a700hitter

Two very good bullpen arms that are probably ruined.

If they lose 90 games, it will be something that they have not done since 1966. I didn't start watching the Sox until 1967. This will be a first for me. Last year's collapse was historic too. This ownership has had some very terrible accomplishments to go with the good accomplishments.

We are not even competitive. They are just horrible.

It was pretty obvious that none of the dung that they flung at the wall would stick... and none of it did.

...and none contributed in a positive way as starters. The only depth they provided was with regard to the height of the garbage heap.

Cook sucks so bad. He doesn't belong in the majors. Are they going to subject us to him for the rest of the year? It's not like he is in our future plans.

Realistically, they had to get some talent in return. Otherwise, MLB would have killed the deal. If any of them amount to anything for the Sox at the MLB level, it will be gravy as far as I am concerned. The $11 million is too small to squawk about, and I am not complaining. I am Just saying that ideally for me, the Dodgers would have taken all of the salary instead of giving us prospects, but that could never get the blessing of MLB.

People need to grasp at straws. They want to believe that we got some building blocks in the trade. I was just happy that they off-loaded more than a quarter of a billion in salaries. I don't care if any of those prospects ever play for the Sox. Peronally, I would have been even happier if LA took the remaining 11 million in salary and gave us nothing in return.

I think it is Gary Tuck.

Yes, that's the one.

Melancon is a AAA pitcher. He might be too expensive to be roster filler at Pawtucket.

You are right. Hitters like Mauer could wake from a coma at age 40 and go out and rope 3 hits in a games. Running to first would be the challenge for him. People who have not watched him a lot can't appreciate the kind of hitter that he is. Numbers on paper just don't tell the full story. This guy has had that same sweet swing since he was in the minors. I remember when the Twins had 3 or 4 Mauers in the organization (one was a pitcher I think). I saw the other one play a few innings at 3B in spring training once, but I don't remember seeing him hit. He was a skinny young kid, and I remember wondering if he shared any of his brothers hitting talent. Talent like Joey M's is rare and I never saw or heard of the brother again.

Good pitching costs money and the Red Sox are very short on good pitching. It would be helpful if they did not sign a pitcher with known arm troubles. As for pitchers acquired by the Sox for big contracts, they really have not done too much of that . The last 2 pitchers that they acquired in that manner were Dice K who had never thrown a major league pitch and Lackey who had known elbow issues. It's not like they made ver wise choices.

They took on $260 million in payroll and they had Punto leadoff. Wow, that doesn't add up. I hope they enjoy the costly slow-footed singles hitting first baseman that they got from us.

Greinke has looked pretty good. He is doing well for the Angels. Lester is at most a # 3 for next season.

I agree. Those guys are very ordinary. The next Ozzie Smith has done little to impress me. Maybe he should start doing back flips.

No, it is not a contradiction. The $20 million dollar players did not hurt the team performance. It was the pitchers who sucked ass. They did not make $20 million.

They didn't lose this season because of the $20 million ballplayers. They lost because the pitching sucked balls. They didn't have the payroll flexibility to rebuild the pitching unless they unloaded some payroll. In order to get rid of Beckett, they had to part with AGon. They forced CC on the Dodgers because they don't need 2 speedy base stealers. The problem wasn't the 20 million dollar guys, so I don't think they will hesitate to spend $ to rebuild.

Lackey is back?

It's just so hard to watch.

It's amazing to me that the Sox are among the worst teams in baseball. You have to really suck to be out of contention in August when there are 2 Wild Card spots available. We may not be a last place team, but that is only because Toronto lost their entire team to injury. We are definitely closer to a last place team than a playoff team. I guess those people who declared that we are not a last place team were right in a way, but they were way wrong about being a competitive team. The 2012 team is so bad that they are incapable of being even a good spoiler down the stretch like the 2011 Orioles. The 2012 Red Sox are patsies-- a team against which other teams can fatten their records and batting averages. We have pulled many teams out of slumps this season. Am I excited about a high draft pick? No, I never want to have a high draft pick, because it means you suck and had no interesting baseball to watch for an entire season. Also, our guys are horrible talent evaluators. Benny thought Zach Stewart will be a big league starter for goodness sakes. Any team that he starts for will be a very bad team.

Plus, he has hit admirably in his MLB opportunities. I think that he has more power than Youk. I am not sold on Morales as a regular rotation guy. If we get 2 legitimate good starters to go with Buchholz and L ester, you would pick Morales over Doubront and Lackey? I am not disagreeing. I'm just not sold on him. When you have a loved one with a terminal illness, it still sucks when they die. Sure I knew the Sox had little hope from the get go, but the wheels fell off rather quickly.

My God, we are in for some long off season. It's not even September and our season is over. Horrible just horrible.

Pods brings a lot of tools and professionalism to the team.

This season has been about the pitching. None of the injuries hurt the run production much except for Ortiz's injury, and by that time it was too late.