a700hitter

I think you are giving him a bunch of excuses. If he could battle through cancer and succeed, he can shake of a managerial change and some pitching coach changes.

The other possibility is that he is just a lousy GM. The jury is out on his performance, because we are still waiting for him to do something. He has done nothing yet to improve this team in the short term or long term.

Knock it off with the mind reading. You are not a psychic.

What do you guys think of mark Reynolds at first base? He'd be much cheaper than Napoli, but he has much more power.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done just to make the 2013 team respectable. We are almost in December as you have noted. I don't see Cherries as the type to make several moves in a short period. He needs 2 starters, an outfielder, a first baseman, and a bullpen arm. He doesn't have the luxury of time to wait 2 weeks between each move.

Whenever I hear that pitching poorly could be a simple glitch in a delivery, I cringe. I have seen too many guys search for that glitch on the way to palooka-ville. I don't know if Lester is finished, but I hope the Sox make the right decision in this regard. As for a possible trade, I'd rather see Lester packaged with Ellsbury for King Felix.

It seems that he can never pull the trigger on moves. I don't get it. I keep hoping that he will prove my suspicions to be unfounded. We are getting really close to the day (12/1) when tickets go on sale. I am still hopeful that there will be signs of life before then, but it seems like nothing is in the final stages. Maybe Napoli will sign this week.

Jair Jurgens will be non-tendered by the Braves. What do you think of him?

The collection of the remaining 7 players other than Pedroia and Ortiz are unimpressive. That's my opinion. Ellsbury had one great season, but when he was healthy last year, he was a shell of that 2011 player. Middlebrooks still has to prove he can do it on a day in and day out basis for a full season. I am not saying either of them are bad players, but I am not ready to call them stars just yet. We have 2 bona Fide stars in our lineup. Although I think Ellsbury and WMB are good players, they are not good enough for me to be impressed by the remainder of our lineup.

Good point.

I don't think pitching coaches play any significant role in a pitcher's success or failure at the major league level. I have met some pretty good pitchers over the years and not a single one attributes his success to his pitching coach. This is far from a scientific survey, but I get the feeling that their sentiments are pretty representative of pitchers as a whole. If Lester figures things out a returns to form, I don't think it will have much to do with Farrell.

I wouldn't consider giving up significant prospects in a salary dump.

It's worth looking into since he brings only a 2 year commitment. Is Cherries creative enough to consider this?

I guess that the Sox have given up the thought of Bailey becoming our next Papelbon.

It's pretty obvious what I was saying. Pedroia and Ortiz are our only reliable star players. The rest when looked at as a whole is a collection that is unimpressive. There we just wasted everyone's time, most importantly my time, explaining something that wasn't important and didn't need explaining. BTW, I am pretty sure that I used the word parse correctly. Do you know what it means?

No, I am not. Don't parse my words.

Although the Sox biggest need is starting pitching, here's how the rest of the team looks today: C. Salty, Ross, Lavarnway 1B. Gomez (yuk!) 2B. Pedroia 3B. Middlebrooks SS. Iglesias, Ciriaco LF. ? CF. Ellsbury RF. Gomes/Kalish DH Ortiz There is a lot of work that needs to be done aside from the pitching. Cherries needs to kick into gear soon. As I look at this collection of garbage mixed in with 2 stars, I think there will be some splashy moves.

With rare exceptions like 2012, the A's field uninteresting teams that stink so they don't draw fies. I don't think the Red Sox should be emulating any of the A's strategy.

Oh, you are in the wrong thread for Ichiro.

Who?

He can still run, field and throw very well. He'd be a better RF at Fenway than Drew. He's still tough to pitch too. I think he's worth a 1 year contract.

Dice K wasn't pitching in September 2011 and he was a bit player in 2012. Wakefield were already gone last year. If we add no no one, they will be starting the season with the same staff that crapped all over the place last year except they would be swapping out Beckett for Lackey. It would be a 90+ loss team.

Garza is too high of an injury risk. He is a TJ surgery case in waiting. I'd take him only if Theo is treying to dump him and the price is very low.

If they don't add a pitcher or 2 either through FA or trade, essentially, they will be fielding the same staff that has been failing miserably since September 2011 except that Lackey will be taking Beckett's spot and Bailey will be taking Papelbon's spot. Also, I think it is overly optimistic to think that Bard can return to what he was prior to 2012. He has all the signs of a shot pitcher. His command is completely gone and his velocity is way down. IMO if we don't add pitching, we will lose 90+ games in 2013. I could see them. Having an even worse year. Our number 1 problem is our starting pitching. I realize that the FA crop is thin, but many posters believed that we should abstain from the 2012 FA market, because they expected this year's FA pool to have a bumper crop of top line pitchers including Cain and Hamels. They and other top pitchers extended with their current teams. Hoping that better pitching will be available next year or the year after carries no guarantee. The market is thin, but it is better than anything we have not named Lester and Buchholz, and Lester is a big question mark.

Oh I get where you are coming from and I agree. It's crappy luck that we had our worst season in 46 years and the lowest payroll in more than a decade and the FA market stinks. Last year, there was a much better pool of players, but we had no flexibility. I don't think the FO will be patient, because I think they were really in disarray with all the negativity of coming in last place. We shall see. I doubt they will go so far as to bury themselves financially again.