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a700hitter

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Everything posted by a700hitter

  1. a700hitter
    If the FA pool is thin, then trades should have been explored. If they wanted to be competitive now, they should have traded for established pitchers. If they are planning for the future, they should have traded for pitching prospects like Bauer. They have done neither. Great pitching is not going to show up at Fenway by itself and bit Cherries on the ass and say here we are. Sitting and doing nothing about the starting pitching this off season will not improve us in the short term or the long term.
  2. a700hitter
    What "development approach"? They haven't acquired any young talent this offseason. They have signed an aging CF and a catcher/1B with a bad hip for big bucks. They signed a mediocre starter with little track record of success in the AL for big bucks. They have managed to pump up their payroll to $170 million. They signed a closer in his walk year. They have not traded Ellsbury for young talent even though Ellsbury is in his walk year and they are expected to let him walk. I have not seen any building with younger players or acquiring top prospects. I see little evidence of a cohesive strategy. This is not a win it now approach, because they have ignored the starting pitching need. It's not building for the future, because they have done none of that this off season. Whichever way they are going, it looks like the execution of the strategy has been poor.
  3. a700hitter
    It doesn't change the fact that thus far they really made little attempt to fix the starting pitching for the upcoming season. They have not articulated their reasons for this approach, but they are on record several times (even before acquiring Dempster) saying that their starting pitching is improved over last year. I am not in agreement with that.
  4. a700hitter
    I don't think it will be easy to figure out the optimal lineup with Victorino and Ellsbury.
  5. a700hitter
    What year did they finish last with a $170 million payroll? When is the last time that they finished last?
  6. a700hitter
    I read your whole post twice, and I have to admit that I can't find a coherent point in the entire post. Are you seriously comparing our FO to that of the Giants which have won championships in 2 of the last 3 seasons? I think we'd be basking in glory if we were in their position, and we wouldn't have any expectations for the off season. The Giants did the one key thing that they needed to do over the last couple of years. They kept their exceptional starting pitching intact. They extended Matt Cain and didn't let him get to Free Agency. They resisted the suggestions that they should trade a CY Young pitcher like Lincecum. They are sitting pretty. If I were a fan of theirs, I'd be giddy with happiness.
  7. a700hitter
    In this recent exchange between SBF and UN, UN lobbed the first personal attack telling Fred that he was blabbering. I am sorry but UN doesn't get to operate with impunity. If he makes it personal, he should expect return fire. Why don't you ever call out UN? Be fair about it if you are going to call out people. UN is constantly offending people without provocation, but you let him off the hook because you like his targets. Lay off Fred unless you are willing to go after UN too.
  8. a700hitter
    As every off season comes to a close, people start making excuses for the FO. You start reading things like: the market was too high, no one was available, it a b ridge year etc., etc. I think people just are tryting to avoid the reality that the team isn't good enough to be a serious competitor and they want to start the season with hope. Even Fred has been susceptible to this false hope as he has said numerous time that he likes the moves made this off season and that he thinks the team will be improved. The reality is that the FO has made a very weak effort at improving the starting pitching which is our biggest need They are rolling the dice that last year's crew will improve. I think that is a bad strategy.
  9. a700hitter
    Not me. I'll insult the intelligence of our FO before they make any moves. I won't limit that criticism to our FO. There aren't a lot of intellectual giants in any FO. That being said, you don't need geniuses to make good baseball moves. Unfortunately, the FO people are the ones accountable for building the roster. If a move doesn't work out, they are the ones accountable. It doesn't matter how many fans agreed with the move. Two wrongs don't make a right, and the buck stops with the FO.
  10. a700hitter
    Crickets chirping.
  11. a700hitter
    The actual results are the only ones that count. Duh. That's what you get judged on. You don't get judged on "what ifs".
  12. a700hitter
    It doesn't matter how things looked at the time. You get judged on results. Larry Anderson for Jeff Bagwell didn't look bad at the time either, because Bagwell had showed little pop and was blocked in the Red Sox organization. We know the result. It can't be defended because of how it looked at the time.
  13. a700hitter
    This is completely incoherent gibberish, but I am sure that you know what you meant.
  14. a700hitter
    Name one ownership that spent as much money as the Red Sox over the last 3 years with a result of driving the team into last place.
  15. a700hitter
    They have had a competitive team for the last 5 years. They have been able to achieve that. They still need to build a fan base. Winning and being competitive hasn't done it. IMO their biggest hurdle is getting fostering an emotional bond to the team. They will not do that unless they have some generational heros associated with the team. They are keeping Longo. That is a good move. Getting a stud like Mike Stanton to let him go in a couple of years would not help their franchise IMO. If they get him, I think they will keep him and build around him.
  16. a700hitter
    It's quite a commute from where you live. How often do you get to Fenway?
  17. a700hitter
    I love Fenway, but it is not a very comfortable place to watch a game and the thousands of obstructed views is very frustrating. Warts and all, I still get a thrill every time I enter the place after all these 45+ years. I don't know if I could ever feel the same way about a new ballpark. That's just sentimentality on my part. I miss City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, and I had gone there for only 8 years and the new park is beautiful ( although the seats are as small as they are at Fenway).
  18. a700hitter
    The fact that he didn't regain his velocity after 3 months of pitching in short relief and any semblance of command was lost leads me to think that there is something structurally wrong.
  19. a700hitter
    To think that people would argue about him at one time.
  20. a700hitter
    Our biggest opportunity to improve our starting pitching may be to get rid of Salty.
  21. a700hitter
    I wish I had a dollar for every time a pitching coach thought they had identified a mechanical flaw in a struggling pitcher's delivery, and he continued to struggle. I remember after cutting Allan Embree, the Yankees signed him and they were so excited to get a hard throwing lefty for their pen and Suzynne Waldman announced that Mel Stottlemyre had spotted a very fixable mechanical flaw that would straighten him out. He was horrible that season. I laughed at Stot straightening him out, because Stot never straightened out anyone's mechanics. Embree s*** all over himself for the Yankees. My recollection is that we had one official pitching coach last year and one unofficial pitching coach. Neither of them found Lester's flaw in enough time to salvage Lester's season. They had the video to review. I don't think Farrell is a guru compared to the others. If he was, he should have gotten Ricky Romero on track in Toronto last year. Lester may straighten himself out, but I think Bard is a complete lost cause. I think we will learn eventually that he has an injury.
  22. a700hitter
    Maybe he has already figured it out.
  23. a700hitter
    It may not be the best way to build a desperately needed fanbase by trading for one of the giant young talents of the game only to trade him away in 2 years.
  24. a700hitter
    Golfers like pitchers are always tinkering and no doubt their coaches are making suggestions, but at that pro-level finding a mechanical flaw that would transform a player's game would be rare. People shouldn't get there hopes up that Farrell is going to watch some video of Lester and turn him back into an All Star pitcher. I am sure that every pitching coach in the organization was studying that video last year. Whatever is wrong, he'll have to figure it out himself. Maybe Farrell can help rebuild his confidence and that is very important, but I am not expecting a magic bullet mechanical fix. Those are fairly rare. The one possible magic bullet fix could be a change of catchers-- the numbers seem to bear that out.
  25. a700hitter
    I wonder what kind of impact that instructor would have on Tiger Woods' game. Edit: I think that is the more accurate analogy.
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