seabeachfred

Vasquez is a fine catcher.....Swihart has the ability to be a great all around catcher because there is little doubt that the guy has the ability to be a solid hitter with decent power. I've found that too many times in the 14+ years I've been a Red Sox fan there always seems to be two or three players in the lineup who pick that particular year to have an off season with the bat and we find ourselves scrounging to see if our stalwarts can carry the load. When you ask five or six to do that day in and day out there could be a date of infamy when the season ends. In fact, save for 2003 and 2004 it seems to me that we have had this problem year after year. I want every bat we can get in that lineup........and with the questionable starting rotation we have this coming year and maybe for the next two or three, we cannot afford to be stingy in the offensive department because some of these pitchers are going to need plenty of run support.

Bo11, you said it even better than I did. May I ask if you still live in Southern California....and if so, where?

CP---If Elk is giving you the word, take it to the bank. And what's more, we all should be allowed to have our opinions and not have to be attacked for it, but to be fair when User gives his he ought to be respected for it as well. Let's see if we try and lower the heat a little here. Putting someone on ignore is a last resort in most cases.

That's telling him mvp........Boston Si, New York NYET, No Mas, Nein, No!!!!!! I do however, plan a trip to New York this year though. Haven't been there since our collapse in 2011 and I'm due for a little rail fanning and site seeing in my native city. Maybe RSFFL and I can meet up if I get there when he does.

You know CP, this is what sometimes pisses me off about the Red Sox front office. They get in their minds that guy or that guy is sterling and they ride him and build him up even to the point of collapse, and then with others like Tommy Layne they do everything under the sun to undermine him. Layne pitched very well for us last season and that is all I am going by, and Breslow was s*** warmed over all season. Are we getting Ross to push Breslow for that second spot in the left part of the bullpen or are they consigning Tommy back to the minors? From last year it would fair to feel that Layne is right now in and Breslow should be ticketed to Pawtucket. Of course, let me add an addendum to that. If Breslow pitches as he did in 2013 then we might have three good lefties in the pen if we needed them.

I think the best way to do this is to put whoever rubs you the wrong way on ignore. It saves stress and angst and allows a poster to deal with colleagues that treat each other with dignity instead of acting like know-it-alls. When I'm attacked I get my Italian up and almost by instinct want to strike back, but I'm trying like hell to try and turn that page but it's not easy. In time I hope the clamor dies down and we all can get on with Red Sox baseball and find common ground. We are, after all, all in this together.

I'm reading some good exchanges by our friends on this topic and I've given a blurb or two of my own. However, the way I see is apples vs oranges. To wit, Papelbon was a killer for us and helped us win the 2007 World Series; Koji Iwahara was the prince of tides for us in 2013 and helped us win another title. I feel from my vantage point that it is silly to compare them since they both won titles for us. Jonathan was great for us in his time, Koji great for us in his. Personally, I'd like to salute both of them since they helped win us title---and to me that's the bottom line.

There ought not to be any argument on that score Pal. Koji was heads and shoulders above Pap in 2013, and I really have some doubts that if we had Papebon in his place we would have won either the AL Pennant or the World Series. As for that trade in 2013, I would rather have had Peavy-Koji on the team rather than Dooby-Paps because Jake was a much more effective pitcher and a lot more experienced that the under achieving Felix.

A short missive and one of your very best Pal. Your defense of Theo and Ben is your own business and for the reasons you gave they make a lot of sense. I'm not as big as a supporter of those two as you are, but to me your take on Prune Face and Lucchintzy is spot on. For the record, in Baltimore and San Diego LL was also a real meddler who interfered with the running of the team on the field without the background or knowledge to be qualified to do so. With the Orioles the owner then was Edward Bennett Williams who LL admitted was his mentor and patron. EBW also refused to let Larry be the GM even though that's what he wanted to be and the reason the owner gave was that is was not in his makeup or experience to be in such a position. And then he tried the same tack in SD. He left both places with anger and hurt feelings. Henry leans on him like a crutch and the tragedy is that is always seems to happen after something good has happened to the Red Sox. Remember 2004? The next year Lucchino was such a dick that Theo resigned with that gorilla suit. Given control by Henry, the team won a WS two years later and once again there was LL meddling throughout the 2008 season, this time putting his nose in the Ellsbury-Crisp battle in CF as well as how much an injured and out of shape Josh Beckett should be used. In 2013 there was Lucchino back meddling again after another WS win......and each time it seems to take Prune Face two or three years until he manages to put the guy back in his office where he belongs. I only wish some other team offered Larry a top exec job so we could be rid of that bum.

A man after my own heart. Well said Spitball. In my case, I have always been cognizant of one stat that seems to get little play from sabermetric aficianados and stat geeks.....and that is how a hitter performs with RISP. If this item was kept as a yearly file by teams I believe that there might be more success rung up my teams. I have always believed that there are players who seem to rally when the chips are down and those who seem to simply melt away. Teams have to score to win....someone needs to drive in those runs and that's one reason I will never be one to dismisses RBI's. Some players seem to be able to drive them in, and some do not.

And when McCarthy left in 1946, Joe's days as a Yankee were about over. That winter he was traded to the Guardians for Allie Reynolds. Gordon led he Guardians to a title in '48, while Reynolds keyed the Yankees rotation to WS wins in '47, '49, '50, '51,' 52,' and '53. And do I feel like I ate something foul to have to write this.

I've responded to a similar post by someone else some time ago. I happened to be in Chicago that summer of 2012 when the Red Sox and Cubs played that three game series. In the Chicago Tribune that Friday Theo was telling the writer that it was his hope to build a young and dynamic team headed by his youthful infield of Rizzo, Pedroia, Iglesias and Middlebrooks and round it out by home grown pitchers. He said he was waylaid by Werner who worried about TV ratings and the lack of "sexy" players---whatever the hell that means---, while Lucchino wanted big splashes of prime free agent players who could put butts in the seats. It was a conflict manufactured in hell and it showed between those disappointing years of 2009-2011. It's a wonder now how Cherington was able to be independent and lucky enough to sign those seemingly average players but great team performers and win a WS with those two baboons lurking around with their half-ass ideas. The problem with those two kooks might still be with us. My take is if you put a winning team on the field you will put butts in the stands and the TV rating will go through the roof. These are Red Sox fans we're talking about, not Seattle, Minnesota, Miami or Cleveland.

With our hitting potential and our very questionable starting pitching I think you may see all the high scoring games you can stand this season, especially if we end up on the wrong side of a majority of them. It it's the opposite, well, that would be much better for all of us.

Being a Miami Dolphins fans is no bed of roses either. In the next to last season game of the year their stupid owner Steven Ross was so elated with a lucky win that he went overboard and said s*** face coach Joe Philbin would be back with open arms next season thereby guaranteeing Fish fans with another season of mediocrity and s***** coaching. It could be worse I guess. The Raiders could still be in Los Angeles and I would be rooting for a team even worse. BTW, I don't give a s*** if we ever get another pro team in LA. Unless the team was nails the stadium would be half full and we get those damn blackouts we got when the horseshit Rams and fading Raiders were here. I don't miss that at all.

Hockey is not my main sport or even my second but over the last decade I've become a pretty rabid Anaheim Ducks fan and they gave me a Stanley Cup title the third year I started following them. Truth be told, I hated the way they skated to a great regular season last year only to crap out once again in the Playoffs. This season I want to see them continue playing balls out hockey and give all Ducks fans another NHL Championship. I'm expecting Corey Perry and Co. to keep the pressure on and this time make it to the finish line.

How about if we split the difference Bellhorn. Let's say that 2004, 2007 and 2013 made up for '75, '78, '86 and '03. Of course I wasn't around for the latter, just the former, or to quote one of Sinatra's song...I MADE IT JUST IN TIME. Of course, that three making up for four. That means we need another big win to make up for four crushing losses. Well OK, I was there for 2003 and I hate to even think of that or Grady Little, and I don't count 2008 because as long as I live I will give Francona full blame for that season's failure. He never managed worse than that year for the Sox.

I'm holding you to that Kingface. Welcome to the board.

I'll give you a pass on this one Kimmi. Theo status? Carl Crawford? Manny Delcarmen for close to six years of miserable choke-up pitching? Lars Anderson? I could go on and on Kimmi but to me the last two or three years of Theo's Boston tenure was pure horse manure.

You get better every time out CP. You leave this board and I will hunt you down.

Another ball hit off the Green Monster by you Ted. For a moment I forgot that we were close to Bedtime for Bonzo land in that second game of the ALCS two years ago when Tori barely missed Papi's granny that turned a comfortable 5-1 Tiger lead into a 5-5 tie and gave the momentum for pretty much the rest of the series, even though is some ways Detroit might have been the better all around team. There are those baseball people who keep insisting baseball is a game of inches. That was proof of that adage.

Thanks Spitball. It's always nice to learn something new about a player on the Red Sox. I didn't know Koji had 13 saves with the Orioles in 2010. I knew he closed a few game but not nearly that many. I have wondered by it took so long for some team to find that this guy wasn't just knock down 8th inning pitcher but a shutdown ace of a closer to boot.

You're right CP. And it would be money well spent and worth it for me to ante up the bucks for such a trip. There are a lot of people here I would love to meet and talk baseball with man to man (and women too, absolutely), and the only problem I see right now is that a couple of people in the Boston area would have to honcho it, more like four or five people since they had access to the Red Sox front office and tickets to the games. Hell, I wouldn't even care what game they were for as long as I could meet some of my buddies and near buddies on this board. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind meeting User Name either---would really welcome it.

All I know Ted was when the season was over I was thankful our two first "closers" Bailey and Hanrahan went on the shelf because as sure as God made little green applies we wouldn't be talking about that 2013 in the same breath had they not-----and the chances were good we most likely wouldn't even have won the division, let along the World Series. At least that's the way I saw it.

I can't speak for my friend iortiz but what he might be linking his ideas to is that whenever someone bummed out, proved to be ineffective, got hurt, and failed to hit, it seemed like someone was there to bail him out, in many cases two or three doing it at the same time. Just remember those clutch hits by Nava, Gomes, Napoli and even Salty, hits that took some of the load off of Papi and Pedey. To me anyway, stars aligning means that there were always a few ready to do their part when others had off days, injuries and ineffectiveness. Just look at how Lester and Lackey emerged from that summer on when Buchholz went on the shelf, and how Koji was thrust into a spot that had become a potential arson paradise and saved the day and the next and the next. That to me is my take on what I believe is the stars aligning.

Then I am older than you are. I think I'm the King of the Greybeards on this board at 74.