench rotation. He did OK when he was lower on the totem pole for rotations and nothing much was asked from him. When they needed him to step up......he was either missing 10 footers badly, or getting the ball stuffed down his throat by a 6'2 point guard. Baby cannot create his own offense. He needs to park his fat ass on the baseline and wait for rondo to drive and kickout. Unfortunately, the Celtics asked him to do more than he was capable of.....and Baby turned into a selfish ball hog with zero offensive skills.

I think the saddest part about Lackey, is that I dont think he was ever really that good. Is anyone truly shocked at how bad hes been? Hes always been pretty average AND he was pitching in the AL West, a pitchers heaven.

Nope, hes been about as bad as you can be.

Exactly. Pitchers pitched to contact, the mound was only 45 feet away until about 1890 I believe. The pitchers also didnt throw nearly as hard. They werent trying to blow anyone away, thus straining their arms. Strikeouts happened by accident most of the time. Picture Tim Wakefield, without the knuckleball. Walter Johnson, who was considered a "flame thrower" in his time, K'd 200 or more only 7 times in his career, in fact...he only averaged 163.

Cant hit. Cant catch. Cant throw. Cant call a game. 0-3, 2 more K's, hit in to a double play and allowed 3 more stolen bases. Lackey is god awful, but has been known to blame others for his shortcomings. Wont surprise me if he points a finger at Salty.

To be fair, Salty is not "hated" by many people on this board man. Maybe one, or two others disapprove of him in the starting lineup. Hate is a strong word though man. He is only a catcher on the Redsox, and he sucks at it. Try not to take it personal, he sucks....and I only point that out. I dont mind being pointed out at wrong, but he has done a spectacular job at making it easy to point out his shortcomings. Saying that anybody out there (free agent, minor leaguer, bullpen catcher, high school backup) cant do it better at this point is the hilariously ridiculous thing. He cant hit for average. He doesnt hit XBH. He cant hit for power. He cant get on base. He cant work a count. He K's 26% of the time. He cant throw. He cant catch. He cant block pitches. He cant call a game. The pitching staff would rather throw to a catcher who cant hit his weight and is almost 15 years older. Those are facts man. Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. I want the Sox to win just as you do. They are under .500 and this team has a glaring weakness in one of the most important positions in the game. We dont pay these pitchers millions of dollars to throw to a guy that they DONT want to throw to at the expense of the entire team. I dont hate Salty, hes just a baseball player. The thing I hate, is that they didnt/havent address(ed) the issue (during offseason) til this point. There is a reason why a catcher (Varitek) who cant throw, or hit AT ALL is starting to approach the same amount of games played and at bats as Salty. The reason is that the Sox pitchers, coaches and management have lost confidence (or never truly had it) in Salty. Varitek was supposed to be a backup, but at this point they have almost split the time between them, in fact....in the last 10 games Varitek has had 5 more AB's than Salty, so that tells you what they think of the current situation. Why does reality anger you so much?

Jeez, after 6 years I guess I didnt understand the "gamethread" starter rules. Took me a while to create that gamethread, I will not be uploading them again. Sorry for stomping on your "streak" example. That was my first, and only attempt at a gamethread!!! Go Sox, get back to .500.

http://francaseplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Katy_Perry_Elmo.gif enjoy that then!!!!!

The Oki Dokie has returned!!!!!

jeez, hitting with runners in scoring position continues to struggle. Crawford was swinging there regardless of where the pitch was.

Molina is a better option than Salty....old, fat.....dead, dont matter. Any living breathing catcher is a better option. Pushing Federowicz isn't the best idea, I'll give you that. A worse idea is sticking with what we currently have. So far, thats still two alternatives better than our current one. Exposito makes 3 options that are currently better than the one we have.

Its nice to see him swinging the bat so well over the last couple series.