a700hitter

Do you like Dempster better than Dickey, Buehrle or Josh Johnson? What about the numerous other pitchers who have been traded or signed? Dempster tops your list?

At the beginning of the off season, no one thought that the Marlins would move both Josh Johnson and Buerhle and that the Mets would move RA Dickey after winning the CY Young. The Toronto GM made things happen. Our guy didn't make things happen. Assuming that pitchers weren't there is an excuse. Check the transactions wire. Plenty of pitchers were available and plenty changed uniforms by FA and trade. Saying no one was available completely belies the facts.

Excuses and rationalizations. It wasn't just last year. The rotation in September 2011 fell apart. Expecting essentially the same group to make a big turnaround is unreasonable IMO. They still need pitching help. What we have now is very thin and very flawed. The Blue Jays added Josh Johnson, Mark Buerhle and CY Young winner, RA Dickey. We added Dempster, but make excuses that the FO did its best. The FO needs to do more. If this is what we go to Ft. Myers with, well, they will have done a lousy job.

It's better to have opened eyes. We can hope for a surprise, but if it doesn't happen the disappointment will not be as crushing, because we knew the probability that it would come. I am still hoping for some reinforcements. I never give up hope.

and the excuses for not building the team the right way begin. Who was out there? The guys we have should improve. . . yada yada yada. The Stockholm syndrome starts to take form. Everyone went into the off season acknowledging that the pitching needed to be improved. Everyone also said to stay away from Dempster, but as the options dwindle everyone forgets what we needed and starts to believe we have what is needed. Hogwash. This is essentially the same group of starters less Beckett who have been dragging this team to embarrassing levels since September 2011, but we expect that to miraculously change with the acquisition of Dempster? I think people are just kidding themselves.

From Peter A: Cherington,s quote below is some serious "head up ass" thinking. He's expecting improvement not from 1 or 2 pitchers, but 3 pitchers. Great plan. Let's all cross our fingers and wish.

The Mets, Twins, Cubs and Padres are interested in Marcum. The Mets should be easy enough to knock out of the box as they are still on an austerity budget. The Cubs have plenty of money for Theo to squander. Hopefully, we can give him an attractive 1 year deal that will help him rebuild his long term value. Jurjensbis still available too.

They should still be pursuing pitching, not a first baseman with a bum hip.

True about Bragg. Didn't he hit a grand slam off Randy Johnson at Fenway? I liked him as a 4th OFer.

I don't think it is hating if you just recognize that a player is merely adequate and not good.

There is a chance that we move one of the arms as part of a package in another deal. One of the catchers (i.e. Salty) has to go, especially if Napoli gets signed. They could package a BP arm with Salty. That would open up a deserved spot for Tazawa.

Unfortunately, they probably keep the 3rd lefty and send Tazawa down because he has options.

Nava should never be anything more than an emergency call up after 3 injuries to your OF. If Nava comes North with the club in April, that will be another clue that we have a poorly constructed team. I can't believe that we will have 4 catchers and nava as a 5th OFer to start the season. There still must be some moves to be made.

You don't need to spend $170 million if you are in a bridge year.

With Carlos Lee and Bobby Abreu's on the same roster, there would be no leftovers from the post game spread.

Some fans suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Not that long ago I predicted that we wouldn't add the 2 new starters that we need and that people would make excuses for the FO and come up with arguments why our pitching was good enough. Most people said that there would be no excuses if the FO didn't address the pitching situation. As hopes for getting pitching help fades, people will start to formulate these arguments that we are good enough and improved and that the FO did the best it could. Preemptively, I say hooey. Signing Ryan Dempster and a couple of bull pen arms does not address the issue. Spare me all the "ifs". If the Queen had balls she would be the King. Lots of "ifs" means that you are going to be a loser. I love baseball and I will always root like crazy for the Red Sox, and I will hope for all the "ifs", but I have opened eyes. They have not done what needs to be done. Unless there is more to come, they have not adequately addressed the team's biggest need. To those who say that 2013 is going to be a bridge year like it or not, I say why spend $170 million on a bridge year payroll.

When a staff is full of "ifs" and you need all of those questions to be answered in a positive way, you will have a bad team. Our "ifs": Buchholz staying healthy and putting up 200+ innings, Lester returning to form, Lackey returning to the pitcher he was for the Angels, and Doubront's late season failures were just fatigue. We need all of these to work out in a positive way in order to be competitive. All of them working out is unlikely. We need another pitcher.

It's pretty obvious that Abreu's tank is empty. This just would make no sense.

Per Peter A today:

I have had that happen on certain threads in the last few week, where I can only read up to a certain page.

I agree, but it may not be enough.

I keep waiting for age to catch up to them and for them to crumble. Sooner or later it has to happen... No?

There is a painter who will paint rooms in your house or outside structures to look like Fenway. I saw some of the work in a magazine. It looked awesome. I'd like to have a den just for myself (some would call it a "man cave") painted to look like the left field wall. Unfortunately, we only have one den, and until now, my wife has had other decorating ideas.

I am not seeing the wisdom in this.