seabeachfred

Sometimes Ted it's hard for Red Sox fans to hunker down and admit that their team is a pig. You, I and some others can---others can't. There is, however, one very accurate and salient point. This 2014 team is DEAD MAN WALKING. We are finished, caput, done, no mas, nein, nyet. These last two games have proven that to me at least. As far as our young players are concerned we had better hope it is just growing pains because Bogaerts has looked like s*** warmed over most of the season. Bradley is a strikeout machine with little power, and though he has had a good July, his 221 average is nothing to get excited about. He will never be a 300 hitter, will never steal 30 bases, hit 15 homers or be a run producer and if Bogey doesn't emerge in that regard he will become another Lars Anderson or Josh Reddick. I think we're all in the dumps and some of us react a little more angrily than others. It hurts.

JD---I might be able to shed a little light on that. I think that when we lost Ellsbury to the Yankees and Victorino got banged up, Farrell pretty much shitcanned the running game. Now we don try to steal because we're short on speed, we also don't hit and run, squeeze or even move runners. We are back to being a station-to-station ball club that doesn't have the hitting and power to make such a system work. I also heard they didn't stress that at all in ST this past March.

If these last two losses to the Jays haven't given all of us religion that we are toast, then we are only kidding ourselves and I'm done doing that. For whatever reason this team simply cannot get their s*** together for a duration of more than a week. We still can brag about our three WS Titles the past ten seasons and it is a great source of pride for all of us, but can we all just grab a dose of reality about 2014? We are not going anywhere but home in October. I can only root that the Yankees and Dodgers, my two most hated teams, don't make it either, or at best don't get too far in the post season.

Strange for me being the one to say it but I think that Drew has finally gotten his hitting timing down, and that play he made yesterday and turned a hit into a DP was a classic. He just might be all right from here on it.

I came of age in the 60's Spud.......and there has never been the type of music before or after that we had in that decade. I still have a wad of 45's from that decade.

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday, who could put a name on you when you change with every new day still I'm gonna miss you. And De La Rosa is making me eat my straw hat. He has looked very good for us. Just keep it up Rubby Saturday.

Notice both Pedroia and Ortiz got the collar tonight....again. Those two and Napoli have to hit consistently and in sync. That is a sure way to increase run production, but my pal 70 is right.....Bradley has no bat speed and is meat to a hard throwing pitcher. He most likely will never be a consistent 280-290 hitter and let's not kid ourselves, great defense or not, he has to hit a helluva better than he has.

Smarty pants. Hell sk, I will take the homer whether there was a RISP or not. It was a clutch hit and one we needed badly. Good to see X unload on one for a change. I think he is now up to 145 or so hitting with men on base. Well you have to start somewhere and I will take it.

This may be a recurring problem during his career and we better find out now if he can make those adjustments. Bat speed does not increase as you get older.

Thanks Spud--just as long as Vazquez sees most of the action. He should not be on the Red Sox if they don't plan on catching him 75% of the time. I heard Betts will be in the lineup tomorrow. I wonder who sits. And Drew got two hits tonight......quick send in a respirator.

The clusterf*** program continues now even though we're in the second "half" and we are four-fifths dead on arrival. You're right jd---it doesn't mean we can't win but with Drew and Ross in the lineup it becomes much harder. And what the hell is Vasquez and Betts doing up on the big club if they're not going to play? How many damn mistakes is the front office allowed this season, two hundred?

Right Station----like not since October 30, 2013.

Still not too late to make up for that miserable Drew signing by trading or releasing him. I think that Holt could actually play shortstop and he sure as hell can outhit Drew from here to Mars. A super-sub feels like a bad toothache, though, unless he plays somewhere every day. He looks like he is a decent hitter and this year he is a terrific ballplayer. Besides, believe it or not, my grandson Kyle looks a helluva lot like him and even my wife Linda agrees with me on that.

s***!!!!!!! And I thought because I'm much older than almost all of you and lived my first 14 years in New York as an avid, ardent and passionate Yankee hater, I figured I had you all beat by a hair in that regard. Sorry SBF, you apparently aren't even close. As hard as it seems to fathom it looks like you guys hate the Yankees a hell of a lot more than I do---and I despise the living hell out of them. Still, I think Jeter comported himself very well during the game. And think of this.......just compare him to A-Rod as far as character and class are concerned and you have to give Derek a kuddo or two. Just my opinion.

Aside from the fact that I possessed not a shred of power or control over the game's proceedings, I think I'd better admit I never once thought of Gwynn during the ASG so at least I can't look in the mirror and call myself a hypocrite. Thank goodness for that because if I did have some say over the game and it went down as it did with nary a mention of the best hitter in the last 50 years I would have been eligible for a ride out of town on a rail. Excuse for my negligence in this matter? There was so much of Jeter this and Jeter that, it was hard to think of anyone else. Unlike some of you, I do not resent Derek in any way save for all the times he inside outed a ball to RF and gave us fits in that regard. Barring some unforeseen circumstances like the Yankees trading for Lee and Price it looks at this time that Jeter is not going out as a WS winner. So I suppose that is of some consolation for those of you who resent the guy because of the team he plays for. Certainly his conduct and composure during his career can't be anything to criticize.

You and others assume that Bogaerts is going to be a star, maybe a superstar but what if he doesn't get much better? What if he continues to stink in clutch situations and keeps failing with runners on base and becomes even more error prone than he is now? It could happen. He wouldn't be the first highly rated player to become a lot less than was predicted for him. Stanton has already shown he has the goods and the power that would light up Fenway Park...a RH slugger personified. Between his miserable hitting or lack of same with RISP, his fielding woes in the field and his sensitive nature (that was how the Red Sox described him, not me), we may yet have a star but we may also be stuck with a lemon. Stanton for Bogey, and a couple of others to me sounds like a deal we should make......if we really can.

Mujica in the bullpen? Maybe Drew again at shortstop? Doubrant in the starting rotation? No Lester? Well we can then kiss off 2015 as well. Those three I mentioned have to be nowhere near Fenway Park next season and better yes, if they could be made to disappear sometime this month.

I believe Ernie Banks won two MVP's when he played shortstop for the Cubs. He won them in 1958 and 1959 and I don't think he was moved to first until around 1962 or 1963.

By throwing out some stats for me it is obvious you wanted me to go down the line and agree with you. The fact is he has improved some in the last month or so but that is also a small sample of a hot streak. Let's see how it translates for the rest of the season. As for his hitting with RISP, that is not bad at all and I certainly would rather have him up there in a tight situation than Bogaerts......certainly at least right now.

sk--when I see Bogaerts start driving in runs on a consistent basis then I will back off on him. He has shown nothing in that regard and, in fact, has been downright pathetic in that regard, hitting less than 150 in those situations with strikeouts and double play grounders. He has been projected to be a superstar but I have reservations about him but none where the rumor of his being part of a package for a trade for Giancarlo Stanton. I would make such a trade in a millisecond.

Keep this deeply in your mind.....I do NOT shy from admitting when I am wrong about something, a trait that is vacant with a few of my colleagues on this board (not you). You say Bogey is going to be superstar and that's fine. I would like that as well and you may be right, but small sample or not, his inability to hit with RISP is a red flag for me. It isn't that he hasn't done it well; it is that his average under those circumstances is not even in the 150 range.....and that's is a red flag. As for RDLR, he's pitched so well that we was sent down to the minors again, a totally dumb move. Yes, I would love to see the guy become a star with us, but if there is a small sample for Bogaerts, Bradley, WMB and others, it should also be a small sample for Rubby as well. We won't know how these guys are going to emerge until a couple of years from now, but I will say that the Red Sox front office has to get this right....they have to keep the right players and trade the ones that won't be as good. The very worst that can happen is to keep players that aren't as good as the ones we traded away. Mistakes in judging personnel is a killer and Cherington and Co. have made some bad boners in that regard this season.

Hitting with runners in scoring position is a knack that can come with experience but it can work the other way too. I just presented the here and no. 400 PA's is still a small sample, granted, but the question was whether I would trade him as part of a package for Stanton and my answer is a resounding yes.. As for Bradley, he is showing some improvement but until he gets into the 270's on a consistent basis the jury as far as I'm concerned is out on him, just as it is for Middlebrooks who I still feel is a power hitting infielder we're going to need for our largely powerless team. I never said Bogaerts was going to fail; I did say he might not become the player some people think he will......and that lack of hitting with RISP is still a big red flag with me. We'll just have to wait and see. I also want to see him be sent back to SS and WMB or Cecchini given a full shot on third. I don't want them going to some other team and lighting up the league with homers and base hits while we have weak hitters in the lineup. I want guys in the lineup who can hit.

I've said it all along Ted----Bogaerts is a total disaster hitting with RISP. Remember, I called him a potential choker as early as mid-April and he has done nothing to convince me otherwise except that now is not just a potential choker, he's the real thing.

I came back after five days in Chicago and Lester is still not signed. Why am I not surprised at this? Once again John "Prune Face" Henry is allowing Larry the Lip Lucchino to meddle in baseball operations and I wonder if Cherington any longer has the autonomy to sign the players or does Lucchino always have to be behind him pecking at his ass and trying to pretend that he is a real baseball man---which he most certainly is not. He is a meddler, pure and simple and this is now that third major time he has interjected himself into BO and the third time Henry has had to deal with this. The problem is Prune Face is reluctant as hell to tell Lucchino to stay the hell in his office and concentrate on promotions and fund raising and public releations. Larry has never been a baseball whiz and n ever will be.

Well I will have to agree to disagree with you and others on that. I said a week or so ago that I thought Brock Holt was the real thing and I have no reason now to change my mind. If Cherington is smart and wants to start reversing some of the stupid things he done since the off-season, he would make sure Holt is keeper. The kid can hit and he has a little power to boot. Find a spot for him and pencil him into one or two in the lineup and we have a solid player for years to come. As much at this sounds blasphemous to many of you, I would rather have Brock up there in a tight situation that Bogaerts right now because Xander continues to show that he cannot hit well at all with RISP.