seabeachfred

He better not be going anywhere. Anyone with half a brain knows how important a knock down closer is.....and Koji has been just that. As for Cespedes, keep in mind that the team would be 0-2 instead of 2-0 without his power bat. Now Prune Face Henry has to get that damn checkbook out and be ready to resign Koji and be prepared to give a nice extension to Yeonis. We may not even need Stanton now so long as some of the others start contributing from here on in into next season. But oh, how I would love Jon Lester to come back to Boston even though I'm probably whistling past the graveyard.

SFF--Bogey got two hits tonight and a key RBI so maybe at long last he MIGHT start coming around. As for the other two, all I can say is that WMB is getting a good look now and he needs to start producing. He needs a strong confidence builder and I suggested on another board that he be moved up to sixth as that confidence push---and was totally shot down. As for Bradley I think that is pretty much a hopeless cause and what I don't want to see is the team giving him another chance to start in CF next season. He has had a good long look and he has not produced. He is an excellent defensive replacement IMHO and nothing else.

Glad we got that settled IO. Besides, does it really matter now if Lester asked out or not? We have much bigger fish to fry as in getting our pitching semi-ready for next season because this one is shot to hell. I say semi-ready because I still insist we need an ace and a solid No. 2 man. I was very encouraged from what I saw of Rubby on Sunday and even Webster surprised me Friday night-----ooooppppsssss----shocked the hell out of me. Those two plus Ranaudo have pitched some good ball for us and I hope it translates into at least two of them along with Owens emerge as a new "BigThree" by 2016 if we fail to get those pitchers I'm screaming for them to get.

It was also a joke on my part IO. Didn't you see the LOL and smiley? Sorry you took it the wrong way. Reports are that John did ask for a trade because when the subject comes up Cherington doesn't deny it. He just doesn't admit it. Either way, we need two top quality pitchers for next season and I don't know if I believe what Jacko wrote about his friend. That sounds too good to be true. And for the record, I now hold the South in high esteem.....they are the ones who give my party the best chance of success nowadays.

Ted---today on the tube the Angels station replayed yesterday's game with our team.....and I decided to put my old coaching cap on and really try to zero in on WMB, X and AOJ. I saw little that I would make of Will save for the fact that he has to look for the fastball, adjust for the curve and stay the hell away from the breaking ball on the outside. He might also move a tad close to the plate so if he goes for that outside pitch he hits it in the strike zone. Pretty simple stuff. As for Xander, believe it or not, he looks to me like he doesn't want to be at the plate and actually feels for the bat instead of attacking it. He seems to sweep his bat instead of hammering with it. Then there is Bradley. My God, I didn't notice before because I never concentrated on him since I was watching the whole game. I noticed his open stance, kind of reminded me of Carl Crawford and he seemed to be a dollar short in getting his front leg into the hitting position. Then his swing!!! Ah caromba!!!! He has developed a long uppercut swing, and he seems to be trying to pull everything. For a guy with a slow bat that is fatal to put it mildly, especially since he seems to also wrap the bat around his shoulder. Hell, the guy needs to shorten his swing, close his stance and try like hell to go up the middle. Would that turn him around? Who knows, but what I do know is what he's doing now will net him nothing. I wonder if anyone else has noticed those things? I have to believe somebody on the Red Sox has noticed that. Is it possible Jackie is ignoring what the coaches are telling him? It's a riddle.

Seems to me I know of one such case where that friend of a friend on that other board told someone that John Lackey demanded a trade away from the Red Sox. Turns out now that is happened to be true. How about that????? Is that what you were talking about? No wonder you guys get the s*** kicked out of you in the Civil War, but then as an unreconstructed Yankee I carry a picture of Lincoln and General Sherman in my wallet. LOL. Hey, I don't think Jacko's missive is true but I sure wish it is.

Sorry Thunder, but Xander has shown no such signs recently. He looks completely lost and befuddled at the plate. He left three more runners on base yesterday. He, like Bradley, is looking more and more like a lemon these days.

Go with it SM----they blew it to hell, the front office did. And we may feel the after effects of this blunder for a number of years unless our young pitchers really develop and step up----and we know we haven't had but two to do that since the 1980s-----Clemens and Lester.

That was one of my points regarding AO's futility.....he cannot bunt for base hits because he cannot put the ball on the ground at all. Then he has very average speed for a player who would be required to use that talent to get on base. Couple that with his total lack of power and his high strikeout totals and you have total washout at the plate. I know Ted people keep saying give him more time. He's had more than enough time and he is only getting worse. PUNCH HIS TICKET OUT OF THE LINEUP NOW AND OUT OF TOWN TO THE NL THIS WINTER.

You love it when we beat the Angels----how do you think I feel living not to far from Angels Stadium with a wife, daughter, son-in-law and all the brothers, wives, parents and grandkids save one all Angels rooters. Shocked out of my shoes that with Webster going against their long time ace we would win. Now can we reverse what we did last weekend when he won the first game against the Yankees and then lost the next two. Can we win this series? We need a series win badly you know.

Gut feeling IOSS, a very strong gut feeling. The way the FO insulted Jon with that lowball offer and even refused to get smart and start negotiations right after we won the WS when Lester was in a good mood, was proof enough that this whole thing was a gigantic front office clusterf***.

He was used correctly by Farrell last night----a defensive replacement late in a close contest. I needn't go into is hitting now because we all know my take on that. If we use him correctly as we did last evening I think we get good defense bordering on the spectacular and now have worry about ineptness at the plate.

The Angels changed course a couple of years ago and brought in baseball people to run the show. Jerry DiPoto pitched in the Big Leagues and their FO has numerous people with a baseball background. I think the point you might have been stressing is their minor league system which was ranked at the bottom of the pile. Keep in mind though that they made a number of trades and made some FA pickups that stripped their minor leagues and cost them a couple of valuable first picks. Anyway, I think the Red Sox would benefit from baseball trained people helping out in the FO. As for our three WS Titles the past ten seasons, I guess I have to give you that one. Three in ten nowadays is about as good as it gets.

First I commend Ex1 for calling me out but doing it in a way that will make me think of all the different reasons for what the front office is doing, and the fact that I am lashing out verbally at Cherington and Farrell in a nasty way gives me some food for thought. And I certainly will not retaliate with something nasty of my own because what he said made sense and gave me pause Where I am on a different wave length is that we have too many people in our front office with business or economics degrees with little actual background in baseball, either playing or coaching at the professional level. I notice some other organizations like the Angels and Cardinals have a goodly number of people with playing and coaching backgrounds. Computer printouts or spread sheets cannot take the place of stick to the bones aspect of baseball experience. Too many mistakes have been made personnel wise this season and what is obvious is that so many here saw these mistakes before the front office did. I also believe that it will take a good half-dozen seasons before the team recovers from that idiotic trading deadline when he traded away our No. 1 and 2 pitchers and saddled ourselves with stiffs like Webster, Workman and Buchholz who most likely will not win four or five more games between them this year.

Get off the Lester back to Boston kick SFF. HE IS NOT COMING BACK TO THE RED SOX, NOT NOW, NOT NEXT YEAR, NOT EVER. When he signs his new contract, you had better hope he likes playing in his native state or wants to join the up and coming Cubs and rejoin Theo Epstein. If he signs with the Yankees, this board and RSN in general, save for the pollyannas and bootlickers, will be in a state of open revolt against the owners and front office. I hope it doesn't come to that.

I've said this often.....IMHO Cherington and Farrell are scared s*** to send Bradley down for the simple reason that he might not hit down there but rather s*** the bed, and that would make the Big Dufus and Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White look like bigger saps than they are.

Give it up SFF---PPPUULLLEEEEZZZZZEEEEE!!!!!!! The guy is a choker. You have to see that by now.

No crc, but it may be too late. Who the hell would want this guy except as a fourth or fifth outfielder? He can't hit, he has no power, he has average speed so he cannot steal many bases, he cannot bunt for base hits because he can't bunt and is slow besides and he strikes out in droves. Who would want him besides those two idiots running the team---Big Dufus Farrell and Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.

Please Station, listen to me on this. XANDER IS A COMPLETE CHOKER WHEN THERE ARE MEN ON BASE. HE GETS NERVOUS AND CHANGES HIS WHOLE APPROACH---and this is something that might not be curable because in most cases chokers get worse in these situations rather than improve. Some do, most don't and I don't think Bogaerts will. I called him a potential choker as early as April 9----I am now more convinced than ever that he is a total choker.

jd's answer might be acceptable considering how idiotic Farrell and Cherington have been over their love affair with Jackie Bradley. Let me be frank---In my opinion only the acolytes and bootlickers who live and swear by whatever the front office does can even dare to defend their continuous playing of a player who has proven he can't hit now, didn't in ST, didn't in his time with us last year and will not hit this month or next month or next year. How much damn time to they need to see that they have a complete lemon on their hands? My other opinion as to why we are in this pathetic state of affairs is that both those dufuses running the team are scared shitless that if they do send JBJ down to the minors he fail down there as well with the bat, rendering Farrell and Cherington bigger morons than they have already proven themselves to be this season. To be certain, everything they've touched this season has turned to s***.

How many times have we hear that SFF? He turned so many corners he traveled from Boston to San Francisco. I admire your confidence in him and if you turn out to be right the kudos will be flying fast and furious your way and I will lead in doing that. OTOH, if he looks as muddled at the end of the season as he does now you will have to wipe the egg off your face without any help from any of us who right now are thinking otherwise.

Spud, from what I've learned about you over the past year or so I have to believe with all my heart that you know what he said to be nothing more than a muddle of gobblydigook. The guy is as befuddled as a manager can be. What he said made no sense at all.

The team covered for him last season because if you followed the club closely you can recall numerous times Farrell made one bonehead move after another only to be bailed out by a clutch hit. This season his ineptness is showing through and through. Ask some of your friends up where you are about Farrell. They can give you chapter and verse about his major shortcomings.

He hasn't had to many of those highlights this year msu. Still the fact that we won one for a change and Bogaerts actually drove in a couple of runs should be the real highlight of the evening. X has only a paltry 28 RBI's with tonight's two so he needs to go on a tear from here on in.

re--I'd settle for some production from Bogaerts starting tonight. We have not gotten it and what's worse is this guy is totally useless with RISP. As for those guys you mentioned, maybe we could have kept Sizemore a little longer but our team would not play him in CF because they had their pet Bradley out there and also felt Grady couldn't play CF anymore. AJ was just a bad fit for us and let's see how he performs when the book on him gets around. Peavy still hasn't won a game and the Lester trade was the most disastrous thing the Red Sox have done in the past dozen years. So Youk, I think there is more there than meets the eye.