seabeachfred

Once again you got it right Ted----and that's the bad part of it because very very rarely does a team slug its way to a WS Title. The Phillies in 2008 did just that but there is a caveat or two there. One, Hamels came up big in the playoffs and WS and the bullpen held its own. The starters were from starvation central but they were pitching against a Rays team that didn't hit all that much all season---in a year where we s*** the bed and failed to win the AL when we most certainly should have. This was the season that really soured me on Francona and where we kept hearing for the first time his famous refrain....I DON'T WANT TO LOSE HIM. The reference was mostly for Varitek who hit the wall by June of that year and it seemed whenever we needed a hit in a close game he came up and failed miserably, and yet Francona never pinched hit for him.....not once during the regular season.

Dupree----while it is true that a some posters like me are critical of some of the stupid things the FO has done and has not done to shore up our team, like get us an ace No. 1 type pitcher, you have to understand that there are also a few who believe Cherington and Henry can do no wrong, that they know what they're doing and will follow them like the rats followed the pied piper. Of course, letting Lester get away, signing Drew last Spring, and then not having a back up plan when Bradley and Middlebrooks cratered were sure signs of genius, now weren't they?

Nah, they're geniuses!!!!! Henry was brilliant is resigning Lester to a new contract, your pal Lucchino was even more brilliant in that generous offer to Jon last spring, and Ben's signing of Drew was the masterstroke of the season//User Ballwasher. BTW, a friend send me an E-mail of your ridiculous post but I will hold my ammo for a better time.....like when you decide to support fully what the FO didn't do to get us that ace you said you'd complain loudly about if they didn't. You see, you cannot help yourself. You're a front office lackey and will always be one. Thank God I have you on ignore---just like you told everyone you had me on ignore but, as usual, were full of s***.

Well said Spud. We are supposed to be entitled as Red Sox fans so long as that entitlement means we should be contending every year and not expect a WS Title along with it. 2012 and 2014 were car wrecks that Sox fans were NOT entitled to, from the rotten ST non-program Farrell ran, from that miserable and wrong headed signing of Drew, to the utter failure of Bradley and Middlebrooks and disappointing showing of Bogaerts. Question.....You or others out there would think, say, a division title this year would make up for 2014 or does it need to me a little more like at least an AL Championship? Food for thought.

I think we should go all for it NOW. John Henry blew the Lester contract talks miserably and cost us our ace and he should make amends by making up for that blunder by getting us a pitcher as good or better than Jon so we have a good chance to getting to the show this coming season. We should also consider the possibility that those pitchers we think will be FA after 2015 may be resigned to an extension or traded to a team that signs them long term. I mean there are owners and CEO's who aren't as myopic and short sighted as Henry and Lucchino were with Lester-------one of the most miserable and pathetic blunders that could come back to bite us on the ass the next few years unless they rectify that. Let's not mince words. Losing Lester is a potential disaster unless steps are taken to get us that ace we need.

Baseball is a game you can never figure out and anyone who thinks they can Bellhorn is a first class sap. Who the hell could have predicted 2013, or even last season the way things shook out? It is what makes baseball in my opinion the greatest of all sports. And you're right, there is no magic formula. The Yankees back in the 1921-1964 era thought t hey had it but two long dry spells brought them out of it, though, I don't think that ever got down to their entitled fans.

Question answered mvp. Thanks. I think that's what separates us from Yankee fans. To them winning a WS is like a birthright and they seem to have this feeling of entitlement. Maybe having gone one for 14 so far in this century in that regard might temper those feelings somewhat. I think Red Sox fans just want a team that will contend every year because if we can keep doing that a title or two or three might be in the offing down the road.

Personally I think this is the season that will tell us just about all we need to know about Cherington and Farrell. If they both flop with what they do it should be evident to anyone but a died in the wool Pollyanna that these two are not big enough for the job. For the manager it will be four miserable seasons of managing to one good one---a horrific record that would get a batter benche (though it took even less than that before they threw in the towel on the pathetic Bradley). For Cherington it would be three bad years in four and don't forget we've finished last two of the past three seasons, and the Red Sox should be able to contend every damn year---maybe not win the division every year but contend for it. I think the jury will decide by next October.

I wonder about that too Pal. We could step up and sign a guy who would be a absolute No. 1 ace for us. Only two reason I can think of for not getting in on this. One, Henry is not willing to go over the luxury tax because he's a damn liar and doesn't want to spend the money---or afraid if does take the plunge the Yankees will get into the bidding was and once again force Prune Face to throw in his cards and look even more ridiculous. This is one time Henry must stand tall and go for it, if for no other reason that to confirm in the fans that he realizes how badly he blew it in the Lester debacle and is willing to make amends that need to be made.

I won't argue that point with you mvp because you were there in '99 and I wasn't until the following year but please enlighten me about what was so good about that year? I do remember that AS Game, reception for Ted Williams, the strikeout binge by Pedro and his great 23-4 record that season---not to mention his relief gem against the Guardians in the playoffs and his win over Clemens in the third game of the ALCS. They are all worth putting into the treasure trove, but didn't the fact the MFY beat the Red Sox in five that fall and the fact that team won the second of what would become three WS Titles in a row the next year and four of five overall, didn't that take a lot of the shine out of the '99 season?

I would take Madison Bumgarner in a heartbeat because he has been there and done that.....more than in just one World Series. I don't think Kershaw is a choker either but facts are facts.....he has had some rough outings in the post season and the jury might be out until he corrects those reversals. I agree with Shields. Just as long as the contract is not one of those five year $150 million jobs. Still, we need a No. 1. I have said so repeatedly. Oh yes, we could win the division with what he have. I have said that too, but to me it would mean that our five man current rotation would have to be humming on all cylinders.....consistency, injury free, and backed up by a lights out bullpen. Remember too, that we have Buchholz who, talent or not, never seems to be ready to give us a full season.

But what are we doing BSN? I think if the Red Sox try winning with that rotation they have they will have another piss poor season even if the five projected starters stay healthy all season, which we should all know they will not. You cannot slug your way to the WS because hitting is not less consistent than pitching is and when you toss in some very questionable defensive men in the field it makes it even harder. I know you were one of the posters who preached caution and wait to the TD to do something. However, we've seen this blow up in our faces before, either teams resigning the players we covet to extensions or some team willing to pay more than Prune Face is willing to. We need to get a top notch No. 1 pitcher because the best we have right now are a bunch of threes, maybe a four and a five. I don't think we win with that ensemble.

Not to rub it in Spud but it has been about 75-80 degrees out here for the past few days after we got what is for us a bout of unseasonably brisk weather---50-60 degrees. Still for me when pitchers and catchers report will only be looked upon with excitement and hope from me is if we get that No. 1 pitcher we need. Henry and Lucchino owe that to us and I'm not going to let up on them until they do.

Losing that series pissed me off even more. It was ours for the taking. Grady, if you're tuning in, you will never live that one down.

It seems to me that a lot of Red Sox fans here and elsewhere are coming to the conclusion that Cherington has no intention of pursuing and getting us a No. 1 pitcher, and what's worse those same fans are resigning themselves to accept it. Sorry, I am not and will not. Prune Face blew it with Lester and blew it badly, especially when he once again leaned on his despicable cohort Lucchino to blow it for him. I feel that both those guys owe it to the fans to make amends for that colossal blunder by getting the team that pitcher it needs to compete for a chance to get to the WS next fall. Maybe we'll hear something positive like that soon but I'm not going to give those two a free ride after what they screwed up with Lester.

I might be standing on shaky ground here bringing up 1978 when I wasn't even a Red Sox fan then, but I wasn't living in a bubble and noticed how that 14 game lead melted like an ice cream cone in a sauna. Zimmer was a total ******* that summer in his refusing to pitch Bill Lee for calling him a gerbil. That cost them the AL East because no one can tell me that if Lee had been left in that rotation they wouldn't have been one game better at the end of the regular season, and therefore, no one would have heard of Bucky "f***in' Dent. Amazing, isn't it, how a manager can cut his nose to spite his face and take the entire team down with him in the process. Of course the Sporting News that summer was replete with some of the boneheadedness shown by Zimmer in other personnel moves. The writer was Joe Guiliotti I believe and he laid into Zimmer all that summer. Perhaps had Zimmer gotten his head out of his ass, he could have gotten the Red Sox into the WS against his equally boneheaded friend La Pasta. You think about some of those episodes that engulfed the Red Sox for so many years before hyperion in 2004 and it makes me wonder how some of you older fans weren't on suicide watch seeing all that s*** going down.

Hope you did too my friend. Nice to put that 2014 season behind us and look forward and not backward. Just give the Red Sox a solid No. 1 guy in the rotation and we should be able to hold our own with anyone in the league, barring some unforeseen circumstances.

Come to think of it, that could have been the reason I came aboard in 2000. I saw him pitch a seven inning two hitter against the Royals in a 9-0 Red Sox romp and left Fenway a Red Sox fan from that point on, though truth be told I think the ballpark might have had as much to do with that epiphany as did Pedey's gem that day, August 19th.

Well I did refer in a previous post to the belief that some of the writers don't know the game to save their asses. I'm just glad Pedro got over 90% on the writers ballot. But that 1967 vote was really a weird one Ted. Yaz deserved a unanimous vote that season.

With a full Spring Training he ought to do better than he did last season when he stunk to high heaven. Actually, this could be a good insurance policy for the Yankees.

I was thinking like you were with that 8.9 idiots delight crack......but the fact that Pedro made it with over 90% of the vote is great news indeed. Besides, don't many of us think that about half the writers who vote don't know s*** from shinola? That possibly being true, at least we could say that there was some real clear thinking on the vote today. I'm pumped.

Great day for Red Sox fans cp. Pedro left us in a little tizzy fit but he never lost his love for the Red Sox and now he's back working for the team. AND...he will enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Red Sox cap. Thinking about going to Cooperstown for that event this summer.

Glad to see one of our guys get in, but I wasn't surprised at all. Pedey was a standout on the pitching front for most of the time he spent with the Red Sox. Congratlations Pedro....Just be sure when you get in there is a Red Sox cap on your head.

Pal, I've been surfing the net trying to find the article that Olney wrote about Henry putting Lucchino on the shelf.....again!!!!!. Know where it came from and could you download it if you do find it. I really want to hear what the owner had to say and whether that is just to placate all of us or whether he will go the extra mile and a half and spend what's needed to get us that No. 1 pitcher we need.

For a year or two Lee could be that front end starter we need badly but wouldn't it be wise not to jump in right away and see how he is coming along in ST. Both the Red Sox and Phillies train in Florida and will see each other a couple of times this March. I also wonder if Phillies GM Amaro is going to once again try to play Black Bart and hold us or whatever team wants Lee for a king's ransom. Amazing the guy still has his job after the way he kept trying to win with the same old standbys who have turned the Phillies into a NL joke. Still, though we should move with some caution, the fact remains that we can certainly use a No. 1 starter because right now we don't have anything except a bunch of threes and fours in my opinion.