seabeachfred

Your brain may be melting because you couldn't tell the forest from the trees and got caught in a maelstrom. What record to the contrary? Where is that starting pitcher you keep saying we're getting? There are only five left that haven't signed and the only really good one will go elsewhere because we won't pay him. Do I know the thinking and proceedings of the Red Sox? Apparently I do because we haven't gotten that pitcher as I have said we wouldn't all along, and we are proceeding to try and make a chicken salad with chicken s***---unless you call what we have signed credible Major League pitchers. Let these names once again roll in your ears.....Cook, Germano, Silva, Maine, Miller Haeger, Padilla. Anyone of those you would want to take on the Yankees in a crucial September series? You sure as hell don't. Does it look like we are going to get that pitcher we need so badly? Doesn't look like it, does it? Of course, I will stand down and issue my mea culpa if we do because I'm not afraid to say it if I'm wrong, but right now I'm reading the front office pretty accurately. I know it shakes your tree but the truth sometimes hurts. You may not like it but as they say in Russia, tough shitsky.

You know what frosts my ass 700? You mention the Nationals who have not been hesitant to spend money this winter and no way they're a big market team. Us? We are a big market team and we've been pinching pennies so hard this winter that they're screaming for mercy, and to top it off you would think ownership knowing we had a bad collapse last September would tell the fans they would go the extra mile to get us to speed so that this season we would be armed and dangerous. Instead we head for ST probably a 3rd place team in the pre-season matchups. Fortunately it is just a paper prediction and maybe our team can show what the football Giants did this season and over-achieve, give us at least a division title and give Henry and Lucchino a big middle finger for trying to starve them for the help they could have used.

Jung---we haven't anything to worry about concerning things getting hot on this board so long as no one means anything personal or someone doesn't take anything personal. Easier said than done I know but this is a forum and opinions are going to vary and some of us like Pumpsie and User are going to be advocates for their point of view just like the rest of us are. As for your bringing on ST you can be things will be just as hot here then as it is now, especially when we start zeroing in on some of those "pitchers" we signed this off season. I felt so confident when ST began last year and now I have some misgivings about how this season is going to go down since so much as to go right if we are to make a real move this season. Of course, the one thing that would set me off is if when ST begins and Varitek and Wakefield are there in Fort Myers, and I just hope they are not invited and do not show up.

Apparently not Spudboy. Somehow the Jackson thread got expanded to talks about new stadiums, tv revenue and small vs big market teams. That's ok with me but it makes me wonder how a big market and rich team like ours can't write a damn check to get us a quality pitcher and instead signs every swinging trash collector it can. Apparently, Henry needs to save his money for another yacht or for buying a football team.

Since you back a lot longer than I have MVP and also lived in So. California, I won't argue the point and concede you may be more right than I am. From my perspective of going to Angels games when the Red Sox or Yankees were in town (remember my wife and daughter are diehard Angels fans), I both marveled and rolled my eyes at how ardent Red Sox fans were there but I never viewed them as losers, just a team with miserable luck. That was before I came on board. Yankee fans were the obnoxious ones as far as I was concerned; Red Sox fans had nothing then to be obnoxious about. Again it was from my own perspective but I found Red Sox fans friendlier to the Nth degree than Yankee fans were. In fact it seemed those fans were too put out to even talk to you about baseball as if you weren't in their class. Of course, maybe I gave off the wrong vibe my friend because I had hated the Yankees since I was seven years old. You mentioned 2004 and you are right there. Many fans other than Yankee ones rejoiced when we finally won it all that year but after 2007 I noticed more jealousy and resentment than before. Since I wear some kind of Red Sox clothing every day I was like a magnet for comment. Angels fans hated us more than ever and Dodger fans resented how anyone could root for the Red Sox when their Bums played in the same area as I lived. Again, though, you are right. This is from my perspective, but, remember, I have seen it from both ends.

Full agreement on that 305 and the hope here is that he mends well and gets off to a good start, has a solid season and shuts everyone up. The fact is we are a helluva lot better team if we have the Crawford circa 2010 than the one we had last season. The fear is that he might press very badly and have another sub-par season and that would really get the wolves out in force. He needs to have a solid season for his sake, the team's and the fans. I'm betting he does just that.

We're getting nowhere with this guys and Boxy. We'll just to wait and see in ST what this band of no-accounts can do. I only hope that there are enough "B" and Split Squad games that these pitchers get a chance to show what they have, little though it may be. I think some of us are thinking in the back of our mind that maybe one or two will turn out to be the Red Sox version of Colon and Garcia, circa 2012. Historically we have never seemed to have the luck the Yankees had in this regard and it is a tenuous way to head into the season, but since we have so many of these dregs trying out for the pitching staff, maybe this time the law of averages works in our favor and one of these guys actually rises to the occasion. Two would be better and almost a miracle.

He is an average talent, good for maybe a No. 4 or 5 role but nothing even close to being a bell cow of a pitching staff User, and as for talent evaluating or lack of it, speak for yourself. I have experience evaluating talent---for scouts themselves, years of it and I think I know talent when I see it. I'm sure some of my buddies on this board can verify it but I predicted correctly that one time top prospect Lars Anderson would be a white elephant, that Josh Reddick would be an average talent at best. I also recall that here, on Dirt Dogs and on Sawxheads, people were pleading to get a quality second baseman in the later stages of the 2006 season and in early 2007 because Dustin Pedroia just was too small and too limited in talent to make it. I also remember vividly how I was roundly panned because I insisted that Jacoby Ellsbury was twice the ballplayer Coco Crisp was and should become the centerfielder. Memories may be very short now that these two have become the stars that they are but I have a very long and a very good memory about the tangles I had with people who thought the opposite a few years ago. The one player I have missed on has been Jed Lowrie but I think injuries and his being shuffled around has set him back. Look for him to be a solid player in Houston if he can stay healthy......and by solid I mean a guy who can hit around 300, hit 20-25 homers and drive in between 80-90 runs. So when it comes to talent evaluation speak for yourself. There are some of us here who can judge talent a little better than you can if you feel yourself inadequate in that regard.

It wouldn't spite me in the least Pal, not in the least. Let's be honest, though. Would you bet your house on this happening? The garage? The pool, the tomato patch in your back yard? See what I mean? Right now I think we've put ourselves against the wall and are expecting gold to come from rhinestones. That's fool's gold and the only way we can do it will be if the team plays out of his mind this season. Perhaps the pride element will be there by those who were thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated by their pratfall last season. It could happen but as I've said so often, just about everything would have to break right.

Doubrant is a lefthander with some talent but he is not someone like Matt Moore or even Ivan Nova; he is an average talent with the problem that he is a lazy doofus who is prone to let himself get out of shape and look like warmed over s***. I would like to see him and Padilla fight it out for one of the last remaining spots in the rotation and if he can redeem himself I would choose him over some of the other stiffs we signed. Padilla could be a solid possibility for us if he can stay healthy and out of jail and maybe Cook can get out of the kitchen and make a comeback, but forget Silva, Germano, Miller Haeger and Maine. They are simply cannon fodder and I just hope Pad, Cook and Doobie doobie doo are better than that.

I still have this uncomfortable feeling that Prune Face Henry is going to pull this "loyalty" s*** gig once again as he did with Diva when he offered him arbitration and "invite" the brutal and pathetic Weakflood to Spring Training. If that happens the fix is in and he will be on the club. Then what, Putritek next?????:thumbdown:dunno::dunno::dunno:

You said a mouthful there SoxSport, but I wonder why we can't get the same ton of mileage from our guys. Wouldn't it be swell if Beckett could go out there for the entire 162 game schedule and we wouldn't have to read that he may miss one or two or three starts, that Buchholz is good to go every time it's his turn, that Lester is finally putting his enormous talent together and is leading the league in wins and ERA? They luck is the residue of design, but just the same a smile or two from Dame Fortune would make things a lot easier for the whole lot of us.

Well we've plenty of that Pumpsie. "Short Order" Cook, "Hi Ho Silva, Deutschland Germano, "Millstone" Miller, "Slacks" Heager, "White Coat" Padilla. You could fertilize a lot acres with that kind of dung. Forgive me for the use of nicknames guys and gals. I got agitated again knowing that Oswalt is still out there and we are twidling our thumbs and still refusing to spend money needed to give us a decent chance to win. I'm surprised many of you out there can stay calm when our house is on fire.

We're not getting him Bob, 700, Muggah, Sox Sport and the rest of my colleagues on this board. We are not getting him. We are not getting him unless the Red Sox are willing to raise the ante a little bit and they have stubbornly refused to do so, and if it's true that we are already over the LT it makes this policy seem totally ridiculous. Raise the ante Bozo and make my pals 700 and Bob happy and give us a chance to compete this season.

Cherington started his GM career with a colossal mistake---offering Ortiz arbitration and believing he would turn it down when so many of us here knew he would grab it. From there it just killed our ability to make some needed changes, and the incompetent Benny Boy had better make a notation that next winter HE DOES NOT OFFER ORTIZ ARBITRATION and that we move on from the guy and thank him for his ten years of help to us. I don't want Lavarnway blocked any more. It was a stupid mistake on Bozo's part.

You said it 700----royally screwed!!!! I still cannot understand why the team didn't at least try and go a half a mile to sign one of those pitchers. Now with Padilla soon to hit the slammer one of our "depth" guys might be incognito all season---and he might have been the best out of the trash heap we grabbed at.

Jung, remember Lenny DiNardo???? We tried the same crap with him two or three times and I think they brought him back last ST for another shot at making the team. He was absolutely s***** to the core and became a human pinata every time he stepped to the mound. A soft tossing lefty is like throwing a bat ting practice pitcher at the opposition at Fenway Park. We went that route with little Lenny; we don't need to try this route again.:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

NB----I've been reading some of your posts and know you are a little pissed off at what has been happening this winter with the front office's cheapness and reluctance to spend the money needed to get our team up to speed. Believe me, if you've been reading other people's missives you would know you are not alone. Yes, I know we spent a ton of money last winter and I get that all the time, but for some reason some of those people who give the ownership a free pass to be stingy this off season may be forgetting that John Henry is a billionaire with plenty of scratch. He should have gone the extra mile for the team and their fans. What he's telling me anyway is that I can take it or leave it and it's as if what concerns us about our team doesn't mean a damn thing to him. We could have gotten Kuroda, or Oswalt or Jackson if he has the will to do, but he didn't. Now we have to hope that luck is with us in the form of good health from the players and career years from a large segment of the roster. It's a helluva lot to ask if you ask me.

Yes 305 we COULD beat them. Yes we could win the division. However, for that to happen a lot of things would have to break our way. For one thing the Yankees and Rays are deeper, much deeper in starting pitching than we are. Our so-called "Big Three" would have to pitch their asses off, go deep and I mean deep into games, win big and stay in one piece all season long, maybe missing no more than one or two starts apiece. Our hitting and defense would have to operate on all cylinders ALL season. That's a lot to ask; it is not impossible by any means but it is an arduous task. One thing I insist will be a strength for us. Bobby Valentine will not cost the Red Sox between 10-12 games this year through miserable and incompetent managing in the dugout. I know this rankles the Franconian forces on his and on other boards but the former manager was a very poor strategist who was slow pulling struggling pitchers, played a dull station-to-station game, and was so predictable the opposition could just sit back and wait for the inevitable double play that would kill another rally or wait until he failed to change a pitcher in time. It is now clear he went with a pre-game program and was loathe to move away from it even when the occasion demanded. The opposition will not be able to do that with Bobby V. He is a very good game manager, is an hard to predict as Joe Maddon is, and knows how to handle a pitching staff. That ought to be an improved strength for us, a big improvement.

Ted----What went down last season caused one of the other boards I post on to split right down the middle with half of them leaving and forming another one. It all came down to what went down early last season so what you were thinking and believing was believed by a lot of other people as well. In fact if you remember we lost 12 staight games in ST and while people could say those games don't count in the standings, a very blase attitude seemed to develop and some of us called it a "culture of losing" that was established and it carried right over into the season (2-10). Francona under drugs for various illnesses and pains and going through a divorce was out of sorts from the beginning and coupled with his very weak ability as a field manager and strategist the team was in very poor hands. Despite the streak some of the posters on that board who now post on here like Pumpsie, Muggah, Elktonnick, IPOT and myself warned that the team could go back into the tank at any time and one of us on July 26th of last year predicted they would and that they would collapse. Believe me it was not a stroke of genius by any means. The team even during their winning streak seemed distracted and not united at all. The other camp gave us all kinds of crap during our July hot streak and when the fall came they not only didn't have the guts and courage to admit they were wrong but fled like rats from that board. I have some doubts if there is a real commitment to rectify what went down last year and coupled with some real weaknesses on the team, especially the lack of quality depth in our starting rotation, we could be in serious trouble this year. My heart tells me the team can rally and make a real run for the AL East Title and with good health and solid performances from all the players actually win it. My head tells me that we might be in serious trouble. We have not done all we can to ratchet up the team to division standards while the ownership has suddenly turned scrooge. I wonder if expect the worst and hope for the best would fit this year's team. Right now I see them as a second place team.