seabeachfred

I think you might be spot on with the Beckett comparison. No doubt both Lester and Buchholz looked up to him and might have copied his mannerisms on the mound. Don't forget, Buch came up in 2007 and Lester came up to stay the same season, the one where Beckett was arguably the best pitcher on the planet. I remember reading how Farrell was saying he wanted Clay to speed up his pace of pitches on the mound and most likely included Lester with it. Well they are the supposed "aces" this year and whatever makes them more effective is gravy for the team. I don't mean to grasp at straws but, face it, another 2012 wouldn't be good for any of us around here. We'd be angry at the team and ourselves and I cannot for the life of me seeing a repeat of the 2012 disaster. It also seems that Farrell has things under control.

The only way I see Ecks not getting the job should Jerry step down is because of what someone (maybe you) said earlier----that he has a tendency not to pull any punches and anything goes and usually does when he is at the mike. I think he would be good with Don Orsillo as well. If I were to make a analogy between Remy and Ecks it would be to kind of compare them to the different type of posters we have here on Talk Sox. Both Remy and Ecks are diehard Red Sox fans; I don't think there is any doubt about that, do you? Well it's the same here. People like you, Bellhorn, mvp and others love the Red Sox but you're pretty well under control and take it all in stride while 700, Sox Sport and I sometimes go to the edge. Hell variety is fine when you look at it that way, and it would work if Ecks became Orsillo's partner. Truth be told though, I still like to hear Remy on my computer.

Well said my friend and I just wonder if it is just us or whether the rest of the crew here understands that Orsillo and Remy are about as good a one-two punch of announcers as there is in the game? Out here in Southern California, we have Vin Scully, the best baseball announcer in history but he is a one man show and doesn't have a broadcast partner. The Dodgers regular duo suck and the Angels aren't any better, certainly not in the class of Don and Jerry. I've been listening to these guys since 2004 and appreciate what they bring to the mike, but one place where we may have a slight disagreement is that I've seen Remy get very critical of some of the play he's seen over the years and Orsillo usually amplfied what Jerry said with some well placed barbs of his own. I don't see these two guys as house men at all.

My fear is that if Bradley is sent down he just might get injured a la Kalish. As long as we can get seven years out of him before Boras bores in with his ridiculous money first and only demands we should take full advantage of it. Bradley may not be ready as some say but is Sweeney or Nava or Carp? The best way most likely is to take our chances with these bottom feeders for a two week stretch and hope Jackie is raking down on the farm and physically in one piece----and then bring him up. We're thinking of Bradley as a good hitter but he can run to give us some added speed and he can field terrifically in the outfield. He gives us a solid player. BTW Ted, I know the "dead arm" stage of ST is about to hit us, but am I wrong is saying that our starting pitchers have done a pretty damn good job so far, surprisingly very good? You've seen them. Are you impressed and when are getting back home?

Yezssir asked both of us to cut this s*** out but after that only I did. You sent a post to me stupid; I never sent one to you until you insulted me with one. So it will be tit for tat from here on in. I see stupidity and frustration in your ridiculous and nasty missives to me. This will stop when you stop sending me posts. It is now up to you. And don't go crying to the moderators as is your habit. You started this and you can end it.

Damn Ted---I should have read all the posts instead of starting with the first ones today. If I had I could have saved myself repeating pretty much what you wrote. Wily Mo Pena? What a piece of human refuse that guy was.....and notice within two years after we got rid of him he was out of baseball. I actually remember seeing a game against the Reds on my computer in 2005 when he played a fly ball off his head for a Red Sox home run. Next Spring Epstein traded for him. Real heady move. BTW, remember Darling Darnell, that three season train wreck we had? Guess where I saw him today? On TV playing for the Cubbies. Seems our old friend Epstink is going to convince himself the guy can really play baseball.

Dojii, seems to be you are trying to compare wild salmon with rat s***. How can you make a comparison of Bradley with Wily Mo Pena. Except for some power Pena was a total plane crash everywhere else. He was dumb on the bases, couldn't field worth s***, and was a strikeout machine. I heard from a Red Sox scout that knew Dave Magadan that Francona was actually scared shitless to even put him in the outfield and was one reason Epstein went after Drew for the 2007 season. I just can't figure your analogy out at all. As for Crisp, dynamite in 2007? You have to mean defense because he was totally s***** on offense, so bad that Fenway erupted in wild applause when Ellsbury was finally put in the lineup in the ALCS. What I do agree with you on is if the Red Sox are not going to give Bradley a full shot at a starting spot or think he may not be ready, then start him at Pawtucket, hope he rakes down there and when Nava, Sweeney, Victorino etc, f*** up as I know they will, then bring Jackie up.....to stay.

SFF---If what you say is true about service time and that we could still have Bradley for seven years and work it around short trips to the minors, then fine, if he can hack it, bring him up. Look, we all know that Gomes hits lefties very well, and that Victorino is better against them as well (even though he was s***** with both when he was with the Dodgers last summer). That means we could use a LH hitter against RH pitching. Jackie could be that man and we could give him a shot. My only question would be is he ready? I certainly don't look forward to seeing Nava or Sweeney out there because we've seen this scene before. They are who they are and won't get better. They might get off to a decent start but as was the case twice with Nava and last year with Sweeney they faded badly as the season wore on.

The peanut gallery is heard from---that from a person who couldn't make it in California, couldn't last a year in Brooklyn, but now is trying his hand in comedy. What's next on your never ending search for Hyperion? Try Vegas.......NOT!!!!!!!!!

You know VA, you could have taken my whole post and critiqued it but you chose to focus only on my first sentence. You must be a liberal because that's the way they butcher my fellow conservatives by twisting what they say around so it no longer has the same meaning. True, I might have been overly sensitive when I replied but I couldn't help feeling their was spite and animosity in the way you responded. I will back down if I'm wrong but I don't think so. I once suggested that we no longer communicate since there seems to be a wall between us. I would suggest that again.

You know, if brains were dynamite you wouldn't have enough to blow your nose.

Personally I think all Red Sox fans should invest $25.00 or so and buy the Francona book. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether Tito was given sort shrift and made the scapegoat for what happened or whether he bears a lot of the responsibility for the country club atmosphere that evolved the last three years of his stewardship. Again, personally, he was made to look bad by Prune Face and Company but the fact remains that he was a terrible field manager who was very slow on the draw in removing a tired or battered pitcher, ran a dull and totally predictable game from the dugout---station to station, no bunting, no hit and running, nary a squeeze play and a total reluctance to turn runners loose. He said he hated to give up potential outs but it seemed we always led the league or finished a close second in hitting into double plays. He also said he would manage differently the next time around and he better because if he tries the same dull and unimaginative methods in Cleveland he will fail miserably. Of course that's my opinion and it is biased.....I never thought he was worth a damn as a field manager. His strength was in the clubhouse, dealing with the press and keeping the tension off of his players. He also had their backs and those are attributes worthy of praise.

I think you hit the key right there Sox Sport. For some reason Prune Face Henry is wedded to Lucchino like a husband or wife....take your pick. He seems totally dependent on the guy and cannot for the life of him see that he is the one stumble block to the team, what with is stubborn insistence on promotion an marketing. What's worse, though, is his constant meddling in baseball operations when it is obvious that he is a lawyer and doesn't really know s*** about what goes on out on the field. Yet there he always seems to be, meddling and throwing cold ice on things. The only credit I will give Tito is his dysfunctional debacle is that he did take some deep responsibility for the collapse of the team which had become a pack of prima donnas who felt entitled to anything they wanted. Prune Face might be able to bring things around but he is going to have to get a new GM who knows what the hell he is doing, and either cage Lucchino to his P and M or simply fire the son of a bitch.

If Steven didn't have concussion problems I would be on the warpath with those damn Drews, who can't seem to stay in one piece and take forever to get back on the field. However, what Drew has needs to be settled before he gets back into action. Dizzy spells and disorientation is nothing to sneeze at. I hope he recovers as soon as possible, but as Jacko says, this could be two days or two weeks or two months. We just don't know about those things.

Loopy Larry pretty well sums that guy up Pal, but as soon as I found out that Boras was Bradley's agent, I said to hell with it. He stays down until April 27th and we take our chances until then. That would give us seven years with him. Still, do we really know for sure if Bradley will adjust to the Majors once he has been brought up, when pitchers start changing speeds, when they let him hit the dirt, when they bring in lefties to try and get him out. Can he hit lefties? I think Jackie is the real thing but keeping Boras at bay for another year and giving Bradley a little Triple AAA time won't be a tragedy if our pitching can come around, which, BTW, even though it is only ST, they seem to be doing quite well.

And some of our friends here wonder why we think of he front office as a bunch of boobs. Sox Sport, you hit the nail on the head. We are not Tampa Bay or even Baltimore. The owners are multi millionaires, nay, billionaires and to worry about a kid's control for seven years is ludicrous in its senselessness. We certainly can use a spark, a good hitting outfielder and some extra speed to go with Ells, Pedey and Shane. Your point about the Angels and Trout is right on. Angels fans out where I live are all livid that their team dicked around with Mike Trout last season and lost games they would have won had their wonderboy been playing from the opening gun. Is it about winning I thought, but apparently the FO has another agenda and that is economy. Uh oh!!!!!!!! I have to do a verbal retreat right now as I edit my previous post. Scott Boras is his agent??????? Well wait until April 27th and hope for the best, that we do ok until then and that Jackie does not get hurt at Pawtucket. I want to keep Boras away from our players as long as possibe.

I don't like the idea of Gomes hitting fourth. I would put Pedroia third, Napoli fourth and Middlebrooks fifth and take a chance on Victorino in the second hole. More speed at the top and so many people have told me I'm wrong about Shane that I figured what the hell, maybe seven or eight people know more about this guy than I do.

I'm not touching that one Dojii with a hot poker iron, though, truth be told, I might be convinced to take Rolen over those other three as well. I want no part of Gomez, and Overbay looks even older than his age and I wonder how much he has left in his tank. Carp fascinated me because of his power but Pal threw ice cold water on that when he mentioned him in the same breath as Hermida. One of him was enough. It all comes down to when Ortiz is going to be ready to play. With the heels, achilles and potential strain to the hammies he could be out for awhile. Then we would face a quandry. Frankly, I would like to hear how David is progressing a few days before the start of the regular season. Then we would know which way to go---what we have, sign someone, maybe trade for something better than what we've got if there is any such animal out there.

It is strange how that works sometimes, Hughes a prime example of what all seem to know about ST. In our case, though, with Papi out the Red Sox are going to have to band together as a team and be able to do the little things they've ignored the past few years if they are going to have any chance of making a run this year. For that reason, I kind of allow myself to amplify what SFF is saying. We have to be somewhat encouraged at least the way Lester, Buchholz and Dempster have performed so far this Spring. Without solid starting pitching no team stands a ghost of a chance so I would much rather see those guys performing well than getting lit up like a Christmas tree.

That's a possibility Jung. He has a live arm and if he can combine that with some smarts and good coaching, why try him as a closer down at Pawtucket or Portland? I just feel in my bones that starting is not for him. Even the dumb Dodgers saw that.

SFF, he DIDN'T have success in the bigs when he came up in 2011. He had a couple of good outings and more ineffective ones. The guy has a good arm but while not considered a project, for anyone to state that he is a top notch prospect is carrying a torch for this guy that might flicker away. He could go either way. That you need to remember.

No one to my knowledge called DeLaRosa a bum. You just overhyped him and I cautioned you that this guy has some talent but a lot of questionmarks about him, something that set you off. I remember saying that he didn not pitch well for the Dodgers when he was brought up a couple of years ago. His fast ball was straight, he was constantly behind the hitters and he got hit hard. With proper maturity and development he can become a decent relief pitcher.......possibly. However, IMHO he is not the type you build your staff around because he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. He's had two bad outings in a row, nothing to get overly alarmed about. If this continues for the rest of ST and into the season it could mean that the Dodgers might have suckered us.

Theo Epstein knew about Anthony Rizzo when he was with the Red Sox and while somewhat of an overrated egonmaniac, he knew enough about talent to get him from the Padres when that team stupidly put him up for sale. Rizzo is going to be an outstanding hitter with power while the Red Sox even more stupidly traded the guy for Gonzales who they then traded away to recover some payroll flexibility. Now we are looking for a good young first baseman for the future and may have to trade for one or move either Boegarts or Middlebrooks there, both choices horseshit in my opinion because it takes those two out of their best position. Speaks volumes just how screwed up our front office is and how inept some of our moves have been. If we weren't going to make a major commitment to Gonzales we never should have traded Anthony Rizzo.

Did the latimes.com also say that some teams walked away from deals with the Dodgers because they believed their price for some of their "prospects" were out of sorts? The Dodgers are infamous for over-hyping their prospects, most of whom turn out to be s***. James Loney was a No 1, Jose DeJesus (did I get the first name right?) was a No. 2 or 3. Neither did much of anything worth while for a draft choice that high. Except for Kershaw and Kemp, their team is not home grown and their development program is as bad as the Angels, save for their Mike Trout. You lived in LA for awhile. You couldn't have missed all he ******** written by the flunkies who covered the team, most of which was mindless propaganda about crappy ballplayers. Fortunate for you that you don't have to read that kind of trash every day.

I take it you might not be too aware of DeLaRosa at this time but I can tell you he is not and never will be another Pedro Martinez, and the proof is how they performed when they were first called up to the Dodgers. DLR was hit hard, overthrew and was behind most of the hitters. He simply looked crappy . Martinez came up in 1993 and if memory served me right went something like 7-2 with an ERA under 3.00. He was especially tough against the arch rival Giants that season but was traded when the portly and big mouth Tommy LaPasta LaSorda claimed he didn't have the size or strength to be a quality front line pitcher. Yes Tommy is a big hero out here but as far as I'm concerned he isn't worth s*** as a judge of talent. He's also the guy who traded young Paul Konerko for some over the hill closer named Jeff Shaw who pitched two average years and then retired. DeLaRosa was dumped by the Dodgers. They felt Zack Lee and a couple of others were better gambles than DLR was. We may get lucky with the guy but we could easily get ourselves a real dud as well. The jury will be out awhile on him.