seabeachfred

Jung, you're one thousand percent right. THIS WHOLE THING IS A SHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's just my opinion but all evidence points to a manager who Duce Lucchino can control, pretty much the way Epstein used FrancoMa pretty much as his errand boy. The Boston Press is not hinting and not so quietly that there is evidence that the Boy Blunder actually had imput about who to put in the starting lineup. If we are going to go through this again why not just put a computer and printer in the dugout and the bumbling Bill James in charge. The fact that we still don't have a manager in place is utterly ridiculous, and if anyone points out we went through the same thing in after 2003 might be accused of being just a little disengenuous. In '03 we almost went to the WS and would have if one of our usual assortment of brainless managers had made the right move. This year it comes on the heels of the most miserable regular season collapse in baseball history---or certainly right there with the worst. There should be more urgency now because we're on the floor and need to pick ourselves up and start getting it right. I also believe that a manager totally under the thumb of Lucchino and Cherington is a sure bet to keep the system we have in place in a broken condition. And how about an interview with Dave Martinez? We can'r get a Maddon; maybe his protege would be the answer. We sure don't need another FrancoMa.:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown:thumbdown

I could live with this plan as well, but a red flag jumped out at me this morning in the papers. In 2013 there will be 30 Inter-League games and dispersed throughout the season. That is another big reason we must NOT SIGN DAVID ORTIZ. It would clutter up and disjoint our lineup and I don't want to see Adrian Gonzales benched or put in the outfield. If we do make a mistake and sign Papi it has TO BE FOR ONE SEASON ONLY, NO OPTION. We have to clear the decks so that by 2013 we are not lugged down with a situation that is untenable. Buerhle and Bell? Sounds fine with me if we can throw in Cuddyer for RF and a couple of other relievers who can get the job done for us.

I read somewhere on a sports blog that the Pirates closer Hanrahan might be available in a trade. Whether that rumor has any legs I have no idea but I do not completely trust Bard in that role. He has been a very good set-up man in the 8th inning and I would prefer to keep him there for the time being. Of course we need two or three more relievers so we don't find ourselves short in that area, and this time we have to get it right and get some firemen who can be effective and not like some of the duds Epstein foisted on us. To me that would mean Aceves would be No. 5 in the rotation and we'd still need a No. 4 through free agency or another trade. Too bad some of Epstein's "prize" prospects like Bowden, Anderson and others have turned out to be duds and won't bring much in the way in any trade.

At the risk of being called chicken little by one of my colleagues on this board I still insist as you do 700 that there is no rhyme or reason for not having a manager and coaching staff in place by now. Players could come at the end of the month, December and maybe even well in January but the board of strategy should hav been in place by now. There's that old saying that it all starts at the top. To the Red Sox it should mean that we get the manager settled in and then work our way down to personnel where the more important parts to the puzzle are located.....the players.

To be perfectly honest, I wish Papelbon the best and hope he thrives in Philly. Frankly I don't believe the Red Sox had any real desire to resign him and in the FA era players are going to to where the money is, especially if there is NO money mentioned with a player's old team as was the case with Paps. It is now up to us to try and replace him the best we can and to also keep in mind that unless we sign some pretty good relievers who can get people out next season, Papelbon's exit could have a real ripple effect through our whole bullpen staff. I always like the guy and he came through for himself in his walk year with a damn good season. Time for the Red Sox to move on.

VA, the only reason Francona took a step back as he put it was that he was rejected out of hand by the Cardinals. Whether he thought he would get the job or not, he sure sounded like he would get it and was buoyed up and high spirited when he was about to be interviewed and didn't sound burned out. Let's be frank---he was turned down because the Cardinals didn't want him. I know there are dozens of people on this board who thought Terry walked on water because the Sox won two WS under him, but there are many of us who believe that he cost us at least two division titles and many games each season because of his bungling in the dugout. Compared to Maddon and a few others he was small potatoes in the dugout.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't we win zilch while Heidi was part of the cast? Gorgeous gal though she was, we came up empty during her years in Boston. With Tina Cervacio, though not as sexy looking, we won something. Besides, rumor was very strong that she was cavorting around with FrancoMa, a married man, which makes both of them dorkbats in my book. Old fashioned on the score down to the core, a married man does NOT fool around and a single woman does not do the same with a married man.

The Red Sox seem to be "up in the air" about a lot of things and I hope at the GM meetings something turns up in the way of a manager, pitching coach and coaching staff. If they are waiting for other teams to start the charge to gauge what the spending parameters are we could wind up being on the outside looking in on some of the players we covet. Damn it, at least name a manager and coaching staff.

Ron, it's the trials and travails of being a Red Sox fan. We've seen this act before and if you've been a fan of this team longer than I have (11 years) you've seen even more. Read Pumpsie's skit and you might have all the reason you need. The impression is there that they do not want a strong manager and in Sveum they'll be guaranteed to get just what they want.

I can certainly speak for Broxton and I second your take on him with great prejudice. The guy doesn't only suck, he's a choke artist of the first degree. If the Phillies dumped Lidge that ought to speak for itself. Nathan might be a stopgap for a year or two. Word is filtering out that he is healthy again, though I wouldn't bet my house on it....maybe my garage.

Boomer was my fault User Name and I apologize for putting you through that crap. After reading your posts I'd be a damn fool to even think you could be him. We disagreed on a few posts and right away I jumped to conclusions. My bad. Matter of fact, there seems to be a lot of disagreements on this board but for the most part I find that healthy until someone accuses someone of something they didn't do or who they are. Again sorry for that.

Being a Red Sox manager is an open invitation for criticism, controversy and dissension and with the possible elevation of Dale Sveum as the new skipper this could accelerate very rapidly. I mean, take a look at the guy. He was interum manager of the Brewers for about a dozen games at the end of the 2010 season and then discarded back to coach so a new guy was hired without any Major League managing experience and not much minor league ones either. What does that say about Sveum, that is it possible he might be a few smokes short of a pack? We'll have to give the guy all the support we can because his success is our team's success and in ours as well. I still wish someone like Dave Martinez or Bobby Valentine would have gotten the job instead, but I guess that's show biz

Well iortiz, it looks to me as if you have already made your mind up about Cherington---BEN THE BOOB!!!!!! Hey, I'm not knocking it because right now I have some serious doubts about him myself. A caught hell from one poster when I referred to him as a procrastinator until it dawned on me that I was very impatient for things to start stirring. My fear is that he might become nothing more than a Lucchino appendage without much standing on his own. May I make a suggestion? Why don't you and I wait until December 1 before we rush to judgment. Again, let me be clear....I have some deep reservations about the guy myself with his emphasis on Cubs compensation and all this time to choose a manager, but he knows the Boston Press has not been very kind after our historic collapse and they will keep his and Larry's feet to the fire. I don't think any poster on this board would find one twit wrong with your heavy emphasis on pitching, pitching and more pitching. If he fails to get us up to speed there will be a lot of people all over the guy. I have to believe that he wants to succeed very badly.

Triple BRAVO SoxSport. My only disagreement is that you only mentioned one occasion when our speedy runners were nailed to first base in a close game where we were behind. If Sveum is the manager we will see more of this because the only reason he would be given the job is because Lucchino, now in charge, can manipulate him with his beloved spread sheets and computer print outs that say "don't give up any outs" only to be doubled up with the plethora of double plays we always seem to hit into. Valentine wouldn't even be considered because he has a mind of his own and totally different from FrancoMa who proved to be Epstein's lackey, especially the last few years. How many games Fetch FrancoMa cost us over the eight seasons he was here was high enough to have cost us at least two more division titles and who knows what else. Cafardo is right; those aforementioned names look like a bunch of lackeys who would dance to Lucchino and his new chief hit man Cherington. I mean, can't we do better than Sveum, Lamont, Makanin or the rest of that sorry crowd of aspirants?

EX, what's wrong with Michael Cuddyer? I've been talking him up big time and with the exception of two or three colleagues it has fallen on deaf ears. Pagan was terrible this season; reasons why I have no idea. However, he is a one trick pony, an outfielder of limited ability. Cuddyer can play all over the field. He's no Golden Glover at any of them but adequate enough and he gives you some good pop when we face a southpaw. Playing half his games at Fenway might see some hefty numbers from him. From what I've heard he's a pretty good clutch player. I just cannot believe he is going to be that expensive and even if we was, if we drop Ortiz and let him walk we could have extra money for such a signing.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

There should be more of a sense of urgency this season because of the collapse but it looks like theRed Sox are going to go the Frank Sinatra route of "nice and easy does it every time", and, besides, what the hell can we do about it anyway. Zeke is not the first one to say that we could have a dynamite "Big Three" of Beckett, Lester and Buchholz. The fly in the ointment there is whether we can get a season of good health from each of them and whether they will get in shape and stay in shape. Aceves? Could be either a starter or reliever. I stil insist we need at least one No. 3 or 4 type starter, a slew of bullpen help (3 or 4 of them) and a RH hitting outfielder. We might be able to swing these if we let Ortiz go and have that extra $12.5 million dollars to play with. One point I should make about Papi. I appreciate all he has done for us and could be the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history but he is an expensive DH, can't play defense and becomes a problem during the interleague period. Anyone fancy putting Gonzales in the outfield? Risk factor? It also blocks Ryan Lavarnway who I predicted on another board could turn out to be a very solid right hand power hitter we need so badly. Yet no matter how you cut it, Lucchino's Lancers are going to do it in their own time and we can only hope that time arrives sooner rather than later. So we wait.

This does not sound like good news for us. They never even interviewed Dave Martinez of the Rays. It sounds to me like they want a manager they can control. Looks like a new version of the Epstein-Francona song.

I'm going to have to have patience EX1 whether I want to or not, but kuddos to you for your easy does it approach. The four guys you mentioned? Yes, I would like to have one of them, and I hope the 2-4 that I don't know turn out to be gems for us. Our past history with bullpens most of the Epstein era was not all that successful and if luck is involved in our signings I hope this time around some of it smiles on us. A lot of people are already starting to talk like 2012 in a bridge or rebulding year but, hell, we a big market team and we do have talent on or club. I want to see us in the Playoffs next year and would like nothing better to finally win another AL East Title.

Elk and IPOT, I still can't understand all the fascination with J.D. Drew on this board. Elsewhere it's good riddance and enjoy retirement and don't let the door hit you on the way out. In Drew's behalf, I will say even though the five year $75 million for him was vastly over priced I was glad we signed him instead of Lee or Soriano. Those were the three top outfield FA after the 2006 season and I think Drew was the best fit for us. Lee couldn't have handled right field for us at Fenway because he was and still is a s***** left fielder for Houston and he can't run worth a damn. Soriano has power and speed but has been pretty much of a waste of money for the Cubs and he can't field worth crap either and the Cubbies are on the arm for three more seasons for the guy. Still I think Ryan Kalish and a RH hitter not named Darnell McDonald would be an overall improvement.