seabeachfred

Jacko, some here are seeing these signing with their hearts with visions of doubles and triples dancing in their heads. What they're missing are errors, misplayed balls by the Hamram and late losses because the pitching is totally s*****. They'll be entertaining until it becomes crunch time and then we both know what will likely happen. Meanwhile Lester goes elsewhere and wemay sell Cespedes but at a discount because all baseball knows we now have to get rid of him while those teams have us over a barrel. We never seem to learn.

Warning Missy.....DO NOT GET PERSONAL WITH ME UNLESS YOU WANT A WAR. If anyone is a dunce it's you for defending moves that were just plain stupid, wrong and ineffective.

I gave you five lousy things Cherington did and all you did was carry his water with a bunch of mealy mouth excuses. Those moves were crappy to the core and it cost us dearly. They were mistakes, or blunders as I would have put it. Each move turned out to be a disaster. Stop defending the indefensible because it sounds very silly.

This is totally ridiculous.....two of them, both of them?????? What the hell do we do for pitching? Do you think that we will be able to now sign Lester? No way Jose? We now go for the low risk high reward trash that has never worked for us. I see Lucchino's palsied hands all over this and it will all blow up in his face and then ours. You cannot win a title buy winning 10-8 games consistently, and, remember this----Hanley has become very injury prone the past two seasons. He can hit but his fielding is horseshit as well. You guys can celebrate but I'm predicting these two signings will turn out to be a very bad move for us. YOU WIN WITH PITCHING AND RIGHT NOW WE DON'T HAVE BUMPKISS IN THIS REGARD.

Not so BSN and for the simple reason we need Lester a helluva lot more than we need Sandoval. Lester is an ace pitcher and he has proven he can help the Red Sox win titles, and while Pablo is certainly no loser by any means, we know Jon is durable and built well while Pablo is a tub sized blimp who needles is pointed up when it comes to weight in the next few years. Lester can help us in another title or two during a six year stretch, Pablo cannot unless we load up on top quality starting pitchers not named Masterson, Hummels, Santana or the rest of the low risk high reward types we tried out in those pathetic years of 2009-2011 and which got us nowhere.

One was the signing of AJ Pierzynski, two was the super duper signing of Drew, three was the signing of Mujica, four was the blowing of the Lester negotiations and allowing our best pitcher and savior of the 2013 post-season to leave the team and more than likely never return, five was the insistence that Bradley stay in the lineup come what may. What came was a disaster. That's five for you and there is a helluva lot more. I didn't even bring up any of the missteps Benny took after the 2011 season.

If the Red Sox ahead and sign the portly third sacker it will go down as one of the more disastrous signings in a recent history of a lot of miserable signings. His OPS has gone south four years in a row, he is a overweight player whose ticketed only to get heavier as he gets older, he doesn't have 25-30 home run power, and it will impact our ability to get those two standout starters that we need to contend next season. It looks to me as if the Red Sox are determined to make a "Big Splash" and what may result is the splash becoming a sinking. And now it looks like the Giants no longer want him. And that my friends should be a red flag to those boobs in our front office.

The Yankees will most certainly get in on the bidding. You can bet your last dime on that because that's their standard MO. Lets the cheapies bid lowball against each other and then step in and blow the others away. If the Red Sox don't step on this and up their offer you will see low risk high reward failure manning our rotation and a third place finish next season will have all the front office bootlickers jumping for joy while those of us who can see past our noses will understand how once again Cherries blow the duke once again.

I know you and SFF get along real well, and it was you if memory served me well that he was a stand up guy. I love his upbeat and charging way of looking at things, but two last place finishes the past three seasons has seemed like a shipwreck even with a WS Title interspersed in between those debacles. I still ask myself how could our team fallen so low and so fast after such an highlight dream season in 2013.

We're all the fathers of daughters.....we ought to form a club SFF. Elktonnick, who sometimes posts here and is a good friend of mine on another board, has FIVE daughters. He's my hero.

Congratulations on the birth of your little girl. Girls are wonderful and if loved they return love quadruple to their daddies. I raised a daughter and have a granddaughter too. I prefer girls myself. As for Reb, come on, you're from that great RED state of Alabama. You are a perfect Reb. Anyway, don't be a stranger here. BTW, you a Auburn man or a Crimson Tide fan?

As for your last sentence, RIGHT ON!!!!!!

We can disagree SFF and still get along. I really to wish that the way you have outlined is the way things will turn out save for Sandoval. I don't want to dump a boatload of money on him when we need two top notch pitchers and am convinced that we will not spend big on three players. Therefore, that money must be spent on two pitchers not named Masterson, Hummel, Santana or any of that ilk. LESTER, SCHERZER, CUETO, HAMELS AND POSSIBLY SHIELDS.

I think you may have gotten SFF mixed up with the disappearing phantom from 2012 and this season. Besides, if he tries such a defense he will catch hell from a lot of us.

SFF will know better than to whine if what you say goes down. There are a number of us here who will be there to remind him very firmly if he does, but I have to hand it SFF. He has a strong point of view and is always on an upbeat course. He hasn't become somewhat jaded like I have.

Well Spud, I made my opinion on what's going on very clear in my previous posts, but since you're one of my pals on this board let me admit that I really don't know what the hell is going on with these behind the scenes moves and am only guessing. However, the way we dealt with Jon Lester last Spring and that supposed offer we just gave him makes me very pessimistic that we are going to be able to sign him. Now that as Palodios puts it that we are moving away from Hamels (justified if that bum Amaro is really asking for what he is) and most likely will lose Lester, where does that put us? We cannot win a division title next year with band aids like Masterson and Santana types augmenting Kelly and the Faberge Egg. Well, maybe by next month things will be looking up. You think?

Pal, if that is what Amaro wants, then let him go to hell. No way!!!!!! He is a dead GM walking and when the sleepwalker Phillies owner emerges from his slumber and realizes what a total turd his GM is. However, we are now in an even deeper puddle of urine. No Hamels, Lester probably going elsewhere where he can get a bigger and more deserving contract, put us in a tougher spot for those two top pitchers we need. What now? Scherzer? Any one out there thinks the Sox would match the offers he is going to get? So while passing on Hamels at the present time is a wise move if that is what Amaro wants, we had better call Jon back and give him a much better offer than we just did. Hummel, Santana or Masterson anyone? How does third place sound next season?

How about these facts. He strikes out close to 40% of the time, he is piss poor fielder and he is one fat and overweight huey. Besides that the Blue Jays discarded him without even trying to trade him. What does that tell you Reb? Does he seem the type who we need to climb out of the cellar. BTW, where have you been?

It isn't an aggressive offer and only the front office bootlickers and ball washers would insist it is. Lester's solid season this past year has raised his value way beyond what he was willing to sign for after the 2013 WS. At this rate I think I'm saying fairly certain that Jon will NOT be pitching for us next season unless two things happen. One, he doesn't get an offer he cannot refuse and is still in the race, and, two, the Red Sox get their heads out of their asses and make an offer than is not the insulting one they just offered him. Yes, some say it was only an "initial" offer but I can say right now that other teams saw what the Sox offered that they can raise the ante and risk that we'll come up empty again as we usually do with key free agents.

BT, that offer was better than the one they offered him last spring but way below the market value of what he is now worth on the open market. It means he will be pitching somewhere else next season and we'll hear excuses flying out of the air by our "esteemed" front office that we did the best we could while gobbling up a bunch of second rate pitchers who Cherington will tell us is low risk, high reward types. Right, and that's the way to get to the World Series....NOT!!!!!! With Lester gone we had better set our sites on Hamels and Cueto via trade and have some real money to sign the latter to an extension. Not looking too good right about now and that is very disheartening.

He's a s***** player. What the hell was Cherington thinking in getting this bum? Does anyone in their right mind think this reject can help us. Cherington as his best once again.

Watch the Yankees sk, you and the rest of the crowd here. This is the typical Yankee method of operation. Wait in the weeds and then strike when all the offers are on the table. Then we can hear our bungling front office moan how they were blindsided by the Yankees.....AGAIN!!!!! It is an old story and we've seen it all before.

That's exactly what they should have done, but remember you and I are not the GM and Cherington is and right now he seems as flummoxed as a person can be. He acts like he' caught in a revolving door and can't fine the way out.

Starting pitching Ted!!!!!!! We need to sign two top quality starting pitchers, or trade for them or sign on as a FA and trade for the other but get us two top starters. Only after that is done do we start thinking about third base. I can live with Betts on third for a year and then when Cespedes leaves he goes to left and Cecchini holds down the post for the next decade or more. That to me would be feasible. But two starting pitchers of TOP quality are a must and I don't mean the likes of Masterson, Santana, Hummel or Latos. We need two killers on the mound named either Lester or Scherzer or Hamels or Cueto and anyone who disagrees with that has to be out of his mind. I know you don't and hope others here understand what we really need to contend next season.

Spud, you are mostly right but not quite to the finish line. Yes, Bradley was a total failure and to me he is a bust in Boston. He might do better in a NL park with less pressure but his batting mechanics are horrible and from what has come down the pike the past few months he was very stubborn about listening to coaches who were trying to get him to alter his swing and body movement. He needs to go PERIOD!!!!!! He is done as a hitter in Boston, or in his case, a non hitter. As for Bogaerts, my criticism of him was his woeful batting with RISP. He was worse than pathetic, and if you and others remember I said he was a potential choker as soon as I got back from that debacle against the Brewers in the 2014 Home Opening Series. It was so easy to see that even fans with an average eye for watching players perform could see it.....it was so damned obvious. Batting with no one on he looked loose and had free hand and arm movement. With runners on base he was fidgeting in the box, rolling his hands and wrists and it looked like he was gripping the bat like a vise. All the signs of a choker. We also saw that when Cherington panicked and signed Drew, the most disastrous move of the disastrous season, Bogey fell apart completely at the bat, in the field and on the bases. It could have been that he simply wasn't really ready for the Bigs and everyone from ownership to fandom got a false impression by his rather impressive performance in the 2013 Playoffs. Evidentally we all missed something, but the test for him will come the first month or two of next season. If he gets off to a slow start and we see a plethora of runners left on base, trouble in the field, and a disjointed player going through another tailspin it will be a very red flag that this guy is a rhinestone and not a gem. If OTOH, he looks like he gained some valuable experience through his tough 2014 season and is playing up to his hype then you will see me announce a very sincere and apologetic Mea Culpa. Hope it's the latter.