a700hitter

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.

It's hard to say "be patient' if they roll out a horror show like last year. The fans were patient last year and continued to fill the park for the most part. If they roll out the current staff and the season starts to resemble 2012, fans will just stop buying tickets and watching. There just was nothing interesting or fun about watching the team last year. You can say "be patient", but people are just not going to watch something that is not entertaining. We are all crazy fanatics on TalkSox and the game threads turned into an abandoned city.

If they think the price for Sanchez is too high, they had better start exploring some trade options, because not adding to the current staff will land them in last place possibly topping their 93 losses from last year. I don't think ownership will want to live through another 2012 again.

Okay, 4/$60 is better than Lackey's or Beckett's contracts. Pitching continues to go at a premium. It's not like there is a bubble that will burst and the prices will come down at some point.

I hate finishing last. I am not expecting a championship caliber team in 2013, but a couple of starters would make this a competitive respectable team. $60 million for Sanchez is a much better value than $82 million for a pig like Lackey. Sanchez will not break our bank. The payroll is very low right now, and so far no one has given him the 4/$60. If that is the top, it's not horrible and the length is not that bad, and maybe it will be lower.

^ 100%.

I thought Stewart projected as a middle of the rotation starter.

Tito always took out the starter at around 100 pitches regardless of whether he gave up 0 runs or 6 runs or whether he got to 100 pitches in 4 innings or 7 innings.

I realize that Fred can handle himself. You need to control yourself and stop personally attacking people and attributing intent to posters based on your skewed filter. Serious, just the facts, mam. Leave out the editorializing about posters.

He never attacks a single poster. If you see his posts as an attack on you personally, it is your projection, not an actual personal attack.

I don't know if he was referring to a particular circumstance or event, but he is not running from or denying his missteps. That is admirable.

I agree that this has been a 2 year decline. People don't remember that after 2011, Lester and others were talking about him having a bounce back season in 2012. He was not pleased with his 2011. This is why 2012's debacle is so concerning. This is two years in a row where we are talking about a Lester bounce back. 2011's numbers look fine without context and we would kill for him to get back to that level, but it doesn't change the fact that his stuff and game has been slipping for 2 seasons. Last year was more than a slip. It was a cliff.