a700hitter

The West Division is much stronger. We'd get our clocks cleaned in that Division. It would be really ugly.

We don't know what Barnes will be. Let's wait to see if he can dominate AA before we start penciling him into the ML rotation. We have a thin rotation as it is. We don't have an ace. An injury to our staff would be more crippling than an injury to a team that has a couple of studs at the top of the rotation. I differ with your conclusion. I think that in addition to the the Rays, the Jays now have better depth. The Yankees always have better depth. The O's staff is unspectacular, but they a bunch of guys who can step in and take starts and give some decent innings at the ML level. We are thin. The pitching problem has never been addressed adequately in two off seasons. If Salty is our primary catcher, I see little hope of a marked improvement.

I have given up hope of getting Jones. This guy is a tremendous value. We pay Salty the same amount and he sucks in comparison. This guy is every bit as tall as Salty too.

It's probably a safe bet that 1 of the pitchers misses significant time. That would be an improvement over recent years. When a guy goes down, we don't have ML ready depth to stp in and take a start every 5 days. Morales is not the guy. He is a stop gap spot starter. The guy has never tossed 100 innings in a season. He's not up to taking a regular turn.

And he wasn't exactly Adam Wainright before the surgery.

A move like that would catapult them into contention IMO.

I didn't think you were arguing. I was just wondering what you thought of their chances if they had seasons like the ones I posted.

Maybe it is just a way to liven up a slow news day.

This year's off season thread was created on August 20 by SFF, one of TalkSox's most positive and optimistic posters. Realistically, our season was over 2 weeks prior to the thread.

Hopefully, our offseasons doesn't start in August like it did last year. The problem with sucking as bad as we did last season is that our hot stove started in August. It's a looong time to March from August.

So, under the scenario that I pose, they don't have a chance to get to the post season?

What if Lester is 15-10 with a 4.15 ERA and 200 innings and Buchholz is 13-7 with a 3.85 ERA over 195 innings, where would that put the team, because I would be very happy to get that production out of them?

I am not quite sure why this is such a scandal that it is the lead story of every news show. If he made up the whole story and it put him over the top to win the Heisman, that would be a scandal. He didn't win the Heismanl, so why is this garbage front page news. If this was his doing, what did he do? He made up a girlfriend with a fictional life. Other athletes beat, abuse and sexually assault woman, girlfriends and wives, but that isn't the lead story on every news show. He made up a story that his fictional girlfriend got into a very serious car accident. Other athletes get DUI'd and DWI'd fairly regularly and some even cause fatalities, but that is never the lead story on every news show. He made up a story that his fictional girlfriend died of leukemia. A KC Chief Player killed his girlfriend and himself and that story would have fast faded from the news cycle except that Bob Costas turned it into a gun control issue. Why the heck does this stupid story have such legs?

IMO, Chris Capuano would be a good depth option and the Dodgers have no spot for him.

However they stack the lineup, it should be competitive. The question is whether the starting pitching will be competitive. Lackey coming off TJ and Dempster will be replacing Beckett and Bard from the start of last year. Darnell McDonald would be a huge upgrade over Bard. Beckett is a better pitcher than Lackey or Dempster. I am not seeing that the starting pitching has improved enough to be competitive. Farrell is coming in at an opportune time. The starting pitching couldn't suck more than it did last year. If they improve, he gets the credit. If not, no one can blame him. IMO, if Salty catches 110 games or more, the starters will struggle.

If Ortiz is healthy, he has to hit in the first inning. Your best hitter should be hitting #3 everyday.

If it was just a meniscus/cartilage scope job, he should be ready for opening day. If it was a reconstruction, that's another story.

What is Jurjens rehabbing?

If he had won the Heisman and then this news came to light, I wonder if the Heisman Committee would have withdrawn the award?

Marcum would be an improvement and jurjens is also worth a shot.

But by the trading deadline our team ERA probably will be at the bottom of the league if he does most of the catching.

And you're too stupid to realize that is a tongue in cheek joke. What a dolt.

Maybe we can get him back:lol: Afterall, some had him projecting as a good bottom of the rotation starter.

Let's get something straight. You maligned not just Brooklyn, my hometown, but all NYers with an accusation of racism leveled against all NYers. I didn't malign your hometown. Yes, it is a point of pride by people from Brooklyn that we love to argue and negotiate. We talk fast, think fast and our arguments are lively and colorful. If that point of pride bothers you, too f***ing bad. If you had a point of pride from your neighborhood, my response wouldn't be to say that your city is full of racists. If you can 't see that as obnoxious and immature, it must be because you are obnoxious and immature. Edit: Fred grew up in Queens and I in Brooklyn, and we had very similar experiences, both loving where we grew up and the experiences that we had. Neither of us ever said that "it means anymore than growing up elsewhere." It's kind of messed up that it bothers you that we have fond memories and pride about our hometowns. Now go grow up.

First of all, I am not from Bensonhurst. I am a Bay Ridge kid. Brooklyn has many neighborhoods with very distinct ethnic and cultural feels. Bensonhurst was not one of my favorites, and Bay Ridge kids were not particularly welcome there. To tar all of Brooklyn with a few incidents in Bensonhurst is utter ignorance. Brooklyn is sprawling and diverse. With a population of 2.5 million it dwarfs Boston in population and geography. I would venture to say that more great people of achievement came from Brooklyn than any other city, and brooklyn isn't even a city. I like Boston. It is one of my favorite cities. I didn't bring up the dark underbelly of past events in Boston to tar all of Boston with an undeserved reputation. But you chose to do that to Brooklyn in an unsolicited manner based on your experiences in a single neighborhood over the period of one year. That is why you are a jackass. BTW, even though I am not from Bensonhurst, every one in bensonhurst and all of Brooklyn knows that the place for pizza in Bensonhurst was L&B Spumoni Gardens, not J & V.