BoSox21

Bartolo Colon appeared to be the half-season boost for the rotation and probably would've been the 4th starter in the playoffs until he went back to the DR for "personal reasons" only to inform the Sox that he'd be staying there due to dissatisfaction over his role with the team, a very stupid move by someone trying to regain value in the eyes of major league GMs

He's a crowd favorite here but he's on the downside of his career. He's your typical max-effort, blue-collar guy who doesn't have all the talent in the world but leaves it all out on the ice. He's been a healthy scratch almost all year which I disagree with cause the Habs as a whole tend to be lazy more than they should and a guy like Begin almost forces the rest of them to pick up their game. He's also on the last year of his deal and the general feeling is that he almost certainly won't be re-signed. The organization seems to be giving Maxim Lapierre every opportunity to be Begin's successor as the energy guy but he just doesn't do the job as well although he has more talent.

I don't blame Lucic for not fighting at all, he fought Boynton the night before and on top of it all, he was man enough to fight Komisarek at the end of the game in Boston so I commend him for it. There are a lot of moronic fans in this city who think they know the unspoken rules of hockey but if I'm Julien or Lucic, I don't see a point in fighting Laraque. Like I said, he fought Boynton the night before and right now, Boston has all the momentum in the rivalry, why would he risk getting beaten up by the league's top heavyweight on the road and risk swinging that momentum? The only time I have a problem with something like that is like when Jarkko Ruutu cheapshoted Maxim Lapierre with an elbow to the head and instead of getting the beatdown that was coming to him from Laraque, he ducked him and fought 5'8" Francis Bouillon instead but Lucic hasn't done anything dirty, he's just been a really effective player against the Habs The only criticism I have is that Julien didn't send out Thornton to fight Laraque.

I know, I was there.

I don't see what your question has to do with what I said

The Canadiens said Lucic was "running around out there" meaning he was doing what he wanted without paying a physical price and the only guy on the team who was able to give him a little physical punishment was Komisarek, so that's why we went and got Laraque. That's not entirely accurate. Laraque's job was to shadow Lucic, to stay in his head and if he was willing to fight him. And it worked for the first and third periods when the two were matched almost shift for shift. The only time they didn't almost the exact same ice time was the second period when, wouldn't you know it, is when Lucic scored. But that was because of Kovalev's pathetic back-checking. Something I felt should have warranted him being benched.

I dont think he'd run and hide in the DR so thats another plus

I know you did hey, im just happy Boston is waking up and realizing this is a rivalry

I'm just wondering where pussboy Shawn Thornton was when Laraque was talking to Lucic about how he took his mother out to a nice seafood dinner and didn't call her again

Clemens never tried to be anything but a power pitcher. Schilling on the other hand realized his velocity dipped and adjusted his style accordingly and became quite effective

My whole point is that prominent veterans usually play a large part in the success of a championship-contending team so why the hell would they be the subject of trade rumors?

it destroyed Timlin for awhile

Once the news came out that Marcum would miss all of next season, they tried like to hell to stop him from opting out

What the hell is ridiculous? You said: Pedro Martinez wasn't rumored to be traded in 2004. Curt Schilling wasn't rumored to be traded in 2007. Jason Varitek wasn't rumored to be traded in 2008. Just admit you made a stupid blanket statement.

You made the statement that there are always trade rumors surrounding prominent veterans 2 years or less from the end of their deal so I don't see why bringing up FAs from last year is ridiculous. If your theory is correct, it applies to FAs of any year in general

Really? There were rumors of trading Mike Lowell and Curt Schilling when the Sox led wire to wire last year? I guess I wasn't paying attention...

that shoulder better be 100% healthy

ok, what about Lowell and Schilling last year? Or hell, even A-Rod?

Unless the team is a contender. There were no rumors involving Giambi, Guerrero, Delgado, etc. or even Manny until he acted up.

Looking back, it was rather "strawman" of me to imply that people think Ortiz is worth less than s*** now but it infuriates me that because of one injury-plagued season, the idea to trade Ortiz is brought up. Why not debate whether to trade Josh Beckett? If Ortiz hadn't missed 2 months, he would have easily eclipsed 30 HR-100 RBI and thats not even taking into account the discomfort he felt in the wrist upon returning

Beckett was injured and pitched a heroic Game 6 with a torn f***ing oblique. Ortiz wasn't right all year and Lester was great aside for one start. And yea, they got beat by a team without any post-season success, or post-season experience. Sabathia and Wang actually have post-season experience, and both have sucked horribly.