seabeachfred

Sorry my friend but Wily Mo Pena will cost us at least a dozen games in the outfield if he plays a full season out there. He simply cannot judge and track a fly ball accurately at all. He has continually misplayed balls in RF, and when I saw in LF at Yankee Stadium in September he couldn't function out there either. He is the bargaining chip we can and should use for pitching help, whether in the pen or in the rotation-----if we can get some NL team to take him off our hands as we did Cincy's last year. Actually be belongs in the AL as a DH---on any other team but ours. The sucks to high heaven in the field, playing balls off his glove and off his head to the sound of clank. As for pitching, we need both starters and relievers. What I don't want to see this season is garbage like Jason Johnson, Kyle Snyder, Kason Gabbard and the like stinking up our chances to win a game. That little escapade of the Boy Blunder using the waiver list last summer to claim KC rejects really soured me on him, a bitter taste that has not gone away. Can you imagine taking rejects off of the worst team in the league? Well Blunder Boy did it. We first of all had better sign Matsuzaka, hope Papelbon doesn't get hurt again, Schilling holds up for one more big season, Beckett becomes the ace I know he can be, and we get a decent year from Taverez, who I think earned a spot in the rotation. Wakefield? There is a guy we can use in the pen because he can eat up innings, and, frankly, Julian was better than him last year. :lol: :lol:

EX, I promise you this. If Theo is able to sign Matsuzaka, and is able to get the SS, RF, Closer and Set-Up man we need, I will back down, admit I was wrong and let you and everyone else know it. I am not that much of an ego maniac that I cannot admit if I am wrong-----and I certainly hope I am in this case. The Red Sox are a hell of a lot more important to me than me being right. HAVING SAID THAT, I SIGN OFF FOR TODAY MY FRIENDS AND WISH ALL OF YOU A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING. ENJOY THE DAY. ALL THE BEST.

We will not be competive if we don't get a good hitting shortstop and good hitting RF who can bat fifth and protect Manny. That's Lugo and Drew, simple as that. We don't get them we don't win. We cannot win with retreads at those positions, and we had better get a good closer and set-up man. Right now we have gotten none of the foursome we need.:thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown

I write something like that because I really believe we may just have that scenario by Spring Training. You think Lugo hasn't been watching these guys sign those humungous contracts? He certainly has upped what he thinks he's worth and if the Sox lowball him he will go elsewhere and we will be stuck with Cora at SS. That's why. And Drew's stock has jumped with all the money given out. If we lowball him he will go elsewhere and we will have the Stepin Fetchit and the Human Whale patrolling RF, a sure recipe for disaster, one guy who can't get out of his own way and judge a ball, the other who cannot move one way or another. You prepared to accept that? Well I'm not.:dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown

Good idea my friend but what do you do when guys like Delcarmen and Hansen regress as they did this season. In fact, they both stunk. Manny seemed to get hammered every time he stepped on the mound and Hansen seemed lost. Maybe we need some good pitching coaches to teach these kids and work them into servicable relievers.

Theo has become famous for stunts like that. He will try and convince the fans that we have to stay within budget and saddle us with a pack of bums that will certainly fail us when the chips are down. You cannot make chicken salad out of chicken s*** and that is what he will try to foist on us. You honestly think we can win anything with Cora at SS and Pena-Hinske in RF? It is a recipe for disaster but Theo brought this on by not acting fact and signing the players we needed before the other ones were signed by other teams which resulted in the prices going up and up. He never learned from this experience of the last two years. He continues to make the same mistakes.:dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:

This has always been a nightmare thought for me Riverside, but you may be absolutely right. Theo's dicking around while other FA were signing contracts only made Drew's price go higher and higher, and one thing none of us must by is when the Boy Blunder tells us we'll do fine with Pena and Hinske in RF. Pena cannot play RF at Fenway, has proven that when he came here for a series with the Reds and he proved it in the very first home game he played here this year. He cannot judge a fly ball worth a damn, is a strikeout machine, and cannot hit in the clutch worth a damn. He alone will cost us about ten games with his shoddy fielding if he is the RF next season, and will probably set a SO and LOB record with a bat in his hands. Hinske is a human whale who cannot get the bat around his fat gut. He needs to lose 40 pounds and then lose himself. :( :(

Sorry about that. Yes, Wood is a shortstop who could wind up playing there or maybe 3B He is a can't miss prospect with power and speed and a great arm. He would have to be included in any trade for Manny or else Theo is in worse shape as a GM than I think.

Great posts guys; a little levity while we wait for the other shoe to drop from Theo is much needed at this time. I had a thought recently that maybe if and when the Sox sign Drew, they will use Pena in LF where he wouldn't be such a disaster and hope that he becomes the power man they think he might, trade Manny for a good pitcher and prospect (Angels for Brandon Wood and Ervin Santana) and then trade that pitcher to Texas for either Tiexiera or Young, probably Tex. I would figure that with Drew, Tex, Pena and Big Papi there would be enough power to get the job done, while Wood would in a year or two join Ellsbury as two top young prospects playing for the Red Sox along with Pedroia and some of those young arms like Beckett, Papelbon, Matsuzaka, and a couple of the young fireballers moving up the system like Bucholz and Bard.

Jsing, I wish I had your confidence right now, but I have seen this before---like the last two off seasons. Many players like Pierre, Alou, Catalanotto, Speier, Soriano, Garciaparra, DeRosa and others have already signed up with other teams. I just believe we could be moving just a wee bit faster than we are. Sometimes I get the impression that Theo cannot pull the trigger as he once could.::dunno: :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:

You may be right but it would be a needed shot in the arm to get this done as quickly as possible so Red Sox fans have something to cheer about. It would also give us four pretty damn good starters going into next season, but I hope we are going to upgrade our other problem areas as well. BTW, I just dispensed a VCR of the 6-29 game between the Red Sox and Mets and I was amazed at how well we were hitting at that time. Loretta, Youk, Trot. Lowell and Manny were all over 300. We really slumped later on, didn't we?

:dunno: In that case we may not be able to sign anyone of consequence, which means that we are going to concentrate on the future and not the present. And, there is no guarantee those draft choices are going to amount to anything. I would certainly give up a draft choice to get players like Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. :D

When I see Daisuke's name on a contract then I will concede that you had it pegged all along. We haven't gotten that signature and I would advise you that Theo had better not try to lowball him because Boras will turn it down fast and we may wind up with nothing. :o

Jackson, Theo doesn't to be able to do anything. It has now been nine days. Players are now signing by the dozen and Epstein has accomplished absolutely nothing, not one player has been signed unless you think Alberto Castillo is the missing link to a championship. I think the Boy Blunder has lost his nerve, I really am beginning to believe it.

You are going to have to use up just about all the credit you have with the Man upstairs in order to bring that about, but keep trying. You never know. :D :D

Maybe the Red Sox learned a bitter lesson in not signing Damon and want to make sure it doesn't happen again by signing a player they really need. True what you said of the St. Louis fans, but the LA fans have become much more aggressive the past few years and they let Drew have it when they felt like he had it coming. Red Sox fans are much tougher but I just think J.D. is tougher than many people believe, and the fact is we cannot expect Pena and Hinske to handle that job. One is a fat slob who can't move and has forgotten how to hit, the other can't play the outfield worth s#$t and is about as bad a hitter inthe clutch as you will find.

:blink: :blink: Riverside, when Daisuke is inked and under contract, then I will breathe a sigh of relief, but until that day comes I will withold celebrating because we still might lose him. Remember, Boros will be asking for a lot of money and Theo might dig in his heals and go the "budget limit" again and lose him as he lost Johnny Damon last year. As for Cora, there were better offensive players out there like Joe Mckewen. If one of our regularss gets hurt and Cora goes into the starting lineup I fear the same thing could happen again. As for Jason Johnson, look my friend, any time a GM goes to the waiver wire to pluck rejects from Kansas City I would put nothing past him, but I thought that piece of sarcasm was worthy of Don Rickles. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed Riverside.

See, I knew we would agree on something sooner or later. I rarely have trouble with Texans; hell I have voted four times for Texans for President. Drew's signing, if ever it comes, means we have gotten our fifth hitter, improved our offense 25-30%, taken care of a key defensive position (at Fenway, RF is very important), and makes it possible for us to put either Pena, Crisp, Hinske, or Murphy up for trade for needed relief pitching, most likely Pena or Crisp since they have more value. But we must start acting quickly before he is off the table, too, and we are left with some of Epstein's typical leftovers. :) :)