a700hitter

Strip away everything else in the article and this tells me Henry and Co. blew it by walking away.

The left field of the infield isn't making me feel very confident today.

And here I thought us adults were getting along so much better. Oh well.

I never said that they didn't overpay players. They have the financial resources to get their guys, and at least they are consistent in that they get the guys they go after. We gave Theo excuses for not getting targeted players saying that he didn't want to overpay and couldn't compete with Yankee money, but somehow he managed to grossly overpay a bunch of players that the Yankees didn't want.

It's also plausible that they just botched the negotiation. We can agree to disagree. The public reports were that the Yankees at the time were not interested or involved. The Red Sox certainly conducted themselves accordingly. Even after they walked away, the feeling was still that he would become a Red Sox. I attended Christmas at Fenway that winter, and Lucchino and others were there and WEEI was broadcaasting from there that day interviewing various Sox officials. Everyone was still very positive about getting Tex. If the Yankees were involved, they should have known and backed away. As for the theory that Boras likes to screw us over, that is very implausible. We are one of the small handful of franchises that can afford his clients. Pissing on us would not help create a market for him. We can agree to disagree. But I will reiterate that all public reports were that the Yankees were not involved and we sent our full management team to lock him down. From that, I conclude that they botched it. I am not the one assuming both unknown and unreported facts to support my theory.

Another thing that I have noticed in the early going is an unusual number of bunt base hits against us. That has nothing to to with injuries. It is just poor fundamentals.

I've been watching them for 47 years win or lose. I rarely miss a game. I don't get too worked up about most regular season games. When a team is playing bad, you think they are worse than they are. You can't trust your eyes during a hot streak either. One thing that this team hasn't shown yet is an ability to fight back or come from behind. They gutted out the extra inning game in Chicago, but we couldn't win that game until they put a position player on the mound. Last year's crew found ways to win games when they were banged up and playing poorly. As for citing Brock Holt as a bright spot....puhlease. It's a dark day when he is in anyone's lineup. He is a bag-o-s***. The best thing about him is his name. We have improved defensively behind the plate, but everywhere else we are weaker right now. Bradley can go get the ball, but when he was flanked by Carp and Nava the other day, that was an outfield lacking range.

LOL!! Maybe I would have blamed them anyway. Theo had a very poor history in salary negotiations. His record was long and undistinguished in negotiations and signings.

J_E, you are all worked up. LOL!!! What difference does it make if the Sox lucked out by getting screwed over by the Yankees in Tex sweepstakes? There was a way to not give Tex the chance to see if the Yankees would match the Sox offer. You don't leave his house unless you have his signature --a take it or leave it offer. The yankees have done that very successfully in negotiations. Make your final offer and tell the player when you leave the offer will be withdrawn and there will not be another offer. The Sox brass didn't close the deal with their whole executive team there. That was a failure. He was the centerpiece of the offseason plan. They didn't get it done when they had him cornered and the Yanks hadn't even entered the process. Don't get your undies twisted in a knot. Theo f***ed up plenty of negotiations. He made an utter fool of himself trying to sign Jose Contreras. He misjudged the market for Dice K and outbid everyone by a mile, and he way overpaid Carl Crawford, Julio Lugo and Renteria. He really was terrible at negotiating, but it's past history and we have 3 championships despite those mistakes.

I thought he was asking about the positives in tonight's game.

Right now, we are playing terrible uninspired boring ball. I saw little positive in tonight's game.

He hasn't thrown more than 95 pitches in any of his starts from what I have found.

We are seeing vintage 2011 John Lackey so far this season.

Bells, what is this "the you can't be sure, because you weren't there defense"? A corollary to the "you don't know what it takes to run a professional team" tactic meant to shut down discussion. LOL!! Here is all we need to know about the Texeira negotiations. Henry and Lucchino and Epstein and whatever other top brass at the time went to Tex's home. This was a reported fact. Teams don't do that unless they seriously want a guy. I think we can deduce that. Every good salesman knows how to close. They didn't close. Period. That's all that needs to be known. Their front office had botched a few negotiations in Theo's tenure. It was not his strong suit.

Whether or not it has turned out to be a good deal for the Yankees is not really relevant to the way they botched that negotiation. The Sox brass didn't walk away from the deal because they thought it was too rich. They wanted Tex badly. They botched it because they had their target in his house together with all the Sox top brass who had flown in. If they wanted him, they should have given him a take it or leave it offer and he probably would have signed. They left and the Yankees who had claimed no interest up to that point swooped in an got him. In the end it was a bad deal for the Yankees. The Sox FO was not right by design. In that case, their poor negotiating tactics worked in their favor.

Two wins in a row! Lester was outstanding. Good to have Koji back. Lester is pitching ace-like so far. I hope that he can have an easy game soon so that his arm isn't a noodle by August.

Our offense is helpless.

Our offense is helpless unless they are facing a position player.

Ortiz worked that AB and blasted that ball. I was positive that he'd knocked it out of the park.

They need to pay market if the alternative is losing another star in his prime to the Yankees.

The Red Sox offer to Lester was ill-conceived. An offer should be an invitation to start a negotiation. However, when the opening offer is so out of line with market ranges, it demonstrates bad faith by the offering party and it is a disincentive to negotiate or bargain.

Two top pitchers going tonight -Sale and Lester. It will probably be a high scoring game.

Bell, we have been watching the Sox for 5 decades. It's hard for me to remember an offense that has been this anemic. Red Sox teams (even the bad ones) could hit and score runs.

The Cubs lineup is pathetic.

Better to win ugly than to lose any day. They avoid they 4 game losing streak. It's time to get Victorino, napoli and Uehara back and go on a run. Mujica lost his closer job last year for a reason.