seabeachfred

Cherington is slowly beginning to show even his biggest supporters that he may be a few smokes short of a pack. Giving Ortiz arbitration was a ridiculous move except for the Ben Cherry worshippers on the board. But what's done is done; we can only hope that the arbiter will decide the Red Sox offer was the fairest an best.

In my opinion you don't improve the defense by moving one of the greatest second basemen in the game to another position, whether he played it before during his college days or not. With Pedroia at second and Gonzales at first we are as strong as anyone both deensively and offensively on the right side of the infield. I expect Youk will have a solid season and he can play third base a helluva lot better than he gets credit for. That leaves shortstop. We know right Iglesias can't hit to save his ass, has no plate discipline, hardly walks, has no power to speak of, and can't steal bases because of his lack of foot speed. That's a lot of minuses; let him play in AAA and see if he can at least learn to be more than a zilch at the plate. Maybe he will get better with the bat or not. Tejada is only average and I've heard he is error prone although I don't know that for a fact. Aviles can handle the spot for this year and give us good hitting as well. All he really needs to do is make the routine play and sharpen his footwork on the double play grounder. Of course, trading Scutaro right now seems a little strange to say the least unless we are going to get that pitcher that all of us know we need.

Pray tell 700, where would the dumps come from anyway? Maybe some of the stiffs we signed recently? McDonald? Punto? I'd sure like to know where if that story you read had any legs.

I'm certain if this thing doesn't go through Cherington will be skewered by the press, media and most of the fans on the various and sundry blogs and boards. To lose Scutaro and not get anything in the way of a quality pitcher would tell us that this season is a crapola, though I'll bet we won't see a corresponding lowering of ticket prices for the more inferior product they are putting on the field. That is why I still have to believe that we are going to sign a good pitcher whether it be Oswalt or Floyd.

That's the only way to look at it Coco and I think on this score the Red Sox front office is thinking just like you on this. Frankly, I don't see how you can plan any other way. What's that thing about a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? I would think our plan is right in front of us----get Oswalt signed and go into the season with a pretty good foursome if only we could keep them all healthy for a season as the Rays did with their rotation back in 2008. As for Lackey, you threw me there. I heard he is definately out for the whole season unless you've recently heard something different.

It makes a helluva lot sense the way you put it SFForsyth, but if I'm reading things right we still do not have that 8 million dollars to spend on Oswalt unless you know something I don't, and to be honest with you, after reading all the posts that say this and that I have to tell you that I'm not sure which end is up anymore on this topic. Rivernator presented his list of the Red Sox budget and I didn't see 8 million left over for Roy without going over the LT. So what am I missing? Will Oswalt come down from his request or will we be able to pare off more money so we can sign him? Unlike others, I have a high regard for Aviles and think he can play as adequate a shortstop as Scutaro did and hit better, so if we could get Roy we would have strengthend our team both on the mound and at the plate. Again, though, unless Rivernator or Palodiois can come up some figures to prove that point I still don't know if we have the money to sign the guy. Let me know where I've gone astray my friend.

Yes I knew!!!!! Pumpsie, Elk, Muggah, Me, and I believe 700, Sox Sport and Iortiz believed he would accept arbitration. To many of us it was a no brainer. Anyone who could read the tea leaves knew no team was going to offer him the kind of money he earned last season. Remember Vlad Guerrero? That was going to be the going rate after the disastrous contract the White Sox handed out to a guy who hit under 200. So yes, I knew for a near certainty that he would accept it---and I said so right here. As for that invitation, whether it was issued as and the writer claimed or as you say not, the fact is the invitation is there for Varitek to go to ST. Aside from all that though. You have become a very nasty person around here. You rail and get personal when y ou disagree with someone who disagrees with you. None of us are know it alls and that includes you. I think you would be better served without going over the edge with people you disagree with. I may make fun of Cherington, Lucchino and Henry but accept for one misguided barb at VA I have never felt the need or the urge to tear into a fellow poster on this board. You ought to do the same. Now let's get on and talk Red Sox baseball, ok?

He signed a four year contract for I believe about $45 million in the fall of 2004; I don't think he has spent it all. He must have some money saved in the bank and in investments, but let's put that all aside. Couldn't the Red Sox in a show of good faith for all his years of contributing to the success of the Red Sox give him a job in the organization for a nice piece of change? Hell, they could even create a position for him either on the field or in the front office and it wouldn't count on that damn LT. I mean Henry has enough money that he could do that. I think those who would like to see Varitek return as a player and those like me who believe his time is up could all agree with that.

We better do exactly that. If that trade was made without getting a good starting pitcher back with the money we saved there is no excuse for anyone defending Cherington. He will have earned the title Benny the Boob.

The only thing ridiculous about it is that maybe you agreed with your hero Cherries and also believed that Big Diva wouldn't accept arbitration, but I know of many here and elsewhere who were convinced that he would accept it because there was no real market for a player who couldn't play defense but would cost over $12 million dollars. That was a mistake on Cherington's part pure and simple whether you and MVP want to admit it or not. You also still have trouble with comprehension bub. Never was mentioned CONTRACT when the names Varitek and Wakefield came up. What was mentioned was that Cherington DID offer the catcher an invitation to Spring Training as a non-roster player only to backtrack and said that wasn't completely accurate, whatever the hell that means. He said it only after "my beloved BV" said he couldn't envision Jason coming to ST under those circumstances.......BUT THE INVITATION STILL STANDS!!!!!!!!!! Unlike the classy Jorge Posada who saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to retire I have my doubts that Varitek would pass up a chance t o go to ST and lobby the pitchers who love to throw to him. If it does it means another distraction for a team that doesn't need any after their historic choke last September.

Well EX1, I do like your last paragraph, and, yes, I do have a tendency to panic. Remember, I'm a convert to the Red Sox----11 years, 5 months and 1 day---and those are the types who usually become psychotic fanatics. I suppose I would have been better served if I would have said "it might be a cause of some concern if he isn't signed by next week". That sound a little better? Certainly I'm no better a Red Sox fan than you or anyone else on this board, just a little more high strung but I'm glad you appreciate my passion because I have come to love the Red Sox like a new family. I'm just anxious to get this thing done because I am convinced that if we get Roy Oswalt and he and our other "Big Three" can stay healthy and give us their best we can most certainly make a solid run at the AL East and win it. From there who knows? Now all Ben needs to do is write the check. How about we start a countdown to zero hour? See you tomorrow.

We're all waiting in acticipation for the other shoe to drop, the drop that would make all of us very happy. Nothing more is going down tonight since it is past 11:00 P.M. on the East Coast. We should hear something positive soon, but here's a warning......If we haven't gotten this pitching signing done by late Monday night we ought to start worrying. There will have been a screwup somewhere. If we get Roy Oswalt signed it will be a major shot in the arm for our starting rotation and, if healthy, we can send a top pitcher out there four out of every five games. Some one or a couple could work out of the No. 5 spot and give us more than we got last year during the stretch drive from Weiland, Bedard and Wakefield. However, it has to get done in the next couple of days. There is now no excuse for it not happening. As Palodios and 700 have said and as SBF says now.....CHERINGTON, WRITE THAT DAMN CHECK!!!!!!!!!!

Some money has been freed up and the talk is that we are now going to get Roy Oswalt and maybe a platoon RH hitting OF. May I just ask you to remember who our GM is and some of the major mistakes he has made so far this off season. One, offering Ortiz arbitration when everyone but Cherington knew he would accept it. That killed our chances of getting the pitching we needed at the time. Two, this is the guy who invited Varitek to ST as a non-roster player. Can you imagine if he accepts that and shows up with that ridiculous "C" on his shirt and starts politicing with the pitchers who want to have him catch them? It could happen and it could happen that the money freed up could go towards Papi's two year contract which would be a freakin' disaster. I hope this does not happen, I hope we get Oswalt and a RH hitting outfielder but nothing is certain at this time. Cherington will come in for a lot of praise if he can pull this off, but if he falls on his face and we don't get those items we need there is going to be a lot of people here and e lsewhere all over Benny like a cheap suit. We all have to stay tuned in the next few days and keep our fingers crossed.

Don't get carried away bub. No one is sucking it until Oswalt and maybe Ross is signed and delivered. Right now we only lost our shortstop and got some shitkicking dud non-prospect back from Colorado. Wait until we get that pitcher before you go off on a rant. Then most of us will be only too happy to STFU----at least until we find something else to bitch about. The travails of being a Red Sox fan.

True Bellhorn, they did come pretty damn close, didn't they? But why did you have to even mention that year to me? I still get the hives thinking about how that seventh game of the ALCS went down. Do you know that I went to bed and told my wife to smile when I got up the next morning if we somehow hung on? Yea, we were ahead 5-3 and I hit the rack after Jeter scored the third run and I knew right then we would somehow blow it. The wife didn't say a word to me the next morning when I got up and that's how I first learned that tragedy struck----I didn't even have to read in the newspapers AND I DIDN'T.

As we say here in the states iortiz---bite your tongue. Don't say anything like that until the ink is dry on the paper. It seems like we Red Soxs fans have been led to the altar only to be jilted by the bride several times this off season. Expect the worst and hope for the best seems to be the way to go, but I will certainly be elated if we coud pull this off.

Maybe this year Sox Sport we'll have a relatively injury free season. I mean as silly as that sounds considering how we've gotten reamed with injuries the past two seasons, y ou would think though that we would finally have some luck on that score this time around. I was wrong about Darvish signing with Texas so I could be wrong again, but I have some doubts that this Scutaro thing is going through. Still, if this is the only way to get a decent starting pitcher like Floyd or Oswalt and maybe add a Cody Ross to the team, I say go for it.