seabeachfred

The question with Iglesias is, of course, his hitting but that only touches the surface. Right now he is a complete bust as a hitter. Yes, he is only 21 and could develop but last season he went in the opposite direction, but is problem is multi-fold. Some infielders who are weak hitters can at least hit with a little power like Alex Gonzales did for us. Iggy has no power whatsoever. Some infielders can find a way to get on base as Nick Green did for us. Iggy's OBA is pathetic; he hardly walks and has little plate discipline. Some infielders weak with the bat can steal a base or two for you when they do get on base. Iggy is a very poor base runner and doesn't possess great speed anyway. In other words, right now he is more a liability with a bat in his hand than an asset.......a complete liability. A great fielder like Iglesias you want out there in the late innings when you need a great fielder to make that play that blunts a rally, but right now that would not be possible because in a close game the manager would be nuts not to pinch hit for him, and that means he has to come out of the game. No, he needs to improve his hitting drastically if he is to make it with the Red Sox. Donji is absolutely right; in Boston you have to be able to hit because you play in a hitter's park, and to keep pinch hitting for a weak hitter weakens your bench.

My pal Pumpsie has written off the season and he may be right, while he catches some rays and does some of his classic deep sea diving and exploring maybe the rest of us can try and figure out how we could cobble what we have into a team that could maybe actually win the AL East. A lot would have to fall our way, but thing would have to happen for certain. Our "Big Three" on the mound would have to have knockout years, our fourth starter who I hope is Aviles has to keep winning and our offense has to operate on all cylinders, and we cannot afford to have two or three of them have off years as we saw last season with Crawford and Youkilis. BTW, anyone hear anything more on the Scutaro rumors?

Him off of third base and Francona out on his ear means we might actually win some games this season that we usually lost when those two were on the loose. Another point worth mentioning is that we now know who is going to pretty much be on our roster and it will be our business to see if we can cobble up a scenario where somehow someway we find a way to win the division this season. Hard I know RSNC84, but it is what it is. Maybe this season Dame Fortune will smile our way. She sure as hell hasn't the past three seasons.

Wow!!!!! Look who is turning into a real nasty hard ass!!!!! Love it 700. Give them hell. With Pumpsie away for a week, Elk coming on here intermittently and Muggah playing a good guy role for awhile, it looks like you are taking the lead in the tough guy department. The breakfast and shoe shine this morning was a classic. You know, whether he is under orders or not, the guy really is nothing more than either a flunky or a patsy, take your pick. At least, though, we now know the cards have been dealt and we have to play the hand we drew. You've got a lot of your dad's Brooklyn in you. Keep it up.

EX1---we may have such an animal in our stable.....Alfredo Aceves. The guy does find a way to win, he loves playing for the Red Sox, his past experience shows that he wins a lot more than he loses, he is a tough hombre on the mound, and he despises the Yankees. I think we all like those attributes, and maybe one of the pitchers we picked up will become our Colon this season. I just wish Aaron Cook's arm would gain enough strength that he could hold his own in the AL East, but I have to be honest with you---I do not hold much hope for Andrew Miller or Justin Germano. We better hope that from Bard, Cook and Silva one of them emerges to carry their share of the load.

Manny, I wish I could be the bearer of good tidings but it you read what Shaughnessy wrote this morning you would get your answer, sad as it might be. The Red Sox have curtailed spending for the season. What we have is what we're going into battle with. You want to hope? Hope that one or two of those pitchers we picked up off the scrap heap suddenly rediscover their youth and do for us what Colon and Garcia did for the Yankees last season. We do have Alfredo Aceves and no matter what anyone might think this guy finds a way to win. He could be a secret weapon for us this season, and who knows, maybe Bard might just fit in as a starter. :o:o:o:o:o:o

I think that settles the hash 700 and I think there were a lot of us who could read the tea leaves and see the way this thing was going. The Red Sox are not going over the LT and with the Ortiz arbitration blunder sucking the wind out of whatever funds we had allocated for pitching and maybe an outfielder, it looks like we're all going to have to hope that Short Order Cook, Hi Ho Silva, Deutschland Germano or Millstone Miller rise to the occasion and do what Colon and Garcia did for the Yankees last season or we could find ourselves in deep s***. I wish it weren't so. Maybe the Gods of fate will look at us kindly for a change and make this work.:dunno::dunno::dunno::dunno::dunno::dunno:

No User, I do not know how capable they will be this year. What I think is that Alfredo is capable of being a solid No. 5 and could win 12-14 games for us if he pitches to his capabilities, can go deep into games and gets adequate hitting support. I just think Aceves is a winning pitcher; he finds ways to succeed. I do not have such confidence in Bard since he hasn't started since his lower minor days and not too successful at that. I would be better pleased if we could sign Oswalt and move Bard back to the bullpen, and this time I will supplant 700 and Palodios and be the one to say to Cherington...."Sign the damn check".

The shame of all this from my point of view is that I was convinced that Carl Crawford was going to come back and have a big year for us. Now with this injury and healing process this hope might be going by the wayside. I would love to know just when he might be able to start working out again because if he could come back by Opening Day I would bet dollars to donuts my prediction would come through. I'm also not going to backtrack on anything concerning this guy. I was very disappointed in his performance last year but I never regretted his signing. I thought it would put us over the top.

The Red Sox could show some real balls by just saying IMPASSE and release Ortiz. In one snap we would have money to sign a pitcher and Ortiz would sign somewhere else for four or five million and a bitter lesson would be learned. Ortiz has done a terrific job for the Red Sox for much of his career but he has become a me me me selfish diva the past few years, so typical of what we saw last September when it became common in the dugout and clubhouse. Again, it was absolutely stupid thing for Cherington to offer this guy arbitration under the belief that we wouldn't accept it. Ortiz was smarter than Cherington on that one and so were most posters on this board who also believed he would accept arbitration. Just release him and move on. We'll survive in the long run and you will be surprised how well Lavarnway does this season as DH, but I know the Sox haven't the guts to do that.

Let's be frank jung. We really need Beckett, Lester and Buchholz to go out there and have banner seasons and win big for us if as you say we have what some think is an "easier" schedule the first half. None of that august trio has every gone through a campaign in one piece and if Murphy's Law would hold up just this once we might it paydirt. There is no excuse save injury that they shouldn't live up to their talent for a change and give us banner years from all three. That might make the 4th and 5th spots less critical if one or two of them can at least be more than the human pinata that Wakefield and Weiland were the last two months of the season.

Criticize for valid reasons you say? How about this. How about his dumb decision to offer Ortiz arbitration, which handcuffed us in our quest to add the pitching we need so badly. How about his Spring Training invitation to Varitek, later denied by some, that he issued a week ago. Both legitimate in my opinion. And has he even tried to persuade Henry to spend a little money to upgrade the team that he knows is not up to par for a title run this year? The fault is certainly not all his but he is the GM and I assume he is more than just a paper tiger.

Very good post RedSox84, but you sort of created a Catch 22. We have needs right? The only way to solve those needs are through free agency or trades. The first would cost us money and invade the cap; the second one risks us losing some of our better prospects like Lavarnway, Kalish and Middlebrooks. There is a third alternative.....do nothing at all, which seems to be what we're currently doing but that pretty much puts us at real risk for an early exit home next October. The front office has to decide if it is worth fighting for a title this year and be honest and tell the fans about what their aim is.

One very fatal flaw in your logic......The TRD is July 31, four months into the season. The Red Sox could be out of the race by then if a one or two of their key people, especially on the mound, come up lame. It's happened before----2006 and 2009 and 2010. Besides, it is much more expensive at the deadline. Right now we can sign a FA or two without having to expend any prospects---only money which billionaire John Henry has in abundance. How about Oswalt on the mound and Ross for the outfield? Think that is doable if there is a will to do on the part of the front office? I think it is very doable.

I like your take on the 98, 95 and 90 win scenario and think it is pretty close to being spot-on----and we are not in the class of the first two win totals at the present time. Where I do take issue with you is that if Cherington will write that damn check for Oswalt as 700 and Palodios have suggested numerous times, and if we can a decent RH hitting outfielder not named McDonald along with another good arm for the bullpen we can contend for the division title. THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY POSITION. The miserable part of all this is that we seem to be running in place with almost all of us taking this line and for some reason the real power to do something isn't doing it. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so I've been told. T here is no guarantee that those choice pitchers like Hamels and Cain will be allowed to walk by their respective teams, but there is that bird called Oswalt out there ready to be plucked if Cherington will "write that damned check". Why hasn't he?