seabeachfred

Check it out and see how authentic and accurate it is. Certainly will be good news for all of us because we know that Lucchino's machinations has caused the team harm every time he has stuck his nose in baseball operations. However, haven't we seen this act before.....Larry is put back in his office and within a year, two at the most, he has once again infused himself into areas he has no business being involved in----and it seems to take Henry two or more years to finally block the guy and that always seems only temporarily. I do think that maybe this time with Lucchino's miserable and ham handed attempt to get Lester signed with that puny offering might finally be the thing that keeps him out of BA. Losing our ace was tough to take.......BUT, I got off the TV a few minutes ago and was tuned into the Dodgers station that goes 24/7 and sometimes they actually put a good game on. Today was one such example, the Tigers as the opponent. Max Scherzer pitched seven knock out innings of four hit ball and made complete asses of the Dodger hitters. Expensive or not, if Henry really wants to rectify the miserable handling of what went on with Jon, he should seriously consider putting up the cash and sign Max. I actually believe he could be the missing piece that could actually propel us to the top.

You always like to see people like this come out on top, and she sounds like the type of wife all men really need. Hope he gets a long look this coming Spring CP.

Mujica was pretty scary until late in the season, Workman is much better suited for the pen than the rotation where he was terrible last season, and Breslow is coming off a terrible season after a solid one in 2013. I don't know much about Varvano but he is not rated as an end all either. Keeping our eyes open for good relievers is a must I believe because of the questions some of us have about our starting rotation.

Of course Elk, we all know that Boras' game plan is to extract the most money from whatever team that falls for his snake oil, and he is not reluctant to drag this thing with Scherzer out until ST if necessary. What I've heard is that the FO thinks the 2016 FA pitching crop will be more fruitful for the pickings, but we've seen in the past that many teams sign their FA to extensions and before you know it the rich crop of pitchers are dried up like a prune. I still would like to see the Red Sox strike while the iron's hot and either sign a FA or trade for a pitcher that could be inserted into the No. 1 role. People mention Buchholz, Kelly, Miley, Masterson and Porcello and say that seems adequate. They may be forgetting that injuries occur and two of those people mentioned are coming off injuries, one of them always seemingly coming up lame. An ace might make us the favorites for the division title and keep us out of that WC maze that only seems to work now for the Giants----but, of course, they have the ace to get them through that.

I was impressed with what I saw of Layne as well, but as I've been reminded so many times, building a bullpen is often a crapshoot. Miller is gone and Breslow is coming of a very bad season so maybe Layne needs to be given a long look this Spring. Besides, having two left relievers doesn't seem to bad to me. As for our needed starting pitcher I saw Cliff Lee's name mentioned already. Is he sound? Could we get two solid seasons from him? What would it cost to get him? His contract is more economical than Hamels is but he is also older by a few years and his arm has been banged up some. One thing most of us do agree with is that we do need a No. 1 ace. I just wonder if Lee would be that guy, but hope that Cherington hasn't decided to just roll the dice and go with what we now have.

Now you go after my pal Elk? He's forgotten more baseball than you will ever know. How many more posters are going to put you on ignore before you're talking only to yourself and the few remaining posters can tolerate you know-it-all ********? Pathetic doesn't even begin how sad and sorry a person you've become.

Kudos to your wife mvp. Wish her a very Happy New Year from your "pal" here. And the same goes for you. Enjoy the year and hopefully at least a Red Sox AL East Title.

You just stay on this board and don't dare leave it. It is nice to know that I can share insights and ideas from someone who has been in the arena and knows all facets of what makes for a successful program and individual player. That is why Ted and I hit it off so well from the start. He is up to date on things but old school enough to know that there is no one right answer to anything. Everything has to be scrutinized. I have gotten into this cybermetrics game the past two or three seasons but know that is not a cure all to understand the workings of how a team plays or why they do or don't succeed. What I think we must all strive to do is listen to the other side out of respect with the caveat that they will do the same with us. Most importantly, when we're wrong we admit it freely instead of circling the wagons or fleeing the scene. Good to have you here. BTW, take Ted's advice. Try and get down to Fort Myers for a short ST vacation. I went there in 2006 and 2007 and had a great time.

Very good point Ted......We had all been getting along rather well, and when we disagreed it was pretty civil. I did make the mistake of going off on someone when I took something very personal that wasn't that so at all and I had to personally apologize to the guy for acting like a total ass. Aside from that we all seem to get on ok. I know that mvp likes to push my buttons but I know it is not malice intended. With Luser and one other poster who also disappeared late last season, it was always personal and nasty. I guess one way for this forum to hum unity would be if our team could rally big time and come back a winner this year. I think all of us would be in sync with that. Happy New Year my friend.

700, CP, iortiz and the rest of my friends here I wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Enjoy the football games tomorrow, and just remember this......we all love the Red Sox with all our hearts but we're independent enough to call out things that seem to be bogus to their well being. Some here don't have that talent.

Please go to the bathroom and unload Useless because you are totally full of s***. For you to actually agree that I meant 162 games of 8-6 scores tells me you know less than s*** over shinola. I think even mvp knows now what I meant. You're problem is you cannot be open minded even when an adversary of yours is right---but that's ok with me because many of the new posters have you tagged as an irritating dork who never played the game, never coached he game and I wonder if you can even run a lap or two without caving in and reaching for a Bud. In other words, you're pathetic......and what about your putting me on ignore as you told others. Just another example why your diet is so lacking in bran.

KMA you loser!!!!!!! Twice you've been exposed as a bloviating moron with one bad prediction after another and twice you've fled the board in embarrassment. How long before you flee the scene this time. As for the board being a "shell" as you call it, perhaps it's more that new posters who don't drink your Kool Aid and are little more than front office bootlickers are showing up and letting the front office have it with both barrels due to their ineptness the past year----topped off by their disastrous handling of the Lester matter. Now if CP, iortiz, 700 Hitter or I had been in charge of the team Jon would have still been with us. You see, some of us do think we know as much as Henry and Co. about talent. We don't drink the Kool Aid. So put an egg in your shoe and beat it before you embarrass yourself again.

The guy is a first class dork cp---as you probably know by now. Both in 2012 and this past season when he got tired of arguing his computer points and spread sheet and was found to be wrong on just about everything he predicted he didn't admit he was wrong.....he simply vanished from the board like a fart in the wind. My guess is that he never played the game very much and he sure as hell never coached the sport so he is wedded to his computer and cybermmetrics, which as we both know doesn't tell anything about a player's heart, guts and balls. Put the jerk on ignore.

Our friend 700 Hitter. BTW, I read where you coached for 40 years. Good show---you have me beat by 9 years. I was mostly involved in baseball, though I did coach football for five years and basketball for three. Still, baseball always was and always will be my first love.

CP---You will find on this board that there are a few---thankfully only a few---that will act like they know it all and if you disagree with them and are proven right they will either resent it all to hell and maybe even flee the board for months on end. XB is an example of that. I have said on numerous occasions that his total ineptness trying to hit with men on base was one of the most critical items in our disappointing season this year. I said he looked like a choker after the first home series that I attended, and though I was proven right, there was only resentment from some that I was. Too bad. We have opinions and this is a forum so stick by your guns. The latest bone of contention, aside from Bogaerts, is whether we need a NO. 1 pitcher or not, and from what I've read some are already willing to accept the front office propaganda that we can get by without one. I take the tack we need one and need one badly because if you depend on winning a majority of 8-6 or 9-7 games that could amount to 35-40 games on the season......you will have a hard time winning anything.

We're not talking about 162 games----just the 35-40 that could be determined by scores like 8-6 and 9-7, and you never win a title of any kind with that kind of pitching ineffectiveness. The whole idea was to get an ace, and sad to say, if there are those on this board who think we can get by with what we have and get to the World Series, sorry, you need more bran in their diet. I will concede we could win the AL East with the team as presently constructed but that would also be predicated on keeping our key players healthy----and we do have a few who have proven to be very brittle of late and some who are still question marks. An ace would help a helluva lot there...AND WE NEED ONE.

Monkey see, monkey do....is that it? If you couldn't digest what I posted perhaps you need a brain transplant or an anal one. We're talking about perhaps 30-40 such games, not 162. Now you know what I was saying---or are you still in brain explosion mode?

Jesus H Christ-----we are talking about the 8-6 games and not the whole damn season. Where the hell is your comprehension? You made the same type of blunder yesterday so please get your s*** together. If there are about 35-40 games that are high scoring like that the result is not 113 wins. Are you sure you haven't been celebrating New Year's a little prematurely? Sober up.

Ted---I'm a lot more concerned with X's inability to hit with men on base. He looked like two different hitters under two different circumstances---hitting with no one on and hitting with men on. If you remember I brought this up right after I got back from Boston after watching him and the team stink things up badly in the Home Opening Series. With experience young players can overcome the heeby-jeebies when batting in tough situations, but for others it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. There were a few here who didn't appreciate my calling him a potential choker last April but the season bore that out. So he has two areas in which he really has to improve next season. FYI, Shaunessy predicted he would win the league's MVP Award in 2015. Now that is a leap of faith.

It doesn't matter who......we need an ace and we must get one or the season will be a series of 8-6 games of which we are going to have to win 70% of them to have a dog's chance of winning the division. I don't like those odds under those circumstances. Prune Face screwed up badly with Lester; he must rectify that all time blunder and the best way to do this is to sign Scherzer. Open your damn vault pruney and help us get to the WS. You owe the fans that for the s***** job you and your minions did to our team this past season.

With all due respect mvp you should be sorry because you either wanted to get in a dig at me or you can't interpret what is written to save your damn life. Look at the last short paragraph. Read what it said. Do you still think I'm saying Grady was right in keeping Pedro in? What does PEDRO'S ASS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE SHOWERS THAT EIGHTH INNING IN THE FIRST PLACE? Come on, you're not that dense.

I liked what Dojii had to say but think in Grady's case (or Pedro's) it might now wash. Keep in mind that when batters faced Martinez throwing less than 100 pitches their average against him was somewhere in the 230's. When he pitched with over a 100 pitches it was about 375---an enormous difference. However, keep in mind that in that disastrous game Pedro got the first out in the bottom of the eighth inning on an infield pop-up. The next batter doubled but the tapes show that Nixon badly misplayed the ball. That ball, though hit hard, should have been snagged by Trot and wasn't. Jeter then singled in a run but there would have been no RBI had Nixon caught that ball. A double, well hit, then followed, but the hit by Posada that eventually tied the game was a bleeder that dropped in. If that could have been caught Pedro might have actually gotten out of it without surrendering a run. Still Ted, it came back to Little. By the ALCS in 2003 the Red Sox bullpen had become a fairly effective one, and so without the could ofs, should ofs, etc, Pedro's ass should have been in the showers that eighth inning in the first place.

I guess ownership figured they could raise ticket prices because of that great season we just had.

And loyal and protective and extremely intelligent. For some reason females are very attached to their male masters or daddies, as my four dogs know me as.

The Yankee way is to try and win a World Series EVERY year and since they know the AL East is down this year Steinbrenner will come out of the office and throw a mega-deal at Scherzer and Boras, who I am convinced is a Yankee fan at heart, will get him name on the dotted line. That's my opinion on the matter. We'll see.