seabeachfred

Edge, mistakes are made by all teams and I wasn't just trying to single out the Red Sox for this, but I keep hearing from Theo that he has a long range plan, but we still keep trading our young players away. We had Youk this past season, Pedroia on tap for 2007, and Ellsbury in 2008 along with maybe Bucholz and Bard on the hill. So maybe we are finally making a step in the right direction, but from where I sit the best team is usually a blend of proven vets and some young guys thrown in there for some energy and fresh blood. Beckett? You have never heard me bag on him and you won't; I just wonder if we had to give that much to get him.

Rician, this morning the papers and radio were full of blather about how Manny was going to the Dodgers, but I stopped in a market to get a paper this afternoon and now it said the Dodgers aren't going to give the Red Sox three players for Manny so the deal looks dead. Are we all being played like a fiddle? Hell, if someone wanted me to wager what's gonna happen next I would decline. I now haven't a freakin' clue from all the different bombardments I've been hit with the past few days. I wonder if the FO really knows who all this is going to turn out?

You've heard of him, too? I really don't like the guy and liked what he was saying less, but he did make some good points and I wonder if the front office really knows which direction they want to go. It seems to me that there is still a power stuggle going on between Lucchino and Theo.

Everything you said was true but there is a danger to that as well. Maybe while we wait the player we covet without having to give up a draft choice is taken by someone else and we lose out. Could happen.

They're not very valuable if they are used eventually to trade away for players who don't produce for the Red Sox. Think about that!!! Hasn't it happened so many times before?

On my way to the hospital to today to get my monthly blood check I was listening to Colin Cowherd on the radio (I assume some of you have heard of his daily sports show on ESPN Radio), and he was running down the Red Sox calling them baseball's most disfunctional team. To wit: The Sox talk about chemistry and then let clubhouse men like Damon, Low and Martinez leave, talk about long range plans then let Hanley, Annanel, Freddie and others go, talk about those who can play in Boston and then go after guys like Renteria who can't, talk about players who work the count and then go and get Pena. I was listening and nodding how right he was, then it dawned on me. s***! That's my team he is talking about and I wondered why I get so angry and frustrated at the goings on of OUR team. Now all this talk about arbitration. To me that is crapola. Get the guys we need signed. Most of those draft choices we lost wouldn't probably make it anyway, and most of them would be traded away for retreads like the ones we've been saddled with the past two years.

I would like to see DiNardo starting, too. For Podunk or Elmira, or Yuma, or anywhere as long as it isn't anywhere near Fenway Park. The guy plainly sucks. He stuff is lousy, his control is lousy, he has no fastball and most of the time gets lit up like a Christmas tree. Someone in the FO likes him whoever he is should be run out of town on a rail if this crumb bun even makes the team let alone start.

Right now Ray we signed squat, not one signing and the days are starting to dwindle by. I know Theo like to play it close to his vest but this is pure bull#$%^!!!!! If they are going to spend all their time in the Matsu dealings our other problems are not going to be addressed. And why the hell to they want to trade Manny anyway? Are they in line for someone of near ability or do they want to see how nice it looks for Papi to lay his bat down and slowly trot to first after his 250th walk?

Well, they should be doing that but I wonder if they are. No news on anything except another day of dealing with Boras for Matsuzaka has come and gone and nothing done.

Chin Man, I can only speak for myself and not for others, but from what I been hearing here and on other boards there are many of us who are starting to get a little worried about the lack of any concrete action on our part. Players have been signing contracts left and right and we have done nothing. I think if Theo could ink of the players we need it would at least give us some reason to think we are making progress. Until I see something of that order I think we are just standing still.

Bosox, that certainly is a different take and I certainly hope you are right in your assertions because to blow this deal would mean a black eye for the Red Sox and Theo's undoing as a hero to many Red Sox fans. I haveto admit I am getting very antsy and all this non-action, not only the negotiations with Daisuke but nothing in the way of progress with Drew and Lugo, trade talks for relief pitchers, or anything of the kind. Something has to break and soon in my opinion or we just might miss out on the players we need.

Jsing, jog your memory if you will and hark back to around this time last year. You probably were also thinking about negotiations with Damon and would be give and take and that eventually they would meet a middle ground and Damon would be back with the Red Sox. Just about everybody did. I didn't. I know Boras better than you may think and I knew Johnny was gone. I know Boras because I once had the chance to meet Ken Williams, GM of the White Sox. We will NOT do business with Boras or any of his clients, and once a players signs with him he is gone from the White Sox. Boras will play hard ball all the way and if he doesn't get almost all of what he wants he will reject the deal out of hand. It is interesting for you to tell me I have no clue, but, believe me, while you may know things about Theo that I don't, I have Boras tagged a hell of a lot better than you do.

What's so irritating is that so many of us saw this coming while it seems Theo was snoozing once again. We have multiple needs and should be out there signing Drew, Lugo and trading Pena and or Crisp or Murphy or Hinske or Delcarmen or Hansen for experienced relief help and we seem crippled. What seemed like a optimistic feeling just moments ago has now made me feel like we are in a revolving door with no way out. If that story is true we could win up with NOBODY, Drew and Lugo going elsewhere, Matsu back to Japan, and the Red Sox stuck with a mediocrity like Cora at short and a worthless defensive liability as Pena patrolling RF---a true recipe for disaster. We have to get going, sign Drew and Lugo and worry about Matsu after we get something done first.:thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown

GOM, think about it for a minute. The Yankee fans are all hot and bothered about our signing Matsuzaka and they are trying all ways to diss him and play him down. Now they trot out Philip Hughes to tell us they still have the edge over us. They are full of crap. What they don't tell you is that Randy Johnson may be through while our old pro Curt Schilling still has that last good year in him. They resigned Mussina, a good pitcher, but tell me, would you trade Papelbon for him? Who would you rather have? Then there is Beckett. Josh is ready to take his place as one of the best pitchers in baseball. I really believe that. I count four good Red Sox pitchers if we sign Matsu; they have two and are hoping that Philip pans out, but don't forget we have Bard, Bucholz and a few of those ourselves down on the farm. I'm going to tell you and all the rest of my talksox buddies what I think. I think the Yankees are scared shi#$ess of what we might be doing with all the money we might be throwing around this off season. My only gripe is what are they waiting for. If we pull off signing Matsuzaka, Drew, Lugo, and trade for a closer and another set-up man the Yankees know they are in trouble. One more thing. We all talk about how we lost those five games to them in our park and, yes, that was a real lousy scene and it cost us everything, but at least we didn't quite cold turkey. Remember when we went into Yankee Stadium for a four game series with only pride on the line. I was there and saw our team play their asses off and if Wily Mo Pena had known how to catch a fly ball we would have swept that four game series instead of only taking three. I was lucky, though. I got to see only the three regularly scheduled games and was a happy guy after each. A very nice trip to the rat infested Bronx.

I also post on the Dirt Dogs and I appreciate the Globe putting out a Red Sox website like that, but pardon me if I think they're full of s*** on this one. I have been hearing Drew is ready to be signed "any day now" for close to two weeks and NOTHING. Until his name is on the dotted line, we have pre-paid about a dozen losses for next season with Hinske and Pena in RF and Cora at shortstop.

I don't care where he goes as long as it is not in RF for the Red Sox. I just know he would be a disaster out there just as he has always been in that position, both for the Reds and our team. Get him out of town for the good of all of us and him, too.

Knowing how the Boy Blunder has lost his marbles the last two-Plus off seasons, I'm not surprised he would sign R. Hidalgo. What can you expect for a lame brain who takes Jason Johnson and Kyle Snyder, and Bryan Corey off the waiver list after KC of all teams get rid of them? Hidalgo is a s***** player, strikes out like Pena, and has the most rotten attitude of just about any player in the Majors. Apparently, just the type of guy Epstein wants on his team. I sometimes wonder if he isn't a fifth columnist working to sabatoge our team. He simply cannot be that stupid. If Hidalgo, not the horse, makes the Red Sox, you will know that we are heading towards rock bottom.