a700hitter

I hate the Guardians caps. Bring back the Indian logo.

His k rate has fallen by a full strike out per 9 innings in each of the last 2 seasons. Another consideration in moving Lester is that he would have a lot more trade value than Beckett. There is no certainty that his performance will far exceed Beckett's performance.

Also, it should be pointed out that lester's 2011, while stellar compared to his 2012 performance, was also an off year. This is 2 off years in a row with this one being far worse.

My remarks were premised on Lester not turning things around by the end of the season. If he doesn't, whether or not they move him, the Red Sox should not plan on handing him the ball in 2013 in the top of the rotation.

Some people have said that TJ recovery would be much shorter for a position player than a pitcher. Maybe the off season is enough time. He could get the surgery October 1st. There will be no play offs to worry about.

One of the big questions in the off season will be what to do with Beckett and Lester. It will be hard to move them both. Realistically, they will be only able to move one of them. The other IMO should be moved to the bottom of the rotation. WHich should be moved? Beckett is older and his velocity is lower than Lester's. He's also the more unlikeable of the two-- an irrelevant factor. His affect on the clubhouse is not irrelelvant, but we really can't judge that. Everyone thinks Lackey is a cancer, but the players in the clubhouse apparently love the guy. Here is the case in favor of Beckett. He has better control than Lester and IMO, that gives him an edge in adapting to diminished velocity. He has demonstrated his ability to win big games on a big stage. As recently as last year, he dominated the Yankees. The unknown factor that may tip the scales in favor of keeping Beckett is whether he has been pitching injured. It seems like years ago, but at the beginning of the season there was the disclosure that he had a thumb ligament issue. He said that he though he could get through the season with it without getting surgery. If this has been hampering his performance and it can be fixed with off season surgery, he is probably the one they should keep. Lester has been injury free. Whatever is wrong with him might be a lot harder to fix. If he returns to form by the end of the season, I keep Lester. If he does not rebound strongly in 2012, I'd consider moving him and keeping Beckett.

Twins pitcher De Vries who recently looked like an ace against the Sox got battered by the Rays tonight lasting only 1 1/3 innings giving up 7 runs.

^ This about covers it.

Any Xray results on the injury?

That is one more than the number of games that the Sox have won when scoring less than 5 runs in a pretty long time. That's sad but true.

I don't think we need to see more consistency. I think we need to see durability. An ace needs to put up 200 innings in a season. He is yet to do that, and he will not do it this season. Until he does it, he's not an ace.

Buch is the only guy we have that can take us deep into games. Very nice effort tonight--- one of the very rare games that we have won while scoring less than 5 runs.

Our pitchers specialize in leadoff doubles.

Of course, we are making this kid look like Sandy Koufax. This is one of those rare games where we might not need 5 runs to have a chance.

That will be very depressing.

We agree alot more than we disagree. We just spend a disproportionate amount of time debating our disagreements. I think people don't realize sometimes that there is a lot more that the board agrees about than we disagree about. We just get caught up in the disagreements and lose sight of that fact.

The difference is that Ortiz really improved over the second half of 2009 and was producing big power numbers. He had the most home runs in the league from June 1st to the end of the year. He had a brutal April and May. He was coming off an injury and he demonstrated big progress after May. If you remember that there were plenty of people that thought he was cooked. I remember seeing him play that season at Fenway right before he came out of his funk, and I remember reporting here that he still seemed to have a very quick bat. Maybe the Sox saw the same thing and that is why they stuck with him. Kudos to them for getting it right. They need to get it right with Pedroia. He is not have a Pedrioa like season. They need to figure out if this downturn was solely attributable to the injuries or a decline in skill. It's not an easy call, but they are supposed to be the experts.

I think you may be one step ahead of Cherries just by having a plan. I agree with you that this team can't be fixed by nibbling around the edges. It has so many problems that it is hard to figure out what should be addressed first. The starting pitching is the biggest and most obvious problem. It was obvious last off season, and he failed to address it in any meaningful way. If he was relying on there being a treasure trove of FA pitchers this off season, he was brutally mistaken. They all re-signed and extended with their current teams. I had predicted that would happen. Teams don't let young stud starters walk away if they have a profitable fanbase. Now, with only Greinke available, he'll have to get creative, and I have no confidence that he is capable of that. People are going to criticize you for suggesting trading of Pedroia or Ellsbury. The decisions ahead for Cherries are not going to be easy. He may have to make a move like that to get top pitching in return. I never believe in trading an every day star for pitcher, but the question to be answered is whether Pedroia is truly still a star performer. When healthy and performing, he drives this team without a doubt. His heart is as big as they come, but are his skills slipping. This is what the FO gets paid to figure out. If Pedroia shits the bed next season hitting .250, people will moan about how unexpected it was for him to drop off like that. ********, they get paid to be experts at this stuff. They have all sorts of coaches and scouts. When a guy is starting to decline, they need to know it before the rest of the world. If they think he is still a star performer, keep him. If he is starting to slip, move him while he has value. As for Ells, I'd keep him for another season to figure out what he is.

Top pitchers change uniforms every off season. It happened last off season. Cherries missed the boat big time on Gio Gonzalez. I don't want to hear that it would have cost us WMB. The Nats didn't give up anyone of that caliber. It's Cherries job to get these deals done. I am sick of people making excuses for him. The Nats already had Strasburg (we don't have anyone close to that) and they added and built one of the strongest staffs in baseball getting Gio and Jackson. I guarantee you that top pitchers will swap laundry this off season through free agency and trades. It's Benny's job to get one of them.

He has not looked like the same player that he was in 2011. I would keep him for 1 more year of arbitration to get a better gauge on the real Ellsbury.

Ranaudo has been shut down for the season with a dead arm. He is probably just another busted prospect. To paraphrase Bob Gibson's remark to Tim McCarver when he visited the mound, the only thing Theo knows about pitching is that he can't hit it. Two years ago people were talking about him as being an untouchable. Most guys, even highly sought after draftees, end up on the scrap heap.

I think you are right. Unfortunately, the FO is in denial. They still think they are in a race. They are right in a way. The race is to the bottom.