seabeachfred

IN MY OPINION, if Valentine was managing the team last season we would have not only made the playoffs, we might have won the division for no matter what you or anyone else says Francona was a very poor field manager who costs us many games every season with half-ass moves and non moves. He also has a pre-game script which he was loathe to alter even if events in the game warranted it. For your memory, in the 2nd game of the 2008 ALCS he insisted Beckett was going seven innings even though he was getting hit and his control was off and the bullpen was fresh since Dice K had thrown eight innings of shutout ball the game before. I'll have Muggah come out with that list; I know he still has it. 93 wins could get us the WC; 96 would get us the division. Why not think big while you're at it. And reminding me of my pre Red Sox fanhood is getting a little old, don't you think?

I don't need Midol or Geritol or Viagra and I never need laxatives Spudboy, but I'm sure Emmz appreciates your defense of her just as Pumpie appreciates my defense of him. Frankly, I didn't think that I was that way off but if I was thanks for bringing it to my attention. As for those things you suggested to me, just be sure you don't burn the candle at both ends or yoyu may need them before I do. Anyway, thanks for you reply. Always nice to hear from no matter what the reason because I know you're a square shooter.

Having been happily married for 41 years, having raised a daughter and having a beautiful little granddaughter, you can be assured that I have ultimate respect for women and, truth be told, I prefer their company to men. I don't know where you came up with that insider knowledge because I don't have any; are you sure you don't have me mixed up for someone else? At any rate if you did call me out my rear end doesn't sting from it. I also like defending my friends. At any rate, you had your say and I salute your feistiness. Next time we exchange posts we have to make sure that it is in a more friendlier tone.

Maybe, maybe not, but I get tired of people criticising other posters with rude and sarcastic remarks and not being able to say why what was posted was wrong. Everyone has the right to criticize someone else but they should also be able to say why they disagreed and maybe offer some insight of their own on the subject at hand. Some of us have kept quiet about this for some time and this has nothing to do with gender either except I noticed my pals Pumpsie and Muggah were getting panned unfairly the same way 700 and I were getting it from some other lady. Either ignore what we post or be able to stand tall and say why we are off in our opinions. We're all adults and Red Sox fans here. We should all respect one another without resorting to sarcasm and insults.

You know damn well what it means but since you are feigning ignorance let me put some new colors in your paintbox. We have a couple of ladies on this board whose stock in trade is to criticize, whine,and rail when someone posts something that even hints at a whiff of doubt or pessimism at what's going on with the Red Sox. They write nothing of substance except snide remarks, wha hoo , ya hoo or something similar. What Pumpsie wrote made a lot of sense and if she disagreed with it she should have said why and gave her take on it. Instead we got another dose of meaningless gibberish. 700 Hitter remarked about this the other day and while they have as much right to post as anyone else at least they should be able to defend what they find wrong with what someone else posts instead of silly remarks and sarcastic jabs.

With all due respect madam, all you can really say is a lot of nothing of substance. Between what passes for humor or sarcasm I have yet to read one of your posts where you actually contribute an opinion to what the Red Sox can do to better themselves or offer give an opinion with relation to the team. Sometimes you ladies on these Red Sox boards can really be pills in this regard. Looking forward to seeing you tell us how you see the Red Sox shaping up this season and why. That would be very refreshing.

Nice sneak attack MVP since I don't have those games in front of me, but I will be sure to let Muggah know because he listed them last season and had nine by the middle of August. I will be certain to let him let y ou know which games they were so you could look them up yourself and weep since obviously you're a Franconian at heart. As for predictions I think with a new medical staff and a manager that will not cost us games but may even steal a few for us we could better last year's record and maybe do better if these things occur. 1. Our "Big Three" pitchers must go deeper into games and win big, about 55 games between them. 2. Our bullpen has to be deep enough and effective enough to staunch whatever bleeding accrues from spots 4 and 5 and occasional mishaps by the three others. 3. A full comeback by Crawford, a return to form by Youkilis and the rest of the offense hitting on nearly all of their cylinders. IOW, not having three players having off years as we did the last two seasons. Now let me hear what you have to say about our chances instead of sitting on the sidelines.

To me the first order of business for a Major League General Manager is that he be a good judge of talent. Not only that but he and his scouts must know as much as they can about a prospective prospect's character. That part is harder but with thorough cross checking it can be ascertained. True, it is not an easy job but with those two qualities in your possession it does make it easier for that person. Today with so many GM's with business backgrounds there seems to be a de-emphasis on people with talent judgment skills. I remember when I was a kid and the Brooklyn Dodgers had a GM-part owner named Branch Rickey running the show. He was a near genius in spotting talent and that is how he was able to sign, trade for or draft the like of the players he did----Snider, Campanella, Reese, Robinson, Hodges, Furillo, Newcombe, Erskine, Labine. Many of those are in the Hall of Fame and some are close to getting in. I also think it is better to have two men occupy that spot with clearly delinated duties---one in charge of player personnel, the other with finance and contracts. I hate to use them as an example since I despise them since they left Brooklyn but the Dodgers for years under the O'Malley's had two such men in that job. Buzzy Bavasi ran the personnel part of it and Fresco Thompson the business end. It seemed to work for them well in the 60's.

Our team has been star crossed the past three seasons and we sure as hell had better be luckier than in those three years. What you're saying is that if things break right for us we could be in a good position to go far. I totally agree with that but for that to happen our three top pitchers must stay healthy and win big, and go deeper into games than they did last season. The bullpen has to step up and be a lock down unit, the hitters must hit as a team and we cannot afford to have two or three of them suffer down years. It is all possible but lady luck would be a big help. Of course, luck is the residue of design and I wonder if Cherington has designed the team for such a run of success????? We'll have to wait and find out.

True UN but do we have the kind of team that can get to the Playoffs after 162 games with some of the question marks we still have----and will our three good starters be healthy all year and ready to take on such a challenge? That to me is the big question and I keep coming back that we can do it but just about everything has to go right for us to win the division and get home field advantage. Having a much better field manager who will not cost us 10-12 games a year is a big step in the right direction.

I think that was Pumpsie's point all along and we all can agree on that. BTW, are you HFX Bob? Someone told me you were.

Well we've just kicked Paolodios upstairs to CEO (hit the road Larry), so the GM job is yours. Now just offer Oswalt a couple of million more and get the guy signed. I really think this would make a big difference for us.....both in the pitching staff and psychological as well.

PALODIOS FOR GM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Putting your caustic wit aside, you probably couldn't have done any worse than our front office has done this winter. If you would not have offered Ortiz arbitration and traded Scutaro, then you have the Red Sox front office beaten just by that.:):):)

Shouldn't be so tough Chin. We seem to agree of a lot of things. Whatever personal beef you may have with me shouldn't get in the way that we are on the same page with the way the front office has botched things this winter. At last check, we still haven't gotten that No. 4 pitcher we need, have we?

They not only criticize Elk, they go ballistic. They simply do not want to hear any discouraging word said about their team despite evidence that the front office has not brought the team up to speed this off season.

The problem is that we have some people on this board who have full trust and confidence in the front office as in they know what they're doing and they can do it better than we can. It is those people who most likely never played much baseball, certainly never coached it and most definately never scouted for it. We also have people here who were adamant that Cherington or Henry or whoever not offer Ortiz arbitration this winter because he would accept it while the front office gambled he wouldn't. It was abject stupidity on their part that they couldn't see what so many of us "amateurs" could. That move tied our hands for pitching and we are seeing that now as the front office is throwing dollars around like they're manhole covers. When some of us predicted that we would not get Kuroda, nor would be get Jackson, and most likely not get anyone of note, they railed at us and attacked us for our "disloyalty" and lack of confidence in what the front office was doing. Well here we are just a couple of weeks before the trucks leave and we have a team that most likely is weaker than last year, that Cherington will make another blunder and give Ortiz a multi-year contract which will block Lavarnway, our best young RH power hitter indefinately at a time when the schedule will call for more inter-league games where Ortiz will be useless and still demand that he play some of those games. And let's not fail to mention that we still don't know about Varitek showing up for ST to further cloud what is already a disfunctional situation.

Good idea VA; why don't you become a Nats fan? It would do you good and you wouldn't have to read things that would upset you since Nats fans are all pretty homgenious and maybe a little dull. Let me know when you make the conversion and I'll even throw in pink Nats hat on me.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: