ksushi

A little late, jsinger. You're usually on the ball.

Lester is not ready for the major leagues yet. Alvarez.

EEI is reporting that Clemens descision will come next week and it is between the Red Sox and Astros with the Astros holding a slight advantage.

If Wells can carry any load at all as a starting pitcher there is no need to bring up lester.

You do when he hits a batter with the bases loaded and has a 6 ERA. We're in a tight division, tito.

What is this poetry hour?

Yeah, when I start to agree that Matt Clement should be given up on, I think then he might be past the point of no return because I love the guy. I hope someone from the farm does get a call, it can't be any worse.

Trading for Barry Zito would be going against the organizational philosophy of building for the future and hanging on to prospects that was so important to Theo that he resigned. Trading for Zito goes against everything Theo believes in as a GM. Not so much Willis, but mostly Zito as he would be a 3 month rental.

The problem with having Youk leading off is that once he is on first base he provides no threat of stealing a base. Coco on first will get Ortiz and Manny seeing more fastballs because Coco is a big base stealing threat. He can upset a pitchers rhythm. I like him hitting 8th, because while he would get zero protection from Gonzo it wouldn't matter because does anyone remember when Gonzo kept getting up with 2 outs and the bases loaded? Especially when we had guys like Harris and Bard and Gonzo in one line up? Thats because guys were getting on with two outs, but there was no bat at the bottom of the order to take care of anything. With Youk at the bottom, he would be coming up more often with runners on, and would make an out less often than those guys that were in the back of the order before.

Doubt it. I've argued it to death already, I just think that the FO is committed to Jon Lester being a Red Sox at this point. I read the last ten or so posts but didn't pay attention to who said it, and I'm not going back to look, but christ, who suggested Lester for Prior? Are you retarded? Yeah, lets trade our best prospect for the Cubs biggest problem. Thats exactly what we need, another guy who can come here and be on the DL. Man, some of you guys are too trigger happy on these trades. You know who a guy is who I would trade? Pedroia. I would trade Pedroia.

Foulke for closer!

A-rod being A-rod. Game already decided by a good deal of runs, time for A-rod to happily pad the stats.

Did the yankee fans come out of their shell? I've not been paying attention.

I disagree, I think Papelbon is an excellent short-term closer, but he was and still is potentially a 200 inning work horse. We have no reason to doubt his ability as a starter, and I think as good as this looks right now, having a guy like Papelbon in your rotation is exponentially more valuable than having him as a closer. Hansen has an ugly delivery, but could be an excellent 2 inning closer down the road. I'd take him as the closer of the future.

I think Greg Maddux should at least be in the discussion.

Go ahead, but I've read now from two places he hit 98 once in one of his last starts. Velocity increases happen with moves to higher level of play. Workout gets more intense etc. He won't hit 98 consistantly at any point and it may have been the gun, but he threw heat. I saw Santana hit 99 last year, doesn't mean he can throw it all the time.

Lol, giving gonzalez too much credit. Clement Gonzalez

Not true. Beckett isn't a free agent until 08. They estimate that the Marlins will be competitive again in 5 years. Thats usually how long a rebuilding takes, neither Dontrelle or Beckett would have been around if you figure they don't get re-signed.

I think Beckett was stuff-wise way ahead of Willis. The reason they dealt him is because Beckett was viewed as a high maintenance pitcher who spent too much time on the DL. The stuff was never an issue.

Erm, no, I'm sorry. Lester mechanics were totally fine. He is a self proclaimed slow starter, so perhaps throwing him into MLB games in ST was a bad idea to begin with. He is a slow starter. His slow start had nothing to do with bad mechanics it is what he does. The marlins dismantling has nothing to do with Willis's terrible BAA and WHIP. He is an off again on again NL pitcher who I would not trust making the transition to the AL right now. I think its possible lester has a higher ceiling.

What has willis done this year to make you think that? And ST didn't mess with his mechanics at all... i know he was rattled and not ready... but mechanically he was fine.

Yeah, lets hope, because Willis has been so good. Keep dreaming. Seriously, I don't understand your impatience. I mean, I kind of get that what you're saying is a little bit rational, I'm just confused as to why you are so hell bent on trading a 22 year old lefty who has touched 98 this year and was the eastern league pitcher of the year. What is it? Granted, Lester lives in the low 90's, he has a power arm with good stuff. People all up and down the Red Sox system gush when they talk about him. Not all prospects pan out, but I don't understand why you are so averse to giving him a shot. I will guarentee you they will not trade him. They have walked way too far out on the plank with this kid handling him with kid gloves, grooming him to be in the Boston rotation. They could have dealt him for Johnson, didn't. They could have dealt him for A-rod, didn't - although to be fair Lester wasn't the breaking point of that deal, or at least not all of it. They could have dealt him alone in the Beckett deal, didn't. They've gone to great lengths at this point to keep him. He's done nothing but what is expected of him. Why trade? *shakes head begins to cry*

David Ortiz is a big big man.

I've got a friend going to RIT as a freshman next year, thats awesome.

Where are you looking for college? I was the same, empire, 700 in english, 1100 overall. Terrible at math.