seabeachfred

Forsyth--I notice your major slam of Francona as a lousy bullpen coach. Since I haven't been on this board in a couple of years I'm not going to touch that one. Suffice to say, on Sawxheads, the main board I post on, the pros and cons of Francona as a field manager has led to some hot and heavy arguments. For my part, he is a good clubhouse manager, handles his players well, keeps the pressure off of them. In the dugout, though, you may have a valid point. As for Ellsbury, I hope he stays with the Red Sox. I just believe that if he leaves there will be the Yankees there to try and gobble him up.

I was in San Francisco last June when Pedroia got hurt. When that foul ball went off his foot I could see he was not just in pain but terrible pain. It was a freak occurance and in no way proved to me that Pedey is injury prone. As far as a Hall of Famer my money would be on Adrian Gonzales if he stays healthy. He performed majestically with the Padres when he hit with power in an airport and had no backup in the lineup. I can see him lighting things up big time for the Red Sox-again, if he stays healthy.

I just wonder if there might be some carryover with Ellsbury because of what happened last year when he got moved to left field, then got his ribs mangled, was misdiagnosed, and then re-habbed on his own. That was a lot of baggage that went down last year. Could there still be some bitterness between him and Epstein? You couldn't tell it from what he has done so far because he has played terrific baseball for us. I would like to see the Red Sox show good faith and sign him up long term, then go out and trade for a RH hitting rightfielder next season, someone like Hunter Pence. A guy like Ells who can hit for average, steal upwards of 70 bases and shows decent power for a speedster is not the type you want to see move on. My only complaint against him is that he needs to work on his bunting. He could add a few points to his average and stolen base totals if he worked on that more.

Chin Music----Decided to check back in and see what gives on this particular board. I think I was suspended a couple of years back. Things got out of hand and some of it was my fault. Yes, I am a rabid Red Sox fan as you could check for yourself on three other boards. Actually, I'm trying to find out if what I see on the other three boards I post on (Sawxheads is my main one) is pretty much what goes on here. As far as the team is concerned I still haven't a real clue as which Red Sox team is the legitimate one--the fraud of the first 12 games or what we've seen lately. Anyway I'm back and hopefully this time around it will be tranquil and informative.

After our real slow start and now our terrific streak, I don't know who to respond to this thread because I'm still not sure which Red Sox team I'm seeing. I know we weren't that bad the first 12 games but it is hard to believe we are this good as we've been lately. I mean sweeping the Yankees two straight series in their house? Personally I think it will take me at least one more month to really get a grip on what kind of team we really have. The back end of the rotation is a concern and Youk, Crawford and Drew still aren't playing up to their capabilities. I'm still sitting on the fence as you can tell.

Ellsbury is the type of player we need to keep---at least that's my opinion. The guy can hit over 300, he can steal upwards of 70 bases, has fair power for a leadoff man and has shown that he can hit left handed pitching. What's not to like? I think we have him locked in through the 2013 season so there is no need to panic yet, but we ought to consider locking him up long term. A guy who can hit well with that kind of speed is in short supply. I would like to see him in our lineup for the next ten years.

Jed Lowrie was considered a real comer when we drafted him out of Stanford U. in June of 2005 and he has a good rookie half-season. He sort of drifted backwards last year but is now playing the way the Red Sox envisioned when they drafted him. I think that by 2009he could be the Boston shortstop, especially if Lugo doesn't start coming around soon. There is also a chance that Jed could he fast freighted up to Pawtucket before the summer is over.

I think everyone on this board who follows the Red Sox should agree with this statement: We need both Papi and Manny Ramirez hitting up a storm like they are capable of. We have not been hitting as well as we should and this has been occuring most of the seasons with a few exceptions. If we get solid hitting from our two big guns and the rest do their part we ought to be fine. I think we have to get another starting pitcher if Taverez and Schilling are going to miss significan action, and have to hope that Wakefield still has some good games left in him. Again, though, we need to score more runs and one way in that direction is for the two big guys to hit and get every bat we can in that lineup of ours. That means getting Lugo out of there.

Again, we are going to need a leadoff man with speed very shortly, like next year, and Ellsbury must NOT be traded. That would be lunacy. If Williams is going to hold us up like that, then he can keep Buehrle and try to get what he can from the Yankees. Epstein must hold firm and say that Bucholz and Ellsbury are non-starters. Whether Crisp is starting to turn things around somewhat now is beside the point. He is not a good leadoff man and does not have the upside or potential that Ellsbury could give us. You don't trade talent like that away. The Red Sox have done a lot of that in the past and Theo said he would stop that when he became GM. Well, this is the time to STOP THAT in its tracks. There are other quality people we could trade. Besides, the White Sox are the ones who want to sell. We should be the ones with the leverage. Of course, it would have been nice if Wakefield and Taverez hadn't looked so crappy in their last starts.

Crunch, will you tell me why we even had to resurrect this thread in the first place? Coco Crisp seems to have turned his offensive game around and now there is no need to belabor this Wily Mo thread anymore; is there? When Crisp was sucking up the joint I would have gladly given Pena or anyone a chance to give us an extra bat in the outfield, even whaleass Hinskie, but I don't think that's the problem now. We need another starting pitcher and Francona to finally and utterly get Lugo out of shortstop for awhile. Oh well, we can hope our moderators to close this thread because it has been become apparent that we aren't going to be able to trade this guy and the only recourse is to put up with him until Epstein finally realizes his mistakes and releases the wondrous Wily Mo. It is surprising that Pena even has supporters left on this board; then, again, considering who they are, not really that surprising.

Chalk this one up to a bad experience. Hell, even pinch hitting for Lugo wasn't going to work for us. Then, again, look who we sent up there.

Taverez melted down tonight and questionable whether we can recover. I hope we can rally for a big inning and pull this one out, but for some reason these so-called "s***** pitchers" we've been facing have really given us a hell of a time. Still, why is Lugo still in the lineup. He can't buy a hit, kills rallies and we have a guy named Alex Cora who does well when given a chance. Why the hell do we have to wait to get into a losing streak before we make a change that everyone with half a brain knows we have to do?

Faith, tell where the Braves are going to play Salatamacchia? If you say first base, then you are right and we have no chance in hell of getting him. However, they were very high on Thormon in ST and they project him as a good hitting first baseman with average power. Either way it doesn't hurt trying to see if he's available. We are going to need a catcher after 2008 and from the looks of things it seems that Kottreras is regressing if anything.

Another verbal gem from our esteemed manager. I hate going with my wife to Angels games and seeing how a real manager runs his team.

Not that Lowell will walk but the Red Sox will not resign him. I read something on his board on that score, and Dirt Dogs has been hinting at that for the past three months. Again, I would love to have Lowell resigned and keep Youk at first, but so far we haven't heard a thing about the Sox wanting to keep Mike in our stable for the next three years. Again, with Crisp---he had a blowout series with the Braves and they already have a young catcher they signed to a long term contract. I think it would be in our best interests to try and get a young hitting catcher like Jarrod Salatamacchia. It might take more than Crisp but they are going to need a CF next year because they will not resign Jones for the money he wants. Perhaps we can add something to the trade if the Braves request it. Just thinking out loud. What's your opinion?

You have better trade ideas? Fine, let me hear them. I'm all ears. I was throwing out my ideas of how we can improve the team. Youk can move to third base next year which he still can play very well as I saw this past Friday. The Boston papers and numerous boards, including this one have hinted that the Red Sox will not resign Lowell to a contract after this season. I would like him back but all I keep hearing is that the Red Sox are not interested in a long term contract for the guy.

Just throwing out ideas Jackson. As far as Salatamacchia, they Braves have no place to put him. They signed McCann to a long term contract earlier this year, and they have Thormon as their first baseman. Jarrod is not that speedy that he can play the outfield. As for the White Sox, I don't know what kind of housecleaning Williams is talking about, a small or large one. If they are rebuilding Konerko does not do them a while hell of a lot of good. We may have to sweeten the pot, but, again, I said in a previous post that the Sox would probably not include him in such a trade even I think this would really help our team. As for Crisp, the Braves are not going to sing Jones in the off season, no way. They will need someone to play out there and Coco had a blowout series there last week. Hell, if you have better ideas, tell me. I'm all ears.

Delusional hell MANNYHOF. You live in the East I presume and all the talk I here back there says the Red Sox are going to let Lowell walk. Is that what you hear, too? If so we need either a first baseman or third baseman. Youk moves to third and we get a right hand hitting power hitter to play that position. Frankly I don't think we'll be able to swing such a trade but it sounded good to me when I proposed it. Delusional??? Well, my Linda thinks I'm more than that when it comes to the Red Sox.

Weaver is still supposed to be a better pitcher than Fogg or DiNardo. In fact, DiNardo absolutely sucked for the Red Sox last year, but since you're not up to speed on the Red Sox it might interest you to know that they have a terrible habit of letting weak pitchers off the hook. This has happened time and again over the past few seasons. As for the vibes you mention, when Taverez pitches for us all Red Sox fans have to think positively for their own mental well-being because we never know what gives with the guy. Weaver also has won his last two games so that is no joke to any of us. Thanks, though, for the heads-up, so I owe you one and here goes. This date in Dodger history-----June 25th, 1968.....Bobby Bonds (father of four year old Barry) hits a grand slam in his first major league game as the Giants rumble, 8-0 in the opener of a three game series at Candlestick Park. Bad news? I'll have better news for you tomorrow about the 26th.

Hold the mayo on Lowrie. We have a Grand Canyon hole at SS and he is one guy who might be able to plug that up for us in a year or two, that is, if they still have him playing short. Nothing flashy, but solid and a very smart ballplayer who switch hits. I'm surprised you would give up Ellsbury. No way Jose would I do that because it means we have to endure Crisp at leadoff for another few years. No way. Ellsbury means we can trade Coco and get something solid for him next season, maybe a good reliever and a prospect. How's this? We trade them Bowden, Hansen, Moss and Crisp and we get Buehrle and Konerko. We solve our first base problem for the next few years, bring Ellsbury up to play centerfield and lead off and get a good lefty for our rotation. I would have included Kotteras but I cannot stomach the thought of having Mirabelli around next season. Besides, if we cannot trade Crisp this time around we might be able to get him to the Braves for Jarrod Salatamacchia, a very strong hitting catcher---and we will need one of them very soon.

Let's not underestimate Weaver or any other pitcher. I heard earlier in the month about how we were going to feast on DiNardo and Fogg and we got our lunch eaten. We take Weaver and every pitcher we face seriously. We don't want to go through what we went through a couple of weeks ago. Besides, we have to keep the good vibes coming that Julian is going to be on his game again tonight.

So you are for the Buehrle trade. Now who do you give up and who do you do not give up? Those are my sticking points as well. No Bucholz or Ellsbury.

No I didn't Jackson. Thanks for the info. From all the info I was reading here I thought he was in the same class with Zambrano. Then in my opinion we (us, the Red Sox) should go after Buehrle as long as Bucholz and Ellsbury are not part of the deal. I made a proposal in another post that we really make it a big trade but I was throwing out a trial balloon. I don't know yet if anyone even responded to it.