seabeachfred

Glad I read through all the posts this time before I made the suggestion Workman and was panned as a copy cat. That is what we should do right now, get Workman to start stretching out to be our emergency fifth starter if it comes down to that. I think I'm at least not on quicksand when I say I THINK right now we are deep enough in the bullpen to get Workman into the mindset of a starter.

Now we all know why now it is very very important to win your division unless you want to go the route Tampa Bay had to go through last season. They would have had to go five series to win it all. I don't think any team can do that, and that means we cannot afford to try and do that way. Win the AL East and at least the road is less bumpy.

Hey VA, there's one for you. 700 Hitter is beating a dead horse and I'm with you on that. Now, on that other matter, mine is not so much an anti-Drew rant as an anti-Drew plea to Ben, almost on bended knee.

And as my friend Pin can tell you that was a helluva accomplishment------five league titles and four WS Championships in five years. That's real success. We Red Sox fans might be pissed off seeing that but you have to give credit where credit is due. Today with three tiers of playoffs to make it all the way it is certainly much more difficult than it was when you simply had a WS and that was it. Believe me, I would give my eye tooth if we could duplicate such a record over a coming five year period. Maybe we could continue from what the Red Sox started last season, but we all know how hard that would be.

But I can't get that on my computer because my MLB package doesn't kick in until late March......nuts!!!!!!!!

No Dojii, not a slam dunk in the playoffs but when I answered with a missive of my own earlier in the thread I said having Pedro in 2005 would have netted us the ALJ East Division Title. Since we tied for it and lost because the Yankees won the season series, I have no doubt Martinez would have at least made the difference in one or two games. If he made it in three or four we would have won comfortably. Of course, after 2005 we rapidly fell away because of a whole host of arm miseries.

Bravo for you my friend......You have a point of view and you stick with it instead of meely mouthing around. Personally, I think he showed some real courage and rumor has it one of his children has some kind of illness that may be serious. Maybe something about this will come out. At any rate, please, no more talk about trading a starter. If anything I would love to sign one of those still out there even though I know it is highly unlikely

This may be a curse in disguise because it now gives Cherington the chance to sign Drew and screw up the infield going into the season. Please God, no Drew. Save the money for needed starting pitching help this season or sign one of the starters still out there. We don't need Drew and as I've said many times I don't want him. He chose to turn down a very nice QO of $14.1; let the greedy bastard go somewhere else.....and take Boras with him.

You talk real tough BEL and to be honest I like that kind of verbiage, but when I do it I know that talk can be very cheap. The way to make sure what you say happens is for us to get the drop on them and stay on top of them, out maneuver them, beat them head to head and make them smell our butts in the standings as they made us do for nine straight years between 1998 and 2006. We will never catch them in WS Titles in this century but we can narrow it down some more, but the team and organization must be pro-active and have no crisis of confidence that we seemed to get from 2009-2012.

That's how it should be spent. Use the money for reinforcements during the season. No Drew!!!!

Farrell has been speaking on the Drew situation since the beginning of December and is rationalizing and making generalizations about whether or not Drew will be back. Well he and Cherington can finally do something about it and close the damn door to his return, simply say we're moving on and wish Drew and his agent the best of luck. ALMOST to move on? It's been time for a month and a half now. Drew doesn't particularly want to play for the Red Sox unless it is his last resort if he can't find something better. Farrell is certainly right that it is not fair to the other players, so he and Ben should stop pussyfooting around and just tell Drew and Boras to look elsewhere and good luck!!!!!! I would almost be willing to bet that Boras is doing his three card monty with various and sundry teams because he knows he has a sucker in the Red Sox to come back to if all else fails. I also think, though this is only my opinion, that if the Red Sox close the door on Drew finally and utterly Boras will be forced to sign whatever parachute or pillow contract he can get for his client. TIME TO MOVE ON!!!!!!!

Yea, seriously. The guy can't hit lefthanders, he has a large strikeout number for a non power hitter, he has a reputation for getting hurt a la like his brother, lousy on the road, and the fact that nobody else seems to want him. Why should we when it would hold back the development of Middlebrooks and Bogaerts. Useful to us? Only as a sub and the fear is he would worm his way into the lineup and hurt our two young players on the left side of that infield who both have power to give us run production. As for being flabbergasted maybe the fact is that he doesn't have much market value and isn't that good to screw up a younger player on our team or any other team. Hell, the Mets would rather go with their dud at SS than sign Drew up. That should tell you something. Yes he could help some team but not us. He would never accept a utility position and that is all I would even consider him for. It I time for him to see if he can hook up with some NL team.

Well Mr. Tibbs, I know I will hear it from the Stephen Drew Marching and Chowder Society but I wish someone would give him a one way ticket to Zanzibar----and take that shyster agent of his with him. As much as I've grown to like and respect Ben Cherington, for some reason he can't turn the page on this guy. Think of it----no team seems to want this guy, good teams, bad teams, mediocre teams, and yet our team, right now by virtue of being the champions, are the best team and we still are carrying the torch for him. LET HIM GO!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!

How that again Mam? Try pitching a penny or two and keep your brain occupied.

Since we tied for the division lead and lost it because the Yankees beat us one more time than we beat them, I think having Pedro in 2005 would have netted us the division title. From there anything could happen. Remember the White Sox won it all that year and they were both a talented and a flawed team at the same time. After 2005, however, katy bar the door.

Bellhorn, any time you make a trade and the guys you get are the difference in winning a World Series Title you take it, cherish it, roll with it and be thankful and grateful at the same time. We don't make that trade for Beckett and Lowell we won win it all in 2007----and really, can anyone disagree with that?

That's my next Yankee victim. I can't stand the guy and would like to see him duck a high hard one every time he comes to bat against us this season...and next and the next after that. Sure, I know Lucchino and Henry really screwed up the negotiations with him when we were trying to sign him, but he was going for the money all along and later said he had bitter feelings for the Red Sox for something that happened when he was drafted by them and didn't sign. Knock the son of a bitch down every chance we get. Make him eat dirt.

Well I'll drink to this episode being over. I still don't know who Jaddy was calling a jerk, me, RJ or someone else. We can avoid the name calling.

It will go over very well.......IF we win that series, clinch the AL East on Friday at the series opener, win on Saturday and give the second or third place Yankees one for the road on Sunday when the Red Sox acknowledge the guy. The time line for Derek is a retirement of number in 2015, and a trip to the Hall of Fame in the year 2020, the same year we win our third WS in the decade.

Dojii did bring up some good points. Arroyo was mediocre at best for us and the Yankees used to knock the crap out of him. Don't look up his record against them; he never was a pitcher of record, but look at is ERA. I don't recall one time he faced that team that he didn't get the living crap knocked out of him. Remember Game 3 of the ALCS?????? If you or anyone has a CD of it, watch it and get sick.

Actually Sox Sport he was thinking, only he was thinking with his rear end. The way I read it from people down at Fort Myers back in '06, the plan was to have Papi and Manny work with him and bring him along. Epstein thought he could have a troika of big bangers in the lineup for the future, especially since Trot Nixon was in his last year with the Red Sox. The only problem was Pena could field to save his ass and any pitch down and away was an execution.....his. That's why Theo signed J.D. Drew in 2007. It became very clear that Willy Mo couldn't not only not play the tough RF at Fenway but he couldn't play anywhere in the outfield because he was a butcher. He was also a dumb ass and lazy to the core. They got rid of him late in the 2007 season. BTW, in a game at Fenway in 2005 between the Red Sox and Reds, Willy Mo went back for a ball in RF and got hit on top of the head with it as the ball went into the seats for a home run. Apparently Epstein didn't notice or care because he traded for him just before ST in 2006. Not one of Theo's finest hours.

You're not missing out at all. When you consider how young you are and how old I am you will have years and years to start doing what I started doing at 60---going to Fenway and rooting for the Red Sox. There will be plenty of time to get all that in.

That would be great Ted. I'm going through Red Sox Destinations and they're putting the group in the Copley Marriott. I'm getting in Thursday, April 3 and leaving Monday evening on the 7th. One of us need to get the other on the phone.

RJ, I knew the D'Backs were looking to shore up their rotation even though they have three or four pretty good men working for them there. I live in the Los Angeles area and, strange as it may seem, they and the Dodgers have developed a fevered dislike for one another. Forget San Diego! Their rivalry with the Dodgers is tepid at best at the moment, but Arizona still is seething over the Dodgers jumping in their outfield pool after clinching the division title last September and harsh words have been flying over the airwaves and print journalism. It almost sounds like the Giants and the Dodgers. Well, it will keep me interested to know that besides worrying about my team and losing sleep over them, I can see these two outfits hurl insults at one another and hold my sides LMFAO. BTW, these guys open the season in Australia for a two game set around the 23rd of March. Jet lag baby-better them than us.

Nah mvp, not Pumpsie. He's one of my closest friends on two other boards. We taken in a game together, broke bread and shared a ton of laughs. If he called me a jerk he would do with a smile and say who he was. The other guy, well you better at this since you've been here longer....could it be dutchy?