seabeachfred

One again you nailed it my friend and made it clear how an ankle injury can derail a career. Fortunately, Craig's injury is nothing close to what Tommy Davis suffered on May 1, 1965. His ankle was shattered and I mean bent and twisted like a pretzel. I remember listening to that game that Saturday evening. Davis came back the next year and hit 313 in a semi-platoon basis but he couldn't field or run anymore. Ankle injuries can be fatal to a player.

It will take more than WMB and JBJ and Eduardo......like your boy Bogaerts, a SS the Philllies need badly since they need someone to take Rollins' spot or for third where the Phillies are worse off than we are.

You know Ex1, you've been posting some pretty impressive s*** since you got back on. You must have been thinking and thinking during your absence and I can't see anything that I could criticize----even if I wanted to. I do think that after what went down last season, a total surprise to me, it would be possible to net a World Series Title during a new six year stint for Lester. Since I agree with you that Jon is NOT coming back to Boston, what are the alternatives. Mine are this--One, we trade for Cole Hamels and make a good offer to the Phillies, and two, we need James Shields, no matter what others may think of the guy. Minus that, we are in deep do-do. Now Cherington has to find a way to get us those two good pitchers whether it's the two I mentioned or some others, whoever the hell they may be or wherever they might be now.

Why SFF? Isn't it obvious that Henry has become a cheap bastard and wants to hold onto his money and try winning on the cheap. The Lester tragedy should be proof enough for everyone, and regardless what some say Jon is NOT coming back to Boston. That train has left the station. We are going to have to really pony up to trade for Hamels if he's even available and pay through the nose for Shields. I just don't think Henry will do it. How about another 2014 type season? That's what we have if we don't get those two solid pitchers and get rid of Bradley and use Bogaerts in the trade for Hamelss if the Phillies would even consider taking him off of our hands.

My goodness??? What the hell are we going to do for starting pitching SFF? We could score seven or eight runs a game and still lose 90 of them with the garbage like Webster and Buchholz toeing the rubber. We need at least two standout starting pitchers and with Prune Face holding on tight to his damned money we will not get them. Unless we do how does another 2014 type season sound. Also we have to trade Bogaerts and Bradley while they still have some interest from other teams. They are lemons. Are you aware that X is hitting less than 130 with RISP. As I said in April we could have a choker on our hands. I will say this August....WE DO HAVE A CHOKER ON OUR HANDS.

Forget Bogaerts. The guy is a total choker. I would even rather have Bradley up there with the game on the line than Xander. He is absolutely pathetic with RISP.

Not gonna happen SFF. He is a chronic choker, fragile and too sensitive to play in Boston. Good they found that out now, but if they insist on putting his round peg in a sq uare hole the results will set the Red Sox back for five years. He and Bradley have to go.

Swihart had not better play somewhere else if the Red Sox know what's good for them. Maybe another position but he cannot be traded off. He is a solid prospect who unlike Bogaerts who is a choker and very fragile mentally and Bradley who simply stinks with a bat in his hands, Blake has all the tools and like Mookie is a solid enough prospect that we can ill afford to lose talents like this.

You got that right Gomes. Middlebrooks needs to be in that lineup and kept in that lineup to see what he can do for the next two months. It does no good to keep jerking him in and out of the lineup. If he plays steady he may show the power we all know he had, and, besides, Farrell has bored the hell out of his with his stubborn insistence that Bradley plays no matter what.....and what have w e gotten from him. s***!!!!!!! Keep Jackie on the pine; we all have seen enough of him to know he is not going to ever hits well enough in the Big Leagues to hold down a position.....Middlebrooks might....IF he is allowed to keep playing and he can stay healthy for a change.

Yeh jd, but if we know Farrell he will bend over backwards run through hell to get his kid Jackie back in that lineup tomorrow when we all know the guy should not only be benched, he should be sent down to Pawtucket post haste.

Spud, there are exceptions to all the myriad or rules, written or otherwise that govern baseball signings and personnel in general, but Henry has drawn a line in the sand and said we can't sign players to expensive contracts over 30 years of age. I use the example of the three year $39 million we gave to Victorino. And he was coming off a miserable 2012 season with the Phillies and Dodgers. Year two, this year, has been a total waste of money; next year he may not be very effective because of his back problems BUT YEAR 1!!!!!! He hit a solid 294, hit 17 homers, stole close to 30 bases and won a Gold Glove played a RF he had never played before. Was that contract worth it? My opinion??? Absolutely, because without Shane I venture to say there would have been no WS Title in 2013. So to me that proves the exception to a rule that should never have been set in stone.

Couldn't have said better myself at my very best. You laid it out perfectly. Now if we could only get RDLR to learn to pitch well on the road we may have something there. I was the one who was really down on him when we got him from the Dodgers but he has done enough, save bad road games, to make me think he could be a solid No. 3 or 4 starter for us. Webster? No way Jose.

Let me be frank SFF, very frank. Mookie Betts may be in that class but he needs to play and he needs to play center field and he needs to play out there tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and through the weekend---and if he plays well as I suspect he will, he needs to stay in that damn lineup while Bradley either rides the pine or is sent down finally and utterly. Mook cannot develop being jerked in an out of the lineup because our addled manager and blundering GM have this love affair with a guy who has proven conclusively that he cannot hit and that has been proven with a major size sample. So as far as Mookie is concerned I totally agree with you.

jad, I tried to explain that to a couple of dingheads on this board but they closed their ears. Lackey demanded a trade when he realized the Red Sox were not serious about signing Lester and winning, and in addition refused to consider altering his contact. If he was going to pitch for $500K he wanted it to be for a good team and one that might alter that contract.

Yes, and this y ear those ideas have led us into the abyss.

Beckett being compared with Buchholz has to be some kind of joke. Josh was 20-7 in 2007 and 4-0 in the post season. He was as dominant in big games as any pitcher in baseball that year. In fact, he was the best pitcher in the game that season. Buchholz never has, nor never could do something like that and never will.

Station, this will no doubt cause a hell of a stir on this board but in my opinion Blake Swihart must be one of two prospects we do NOT trade under any circumstances. The other is Henry Owens. Swihart is solid defensive catcher with a good arm, calls a good game, and most important is a solid hitter with pretty good power and is getting better all the time. If we can place both he and Vazquez in the same lineup with Blake playing first or the outfield, then fine. But if we have to keep one of them Swihart is the guy. I'm higher on him than any other prospect we have. I watched a film on him on Red Sox.com when he signed and from both sides of the plate he looked like a polished young hitter then. Cherington, don't you trade this guy.

And it should be BEL, but whether No. 1 or not the problem is getting the really good pitchers and that costs money. Does Henry really want to spend the money to get them? He sure didn't with Lester.

Agreed. However, it will be dumpster diving if they are not willing to spend some money and some prospects. If we seen DD it can only be because Prune Face and his cohorts think they get another mulligan next year because of 2013. They have to be assured from the get-go that there will be no more mulligans. They have to put up or shut up. If they don't the press has to be relentless, the media brutal and the fans kept away in droves. We're the Red Sox damn it---we supposed to always be in contention.

Maybe you ought to complain about Farrell a lot more now. He should know by now that Bradley cannot hit and most likely never will. Betts looks like he is a real comer but I keep getting the feeling that both Cherington and Farrell are so committed to Jackie that if Betts played a week or two in succession Bradley would be sent down where both those guys are scared shitless that he might not hit down there either. Besides Spud, I noticed even early last year that Farrell has a very difficult time making up his mind. My friend from near Toronto commented to me that same thing a month or so ago. A very indecisive manager.

Ranaudo pitched fairly well on Friday and won while Webster looked like crap on Saturday, and yet we sent Anthony down and kept Alan up. Those kind of blunders are reasons why so many of us are angry at the front office. If as you say Webster dominated in AAA it should be high time for him to show more than he has every time he has gone to the mound for us. That deer-in-the-headlight look is disconcerting at best. BTW, I've kicked around the pitchers we might be able to get if we are willing to make a good trade and sign a good free agent for decent but not overwhelming money. How does Cole Hamels and James Shields sound to you. They could be the No. 1 and 2 stalwarts we need to get us back to decency next season. I just don't think for a moment we have any chance of getting Lester to sign with us. What do you think Pal?

Bravo to you Big Papi and right on the mark in my opinion. I have been touting Mookie since I first saw him in a Red Sox uniform. He can do all the things Bradley can, but since I have exhausted my rants on him I'll leave it to you and others to take up the slack. My feeling is the front office is scared to death that if they send Bradley down he won't hit there either. Betts will hit and we will run and he will be a decent CF. Jackie is really a good 4th outfielder and nothing more in my opinion. As for our prospects, we have to give them a good look to make sure we don't trade the best ones and keep the over-hyped garbage ones like some we've had recently. We have over-hyped some the past few years and those who have broken in the lineup like Bradley and Bogaerts have been very disappointing.

There are some of our colleagues here who really believe the Red Sox are going to go all out to resign Jon Lester in the off season. Well if they refused to give him a new contract before why would anyone think they would now? It doesn't make any sense to me, but by the same token I would be elated to see Lester back in Red Sox RED. Scherzer? You're right...to expensive for us. I've kicked this around the past couple of days and have come up with this scenario even though it might not catch on. Trade for Cole Hamels and send three good prospects or two good ones and one player currently playing as a regular for the team. Secondly, sign James Shields as our No. 2. To me Buchholz is about done, Webster is useless and Workman is better in the bullpen. Kelly might be a good No. 3 or 4 and ditto for Rubby De La Rosa. That's about as far as my thinking takes me as to how we can mend our starting rotation for next season, and we have to do that. With what we have now we would be doomed to finish in the cellar again.

We both need a time out RSFFL. How about we both calm down a little and see if we can have a meeting of the minds. I know I do come on strong at times but my e xcuse in my deep partisanship for the Red Sox. How about our next posts to each other be in a spirit of friendship?

Yes I was very wrong and admitted it. All I had to see was Bradley at the plate flailing away and was convinced this kid was not going to hit. His mechanics and bat speed are pathetically slow. Unlike some others I did not stubbornly insist black was white. When I turned on Bradley I admitted my previous belief were tainted....and that is admitting you're wrong.