seabeachfred

You're God damn right Grady should bat leadoff and that's why I was so elated when he won the CF job, even if I felt a little worry for Jackie Bradley, who after all did screw up royally in his chance to claim that position. I shrugged it off when Farrell hinted he might bat Nava leadoff because I knew the manager couldn't be that f***ing dumb, but perhaps he's auditioning for his role at lead character in the coming play "The Last Boston Years of Terry FrancoMa". Nava is no leadoff man, he isn't now, he won't tomorrow, next week or next year. Grady needs to bat leadoff and Bradley needs to be sent down NOW and Corey Brown called up. He performed much better than Jackie has and right now JB has the look of deer in the headlight. I'll bet you that most of the people here knew he would strike out for the last out today.....right? They ruined my f***ing day.

Are you f***ing kidding????? We leave 12 men on base, run the bases half-assed, look at a third strike for the final out by a player who has no business being on the team, and we looked good? I hate to see what it would be like for us if you said we played bad.

That's an insulting offer for the ace of a staff who carried us to a World Series Title last year. It is beyond lowball and I repeat I see this holdup as a storm warning. We have not been successful at all in resigning our free agents to long term contracts in the past and it took a real home town discount to get Pedroia's name on one. Lester will give us one but he needs to be paid. If he wants six years and we want to give him five, split the difference and stop acting like a pack of front office *******s. Five years? Then give him more money. He is worth it and you notice most teams have been resigning their top pitchers to long term contracts.

Look Spud, letting Lester walk is the heights of idiocy. WE HAVE NO ONE TO TAKE HIS SPOT IN THE ROTATION...period!!!!!!!!! To expect a turd like Webster or Delarosa to become his replacement would be a recipe for disaster and there is no free agent who will be available to sign f or less than what Lester wants----and after his seven strong innings today the price will only go up. Owens and Renaudo are a year or more away and I don't trust Junk Food Buchholz or Porky Doubrant to suddenly become bell cows of the staff. We sign Lester or we are in deep s***.

Fifty something at-bats, a 150 average or thereabouts, 16 strikeout etc, is enough of a sample size to tell scouts and front office personnel that the previous high regard for Bradley was either wrong or they over-hyped a player who still needed seasoning. One hundred at-bats would have been better but enough was seen that even if they didn't have Sizemore there would be reason to worry if Bradley was going to be able to hit ML pitching. Coupled with his dismal performance last season, and the fact that he hit only 275 at Pawtucket, that's enough of a sample size to intimate that this guy just might not be the hitter they thought he would be. Not stupid at all, but perhaps a miscalculation on the part of some scouts who thought Bradley was better than what he has shown. Sorry to see it but if doesn't turn it around at Pawtucket it's possible we could have a potential bust on our hand. I hope not.

I don't want to sound any alarms but I do have some concerns heading into the season. I've got a feeling that we might not be totally ready to take on all comers and base it on a few things. 1. Spring batting stats I'm told don't mean anything. Those who say it, I hope they are right but I have real worries about Papi getting off to a miserable start as he did in 2009 and 2010. He really hasn't it lick this Spring and there is no doubt we need him in our lineup.....BADLY!!!! 2. The Lester contract situation is kissed off by some as nothing to worry about but I say it could be a real distraction this season unless settled. The pressure of performing for a big contract could hurt Lester and if the opposite is true and he is cleaning house it is going to cost more money to sign him---and apparently for whatever reason Cherington just could not close the deal this Spring. 3. Shane Victorino has been hobbling with assorted injuries all Spring after being operated on in the winter. He still hasn't fully recovered and he got off to a late start in the lineup and now has hamstring problems---and we know how long those things can hobble a player. Vic is a key player and a gamer and we need him in the lineup and now he might be for awhile. 4. This was supposed to be Jackie Bradley's coming out party and I was one who insisted he be put in CF and kept there. My bad---thank God no one was listening. His performance has cast a pall on our young bevy of talent. Now we have some good things going for us to be sure. Pedroia's fully healthy, Bogaerts looks like he has found his stroke, Middlebrooks seems to be making amends for last season, Peavy seems to be pitching well as it Buchholz and now Lackey finally. Nap seems ready and our bullpen looks strong. I have a tendency to worry anyway but I think we do have some concerns and I want to go to Fenway next Friday and not see us with an 0-3 record or even 1-2. I would like us humming from the start. That division of ours looks to be a ball buster this season. I'd like to hear how some of your angles on it.

Tell that to Jackie Bradley.

I didn't say that with pleasure Ted. We need to get this guy under contract and soon because the price will only go up as we hear some of the figures thrown out by other teams with their pitchers. Teams are extending contracts all the time now and Lester has said he would give us a hometown discount but if Cherington takes a page out of the Epstein playbook and lowballs him we will see Lester somewhere else after this season and trying to replace him with a worthless dud like Alan Webster or Rubby Delarosa. You know there are actually a couple of people here and on another board who are not aware that Lester is a free agent after this season. Amazing!!!!!!

I think is a storm warning. We have not been all that successful keeping our free agents in the past and the price will only keep going up and up some more if Jon pitches well from the opening bell. If this things drag out into the summer I believe he will be as good as gone........and guess where to next?????

It could also mean there might have been a little politics involved where they did not want to send down a favorite of theirs. I saw this done repeatedly between 2006-2010 with Manny Delcarmen. Except for a stretch in 2007 when he pitched well, the rest of the time he was a total waste, getting his and having trouble finishing innings that he started. Cordero had earned the right to make the team.....his pitching had been excellent. I think a couple of pitchers less capable than him got the break of their lives and made the team instead of. Let's hope this doesn't come back to bite RSN on their collected rear ends.

Youk---the thing with Carp is to not take for granted and put him on the shelf. The guy is young and could start for many teams. I just hope the Red Sox keep him sharp and utilize him as much as possible. His contributions last season in his role cannot be minimized. He hit close to 300, showed decent power and was no slouch in the field. Good reserve players who accept their role are worth their weight in gold.

You ever seen Mike Trout play RJ? Believe me it's a bargain, one helluva bargain. $144.5 million for six years is a steal for the Angels because barring unforeseen circumstances Mike is going to be playing in the near prime to most of the prime of his career and will still be a young 29 when he enters the market again. The Angels were smart to lock him up because many of their fans were turning a jaundiced eye towards owner Arte Moreno in fear that he might close up his safe after the spending spree for Hamilton and before him Pujols, contracts in the multi-millions that have been disappointments......so far.

Women friends? I thought you were going to get married or had just tied the not. If you have I don't want to hear any s*** about other women friends. You stay in line:D:o:eek:

Because there are teams called the Yankees and the Dodgers who would sell their collective souls to the devil for a chance to win a title.

I don't know if the bubble will burst or not----I just alluded to the vast amounts of TV money that had enriched the coffers of the owners. I will say this, though. If it reaches the heights of $400 million for Trout, the Angels had better be the ones to pay it because if they let this guy get away their fan base will disappear in droves. There's already a lot of discontent in Anaheim and cancellations of season tickets up the gazoo. Then, again, if they won the WS in one of these coming years before Trout reaches FA they might get a reprieve.

Bell---as long as that TV money keeps flowing like water into the coffers of Major League teams those clubs who want to spend to win will continue to do so and what makes this ominous are those who do not spend. It could put the latter group into deep do-do unless their scouting and development staff does an A+ job of getting good young talent and processing them into sound Major League players.

Both Donaldson and Cashner Ted?? That is a double whammy if I ever saw one. It's one thing to blow it on one prospect but two of that quality is alarming. For the Cubs sake those four young prospects that project so well had better make up for losing those two. Can you believe that for the last 105 seasons the Cubs have not won a World Series or even a league title in the last 68 seasons. Brother that's what you call a Tsunami of a drought.

From the looks of things we did very well in that draft so there's no reason pouting over spilled Ovaltine. I have a strong feeling we are going to get our money's worth from most of the rest of that list and not too long from now either.

He seems like a new man Triple R and that was what we were hearing after the 2013 season when he stayed in Boston and put himself through a torture test of physical training to get ready for 2014. Of course, he has to learn to lay off those low and outside pitches and be a mite more selective at the plate but the guy has 30 home run power in a game where power seems to be at a premium, especially at third base, a power position. He has been a pleasant surprise to help us navigate through the disappointment we feel for Bradley who has worked hard too but seems to be scuffling badly. Of course, if they finally hand a deserving Grady Sizemore the CF job we will have our second pleasant surprise of the Spring.

RJ, you don't know if Brentz would be eaten alive at the ML level any more than I do. We have only a small sample from ST but he did pretty well when he was in the lineup and showed good power. Bradley hasn't hit very well at all and he has struck out an inordinate amount of time. I'm not saying he wouldn't be brought up over Brentz; hell, I don't even know if he is going to be sent down. Brentz got a late start last season because of that gun accident and yet had a pretty good year at Pawtucket. What worries me a little is that Jackie hit in the 270's in both AA and AAA when promoted from A ball. Did we hype him too much or overrate him? Maybe he needs a little more time in the minors. Hell, I'm out here in California and can't see everything on my computer screen so I have only that and what I read and what stats I see posted to help me take an educated guess and that's about all.

Good question RJ and if you had read the whole book you would know what we do. The fact is Lucchino started meddling during the 2008 season when the Manny Ramirez crisis began, and he kept getting more involved the next few seasons until Epstein had had enough again and decided to go to Chicago. Lucchino wanted to hold onto Manny until it became clear that there was no other recourse while Epstein wanted to dump him as soon as possible and even suspend him when he refused to get on that plane leaving for Seattle after the Angels series. Then there was the TV rating slide show when Larry and Werner ganged up on Epstein's desire to build from within and demanded "sexy" players to bring up TV ratings and to give Lucchino more to have in the way of promotions. John Henry, who had clearly delineated the powers of Epstein in baseball operations in early 2006 and Lucchino in promotions and fund raising, but like a virus that is not wiped out he wormed his way into baseball operations starting in 2008 and it was his call to hire Bobby Valentine as manager even though new GM Ben Cherington didn't want him. As a rookie GM he got steamrolled by the nosy and meddling and dictatorial ******* Lucchino. After 2012 train wreck Henry finally awakened from his stupor and gave Ben and new manager John Farrell the keys the diamond. This time Henry must stay awake and keep Lucchino as far away from baseball operations as he can manage.

Well you could be right Dojii, but if he does Henry must step in a put a stop to it right away this time. He let it go on for three to four years last time and I'm convinced Lucchino's meddling in baseball ops played a key role in the decline of our team. Lock him in his office if you have to but keep that meddling son of a bitch out of baseball operations at all costs.

We still don't know how this is going to play out Sox Sport, especially with Manager John Farrell hemming and hawing back and forth, saying one thing one day and another the next. I think he just wants to get this one straight but I wish he wouldn't all but say Sizemore has the job one day and then back tracking and saying it is still wide open. Let's say for the sake of argument the Red Sox go with Grady. Your take is that Bradley down at Pawtucket would be the first one up, but what if he wasn't hitting too well down there either and Bryce Brentz was and Victorino got hurt. Wouldn't it be tempting to bring a solid power hitter up instead? The next few days JF is going to earn his salary and we all hope he picks the right way to go.

I was always a critic of Francona as a field manager and still believed he was very average at best in that capacity. However, is handling players, building their confidence, taking the pressure off them, dealing with the press, taking a bullet for some of the characters he dealt with (Manny anyone?), he was as good as they come. Events started smoldering after 2007 that helped grease Tito's skids in Boston. In 2008 problems with Manny Ramirez really infected the team and the front office was slow to act to deal with this human virus. A year or so later Lucchino started meddling in baseball operations again as he had done in 2005 while owner John Henry did nothing about it. By 2010 Henry was criticizing Tito's managerial skills while Werner was complaining about declining TV ratings and joining the meddling Lucchino in desiring "sexy" players, whatever the hell that meant. Hence millions spent on Gonzales and Crawford, very bad fits for Boston. The Red Sox had lost their way and it culminated in the collapse of 2011 and the train wreck season of 2012. Last year the Red Sox got a second chance and seized it. Better later than never Henry got Lucchino back in his office worrying about the Red Sox brand, fund raising and promotions and let Cherington and Farrell run things. Good signing by Ben, a commitment to win and we got something none of us believed was possible.....A World Series Title. I think all people connected with the Red Sox from Henry on down to the players learned from that said experiences from 2008-2012. I think this time we will see no more of that sad spectacle again.

Well at least we didn't lose again today Spudboy.