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I would rather them give Lenny Dinardo a shot at starting. http://thebaseballcube.com/players/D/lenny-dinardo.shtml He was very impressive in Pawtucket as a starter, hes had a very good minor league career as a starter and hes done nothing but get hitters out in MLB, AAA, AA, A or wherever hes been. That way Hansen stays in the bullpen which is more natural. This is of course if we expect Clement, Arroyo, and Wells to be dealt. 3.29 Career Minor league ERA in 349 career innings.

I dont even feel good about him as a fourth OF. He can't play center, and he is a below average OF. I would rather see him in a platoon role rather than count on him as the fourth OF. They need someone who can play all 3 OF positions as a fourth OF, also its usually good if that guy has a little speed. Wilson isn't qualified as a fourth OF. He may be better than Stern, however I consider Stern more of a fourth OF than Wilson.

Hansen wont start. Simple as that. Never has, never will. Its not like he is a SP now changing to be a RP/Closer. The change is much more difficult. Its not going to happen and unrealistic to think about with the arms the team already has. Our concerns should be whether or not Papelbon starts, or what to do with Clement/Arroyo/Wells. Papelbon made the switch, but made the switch in the minor leagues, in Lowell 4 years ago. Unless they plan on burning a season in Pawtucket with the kid I dont see the point. A middle Reliever/ closer is just as important as a SP, it doesnt matter how many innings they pitch. If you dont have middle relivers to get guys out, you will lose, just the same as if you dont have a SP to get hitters out. What would you rather have, 200 s***** IP, 200 mediocre IP or 60-80 quality relief innings? Who is to say Hansen would dominate for 6 IP having never done so? Mariano Rivera says hello, Rivera of course came up as a starter, but has dominated as a closer. PS. Hansens Soph season, the year before he was drafted he started a few games, and his ERA for his SOPH season was 7.03. He was made a reliever and dominated last season. He is only a year and a half removed from getting shelled in college games, and we are to assume he can dominate big league hitters? Thats quite an assumption based on a 7.03 ERA as a starter at St. Johns University.

Kind of reinforces some of the points I was making yesterday.

This is what I see in 06': There will be some controversy in this, so bear with me. *Put together a package including Arroyo and somebody else, not sure who at this time for Seattle since they had interest in Bronson. We get Reed in return who Seattle is disappointed in. I actually like Reeds numbers from last year and think he will significantly improve, his OB% was decent and he is a good defensive OF. *Manny and Clement in a deal that brings back Tejada and Matos, as been reported. Matos is a free swinger and Baltimore is looking to deal him. He is a proven ballplayer however and can help us now. We wont get their top OF prospect. Thats a pipedream. *Sign Snow *Pick up Craig Wilson when he becomes available since PITTS has an abundance of OF. Wilson will most likely be cut or dealt. RH Lineup: 1. Nixon RF 2. Loretta 2B 3. Ortiz DH 4. Tejada SS 5. Tek C 6. Lowell 3B 7. Snow 1B 8. Reed CF 9. Matos LF LH Lineup 1.Youkilis 1B 2. Loretta 2B 3. Ortiz DH 4. Tejada SS 5. Tek C 6. Wilson RF 7. Lowell 3B 8. Reed CF 9. Matos LF Bench: Nixon/Wilson platoon RF Snow Youkilis platoon 1B Graffy/Cora INF Stern OF Shoppach C Rotation: Beckett Schilling Wakefield Papelbon Dinardo Bullpen: Timlin Mota Hansen S Seanez LH or Van Buren Foulke *Obviously the first problem is there is no lefty in the bullpen. Sox teams in the past have proven however that you do not necessarily HAVE to have a lefty in the pen. It would be nice but Dinardo is hardly a lefty specialist (he has reverse splits) and I see him in the roation anyway. If you have guys who can get people out, it shouldnt matter. *The second problem is having Hansen and Van Buren in the bullpen as rookies. Van Buren isnt a true rookie, and has dominated the minor leagues. *Dinardo in the rotation could be a problem, however he has done nothing but get hitters out in Boston and in Pawtucket. He had a very good season last year in AAA and could be a surprise. Theo was very high on him. *Dealing both Clement and Arroyo hurts, but I think its necessary. Clement has to go, and I would love to hold on to Bronson, but Paps should be in the rotation and Dinardo could very well do good. *I think Shoppach sticks with the big team because he has the most upsdie and has knuckleball experiance. *Cora and Graffy dont both make the team. One is gone. *Marte is in AAA or dealt, maybe in the Seattle deal so we hold on to our arms. *The bullpen could be unreliable. Timlin is getting older, Seanez has injury problems, Mota is inconsistant, and we know what happened to Foulke last year. *I like Nixon leadoff. He doesnt have speed, but he has good on base skills and doesnt hit for enough power to be in a power position anyway. *Who knows what we get out of Lowell, we are stuck with him. *Matos can be a productive hitter and I think Reed will only get better. *Dinardo is the #5 starter assuming Wells is dealt for a bag of balls, or retires. Either way Wells is not back. I think this is a very realistic team and while its not sexy, I think it can be a productive group of 25 ballplayers with some interesting angles.

In terms of being a prick, Ty Cobb says hello.

There is nothing good about having Trot in CF. He is a below average RF as is. He doesnt have a good arm. He has never recorded 10 assists in a season while other RF's with guns who teams usually dont run on annually rack up 10+ per year. In 90 career games in CF his RF is well below league average. Nixon is at 2.01 and average is 2.41.

Good OB%'s throughout his career. Hes lost in the OF, and produced with Millar like numbers last year. If hes not good enough for Pitts., hes not good enough for Boston. Ive had enough of the Millar type player (No glove, no spped, no power, no production). I however wouldnt mind a Wilson/Nixon platoon. If he is our everyday LF we are in trouble.

You know whats consistent with the Yankees? Fans pay money to watch the team play, and the GM and owners go out and get players, and they win. Money should not be a problem for Boston. This isnt Minnesota, KC, TB. This is Boston, we have the highest ticket in baseball so I dont want to hear anything about cutting payroll, it shouldnt be an issue. The RedSox have the highest salary of any team to ever win a WS. I see the logic of not spending big money in a crappy market, but they need to do something, otherwise we are looking at third place.

I am sorry if it appears that I am trashing the RedSox, In all honesty I am not. I love the Beckett trade, because we acquired a top notch pitcher. And I even agree with dealing Hanley because I for one was never high on him. I don't agree with the Renterria deal. As crappy as he played, hes a proven ballplayer with all the tools. I think it was a matter of time before he put it together. He was still very young for all he accomplished. I see the point of the Seanez signing, and he does have good stuff, I just see him as an injury waiting to happen. Hopefully Mota can go back to his early 2000 years numbers. With Lowell, I see no upside whatsoever, but he was baggage we had to take. The CF situation bothers me most, not because I liked Damon, because I thought he was brash and cocky, but one hell of a leadoff hitter/CF. These are things I would like to see: *Either announce Youk as the 1B, or sign Snow to platoon and teach him the ropes. *Find a defensive SS, I would love for Pedroia to get a shot, everyone talks about his defense in college, but complains about his arm. I hope we dont label him like Eckstein. *I would love to see Reed in CF. His minor league numbers are gawdy and he already has a year under his belt. He can only improve. If he hits .260 but has an OBP of .350 I would be happy. How we acquire Reed is another story, Seattle wants Paps or Lester. IF we have to dump one, send Clement packing, Arroyo has more value as a swingman and is more comfortable with accepting it than Clement. Clement was bothered when Chicago moved him to the pen. *Let Shoppach back up Tek. Shoppach is the future and has experiance with Zink. No need to screw around with crappy veteran backups. *Keep Manny, let hm be unhappy. He will still produce, few get in the zone at the plate like Manny does, the guy is a machine and will produce regardless. *Lowell plays 3B, we are stuck with him. *I think Graffanino sticks with the team, and takes balls at 1B, 2B, 3B, and some Short. Depending on what Cora, Graffy, Youk do in ST one of them will be dealt. *They need a true LHP in the pen. I am not sure what I think of Dinardo out there, I think he has reverse splits in terms of LHH and RHH. The rotation is pretty much set. This has not been mentioned, but, if nobody offers Sosa anything. Why not offer him a small deal to Platoon with Trot? I know he said he would rather play in Japan if he doesnt get a deal in the US, but why not? Better Yet, try to throw Trot in with a deal to Seattle, maybe if we give them enough pieces it wont cost us a young gun.

I havent lost faith. I want a solid team out there for that money though. Its hard to keep faith when they appear to go in one direction, then go in another. I would rather they just come out and tell us what they are trying to do so I can stop scratching my head.

And you know this? Damon at 4/52 is better than having no CF and trading away pieces that you didnt originally have to if you would have just signed the guy. Now this will cost us Clement or Arroyo + prospects. The sox are going to have to give up something. Nobody wants Clement, and we are ignorant if we think we can sneak one past a team. Everyone know what prospects we have, and they want them. Also, Lorettas Pop is gone, he got hurt, and his pop disappeared. Look at his IsoP #'s. Mike Lowell from 2004 says hello. What makes you think he will rebound. Players do fall off as they get older (or come off the juice). I love how everyone projects .280 25 HR from the guy. Let me just say this. Mike Lowell career OBP is .339. better than Mueller? No. If he isnt gettin on base, and wasn't productive last year, this is an improvement how? Mueller deserved a GG. No thanks, Ill take The Pro. Even in his prime Lowell was barely a .280 hitter. More realistically he will hit .250-.260 with 10-15 HR and have on OBP around .300-.320. We traded away two SS for a pitcher who as been reported could be hurt, a MR who had an offseason, and a 34 year old 3B making 9 million per year. IF WE ARE BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE....WHY HANLEY? Oh yeah? Whos playing 1B? SS? CF? whos in the bullpen? Dont tell me Youks is the starting 1B, that hasnt been confrimed and it actually looked like Youks wasnt going to play at all this upcoming year at onew point in the offseason. Starting pitching wasnt a hole, but decided to acquire Beckett. 3B wasnt a hole, now they have three of them. Utility player is not a hole on any team, not even worth arguing. Now they have 3 of those too. Backup catcher however is a hole. It is actually a huge hole considering Mirabelli played in at least 35 games a year, an equivalent to 1/5 of the teams games per year. Mirabelli was a solid glove and bat. Flaherty and his .125 AVG dont impress me, neither does Cuccaby (huckaby). Rudy Seanz already failed here, and can't stay healthy. He doesnt impress me. Not to mention he walked over 100 batters one year in the minors.http://thebaseballcube.com/players/S/rudy-seanez.shtml. Last year was his first fully healthy season as a big leaguer. I am sure if they don't get it together soon and put out a crappy team they will lower ticket prices so we arent paying the most expensive ticket in all of baseball for a third place team, because thats exactly what we have. We have never had this many question marks on this team in recent years. I am sure ticket prices will decrease rather than increase . I believe it is you who is drinking from LL's big jug of coolaid because you are believing exactly what he wants you to. The thing is.....Theo left, nobody replaced him, and nobody wants to. (Why have 1 GM when you can have two!!!!:thumbsup: ) There is a reason nobody wants to work, or play for the guy.

No thank to Preston Wilson. No thank to Dave Roberts. No thanks to Tony G having any role on this team for his money and actual value. No thanks to Tony G at SS. Your last lineup looks most realistic, however you wont see Loretta and Graffy in the same lineup.

This solves zero problems. If anything it creates problems. If a position is filled, the problem isnt solved. Signing Johnny Damon would have solved one of our problems. If you are keeping track, the Yankees have accomplished everything they wanted to going into the offseason...CF, bullpen help, better bench, cut payroll, retained solid veterans.... And the Sox have addressed nothing. Downgraded 3B, Downgraded SS, Wash at 2B, Downgraded backup Catcher, Downgraded CF, Possibly Downgraded LF. I bet Josh Beckett looks pretty sweet in a Boston uniform though!!!!!

I think I vomitted in my mouth. Trot in right for the money hes making makes me vomit as it is. A fat CF? A rookie 3B who has proven nothing playing in the spacious Fenway RF? These two to possibly play alongside the liability which Manny Ramirez is? No thanks. They let an allstar walk away, I expect they get a pretty damn good player in return, otherwise FO screwed this up BIGTIME. RF in Fenway is the toughest to play in baseball, please get a real CF.

3.63 when the league average was 5.15? He wasnt injured, I was thinking about the 95 season. Not only did he go 10-13 with a 3.63, but in one of his last starts he struck out 20 Detroit Tigers.....What did he do after leaving Boston? Not much except going 21-7 with a 2.05 ERA in Toronto. BTW Juan Guzman won the ERA title with a 2.93. Clemens 3.63 doesnt look so bad considering Guzman led the league. Clemens was 6th in the league in ERA, 2nd in H/9inn, 1st in K/9inn, 5th in Innings, 1st in K's, 4th in CG. He was worth it.

PLayers SHOULDNT be expected to take discounts. That is what I am saying. I am not mad any of them left, I was mad at the RedSox. For every Jason Varitek there is a Pedro, Damon, Vaughn, Clemens. Read all of my posts and you will see this. I have never once cursed Damon. The Sox make exucses for not signing these players. People should realize its not the players wanting more money. Its the fact the Sox offfers are no where close to other offering teams. We let these players walk, and then replace them with garbage. Its not like we let them go and make ourselves better. We in the end lose more by not resigning these players.

Off the top of my head Clemens was 10-5 in 1996, hurt half of the year. edit...he was 10-13 with a 3.63 ERA. Not hardly bad if his team scored him runs. League average ERA in 1996 was 5.15.

To go on further about my previous post, we replace our heroes with garbage. Mo Vaughn....led to Jose Offermans albatross Roger Clemens...led to he Steve Avery Jimmy Williams debacle. Pedro Martinez led to the Matt Clement mess. Nomar led to Ocab for half a season, then a Pittiful Renterror contract. Damon will lead to......probally a mediocre prospect, or overpaid veteran who we will deal the farm for...... Why can't people see this? It is the front office.

That is my point. Players dont always take hometown discounts and shouldnt be expected to. The Sox offered Clemens nothing. Duquette claimed he was in the twilight of his career.... The Sox were concerned about giving Vaughn money because of his weight..... Then they were concerned about Pedros shoulder..... Nomar and his wrist and groin.... Now they claim Damons arm, concussion and legs as an older OF didn't merit a big contract. Strange how when every long term Sox players contract is up, they low ball them with excuses. Granted Vaughns career was pretty much over after 1 year in Anaheim, you never know what he woulda done staying in Boston. I guess I don't understand why we as fans can't see that in terms of FA discussions, we ALWAYS lose big players. Nobody takes a discount. We have the most expensive ticket in baseball yet we continue to watch our favorite players walk out the door.

We weren't betrayed. Contracts run out. Players get old. Turnover happens. The team has not been gutted. If we deal the farm, the team will be gutted. Furcal set the market for a leadoff hitter. We knew what we were going to have to pay him. Larry choose not to. Don't hate the guy because he took 12 million more. Its not like the Sox offer was close and he took theirs, 12 million is too much to turn down....FROM ANY TEAM. Its not a Redsox Yankees thing. Free agents are allowed to talk to any team, and generally take the best offer, this is not uncommon. For every Jason Varitek of the world, there is a Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Johnny Damon.

This is my last post in this thread. It should first of all be locked for obvious reasons like calling Damon retarded, and then further locked because it has gotten off topic, I cant' believe there are seven pages of posts in a topic calling somebody a retard.

Well in your specific case, take a look at the username you have posted over 1700 times with.

I think this is hilarious. A Boston Icon leaves, and everyone says "he plays too hard, he will get hurt", "he is selfish", "he can't throw", "he is a retard because he can't speak clearly". This guy was literally God to Boston fans. We should be bashing LL or JWH for not stepping in and manning up, instead we make fun of a guy who was once a hero here. Sad.