seabeachfred

Yes--could a would a?????? Maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt at all, and the fact is the Red Sox went with salary instead of talent. Kalish was rated higher than Josh Reddick at the time and IMHO should have been given a shot at the starting RF job in 2011. He never should have been sent down while Drew was kept on the team. He should have been traded or released.

I just wonder how long it is going to take before we get those two standout starting pitchers we need. We were able to get two hitters the team wanted very quickly but the sooner we can take care of business the better. It is well known here that I have little confidence in our front office at the present time and the fear is they may find a way to gum things up, and no matter how elated some of my colleagues are here, if we fail to get those two stand out pitchers this new spending spree is not going to work.

Your problem is that you are so close to the front office and back up everything they claim that when they stop short you wind up halfway up their rear ends. As for Lavarnway he was a solid power hitter in our system who I believe was misused and suffered because of it. If you hadn't been on one of your disappearing acts you might have known they tried to de-emphasize Ryan's hitting so he could concentrate on his catching with the result that he suffered in both areas. Please know what the hell you're talking about before mouthing off, and g et that picture of that loser Nixon off your board. It might help you from being a quitter when things go wrong. BTW, how is Stephen Drew doing?

Only because you're a little short of grey matter Mr. Disappearance. Kalish did very well for part of the 2010 season he was with us. He hit ok and fielded very well. When it came to 2011 they decided to go with the last year of overpriced and injury prone JD Drew who promptly got injured and injured again and was of no use to the team. Meanwhile Kalish was sent down to Pawtucket and injured himself diving for a ball. If he had been in Boston the odds are he wouldn't have hurt himself at Pawtucket. Or maybe you had pulled one of your yearly disappearing acts as you did t his year and in 2012 and wasn't aware of what happened. Hard to keep up with you bugging out when your predictions and opinions become so much crap. Probably starting another new business heh??? Great belief in Stephen Drew last year User. You'll never live that one down.

Agreed Pal. I think the Red Sox really screwed it up with Lavarnway, just as they did with Kalish when they sent him down to get injured while keeping the injury prone JD Drew who failed miserably his last year with us in 2011.

d-money---short and to the point. I don't like these moves and they smack too much like that disastrous spending spree we took in signing Crawford and trading for Gonzo, two rotten pieces of garbage. However, you said get Lester and another decent starter (I hope you mean a solid No. 2 pitcher) and we are set. Right---and that is the only way this is going to work. Failure to do that and you can kiss off next season and perhaps a few more down the road until we get the best pitching in the league. And remember this, I'm predicting that Hanley is going to be chasing a ball down the line and between misplaying it and chasing it some more he will pull a hammy and be out for six to ten weeks. The guy is s***** in the field and injury prone and has an attitude problem. I kept envisioning that scenario from the moment we signed him. I can live with Pablo but not Hanley. He is a bad fit for us.

You may be seeing it again next season too Dojii. This looks very much like the disastrous debacle we suffered when we went on a spending spree and got stuck with clubhouse moaner Carl and clubhouse lawyer Gonzo.

We'll see BSN. But talk is cheap and we know some of our front office are a pack of ******** artists. I'll believe it when I see it and right now I think getting those two was a big mistake without addressing our pitching needs first. STARTING PITCHING WIN CHAMPUIONSHIPS!!!!! and right now we have crapola in that regard.

Moving on to Scherzer???? No freakin' way. If we lose Lester and fail to trade for Hamels the Yankees will get into the Scherzer sweepstakes and WE HAVE NEVER OUTBID THEM FOR ANY GOOD PLAYER BOTH OF US COVETED. We will wind up empty with a pack of low risk high reward bums who will fail miserably and keep us in the middle of the AL East pack.....if that high.

Leaks huh? He would really make us go, wouldn't he? He nothing but a second rater who will help us spring a leak, or are we talking about a vegetable. If we have to trade for Leaks we might as well get some of the dumpster trash I've mentioned previously like McCarthy or Hummel. Leaks or Leak or Leeks is not the answer.

Jacko, you say things like that and are denounced for being a f***ing Yankee fan. I say the same thing and I'm accused of being disloyal to the Red Sox. The fact is I think both of us are right. Sandoval's signing was a bad move.....his OPS has gone done for four years in a row, he is slow and fat and the weight needle is only pointing up over the course of this contract. As for Ramirez, if that was not a stupid or panic move, or both I don't know what else to call it. He is a chronic complainer who wore out his welcome in Boston BEFORE he was even on the team, he wore out his welcome in Florida even though he had two pretty damn good seasons, he was shown the door in LA where his attitude as also starting to be in question. He can no longer play shortstop worth s*** anymore, he was never good when he played third, so how the hell is he going to play left field for us? That, plus he has a tendency to be a loafer and sulker. These signings, unless they are soon accompanied with the signing or trading of two top notch pitchers not named Hummel, Santana, Masterson or McCarthy, will only lead us to another s***** season.

Damn it Pal, don't start getting my hopes too high!!!!! That would be wonderful news if it was true.....I'm just waiting and hoping the other shoe doesn't drop. If we do get Jon, and I'm still not believing we will, we're going to have to go over that luxury tax and we've been hell bent for leather not to go over that for the past half-dozen years or so.

Ted, as I've said on numerous occasions on this board, the pathetic showing of Bradley, Middlebrooks and Bogaerts this season has shaken the front office and ownership to its core. For TV ratings, for attendance figures, for a happy and contented media and press, Prune Face and Company have panicked themselves into doing what they said they would never do again except in cases of extreme exceptions-----and I don't think signing the like of injury prone and sieve fielding Ramirez or the portly non power hitting Pablo should be considered extreme exceptions. If we don't get those two top quality pitchers and very soon we can most likely look forward to another mediocre season with an angry press and media, a frustrated fan base, and attendance and TV rating in the sewer. I know I'm a minority here but I think these signing are a big mistake.

Well the Red Sox are going to have to move back to Hamels because they now have a clog of players---too many for the positions available and if they don't trade some of them there will be turmoil in the clubhouse and on the team next season because some of these players will not stand for sitting on the bench. That you can take to the bank. Even if we have moved on from Hamels, pitching is going to cost us dearly because every damn team knows we need two top starters and have to thin out our position playing ranks. They can hold us hostage if they want and we can do nothing about it without risking a team revolt sometime next season.

That's right IO. You sign some mediocrities from the dumpster for middling amounts of money and hope you strike gold. Historical fact: It has NEVER worked for us in the 14+ years I've been a Red Sox fanatic. In fact, it usually has resulted in one disaster after another--like that stupid closer by committee debacle in 2003 that cost us the division title and home field advantage in the ALCS vs the Yankees. Remember? Remember Boone??????

Pal and Mannyhof, the Red Sox do NOT have the money left to sign Lester unless they are willing to raise the ante for Jon and fly over the luxury tax. Even trading Cespedes, no sure thing, is going to give the money to sign Jon. I think we will have to trade a lot of players from the team as well as prospects to trade for those two good pitchers not named Santana, Hummels, Masterson or McCarthy. I know I've had a few barbs thrown my way today but the fact remains without two solid pitchers we are in deep s***. Now maybe, just maybe, Cherington will get on the horn and make those trades to get us those two standout starters because in my opinion Lester is as good as gone.

For five solid years Youk was a fixture for us and a productive player. He was a fierce competitor and we could use a few more hungry blue collar types like him now instead of some of the guys we've gotten stuck with. It is too bad the Red Sox waited so long to bring him up---he was 27 when he finally got his big chance. He will be missed..

Ramirez comes with a helluva lot of baggage. Remember, he had soured himself with the Red Sox BEFORE he was traded, was a cancer in Florida despite two solid seasons there, and was pretty much shown the door in Los Angeles because of his proneness to injuries and his miserable fielding skills at short. We should have made Lester an offer he simply could not refuse. We blew it there and may pay for it for the next few years unless we get two top quality starting pitchers not named Santana, Hemmels, McCarthy or Masterson.

After these two signing there doesn't seem to be much more money available for two top quality starting pitchers and that means one of two things. One we have to trade a boatload of prospects to g et someone like Hamels, or the front office goes dumpster diving for some used trash like Hummels, Santana, Masterson, McCarthy---none of whom would be the one-to punch we need to compete. Even trading Cespedes would only clear nine million and the others we traded wouldn't give us enough to offer a big contract or two to the two pitchers we would need to sign via FA. That means goodbye to Lester----and I don't give a s*** what anyone here says, I WOULD TAKE LESTER OVER SANDOVAL OR RAMIREZ ANY DAMN DAY OF THE WEEK.

No such luck Ted.......Then, again, I have been hard on him because he was so disappointing this year and because he and Bradley and Middlebrooks and Drew failed so miserably we are not back in 2011 mode spending huge sums of money for players who are talented but have a lot of different kinds of baggage.

Thanks SFF. Yes, I need to take a few deep breaths but it wouldn't be necessary if I was convinced that we are going to sign two top notch starters, or one and trade for the other, or trade for two. Will we be now willing to trade prospects for pitching or spend more money from what we've already spent to get those two pitchers. That's my concern.

Right Gomes, the team IS willing to spend money to try and improve the team and if these two signings are official we've made good progress in the offensive side of things. My fear is that we may have spent ourselves clean and given us a lower chance to getting two solid starting pitchers to give us a solid 1-2 punch on the mound, and without that we are not going to win anything next season because the pitching we currently have isn't worth a warm pitcher of spit. Let's get those two pitchers and then we'll all smile.

If the front office gets those two top notch pitchers we need I will pipe down post haste, but we are out of the running for Lester or Scherzer or Cueto or Hamels I will be pissed off and I will remind you daily to what I said in my previous post. No solid pitching, no flag---and I have doubts now that we are going to be willing to spend the money to get them. Right now the Giants are now in the race for Lester and the Yankees haven't stepped in yet. Right now we are not a contending team and y ou'll be losing your s*** if we wind up with pitchers like Masterson, Santana and Hummels for our rotation---and I will remind you of that too.

That is a good point Pal.....It is always good to strike fast but to me it is the pitching we need and I wonder just how much money is left in the kitty for solid top notching pitchers not named Masterson, Hummel, Santana or the rest of that low risk high reward nonsense that has always failed us. We'll see and hope you're right because without two top notch starters all we will have will be a team that scores a lot of runs, gives up a lot more with shoddy defense and weak pitching.

Sorry but that is totally false. There were a few of us here, me included, that said AJ was a bad fit for the team because he was a near cancer in the clubhouse, had no discipline at the plate and was a me me me type player. Look back and see for yourself. As f or Drew, everyone on this board knows full well that I not only predicted that Cherington would crash and sign the guy but that his signing would be disastrous---which is most certainly turned out to be. Those are facts.