seabeachfred

An upgrade over Darnell McDonald isn't much of an improvement since Darling Darnell sucked in the field, on the basepaths, and at the plate. And for the record, Crisp was not replaced AFTER the 2007 ALCS. Crisp went 0 for 5 in the fifth game of that series, failed twice with runners in scoring position, failed twice to lay down a bunt and was benched before the sixth game of the ALCS and when Ellsbury's name was announced in the starting lineup the crowd went wild. As it was Jacoby started all four games of the WS and came close to being voted the WS MVP. In 2008 Ells played a good deal more than Crisp did.

I've checked my PM's here and on the other board Brennan. I didn't see any from you. Give me a call and I'll fill you in about my battle with Vic.

700, for the first time I have to disagree with you. What you're describing as our next manager sounds an awful lot like the one we just got rid of. We need a much tougher manager than that, and not one who is little more than an errand boy for the GM. If the front office learned anything from our bitter 2011 pratfall that should be it.

When Drew came on board in 2007 I was elated and was in his corner from the get-go, but no one in their right mind can really say that he was an above average player for us because he wasn't. Playoffs in 2007? Top notch!!!! However, look at his stats for the total five years. Batting first in the fifth spot, then moving up and down the order he never drove in 75 runs in a season, never hit 290 or better, never hit 25 home runs. You need a RF who can approach those type of stats and maybe he could have had he been able to stay on the field. For my money, he seemed to have a very low threshold of pain because the word was he wouldn't play hurt. If LaRussa said those things about him we could all say that it was Tony's opinion, but for a man who managed for 33 years, won three WS and is headed to the Hall of Fame I would say that is a pretty good reference for a personal categorizing a player. Drew helped win a World Series in 2007, and unlike so many of you, that was my personal favorite Red Sox team and I appreciate what J.D. did in the post-season, but did we really get the best out of a guy who had a picture perfect swing, had good power, and speed and played good defense? I don't think so. I think when all is said and done he underachieved for us.

No problem U.N. Consider it done.

The Giants are still very deep in pitching and have a couple of prospects banging at the door. Their scouts have done a magnificent job of spotting good pitching talent and they are loaded there. Keep in mind Laser that Sanchez lost his starting role this past summer so the Royals took a chance that the guy just had an off season. Keep also in mind that now there is another left hand starting pitcher in the American League, a warning if there ever was one that the Red Sox have got to become more right handed than they are. As for King Felix, I tend to agree with you.

No, you can't have it both ways--I'll give you that. However, give me my point that it's been well over a month since our disastrous season ended and we still haven't selected a manager. What's that, five and a half weeks? At that glacial pace, by the time we get that starting pitcher, RH hitting right fielder and a couple of relievers it will be around the 4th of July. I just think things should be moving faster than they have. No team finished the season with a worse September record than the Red Sox, so it would seem to me that we have more work to do than some of the other teams that ended on a semi-high note.

Well we ain't getting Kershaw; I can tell you that living out here in So. Cal. No way that happens. He is fast becoming the best in the NL League, and if you have any history of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry you would understand that since the guy is a confirmed Giants killer. As for King Felix, he makes me drool all over and that would be the guy I would take above all others, but try and get him. He's not going anywhere either. Shields? I don't think the Rays would trade him to an AL East rival. Now Cain!!!!! He might be the one we could get, but trade Ellsbury for him???? I don't know if I would. Maybe is all I could say. The Giants could use some young hitters. Perhaps a Reddick-Lowrie combo along with a Doubrant could net him. Maybe, maybe not.

Sorry Nirvana but what's unrealistic are some of your suggestions. Resign Papi and then sign Sizemore? We are already too lefthanded to begin with and that automatically makes us susceptible to left hand pitchers. Besides, Sizemore can't stay healthy; his knees are shot and Papi is 36, and we cannot sign both him and Papelbon. And stop with Broxton right there. He is about the biggest choke-up there is; cannot take pressure anymore, and he would get killed in the AL East. We need a RH hitter for the outfield, and pitching is what we need more than anything. Sign Papelbon? Yes, but nyet, nein, no mas, no to Sizemore, Broxton and Ortiz.

Good post Jung.....now I'm not speaking for anyone else but myself because the Theo boosters are going to be royally pissed at you but I find what you wrote to me pretty much the things I have believed. I have always thought that after we won in 2007 it was if Henry said "WE'VE GIVEN THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT AND THEY NOW SHOULD BE SATISFIED; TIME TO CONCENTRATE ON OTHER THINGS". As for Epstein some of his free agent signings in the rotation in 2009 (Smoltz and Penny) and some of his relief dregs (Schoenweis, Cabrera, Jenks etc) have been disasters par excellance. Now, as you said, we find ourselves trying toput enough money together to either sign a top notch free agent pitcher, which, I might add, there doesn't seem to be any I would catergorize as such, or make a trade that could cost us one or two of our better players. In the meantime there is Cherington fiddling and faddling, still unable to name a manager while theRed Sox edifice is still on fire.

Coco Crisp??????? Are you kidding me? We went that route back a few years ago when Epstein failed to sign Damon and then muttered we would get someone to make us forget Damon. Well we got Crisp and he did nothing of the sort. A great defensive CF, he was a rotten hitter for three years straight before we traded him to the Royals where he lost his job to a guy named Maier before he got injured. He was nothing special at Oakland either. We need a RH hitting outfielder who plays RF and can hit. Crisp can't and he can't give us the offense if we put him in right, and it is about time we stop trying to move Ellsbury around the field. He is our CF, a damn good one and close to being a superstar. Leave Jacoby where the hell he is....PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

That's the ticket User Name. That is exactly what I've been calling for... A RH hitting right fielder, a good No. 4 starter and two bullpen arms better than some of the garbage Epstein saddled us with the past few years (read Jenks, Delcarmen, Schoenweis, Cabrera, and the list goes on and on). Of course that only works for me if we keep Papelbon and Bard somehow makes it back on your "dream team" for 2012. Do that and sign me on.

Your starting lineup is very good User, but your pitching is in the outhouse. Please don't take this personally but Broxton and Kazmir teamed with Smorgasboard Jenks? You have to be kidding me. And where the hell is Bard? Was he traded or something. Again, that lineup is nicely balanced between lefties and righties, 5-4 either way with Beltran as a switch hitter, but Jackson will be too expensive and he doesn't pitch well in Fenway at all. As for Kazmir and Broxton, take it from this guy who lives in the LA region. You don't want either one of them in your bullpen, not now, now next year, not ever. If you can replace Kaz and Brox with two others, and do the same with Jackson for the rotation you could have come up with something.

Ironically from where I'm sitting, our talk about starting pitching might be hinging on what we do with Papelbon. I've read the numerous posts predicting Ortiz will stay with us and maybe he will. However, we lose out if he stays and Papelbon goes. Our bullpen then completely turns to crap and we have to sign another closer who is not as good as Paps is. Then most likely Aceves stays there and we have to get two starting pitchers. David has done great things for the Red Sox and it would be great if we could resign both of them and still get a RH hitting outfielder which we'd need to counter the overbalance of lefties in the batting order. How much money would then be left for pitching? One or the other has to go and I think we could absorb Papi's loss much better than Papelbon's.

Needless to say, I soured on Epstein a few years ago when I became convinced that he was a pisspoor judge of talent and rotten in his picking of free agents. That in itself could have been enough to make him persona non grata, but he acted like a genius and pretty much used Francona as a glorified errand boy. At least, though, that's in our past and maybe this guy Cherington might be made of sterner stuff. I hope he is having a nice Sunday because he needs to get his ass in gear this coming week. So far, he hasn't done a damn thing but talk and we all know how cheap that is.

Jung---700 Hitter mentioned Drew and Cameron's money coming off the books that totals about $24 million dollars. We let Ortiz walk and that's another $12 million or so and that's pretty high bucks. For that we could resign Papelbon and get the other reinforcements we need.....a starting pitcher, RH hitting right fielder, and two relievers. Whatever else we get from letting low salary relics like Varitek and Wakefield is just a little extra gravy. To me, signing Ortiz and letting Papelbon go hurts us more than helps us because it weakens us in the bullpen and keeps us too left handed in the lineup, especially if we do not sign a RH hitting outfielder. To me that puts us right back where we were when the season ended. Hopefully, Cherington and his bosses know and understand that.

SWM put up a decent list of targets for 2012 and from that we could get the four guys I have said we need....a RH (not a LH ) hitting outfielder with some sock (Cuddyer is my guy), a good starting pitcher (could Madsen and Buerle both be gotten which could keep Aceves in the bullpen) and either one or two relief pitchers depending if we sign one or two starters. Don't all jump on me at once but I think we should resign Papelbon and let Ortiz walk. To do it the other way ignores our real needs and keeps us too lefthanded in the lineup, not to mention that it impedes Lavarnway's development into a starter for another year at least. First, though, Cherington must get off the dime and put a manager in place and that should not drag on for another two or three weeks. I've seen a lot of names mentioned but I would like to see some of my friends out there zero in on their particular players they think we should get. We have to do it right this time in my opinion.

I always believed that Theo Epstein was a very poor judge of talent and Anderson is a prime example of that. Any youn player who equates museums, operas and symphony orchestras with baseball is a well rounded individual but a red flag carrier in baseball---too cerebral for me. He oversold Reddick as well and Michael Bowden and maybe even Felix Doubrant. You keep the prospects like Ellsbury and Pedroia unless you get overwhelmed for them and trade off the rest for established players to teams who are lookin to cut salary or are fearful of losing them in free agency. We could dwell on this for an eon but right now we all know what we need and my list is a solid starting pitcher, two relievers, a RH hitting outfielder with some sock and another back-up catcher not named Varitek. Some of you have similar lists as mine, some different but we all know that we need reinforcements if we are going to reverse this miserable season we just had. Here's hoping the front office sees what we're seeing and is not blind to reality.

With so much garbage to be hauled out to the trash dump so we can rid ourselves of this miserably rotten season, I would think that by now Cherington would have settled on a manager so he could get on the business at hand of retooling the team where needed so that maybe we could win something, anything, next season. We need a starting pitcher worth his salt, we need two good relievers, we have to decide whether to resign Papelbon and Ortiz, one or the other or none. We have to decide what to do with relics Varitek and Wakefield. That's a helluva lot to do so it would behoove Cherington to put a move on. Now you guys can tell me he is using due dilegence before he makes up his mind but it looks like a bad case of procrastination to me. We should have a manager in place by next week. Failure to do that means that we will be playing catch up for most of the off season and when you do it that way there is always a better chance of making a bigt mistake. Hire Bobby Valentine or Dave Martinez and let's get moving.

I see your point very clearly Jung. If Henry says Valentine is his man he has to back him to the hilt because Bobby will not allow himself to become a puppet to anyone. He will let Cherington know that it is his job to procure the players and Bobby's job to manage in the dugout. We just went through this errand boy routine and for the last four years we didn't win a damn thing. I, like you, would like Dave Martinez if we can't get Valentine, but the new RedSox manager must be light years away from any resemblance to the flunky Franconas may have been to Epstein.

Hadn't heard that song since Gene Autry, I think it was, sang it in one of his late 40's or early 50's movie Tells you how ancient I am. Please Sox Sport, use your influence if you have any to stop this "sign Sizemore" nonsense. We don't need another left handed hitter in our already bulging left handed lineup, especially one who cannot hit left handers worth sh@t, and can't stay on the field for any length of time. Or maybe his MASH unit personality would fit in well with our walking wounded who can't seem to stay on the field either. We need pitching and we need Papelbon resigned even if it means letting Papi walk. To resign Papi, and then sign Sizemore and then ignoring our pitching is idiotic. Run away in a sprint from any Sizemore signing, let Ortiz hit the trail, and get a RH htting outfielder like Cuddyer-----and then use all our resources to get us a solid No. 2 or 3 starter and two relievers, this time two effective bullpenners.