seabeachfred

By now you have to understand what the Toronto fans knew all along and some of did here as well but were forced to keep our mouths shut because of what happened last year in spite of him, but Farrell is a s***** manager. He is slow to take out a struggling pitcher, his game strategy is horseshit, he rests hot players and keeps playing slumping ones and he hasn't a f***ing clue of what is going on in the o ther dugout. He can't touch Madden, Girardi or Showalter with a ten foot pole and I'm beginning to think the only reason he is in Boston is because he is easily maneuvered and controlled by the front office. I said it back in April that this team was not ready for the season because Farrell ran a s***** playpen of a camp and things won't get better next season unless we get some hitters and get some pitchers and get Buchholz the hell out of Boston and Farrell gets his head out of his ass and get the team ready in next year's ST.

Well you may trust Bill James since you think he may know more about baseball than you do, but I know more than he does. I played it, coached it, scouted it and didn't spend my time on the computer with sabermetrics which while it has its advantages is completely bankrupt in judging a player's heart, guts and balls, and it cannot project how a player will do because it can not judge those three aspects of a ballplayer. I would also bet James never saw Snider play center field at Ebbets Field where because of the compact nature of the place kind of inhibited the Duke's outstanding outfield instincts. When he played at the Polo Grounds, or in St. Louis or Milwaukee where center field was more spacious he reveled defensively and made some of his greatest defensive catches.

first of all it is SnIder, not Snyder. Secondly he was an outstanding center fielder. He had steel springs in his legs according to Branch Rickey, one of the greatest judge of talent in the history of baseball. On May 31, 1954 in Philadelphia he made a catch that many writers in the Fourth Estate who were present called it the greatest catch of all time. He made many terrific plays. Where you got that info that he wasn't a good centerfielder astounds me....HE WAS A GREAT DEFENSIVE CENTER FIELDER. He hurt his knee his last year in Brooklyn and was never the same after that as a great fly chaser. I go back even longer than you do---and thank goodness you can say you're younger than I am---but the men I mentioned was terrific in their jobs. Yes Bradley is a great defensive CF but his lack of hitting skill will wipe out his career as anything but a fourth or fifth outfielder. If the Red Sox are really determined to contend next season they can just forget it if they plan on sticking Bradley in center and that total choker and bust Xander Bogaerts back at shortstop, and from what I read this morning that is exactly what Cherington is planning----about the contending away.

And a helluva lot better than what we have gotten from Bradley......which is close to nothing.

Let's see what he does the rest of the season in Pawtucket. He may just surprise you and force me to eat crow. However, he has so many weaknesses that I still insist he will never be a credible big league hitter.

Dr Bart was right on about that Ted---right on the money. Fortunately for me I came on board rather close to our long awaited return to greatness; he never lived long enough to see his beloved team in a World Series. He got four AL Titles which I'm sure he was very grateful for but sadly was deprived of the greatest prize of all while the two of us have three to hang our pride on. Sad for Bart because I've read countless places what a ardent and passionate Red Sox fan he was. Then, again, so are we and just about everyone on this board.

SFF---First things first. You have to be a very young man to say he's the best defensive outfielder you've ever seen. Ever heard of Willie Mays? Bank of it my friend, he was better than Jackie, so was Duke Snider, so was Paul Blair, so was Bobby DelGreco. I do agree whole heartedly with you that Bradley is a terrific defensive outfielder but you cannot carry that weak bat in the lineup especially when you have three or four others polluting it . I might also tell you and others who still harp on not enough time to hark back to two former youngsters whose ascension into the Red Sox pantheon was much more successful. I was at the game in Anaheim in early August, 2006 when Pedroia broke in. He hit in very tough luck that night and for the rest of the season and wound up hitting a very deceiving 206. After a tough month in April of 2007 he went on a tear, hit 317 and was voted Rookie of the Year. That same season Jacoby Ellsbury broke in and hit in the 340's, playing both left and center and came close to being named the WS MVP. There is a difference between Jacoby and Dustin's talents compared to Jackie and Xander that could reach from here to Mars. There is no comparison. The first two were destined for great things almost from Day One---almost. The latter two look like sunk costs already. Now it IS possible Bradley could reverse that and come around but he doesn't work at his craft very hard and from reports coming out of Boston was resistant to coaching. Xander is just in over his head right now.

Being my closest friend on this board Ted, you might be interested to know that on this date, August 19th, 2000, I went into Fenway Park as a baseball fan and came out at a Red Sox fanatic. Amazing that it took only that one game to completely bring me over. It's been a good ride for the most part but this season has been a bummer to end all bummers.

If John Henry is really thinking he can pass of that rotation to Red Sox fans, the media and the press, he either thinks we're naive and stupid, that he is going to be allowed another mulligan next season or, as is most likely, he has lost his marbles and is finally being exposed to everyone as a moron. We need bonafide No. 1 and a solid No. 2------do the names Schilling and Martinez, Beckett and Matsuzaka, Lester and Lackey bring back any memories? He is going to have to open his wallet whether he likes it or not.......even though he probably thinks he can get away with going the cheap route. He can't and no Red Sox fan should allow him to. One way to prove that to him, and a very easy thing to do, is for the fans to simply stop singing Sweet Caroline in the 8th inning. I've always thought that was stupid anyway and perhaps that is one way to let him know without having to put anybody out that we're not going to stand for this kind s*** play next season.

I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree on that Spitball and Spud. Could be both of them will make remarkable recoveries next season but I'm getting more convinced that we have a couple of duds on our hands.

I think the Red Sox were dealing with a potentially very fragile player confidence wise and am convinced that the move to third to accommodate Drew shook Bogaerts to his roots. It might also be a stark indicator that this young man might not be that mentally tough---at least right now and maybe not in the future either. He has been in a free fall since that time and both his offense and defense have taken a bad tumble. Between he and Bradley, our young players have performed miserably this season. I also think they may have been overrated.

You might wonder where those posters are who lampooned me when I called Bogaerts a potential choker back in April. They have disappeared and when they return they will insist that I stop reminding them of it......and I most certainly will not. Bogaerts is not only a choker at the plate with RISP and with men on base in general. He is a total panic cow in the field, rushing throws, throwing to the wrong base and showing his piss poor preparation. It is a shame that three of our young players we counted on so much this season....WMB, JBjr and Choker, have been so abysmal this year. To be blunt they are s*** warmed over.

And we host a rejuvenated Angels team for the next four games with a miserable pitching staff against a team that is thirsting for revenge after losing a series to us in their home park last week. I'll also tell you something else-----Workman is NOT a starting pitcher.....he isn't one now, he has never been one, and he never will be one. Yet their is Big Dufus Farrell still running him out their as a starter and trying to convince himself that black is white.

NS, Sabermatricians insist that there is no such thing as a "clutch hitter", and even taking into consideration what David Ortiz has done over the years, they keep insisting that is so. Well, is there the other part of it......are there players who cannot hit when it counts....who fail time and again when the game is on the line and get their hits usually when there is no one on or the game is long gone one way or another. I think it might be time for the Red Sox to start cataloging how their prospects hits with RISP, how they hit with runners on base in general and how they hit with no runners on. I think they might avoid getting stuck with a multi-million potential fraud like Bogaerts who not only fails to hit when it is needed but panics in the field as well, throwing to the wrong base, failing to call for pop-ups down the left field line, and air mailing balls into the first base stands.

He got me too NS!!!! I don't know how old Palodios is and haven't been able to figure out if he's a young guy or middle adult but he knows his stuff and is not beyond giving a well deserved needle when appropriate---and I enjoy the exchanges. A friend told me that he disagrees with me about this thing about a clutch hitter, saying that there is no such thing. I guess he forgot Ortiz. However, he totally agreed with me with my take about the opposite. There are guys who do choke with men on base and he believes this is a malady that usually doesn't correct itself. I'm hoping he's wrong about this because if he's not we have a long and potentially miserable future experience ahead of us with Bogaerts who has shown the very thing that scares the living s*** out of me---the inability to hit when it counts.

Spitball, I like your "glass is half full instead of half empty" approach. Reminds me of my friend Palodios. However, the men you mention. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the teams they're on heading for the post-season??? We came out as defending champions and have fallen on our faces and all this talk about our farm system is now ringing hallow as our first two deposits, Bradley and Bogaerts, have been colossal failures this season and who know if either will recover. Bogey perhaps, Bradley never!!!!!! So we are still in the twilight zone as far as our future is concerned, and I'll tell you another thing. When the next bunch of kids come calling, the Cecchinis, the Betts, the Swiharts and the Owens', among ot hers, we have to hope they are not the same drags the aforementioned two have been.

Youk, Vazquez looks to be a terrific defensive catcher but his hitting potential doesn't come close to Blake Swihart. Blake could be switched to another position since he has only caught for three seasons. No way should we trade a player who can switch hit successfully as this guy can. And remember this, there is no way in hell that we could carry both Vazquez and Bradley in the same lineup, and if Bogaerts doesn't a lot better fast we will have a trio of a black hole in the bottom third of our lineup.

Give me Lester and Shields on the mound (costs us no players and only money---which Prune Face has plenty of) Resign Cespedes and get Victorino healthy and we could be right in it next season if we also bring back Koji and lose Mujica and Breslow. Mookie in center and Bradley in Pawtucket or somewhere in the NL And next season either Bogaerts does it or he is also on the way out the way Middlebrooks most likely will be this winter.

Good point Jacko. However, we could cut back drastically on that---perhaps dwindling down to ONE Interleague series a year----and go by rivalries as much as possible, such as Mets vs Yankees, Cards vs Cubs, Giants vs Dodgers.

Well to be fair to Bradley he has good company in the black hole. Middlebrooks keeps taking far ones down the middle and still hasn't shown the power we need. Bogaerts is a choker from the word go. That has proven to be a given and those who excoriated me for saying so way back in April have headed for the hills instead of trying to defend an indefensible position. And of course, Jackie junior is s*** warmed over. He is not going to hit. he is not going to hit. he is not going to hit. He is slow with the bat, cannot get around on a good fastball and just looks overmatched at the plate. But Bogey and WMB are both bitter disappointments as well. I like Vazquez behind the plate but let's face it, he is a 230 type hitter. We had better keep Blake Swihart because he can hit and WE NEED SOME DAMN HITTERS IN THE WORST WAY.

You said it NS. Webster might have pitched a pretty good game against the Angels but tonight it was the same old s*** face out there, walking batters and getting manhandled. Screw him.

And that kind of thinking has really helped us this year....oh wait........

And you know what I'd like to really see? I would like the to s*** can interleague play. It has outlived its usefulness and takes away from the drama when the WS comes around.

And they will spend their royal asses off this coming winter to make sure they make it in 2015. There is no limit to how much they will spend and we should all know that by now.

Cigarette and a blindfold. Let him go out with some honor.