a700hitter

Where there is smoke there is usually fire. It seems like this question is coming up a lot lately.

Does anyone really see Salty as the Red Sox catcher of the future? If not, why are they wasting time on him? The issue is not whether he is better than Lavarnway. At this point, his game is probably more refined than Lavarnway. However, if Salty is not looked at as the long term solution, I think they should give Lavarnway a chance in a season where we will probably be fighting for last place. At least we will see if he has what it takes.

This shouldn't surprise people, since it took 2 years/ $26 million to sign a guy like Dempster. Pitching is at a premium. Ace pitching is at an unbelievable premium. A 2 year contract would not strangle the Red Sox, no matter what AAV. I think it would take 3/ $70 million to get him.

Good riddance. It was torture watching him pitch, even before his injuries started.

Cynic's response: I wish that he had shot Salty.

Ah, but Lavarnway cannot pull off a 720 degree clockwise spin followed by a 360 degree counter clockwise spin while the ball is at his feet. As for Varitek, he always took too long to release his throws and he was not the best at fielding balls on the ground in front of the plate, but he did two things extraordinarily well. The guy's back leg was like a concrete post when he was blocking the plate. The other thing was fielding pop ups. No one was better at that. Salty does nothing well at this point. Once in a while he uncorks a beautiful howitzer like throw, but that is way too inconsistent.

I don't want Lavarnway to replace Salty just because Salty sucks. I don't know if Lavarnway will suck too. I want them to give Lavarnway a shot to see what he has. We're going to be a 4 th place or last place team anyway, so it would be a good time to see if Lavarnway can play at this level. There's no reason to hang onto Salty. Tree him while he has some value.

I think Dickey will perform better than Dempster for almost equivalent salaries.

Whether he is better or worse than Hoyer, Byrnes and others is to be determined, but he shared the same institutional philosophy of that FO team. When an organization goes into a tailspin of fail, the leadership needs to change. It hasn't. Cherries was a protege of Theo. the owners needed to clean house of the leadership on baseball operations to change course. We are getting more of the same type of inadequate leadership.

One thing that Cherries has not been in his tenure is misleading. He pretty much stays true to what he says. If he said that about Salty, I am concerned that he means it and he will be with us for all of 2013.

I hope Salty plays frisbee with SFF. It is our only chance to improve the pitching and get Lavarnway his shot. Please SFF, you are our chance. Seriously, if Cherries thinks that Salty can be one of the best catchers in the league, he is an idiot who can't be trusted to judge talent. I am thoroughly convinced that he knows zero about pitching talent.

The guy that fell out of bed was Paxton Crawford, but he didn't cut his back as I had remembered. He cut his abdomen. I still can't remember the sox pitching prospect that ended his career by crushing a glass in his hand Edit: I think the guy was Dan Gabrielle (1st round pick 1985), but I can't find any links about the injury with the glass.

By age 30, most catcher's legs are starting to wear out. I guess Lavarnway will finally get his shot about the time his legs will start to wear out. What's the point of going with Salty and Ross on a last place team? I think they should see what the kid has. At 25' ou should have had enough seasoning.

Through the years all sorts of wacky stuff has happened to our prospects to derail careers. I can't remember the guy's name, but we had a pitching prospect that everyone thought was better than the Rocket, but he went to a funeral and was so upset that he crushed a drinking glass in his hand and severed tendons. He never pitched again. We had another pitcher who had just made it to the majors and reportedly injured himself by falling out of bed and cutting his back on a drinking glass. He never pitched again. Crazy s***.

I forgot to mention Dempster so I edited my post.

Now, that Bobby V is gone, youk doesn't have any axe to grind with us. If Bobby V had still been here, Youk would have been on a mission to beat us. I still think he will have a very good year. Youk likes to take the ball the other way, but he didn't have enough power in Fenway to be dangerous with the HR ball to RF. Yankee Stadium's RF porch will play right into his sweet spot. He'll lose doubles, but I peg him for 25-30 bombs.

I'm fine. Thanks for asking.

It is natural to start to get more optimistic as the season approaches. We want the season to be fun and interesting and we are starting to grasp the reality that this is all we have. Our staff is like the ugly girl in the bar at closing time. We never would have thought about leaving with her at the beginning of the night, but now she is our only choice so we embrace her. At some point we will wake up and want to hurl, and our friends (I.e., Yankee fans) will point out that we were desperate fools. If you don't believe me, read the posts on here about Dempster and Lackey in the early part of the off season. Now, we are counting on these clowns.

This kid must be a real brain surgeon. An in-law of mine had a brother that killed himself cleaning a gun.

And we will see how it works out for the Sox and the teams that signed these pitchers. Some will be busts and some might be very helpful.

Jackass. I gave him a detailed answer before you posted this.

I would have built the pitching first. I would have picked up at least one more solid 30+ start middle of the rotation pitcher. Once I had done that, I would have made the bullpen moves that they made. Only then would I have filled out the roster with Napoli, Ross, Gomes and Drew. We need Victorino for when Ellsbury is gone, so I would have made that move regardless of the others. If I couldn't improve the pitching to the point where I was confident that it would be competitive, I would not have wasted the time and money on the other stuff. I could finish last without them, and at least, I would learn what I had with certain prospects. Yes, I will not deny that it would break my heart to go that route, but finishing last is going to break my heart even more knowing that they wasted money as well as an opportunity for the prospects. I think that there is a very good chance that we finish last, and the guys that they have brought in are not very interesting or exciting, so what was the point? Edit: When I say that I would pick up at least 1 more solid starter, that would be in addition to Dempster. I would have tried to avoid getting Dempster and opted for someone else. Ideally, I'd have picked up 2 pitchers not named Dempster. If Dempster was the second one, I'd live with that.

I love Pedro. It was such a thrill to see him play. I had a discussion the other day about theHOF and ARod in light of these latest PED diclosures. The guy that I was talking to feels that ARod, Bonds, Clemens, Palmiero and McGwire will never make it to the Hall. I raised questions about other guys who were suspected but who never flunked tests like Sosa and Bagwell among others. He didn't think they would go in either. I question where do you draw the line? Is suspicion the guidepost? I don't think it should be. Some guys who have never been suspected might also have been juicers. What about Biggio? He was never the target for much suspicion, but who knows... maybe he did ... maybe he didn't. We can't be sure. Either they all go in with some caveat where it is noted that they played during an era where steroid use was prevalent, or they are all kept out. When I say everyone, I mean everyone who played the majority of their career during the steroid era. This would be quite draconian, but the drug use during that era badly damaged the reputation and integrity of the game and its history. It was permitted with the tacit approval of the team owners, managers, coaches, medical staffs, the press and media and the Commissioner. None of them (owners, players, managers or the Commish) should gain admission to the Hall, beause they soldout the game for record profits. They got their money, but they sacrificed their good names in the process.

My sentiments exactly. What they have built looks very much like a 4th place or last place team, and that's where most of the experts are picking them to finish. What was the point of giving Dempster 2 years and $26 million, Gomes a 2 year contract, offering Napoli three years (since scaled back to 1 year), and Drew $9 million for 1 season? Also, what was the point of the Hanrahan deal, because we will only have him for one year? I can understand the Victorino 3 year contract, because it is becoming clear that they will not pursue keeping Ellsbury, and Victorino will be the CFer in his final 2 contract years. The other deals I don't get. They spent all this money on a team that will finish fourth, at best. There was no need to get Drew. They could have finished last with Iglesias and finally determined if he is a major league ballplayer and saved $8.5 million. We could have seen if Sands could put up 25 HRs in the majors and if he did, he be a nice find or more valuable trade bait. They got Ross and kept Salty and all but ensured that Lavarnway will rot for another season at AAA. What is thepoint of that if it ends in a 4th place or last place finish? Mauro Gomez could have shared first base with someone cheap like Loney and maybe developed some trade value if he could hit at least as well as Carlos Quintana. The way I see it is that $170 million goes down a black hole for 2013 and we will still have the same unanswered questions about Iglesias and Lavarnaway going into 2014 and we have given away Sands for 1 year of Hanrahan. As these deals were being made, I didn't thnk they were bad moves, except for Dempster. I liked them for the most part, but I thought that it was only part of the plan, not a completion of the plan. The first priority toward improving this team was starting pitching. They did next to nothing in that area. My opinion of Dempster is not very high. Without substantial improvements to the starting pitching, this is a very incomplete plan IMO. They should have pocketed the moolah and used it next season.

Just for the record, I don't think I ever called you a "ballwasher". Second, based on your post, you are probably not a ballwasher. I don't know if you aspire to ballwasher status, but I hate to break the news to you. You are not doing a very good job at establishing ballwasher credibility.